The Concept of “Contemporary Place Names” in the Tibetan Translation of the Da Tang Xiyu Ji

The Da Tang Xiyu ji (Тhe Great Tang Records on the Western Regions) was translated into Tibetan by the Mongolian scholar Gombojab (Mgon-po-skyabs) of the Qing dynasty (16441912), using the original Chinese text of the Qianlong Tripitaka, also called the Dragon Tripitaka. In the manuscript copy kept at Otani University (Kyoto), interlinear explanatory notes of the contemporary place names are found. The notes on the Central Asian place names might reflect the new geographical knowledge that Chinese society obtained after Qianlongs campaigns against the Dzungars. In the present paper, the author discusses some of these notes. As the notes are not accurate and contain much misunderstanding, it is hard to use them as research sources. Nevertheless, they reveal the scope of knowledge of the time and deserve attention.

Śāntarakṣita and Kamalaśīla: Life and Teaching

The article details the biography and teachings of Śāntarakṣita (8th century), a famous Buddhist scholar and enlightener, a leading figure in the spread of Buddhism in Tibet and his closest student Kamalaśīla (also 8th century). Śāntarakṣita is the author of several treatises, including Compendium of Entities - Tattvasaṃgraha, a monumental work that can rightfully be called the Buddhist Philosophical Encyclopedia, consisting of 26 sections (the Tibetan translation contains 31 sections), in which all key philosophical schools of India, namely: Mīmāṃsa, Vedānta, Sāṃkhya, Yoga, Nyāya, Vaiśeṣika, Lokāyata, Jainism and Buddhism of other sects) are analyzed and subsequently refuted. Kamalaśīla is a direct student of Śāntarakṣita, the author of a word-to-word commentary on the teacher's Tattvasaṃgraha. The article also dwells on the history of the discovery and study of the Tattvasaṃgraha. The novelty of the study lies in a full-length encyclopedic presentation of the philosophy of Śāntarakṣita and his immediate student Kamalaśīla. A special contribution of the author to the study of the topic is the demonstration that Śāntarakṣita, as a representative of the Yogācāra-Madhyamaka school, worked in the genre of synthesis of the teachings of Yogācāra (Vijānavāda) and Madhyamaka (Śūnyavāda), and in the field of epistemology he continued the theories of Dignāga and Dharmakīrti.

A Tocharian tale from the Silk Road: A philological account of The Painter and the Mechanical Maiden and its resonances with the Western canon

This article analyses philological and literary aspects of a jātaka tale with a pygmalionesque motif involving a craftsman who falls in love with a non-human woman. This tale circulated along the Silk Road in at least six different versions: two original Sanskrit versions; one Tibetan translation from the Sanskrit source; one Tocharian adaptation; and two Chinese translations that also adapt the work to a smaller degree than the Tocharian version. By analysing the textual contexts and the content of the tale in all its alterations, this article shows that the two versions that differ most from the others, the Tocharian and the older Chinese version, are closely related to each other. Further analysis of the Tocharian version situates the tale among its literary kin. An analysis of the formulaic elements of the Tocharian tale indicates possible relations to Chinese chu-kung-tiao and pien-wen genres. The article also suggests the Tibetan lha mo as a link between Indian prosimetric campū style and the two Chinese genres. Finally, the analysis of the cluster of motifs in the tale is paralleled with canonical Western texts by Ovid and E. T. A. Hoffmann, opening fruitful venues for literary scholarship regarding human-like objects.

Ranjana Numeral System: A Brief Information

The Ranjana script, which is also known as Kutila or Lantsa, is one of the many alphabets derived from the Brahmi script. This numesmetic inscription was developed 2216 years ago, so its time period was along the 199 BC and it was popular from 11th century AD and was used until the mid-20th century in Nepal and India. It is popularly used by Nepali in the Newari language. This script also known as Lantsa, for writing the Sanskrit titles of books which have been translated from Sanskrit to Tibetan for decoration in temples and mandalas. There were few texts printed with alternating lines in Sanskrit in the Lantsa script followed by a Tibetan translation. There were many original Sanskrit manuscripts written in Lantsa preserved in Newar community in Nepal. Others were destroyed lack of its preservation. In addition, the Ranjana script was used mainly for decoration by Buddhists.Journal of the Institute of Engineering, 2017, 13(1): 221-224

On the Making of the Tibetan Translation of Laksmī's Sahajasiddhipaddhati: 'Bro Lotsā ba Shes rab Grags and his Translation Endeavors. (Materials for the Study of the Female Tantric Master Laksmī of Uddiyāna, part I)

The medieval Tantric literature entails many uncertainties about authorship and dating. The line between authentic and pseudepigraphical in this genre has traditionally been very fluid, and every Tantric text needs to be treated with due caution. In the case of the Sahajasiddhipaddhati, the Tibetan tradition maintains its author to be the 9th–10th century female master Laksmī from Uddiyāna. Given this work's significance, its possible female authorship and its inclusion of hitherto unresearched hagiographies of twelve Uddiyāna Tantric teachers including four women, it is most crucial to examine its provenance. If its authenticity can be established, the text would become one of the earliest hagiographical collections of the Indian Tantric tradition, predating by two to three centuries Abhayadattaśrī's standard anthology, Caturaśītisiddhapravrtti, which differs considerably from Laksmī's work. The Sahajasiddhipaddhati is only extant in a Tibetan translation by the Kashmirian scholar Somanātha and the Tibetan translator 'Bro Lotsā ba Shes rab Grags. Since the translated work is undated, the investigation of its provenance must begin with ascertaining the date of its Tibetan witness. Through a wide-ranging reading of medieval Tibetan historical sources and colophons of 11th-century Tantric works, it will be concluded that the translation was produced in Nepal somewhere between the years 1070 and 1090. The discovery sets a terminus ante quem for the Sanskrit original, placing its composition at least a century earlier than Abhayadattaśr¯ı's compilation.