크메르 전승 문헌의 특징과 구성 - Dasabodhisattauddesa 9-10장 도입부를 중심으로 -

초록

This article scrutinizes and analyzes the textual characteristics of a later narrative, the Dasa-Bodhisatta-Uddesa. This narrative, which had been a popular text of the Khmer tradition in the history of extensive Theravāda Pāli literature, was one of the representative texts that led the faith of the time, although not much known in the academic scholarship. It contains prophecies that the ten living beings who lived at the time of Gotama Buddha will be awakened in the future. Chapters 9 and 10 convey an interesting narrative of two elephants that are deeply related to the Gotama Buddha. Chapter 9 has an elephant named Dhanapāla, who will be reborn as Prince Dhammasena and become a future Buddha called Tissa by being reborn as a Tusita heaven through the extreme offerings. Chapter 10 describes the story of Pālileyya, a sacred elephant who protected and paid homage to Gotama Buddha while the Buddha was dwelling alone in the forest. Pālileyya will be reborn as a King “Turner of the Wheel,” and kill himself with extreme offerings. He will eventually be reborn as a future Buddha called Sumaṅgala. The distinctive characteristics of the texts in these two narratives are as follows. First, the Dasabodhisatauddesa specifically describes the time of the emergence of future Buddha, which seems to have further expanded the cyclical world view of the Theravāda tradition. Second, Buddhas are depicted as exaggerated transcendents. In this literature, the Buddhas are over 30 meters tall and have an infinite lifespan, emitting rays of light to illuminate the world. Third, the period of these Buddhas is transformed into an ideal world in which the kappa tree grows and grants all the wishes of all sentient beings, which fulfills such a soteriological fantasy. Lastly, the Khmer vernacular Pāli system is found within the narratives, such as the use of tense, the order of compound words, and the special word usage that are not found in the extant Pali literature. These analyses reveal the unique literary tradition of the Khmer tradition as represented by Dasabodisattauddesa.

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