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Book: Buddhist Path, Buddhist Teachings

Chapter: 16. Jātaka Stories and Paccekabuddhas in Early Buddhism

DOI: 10.1558/equinox.33398

Blurb:

This article explores the role of paccekabuddhas in stories of the Buddha’s past
lives (jātaka tales) in early Buddhist narrative collections in Pāli and Sanskrit.
In early Buddhism paccekabuddhas are liminal figures in two senses: they appear
between Buddhist dispensations, and they are included as a category
of awakening between sammāsambuddha and arahat. Because of their appearance
in times of no Buddhism, paccekabuddhas feature regularly in jātaka literature,
as exemplary renouncers, teachers, or recipients of gifts. This article
asks what the liminal status of paccekabuddhas means for their interactions
with the Buddha and his past lives as Bodhisatta.

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