Presents a collection of poetry and verses, written more than two thousand years ago by some of the earliest known disciples of the Buddha, including works from the Therigathas, the oldest collection of poetry by women. Original.
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Like the writings of many religious traditions, the poems and stories of the Buddhist tradition circulated orally for generations before they were finally collected and written down in the first century B.C. The oldest writings in Buddhism are the theragatahas (songs of men) and the therigathas (songs of women) recited by the earliest disciples of Buddha. These songs celebrate the accounts of personal struggle for enlightenment experienced by these men and women as they attempt to practice the teachings of the Buddha. For example, Jambuka describes the folly of his ascetic practice ("I practiced terrible yogas/ stood for days on one leg/ slept on rock") as a means of enlightenment and his subsequent transformation ("I took refuge in the Buddha"). Most importantly, however, this collection recovers the voices of early women followers of Buddha in the "Songs of the Buddhist Nuns" and provides a glimpse into the differences between the spiritual concerns of these women and those of the Buddha's earliest male disciples. Addhakasi, a prostitute, for instance, contrasts the pricelessness of her physical body to men to the pricelessness of her newly born Buddhist spiritual body. Schelling and Waldman's rich and fertile translations of these poems reveal the beauty and depth of the spiritual transformations of Buddha's closest followers.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Composed more than 2,000 years ago by direct disciples of the Gautama Buddha, these unexpectedly piquant poems were preserved in the earliest written Buddhist scriptures, but the men and woman who chanted these songs were Buddhists long before the advent of monasteries and any organized form of the religion. Inspired by the Buddha, they turned their backs on secular life and roamed highways and city streets, living in forests and parks, begging for food, and devoting themselves to meditation. Their poems, many of which are in the first person, chronicle their rejection of wealth and domesticity for contemplation of the divine, and there is a surprising force of personality here as well as humor, gritty detail, and a heady sense of discovery. Translators Schelling and Waldman have done a superb job of freeing the living voices of the original poems from the encrustations of centuries' worth of scholasticism, presenting us with poems as fresh as morning, as provocative as night. Donna Seaman
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent selection and translation,
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This review is from: Songs of the Sons and Daughters of Buddha (Paperback)
Andrew Schelling has provided us with several excellent volumes translating Sanskrit and Prakrit poetry. In this volume he teams with Anne Waldman to translate selections from the Therigatha and Theragatha collections in the Pali Tripitaka (Buddhist scripture) into English. In some cases they include the prose which sets the scene in which the song/poem was created. They have found the true gems and given us translations which do not depend upon the reader having detailed knowledge of the Theravadan Buddhist tradition.An example: "You have your old cottage / now you want a new one / but friend don't you realize / a new cottage is just / a new anguish" This is an excellent introduction to a little known portion of Buddhist texts.
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