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Miksic (2019/1/29), What more can archaeology tell us about Singapore’s past?

John N. Miksic. 29 January 2019. ‘What More Can Archaeology Tell Us About Singapore’s Past?’ Lecture in the series ‘1819 and Before: Singapore’s Pasts’, commemorating Singapore’s bicentennial anniversary. ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, Singapore. [official info]

John Miksic National Library Singapore
John Miksic speaking at the National Library, Singapore. November 2018.

Abstract
This month marks the 35th anniversary of Singapore’s first archaeological excavation and the 200th anniversary of the arrival of the British under Sir T.S. Raffles. Since then, over half a million artefacts have been recovered from Singapore. These cover two periods: the Temasek era (14th to 16th century) and the Singapore era (1819-present). The artefacts from these excavations have succeeded in proving that Singapore had a sophisticated multicultural society and complex economy before 1350. Continue reading “Miksic (2019/1/29), What more can archaeology tell us about Singapore’s past?”

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Tanaka (2018), Mañjuvajramukhyākhyāna

Tanaka, Kimiaki (田中公明). 2018. Mañjuvajramukhyākhyāna: Introduction, Romanized Sanskrit Text and Related Articles (Bonbun monju kongō kuden kenkyū 梵文「文殊金剛口伝」研究). Tokyo: Watanabeshuppan 渡辺出版, 2018.

Mañjuvajramukhyākhyāna

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McKeown (2018), Śāriputra and the End of Late Indian Buddhism

Arthur McKeown. 2018/6/30. Guardian of a Dying Flame: Śāriputra (c. 1335–1426) and the End of Late Indian Buddhism. Harvard Oriental Series 89. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 450 pp. ISBN 9780674984356. USD 50.00. [official site]

From the Abstract: This study describes later Indian Buddhism through a detailed examination of the life of Śāriputra (c. 1335–1426), the last known abbot of the Bodhgayā Mahāvihāra, whose very presence extends Indian Buddhism by two centuries. This work also provides a view into the legacy of Indian Buddhism in fifteenth-century Nepal, Tibet, and China. Continue reading “McKeown (2018), Śāriputra and the End of Late Indian Buddhism”

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Trần, Võ & Sharrock eds. (2018), Vibrancy in Stone

Vibrancy in StoneTrần Kỳ Phương, Võ Văn Thắng, Peter D. Sharrock (eds), Paisarn Piemmettawat (photographs). Vibrancy in Stone: Masterpieces of the Đà Nẵng Museum of Cham Sculpture. Bangkok: River Books. 288 pp. + 324 photographs. ISBN 978 616 7339 99 3. 2,000.00 ฿ (within Thailand). [official site] [official launch] [co-editor Peter D. Sharrock: academia.edu]

Description
The collection of the Đà Nẵng Museum of Cham Sculpture, mostly in sandstone, was gathered from the Champa monuments that were collapsed covered by dense tropical flora for centuries. Only in the late 19th century did the ruined mounds began to attract collectors of antiquities and researchers of cultural heritage. The large undertaking of surveying, recording, clearing and scientifically excavating them took place in the first thirty years of the 20th century, when sculptures from this hitherto little studied culture began to be transferred to the Đà Nẵng Museum of Cham Sculpture, then referred to as the ‘Musée Čam’ or ‘Musée de Tourane’. Continue reading “Trần, Võ & Sharrock eds. (2018), Vibrancy in Stone”

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McGrath (2017), Buddhism and Medicine in Tibet

William McGrath. 2017. ‘Buddhism and Medicine in Tibet: Origins, Ethics, and Tradition’. PhD diss., University of Virginia. 264 pp. DOI:10.18130/V39H1N [PDF]

From the Abstract: Primarily focusing on the literary contributions made by the Drangti family at the Sakya Medical House, the present dissertation demonstrates the process in which the Tibetan medical tradition transitioned from controversy, competition, and change, to a narratively unified set of theories and practices that came to be taught at Buddhist institutions throughout the Tibetan plateau. Continue reading “McGrath (2017), Buddhism and Medicine in Tibet”

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The Richard R. & Magdalena Ernst Collection of Himalayan Art (2018)

The Richard R. & Magdalena Ernst Collection of Himalayan Art. Auction, 22 March 2018, 10:00 AM EDT, Sotheby’s New York. Sale Number N09800. (Part of Asia Week New York.) [official site] [PDF]

Note: This extraordinary collection contains Nepalese paintings that have received little attention or that are otherwise significant. For instance, Lot 907 (below) is identified as a painted icon of Buddhakapāla (?), which would make it the only one known in Nepal.

Buddhakapāla couple (? supplied identification) with four yoginīs and donors, Nepal, early 19th c., Sotheby’s Sale N09800 Lot 907
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Hua (2016), Buddhist Printing in China under Mongol Rule

Hua, Kaiqi. 2016. The White Cloud Movement: Local Activism and Buddhist Printing in China under Mongol Rule (1276-1368 CE). PhD diss., University of California, Merced. 379 pp. [official repo: escholarship.org/uc/item/2w7452q0] [PDF] [author: academia.edu]

Puning canon mantras
Hua 2016:201 Fig.2, mantras transliterated in ‘Phags pa script in the Puning canon 普寧藏本 [beginning: ꡳꡝ ꡋꡏꡡ ꡎꡁꡓꡊꡠ…]

From the Abstract: This dissertation studies the White Cloud movement in Song- and Yuan-era Jiangnan. […] The movement was mostly led by local laymen rather than monks. Its wealth and reputation peaked with the production of a Buddhist canon during the reign of Khubilai Khan (1276-1294), who provided direct patronage. […] Continue reading “Hua (2016), Buddhist Printing in China under Mongol Rule”

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Richardson (2016), Murals at Shalu

Richardson, Sarah Aoife. 2016. ‘Painted Books for Plaster Walls: Visual Words in the Fourteenth-century Murals at the Tibetan Buddhist Temple of Shalu.’ PhD diss., University of Toronto. 271+146+186 pp. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/1807/73147.

From the Abstract: Elaborate mural paintings made after a major renovation of the temple in the early fourteenth century included long Tibetan inscriptions, displaying sometimes large passages of Tibetan sacred texts as part of their communicative pictorial program. By variously projecting books onto the walls, the temple’s abbot, Butön Rinchen Drup (Bu ston rin chen ‘grub, 1290-1364) placed new textual collections, inherently scholastic and elite projects, assertively into a more public domain.