Abruptly Dogen

In the thirteenth century Dogen brought Zen to Japan. His tradition flourishes there still today and now has taken root across the world. Abruptly Dogen presents some of his pith writings—startling, shifting, funny, spilling out in every direction. They come from all seventy-five chapters of his masterwork, the Eye of Real Dharma (Shōbōgenzō 正法眼藏), and roam through mountains, magic, everyday life, meditation, the nature of mind, and how the Buddha is always speaking from inside our heads. An excerpt from chapter 1, “A Case of Here We Are”: Human wisdom is like a moon roosting in water. No stain on the moon, nor does the water rip. However wide and grand the light, it still finds lodging in a puddle. The full moon, the spilling sky, all roosting in a single dewdrop on a single blade of grass. A man of wisdom is uncut, the way a moon doesn’t pierce water. Wisdom in a man is unobstructed, the way the sky’s full moon is unobstructed in a dewdrop. No doubt about it, the drop’s as deep as the moon is high. How long does this go on? How deep is the water, how high the moon?

Prospect of Pilgrimage Tourism in Namo Buddha Area, Kavre

This paper tries to find out the prospect of pilgrimage tourism at Namo Buddha, Kavre, Nepal. There is found limited academic work on pilgrimage tourism in Nepal; however, no evidence of study could be traced on Namo Buddha that is based on pilgrimage tourism perspective. A pilgrimage is an ancient form of religious travel where people make a journey to the place of their belief for experiencing spirituality. Namo Buddha is one of the sacred Buddhist shrines and important pilgrimage sites for Buddhists as they believe the relics of the previous life of Lord Buddha are kept at Namo Buddha Stūpa. Namo Buddha stūpa is also considered to be one of the holiest stūpas in Nepal including Svayambhu Stūpa (Svayambhu Mahachaitya) and the Bodhnath Stūpa (Khasti Mahachaitya). This stūpa commemorates the Buddha Śakyamuni’s sacrifice of his body to a starving tigress and her cubs in his previous life. Nepali people call this site Namo Buddha, Newars call Namo Buddha as Namura and Tibetans call it as Takmo Lu Jin. The place has a huge potential to attract both Buddhist and Hindu pilgrims including international tourists from all over the world. This place offers other attractions and activities besides pilgrimage-based elements such as sightseeing of heritage town; spectacular Himalayan ranges; paddy field terrains; hilly forests; soft adventures experience; and so on. Religious tourism and pilgrimage tourism are interchangeably used in this study and the paper is based on both the primary and secondary data. Exploratory research has been carried out to examine the religious and economic benefits of pilgrims at this site. It also tried to investigate locals’ perspectives on pilgrimage tourism development. Meanwhile, this paper not only studied prospects of pilgrimage tourism in Namo Buddha but also attempted to find out and highlight how the Covid-19 pandemic has impacted the destination.

Study on the Material and Deterioration Characteristics of the Stone Seated Buddha Triad and Stone Standing Buddha in Bijung-ri, Cheongju, Korea

The Stone Seated Buddha Triad and Stone Standing Buddha in Bijung-ri are state-designated heritage (treasure) statues having the Buddha style of the Goryeo dynasty from the 6th century. Conservation scientific investigations were conducted to understand the preservation status of these stone Buddha statues and to establish a conservation plan. The Stone Seated Buddha Triad and Stone Standing Buddha are composed of fine-medium grained biotite granite, which is considered to be of the same origin owing to their low magnetic susceptibility distribution of less than 0.2 (×10-3 SI unit) and similar mineral characteristics. The Stone Seated Buddha Triad has highly homogenous mineral composition and particle size, whole-rock magnetic susceptibility, and geochemical characteristics very similar to those of the nearby outcrop. It was confirmed that a combination of physical, chemical, and biological factors affects the Stone Buddha statues. In particular, both the Stone Seated Buddha Triad and Stone Standing Buddha tend to be chipped off from the front and cracked and scaled from the back. The Stone Standing Buddha located outdoors experiences granularity decomposition and black algae formation, which accelerate the weathering under unfavorable conservation environments. The result of non-destructive physical property diagnosis using ultrasonic velocity showed that both the Stone Seated Buddha Triad and Stone Standing Buddha have been completely weathered (CW), indicating very poor physical properties.

The Study on the Style and Value of Stone Buddha Statue of Hoeamsa Temple in Yangju

This study focus on the characteristics and of the Fragment of Stone Buddha of Hoeamsa Temple(檜巖寺). As is well known, this temple had been developed rebuilding by supporting of the royal family from the late of Korea Dynasty to the early of Joseon Dynasty(朝鮮). The Hoeamsa Temple Site in Yangju(陽州) is believed to have been destroyed in a fire in the late 16th century, and various artifacts have been excavated after several excavations since 1999. This Temple has been excavated a variety of Fragment of Stone Buddha statues. The Buddha statue of Hoeamsa Temple in Yangju has a hole on top of high usnisa(肉髻), and special folds in the left arm and a thick clothing style. It was reflects the sculptural Joseon style modified by the Tibet-Chinese style. This style is very similar to that of Buddha statues produced in the 15th century, supported by the royal family of Joseon. In particular, these statues were believed to have been produced around the first half of the 15th century when the temple was heavily fortified with the support of Prince Hyo-ryeong(孝寧大君). It is also interesting to note that these statues show the sculptural features of the early Joseon Dynasty, reflecting the Tibetan-Chinese sculptures style, compared to those of the Buddhist sculptures in the first half of the 15th century during the year of Yeongrak (1403~1424) and Seondeok (1426~1435), the kings of the Ming Dynasty. This reflects the development of Buddhist sculptures in the early Joseon Dynasty in line with the trend of Buddhist art in East Asia.

Problems and Principles of Reconstruction of Certain Concepts of Philosophy and Cultural Narratives (Methodological Considerations)

The article deals with the problems and principles of reconstruction of certain concepts of philosophy and cultural narratives. The reason was the discussion of N. Kanaeva's report at the Institute of Philosophy, read at a seminar on the geography of rationality. Analyzing V. Bibikhin's work "Wittgenstein: Change of Aspect", the author poses the problem of correctly (to avoid contradictions and reach an understandable logic of text interpretation) reading the narratives of a foreign culture or even the narratives of one's own culture, but belonging to a different direction of thought. Such a reading, he claims, presupposes special optics, a hermeneutic concept and a cultural-historical reconstruction. To introduce and clarify what can be understood by such concepts (optics, concept and reconstruction), an analysis of two cases is proposed: semiotic schemes and G. Oldenberg's study of the Buddha's teachings. The schemes are discussed on the basis of the works of Plato ("Feast" and "Timaeus"). The author shows that Plato in "The Feast" constructs schemes for solving problem situations and specifying ideal objects, and in "Timaeus" he discusses the nature of schemes. In turn, Oldenberg reconstructs the prehistory of Buddhism and the basic ideas proposed by the Buddha. A feature of its reconstruction is an appeal to the culture of Ancient India, an analysis of the ancient Hindu consciousness and mentality, a discussion of the features of Buddhist discourse. The author concludes that if the ideas about Buddhism outlined by Oldenberg are used for the purpose of understanding Buddhist narratives, then these ideas as optics can be summed up under the notion of a hermeneutic concept. This concept is structured in such a way that it clearly takes into account the peculiarities of the Hindu culture and mentality, as different from the European ones.

The After Life of the Buddha: Parinirvana Images in Eurasia

This article examines religions in which the life of the spiritual leader is as important as the death, and where the narratives of death (and not just of life) enter the image cycles in art. The Buddha willed himself to die when he was eighty at Kushinagara. Buddhism is one of the rare world religions where there is a huge repertoire of mahaparinairvana images. Buddhism values the release from the cycle of rebirths and deaths. The sets and cycles of images that make up the representation of the death of the Buddha in sculpture and paintings in caves spread across Eurasia are described in detail. The death images are important spatially, materially and culturally. These images began to be made in Mathura, were perfected at Gandhara and travelled all the way across Central Asia to China and beyond. The relics left behind after cremation were enshrined in stupas. They represented a continuation of dharma, of the presence of the Buddha even after he had passed on. The article analyses in detail three caves – Cave 26 in Ajanta in Maharashtra, India; Cave 205 in Kizil in Kucha, Central Asia (East Turkestan) and Cave 148 in Mogao, Dunhuang, China. All three caves juxtapose monumental images of the Dying Buddha with different themes related to his death: The Temptation of Demon Mara in Cave 26, Ajanta; how King Ajatashatru was told of Buddha’s passing along with the cremation of the coffin with the mahaparinirvana Buddha in it in Cave 205, Kizil. Cave 148 at Mogao contains the most complete set of scenes and images representing events pre- and post- Buddha’s death in sculptures and murals. In addition, there are Chinese interpretations of the Pure Lands in large murals.

Buddhist Approaches to Impermanence: Phenomenal and Naumenal

The doctrine of impermanence can be called the most salient feature of the Buddha’s teaching. The early Buddhist doctrine of impermanence can be understood in four different but interrelated contexts: Buddha’s empiricism, the notion of conditioned/constituted objects, the idea of dependent arising, and the practical context of suffering and emancipation. While asserting the impermanence of all phenomena, the Buddha was silent on the questions of the so-called transcendent entities and truths. Moreover, though the Buddha described Nibbāṇa/Nirvāṇa as a ‘deathless state’ (‘amataṃ padam’), it does not imply eternality in a metaphysical sense. Whereas the early Buddhist approach to impermanence can be called ‘phenomenal’, the post-Buddhist approach was concerned with naumena (things in themselves). Hence, Sarvāstivāda (along with Pudgalavāda) is marked by absolutism in the form of the doctrines of substantial continuity, atomism, momentariness, and personalism. The paper also deals with the approaches to impermanence of Dharmakīrti and Nāgārjuna, which can be called naumenal rather than strictly phenomenal. For Dharmakīrti, non-eternality was in fact momentariness and it was not a matter of experience but derivable conceptually or analytically from the concept of real. Nāgārjuna stood not for impermanence, but emptiness (śūnyatā), the concept which transcended both impermanence and permanence, substantiality and non-substantiality.

Zhipan’s Account of the History of Buddhism in China vol.1: Fozu tongji, juan 34-38: From the Times of the Buddha to the Nanbeichao Era, by Thomas Jülch.

Zhipan’s Account of the History of Buddhism in China vol.1: Fozu tongji, juan 34-38: From the Times of the Buddha to the Nanbeichao Era, by Thomas Jülch. Brill. 2019. X + 316pp. €116/$140. ISBN: 978-90-04-39620-3.