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While studying narratives in the context of its own religious tradition may uncover that religious tradition's doctrines and priorities, this study assumes that a comparative model contributes to a clearer understanding of the uniqueness of each religion's ideas. By comparing religions rather than studying them in isolation, we may understand each with greater clarity. / The narratives compared and contrasted in this study are the birth narratives of Moses and the Buddha. These two figures may be identified as the respective heroes of the Jewish and Buddhist religions. This comparative study highlights and examines the similarities and differences presented in their birth narratives and seeks to determine the significance these narratives have from within the context of their respective doctrinal traditions. Although studying one tradition alone produces important results, it is only by comparing and contrasting religious traditions, and in this case the birth narratives of different religious traditions, that the uniqueness and qualities of each come into full view. / This study begins with an examination of Moses' birth narrative, first as it has been understood by modern scholarship, and then as it has been presented in the classical literature of early Judaism. In the second part, the Buddha's birth narrative is explored, first from the perspective of modern, Western scholarship, and then as it appears in the Pali and Sanskrit literature of early Buddhism. The third part of this study is committed to a comparative analysis of the two birth narratives.

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--Australian National University, 2006. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on Feb. 3, 2008). Includes bibliographical references (p. 294-307).

"Thesis approved for the degree of doctor of philosophy in the University of Calcutta, 1907." / On cover: Indian logic: mediæval school.

In 985, a Japanese monk named Chōnen commissioned a statue of Śākyamuni Buddha during a pilgrimage to China, which was later enshrined in the temple Seiryōji near Kyoto, Japan. The statue was lavishly ornamented both on its exterior and interior and came to be considered a "living icon" modeled after the legendary first portrait of the historical Buddha made under the patronage of the Indian king Udāyana. Through a holistic examination of historical context, textual evidence, and the diverse forms of ritual adornment (shōgon), I argue that the Seiryōji statue was designed to function as a field for the perpetual generation of karmic merit (fukuden). This statue, through the careful selection of inserted objects and their resonance with its external appearance, embodies the multiplicity of the "Buddha body" as the "living" body of the historical Śāyamuni and the eternally present Buddha of the Lotus Sutra.

This dissertation is a comparative, interdisciplinary, and transregional study of the connections between textual and iconographic representations of the Buddha Shakyamuni’s extended biography, and a re-assessment of its role and significance for the spread of Buddhism from India through Central Asia to China between the third century BCE to around the sixth century CE. My research relies on diverse sources: early Buddhist canonical sources; the earliest textual versions of the Buddha’s life stories in Chinese, Sanskrit, and Pali; art historical and archaeological material remains from early stupa sites and cave temples in India, Central Asia, and China; and also other visual material such as Buddha images, stelae, votive stupas, portable shrines, etc. Utilizing a multidisciplinary approach, I propose a new interpretative framework to re-evaluate the connections between the Buddha’s life stories and his body. In this dissertation, I suggest a new approach to “reading” the Buddha’s extended biography, which I posit is not merely a story of his life, but essentially is a story of his body. With that thesis in mind, I also shed new light on the role and function of the Buddha’s biography in the production and use of images, proposing a new hypothesis to re-examine the design and construction of early stupa sites and cave temples. This study suggests a common iconographical programme that lasted for several centuries and demonstrates how this programme connects to the story of the Buddha and his body.

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Les statues en ronde-bosse du Buddha khmer, exécutées entre le XIIIe et le XVIe siècle, expriment des pratiques religieuses bien spécifiques, sont marquées du sceau de la tradition angkorienne et révèlent la sensibilité des échanges artistiques avec les pays voisins. Elles sont ainsi le reflet des diverses élaborations et des différents rôles qu’elles ont joué. Un corpus raisonné de deux cent trente-huit statues du Buddha travaillées dans la pierre, le bois et le bronze, issues de plusieurs collections muséales, de collections privées ou de découvertes restées in situ, aide à retracer l’évolution de la production artistique dans le royaume khmer durant cette période. Les principaux résultats de ce travail apportent de nouvelles explications autour de l’idée d’une prise et occupation d’Angkor par Ayutthaya et d’un déplacement du centre politique de la région d’Angkor vers la région des Quatre Bras. / Images of Khmer Buddha executed between the 13th and c. 16th CE demonstrate specific religious practice, continuity of the Angkorian tradition, and artistic exchange with bordering countries. Together, they also reveal transformations in the form, definition and role of Buddhist sculpture in Cambodia. An annotated corpus of 238 Buddha images in stone, wood, and bronze from several museum and private collections, and in situ, assist in the reconstruction of changes to artistic production in the Khmer kingdom during this period. The principal results of this work provide new interpretations about the Ayutthyan invasion and occupation at Angkor, and resettlement of the Angkorian political centre in the Quatre Bras region.