buddhist studies (j. w. de jong)

7/28/2019 Buddhist Studies (J. W. de Jong)

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THE JOURNAL

OF THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF

BUDDHIST STUDIES

ED I T OR - I N - CH I E F

A . K. NarainUniversity of Wisconsin, Madison, USA

E D I T OR SL. M.Joshi

Punjabi UniversityPatiala, India

Alexander W. MacdonaldUniversite de Paris X

Nanterre, FranceBardwell SmithCarleton College

Northjield, Minnesota, USA

Ernst SteinkellnerUniversity of Vienna

Wien, AustriaJikido Takasaki

University of TokyoTokyo, Japan

Robert ThurmanAmherst College

Amherst, Massachusetts, USA

Volume 4 1981 Number 2


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C O N T E N T S

I. ARTICLESNew Buddhist Sanskrit Texts from Central Asia: An Un

known fragment of the Mahayana Mahdparinirvdna-sutra by G. M. Bongard Levin 7Buddhist Hybrid English: Some Notes on Philology andHermeneutics for Buddhologists by Paul J. Griffiths 17Nonorigination and Nirvana in the Early TathdgatagarbhaLiterature by William Grosnick 33Multiple Dimensions of Impermanence in Dogen's "Gen-jokoan" by Steven Heine 44The Autobiography of a 20th-century Rnying-ma-pa lamaby Alexander W. Macdonald 63Metapsychology of the Abhidharma by Shanta Ratnayaka 76

II . SHORT PAPER1. The Buddhist "Prodigal Son": A Story of Misperceptionsby Whalen L ai 91

III. BOOK REVIEWS1. Lustful Maidens and Ascetic Kings (Buddhist and HinduStories of Life) by C. Amore and Larry D. Shinn 99


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2. The Syncre t ic Rel ig ion of Lin Chao-en by Judith A. Berling 1013. T h e M em oirs of a M od ern G nost ic (Par t s I and I I ) by

Edward Conze 1024 . B u d d h i s t S t u d i e s by J. W. dejong 1065 . So urce s for a History of the bSam yas Debate by G. W. Houston 1076 . B u ddh i s t Arc h i t ec tu re o f W es te rn Ind ia (c . 250 B C - A D

300) by S. Nagaraju 1097. T h e T h o u s a n d B u d d h a s : A n c i e n t B u d d h i s t P a i n t i n g s f r o m

t h e C a v e - T e m p l e s of T u n - h u a n g o n t h e W e s t e rn F r o n t ie r of China by A urel Stein 112

I V . P R E S I D E N T I A L A D D R E S S1. Tasks Ahead: Pres ident ia l Address Given on the Occas ion

of the Th i rd C onfe rence o f The In t e rna t iona l Assoc ia t ion o f B uddh i s t S tud ies , W inn ipeg , C anada , Augus t1980 by Herbert V. Guenther

C o n t r i b u t o r s 124


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Buddh is t scho la r sh ip , and these memoi r s , however , "un -Buddh is t i c "they may occasionally seem, are well worth reading. Not only do wef ind in the m such en ter ta i n in g s tor ies as Dr . Conze ' s a l t ru ism leads tothe c los ing of Cologne ' s bro the ls , Dr . Conze outwits In tour is t , and Dr .C on ze w res t les a yo un g wom an a t a faculty par ty ; mor e importan t ly , weglimpse the genesis of Conze 's scholarly work; and, above all , we havein Conze ' s memoirs the ref lec t ions of a Buddhis t whowhatever h isavers ion to i tlived very much in the world , thought and wrote aboutit passionately and, in many cases, may even have been right.

Roger Jackson

Buddhist Studies, by J . W. de Jo ng a nd ed i ted by Greg ory Sch open .Asian Humani t ies Press ; a Div is ion of Lancas ter-Mil le r Publ ishers :B e r k e l e y , Calif., 1979. $35.00 .

This book br ings together s ix ty-s ix separa te repr in ts of a r t ic lesan d rev iews by J . W . de Jo ng . I t a lso conta ins an in dex , a b ib l iographyof 318 de Jo ng pub l ica t ions (19 49 -1 97 7) , and an index of booksreviewed in those publ ica t ions .

According to the editor, the sixty-six art icles and reviews werese lec ted f rom am on g de Jon g ' s wri t ings dea l in g with Ind ian Bu ddh is tl i terature. In fact , two art icles deal primarily with China, and two itemsdea l p r imar i ly wi th Wes te rn in te rp re ta t ions o f Buddh ism. (Unfo r tun ate ly , th e two very imp ort an t and usefu l essays tha t de Jo ng contr ibuted to the 1974 issues of the Eastern Buddhist on the history ofBuddh is t s tud ie s in Europe and Amer ica have been omi t ted . ) However , t he focus of the co l lec t ion is c lear ly on In dia n B udd hism , an dpr imari ly on the s tudy and t rans la t ion of Indian Buddhis t tex ts .

T h e collection is divid ed int o seven sections. T h e first , enti t le d"Genera l Studies ," conta ins the four essays ment ioned above , one onthe background o f ea r ly Buddh ism, two on the Buddh is t no t ion o f theabs olu te , and on e on "E mp tiness ." Sec t ion I I , en t i t led "Bud dhis t A ut h o r s , " con ta ins fou r e s says"L'au teu r de l 'Abh idha rmad ipa , " "Lalegende de Sant ideva ," "Review of G. Roer ich , Biography of Dhar-masvamin , " and "No tes a p ropos des co lophons du Kan ju r . " Sec t ionI I I , th e sho rte st of th e book, is con sti tu ted by reviews of four publicat ions that deal with topics and texts in the Pali tradit ion. Sections IV, V,and VI"Sanskr i t HTnayana Li te ra tu re , " "Mahayana Su t ra L i te ra t u r e , " and "Sastra Li te ra ture"form the hear t of the co l lec t ion . Theitems that appear under these headings are mostly cri t ical book reviews,

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but there are also a few short ar t icles devoted to specif ic topics, texts orseg m ent s o f tex ts . T h e fina l sec t ion , on "T antr ic Li te ra tu re ," inc ludesjus t th ree i temsone ar t ic le on the sources and tex t o f the Sang HyangKamahdydnan Mantraydna, and two shor t rev iews. Approximate ly onehalf of the contents of the book are in English; the other half are inF r e n c h .

This publicat ion is directed to a highly special ized audience ofBuddhist scholars, and wil l serve pr imari ly as a resource for those whoneed to consult a par t icular essay that deals with a specif ic topic or textre levant to the i r research . Clear ly anyone who wishes to explore ser iously a top ic or tex t on which de Jong has commented , must take h isanalyses an d ju dg m en ts carefu lly in to account . Th e fact tha t more th ansixty of his essays have been made more accessible, and the fact that ab ib l iography of h is o ther publ ica t ions has been provided , makes th istask much easier . In this regard, al l of us who work in the Buddhologyfield should be grateful to the editor and publishers of Buddhist Studies.

At the same t ime, however , the collect ion leaves the reader (or atleast this reader) with a sense of frustration. In the first essay in SectionI de Jong s ta tes , qu i te c lear ly and cor rec t ly , tha t "The most impor tan tSkt . vipasyana, p. 49)) . More ser ious are the author 's unfamiliar i ty with(p . 28), an d in the sixty-five essays that follow he dem on stra tes t he kindof l inguist ic eru dit io n an d f irst-hand acq uain tanc e with Bu dd his t l it e ra ture which should enable h im to make a major cont r ibu t ion to tha ttask. Yetwith the par t ial exception of the three short essays thatcons ide r the Buddh i s t ab so lu te and the doc t r ine o f emp t inessdeJong makes very l i t t le effor t to move beyond the level of philology tothe leve l o f in terpre ta t ion . One hopes tha t in the fu ture Professor deJong wil l draw upon his r ich philological background and l inguist icabil i t ies to shed new l ight on how i t is that the documents he hasstudied so carefully are "sacred texts which proclaim a message ofsa lva t ion" ( Ib id . , p . 28) .

Frank E. Reynolds

Sources for a History of the bSam yas D ebate, by G. W. Houston. SanktA ug us t in : VG H-W issenschaf tsver lag , 1980 . (M onu m enta Tibe t ica His-tor ica: Abt. I : Scr iptores; Bd. 2) 122 pages, bibl iography, indices. ISBN3-88280-007 -0 .

The au thor c la ims in h is in t roduct ion to be concerned to presen tth is l i tt le "sou rce boo k" as a sup ple m en t to Tucci 's Minor Buddhist Texts107

buddhist studies (j. w. de jong)

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