H-Buddhism

New items have been posted in H-Buddhism. Table of Contents 1. RESOURCE> New University of Toronto Burmese Pali digital manuscript archive live 2. NEW BOOK> Gergely Hidas “A Buddhist Ritual Manual on Agriculture: Vajratuṇḍasamayakalparāja” RESOURCE> New University of Toronto Burmese Pali digital manuscript archive live by Christoph Emmrich Dear Colleagues, It is a true pleasure for me to draw your attention to a new online resource for the study of Burmese texts: the Myanmar Manuscript Digital Library (MMDL). Located at https://mmdl.utoronto.ca/, housed at the University of Toronto, and supported by Toronto’s Robarts Library, the site makes available for public retrieval manuscripts from Burma in digitized form, collected under the direction of the Pali Text Society’s William Pruitt, with the support of Yumi Ousaka from the Sendai College of Technology, and together with an impressive team of scholars, technicians, and volunteers from Burma and abroad. Thanks for making this ongoing digitization project possible go to the Pali Text Society and Rupert Gethin, the Sendai National College of Technology and Sunao Kasamatsu, the KDDI Foundation, the Mitsubishi Foundation, the CARI Foundation, and the JSPS Kakenhi. Further team members include Aleix Ruiz Falqueś, Kazuhiro Fujiwara, Yukata Kawasaki, Professor Miao, U Aung Moe Oo, U Nyunt Maung, Win Htay, and Markus Wörgötter. The University of Toronto and Robarts Library have offered and have helped establish the electronic infrastructure for this archive. Even more importantly, they have created the conditions for the long-term sustainability of this archive, facilitating the dissemination of the results of this unique and impressive effort for times to come. To begin with, this digital archive comprises the contents of the U Po Thi Library, containing some 775 palm-leaf manuscripts and located in Thaton, Mon State. However, as the digitization project unfolds further, it is envisaged that the contents of more Burmese archives will added, increasing further the volume and range of sources and thus the value provided by this site. My most sincere words of gratitude for making this site possible go to William Pruitt, without whose vision, work, persistence, and cheerfulness the world of Burma and Pali Studies would not be able to so easily access these treasures. I thank him particularly for the patience with which he has accompanied us at the University of Toronto, offering his advice and support along the lengthy path it took us to make this website accessible to you today. I would also like to thank the team at the University of Toronto and at Robarts Library, most of all Priyadharshini Murugaiah and Sian Meikle, for giving our site a home. I would like to thank Jeffrey Bermejo for creating this site in the first place and for taking care of it as it develops further. Should you have questions regarding the site, please do not hesitate to reach out to me. I will do my best to answer your questions or to redirect them to those colleagues and friends who are more informed than me. With warm regards, Christoph Emmrich christoph.emmrich@utoronto.ca ---- Christoph Emmrich Associate Professor, Buddhist Studies Director, Centre for South Asian Studies at the Asian Institute, Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy Chair, Numata Program UofT/McMaster University of Toronto http://www.religion.utoronto.ca/people/faculty/christoph-emmrich/ • Read more or reply Back to top NEW BOOK> Gergely Hidas “A Buddhist Ritual Manual on Agriculture: Vajratuṇḍasamayakalparāja” by Lewis Doney Dear colleagues, I am happy to inform you of the publication of a new Open Access book: Hidas, Gergely A Buddhist Ritual Manual on Agriculture: Vajratuṇḍasamayakalparāja – Critical Edition and Translation This volume is the first in-depth study of a recently discovered Sanskrit dhāraṇī spell text from around the 5th century CE surviving in two palm-leaf and three paper manuscript compendia from Nepal. This rare Buddhist scripture focuses on the ritual practice of thaumaturgic weather control for successful agriculture through overpowering mythical Nāgas. Traditionally, these serpentine beings are held responsible for the amount of rainfall. The six chapters of the Vajratuṇḍasamayakalparāja present the vidyādhara spell-master as a ritualist who uses maṇḍalas, mudrās and other techniques to gain mastery over the Nāgas and thus control the rains. By subjugating the Nāgas, favourable weather and good crops are guaranteed. This links this incantation tradition to economic power and the securing of worldly support for the Buddhist community. Gergely Hidas is an Indologist and expert on Sanskrit Buddhist texts. He is also the author of Mahāpratisarā-Mahāvidyārājñī: The Great Amulet, Great Queen of Spells. (New Delhi: International Academy of Indian Culture and Aditya Prakashan, 2012). His new book is available for free download from De Gruyter publishers, due to an Open Access agreement made possible by the European Research Council’s funding of the project “Beyond Boundaries: Religion, Region, Language and the State” (ERC Synergy Project 609823 ASIA). Please follow this link: https://www.degruyter.com/view/product/509288 This is volume 3 of the new book series Beyond Boundaries: Religion, Region, Language and the State, edited by Michael Willis, Lewis Doney and Sam van Schaik. The series is a research initiative hosted by the British Museum and the British Library in London. Moving beyond geographical, chronological, disciplinary and historiographical boundaries, the books in this series explore the interactions of India and her neighbors from late antiquity to the close of the medieval. More information on the series is available at: https://www.degruyter.com/view/serial/485244 Yours, Lewis Doney Associate Professor Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies NTNU Trondheim lewis.doney@ntnu.no • Read more or reply Back to top