Articles

From Uruvilvā to Mṛgadāva: The evolution of the plot of the First Sermon of Buddha

Vostok/Oriens '2017, №5

DOI: 10.7868/S0869190817050077

 
The article is devoted to the analysis of the plot of “the first sermon” as represented in the “Sutra of the blessed appearance of the prince”, translated into Chinese by Zhi-qian (III AD) and not preserved as an Indian text. The story represented in this sutra is very original, it is unique in the Buddhist literature. The main difference is the unusual localization of events: there is no moving from Uruvilvā as the place of enlightenment, to Mṛgadāva worshipped as the place of the first sermon. Consideration of the variations of the story in different texts of early Buddhist literature reveals a gradual evolution of the plot; comparing these fragments with the version of Zhi-qian, we can see that the version like preserved in the Chinese sutra may be an initial one. Probably the reason of changes in the geography of Buddhism was the assignment of the sacred space of the pre-Buddhist India.

Keywords: Buddhism, Buddhist literature, Buddha, Chinese translations, hagiographic genre, geography of Buddhism

Pages: С. 85–95