[Buddha-l] Jinapanjaram

[JKirkpatrick]

Isn't culture intriguing? Boxes are organised to suit
organisational purposes, but the daily life of people on their
own, unguarded by dogmatists, institutions, powers and the like,
almost fractally proliferates the cultural imaginary. A new book
about the overflowing cultural world of the Buddha's times, which
I just got on ILL, is _Haunting the Buddha : Indian Popular
Religions and the Formation of Buddhism_, by Robert Decaroli.
OUP, 2004. Haven't been able to read it carefully yet, but a look
through promises wonders of human prapancal ingenuity. 

This text, the Jinapanjara, seems to refer to a a Buddhist cosmic
man, yes, a la many tantric drawings of cosmic sadhus with whom
one identifies in meditation? As it is a Dhammayut text, didn't
that order originate in Thailand, where the cultural imaginary
has again been varied and proliferous.

 "...... having come to the victory seat, having defeated Māra
together with his mount"--  by the way, what or who was Mara's
vahana? 



Cheers, Joanna

_______________________________
Joy wrote:
[...]
When I was still fully engaged in Tibetan Buddhism, everything
was crystal clear and well ordered in boxes (grub mtha'). But
since then, especially since our exchanges, everything has been
going downhill: the order is making place for disorder, and some
"syncretism" sneekily seems to attack the different traditions we
have exchanges with from within.
...You will find it in A chanting guide
(http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/dhammayut/chanting.ht
ml#jinapanjara)