Series Four Volume 6

Buddhist Poetics in Medieval Sri Lanka: The Muvadev-dā-vata Reconsidered

This article offers a close reading of the twelfth-century Muvadev-dā-vata, one of the earliest Sinhala-language poetic works to model itself on the Sanskrit kāvya. While earlier studies of the Muvadev-dā- vata have tended to criticize it as a flawed retelling of a Pāli-language jātaka, I argue that the poem instead represents an attempt to seriously grapple with rather serious Buddhological questions: When ought one renounce their worldly status…

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Series Four Volume 3

REVIEW: Superiority Conceit in Buddhist Traditions, by Anālayo Bhikkhu

Superiority Conceit in Buddhist Traditions: A Historical Perspective. By Anālayo Bhikkhu. Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications, 2021. 184 pages. $24.95 (hardcover). ISBN 9781614297192. Superiority Conceit is a lucid and accessible introduction to Ven. Anālayo’s vast body of work, primarily aimed at non-academics but with a robust set of citations for further reading. The titular “Superiority Conceit” effectively draws together what might…

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