Li, Xuezhu. ‘Madhyamakāvatāra-kārikā’. China Tibetology no.1, 2012, pp.1–16.
Slightly late news, but then this publication doesn’t seem to have been mentioned anywhere else (or brought to my attention) by anyone named in the acknowledgements. That isn’t too surprising, though. One of the three other publications mentioned by the author is an edition of Vasubandhu’s “Viṃśatikākārikā” (p.2), yet one of the nominal collaborators has established back in 2008 that this text should properly be titled Viṃśikā. Continue reading “Li, Madhyamakāvatāra 6.1–97 (2012)”
मीन बहादुर शाक्य जु हिरण्यवर्णमहाविहार (क्वा बाहा) अवस्थित, यल जन्म मिति— ने. सं. १०७१ (वि. सं. माघ ४, २००७) दिवंगत मिति— ने. सं. ११३२ (वि. सं. आश्विन २, २०६९)
Anshuman Pandey. ‘Proposal to Encode the Siddham Script in ISO/IEC 10646’. ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2 N4294 L2/12-234R. PDF. 2012/08/01.
Mr. Pandey’s proposal – now no longer preliminary – promises to fill yet another gaping hole in the standard encoding of important Indic scripts. Now would be an appropriate time to comment, if you haven’t already commented.
(I would hope, at minimum, for the addition of a full set of ten digits in the final proposal. Often such basics fall through the gaps because the corpus of readily available primary material is so limited. Here‘s a nice “7-8th century” bilingual manuscript with a varṇamālā (no digits, though) which is both in good condition and readable online, thanks to the care of its Japanese custodians. Incidentally, this clearly confirms that two of the “Punctuation and ornaments” in Pandey’s Fig. 33 are ornamental final anusvāra [अं字].)
Comments should be emailed to Anshuman Pandey, whose address is given in the N4294 proposal (link above) and at the bottom of his personal website (link).
Li, Shenghai 李勝海 [academia.edu]. ‘Candrakīrti’s Āgama: A Study of the Concept and Uses of Scripture in Classical Indian Buddhism’. PhD diss., University of Madison-Wisconsin, 2012. 311 pp.
From the Abstract
This dissertation examines scripture as a concept and the various roles that authoritative Buddhist texts play as such in the intellectual history of Buddhism. While it considers what Buddhist authors explicitly speak about scripture, the project brings into focus the recorded uses of authoritative texts, with an interest in discovering intellectual practices and learning about the management and transmission of knowledge. The main source materials of this study consist of instances of scriptural references found in the scholastic and commentarial works of several influential Indian and Tibetan authors, all of whom are connected with the pivotal figure of Candrakīrti (ca. 570-640), whose major writings lie at the center of the investigation. […]
Highlighting a keen awareness of the problem of reifying reason displayed by certain Buddhist writers from the Madhyamaka School of thought, the dissertation argues more specifically that the Buddhist scholastic tradition is cognizant of the hermeneutical condition of understanding and of reason’s contingency upon language, context, and tradition.
This and other abhivinaya jocularity to be found in:
Seishi KARASHIMA unter Mitwirkung von Oskar von Hinüber. Die Abhisamācārikā Dharmāḥ Verhaltensregeln für buddhistische Mönche der Mahāsāṃghika-Lokottaravādins
herausgegeben, mit der chinesischen Parallelversion verglichen, übersetzt und kommentiert. Bibliotheca Philologica et Philosophica Buddhica Volume XIII.1, 2, 3 (Grammatik und Glossar). Tokyo: International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology, Soka University, 2012. ISBN 978-4-904234-05-1 [PDF flyer fixed]
Nancy Grace Lin. ‘Adapting the Buddha’s Biographies: A Cultural History of the Wish-Fulfilling Vine in Tibet, Seventeenth to Eighteenth Centuries’. PhD diss., University of California at Berkeley, 2011. 319 pp. ISBN 9781267228482, ProQuest ID 928450843.
From the Abstract
The Wish-Fulfilling Vine of Bodhisattva Avadānas (Skt. Bodhisattvāvadānakalpalatā, Tb. Byang chub sems dpa’i rtogs pa brjod pa dpag bsam gyi ’khri shing) by Kṣemendra is an eleventh-century Sanskrit anthology of stories about the previous existences of the Buddha and his disciples, along with events from the Buddha’s final life. Translated into Tibetan circa 1270 and incorporated into the Tibetan Buddhist canon, by the seventeenth century the Vine occupied a place of high prestige in Tibet. I argue that adaptations of the Vine—condensed literary digests, paintings, and woodcuts—constitute sophisticated forms of commentary that reveal the ingenuity and concerns of their producers. […]
In Chapter One I trace how the Fifth Dalai Lama (1617-1682) and his court popularized the Vine through public instruction, paintings, and literary activities. These conspicuously cultured displays promoted renewed interest in Sanskrit and the Indic origins of Buddhism, while contributing to broader projects of knowledge production and state-building. In Chapter Two I demonstrate how the lay Pho lha dynasty (r. 1728-1750) appropriated the Vine, sponsoring two large-scale multimedia productions while developing models for lay kingship and patronage. In Chapter Three I argue that Si tu Paṇ chen Chos kyi ’byung gnas (1700-1774), an influential monk of Sde dge in eastern Tibet, articulated his vision of the ideal monastic through the design of Vine paintings and other literary and visual productions on the Buddha’s life. In Chapter Four I study Zhu chen Tshul khrims rin chen (1697-1774), court chaplain of Sde dge, and his work on the Vine as commentaries on cultural production.
Nice to see some respect for Mañjuśrī in a journal on Indian Logic:
Rolf W. Giebel. ‘The One Hundred and Eight Names of Mañjuśrī: The Sanskrit Version of the Mañjuśrīkumārabhūta-aṣṭottaraśatakanāma Based on Sino-Japanese Sources’. Indian Logic 3 [インド論理学研究 第Ⅲ号], 2011 [平成23 年11 月30 日], pp.303–345.
Someone please tell me that this isn’t simply the CBETA e-text pasted alongside the DSBC e-text, printed out and slapped between a cover? Even priced at 88 Yuan (currently less than USD$14), that would be still worth less than the paper it’s printed on:
黄宝生(译注/作者) 《梵汉对勘入楞伽经》 中国社会科学出版社 ISBN 9787500496267 88.00元 600千字
Huang, Baosheng. Fàn-Hàn duì kān Rù léngjiā jīng [Sanskrit-Chinese* collation of the Laṅkāvatāra-sūtra]. Beijing: China Social Sciences Press, 2011. 765 pp. [official site]
Fan, Muyou. Advayasamatāvijaya: A Study Based upon the Sanskrit Manuscript Found in Tibet. Series of Sanskrit Manuscripts & Buddhist Literature 2. Shanghai: Zhongxi Book Company. 10+356+13 pp. 2011. ISBN 978-7-5475-0303-4. [English introduction]
(Via RISM)
Nice to see this new publication. Pardon me, though, if part of it seems just a little too familiar. Compare page 4ff of the front matter, on the parallels between the opening of the Advayasamatāvijaya (missing in Fan’s Sanskrit MS) and the STTS, presented as the author’s own work:
with the beginning of a document prepared for Dr. Fan in 2008:
