Сюжет встречи с Дипанкарой: функциональная роль в раннебуддийской текстовой традиции

Восток. Афро-азиатские общества: история и современность. 2025. № 6. С. 131–142.

Alexandrova N.

The story of the young brahmana meeting Buddha Dipankara is of great importance in early Buddhist tradition. This episode usually presented at the beginning of hagiographic narratives creates the inception for all subsequent history and is often found in relief images. This story also plays a special role in the arrangement of the meanings of the hagiographic text. However, in different texts the semantic overlaps between this prologue and the main part of biography are expressed in different ways. In Buddhological historiography one can only find descriptive material related to versions of this story. The present work compares the versions of the plot presented in the “Sutra of the Good Appearance of the Prince” (translated by Zhi Qian, III A.D.), Sanskrit “Mahavastu” and Pali “Nidanakatha”. By highlighting the main motives in these narratives, one can trace their interaction with the subsequent text. If in the Zhi Qian’s sutra the main emphasis is laid on plot connections, then in Mahavastu the relationship of the episode with the previous and subsequent text is constructed in such a way that it becomes a connecting link between doctrinal principals and the embodiment of the "pre-established" in the episodes of Buddha's biography. The motif of “spreading out clothes”, which is in the center of the composition of the “meeting” both in the textual and visual versions, makes it possible to see its connection with the archaic royal imagery expressed in rituals

Along with the plot of the “meeting with Dipankara,” there are other versions of the beginning of the Buddha’s life. A special case is the version of "Lalitavistara": the episode with Dipankara, which in other versions invariably plays the role of a prologue, is absent in this most important and developed biography of Buddha – the fact that requires explanation. The story begins with the Buddha staying in the Tushita heavens. Apparently, the reason for this should be seen in the general mood of Lalitavistara associated with the assertion of the divine nature of the Buddha, who descended from heaven and “imitates the customs of the world”. In this case, staying in heaven as the beginning of Buddha’s biography matches the main idea of this text

Keywords: агиография, hagiography, буддизм, buddhism, буддийская литература, Buddhist literature, санскритская литература, buddhist Sanskrit literature, pali literature, палийская литература