Table of Contents
CFC> Buddhism and Medicine: An Anthology of Modern Sources
by Pierce Salguero
With apologies for cross-posting...Dear colleagues,
I am in the finishing stages of producing a 62-chapter anthology
of translations of texts related to Buddhism and medicine in premodern Asia.
This project has involved 55 contributors from Buddhist Studies, History of
Medicine, and related fields. Although strongest in India, China, and Japan,
the volume has pan-Asian coverage—including contributions from Thailand, Burma,
Mongolia, Vietnam, and Korea. It will be published in the first half of next
year as: C Pierce Salguero (ed.), Buddhism and Medicine: An Anthology (Columbia
University Press, 2017).
I am now turning my attention to gauging whether it would be
feasible to produce a companion volume covering the early modern and modern
periods (say, roughly, 1600 to the present). In addition to text from Asia, I
would be interested to include European accounts of Buddhist healing (from
missionaries or colonial authorities, for example), and even to push beyond
Asia, if there are relevant materials from other parts of the world.
I am wondering if anyone on this list would be interested in
contributing a translation for such a project. I would be looking for
contributors to produce accessible translations of texts or parts thereof that
focus on any aspect of Buddhist engagement with healing, medicine, disease, or
health writ large. The translations can be quite short (one contribution to the
current volume was one page long) or quite long (up to 20-25 pages), and each
should be accompanied by a introduction of 1000 words maximum. The target
audience is advanced undergraduates, graduate students, and general readers
with an interest in Buddhism and health.
If you are interested in contributing to this project, please
contact me at salguero@psu.edu to
discuss the particulars in more detail.
Many thanks,
Pierce
—
C. Pierce Salguero, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Asian History & Religious Studies
The Abington College of Penn State University
302 Sutherland, 1600 Woodland Rd., Abington PA 19001
QUERY> Who is the Fifth Buddha?
by Matthew Kapstein
Dear friends,I am trying to resolve a puzzle in a fifteenth-century Tibetan colophon and perhaps some of you can help me.
In the traditiions with which I am familiar, Śākyamuni is listed as the fourth Buddha of our era and Maitreya as fifth. However, in the colophon I am working on, the fifth is given as Śākyaketu (shakya'i tog), which is usually an epithet of Śākyamuni. This Śākyaketu is said to have received, during a past life as the son of one Yul-'khor-srung (Dhṛtarāṣṭra), the prophecy (lung bstan/vyākaraṇa) of his future enlightenment from the Buddha Rgya-mtsho'i-rdul. (Elsewhere I have seen Rgya-mstho'i-rdul as a name for a Brahman said to have been one of Śākyamuni's past lives.)
Does this ring a bell for any of you?
with thanks in advance,
Matthew
Matthew Kapstein
EPHE, Paris
