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Fontein, ‘The Gaṇḍavyūha reliefs of Borobudur’ (2012)

Jan Fontein. Entering the Dharmadhātu: A study of the Gaṇḍavyūha reliefs of Borobudur. Studies in Asian Art and Archaeology 26. Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2012. ~240 pp. ISBN-13: 978-9004211223. €125. [official site]

From the Abstract

Entering the Dharmadhātu compares the complete set of panels with three early Chinese translations of Central Asian and Indian Sanskrit manuscripts of the Gaṇḍavyūha. This first identification of the entire series in English concludes with a discussion of the new perspectives on the meaning, symbolism, and architecture of Borobudur that a reading of the Gaṇḍavyūha suggests.

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Book of the Year: ‘Hardships and Downfall of Buddhism’

Giovanni Verardi (appendices by Federica Barba). Hardships and Downfall of Buddhism in India. Nalanda-Sriwijaya Series 4. Delhi/Singapore: Manohar & Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2011. 523 pp.

Not a very catchy title, but I doubt that something more direct (say, The Hindu Extermination of Buddhism) would have been very appealing to Singapore’s Nalanda-Sriwijaya Centre, the book’s publisher.

This book is an extraordinary achievement, all the more so for it relying only indirectly, for the most part, on scriptural and epigraphic sources. Verardi’s contribution is based on something at least as useful: first-hand observation of the key sites and remains, clearly articulated in terms of long-term patterns. It is by far one of the most important contributions to the study of Buddhism in India published in a long time — though I don’t agree with everything in it, by any means. (Given the chance, I will expand on that later.) The omission of any discussion of the Theravādins’ catastrophic role, painstakingly explained in Peter Schalk’s 2002 Buddhism among Tamils volumes, has to be regarded as particularly puzzling — at least until one sees Peter Skilling’s name in the acknowledgements. But let me be clear: Verardi, who has pursued his line of inquiry for over three decades, has succeeded in making sense out of a slew of data in a way that is unlikely to be bettered for some time.

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Gutschow, ‘Architecture of the Newars’ (2011)

Niels Gutschow. Architecture of the Newars: A History of Building Typologies and Details in Nepal. 3 volumes. Serindia, November 2011. 1030 pp. USD$450 (excluding postage). ISBN 978-1-932476-54-5 [official site]

From the Abstract

Architecture of the Newars by Niels Gutschow presents the entire history of architecture in the Valley of Kathmandu and its neighbours over a period of 1,500 years — right up to the present. It is a rare tribute to an urban culture which has preserved fascinating lifestyles to this very day. Gutschow first travelled to Nepal in 1962, returning in 1970 after reading architecture, and has constantly worked since then on the connections between ritual and the city. Since 1980 he has worked with measured drawings to identify the various building typologies, which are documented in three volumes with 862 photos and 939 drawings.

Buddhist monasteries (bāhā, bahī); Gutschow (2011:707, 724)

The first volume presents the complexity of the sacred landscape of the Valley and the urban context as well as the early periods, Buddhist votive structures (caityas), architectural fragments and temples from the early periods (5th–14th century). The second volume presents the Malla period (1350–1769) with a host of drawings documenting caityas, maths, tiered temples, shrines and monasteries. The third volume presents the modern period with temples and palaces of the Shaha kings and the Ranas; a variety of new caitya types; domestic architecture of the early 20th century; modern architecture and urban planning. The final chapter presents selected architectural details populated by airborne spirits in a transcultural perspective.

[preview]

Update: Book signing by the author at Vajra Books, Kathmandu, 2pm 14 December 2011.

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Kittay, ‘Interpreting the Vajra Rosary’ (2011)

David R. Kittay. ‘Interpreting the Vajra Rosary: Truth and Method Meets Wisdom and Method’. PhD diss., Columbia University, 2011. xxii+820 pp. ISBN: 9781124782362. ProQuest document ID: 2428776231.

Abstract

This essay, accompanied by the first full English translation of the Vajramālā or Vajra Rosary, one of the explanatory Tantras of the Buddhist Guhyasamāja, or Secret Community, Tantric system, and a partial translation of Alaṃkakalaśa’s Commentary, sets out a novel hermeneutic method by which twenty-first century scholars of religion might approach the interpretation of the Tantra and other texts.

Add a punctuation mark to improve this paragraph (p.783).
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Acri, van der Meij (2011): Two Indonesian Buddhism reviews

Two recommended review essays:

Andrea Acri. ‘Alternative approaches to eighth-century Central Javanese Buddhist architecture’. Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- end Volkenkunde 167, No. 2-3 (2011), pp.313-321. [abstract/PDF]

Dick van der Meij. ‘Kakawin Sutasoma and Kakawin Nāgara Kṛtāgama’. Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- end Volkenkunde 167, No. 2-3 (2011), pp.322-332. [abstract/PDF]

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Sakuma, ‘Lokeśvara in Indian Tantric Buddhism’ (2011)

佐久間 留理子 『インド密教の観自在研究』 山喜房佛書林 10.5.2011 A5 17,000円

Sakuma, Ruriko. Indo Mikkyō no Kanjizai Kenkyū [*Studies on Avalokiteśvara in Indian Tantric Buddhism]. Tokyo: Sankibo Busshorin, 2011. 620 pp. ISBN 978-4-7963-0015-5.

Contents (目次)
第１部

研究目的、及び、研究対象の成立背景
　１）研究目的と先行研究
　２）成就法の成立背景
　３）観自在の展開

第１章　文献学的研究
　１）研究目的と先行研究
　２）『サーダナ．マーラー』のサンスクリット写本
　３）バッタチャルヤ校訂本とサンスクリット写本と関係

第２章　図像学的研究
　１）観自在の種類
　２）聖観自在のタイプ
　３）密教的聖観自在のタイプ

第３章　宗教実践方法の研究
　１）成就法の構造
　２）成就法における二種の映像
　３）身体技法としての成就法
結論

第２部

翻訳研究
略号
1 ローカナータ（世門主）成就法
2 カサルパナ（空行）世自在成就法
3 ヴァジュラダルマ（金剛法）成就法
4 シャダクシャリー（六字）世自在成就法
5 シンハナーダ（獅子吼）世自在成就法
6 ニーラカンタ（青頸）聖観自在成就法
7 ハーラーハラ世自在成就法
8 パドマナルッテーシュヴァラ（蓮華舞自在）成就法
9 ハリハリハリヴァーハナ生起成就法
10 トラーイロークヤヴァシャンカラ（三界制御)世自在成就法、及び、トラーイロークヤヴァシャンカラ（三界制御)の教えのブグマ世自在成就法
11 ラクタ（赤）世自在成就法
12 ローケーシュヴァラ（世自在）敬愛儀軌
13 マーヤージャーラクラマ（幻化網次第）観自在
14 供養を伴うマーシャムカの陀羅尼
15 スガティサンダルシャナ（善趣示現）世自在
16 プレータサンタルピタ世自在成就法
17 スカーヴァティー(極楽）世自在成就法

作例表
（Ａ）聖観自在のタイプ
(A.1) ローカナータ（世門主)
(A.2) カサルパナ(空行)世自在
(A.3) ヴァジュラダルマ（金剛法）

（Ｂ）密教的観自在のタイプ
(B.1) シャダクシャリー（六字）世自在
(B.2) シンハナーダ（獅子吼）世自在
(B.3) ニーラカンタ（青頸）聖観自在
(B.4) ハーラーハラ世自在
(B.5) パドマナルッテーシュヴァラ（蓮華舞自在）
(B.6) ハリハリハリヴァーハナ世自在
(B.7) トラーイロークヤヴァシャンカラ　(三界制御)世自在
(B.8) ラクタ（赤）世自在
(B.9) マーヤージャーラクラマ（幻化網）観自在
(B.10) スガティサンダルシャナ（善趣示現）世自在
(B.11) プレータサンタルピタ世自在
(B.12) スカーヴァティー（極楽）世自在

参考文献
あとがき
索引

Nīlakaṇṭha (Sakuma 2011:150‒151)
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Liland, ‘The transmission of the Bodhicaryāvatāra’ (2009)

Fredrik Liland. ‘The transmission of the Bodhicaryāvatāra: The history, diffusion, and influence of a Mahāyāna Buddhist text’. M.A. thesis, Universitetet i Oslo, 2009. [official site/PDF] Supervised by Jens E. Braarvig.

From the Abstract

The thesis is concerned with the 7th Century Mahāyāna Buddhist text Bodhicaryāvatāra (BCA) and its significance as a vehicle for cultural exchange. We trace its history in India and beyond, from its proposed author Śāntideva’s hand, its contemporary influence in India, and its impact in the lands—Nepal, Tibet, China, Mongolia, and beyond—and languages—Sanskrit, Newari, Tibetan, Chinese, Mongolian, and others—where it travelled. The nature of its influence has varied with the times and places where it has found itself, but in all instances it received a prominent place of canonical status, and was mostly revered.
[…]
The BCA has received quite a lot of attention in modern scholarship since the first publication of a critical Sanskrit edition by Minayev in 1889. A large number of new manuscripts of the text have surfaced since then, and a separate chapter is dedicated to philological concerns and the dire need for a new and updated version that will take into account also the new knowledge we now have of the text[‘]s history. A mostly unnoticed commentary, the Bodhicaryāvatāra-ṭippaṇi, also receives i[t]s long overdue attention in this chapter.

Liland’s thesis presents a long over due bibliographically-oriented update to scholarship on the Bodhicaryāvatāra. Two other scholars are said to have been recently working on a critical edition of the text: Daniel Stender and Richard Mahoney. I do not know whether either are proceeding.

One stand-out feature of Liland’s thesis is the attention it pays to Nepalese sources and translations in the Newar (“Newari”) language, which, as regular readers know, are routinely neglected in Buddhist studies, notwithstanding the fact that they originate in direct contact with the Sanskrit original in a South Asian Buddhist setting. Despite this unusual but welcome development, I can point to at least three areas of further improvement:

  1. “Ratna Bahādur Vajrācārya (1893-1955), of whom not much is known” (p.92): in fact, at least four (mostly short) biographies of this outstanding figure are in print, including a dedicated and independently published treatment by Manish Shakya.
  2. No mention of (the many) translations into South Asian vernaculars; here’s one in Nepali. Not all such translations were done from Sanskrit, but some have been.
  3. No reference to manuscripts in private or recently documented collections.

Continue reading “Liland, ‘The transmission of the Bodhicaryāvatāra’ (2009)”

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Hannotte, ‘Sadyojyoti’ (1987); Borody, ‘Bhogakārikā’ (1988)

Two dissertations on the eighth-century Śaiva author Sadyojyoti, both supervised by Krishna Sivaraman, have recently become available online at McMaster University:

Leon E. Hannotte. Philosophy of God in Kashmir Śaiva Dualism: Sadyojyoti and His Commentators. PhD Diss., McMaster University, 1987. Open Dissertations and Theses, Paper 2089. [abstract & pdf]

Wayne Andrew Borody. The Doctrine of Empirical Consciousness in the Bhoga Kārikā. PhD Diss., McMaster University, 1988. Open Dissertations and Theses, Paper 2073. [abstract & PDF]

For students of late Indian Buddhism, Sadyojyoti is a person of interest, given his advocacy of epistemes such as the sākārajñānavāda / nirākārajñānavāda dyad, which was already known to Kamalaśīla, as well as to some later Buddhist authors.

Hannotte’s dissertation was published by the National Library of Canada in 1989, and as F. S. kindly pointed out to me, Borody’s dissertation finally came out with Motilal Banarsidass in 2005. Nonetheless, it is handy to be able to freely access both dissertations.