Ven. Piya Tan wrote: "Sorry for this abrupt change of topic, but does
any know if any scholars have written on the origin or roots of the
"Brahma's Invitation" story (V 1:7 etc). I remember some time back
coming across a journal or book title on this."

Sorry, can't really answer your question yet, but I know where to begin,
"Google book search" and "Google scholar" show:

http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&q=Brahmanimantanika+Sutta&spell=\
1

http://books.google.com/books?q=Brahma-nimantanika+Sutta&btnG=Search+Boo\
ks

(I actually tried to look in the indexes of paper books first!)

Gombrich touched upon it and also Bhikkhu Nanamoli.

Breadcrumbs like from scholars like this are a great way of learning.

Over at the Chinese History website there used to be an entrance exam,
that was open book, so it was effectively a great way of learning about
Chinese history. All the answers were in Wikipedia subject to a close
reading.

Thanks for the bread crumbs.

Sincerely,
Jon Fernquest

--- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, "Piya Tan" <dharmafarer@...> wrote:
>
> Sorry for this abrupt change of topic, but
> does any know if any scholars have written on the origin or roots of
the
> "Brahma's
> Invitation" story (V 1:7 etc). I remember some time back coming across
a
> journal
> or book title on this.
>
> I have read interesting articles on the possible sources of Ambattha
of the
> Ambattha
> Sutta, that is, Svetaketu of the Upanishads. It is interesting to see
how
> the Buddha
> and the early Buddhists revamp such ideas for their audience. And also
> reminds us
> of the true context of suttas when translating them.
>
> With metta,
>
> Piya Tan
>
>
> On Feb 7, 2008 8:00 PM, Jon Fernquest <bayinnaung@...> wrote:
>
> > Dear List;
> >
> > "King's of the Buddha's Time" (1983) by Bhikkhu Amritananda of Nepal
> > (now deceased)
> >
> > This is a really fantastic book that I would recommend to anyone
> > interested in Pali literature.
> >
> > It is full of useful background information and puts Jataka stories
> > into context.
> >
> > Often you hear names when reading the Tipitaka that can sometimes
not
> > have meaning for the reader due to limitations in knowledge. This
book
> > weaves together disparate parts of the Tipitaka into biographies and
> > narratives and provides this background info.
> >
> > It only cost 80 baht (2.5 US dollars) at the bookstore across from
Wat
> > Benjamapopit (sorry for spelling) which leads me to believe that the
> > price was set more to cover the cost of paper than to make any
profit,
> > with an aim to disseminating this work as widely as possible.
> >
> > Which leads me to conclude that a lot of authors of works probably
> > would be open to making their work available on the internet, if
asked
> > politely with objective of non-profit dissemination made clear.
> >
> > Sincerely,
> > Jon
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>
> --
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