A Tangut Primary Reader. A Brief Collection by Taizong Kept at the IOM, RAS

The previously undeciphered manuscript inv. No. 5875 preserved at the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts, Russian Academy of Sciences, proves to be a Tangut version of a primary reader. Its Chinese original is an inconsistently miscellaneous compilation of ancient literary allusions and contemporary folk maxims. The text combines the two distinct literary styles of antithetical couplet and ordinary prose and has no easily defined subject. Although its Chinese original has not been found yet, and the whole text has not been thoroughly deciphered so far, the present article offers a tentative translation of some of its stories in order to lay a foundation for further studies.

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.

A Unique Manuscript of the Shibanid Epoch from the Fund of the Center of the Written Heritage of Tajikistan

The article introduces the results of a preliminary study of the unique work, the Manaqib al-khulafa (The Virtues/Excellences of the Caliphs) compiled by Qawam ad-Din Muhammad al-Husaini alSanaujiradi al-Ziyaratgahi al-Harawi in 997/1588. This is a response to the protest message of the Shiites of Herat, who survived the siege and capture of the city by the Sunnis the Shibanid troops. The Manaqib recreates the early stages of the history of Islam before the split caused by the difference in the understanding of principles of the supreme political power (elective or hereditary) transfer and reveals the virtues of the four righteous caliphs. Fragments of the Quran and hadiths cited in the treatise present irrefutable evidence of the Sunnis superiority over Shiism. The treatise is an excellent example of polemical literature of bitter ideological struggle between two orthodoxies Sunni and Shiite and contains valuable information on the religious and political history of Eurasia in the premodern period.

On Docetic Christology in Early Christianity. Pt. 2.2

According to the doctrine of so-called docetic Christology, earthly Jesus and heavenly Christ were two different persons. It was Jesus who suffered on the cross, Christ just entered Jesus body for a while and abandoned it before his death on the cross; consequently, suffering of Christ was mere appearance. On the base of some passages from Gnostic texts containing examples of docetic Chrstology, the author attempts here to trace the origin of that concept, starting with the New Testament (Pt. 1: Synoptic Gospels). In the previous part of the article (Pt. 2. 1) he analyzed such Pauls passages as Rom. 1.34 and Gal. 4.47; in this part he deals with 1Cor 8.46 in order to find out whether the concept of pre-existent Jesus is present or not. The author argues in favour of the second answer. To be continued.

The Concept of Store-Consciousness in the “Laṅkāvatāra-Sūtra”

For the first time the concept of store-consciousness appears in Laṅkāvatāra-sūtra. The beginning of the formation of the sūtra dates back to the 23d c. AD, that allows us to suppose that this concept one of the fundamental concepts in Yogācāra philosophy appeared long before the formation of the Yogācāra itself and, possibly, before the appearance of the Madhyamaka school historically the first Mahāyāna Buddhist philosophical school. Store-consciousness is the basis for seven empirical consciousnesses denoted as pravṛtti-vijāna evolving consciousness. Attaining of the enlightenment is the cessation of the activity of evolving consciousness, but the store-consciousness remains free from real and potential afflictions and dispositions determined by karma. In the sūtra the concept of store-consciousness is associated with the teaching on three own-beings, and this shows that basic Yogācāra notions are fully presented in the sūtra. The causes of evolving consciousness are: ignorance concerning real nature of the objects of the mind; affliction concerning saṃsāra; essence of consciousness consisting in the difference between subject and object; and attraction to forms that support saṃsāra

Tibetan blockprint from Khara-Khoto preserved in the Collection of the IOM, RAS

Fragments of Tibetan manuscripts and block prints from Khara-Khoto that were transferred to the Asiatic Museum after the P.K. Kozlovs Mongolia and Sichuan Expedition, have been insufficiently studied. As the result of the cataloguing project initiated by the researchers of the IOM, RAS in 2018, an unknown Tibetan block print was discovered. The preserved fragment includes two texts dedicated to Buddhist Deity Majuśrī. This paper presents the brief archaeographic description of the block print, transliteration and translation of the preserved parts of texts.

“Listen to the Masters!”: An Old Uyghur Maitreya Praise

The veneration of Maitreya is one of the important specifics of Old Uyghur Buddhism. There are numerous praises expressing the fervent wish to meet Maitreya, the Buddha of the future. Many of these praises are written in quatrains with strophic alliteration. In this paper, three fragments of the Serindia Collection of the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IOM, RAS) are published. Of special interest are some probable references to Chan Buddhism.