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The Richard R. & Magdalena Ernst Collection of Himalayan Art (2018)

The Richard R. & Magdalena Ernst Collection of Himalayan Art. Auction, 22 March 2018, 10:00 AM EDT, Sotheby’s New York. Sale Number N09800. (Part of Asia Week New York.) [official site] [PDF]

Note: This extraordinary collection contains Nepalese paintings that have received little attention or that are otherwise significant. For instance, Lot 907 (below) is identified as a painted icon of Buddhakapāla (?), which would make it the only one known in Nepal.

Buddhakapāla couple (? supplied identification) with four yoginīs and donors, Nepal, early 19th c., Sotheby’s Sale N09800 Lot 907
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Hua (2016), Buddhist Printing in China under Mongol Rule

Hua, Kaiqi. 2016. The White Cloud Movement: Local Activism and Buddhist Printing in China under Mongol Rule (1276-1368 CE). PhD diss., University of California, Merced. 379 pp. [official repo: escholarship.org/uc/item/2w7452q0] [PDF] [author: academia.edu]

Puning canon mantras
Hua 2016:201 Fig.2, mantras transliterated in ‘Phags pa script in the Puning canon 普寧藏本 [beginning: ꡳꡝ ꡋꡏꡡ ꡎꡁꡓꡊꡠ…]

From the Abstract: This dissertation studies the White Cloud movement in Song- and Yuan-era Jiangnan. […] The movement was mostly led by local laymen rather than monks. Its wealth and reputation peaked with the production of a Buddhist canon during the reign of Khubilai Khan (1276-1294), who provided direct patronage. […] Continue reading “Hua (2016), Buddhist Printing in China under Mongol Rule”

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Mochizuki, Dīpaṃkarāśrījñāna studies

Mochizuki, Kaie 望月 海慧. [2016]. Diipamkarashuriijunyaana kenkyuu ディーパンカラシュリージュニャーナ研究 [Dīpaṃkarāśrījñāna studies]. PhD diss., Rissho University 立正大学. 1242 pp. URI: hdl.handle.net/11266/5774 [PDF]

Note: Contains critical editions of texts in Tibetan attributed to “Atiśa” Dīpaṃkarāśrījñāna, primarily those not focused on tantras, together with Japanese translations. Continue reading “Mochizuki, Dīpaṃkarāśrījñāna studies”

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Moronval (2017), Vitalités chez les Néwar bouddhistes

Frédéric Moronval. 2017. Vitalités linguistique et religieuse chez les Néwar bouddhistes de la vallée de Kathmandu. Thèse de doctorat en Sciences du langage – linguistique, Normandie Université. Français. NNT: 2017NORMR055. <tel-01697607> [PDF]

From the English abstract: Newari, the indigenous language of the Kathmandu valley, is considered by the UNESCO as an endangered language, […] why and to which extent both the mother tongue and Buddhism are decreasing among Newars, and what, if any, is the causal relationship linking the evolution of these two cultural features. […] Continue reading “Moronval (2017), Vitalités chez les Néwar bouddhistes”

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Yang (2018), Bukong 不空 aka. Amoghavajra

Yang, Zeng. 2018. ‘A biographical study on Bukong 不空 (aka. Amoghavajra, 705-774): networks, institutions, and identities’. PhD diss., University of British Columbia. DOI:10.14288/1.0363332. URI: hdl.handle.net/2429/64506

Note: This dissertation is distinguished by its use of Japanese scholarship and secular historical sources in Chinese. However, the back-Sanskritization of Chinese jingang ding 金剛頂 as Vajroṣṇīṣa adopted here (p. 4, n.1) is doubtful. Continue reading “Yang (2018), Bukong 不空 aka. Amoghavajra”

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Mayer et al (2017), Ancient Tantra Collection from Sangyeling

Robert Mayer and Ngawang Tsepag. 2017. ‘The Ancient Tantra Collection from Sangyeling (Sangs rgyas gling rNying ma’i rgyud ‘bum)’. Digital dataset (JPG, .txt, doc, PDF; 500GB). University of Oxford: ORA. 🔓

Abstract: This project successfully photographed all surviving 41 volumes and 16,071 pages of a rare and endangered early 18th century manuscript edition of Tibetan ‘Old Tantras’ located at Sangs-rgyas-gling dgon-pa, Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh, India.

Sangs rgyas gling rNying ma rgyud 'bum dkar chag first folio
Sangs rgyas gling rNying ma rgyud ‘bum dkar chag first folio: oṁ svadhi(sti)siddhaṃ |jā(jñā)najayāpariketu mitāyur | āmalaśra(śrī)karuṇatrijatoman || (sic)