The Buddha

Vanessa R. Sasson is Professor of Religious Studies at Marianopolis College, Research Fellow at the University of the Free State, and Research Member of Centre d'études et de recherches sur l'Inde, l'Asie du Sud et sa diaspora at Université du Québec à Montreal. She is the author or editor of numerous books, including Yasodhara and the Buddha (2021) and The Gathering: A Story of the First Buddhist Nuns (2023).Kristin Scheible is Professor of Religion and Humanities at Reed College. She is the author of Reading the Mahavamsa: The Literary Aims of a Theravada Buddhist History (2016).

• About the Contributors Preface: Learning from John Strong--Multiple Ways of Reading the Many Life Stories of the BuddhaCharles HalliseyIntroduction: The Never-Ending Story Vanessa R. Sasson and Kristin Scheible1. The Vow That Starts the Story Andy Rotman 2. Creative Tensions in the Past Lives of the Buddha Naomi Appleton3. The Final Birth Reiko Ohnuma4. A Timeless Love Story Vanessa R. Sasson5. A Great Departure Kristin Scheible6. Around the Tree of Awakening Todd Lewis and Jinah Kim7. The Buddha's Teachings and Miracles David Fiordalis8. Sorrow and its Ending in the Buddha's Last Days Maria Heim9. The Buddha's Story Continues: Afterlives of the Relics Stephen C. Berkwitz10. Overstory: First There is a Buddha, Then There is No Buddha, Then There is John S. StrongBibliography Index

Drawing on both visual and textual materials, these insightful essays will be a valuable resource for research scholars, but accessible and lively enough to be assigned to students in introductory classes on Buddhism as well. Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers.