Relationship of Avadanamalas to the Avadanakalpalata

• Published in: Indogaku Bukkyōgaku kenkyū Vol. 54; no. 1; pp. 374 - 367,1270
• Main Author: OKANO, Kiyoshi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Japanese Association of Indian and Buddhist Studies 2005
• Subjects: avadanamala; Avadanasataka; Bodhisattvavadanakalpalata
• ISSN: 0019-4344; 1884-0051
• DOI: 10.4259/ibk.54.374

When were the avadanamalas, i. e. the Kalpadrumavadanamala, Ratnavadanamala, Ratnavadanatattva, Asokavadanamala and so on composed? For a solution to this problem I have attempted to confirm the relationship between chapters of avadanamalas and the Avadanakalpalata (A. D. 1052). I have searched through avadanamalas for verses borrowed from the Avadanakalpalata. A conclusion of this paper is the following. I call all chapters of the ‘Bodhisattvavadanakalpalata-affiliation’ in many avadanamalas group B, and all chapters of the ‘Avadanasataka-affiliation’ in avadanamalas group A. Both groups A and B were composed in Nepal after 1052, which is to say, after the Avadanakalpalata. Group B was composed doubtlessly later than 1302, in which year the oldest Nepalese ms. of Avadanakalpalata, Cambridge Add. 1306, was written. The borrowing of verses from the Avadanakalpalata in group B coincides with the fact that ms. Add. 1306 lacks the first 40 chapters. Group A was composed probably between 1052 and 1302. The seven extra leaves 199*-205* of ms. Add. 1306 can be a proof that the scribe of the ms. knew the Saddantavadana of the Kalpadrumavadanamala (v. de Jong (1977), p. 32).