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Braarvig et al, Traces of Gandharān Buddhism (2010)

Jens Braarvig and Fredrik Liland, with contributions by Jens-Uwe Hartmann, Kazunobu Matsuda, Richard Salomon, and Lore Sander. Traces of Gandharān Buddhism. An Exhibition of Ancient Buddhist Manuscripts in the Schøyen Collection. Oslo: Hermes Publishing, in collaboration with Amarin Printing and Publishing Public Co. Ltd, Bangkok. 2010. xxxiv+101pp. [PDF (80 MB)].

This lavishly illustrated — and even more importantly, thoroughly researched — catalogue, published to accompany an exhibition of Afghan Buddhist manuscripts in Thailand, will surely be of interest to any serious scholar of Buddhism. Braarvig notes: “it is thus an important task to help preserve this dharmakāya [manuscript heritage] of the Buddha”. (One could add that Thailand, where a formerly practiced Sanskritic tradition has been completely lost, is probably not the place to find a receptive audience for such sentiments.)

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Giuseppe Tucci Symposium, Monash University, 2010

Giuseppe Tucci Symposium, Monash University (Caulfield), 2010

The Giuseppe Tucci Symposium jointly convened in Melbourne by Monash University, IsIAO and the Istituto Italiano di Cultura over September 29 to October 1, 2010 has successfully concluded. In my estimation, the quality of presentations was quite high, with a great deal of new material coming forth regarding Giuseppe Tucci’s life, times and scholarly legacy.

Two volumes of proceedings are planned. In the meantime, a foretaste is available in the booklet of the abstracts in downloadable PDF form.

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Bendz, ‘Buddhalakshana’, 2010

Was the Buddha’s physiognomy superhuman, or simply deformed? The extreme literal-mindedness of a new thesis on the thirty-two marks of a mahā-puruṣa bodes well for the author’s future career in Buddhist Studies:

It is plausible that the observation of most of these thirty-two uncommon physical attributes might well have been accumulated over centuries as a result of contact by observers with various afflicted persons.

A bit too much information follows:

We expect to be able to determine the plausibility of his physical variations based on current data available for congenital abnormalities, such as connective tissue disorders (Ehlers-Danlos and Marfan’s syndrome) to explain his skeletal features (his long reach, long digits and legs, pedal deformity), and acquired physical changes as with endocrinopathies, as one might see with acromegaly (large tongue and jaw) and Cushing’s syndrome (interscapular hump, soft skin, hair growth quality).

Here’s the citation — for completists only:

Bendz, Oleg. The Buddhalakshana. M. A. thesis, University of Toronto, 2010. [abstract / PDF]

"More human than human" is our motto.
"More human than human" is our motto.

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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.

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Benke, ‘The Śūdrācāraśiromaṇi of Kṛṣṇa Śeṣa’ (2010)

Theodore Benke. The Śūdrācāraśiromaṇi of Kṛṣṇa Śeṣa: A 16th Century Manual of Dharma for Śūdras. PhD diss., University of Pennsylvania, 2010. [abstract & official site / PDF]

From the abstract

“From the fourteenth to the seventeenth century C.E., a śāstra of a new type on the topic of Śūdras was composed and circulated among Dharmaśāstrins. […] Śūdradharma texts were one response of the Brahmin intellectual elite to the challenges to traditional dharma and dominance arising from the changing socio-economic conditions of Sultanate and Mughal India. They represent a shift in Dharmashastric discourse from the ritual exclusion of Śūdras as the sign of their social subjection to fuller integration into the Brahmanical fold. […] These śūdradharma texts were primarily concerned with the ritual life of Śūdras—the rites, sacraments, and forms of religious knowledge to which they were entitled in śruti and smṛti. But they also included expositions on the generation of Śūdra jātis according to the theory of varṇasaṅkara and descriptions of the ways of life and occupations of Śūdras. This is a study and translation of one of these texts, the Śūdrācāraśiromaṇi of Kṛṣṇa Śeṣa, among the most brilliant and eminent paṇḍits of late medieval Sanskrit, celebrated as both grammarian and poet.”

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Tho, ‘Further Biographies of Nuns’ (2008)

Annlaug Tho. Selected Translations and Analysis of ‘Further Biographies of Nuns’. Master’s thesis in History of Religion, University of Oslo, Spring 2008. [URN & abstract / PDF]

From the introduction: “This thesis is a study of ‘Further Biographies of Nuns’ [續比丘尼傳] compiled by Master Zhenhua [震華大師] in the 1940s. I have selected three biographies from the Tang Dynasty, two from the Song Dynasty, two from the Yuan Dynasty, one from the Ming Dynasty, and four from the Qing Dynasty.”

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Twist, ‘Devotion and Politics’ (2008)

Twist, Rebecca L. Patronage, Devotion and Politics: A Buddhological Study of the Paṭola Śāhi Dynasty’s Visual Record. PhD diss., Ohio State University, 2008. 393 pp. [abstract/PDF]

A few lines from the abstract:

During the 6th – 8th centuries, the Paṭola Śāhi dynasty ruled the country of Bolor, which is Baltistan and Gilgit […] a number of Buddhist artworks […] can be attributed through inscriptions to a donation by members of the royal Paṭola Śāhi family. This study focuses on these inscribed works and other extant visual culture of the Paṭola Śāhi dynasty. […] the Paṭola Śāhis were devout Buddhist practitioners, some of them adherents of early Vajrayāna Buddhism.

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Peipina, ‘The Piṃgalātreya sūtra’ (2008)

Peipina, Lita. The Piṃgalātreya sūtra of the (Mūla)sarvāstivādins: its edition and study. Investigation of the Piṃgalātreya sūtra’s status within the Dīrghāgama “Collection of Long (Discourses of the Buddha)”. MA diss., University of Oslo, 2008. 85 pp. [abstract/PDF]

Contains a diplomatic edition and critical edition of the Gandhāran MS discovered in 1999. Supervised by Jens Braarvig.

Piṃgalātreya: Gandhāran MS
Piṃgalātreya Gandhara MS

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Dagyab, ‘Tibetisch-buddhistischer Klöster’ (2009)

Dagyab, Namri. Vergleich von Verwaltungsstrukturen und wirtschaftlichen Entscheidungsprozessen tibetisch-buddhistischer Klöster in der Autonomen Region Tibet, China und Indien [A comparison of administrative structures and economic decision-making processes of Tibetan buddhist monasteries in the Tibetan Autonomous Region, China, and India]. PhD diss., Univ. Bonn, 2009, 278 pp. [/PDF]

This dissertation focuses on dGe lugs pa monasteries “not only as especially important centres of Buddhist doctrin[al teaching], but also in terms of their regional social and economic [importance]”, and includes a useful glossary (pp.216–227).