The sutta on the "Incredible and Amazing" features of the Buddha is the key source for the story of his marvelous birth. It is a strange and problematic sutta for many reasons that we will get into in this video.

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✅ Sutta mentioned:
https://suttacentral.net/mn123/en/sujato

✅ Secondary materials:
Scholar Piya Tan's essay: https://www.themindingcentre.org/dhar...

Bhikkhu Anālayo, A Comparative Study of the Majjhima-nikāya, Vol. 2: https://www.buddhismuskunde.uni-hambu...

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Baby Buddha picture courtesy DuongNgoc-HoangPhapPagoda on Pixabay.

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00:00 Intro
00:25 Outline of the Acchariya Abbhuta Sutta
02:55 Difficulties with the sutta: Piya Tan and Chinese parallel
03:50 Introduction of a Bodhisattva vow
05:06 The story of the Buddha’s birth
06:45 Difficulties with other aspects of early dharma
10:02 One potential reconstruction of the textual history

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