From Birch Bark to Digital Data
Recent Advances in Buddhist Manuscript Research: Papers Presented at the Conference Indic Buddhist Manuscripts: The State of the Field. Stanford, June 15-19 2009
edited by Paul Harrison and Jens-Uwe Hartmann
The sensational manuscript finds of the last two decades have led to a new burst of interest in the literary heritage of Indian Buddhism. Discovered mainly in Pakistan and Afghanistan, these finds have opened up fresh and often quite unexpected perspectives on the historical development of this religious and philosophical tradition. Some fragments date from the end of the first millennium BCE, and are therefore older than any manuscripts previously known from the Indian cultural sphere. At the same time their content throws light on the surprising ways in which early strands of Buddhism unfolded. All this has led to intensive philological efforts to preserve this legacy, while simultaneously bringing long-neglected manuscript finds from the last century back into view, and setting off another phase of intensive work on them. The volume aims to record all these finds systematically, to describe their significance for Indian Buddhist literature, and above all to present the current state of work on them.
The sensational manuscript finds of the last two decades have led to a new burst of interest in the literary heritage of Indian Buddhism. Discovered mainly in Pakistan and Afghanistan, these finds have opened up fresh and often quite unexpected perspectives on the historical development of this religious and philosophical tradition. Some fragments date from the end of the first millennium BCE, and are therefore older than any manuscripts previously known from the Indian cultural sphere. At the same time their content throws light on the surprising ways in which early strands of Buddhism unfolded. All this has led to intensive philological efforts to preserve this legacy, while simultaneously bringing long-neglected manuscript finds from the last century back into view, and setting off another phase of intensive work on them. The volume aims to record all these finds systematically, to describe their significance for Indian Buddhist literature, and above all to present the current state of work on them. The individual contributions are organized by the places where the manuscripts come from, with each find or collection described by the specialists working on it. For the first time, therefore, a complete picture of the Indian Buddhist manuscript tradition is presented, which shows the pieces of the mosaic which have survived, while at the same time giving us an idea of how much has been lost. What is more, it affords a clear view of the foundations of all modern representations of Buddhism, insofar as these are based on literary sources in Indian languages.
- Edited by Paul Harrison
- Edited by Jens-Uwe Hartmann
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Scriptural Authority, Reason and Action
Proceedings of a Panel at the 14th World Sanskrit Conference, Kyoto, September 1st-5th, 2009
Volume 79
History and Transmission of the Nyayamanjari
Critical Edition of the Section on the Sphota.
Volume 91
Buddhist Epistemology as Apologetics
Studies on the History, Self-understanding and Dogmatic Foundations of Late Indian Buddhist Philosophy
Volume 81
A Fine Blend of Mahamudra and Madhyamaka
Maitripa's Collection of Texts on Non-conceptual Realization (Amanasikara)
Volume 90
Anton Schiefner (1817-1879). Briefe und Schriftenverzeichnis
Briefe an Bernhard Jalg (1825-1886), Karl Ernst von Bar (1792-1876), Reinhold Kohler (1830-1892), Victor Hehn (1813-1890), August Friedrich Pott (1802-1887), Ernst Jung (1846-1920), L. Diefenbach (1806-1883), E. Forstermann (1822-1906) und K. Dziatzk
Volume 94
Une critique bouddhique du Soi selon la Mimamsa
Presentation, edition critique et traduction de la Mimamsakaparikalpitatmapariksa de Santaraksita
Volume 84
Marga
Paths to Liberation in South Asian Buddhist Traditions. Papers from an International Symposium held at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 17 - 18 December, 2015
Volume 100
Reverberations of Dharmakirti’s Philosophy
Proceedings of the Fifth International Dharmakirti Conference Heidelberg, August 26 to 30, 2014
Volume 104
Death and Beyond in Ancient Tibet
Archaic Concepts and Practices in a Thousand-Year-Old Illuminated Funerary Manuscript and Old Tibetan Funerary Documents of Gathang Bumpa and Dunhuang
Volume 77
In Clear Words
The Prasannapada, Chapter One: Volume I: Introduction, Manuscript Description, Sanskrit Text Volume II: Prasannapada, Tibetan Text
Volume 86
Tantrikabhidhanakosa III
Dictionnaire des termes techniques de la litterature hindoue tantrique / A Dictionary of Technical Terms from Hindu Tantric Literature / Worterbuch zur Terminologie hinduistischer Tantren
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