著者

ペン セタリン

出版者

法政大学国際日本学研究所

雑誌

国際日本学 = INTERNATIONAL JAPANESE STUDIES (ISSN:18838596)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.6, pp.151-164, 2009-03-31

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Although the Buddhism of Cambodia and Japan differ in belonging to the Theravāda and Mahāyāna traditions respectively, both share the concept of offering. The most famous Cambodian Jātaka tale concerning offering is Vessandor chiadok (Vessantara, the Prince of Offering), which one can see depicted on the walls of every Buddhist temple in Cambodia, while that of Japan is “Prince Sattva’s Self-Sacrifice” (Jp. Shashin shiko 捨身飼虎), which can be seen depicted on the Tamamushi shrine in the collection of the Nara temple Hōryūji. There are also some others like those given in the famous Japanese collection of tales Konjaku monogatari-shū, such as “The offering of the Rabbit Bodhisattva” (from Sassa Jātaka), and “The lion who gave his leg’s flesh to the goshawk in exchange for the life of a monkey’s baby” (thought to derive from King Sivi Jātaka of the Mahāyāna doctrine). According to the Bukkyō Indo shisō jiten (Dictionary of Buddhist and Indian thought, 1987), the term “offering” means to extend money or other material objects to monks or beggars. But as Mahāyāna Buddhism stresses the concept of rita 利他 (Skt. para-anugraha), in which “offering” tends to be understood as self-sacrifice for the sake of other people, the concept of “offering” in Theravāda Buddhism appears to differ from that of Mahayana Buddhism.This paper aims to study the differences and the similarities in the concepts of “offering” which appear in each country’s Buddhist tales, and examine how it is reflected in both cultures.