Badrīratna, ‘Dharmasaṃgrahabhāṣya’ (2005)

Nareśamāna Vajrācārya (ed.) Badrīratnakṛtabhāṣyopetaḥ Nāgārjunapādaviracitaḥ Dharmasaṃgrahaḥ. Prathamo bhāgaḥ. Kathmandu: Tri-Ratna Publication, 1126 NS [2005]. 222 pp. Rs 250.

This first volume of a presumably two-volume Sanskrit commentary on Nāgārjunapāda’s Dharmasaṅgraha is by Badrīratna Vajrācārya, a self-styled leader of the Kathmandu Vajrācārya community. As far as I can tell, not much of the text is Badrī’s original contribution, the remainder having been quoted without change, correction or comment from various Indian editions of Sanskrit texts.

On p.XXII, the editor, Dr. Naresh Man Bajracharya, repeatedly describes Nāgārjuna the Mādhyamika as a “Hīnayāni” author. Astonishingly, Dr. Bajracharya at the present time is Head of Tribhuvan University’s Buddhist Studies programme, who claims that his “teaching in Nepal and abroad are well received” (cf. back cover).

Tanaka, ‘Maṇḍala Graphics’ (2007)


田中公明 『曼荼羅グラフィクス』 山川出版社 (April 10, 2007)
¥2940. ISBN 978-4-634-64026-9

Contains digital reconstructions of mandalas from the Vajrāvalī and the Mi tra brgya tsa. A version in English is forthcoming.

Tachikawa, ‘The sacred and the profane’

立川武蔵(著者)『聖なるもの俗なるもの、ブッディスト・セオロジー(1)』 講談社 2006. 1,575円 ISBN:4-06-258357-7

(Tachikawa, Musashi. *The sacred and the profane: Buddhist Theology I. Tokyo: Kodansha, 10 March 2006. 203 pp.)

第1章 ブッディスト・セオロジー(仏教の神学)
第2章 宗教行為と時間
第3章 「聖なる」空間と時間
第4章 「聖なるもの」と「俗なるもの」
第5章 宗教における現状認識
第6章 宗教と社会
第7章 葬送儀礼における時間
第8章 死者の文化的意味
第9章 龍樹の救済論
第10章 タントリズムの構造

“Is it possible for religions to have a pluralistic coexistence [多元的共存]?
Announcing Buddhist Theology, a challenging lecture series!

Getting down to business: what is the purpose of religion — Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism? Although the articulation of an afterlife [異なる世界] is a starting point, to be sustainable [伝達可能] beyond that requires the construction of a syncretic belief-system [整合的な知の体系], made possible by conforming to a theological methodology. Enquiring after ‘the Sacred’, a leading academic in Buddhist Studies begins his ambitious lectures!”

[my rough translation of blurb.]

Prof. Tachikawa, incidentally, is one of the first scholars to have seriously studied Newar tantric Buddhism and its art.