དཔལ་གྱ་སྡའ་རྟགས་པ་བརྗད་པ intro.16

intro.16

Along with the content of these texts—their symbols, language, and narratives—the form of gift-of-the-body stories is also similar. Most of them follow the standard avadāna narrative structure, beginning with the Buddha teaching monks and concluding with the Buddha explaining who the people in the story famously became, typically the Buddha himself and his closest disciples. By way of this framing narrative, the Buddha emphasizes the importance of giving wisely—giving, that is, because the bodhisattva sees saṃsāra for what it is: unsatisfactory, impermanent, and empty of selves. The Buddha-as-narrator then reappears throughout the tale to remind his audience of monks of the importance of the altruistic deed that is about to be performed, thus repeatedly reinforcing the moral of the story.