Buddhist History

In the last fifty years or so, since Yogācāra texts have been available to western academics, there has been a debate as to how Yogācāra Buddhism should be interpreted. This article seeks to establish that Yogācāra Buddhism is most properly interpreted as an idealist school of Buddhist thought. Specifically, it challenges the arguments that have been put forth in recent years that suggest a phenomenological interpretation of Yogācāra Buddhism. The primary target of my argumentation is Dan Lusthaus but arguments of other scholars are also taken into account. In the process of defending my thesis I will explain the fundamentals of Yogācāra Buddhism, provide the reasons why Yogācāra Buddhism should be interpreted as an idealist school, provide reasons why some have interpreted Yogācāra Buddhism as phenomenology, refute non-idealist interpretations of Yogācāra Buddhism, and investigate the relation between Yogācāra Buddhism and other forms of idealism. In order to achieve each of these goals I will utilize the original texts of Yogācāra Buddhism, known as the Trimsika, authored by Vasubandhu and the Cheng Wei-Shih Lun, authored by Hsüan-Tsang. I will also reference and expound upon the philosophies of George Berkeley, Immanuel Kant, and Georg Hegel along with recent scholars who have partaken in this debate.

This work casts a brief glance at the activities of Vello Vaartnou, the Nyingmapa Buddhist, who has been active in culture, science, Buddhism, art, architecture, politics and social life for decades.
Keywords: Vello Vaartnou; Nyingma; Estonia; Buddhism; Thangkas; Buddhist Brotherhood; Tallinn; Estonian National Independent Party; Stupas; KGB; Buryatia; Ivolga; Hambo Lama Zhimba Erdineev; Hambo Lama Munko Tsybikov; International Conferences;

The historical records have entrusted the commentary of the Dhammasaṅganī or Atthasālinī (henceforth AS) to the commentator Buddhaghosa and it is believed that it was compiled in India. Particularly, the AS itself, the Gandhavaṃsa and the Mahāvaṃsa ensure that the author of the AS was Buddhaghosa. However, the inside facts of the text unanimously lead to the suspicion of the authorship and the place of its compilation. Particularly, the AS discloses only reference speaking of
Ceylon. The above fact could lead to affirm the view that the AS was compiled in India. Similarly, the references to other commentaries in the AS conducive further to raise doubts on the date and the authorship of it. Especially, this paper aims to widely inquire the aspect of the historical records as well as varied views of the modern scholarship.

Сочинение буддийского монаха Ирёна (1206–1289) «Оставшиеся сведения [о] трёх государствах» (Самгук юса) — один из немногих доступных современным историкам фундаментальных письменных источников по истории Кореи с древнейших времён до XIII в. Предлагаемый вниманию читателя первый полный русский перевод этого памятника выполнен непосредственно с китаеязычного оригинала и по возможности точно следует исходному тексту. Перевод снабжён вступительной статьёй, в которой кратко и доступно излагаются основополагающие сведения, необходимые для того, чтобы в общих чертах разобраться в истории создания, структуре и содержании памятника, а также постраничным комментарием, задача которого — дать конкретную информацию текстологического и справочного характера.
Эта книга задумана как основа для последующей работы исследователей в самых разных областях: культурологии, истории, источниковедения, литературоведения, фольклористики, этнографии, исторической географии, религиоведения, истории материальной культуры и многих других. Издание рассчитано, в первую очередь, на корееведов — как специалистов, так и студентов, но оно может быть полезно и невостоковедам — культурологам, религиоведам, литературоведам и историкам, а также всем интересующимся историей и культурой Кореи.

Prólogo del Reverendo Jōshō Adrian Cirlea. (Sacerdote principal del Templo Internacional Amidaji)

Kōshō Arana Sensei es el primer profesor de la Comunidad Internacional del Templo Amidaji en latino américa. Me complace mucho ver la seriedad en su trabajo por esparcir la Enseñanza Jodo Shinshu (El Dharma de Amida) en el mundo de habla hispana. Este libro es su primer paso en esta misión de ayudar a los seres sintientes a recibir fe en el Buda Amida.
Una semilla en manos de Amida- Samsara y Nirvana en el Budismo Jodo Shinshu es eficaz en llevar al lector de manera gradual desde la noción errada del materialismo hacia las verdades Dhármicas del karma, renacimiento, Samsara y Nirvana desde la perspectiva del Buda Dharma (Las Enseñanzas Budistas) con énfasis en el Dharma de Amida. Kōshō Sensei hace esto citando varios sutras (las palabras del Buda), shastras (comentarios de los patriarcas budistas) y a su vez complementa esto citando mis libros sobre el Jodo Shinshu.
Este libro brinda material de gran variedad para reflexionar sobre estas verdades budistas lo cual podría ayudar a muchas personas a considerar que hay mucho más en el universo que lo que nuestro cuerpo puede percibir presentemente y así, esto nos abre a la posibilidad de validar y aceptar  las importantes verdades budistas del renacimiento, el bardo, los 6 reinos de la existencia samsárica, la Iluminación Suprema/Budeidad y finalmente el Voto Primordial del Buda Amida (el corazón del Budismo Jodo Shinshu).
Animo de todo corazón a los lectores para que estudien los argumentos, los ejemplos y las analogías que emplea  Kōshō Sensei para explicar los elementos fundamentales del Buda Dharma en general y del Jodo Shinshu en particular.
Namo Amida Bu,

Reverendo Jōshō Adrian Cirlea
Sacerdote Principal del Templo Internacional Amidaji
8 de Agosto, del año 2561 de la Era Budista (2020 E C)

Gandhāra was very popular in ancient times in the areas comprising North western parts of India and parts of Central Asia. Ancient Gandhāra region located in the present day Peshawar valley, Swat valley of Northern Pakistan and Kabul river valley of Eastern Afghanistan. Kharoṣṭhī script was the main script of Gandhāri language in Prakrit dialect of the ancient Gandhara region. Kharoṣṭhī, now a dead script was a script of Gandhāri (Prakrit dialect) language.  Kharoṣṭhī was one of the main language scripts in north-western parts of India. Kharoṣṭhī and Brāhmī scripts are identical and contemporary. Kharoṣṭhī script (Prakit dialects) developed during Indo-Greeks rulers during 3rd century BCE. Kharoṣṭhī scripts seem to have developed under Achaemenian control because of the influence of Aramaic script. Gandhāri Language and was an official language of kingdoms of Gandhāra. Gandhāri language was very popular in Ancient parts of Central Asia (present day Afghanistan, Bactria, and Scythia and north eastern parts of China. This research paper is a comparative study of Kharoṣṭhī documents from Chinese Turkestan, was discovered by Aurel Stein in his expeditions to the Central Asian sites of Niya, Khotan, Endere and Lou-lan, focuses on the grammatical section and use of vowel. These documents are the earliest Buddhist manuscript discovered, dating back to first century BCE.

KEYWORDS: GANDHARA BUDDHISM, GANDHARI LANGUAGE, SCRIPT, KHAROSTHI DOCUMENTS, TRANSLITERATION, GARMMER, VOWEL.

The Sasana is Buddhism as it occurs in time and space, that is, in its social, historical and personal contexts. This book looks at the Buddha-Sasana as an organism, that was structured in a certain way by the Buddha, largely through the formation of the monastic institution and that fulfils certain functions and that has proven to be of remarkable durability. It traces the history of the Sasana and the way it manages to adapt to new cultural influences and looks at the shape of the Sasana as it encounters modernity.

The study of Eurasia in the seventh century is dominated by the history of the origins of the Muslim caliphate and the Tang Dynasty. The first Tang emperor, Gaozu, ascended the throne in 618 AD, and the hegira took place in 622 AD, year one of the Muslim calendar. That these two developments should be so central is understandable. Within little more than a hundred years of its establishment, Islam was the dominant religion across an arc of Asia and Africa from Portugal to Kazakhstan, where it butted up against the armies of the Tang Dynasty, which had simultaneously pushed China’s borders west across two thousand miles of desert and steppe. Yet at the very moment of immediate contact, a series of domestic crises within the Dar al-Islam and in China directed merchants’ attention away from the Silk Road across Central Asia to the ‘Silk Road of the Sea’. Bustling maritime markets at either end of this sea route from southwest to northeast Asia drew merchants and mendicants from around the Monsoon Seas and helped give their respective empires a cosmopolitan flourish. Of greater significance, however, rulers of nascent states lying along this primary sea route were able to tap the wealth generated by this trade to consolidate power and forge durable and influential states. Chief among these were the Chola and Srivijayan kingdoms, through whose waters virtually all shipping sailing around the Indian subcontinent or through the Strait of Melaka, respectively, had to pass. Merchants from both kingdoms became active participants in long-distance trade, sharing their
experience and institutions with other seafaring communities to create a hybrid and, to all appearances, seamless commercial system dominated by no one group or state.

Khedrub Jey (mkhas grub dge legs dpal bzang [1385-1438 C.E.]), one of the most important scholar-saints in the history of the Tibetan Buddhist scholastic tradition, who is considered to be the third patriarch of the Gelukpa (dge lugs pa), or Gandanpa (dga’ ldan pa), school that was founded by Tsong kha pa blo bzang grags pa (1357-1419).

In recent years, many rare texts related to Bka gdams pa school have arrived from Lhasa, such as the collection of Bras spungs Monastery, and they have been become available to scholars. Among these rare texts, one Bka gdams chos byung history of Bka gdams pa school text, which was not accessible for a long time, was published by the Ser gtsug nang bstan dpe rnying tshol bsdu phyogs sgrig khang henceforth, Ser gtsug Institute , Lhasa in 2015. The newly published, Bka' gdams rin po che'i bstan 'dzin rnams kyi byung khungs paṇ chen ye shes rtse mos mdzad pa The origin of the holders of the precious teachings of Bka' gdams written by Paṇ chen Ye shes rtse mo henceforth, Ye shes rtse mo's Bka' gdams chos 'byung written by Paṇ chen Ye shes rtse mo 1433 ? , who was the forth abbot of Bkra shis lhun po Monastery, is thought to be the earliest Bka gdams chos byung work along with the same genre work by Bsod nams lha i dbang po 1423 1496 . This paper will give an overview of the Bka gdams chos byung genre and the details of Ye shes rtse mo's Bka' gdams chos 'byung, such as the context, author, date of the text, and specific descriptions of the text with compared to other Bka gdams chos byung works.

In this comparative study some technical devices, as they were known in the Greco-Roman Alexandria, are juxtaposed to such of the Indian cultural area, as they were mentioned in various, even legendary writings. The focus here is mainly on the time between the 3rd century BCE and the 1st century CE, when the trade between Egypt and South Asia over the sea had a heyday. At that time the main representatives of Western technical engineering lived and worked in Alexandria.

Digital Dictionary of Buddhism entry. July, 2015. Details of the Mātaṅga-sūtra (Śārdūlakarṇāvadāna) 摩登伽經, a Buddhist text. It is story thirty-three entitled Śārdūlakarṇāvadāna in the Divyāvadāna collection. This early sūtra is significant in its use of mantras, anti-Vedic polemic and encyclopedic detailing of pre-Hellenized Indian astrology (i.e., before horoscopy).

佛教說人有「三不善根」(貪嗔癡) 。企業作為一個由人組成的集體也同樣有貪嗔癡。經濟學「企業理論」(Theory of Firm)有關「代理理論」(Agency Theory) 及「道德危機」(Moral Hazard) 的硏究，就是認為企業員工(公司的代理人)的貪念會引導個人與企業利益的不對稱，令企業管理成本上升及股東利益損失。另一方面，私營企業在追求利潤最大化的過程中，往往與社會利益産生衝突。私企與社會利益的不一致産生出很多社會問題，例如環境污染，黑心食品，惡意競爭等等。大乘佛教說「自利利他」可對治個人的貪嗔癡，如果將「自利利他」應用到企業管理文化，是否也可對治企業的貪嗔癡，減輕內部人與人、外部企業與社會間的利益衝突而達到節省成本及讓社會更得益? 本硏究會先從企業理論及宗教倫理學的文獻回顧開始。

The thesis of this paper is that despite the differences in traditional Chinese and Japanese tea cultures, both cultures had members of their elite society using their tea culture to enhance their own prestige. This paper will focus on the time from the mid-8th century to the early 17th century. Three aspects of tea culture will be discussed in this paper: government, religious, and material culture. The government aspect will deal with tea as used by the Chinese emperors, specifically Emperor Huizong (1100-26) who wrote a treatise on tea. For Japan, the government aspect will focus mostly on the shoguns, the military dictators of feudal Japan who used tea culture to increase their prestige through peaceful means. The religious aspect will focus completely on Buddhism, which featured prominently in East Asian tea culture. For China, the major figure that will be discussed is Ennin, a Japanese Buddhist monk who travelled through China in the 9th century and commented often on tea. Zen Buddhism played a huge role in Japanese tea culture, particularly in the person of Sen no Rikyu (1522-91) who was a devout follower of Zen and a revolutionary figure in the Japanese tea ceremony (chanoyu). Rikyu was a merchant, who would traditionally ranked very low in society, but tea culture increased his otherwise low prestige. The third aspect is material culture, particularly tea bowls, which were viewed as prestigious works of art well worth acquiring in both China and Japan to show off one’s wealth and taste. Overall, the purpose of this paper is to compare the tea cultures of China and Japan, as most scholarly research focuses on one or the other instead of noting the similarities- in this case, the elite societies’ use of their tea cultures to increase their reputation amongst their peers.

The present paper (in Chinese and largely extended version) aims to discuss two ancient bronze statues depicting Bodhisattvas, which have only recently been uncovered. Both bronzes noticeably originate from the area in the northwest of ancient India. Our studies focus, first of all, on the Sanskrit inscriptions that both bronzes provide us with. Based on the paleographic analysis of the “Proto-Śāradā” script type, which was widely used in the various areas of historical northwest India, both bronze statues examined here are datable to the first half of the 7th century. 

古印度的西北邊陲自古以來就是各種文化交流的必經之道。因存有阿育王石刻，該地的佛教史可上溯到孔雀王朝。在貴霜統治下，犍陀羅藝術達到鼎盛，亦為接踵而至的中國求法高僧頂禮膜拜。然而，尚未引起學界足夠關注的是該地6-8世紀產生的「後犍陀羅藝術」。本世紀初以來，通過對印度河谷崖刻文字、銅像銘文以及出土寫本的考證，該地唯一的王族Palola Ṣāhi及其譜係得以梳理出來。這個「钵露罗」王族即中國史籍記載的「勃律」。被吐蕃吞噬後，大量精美絕倫的「钵露罗」銅造像被帶入西藏。尤為珍貴的是造像上雕刻的梵語銘文，目前已考證出50餘件，散落在世界各地。佛教造像的斷代始終是個難題，而本文依據西北印度婆羅蜜字體2-8世紀的發展，將紮什倫布寺和曼華堂所藏的兩尊造像斷代到7世紀早期。以此開啟一個系列課題，研究對象聚焦帶有梵語銘文的古印度造像，其中大部分是「故宮博物院藏傳佛教文物研究所」在近期的普查工作中發現的。我們合作研究的宗旨是在最大程度上還原古印度西北造像的全貌，尤其是目前分佈在中國和世界各地的保存狀況。為此，需要把新文物的考證工作與已經發表的研究成果進行對接。此外，如果能將銘文提供的信息與中國和阿拉伯的史籍綜合起來，亦將對「勃律」和西域史地的研究帶來突破。

The Sutra on the White Lotus of the Sublime Dharma (Sk., Saddharmapuṇḍarīka-sūtra; Ch., Miàofǎ liánhuá jīng; Jp., Myōhō renge kyō), commonly known as the Lotus Sutra, is arguably the most influential sutra of Mahāyāna Buddhism, and certainly one of the most revered sacred texts in East Asia.  Via parables and short stories, the twenty-eight chapters of the Lotus Sutra indirectly present a number of core doctrines of the early Mahāyāna, the form of Buddhism that first emerged in India and West Asia roughly five centuries after the death of the historical Buddha Siddhartha Gautama (c. 563–486 BCE) and would eventually come to dominate East Asian Buddhism. The Lotus Sutra is a devotional text rather a philosophical one—i.e., it seems intended to work on the level of the emotions and the senses rather than the intellect. And yet, despite its otherworldly aspects, the Lotus Sutra has been employed over the centuries as a political text, both as a tool for maintaining the status quo and—especially in the twentieth century but with a few historical precedents—as an inspiration and justification for political transformation or reform. This chapter explores some of the various ways in which the Lotus Sutra has been understood and utilized as a political text.

This article (being a revised and supplemented version of the conference paper 2019/4) aims to give a brief survey of the voyages undertaken by Indian Buddhist monks who traveled between India and China during the early period (305–435) when Buddhism spread via the maritime Silk Road from India and Sri Lanka towards China. These maritime routes concern a large number of Chinese pilgrims traveling to India searching for Buddhist Dharma as well as some learned Indian monks who were invited by Chinese monasteries to be teachers. My investigation focuses on three Indian monks: Jīvaka (耆域: arrived in Luoyang about 305-307, §2), Buddhabhadra (佛馱跋陀羅: 359-429, arrived in Qingzhou about 407-408, §3), and Guṇabhadra (求那跋陀羅: 394-468, arrived in Guangzhou in 435). Esp. Guṇabhadra´s worship of Avalokiteśvara as sailor´s patron can be compared to that of Faxian (voyage during 410-412), as a means of tracing the origin of this cult and of the Lotus Sūtra (§4). Other aspects examined here include the motivation of those monks for such a venture, the danger and difficulties they had to deal with, and their relationship to the merchants and lay followers (dānapati). Furthermore, it tries to capture and reconstruct the recorded seafaring route including some important survival bases on the voyage, the nationality of merchants using the maritime silk route in the early 5th century as well as their shipbuilding and seafaring technology.

Key words: Jīvaka, Funan/Nokor Phnom, Jiaozhi, Buddhabhadra, Guṇabhadra, Avalokiteśvara, Faxian, Tāmralipti, Yavadvīpa

Bringing Buddhism to Tibet is a landmark study of the Dba’ bzhed—a seminal history recounting the introduction of Buddhism to Tibet. Preserved in a single copy, the Dba’ bzhed stands at the head of a long tradition of history writing in the Tibetan language. This book gives the first full transcription and facing translation of the Dba’ bzhed, coupled with a detailed analysis of the text, its context and narrative structure, by leading scholars.

此篇论文的英语原稿题为“Hoary Past and Hazy Memory. On the History of Early Buddhist Texts”, 首次於2008/2009年刊印在《国际佛教研究协会期刊》 （Journal of International Association of Buddhist Studies）29辑第2册（原计划2006出版）第3-29页。后於2019年收入著者在德国出版的Kleine Schriften《论著选集》第3卷1224-1421页。

本文以巴利藏的《大般涅槃经》为例，通过分析经文中流传的“历史记忆”，推测这部重要经典的成书时间应在公元前350-320年之间，即仅晚于佛陀涅槃大约30-60年，而明显早于孔雀王朝。论文揭示，探究早期经典的形成和结构，离不开古代印度语言和文化的大背景，而作为现存最原始的中古印度语言，巴利文又通过吠陀语和古代波斯语“藕断丝连”。

故本篇论文的研究特点是跨学科式的，其切入点不仅涉及印度碑铭学和纪年史，也涵括了印欧比较语言学等。对于佛学界不太为人熟知的德文、法文和英文参考文献，中译版均附上了译文。由于英文原稿基本保留了2008年的口头讲演形式，故本来没有分段，为了便于浏览，中译版将全文分成了十一个章节并突出了其中的主要议题。此外，英文稿未附参考书目汇总，为了方便读者使用，经著者同意，在此将文中引用的文献汇编为“参考文献书目”附上，谨供参考。

Indian Historians discussed their diverse opinion on Buddhism but most strange commonality in their writings is that they all seem to be biased against Buddhism and there were many instances when a same charge was repeated by different historians without even referring each other. However, being authorities of Indian history their writings remained unchallenged. The purpose of this paper is to throw light on the discrepancies in the writings of mainstream Indian historians and to present a correct and true picture of Buddhism.

This is a revised version of my paper presented in the 87th International Buddhist Research Seminar, Nan Buddhist College organised during 18-20 February 2016. The original paper is available at http://www.ojs.mcu.ac.th/index.php/JIBS/article/view/1/pdf001

This essay examines how Tārā 'reclaims' the discourse of enlightenment for Buddhist women and feminist theologians. Despite universal concern for the liberation of all beings, Buddhahood in mainstream texts and narratives was confined to male deities and masters, or females that switched their genders in their final rebirth. Furthermore, Tārā's senior male bodhisattvas, Avalokiteśvara and Mañjuśrî, overwhelmingly monopolized compassion and wisdom as the latters' embodiments. This study proposes how Tārā's theology gradually came to distinguish her from her male colleagues and reclaim the state of Buddhahood. Tārā is an unequivocally female Buddha in Vajrayāna Buddhism because she has managed to assimilate these theological virtues that were essentially reserved as masculine, correcting them as genderless qualities without identity. Tārā's legitimization sets a concrete precedent for the title of 'Buddha' to be included amongst the categories of feminine faith and practice.

A survey of early traditions about the buddha image and an examination of the limited material remains. Both the early literature and the surviving early examples seem to point strongly to a very early, ca. 4th cent. BCE existence of images.

This paper looks at a set of related Jātaka tales, the Mahā-paduma Jātaka and the Bandhanamokkha Jātaka, to determine what ethical prescriptions are conveyed, and if there are gendered ethical messages therein. It is my contention that the female character in the tales – generally lacking name or voice – is treated ambiguously and that her ethical behavior over several lifetimes only serves to reinforce existing messages of masculine spiritual and ethical supremacy. Furthermore, neither of the tales provides a positive model of ethical behavior for lay women, unless it is to extrapolate from the virtuous actions of the male characters. The audience and reader are not given access to the female characters’ thoughts or motivations for her actions, further restricting understanding. The Mahā-paduma Jātaka is the longest of the Jātakas under consideration in this paper, set in the audience’s present day shortly after the Buddha has attained Enlightenment, and deals with the disastrous karmic effects of attempting to besmirch the Buddha’s good name. The main female character in this tale is named Ciñcamānavikā; it is her past lives that are the subject of the past life in the Mahā-paduma Jātaka and a different past life in the Bandhanamokkha Jātaka. By way of contrast to the Jātakas, I briefly consider the character of Queen Mallikā from the Dhammapada Commentary, a character with voice and virtue, features notably lacking from the Jātaka tales.

This work casts a brief glance at the activities of Vello Vaartnou, the Nyingmapa Buddhist, who has been active in culture, science, Buddhism, art, architecture, politics and social life for decades.
Keywords: Vello Vaartnou; Nyingma; Estonia; Buddhism; Thangkas; Buddhist Brotherhood; Tallinn; Estonian National Independent Party; Stupas; KGB; Buryatia; Temple; Ivolga; Hambo Lama Zhimba Erdineev; Hambo Lama Munko Tsybikov; International Conferences;
Sweden; University; Encyclopedia of Buddhism; Estonian Nyingma; Australia; Prayer wheels.

From different sources of Buddhist historical researches, many hypotheses relating to the entry of Buddhism to China could be captured, however only ten concepts would be drawn out by the writer of this paper to survey.

To evaluate and confirm the authenticity, logicality and the chronology of this event as well is important thing and that is also the purpose of this paper

Despite the parallels between the Buddhist translation histories of ancient China and Tibet—where Buddhism was introduced, translated into the local languages and then proceeded to follow widely divergent paths—no study comparing the two traditions has been published. In both regions, thousands of Buddhist texts were translated but into markedly different languages and in different historical and cultural contexts. What strategies did the translators of China and Tibet use and how did they carry out their translations? Who were the translators, and what commonalities and differences can be found between the two traditions in terms of translation experience? This paper aims to answer these and other questions by employing Wakabayashi's model of comparative translation historiography (2005, 2007, 2013). Since Wakabayashi's work was published, no scholar of Translation Studies has utilized or advanced the methodology that she put forth. It is hoped that this study will help to fill this gap, that progress may be made toward advancing this methodology within the discipline of Translation Studies, and that a contribution will be made to historical studies of these regions. Data gathered in the study will be presented and analyzed, and the difficulties in carrying out this type of comparative research will be discussed.