Author: Jinah Kim
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520273869
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 406
Book Description
In considering medieval illustrated Buddhist manuscripts as sacred objects of cultic innovation, Receptacle of the Sacred explores how and why the South Asian Buddhist book-cult has survived for almost two millennia to the present. A book “manuscript” should be understood as a form of sacred space: a temple in microcosm, not only imbued with divine presence but also layered with the memories of many generations of users. Jinah Kim argues that illustrating a manuscript with Buddhist imagery not only empowered it as a three-dimensional sacred object, but also made it a suitable tool for the spiritual transformation of medieval Indian practitioners. Through a detailed historical analysis of Sanskrit colophons on patronage, production, and use of illustrated manuscripts, she suggests that while Buddhism’s disappearance in eastern India was a slow and gradual process, the Buddhist book-cult played an important role in sustaining its identity. In addition, by examining the physical traces left by later Nepalese users and the contemporary ritual use of the book in Nepal, Kim shows how human agency was critical in perpetuating and intensifying the potency of a manuscript as a sacred object throughout time.
Receptacle of the Sacred
Author: Jinah Kim
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520273869
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 406
Book Description
In considering medieval illustrated Buddhist manuscripts as sacred objects of cultic innovation, Receptacle of the Sacred explores how and why the South Asian Buddhist book-cult has survived for almost two millennia to the present. A book “manuscript” should be understood as a form of sacred space: a temple in microcosm, not only imbued with divine presence but also layered with the memories of many generations of users. Jinah Kim argues that illustrating a manuscript with Buddhist imagery not only empowered it as a three-dimensional sacred object, but also made it a suitable tool for the spiritual transformation of medieval Indian practitioners. Through a detailed historical analysis of Sanskrit colophons on patronage, production, and use of illustrated manuscripts, she suggests that while Buddhism’s disappearance in eastern India was a slow and gradual process, the Buddhist book-cult played an important role in sustaining its identity. In addition, by examining the physical traces left by later Nepalese users and the contemporary ritual use of the book in Nepal, Kim shows how human agency was critical in perpetuating and intensifying the potency of a manuscript as a sacred object throughout time.
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520273869
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 406
Book Description
In considering medieval illustrated Buddhist manuscripts as sacred objects of cultic innovation, Receptacle of the Sacred explores how and why the South Asian Buddhist book-cult has survived for almost two millennia to the present. A book “manuscript” should be understood as a form of sacred space: a temple in microcosm, not only imbued with divine presence but also layered with the memories of many generations of users. Jinah Kim argues that illustrating a manuscript with Buddhist imagery not only empowered it as a three-dimensional sacred object, but also made it a suitable tool for the spiritual transformation of medieval Indian practitioners. Through a detailed historical analysis of Sanskrit colophons on patronage, production, and use of illustrated manuscripts, she suggests that while Buddhism’s disappearance in eastern India was a slow and gradual process, the Buddhist book-cult played an important role in sustaining its identity. In addition, by examining the physical traces left by later Nepalese users and the contemporary ritual use of the book in Nepal, Kim shows how human agency was critical in perpetuating and intensifying the potency of a manuscript as a sacred object throughout time.
Shan Manuscripts
Author: B. J. Terwiel
Publisher: Franz Steiner Verlag
ISBN: 3515079734
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 262
Book Description
Shan people can be found in a belt stretching from Assam (Northeastern India) over Myanmar (Burma) to the Chinese province Yunnan. In this volume Shan manuscripts from collections in Berlin, Munich and Hamburg are described. In this catalogue a total of 335 manuscripts and inscribed pieces of cloth are introduced. For each document there is mentioned its title, the date, the author, its appearance as well as a summary of the contents. In the introduction many topics are raised, such as a short history of the Shan, the Shan script, famous authors, material writing culture, a typology of written documents, and the principles of prosody. "In compiling this catalogue of Shan manuscript, Terwiel and Chaichuen have done valuable work which will be appreciated by everyone who is doing research on Shan or Tai culture or cultural history and related themes by using original indigenous sources. [�] The completion of this work marks a new milestone in Shan studies and Tai studies as a whole." Tai culture.
Publisher: Franz Steiner Verlag
ISBN: 3515079734
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 262
Book Description
Shan people can be found in a belt stretching from Assam (Northeastern India) over Myanmar (Burma) to the Chinese province Yunnan. In this volume Shan manuscripts from collections in Berlin, Munich and Hamburg are described. In this catalogue a total of 335 manuscripts and inscribed pieces of cloth are introduced. For each document there is mentioned its title, the date, the author, its appearance as well as a summary of the contents. In the introduction many topics are raised, such as a short history of the Shan, the Shan script, famous authors, material writing culture, a typology of written documents, and the principles of prosody. "In compiling this catalogue of Shan manuscript, Terwiel and Chaichuen have done valuable work which will be appreciated by everyone who is doing research on Shan or Tai culture or cultural history and related themes by using original indigenous sources. [�] The completion of this work marks a new milestone in Shan studies and Tai studies as a whole." Tai culture.
Buddhist Manuscript Cultures
Author: Stephen C. Berkwitz
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134002416
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 282
Book Description
Buddhist Manuscript Cultures explores how religious and cultural practices in premodern Asia were shaped by literary and artistic traditions as well as by Buddhist material culture. This study of Buddhist texts focuses on the significance of their material forms rather than their doctrinal contents, and examines how and why they were made. Collectively, the book offers cross-cultural and comparative insights into the transmission of Buddhist knowledge and the use of texts and images as ritual objects in the artistic and aesthetic traditions of Buddhist cultures. Drawing on case studies from India, Gandhara, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Mongolia, China and Nepal, the chapters included investigate the range of interests and values associated with producing and using written texts, and the roles manuscripts and images play in the transmission of Buddhist texts and in fostering devotion among Buddhist communities. Contributions are by reputed scholars in Buddhist Studies and represent diverse disciplinary approaches from religious studies, art history, anthropology, and history. This book will be of interest to scholars and students working in these fields.
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134002416
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 282
Book Description
Buddhist Manuscript Cultures explores how religious and cultural practices in premodern Asia were shaped by literary and artistic traditions as well as by Buddhist material culture. This study of Buddhist texts focuses on the significance of their material forms rather than their doctrinal contents, and examines how and why they were made. Collectively, the book offers cross-cultural and comparative insights into the transmission of Buddhist knowledge and the use of texts and images as ritual objects in the artistic and aesthetic traditions of Buddhist cultures. Drawing on case studies from India, Gandhara, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Mongolia, China and Nepal, the chapters included investigate the range of interests and values associated with producing and using written texts, and the roles manuscripts and images play in the transmission of Buddhist texts and in fostering devotion among Buddhist communities. Contributions are by reputed scholars in Buddhist Studies and represent diverse disciplinary approaches from religious studies, art history, anthropology, and history. This book will be of interest to scholars and students working in these fields.
Buddhist Manuscripts
Author: Jens Braarvig
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Buddhism
Languages : en
Pages : 392
Book Description
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Buddhism
Languages : en
Pages : 392
Book Description
Buddhism Illuminated
Author: San San May
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780295743783
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
The British Library has one of the richest collections of Southeast Asian Buddhist manuscripts, principally from Thailand and Burma.
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780295743783
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
The British Library has one of the richest collections of Southeast Asian Buddhist manuscripts, principally from Thailand and Burma.
Three Early Mahāyāna Treatises from Gandhāra
Author: Andrea Schlosser
Publisher: University of Washington Press
ISBN: 0295750758
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 339
Book Description
Buddhist texts on the path to liberation The Gandhāran birch-bark scrolls preserve the earliest remains of Buddhist literature known today and provide unprecedented insights into the history of Buddhism. This volume presents three manuscripts from the Bajaur Collection (BC), a group of nineteen scrolls discovered at the end of the twentieth century and named after their findspot in northwestern Pakistan. The manuscripts, written in the Gāndhārī language and Kharoṣṭhī script, date to the second century CE. The three scrolls—BC 4, BC 6, and BC 11—contain treatises that focus on the Buddhist concept of non-attachment. This volume is the first in the Gandhāran Buddhist Texts series that is devoted to texts belonging to the Mahāyāna tradition. There are no known versions of these texts in other Buddhist traditions, and it is assumed that they are autographs. Andrea Schlosser provides an overview of the contents of the manuscripts and discusses their context, genre, possible authorship, physical layout, paleography, orthography, phonology, and morphology. Transliteration and translation of the texts are accompanied by notes on difficult terminology, photographs of the reconstructed scrolls, an index of Gāndhārī words with Sanskrit and Pali equivalents, and a preliminary transliteration of the scroll BC 19.
Publisher: University of Washington Press
ISBN: 0295750758
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 339
Book Description
Buddhist texts on the path to liberation The Gandhāran birch-bark scrolls preserve the earliest remains of Buddhist literature known today and provide unprecedented insights into the history of Buddhism. This volume presents three manuscripts from the Bajaur Collection (BC), a group of nineteen scrolls discovered at the end of the twentieth century and named after their findspot in northwestern Pakistan. The manuscripts, written in the Gāndhārī language and Kharoṣṭhī script, date to the second century CE. The three scrolls—BC 4, BC 6, and BC 11—contain treatises that focus on the Buddhist concept of non-attachment. This volume is the first in the Gandhāran Buddhist Texts series that is devoted to texts belonging to the Mahāyāna tradition. There are no known versions of these texts in other Buddhist traditions, and it is assumed that they are autographs. Andrea Schlosser provides an overview of the contents of the manuscripts and discusses their context, genre, possible authorship, physical layout, paleography, orthography, phonology, and morphology. Transliteration and translation of the texts are accompanied by notes on difficult terminology, photographs of the reconstructed scrolls, an index of Gāndhārī words with Sanskrit and Pali equivalents, and a preliminary transliteration of the scroll BC 19.
Buddha's Word
Author: Mark Elliott
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780947595203
Category : Archaeology and history
Languages : en
Pages : 156
Book Description
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780947595203
Category : Archaeology and history
Languages : en
Pages : 156
Book Description
Ancient Buddhist Scrolls from Gandhāra
Author: Richard Salomon
Publisher: Gandharan Buddhist Texts
ISBN: 9780295977690
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 273
Book Description
As the Dead Sea scrolls have changed our understanding of Judaism and early Christianity, so a set of twenty-nine scrolls recently acquired by the British Library promise to provide a window into a crucial phase of the history of Buddhism in India. The fragmentary birch bark scrolls, which were found inside one of a set of inscribed clay pots, are written in the Gandhari Prakrit language and in Kharosthi script. Dating from around the beginning of the Christian era, the scrolls are probably the oldest Buddhist manuscripts ever discovered. The manuscripts and pots come from a region known in ancient times as Gandhara, corresponding to modern northern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan. At the peak of its influence, Gandhara was the capital of a series of wealthy and powerful dynasties and became one of the world?s most important centers of Buddhism and the gateway through which Buddhism was transmitted from India to China and other parts of Asia. Gandhara was also a principal point of contact between India and the Western world. Despite abundant archeological evidence of Gandhara?s thriving culture, until now there has been virtually no documentary evidence of its literary and religious canon. This volume introduces a groundbreaking project to decipher and interpret the Gandhäran texts. It provides a detailed description of the manuscripts and a survey of their contents, along with a preliminary evaluation of their significance. Also included are representative samples of texts and translations. This discovery sheds new light on the regional character of early Indian Buddhist traditions, the process of the formation of standardized written canons, and the transmission of Buddhism into central and east Asia. Ancient Buddhist Scrolls from Gandhara will appeal to a broad audience with interests in Buddhism, comparative religion, and Asian languages. For more information go to the Early Buddhist Manuscript Project web site at http://www.ebmp.org/
Publisher: Gandharan Buddhist Texts
ISBN: 9780295977690
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 273
Book Description
As the Dead Sea scrolls have changed our understanding of Judaism and early Christianity, so a set of twenty-nine scrolls recently acquired by the British Library promise to provide a window into a crucial phase of the history of Buddhism in India. The fragmentary birch bark scrolls, which were found inside one of a set of inscribed clay pots, are written in the Gandhari Prakrit language and in Kharosthi script. Dating from around the beginning of the Christian era, the scrolls are probably the oldest Buddhist manuscripts ever discovered. The manuscripts and pots come from a region known in ancient times as Gandhara, corresponding to modern northern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan. At the peak of its influence, Gandhara was the capital of a series of wealthy and powerful dynasties and became one of the world?s most important centers of Buddhism and the gateway through which Buddhism was transmitted from India to China and other parts of Asia. Gandhara was also a principal point of contact between India and the Western world. Despite abundant archeological evidence of Gandhara?s thriving culture, until now there has been virtually no documentary evidence of its literary and religious canon. This volume introduces a groundbreaking project to decipher and interpret the Gandhäran texts. It provides a detailed description of the manuscripts and a survey of their contents, along with a preliminary evaluation of their significance. Also included are representative samples of texts and translations. This discovery sheds new light on the regional character of early Indian Buddhist traditions, the process of the formation of standardized written canons, and the transmission of Buddhism into central and east Asia. Ancient Buddhist Scrolls from Gandhara will appeal to a broad audience with interests in Buddhism, comparative religion, and Asian languages. For more information go to the Early Buddhist Manuscript Project web site at http://www.ebmp.org/
Catalogue of the Buddhist Sanskrit Manuscripts in the University Library, Cambridge
Author: Cambridge University Library
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Buddha and Buddhism
Languages : en
Pages : 358
Book Description
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Buddha and Buddhism
Languages : en
Pages : 358
Book Description
Spreading the Dhamma
Author: Daniel Veidlinger
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN: 0824830245
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 282
Book Description
How did early Buddhists actually encounter the seminal texts of their religion? What were the attitudes held by monks and laypeople toward the written and oral Pali traditions? In this pioneering work, Daniel Veidlinger explores these questions in the context of the northern Thai kingdom of Lan Na. Drawing on a vast array of sources, including indigenous chronicles, reports by foreign visitors, inscriptions, and palm-leaf manuscripts, he traces the role of written Buddhist texts in the predominantly oral milieu of northern Thailand from the fifteenth to the nineteenth centuries. Veidlinger examines how the written word was assimilated into existing Buddhist and monastic practice in the region, considering the use of manuscripts for textual study and recitation as well as the place of writing in the cultic and ritual life of the faithful. He shows how manuscripts fit into the economy, describes how they were made and stored, and highlights the understudied issue of the "cult of the book" in Theravâda Buddhism. Looking at the wider Theravâda world, Veidlinger argues that manuscripts in Burma and Sri Lanka played a more central role in the preservation and dissemination of Buddhist texts. By offering a detailed examination of the motivations driving those who sponsored manuscript production, this study draws attention to the vital role played by forest-dwelling monastic orders introduced from Sri Lanka in the development of Lan Na’s written Pali heritage. It also considers the rivalry between those monks who wished to preserve the older oral tradition and monks, rulers, and laypeople who supported the expansion of the new medium of writing.
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN: 0824830245
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 282
Book Description
How did early Buddhists actually encounter the seminal texts of their religion? What were the attitudes held by monks and laypeople toward the written and oral Pali traditions? In this pioneering work, Daniel Veidlinger explores these questions in the context of the northern Thai kingdom of Lan Na. Drawing on a vast array of sources, including indigenous chronicles, reports by foreign visitors, inscriptions, and palm-leaf manuscripts, he traces the role of written Buddhist texts in the predominantly oral milieu of northern Thailand from the fifteenth to the nineteenth centuries. Veidlinger examines how the written word was assimilated into existing Buddhist and monastic practice in the region, considering the use of manuscripts for textual study and recitation as well as the place of writing in the cultic and ritual life of the faithful. He shows how manuscripts fit into the economy, describes how they were made and stored, and highlights the understudied issue of the "cult of the book" in Theravâda Buddhism. Looking at the wider Theravâda world, Veidlinger argues that manuscripts in Burma and Sri Lanka played a more central role in the preservation and dissemination of Buddhist texts. By offering a detailed examination of the motivations driving those who sponsored manuscript production, this study draws attention to the vital role played by forest-dwelling monastic orders introduced from Sri Lanka in the development of Lan Na’s written Pali heritage. It also considers the rivalry between those monks who wished to preserve the older oral tradition and monks, rulers, and laypeople who supported the expansion of the new medium of writing.