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.
David R. Kittay. ‘Interpreting the Vajra Rosary: Truth and Method Meets Wisdom and Method’. PhD diss., Columbia University, 2011. xxii+820 pp. ISBN: 9781124782362. ProQuest document ID: 2428776231.
Abstract
This essay, accompanied by the first full English translation of the Vajramālā or Vajra Rosary, one of the explanatory Tantras of the Buddhist Guhyasamāja, or Secret Community, Tantric system, and a partial translation of Alaṃkakalaśa’s Commentary, sets out a novel hermeneutic method by which twenty-first century scholars of religion might approach the interpretation of the Tantra and other texts.
Add a punctuation mark to improve this paragraph (p.783).
Mozaffari-Falarti, Maziar. ‘Kedah: the foundations and durability of Malay kingship’. PhD thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2009. 343 pp. [official site/PDF]
Mozaffari-Falarti’s thesis treats the conversion of Kedah, an important part of the premodern Southeast Asian world, and briefly treats vague (but nonetheless worthy of investigation) references to Buddhism and tantrism in the rulership of the pre-Islamic era.
Kedah, incidentally, has been proposed as the possible site of Dīpaṅkaraśrījñāna’s extended stay of study in the region in an article in the Journal of the Siam Society — the full reference eludes me — by Peter Skilling. (I have no opinion on that proposition — yet.)
From the Abstract
The thesis examines traditional sources of power, control and indigenous socio-political systems in the Malay world. In doing so, it looks at the north-western Malaysian kingdom of Kedah, acknowledged as the oldest unbroken Malay royal line and one of the oldest in the Muslim world. The study explores Kedah’s unique geopolitical, spiritual and environmental features. It argues that Kedah does not follow, and in fact, often seems to contradict what has been commonly accepted as the “typical model” of the traditional Malay state.
From the Introduction (pp.6–7)
The Kedah sultanate is one of the oldest unbroken independent kingship lines in the ‘Malay world’ with 1,000 years of history, and arguably one of the oldest in the Islamic world. In this study I examine key geopolitical and spiritual attributes of Malay kingship that have traditionally cemented the ruler, the peoples, and the environment. […]
I also examine issues related to religion — particularly the coming of Islam […]
Andrea Acri. ‘Alternative approaches to eighth-century Central Javanese Buddhist architecture’. Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- end Volkenkunde 167, No. 2-3 (2011), pp.313-321. [abstract/PDF]
Dick van der Meij. ‘Kakawin Sutasoma and Kakawin Nāgara Kṛtāgama’. Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- end Volkenkunde 167, No. 2-3 (2011), pp.322-332. [abstract/PDF]
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).
Mori, Masahide. Chibetto no Bukkyō bijutsu to mandara [*Buddhist Art and Mandalas of Tibet]. Nagoya: The University of Nagoya Press, 2011. 315 pp. ISBN 978-4-8158-0670-5. [official site]
Carmen 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]
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.
Michael Allen. ‘The worship of young virgin girls as goddesses in the secular state of Nepal’. Guest lecture, 23 May 2011, 13:00-15:00, Nordic Institute of Asian Studies (Copenhagen).
Abstract
In this lecture I intend to focus on some of the current debates in Nepal concerning the worship of young virgin girls as living forms of the goddess. At the heart of these debates is the issue of just what weight should be given to religious beliefs, practices and morals, in this case both Hindu and Buddhist, in what is now constitutionally a federal democratic republic formally committed to the propagation of predominantly secular ideals. Yet, prior to the success of the Maoist-led revolution in 2006, Nepal had been a Hindu monarchy of an orthodox kind in which the divine King and the virgin goddess were the twin pillars that together gave legitimacy to the state. My lecture concludes with some brief insights into just how both the goddess and the state survive today without their king – albeit somewhat precariously so.
Michael Allen is Emeritus Professor at the Department of Anthropology, University of Sydney.
