[Buddha-l] Re-post from H-BUDDHISM: NEW BOOK> Skilling, ed., Past Lives of the Buddha: Wat Si Chum

[Richard Breedon]

My personal reason for plugging this book is that my wife wrote one of  
the contributions and I worked on it as a copy editor.
Note that the book that presently appears on amazon.com is a pre- 
release that has been superseded by this version.

Richard Breedon
Dept. of Physics, UC Davis
----------------------------------------

It is my pleasure to announce the appearance of the following
contribution to the study of Jatakas in general and in the specific
context of Wat Si Chum in Sukhothai.

"Past Lives of the Buddha: Wat Si Chum - Art, Architecture and
Inscriptions"

Edited by Peter Skilling with contributions by:
Pattaratorn Chirapravati
Pierre Pichard
Prapod Assavavirulhakarn
Santi Pakedeekham
Peter Skilling.

Bangkok: River Books, 2008
296 pages, 390 colour images, 30 plans and maps
ISBN 978-974-9863-45-9

http://www.riverbooksbk.com

"Wat Si Chum is unique among Sukhothai temples. Inside, lining the
ceiling of a dark and narrow staircase leading to the open roof, are
86 inscribed stone reliefs depicting jatakas, former lives of Gotama
Buddha. Their unique character and arrangement have puzzled generations
of scholars. "Past Lives of the Buddha" presents the latest evidence
and proposes new interpretations. The book offers the  first-ever
English translation of the inscriptions, photographs of the reliefs
supplements by 19th century jataka paintings from Wat Khrua  Wan,
Bangkok, essays on all aspects of the temple, as well as a  discussion
of the significance of jatakas in international Buddhist  literature,
art and ideology."

Peter Skilling

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H-Buddhism (Buddhist Scholars Information Network)