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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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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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Donahue, A poststructuralist Nyāya & pramāṇa (2011)

Queering Dharmakīrti:

Amy K. Donahue. ‘Exclusion, violence, and reference: A poststructuralist reading of the classical Nyāya and Buddhist pramāṇa debates’. PhD diss., University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, 2011. 172 pp. UMI Number: 3485454.

From the Abstract

The dissertation draws on the work of contemporary poststructuralist queer, feminist, and postcolonial theorists to set the ground for a poststructuralist reading of the classical Nyāya and Buddhist Pramāna debates.

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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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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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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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Bühnemann, ‘The Buddha’s Journey to Lumbinī’ (2011/06/11)

Gudrun Bühnemann. ‘The Buddha’s (Return) Journey to Lumbinī (lumbinīyātrā).’ Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde Südasiens vol. 54 (in press; to appear in November 2011).

Prof. Bühnemann’s upcoming presentation of selected findings in Nepal was announced today on sanskritbuddhism:

Date: June 11, 2011
Time: 3 pm
Venue: Kholcha Pokhary, Manimarga, Chakupat 22 (NIEM Library Building), Lalitpur

According to Newar Buddhists, Śākyamuni Buddha visited his birthplace Lumbinī after his enlightenment. Depictions of this journey became popular in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Nepal. They show the Buddha riding standing up on a snake while being attended by Hindu deities in service to him. The scene, known as the lumbinīyātrā, is represented in numerous paintings and in wood and metal work, and is also described in texts. This strand of the Buddha legend is specific to Newar Buddhism and not attested in Indian biographic or hagiographic accounts of the Buddha’s life. In this paper I will trace the history of the lumbinīyātrā theme by examining descriptions in texts and artistic representations. I will then discuss elements of the yātrā which are also found independently in other contexts. In conclusion, I will offer some thoughts on the significance of the lumbinīyātrā theme.

Nrityamandalavihara-Lumbiniyatrapaubha
Gautamavajra Vajrācārya, Lumbinīyātrā paubhā (Nṛtyamaṇḍala-Mahāvihāra, Portland), NS 1125
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Jonathan Silk

Jonathan Silk not only studies Mahāyāna Buddhism; he thinks about it as well. Is that unusual? Put it this way: I feel that I can recommend his work on that basis alone.

  • A number of Prof. Silk’s articles are available at the University of Leiden’s online repository.
  • For starters: timely thoughts on Buddhist studies in his Oratie, Lies, Slander and the Study of Buddhism, delivered April 1st, 2008 (but no laughing matter). Offering so much to discuss, I present just this excerpt:

    I would be a happy man had I a nickel — that’s a small denomination American coin – for every time I have been told that Buddhism is not a religion, but rather a philosophy, a way of life. This is more than a rhetorical strategy by which an interested Westerner allows himself to explore Buddhism without feeling an apostate for doing so. For it derives its validity only by denying Buddhist traditions their intrinsic identity, and Buddhists — traditional, Asian Buddhists — their autonomy. Once one denies that Buddhism is a religion, it ceases to be an integral part of anyone’s life. Buddhism becomes something optional, adventitious, incidental even to the people whose lives it structures. For Westerners disaffected with religion, this may be a happy solution. But at least for the scholar, it is an impossibility, for it constitutes a refusal to acknowledge the tradition in its multiplicity and complexity, or even in its most intrinsic nature. [2008:12]

  • Official Site: http://www.leidenuniv.nl/professoren/show_en.php3-medewerker_id=950.htm
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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.

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