Korea Journal of Buddhist Studies ISSN:1598-0642(Print) 불교학연구

This article offers a new English translation and edition of the Sanskrit text along with the Tibetan translation of the story of the Buddha’s “Great Miracle” (mahāprātihārya), as retold by the 11^th century Kashmiri poet, Kṣemendra, in his poetic epitome of Buddhist narrative literature, The Wish-Fulfilling Vine of Tales of the Bodhisattva (Bodhisattvāvadānakalpalatā). Perhaps what will be most exciting to scholars of Buddhist literature is the news that this edition of the Sanskrit text reports the readings of a palm-leaf manuscript that preserves the complete work in the original language, one of two palm-leaf manuscripts kept at Drepung Monastery to have recently come to light. The edition also takes into account previous scholarship on Kṣemendra’s version of the story. A dynamic English translation attempts to convey some sense of the meaning and poetry of the original, and thereby to extend knowledge and appreciation of the story to a wider audience. The general introduction situates the story within a broader literary and historical context, and makes the argument that the primary source for Kṣemendra’s retelling is the version of the Great Miracle story found in the Mūlasarvāstivāda-vinaya. It also articulates a vision of why we should pay closer attention to Buddhist literature as literature.