rdf-syntax-grammar
mods:
  schema location: http://www.loc.gov/mods/v3 http://www.loc.gov/standards/mods/v3/mods-3-2.xsd
  title info:
    title: Unfortunate destiny
    sub title: animals in the Indian Buddhist imagination
  name:
    name part: Ohnuma, Reiko
    role:
      role term: creator
    role:
      role term: author.
  type of resource: text
  genre: bibliography
  genre: Electronic books.
  origin info:
    place:
      place term: nyu
    date issued: 2017
    issuance: monographic
  language:
    language term: eng
  physical description:
    form: remote
    extent: 1 online resource (xix, 242 pages) : illustrations
  abstract: Unfortunate Destiny focuses on the roles played by non-human animals within the imaginative thought-world of Indian Buddhism, as reflected in pre-modern South Asian Buddhist literature. These roles are multifaceted, diverse, and often contradictory: In Buddhist doctrine and cosmology, the animal rebirth is a most "unfortunate destiny" (durgati), won through negative karma and characterized by a lack of intelligence, moral agency, and spiritual potential. In stories about the Buddha's previous lives, on the other hand, we find highly anthropomorphized animals who are wise, virtuous, endowed with human speech, and often critical of the moral shortcomings of humankind. In the life-story of the Buddha, certain animal characters serve as "doubles" of the Buddha, illuminating his nature through identification, contrast or parallelism with an animal "other." Relations between human beings and animals likewise range all the way from support, friendship, and near-equality to rampant exploitation, cruelty, and abuse. Perhaps the only commonality among these various strands of thought is a persistent impulse to use animals to clarify the nature of humanity itself - whether through similarity, contrast, or counterpoint. Buddhism is a profoundly human-centered religious tradition, yet it relies upon a dexterous use of the animal other to help clarify the human self. Through a wide-ranging exploration of animal imagery, animal discourse, and specific animal characters in South Asian Buddhist texts, Unfortunate Destiny seeks to make sense of this process.
  table of contents: Unfortunate destiny -- Introduction -- Unfortunate destiny : animals in a Buddhist cosmos -- Catching sight of the Buddha: -- Faithful animals in the Divyavadana and Avadanasataka -- When animals speak : animals in the Pali Jatakas -- Introduction -- (Human) nature, red in tooth and claw -- Animal saviors -- Animal doubles of the Buddha -- Introduction -- Scapegoat for the Buddha : the horse Kanthaka -- Mirror for the Buddha : the elephant Parileyyaka -- Billboard for the Buddha : the elephant Naagiri.
  note: Reiko Ohnuma.
  note: Includes bibliographical references and index.
  subject:
    geographic code: a-ii---
  subject:
    topic: Buddhist literature
    geographic: India
    topic: Themes, motives
  subject:
    topic: Animals in literature
  subject:
    topic: Animals
    topic: Religious aspects
    topic: Buddhism
  subject:
    topic: Buddhism
    geographic: India
  subject:
    topic: Littérature bouddhique
    geographic: Inde
    topic: Thèmes, motifs
  subject:
    topic: Animaux dans la littérature
  subject:
    topic: Bouddhisme
    geographic: Inde
  subject:
    topic: RELIGION
    topic: Comparative Religion
  subject:
    topic: Animals in literature
  subject:
    topic: Animals
    topic: Religious aspects
    topic: Buddhism
  subject:
    topic: Buddhism
  subject:
    geographic: India
  classification: BQ1029.I42 O58 2017eb
  classification: 294.30954
  related item:
    title info:
      title: Unfortunate destiny
    name:
      name part: Ohnuma, Reiko.
    origin info:
      publisher: New York : Oxford University Press, 2017
    identifier: (DLC) 2016045844
  identifier: 9780190637552
  identifier: 0190637552
  identifier: 9780190637569
  identifier: 0190637560
  identifier: 9780190637576
  identifier: 0190637579
  identifier: 9780190637545
  identifier: 0190637544
  identifier: 2017017850
  identifier: w89nwg9 cloudLibrary
  identifier: http://proxy.library.tamu.edu/login
  record info:
    record content source: DLC
    record creation date: 170412
    record change date: 20260319163533.3
    record identifier: in00005714542
    language of cataloging:
      language term: eng