< Issue No. 19 (2024)Buddhist Education Foundation of Canada Annual Article Awardees
Sūtra Pūjā, Sūtra Pātha: Worshipping, Reading, and Listening to Avadānas in Newar Buddhism
Moore, Amber Marie, University of Toronto
Abstract
This article discusses how worship, recitation and various modes of oral transmission contributed to the manifestation of avadānas as literary works. I look specifically at the Maṇiśailamahāvadāna extant in Nepāl Bhāṣā and Sanskrit, that highlights figures such as the Buddhist goddess Ugratārā Vajrayoginī and a lineage of Vajrācāryas from Sankhu, resulting in a uniquely localized “tantric” avadāna. Further, I discuss passages in this text that describe the benefits of reading and listening to avadānas, and also the approaches of scholars and master storytellers such as Badri Ratna Guruju (1946-2016), Barnavajra Vajracharya (1922-1993) and Naresh Man Bajracharya, known for their exceptional transmission of the dharma through the lively narration and expansion of avadānas and dharma stories.