Sanskritic civilization · Tantric studies · Newar & Nusantaran Buddhism
Most of the painting for sale in Kathmandu’s tourist district is worthless, so I don’t mind mentioning an exception when I stumble upon it:
Bodhisattva Gallery. Baber Mahal, Kathmandu, Nepal. Tel: 977-1-4251341. [official site]
Sample: a (sold) study of Bagalamukhī by Udaya Charan Shrestha, one of the Newars’ foremost painters (and, some may recall, a one-time commenter here):
Dr. Shrestha reports on a happy new role for Newar Buddhist monasteries, one that the advocates of ‘Rebuilding Buddhism’ would surely welcome: the parking lot.
Bijaya K. Shrestha. ‘Street typology in Kathmandu and street transformation’.
Urbani izziv 22 no. 2, 2011, pp.107–121. DOI:10.5379/urbani-izziv-en-2010-21-02-002 [PDF]
There is much useful information here (like the data showing the Kathmandu Valley’s population amost tripling in three decades; p.115, fig.7), in addition to Shrestha’s lucid account of how the Newars’ great cities have been mismanaged.
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.
若原雄昭 「バングラデシュ国内に保存されるサンスクリット仏教写本 , 他」 龍谷大学アジア仏教文化研究センター
Wakahara, Yusho. ‘Sanskrit Buddhist Manuscripts Preserved in Bangla Desh’. Ryukoku University Research Center for Buddhist Cultures in Asia, Working Paper 1, 2011. [PDF]
Kudos to Prof. Wakahara for getting some good photographs of Buddhist Sanskrit manuscripts out of Bangladesh. So in future reports on these manuscripts there should be no problem with providing full transcriptions of the colophons, including all the information about their Nepalese (and Tibetan, in one case) transmitters and users.
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]
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.
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.
Someone in England is studying the sources of the South Asian Buddhist mainstream?
“The project, which is led by Sanskrit-specialists Dr Vincenzo Vergiani and Dr Eivind Kahrs, will study and catalogue each of the manuscripts, placing them in their broader historical context, a university release said.
So far, so good.
“In the 1870s, Dr Daniel Wright, surgeon of the British Residency in Kathmandu, rescued the now-priceless cultural and historical artefacts from a disused temple, where they had survived largely by chance.”
Oh dear. Still, this sounds better:
“Most of the holdings will also be digitised by the library and made available through the library’s new online digital library (http://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/).”
Let’s hope the cameras get to those masterpieces of Nepal and the Pāla Dynasty before the local twits [see final sentence], eh?
(‘Cambridge to study ancient Sanskrit texts.’ Deccan Herald, Nov 8, 2011.)
Light of the Valley: The 15th Renovation of Swayambhu. 2011. 30 minutes. Directed by Pema Gellek. [press release]
A short documentary of the 2008–2010 renovation of the Kathmandu Valley’s most sacred Buddhist site, generously sponsored by Tarthang Tulku Rinpoche and coordinated by his daughter, Tsering Gellek. I, and other readers, had the good fortune to witness this monumental undertaking at various stages.
There’s also a book (no publication information available yet).
Light of the Valley Trailer from Guna Foundation on Vimeo.
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
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), LalitpurAccording 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.
Miroj Shakya. ‘Bodhisattva Mañjuśrī in the Buddhist Literature of the Kathmandu Valley (With Special Reference to the Svayaṃbhū Purāṇa)’. PhD dissertation, University of the West, Spring 2011. 261 pp.
Mañjuśrī is portrayed as a founder of the Kathmandu Valley in the Svayaṃbhū Purāṇa, where he is shown playing a vital role in initiating the Nepalese Buddhist tradition. […] My study will focus on these legends of the Svayaṃbhū Purāṇa associated with Mañjuśrī.
Includes studies of short non-tantric texts related to Mañjuśrī, and texts and translations of various versions of the third chapter (on Mañjuśrī’s fabled draining of the Valley’s pleistocene lake) of the Svayambhūpurāṇa literature.
