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Luo Hong, Kālidāsa’s Ṛtusaṃhāra (2010) & Meghadūta (2011)

迦梨陀娑 (著), 罗鸿 (汉文译著), 拉先加 (藏文译注) 〈迦梨陀娑《时令之环》汉藏译注与研究〉 中国藏学出版社 39元

Kālidāsa; Hong Luo (Ch. tr); Lha Byams rgyal (Tib. ed. & tr.). Jiālítuósuō “Shí​lìng zhī huán” Hàn-Zàng yìzhù​ yǔ​ yán​jiū [Kālidāsa’s Ṛtusaṃhāram: Annotated translation and study in Chinese & Tibetan]. Beijing: China Tibetology Publishing House, December 2010. ISBN 978-7-80253-294-6. [official site]

《时令之环》

迦梨陀娑(著), 罗鸿 (译者)〈云使〉北京大学出版社 29元

Kālidāsa; Hong Luo (Ch. tr). Yún​shǐ [Meghadūtam]. Beijing: Peking University Press, June 2011. ISBN 978-7-301-18795-1. [official site]

《云使》
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Steinkellner, ‘News from the Manuscript Department’ (2011)

Old news for most:

Steinkellner, Ernst. ‘Opening speech: News from the manuscript department.’ In Krasser, Lasic, Franco & Kellner (eds)., Religion and Logic in Buddhist Philosophical Analysis: Proceedings of the Fourth International Dharmakīrti Conference, Vienna, August 23–27, 2005. Beiträge zur Kultur- und Geistesgeschichte Asiens Nr. 69. Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2011, pp.xvii–xxi. [PDF]

Briefly: the author of the Hetubinduṭīkātātparyavyākhyā (2d, p.xx), “a certain Jayabhadra (?)” is quite unlikely to have been “a scholar belonging to Nepalese royalty”; this would be unprecedented. At least one tantric commentary by an ācārya called Jayabhadra was preserved in Nepal, and I suppose it is not out of the question that this person had access to Bhaṭṭa Arcaṭa’s commentary, but I am unaware of any reference to him holding the post of rājaguru (a title which was not unknown in India).

Locating the original material doesn’t seem to be high on the agenda: “as of September 2007 the result has been: Nothing. (By the end of 2010: still no changes)” (p.xxi n.9). This is a surprising statement. On the one hand, the collaborators are accused, implicitly, of ineptitude; on the other, it is an admission that ‘our side’ cannot improve anything. Time to end the monopoly and hand the baton to someone who can get the job done.

Then there is the mention of several (Sanskrit?) pramāṇa texts on “Bhutanese paper”, p.xx, which also sounds weird.

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Li, ‘The 13th-century monk U rgyan pa Rin chen dpal’ (2011)

Brenda W. L. Li. ‘A critical study of the life of the 13th-century Tibetan monk U rgyan pa Rin chen dpal based on his biographies’. D.Phil dissertation, Oxford University. 2011. [official site]

From the Abstract

U rgyan pa Rin chen dpal (1230–1309) was a great adept of the bKa’ brgyud school of Tibetan Buddhism, particularly renowned for his knowledge of the Kālacakra tantra and the unique teaching known as the Approach and Attainment of the Three Vajras (rDo rje gsum gyi bsnyen sgrub), said to have been given to him in his vision by Vajrayoginī (rDo rje rnal ‘byor ma) in the Miraculous Land (sprul pa’i zhing) of U rgyan. He was the student of the 2nd Karma pa, who entrusted him with the Black Hat, which he passed to the 3rd Karma pa. He was also a great traveller who journeyed widely across and beyond Tibet. He met Qubilai Khan in the capital of Yuan China and visited sacred Buddhist sites in South India. He has been aptly described by van der Kuijp as “the great Tibetan yogi, thaumaturge, scholar, alchemist, and traveler”.

Thanks to the availability of a large amount of hitherto unknown materials from eleven biographies, the thesis has put considerable weight on the bibliographical comparison and analysis of the different works in an attempt to establish the possible relationship between them.

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Kwan, ‘From Abhidharma to Pramāṇa School’ (2010)

Kwan, Siu-Tong. ‘From Abhidharma to Pramāṇa School: A Critical Hermeneutics of their Epistemology and Philosophy of Language’. PhD dissertation, University of Hong Kong, 2010. 258 pp. [official site / PDF]

From the Abstract

This thesis attempts to trace the continuous philosophical developments, if any, from the Abhidharma to Pramāṇa thoughts.

Notable Quotation

Hattori’s […] precise exposition of those passages and phrases had, in fact, greatly relieved us from the hardship of reading Dignāga’s thought.
[p.18]

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Luo Hong, Buddhakapālatantra & Abhayapaddhati 9–14 (2010)

May it be auspicious:

Luo, Hong 罗鸿 (ed. & tr.). The Buddhakapālatantra, Chapters 9 to 14. Sanskrit Texts from the Tibetan Autonomous Region 11. Hamburg & Beijing: Asien-Afrika-Institut & China Tibetology Research Center, 2010. lxi+249 pp. ISBN 978-7-80253-188-8.

Luo, Hong 罗鸿 (ed. & tr.). Abhayākaragupta’s Abhayapaddhati, Chapters 9 to 14. Sanskrit Texts from the Tibetan Autonomous Region 14. Hamburg & Beijing: Asien-Afrika-Institut & China Tibetology Research Center, 2010. xxxiii+130 pp. ISBN 978-7-80253-309-7.

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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

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Meinert, ‘Buddha in der Jurte’, forthcoming (2011)

Meinert (2011), Buddha in der JurteCarmen Meinert (ed.) with contributions from Andrey Terentyev. Buddha in der Jurte: Buddhistische Kunst aus der Mongolei (Buddha in the Yurt: Buddhist Art from Mongolia). Hirmer Verlag, forthcoming (October 2011). “~750” pp., ~550 Illus. ISBN: 978-3-7774-4231-0.

Official Description
As Buddhist art reached 17th Century Mongolia, it became an established element in the life of believers. These volumes show a representative selection of exquisite objects from a singular private collection and reflect the range of influences from Tibet to the Manchurian Qing dynasty.

[Multi-volume set; to be published in English/Russian and German/Mongolian]

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Wei, ‘Dhyāna-samāpatti in Sarvāstivāda Abhidharma’ (2011)

惟善 （著） 《说一切有部之禅定论研究——以梵文《俱舍论》及其梵汉注释为基础》 中國人民大學出版社 2011

Wei, Shan. Shuì​shuō​ yī​qiè​yǒu​bù​ zhī​ chán​dìng​lùn​ yán​jiū​: yǐ​ Fàn​wén​ ‘Jù​shè​lún​’ jí​qí​ Fàn​-Hàn​ zhù​shì​ wéi​ jī​chǔ (Dhyāna-samāpatti in Sarvāstivāda Abhidharma). Beijing: Zhōng​guó​ Rén​mín​ Dà​xué Chū​bǎn​shè, 1 May 2011. ￥54.40. 407 pp. ISBN 9787300137445 [official site].

A study of the Sanskrit text of the eighth chapter of the Abhidharmakośa.

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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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Liu, ‘dhyānāni tapaś ca’ [Kāyabhāvanāsūtra] (2010)

Liu, Zhen. *Meditations and Asceticisms: On the discovery and study of Buddhist Sanskrit Manuscripts. Shanghai Guji Publishing House, 2010. 299 pp., 58 yuan. ISBN 9787532556670. [WorldCat]

刘震（著）《禅定与苦修—关于佛传原初梵本的发现和研究》上海古籍出版社

This book, as far as I am able to tell from internet gleanings (I’ve not seen it at the time of writing), is a revised and expanded (修订、增补) version of Zhen Liu’s PhD dissertation on a unique Sanskrit manuscript of the Kāyabhāvanāsūtra 《修身经》 of the Dīrghāgama submitted to Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München.

Further information can be found in this startlingly rich Chinese writeup by an editor at a Chinese publishing house:

Xu, Wenkan（徐文堪）. ‘The Inspiring Results of Research on the Gilgit Manuscripts’（吉尔吉特写本研究的可喜成果）, Dongfang Zaobao 《东方早报》, March 20, 2011.