Naomi Appleton
Biographic Data
| ID | 699640 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Naomi Appleton |
| GIVEN NAMES | Naomi |
| FAMILY NAME | Appleton |
| SIGNATURE | APPLETON N |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Edinburgh |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-9176-2910 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 19 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 2 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 17 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 2 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2007 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Perfect Awakening
Perfect Awakening: An Edition and Translation of the Prāsādika and Prasādanīya Sūtras, by Charles DiSimone. Dīrghāgama Studies Volume 1. Wisdom Publications, 2024. 504pp. Hb. $69.65, ISBN: 9781614296539
Literature, Performance, and Loving the Buddha in the Avadanasataka
This paper presents three literary strategies used in the portrayal of the Buddha in the Avadanasataka and asks what they tell us about the text, the Buddha, and the ways in which we as scholars should approach Buddhist literature. Through formulaic passages, audience responses, and glimpses of humanity counterbalancing the glories of the superhuman Buddha, this particular text offers a literary Buddha that is transformative for those he encounte…
Rewriting Buddhism
Rewriting Buddhism: Pali Literature and Monastic Reform in Sri Lanka, 1157-1270, by Alastair Gornall. UCL Press, 2020. XIII-269pp. Hb £40, ISBN 9781787355156
Narrative Visions and Visual Narratives in Indian Buddhism
Narrative Visions and Visual Narratives in Indian Buddhism
This volume explores the interaction between text and image in Indian Buddhist contexts, including not only the complex relationship between verbal stories and visual representations at Indian sites, but also the ways in which visual imagery is used within textual narratives. The chapters are authored by a mixture of textual scholars and art historians, bringing together different disciplinary perspectives in order to seek a richer understanding …
Considering Comparison
Considering Comparison: A Method for Religious Studies, by Oliver Freiberger. New York: Oxford University Press, 2019. 256 pp., £64 (hb). ISBN 978-0-19996-500-7
Once a Peacock, Once an Actress
Once a Peacock, Once an Actress: Twenty-Four Lives of the Bodhisattva from Haribhaṭṭa’s ‘Jātakamālā’." South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, 42(3), pp. 612–613
What Does It Mean To Be a Badly Behaved Animal? An Answer from the Devadatta Stories of the Pāli Jātakas
The many animals that appear in the Pāli Jātakatthavaṇṇanā often mirror human predicaments, society and language, and this has prompted largely allegorical readings of the stories. In addition, in many cases the animals are identified as past lives of important human characters, potentially diminishing their animality further. In particular, the Buddha's repeated rebirth as a range of virtuous and wise animals tells us plenty about the Buddha, bu…
J?taka Stories and Paccekabuddhas in Early Buddhism
This article explores the role of paccekabuddhas in stories of the Buddha’s past lives (j?taka tales) in early Buddhist narrative collections in P?li 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 samm?sambuddha and arahat. Because of their appearance in times of no Buddhism, paccekabuddhas feature regularly in j…
Narrating Karma and Rebirth
Heir to one’s Karma
Buddhist and Jain texts contain many stories that trace a person’s biography through multiple lives, illustrating karmic consequences, progress towards spiritual goals, and the preservation or deconstruction of relationships across several births. These stories can be seen as a form of genealogy, since they explain a person’s identity and form an alternative lineage to the family. This paper explores the ways in which karmic genealogies are const…
Dhammapada and Dhammapada Commentary
The Dhammapada has been translated many times into Western languages and is widely appreciated for its concise presentation of Buddhist teachings. However, the prose commentary that accompanies it, and which explains when, why and to whom the Buddha spoke the verses in the Dhammapada, is less well-known. In this article, I examine the relationship between the verses of the Dhammapada and the narratives of the commentary, and ask what value is add…
Introduction to the Papers on J?takas and Related Stories
The Multi-life Stories of Gautama Buddha and Vardhamana Mahavira
Like Buddhist traditions, Jain traditions preserve many stories about people’s past lives. Unlike Buddhist traditions, relatively few of these stories narrate the past lives of the tradition’s central figure, the jina. In Jainism there is no equivalent path to the bodhisatt(v)a path; the karma that guarantees jinahood is bound a mere two births before that attainment, and the person who attracts that karma cannot do so willfully, nor is he aware …
Letter from the Ukabs Membership Secretary
.
Jataka Stories in Theravada Buddhism
Jataka stories (stories about the previous births of the Buddha) are very popular in Theravada Buddhist countries, where they are found in both canonical texts and later compositions and collections, and are commonly used in sermons, children's books, plays, poetry, temple illustrations, rituals and festivals. Whilst at first glance many of the stories look like common fables or folktales, Buddhist tradition tells us that the stories illustrate t…
Temptress on the Path
Story of the Horse-King and the Merchant Simhala in Buddhist Texts
The Asvaraja story relates the adventures of a caravan of merchants shipwrecked on an island of demonesses and rescued by a flying horse, the asvaraja, ‘king of horses’. The Simhala story continues this narrative to include the chief merchant, Simhala, being followed home by a demoness, who tries to get him back before seducing and eating the king. Simhala is crowned king and invades the island. Each story has many versions, both Mahayana and non…
Metaphor and Literalism in Buddhism
Metaphor and Literalism in Buddhism: The Doctrinal History of Nirvana, Soonil Hwang (London and New York: Routledge, 2006), pp. xiii + 160, £65.00. ISBN 0 415 35550 8
What Does It Mean To Be a Badly Behaved Animal? An Answer from the Devadatta Stories of the Pāli Jātakas
The many animals that appear in the Pāli Jātakatthavaṇṇanā often mirror human predicaments, society and language, and this has prompted largely allegorical readings of the stories. In addition, in many cases the animals are identified as past lives of important human characters, potentially diminishing their animality further. In particular, the Buddha's repeated rebirth as a range of virtuous and wise animals tells us plenty about the Buddha, bu…
Story of the Horse-King and the Merchant Simhala in Buddhist Texts
The Asvaraja story relates the adventures of a caravan of merchants shipwrecked on an island of demonesses and rescued by a flying horse, the asvaraja, ‘king of horses’. The Simhala story continues this narrative to include the chief merchant, Simhala, being followed home by a demoness, who tries to get him back before seducing and eating the king. Simhala is crowned king and invades the island. Each story has many versions, both Mahayana and non…
Story of the Horse-King and the Merchant Simhala in Buddhist Texts
The Asvaraja story relates the adventures of a caravan of merchants shipwrecked on an island of demonesses and rescued by a flying horse, the asvaraja, ‘king of horses’. The Simhala story continues this narrative to include the chief merchant, Simhala, being followed home by a demoness, who tries to get him back before seducing and eating the king. Simhala is crowned king and invades the island. Each story has many versions, both Mahayana and non…
Metaphor and Literalism in Buddhism
Metaphor and Literalism in Buddhism: The Doctrinal History of Nirvana, Soonil Hwang (London and New York: Routledge, 2006), pp. xiii + 160, £65.00. ISBN 0 415 35550 8
Temptress on the Path
Jataka Stories in Theravada Buddhism
Jataka stories (stories about the previous births of the Buddha) are very popular in Theravada Buddhist countries, where they are found in both canonical texts and later compositions and collections, and are commonly used in sermons, children's books, plays, poetry, temple illustrations, rituals and festivals. Whilst at first glance many of the stories look like common fables or folktales, Buddhist tradition tells us that the stories illustrate t…
Letter from the Ukabs Membership Secretary
.
Heir to one’s Karma
Buddhist and Jain texts contain many stories that trace a person’s biography through multiple lives, illustrating karmic consequences, progress towards spiritual goals, and the preservation or deconstruction of relationships across several births. These stories can be seen as a form of genealogy, since they explain a person’s identity and form an alternative lineage to the family. This paper explores the ways in which karmic genealogies are const…
Dhammapada and Dhammapada Commentary
The Dhammapada has been translated many times into Western languages and is widely appreciated for its concise presentation of Buddhist teachings. However, the prose commentary that accompanies it, and which explains when, why and to whom the Buddha spoke the verses in the Dhammapada, is less well-known. In this article, I examine the relationship between the verses of the Dhammapada and the narratives of the commentary, and ask what value is add…
Introduction to the Papers on J?takas and Related Stories
The Multi-life Stories of Gautama Buddha and Vardhamana Mahavira
Like Buddhist traditions, Jain traditions preserve many stories about people’s past lives. Unlike Buddhist traditions, relatively few of these stories narrate the past lives of the tradition’s central figure, the jina. In Jainism there is no equivalent path to the bodhisatt(v)a path; the karma that guarantees jinahood is bound a mere two births before that attainment, and the person who attracts that karma cannot do so willfully, nor is he aware …
Narrating Karma and Rebirth
J?taka Stories and Paccekabuddhas in Early Buddhism
This article explores the role of paccekabuddhas in stories of the Buddha’s past lives (j?taka tales) in early Buddhist narrative collections in P?li 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 samm?sambuddha and arahat. Because of their appearance in times of no Buddhism, paccekabuddhas feature regularly in j…
Once a Peacock, Once an Actress
Once a Peacock, Once an Actress: Twenty-Four Lives of the Bodhisattva from Haribhaṭṭa’s ‘Jātakamālā’." South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, 42(3), pp. 612–613
What Does It Mean To Be a Badly Behaved Animal? An Answer from the Devadatta Stories of the Pāli Jātakas
The many animals that appear in the Pāli Jātakatthavaṇṇanā often mirror human predicaments, society and language, and this has prompted largely allegorical readings of the stories. In addition, in many cases the animals are identified as past lives of important human characters, potentially diminishing their animality further. In particular, the Buddha's repeated rebirth as a range of virtuous and wise animals tells us plenty about the Buddha, bu…
Considering Comparison
Considering Comparison: A Method for Religious Studies, by Oliver Freiberger. New York: Oxford University Press, 2019. 256 pp., £64 (hb). ISBN 978-0-19996-500-7
Narrative Visions and Visual Narratives in Indian Buddhism
Narrative Visions and Visual Narratives in Indian Buddhism
This volume explores the interaction between text and image in Indian Buddhist contexts, including not only the complex relationship between verbal stories and visual representations at Indian sites, but also the ways in which visual imagery is used within textual narratives. The chapters are authored by a mixture of textual scholars and art historians, bringing together different disciplinary perspectives in order to seek a richer understanding …
Rewriting Buddhism
Rewriting Buddhism: Pali Literature and Monastic Reform in Sri Lanka, 1157-1270, by Alastair Gornall. UCL Press, 2020. XIII-269pp. Hb £40, ISBN 9781787355156
Perfect Awakening
Perfect Awakening: An Edition and Translation of the Prāsādika and Prasādanīya Sūtras, by Charles DiSimone. Dīrghāgama Studies Volume 1. Wisdom Publications, 2024. 504pp. Hb. $69.65, ISBN: 9781614296539
Literature, Performance, and Loving the Buddha in the Avadanasataka
This paper presents three literary strategies used in the portrayal of the Buddha in the Avadanasataka and asks what they tell us about the text, the Buddha, and the ways in which we as scholars should approach Buddhist literature. Through formulaic passages, audience responses, and glimpses of humanity counterbalancing the glories of the superhuman Buddha, this particular text offers a literary Buddha that is transformative for those he encounte…
Buddhism (15 works) · Indian and Buddhist Studies (14 works) · Art (13 works) · History (13 works) · Literature (12 works) · Philosophy (12 works) · Aesthetics (9 works) · Narrative (9 works) · Theology (9 works) · Gautama Buddha (7 works)