Posted on

Sun, ‘Newly transcribed Dharanis in Xixia’ (2010)

孙伯君 (著) 《西夏新译佛经陀罗尼的对音研究》 中国社会科学出版社 2010-05-01

Sūn Bójūn. Xī​xià xīnyì Fó​jīng​ Duó​luó​ní de duìyīn yán​jiū [Researches on the newly transcribed Dharanis in Xixia]. Beijing: China Social Sciences Press, 196 pp. 2010. ISBN 9787500488903.

Brief Contents

第一章 几种西夏新译汉文佛经陀罗尼材料
第一节 宝源译《胜相顶尊总持功能依经录》、《圣观自在大悲心总持功能依经录》
一 考述
二 “尊胜陀罗尼”的梵汉对音
三 “大悲心陀罗尼”的梵、藏、汉对音

第二节 八思巴字注音本《密咒圆因往生集》
一 考述
二 《密咒圆因往生集》的梵、八思巴、汉对音

第三节 元代藏经中的西夏译本辑考
一 西夏陀罗尼对音的用字特点
二 释智译《圣妙吉祥真实名经》为西夏译本
三 《圣妙吉祥真实名经》中陀罗尼的梵汉对音
四 真智译《佛说大白伞盖总持陀罗尼经》为西夏译本
五 《佛说大白伞盖总持陀罗尼经》中陀罗尼的梵汉对音

Posted on

Zotter & Zotter, ‘Initiations in India & Nepal’ (2010)

Hindu and Buddhist Initiations in NepalAstrid Zotter and Christof Zotter (eds). Hindu and Buddhist initiations in India and Nepal. Ethno-Indology, v.10. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2010. 380 p. ISBN 9783447063876. [worldcat/Lehmanns]

The contributors to this volume are from different academic disciplines and treat examples of both kinds of rituals in various religious settings. Of special interest in this collection of essays are interrelationships among initiations and their relations to other kinds of rituals. The papers are devoted to the study of minute details and point to the dynamics of initiations. The transfer of ritual elements accompanied by readjustments to new contexts as the modification of procedures or the reassignment of meanings is one of the recurring traits. Other aspects addressed by the authors include the relation of script (ritual handbooks) to performance or various forces of change (e.g. the economics of ritual, gender-related variations, modernization and democratization). Continue reading “Zotter & Zotter, ‘Initiations in India & Nepal’ (2010)”

Posted on

Knutson, ‘Literary registers in the world of the Senas’ (2009)

Knutson, Jesse. The consolidation of literary registers in the world of the Senas and the beginning of its afterlife: Sanskrit and Bengali social poetics, 12th–14th century. PhD diss., University of Chicago, 2009. [PDF]

Some interesting insights here on the genesis of the Caryāpada, with reference to the period’s “song-poetry” of Baḍu Caṇḍīdās.

Posted on

12th c. Buddhist cave found in East Java

A 12th-century meditation cave with Buddhist sculptures was recently discovered (or rather publicised) near the hamlet of Jireg in East Java. It seems that its contents have already been looted. There is little information about how the dating was reached (the few available images are of the Majapahit style). Offerings appear to have been regularly made by pilgrims.

The Buddhist affiliation of the site is similarly not made clear in news reports. But then there is mention of the “1,500 Buddhists in Bondowoso” — a surviving village of Majapahit Buddhists? Fascinating.

It is predictable that comment on this find fell automatically to Theravādin groups, who of course have no connection whatsoever to the Majapahit era or any other aspect of Indonesia’s Buddhist heritage.

* In other news, Burmese Theravādin monks recently released their hostages.