Buddhism and Divination - On the Sūtra on the Divination of the Effects of Good and Evil Actions and its Cultural Transmission

Dr. Esther-Maria Guggenmos

I am currently working on a monograph about the Sūtra on the Divination of the Effects of Good and Evil Actions (Zhancha Shan'e Yebao Jing 占察善惡業報經, T.839) and its cultural transmission. This sūtra might be considered exemplary in unfolding the relationship between Buddhism and prognostication. I was driven to undertake a deeper investigation of this text due to the fact that it demonstrates, in a lucid, exemplary manner, the inventive implementation of the mantic arts and omen literature into a Buddhist process of karma purification. While the first chapter of the sūtra concentrates on describing the practice of dicing, karma evaluation, and repentance itself, the second chapter is dedicated to philosophical deliberations on Mahāyāna philosophy, whose connections to the first chapter as well as to the Awakening of Faith (Dasheng Qixin Lun 大乘起信論) have been discussed in the past. The study provides an annotated translation and traces the cultural history of this individual ritual practice up to the present time.

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