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Бодхисаттва — стрелок из лука. Буддийский сюжет и его аналоги
There are motifs and plots in Indian Buddhist literature revealing some similarities with other Indian traditions and indicating the archaic origin of these motifs. One of the expressive examples is the plot of archery (iśukṣepa) in Lalitavistara, the sutra on Buddha’s life, preserved in Sanskrit version (9th cent.) and two Chinese versions (4th and 7th cent.) The action takes place in the context of the ritual of Bodhisattva’s marriage, including some competitions in warrior's arts. Episode construction and its details find their analogies not only in the epic Indian narratives, but also in the ancient Greek Homeric epic. Together with other analogues, this indicates the stability of archaic models (associated with royal ritualism) in Indian literature. At the same time, one can follow the transformations that this imagery undergoes in the Buddhist context. Lalitavistara makes 'archery' a metaphor for Buddha's enlightenment, as if translating from the language of archaic ritual into the language of Buddhist doctrine.