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Introduction. The article reviews the Chronicle of Rabzha Sanzhiev dealing with the history of Khori Buryats, written in Classical Mongolian, and housed at the Center of Oriental Manuscripts and Xylographs (IMBT SB RAS). Goals. The article attempts a source analysis into a history (historical accounts) of Buddhism from the Chronicle of Khori Buryats to be newly introduced into scientific circulation. Materials and methods. The study investigates a voluminous work by R. Sanzhiev that can be considered a continuation of the Chronicle of Shirab-Nimbu Khobituev written in 1887. Our analysis employs both a descriptive/narrative approach and the comparative historical method that make it possible to examine R. Sanzhiev’s Chronicle and other Buryat historical accounts in interrelation. Results. The Chronicle of Khori Buryats by R. Sanzhiev follows the traditions of Buryat chronicle-writing, contains new data, and is rich in factual material, in particular relating to the history of Buryat Buddhism missing in earlier texts. Messages on the history of Buddhism have been divided into three groups: history of persons, history of temples and religious objects, and history of corresponding traditions. It should be noted that such a division is conditional enough, since one and the same fragment can actually cluster within more than one group. Conclusions. The paper reveals the author did add a wide range of diverse archival and documentary materials to significantly expand the history of Aga Buryats and the history of how Buddhism had been disseminated within this Buryat ethnic group. Furthermore, R. Sanzhiev included messages about most significant late nineteenth to early twentieth century events in Russia and the world, and explained how the latter influenced the then life of Khori Buryats.

The purpose of the article is to provide new information about the initial stage of the process of restoration and revival of Buddhist traditions after the period of repression and atheistic prohibitions. It shows the role of representatives of the Buddhist clergy in the person of the Khambo lamas of the USSR and the MPR Zh.-D. Gomboev, S. Gombozhav and P. B. Baldanzhapov in establishing international relations between the countries, in the creation and opening of the Buddhist Institute in Ulaanbaatar at the Gandantekchenlin Monastery in 1970. The article is written mainly onthe source base of archival materials stored in the private personal archive of P. B. Baldanzhapov kept in the funds of the Center of Oriental Manuscripts and Xylographs of the IMBT SB RAS, such as personal correspondence, copies and drafts of letters of appeals to government and other administrative organizations, plans and programs of visits and receptions of foreign delegations, reports and messages, drafts of articles, photographs. While writing the article, such research methods were used as historical retrospective, which showed the reason for the decline of Buddhist traditions by the early 60s of the last century, a comparative method that allowed assessing the contribution of Buddhist figures in historical perspective, as well as content analysis used for working with archival documents. Results. It has been stated that since the late 50-ies the policy of the Soviet government towards all confessions, including Buddhist, has changed. The main reason for which were political interests of the state aimed at improving its political image in the world, in expanding international relations of the USSR with the states of Southeast Asia, which allowed the Central Religious Board of the Buddhists of the USSR to establish ties with foreign Buddhist organizations and prominent religious public figures of other countries. Since the mid-60-70-ies, due to the joint efforts of Buryat and Mongolian Buddhist figures, actions were initiated for obtaining permission to open a Buddhist educational institution in Ulan-Bator, with the opening of which in 1970 the main threat to the existence of the Buddhist church among the Mongolian peoples was solved t.e. the disappearance of the system of education and training of young lamas.

The article considers a part of the essay “Coverage of classical sources on the history of Buddhism” by the outstanding Buryat scholar Lama Kensura Ngawang-Nima, dedicated to the history of the spread of Buddhist teachings in Mongolia. Some biographical information of the author of the essay is introduced. The materials of the fragment under study are presented, on the basis of which we can say that the author divides the spread of Buddhism in Mongolia, like many researchers, into three stages. Secular and religious figures who played an important role in the spread and formation of Buddhism among the Mongols are noted in the article. It is indicated that when writing his historical treatise, Kensur Ngawang-Nima relied on the works of his famous predecessors, such as the 5th Dalai Lama Ngawang Lobsan Gyatso, Taranatha Gunga Nyingbo, Thukwan Chokyi Nyima, etc., and a part of the essay devoted to the history of Buddhism in Mongolia, based on the work “Golden Book / Altan Debter” by the famous Mongolian scholar Lama Shagdaryn Zava Damdin. The peculiarity of the historical treatise under study is that it is the only known and published work written by a Buryat in the Tibetan language in the genre of Tibetan historical literature — choichzhun.

In 1997, Stephen Batchelor published his ideas about a new form of Buddhism free of religion in the book Buddhism Without Beliefs. This concept of Buddhism would later be known as Secular Buddhism. Since then, Batchelor has published several books explaining the ideals of Secular Buddhsim. Other authors examing Secular Buddhism include Noah Rasheta, Sam Harris, and Robert Wright. This article presents a general overview of the themes of Secular Buddhism, author biographies, and reviews of their respective works related to Secular Buddhism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Specialty of surgery was quite popular in the Buddhist era, and it evolved up to an extent. Various known and unknown physicians (chikitsaks) performed different types of operations to cure different surgical diseases. Jivaka was a pioneer surgeon of that time who performed different operations including surgery of brain. As many as 11 types of diseases were known to be treated surgically with the help of a diverse assortment of 71–120 specifically designed instruments, grouped according to their nature and use. The concept of pre-operative evaluation, explanation, treatment, and post-operative care is also evident in Pali literature. It seems that family members were also allowed to watch surgeries during this era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a review of the monograph “Buddhism in Mongolia: History, Clergy, Monasteries” written by a famous Russian scholar Tsymzhit Purbuevna Vanchikova. The author of the article claims that the monograph is a complex historical work that makes a significant contribution not only to the study of Buddhism in Mongolia but also to fundamental Buddhist, Tibetan and Mongolian studies. The work “Buddhism in Mongolia: History, Clergy, Monasteries” is a serious academic publication devoted to the study of important historical, source study and cultural problems: a coherent description of the long history of Mongolian Buddhism with a detailed examination of biographies and activities of prominent Buddhist personalities. The article emphasizes that the monograph introduces a large number of unexplored and unknown materials: monastic codes, historical and legal documents, works of famous Buddhist authors. This publication will be useful for source specialists, history teachers, archival workers and cultural experts.

This article discusses the various shapes, inner structures and roles given to transformative and liberative practices in the work of US Buddhist anarchist authors (1960-2010). Unlike their Chinese and Japanese predecessors, who focused more on discursive parallelisms between Buddhism and anarchism or on historical instances of antiauthoritarianism within the Buddhist tradition(s), US Buddhist anarchists seem to favour practice and experience. This emphasis, characteristic of the way Buddhism has been introduced to the West, sometimes masks the way meditative techniques were used in traditional Buddhist contexts as oppressive technologies of the self. Whereas the emphasis on the inherently revolutionary nature of Buddhist practice represents a radical departure from the way those practices have been conceptualised throughout Buddhist history, it also involves the danger of considering Buddhist practice as an ahistorical sine qua non for social transformation. This is due to the fact that most early Buddhist anarchist writers based their ideas on a highly idealised, Orientalist imagination of Zen Buddhism(s). However, recent contributions based on other traditions have offered a more nuanced, albeit still developing picture. By assessing a number of instances from different US Buddhist anarchist writers, the article traces the brief history of the idea that meditation is revolutionary praxis, while also deconstructing and complicating it through historical and textual analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the historical chronicles written by Buryat Mongols of Siberia that converted to Buddhism. Topics discussed include the publication of some chronicles in various languages, the significance of Buddhism-focused chronicles authored by Buryats Dambi-Zhaltan Lombotsyrenov, Tuguldur Toboev, and Vandan Iumsunov, and the relationship between the Russian imperial government and Buddhist leaders addressed in these chronicles in addition to Buryat society and politics.

The article explores Buddhist clerical privileges and jurisdictional boundaries being acknowledged in the handling of Buddhist clerical crimes in ancient India. Topics discussed include the legal rights and responsibilities of ordained Buddhist plaintiffs with regard to their interactions with lay courts, the historical boundaries between state and church jurisdictions, and the legal recourse available to Buddhist monks and nuns that have been victims of disputes.

The story of how Theravada Buddhism came to be adopted among urban Kinh communities in southern Vietnam challenges how scholars narrate Buddhist history. Focusing on the transformation of a single liturgical text-- a chant, originally in the Pali language, to invite a monk to give a sermon-- as it circulates across Thailand and Cambodia before its eventual translation from Khmer into Vietnamese in the mid-twentieth century, this essay reveals how chants grow as they circulate, how Theravada liturgies unsettle distinctions between classical and vernacular languages, and how ritual and ideological necessities shape translation in new cultural contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay explores the receptive potential of Evangelicae Historiae Imagines (Antwerp, 1593) in the context of Buddhist devotional culture in China. I argue that EHI, a meditative manual expounding the Jesuits' exquisite methodology of visually oriented contemplation, could be eagerly received and fully functional among its Chinese audience, which was already familiar with a similar tradition drawn from the Sutra of the Contemplation of the Infinite-Age Buddha [...] (Guanwuliangshoujing) of Pure Land Buddhism. In 1637 the Jesuit missionary Giulio Aleni published Tianzhu Jiangsheng Chuxiang Jingjie [...] (Explanation of the incarnation and life of the Heavenly Lord) in Fuzhou, Fujian province of southern China. Aleni's book was a Chinese woodcut reproduction and translation of EHI. It was reprinted in multiple editions throughout the following centuries and circulated far beyond the southern Fujian province. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the first decade after Indian independence in 1947, the secular Indian state projected a vision of itself as being guided by universal ethics rooted in the nation's ancient Buddhist past. From the circulation of Buddhist relics in distant lands to the reinvention and incorporation of Buddhist symbols in contemporary state regalia, the government sponsored a wide variety of programmes in the name of world peace, Pan-Asian unity, and enlightened democratic values that promoted Buddhism both within India and across Asia. This more than decades-long effort was entirely the outcome of the political and social visions of India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru and key members of his cabinet. In its most concise formulation, this Nehruvian-style Buddhism consisted of a two-pronged approach, one concerning the uses of Buddhism in the domestic sphere—that is, for domestic consumption by citizens of the new nation—and one concerning the uses of Buddhism as an instrument of foreign policy. At the heart of these projects was the dual effort to integrate a diverse South Asian populace into a wider national consciousness and yield influence among the post-colonial order in Asia. This article details the strategies and ideologies that Nehru and his cabinet employed vis-à-vis Buddhism from the mid-1940s to late 1950s when their Buddhist statecraft began to unravel due to geopolitical crises and the mass conversions of Ambedkarite Dalits. After tracing these developments, the article briefly considers the continued relevance of the Nehruvian engagement with Buddhism as it relates to twenty-first century Indian affairs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses efforts at Simon Fraser University to incorporate foreign language instruction into upper level history classes which included a seminar on the history of Buddhism using sources in Chinese, a seminar of the history of Afghanistan using Dari, one of two of the country's official languages, and a history class which incorporated Latin. All the classes were taught by Luke Clossey, with project support by Vlad Vintila.

This paper presents evidence to suggest that the highly aberrant Old Khotanese version of the popular Sūtra of the Master of Medicine Beryl-Shine (Bhaiṣajyaguruvaidūryaprahhasūtra) may have been translated from a Chinese text, the twelfth fascicle of the so-called Consecration Sūtra, T 1331. As a possible explanation for the hybrid nature of the Khotanese text, which shares in features of the Consecration Sūtra and of the mainstream version, I suggest the possibility that the Sanskrit version may have originated in Khotan as a revision of the Khotanese text. Lastly I explore the greater consequences that these scenarios would have in our understanding of the pre-Islamic cultures of the Tarim Basin, underscoring the role of China as a significant cultural influence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the highlights of ethnic Chinese monk Ashin Jinarakkhita's career and argues for the need to expand the category of Southeast Asian Buddhism beyond Theravada Buddhism. Topics discussed include the Buddhayana movement of Jinarakkhita which promoted nonsectarian doctrines and practices, reasons to explain the dichotomy between mainland Theravada and maritime Islam and Jinarakkhita as the first Indonesian Bhikku.

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History of Gandhāra is a well known subject. But considerable gaps, which could be filled in by correctly interpreting place-names, still exist. Here, for the first time, an attempt is made to interpret placenames, which throw light on various missing chapters of the history of Gandhāra. Similarly the name, Gandhāra, and its etymology is explained in the light of geographical environment in which it was located. It has also been suggested that Buddhism spread at the grass roots levels by the keen interest of some of the local chiefs who used their utmost financial resources to raise stupas and monasteries now witnessed in the galaxy of ruined structures found throughout the length and breadth of Gandhāra. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Buddhism endorses a set of rules and standards of conduct set out in the religion’s canonical texts. The text of the 1640 Steppe Code, both a peace treaty among the Mongols and an attempt at alliance building vis-à-vis the Manchus, also reflects the adaptation of the ethical norms of Buddhism to secular law and political relations. Secular law among the Kalmyks further evolved in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The Toktols issued by Khan Donduk-Dashi in the eighteenth century addressed a wide range of religious and secular elements in Kalmyk life, while also serving to strengthen the moral authority of the Buddhist clergy. Further revisions to Kalmyk law and the position of Buddhism within the secular system were promulgated at the Jinjil assembly in 1822. The Kalmyks’ inclusion of religious provisions in secular law helped to strengthen the connection between Buddhism and Kalmyk society, consolidating the normative role of religion as the basis for secular conduct and action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes early illustrations of the Miaoshan story, which served a popular hagiography of Bodhisattva Guanyin — the murals of the Hall of the Great Mercy of the Monastery of Great Wisdom in Beijing (ca. 1513) — in relation to the vernacular narrative of performative nature, thePrecious Scroll of Incense Mountain. These murals, though they have not received much attention from scholars so far, are noteworthy as the whole ensemble of this monastery was commissioned by Zhang Xiong, a powerful eunuch of the Zhengde court. This paper clarifies the source of the subject of these murals with the use of newly discovered textual materials, and also tries to contextualize them in the cultural life of eunuchs. Such analysis also leads to redefining the status of precious scroll literature, which, though written in vernacular language, was also used in the higher stratum of society, and entered the Ming inner court in the fifteenth to early sixteenth centuries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the history of Sumaniyyah doctrines in the Arabic-Islamic discourse. The author collates diverse materials on Sumaniyyah from various Arabic sources to analyze and characterize them. Beginning with the term’s origin, Sumaniyyah's etymology, homonymy and historical background are explored to clarify similarities and differences between what was called Sumaniyyah and Buddhism. The methodology used is qualitative description and content analysis with a focus on what early Muslim scholars wrote on Sumaniyyah until the 13th century of hijrah. The writers, highlight key doctrines including the transmigration of soul, idol worship, concepts of universe and creation, the belief in prophecy, the belief in the world’s eternal nature, and limitations on certain types of knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses how a recent series of Sri Lankan history textbooks construct and disseminate a particular form of nationalism that is both exclusively Sinhalese and authoritarian. It argues that their use of language and storylines perpetuates a Sinhalese-centric historical narrative that presents disputed myths, symbols and heroes as official history. This narrative legitimises the Sinhalese claim for sovereignty and the protection of the territorial integrity of Sri Lanka as a major goal of Sinhalese nationalism. This article also highlights how the textbooks further encourage authoritarian patriotism, potentially mobilising future citizens into participation in the reproduction of an exclusive and ethnocentric version of Sinhalese nationalism. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An increasing number of recent scholars have challenged the narrative of Korean Buddhism as persecuted, isolated, and debased under the Neo-Confucian orthodoxy of the Chosŏn dynasty (1392--1910). These scholars have revealed the continued support from both the state and Confucian aristocrats afforded to Buddhism; the friendship between yangbans and monastics; and the recognition of monastics' role in Chosŏn society. While these insights provide a welcome nuance to a consideration of the period, it should be also recognized that the anti-Buddhist paradigm was a pervasive norm at the state and local levels throughout the Chosŏn era. The perception that Buddhism was heretical and that monastics were socially inferior was so deeply ingrained in the minds of aristocrats and the populace for so long that monastics developed a sense of collective trauma. This article revisits the vicissitudes of Chosŏn Buddhism by considering an incident that took place in the 1930s in colonial Korea. This case will help scholars of Korean history and Buddhism understand how colonial-period monastics acted from the trauma of the anti-Buddhist paradigm of the Chosŏn dynasty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the new system of lay Buddhist education revolutionizing the Chogye Order of Korean Buddhism in the twenty-first century. Already involving over a half a million Buddhist laypeople and five hundred monasteries throughout the country, this system is now the hallmark of the Chogye Order's propagation agenda, and it has transformed lay Buddhist activities in contemporary Korea. It is grounded upon a novel lay registration network which requires attending a basic Buddhism course at a designated temple in order to receive an official Lay ID. It now involves a lay ranking structure based on educational achievements, and culminates in the yearly Lay Propagator Exam. Besides delineating the historical construction of this system, this paper will investigate lay attitudes and motivations for joining the programs, analyze official textbook agendas, and provide ethnographic snippets from classroom rituals, in an overall attempt to paint a picture of the new Korean Buddhist lay orthodoxy the Chogye Order is currently in the process of creating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the love letters written by Buddhist visionary Khandro Tāre Lhamo to Chinese lama Namtrul Jigme Phuntsok in which she delivered a prophecy about the future couple's role in revitalizing Buddhism in Tibet, China following a 20-year prohibition of religious practice during the Maoist period. The letters highlight prophetic vision concerning their future religious activities and intimacy.

This article investigates the role played by the Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean world. It argues that formulations that suggest the Bay’s encounters were ambivalent and sporadic until c.1000 – when there was a trade revolution – and see it as a latecomer in the Indian Ocean world, are wrong. Examples from commerce and cultural flows reveal the Bay world as an active participant in the Indian Ocean world from early times and debunk the notion of passivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the shifting definitions of the term gāthā (Ch. ji) over an 800-year period, from the earliest sūtra translations into Chinese until the mid-tenth century. Although the term originally referred to the verse sections of scriptures, gāthās soon began to circulate separately, used in ritual, contemplative, and pedagogical practices. By the late sixth century, it began to mean something like "Buddhist verse." Over the course of the Tang, gāthās came to take on the formal features of poetry, eventually becoming all but indistinguishable from elite verse. However, the word gāthā was always seen as something inferior to real poetry, and, by the late Tang, we find poet-monks belittling other monks' didactic verses so as to distinguish their own work and avoid the taint of the word gāthā. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the existence of self and other in the real entities of religion. It highlights the importance to understand the Buddhist language which is useful to talk of self and other in fleeting awareness of the nature of reality. It also cites the dominance of feminism and sexism in the expression of men to women.

In traditional Korea, the king controlled customs, including Buddhist practices, and the fortune of Buddhism also depended on his will. In that context, this paper examines how Korean kings in medieval Korea, which is equivalent to the Koryŏ (高麗, 918-1392) dynasty, understood Buddhism in terms of the Three Jewels of Buddhism--the Buddha, His teaching, and the san•gha (the monastic community)--focusing on King Hyŏnjong (顯宗, r. 1009-1031) and King Kojong (高宗, r. 1213-1259). They understood Buddhism in terms of Chinese systems of thought such as Confucianism and used it for their secular goals, putting the monastic community under their control. Koryŏ kings' primary duty was to secure the eternity of the royal house. To that end, they took Confucianism as the political ideology and Buddhism as a dominant religious force to support important Confucian concepts of loyalty and filial piety. Buddhist services performed by them had the same goal and Buddhist texts served as objects of worship to invoke blessings. However, the Buddhism that Koryŏ kings understood belonged to the Mahāyāa Buddhist tradition and it was different from early Buddhism. This difference elicits a large body of questions, including the actual nature of Koryŏ Buddhism. These issues remain for in-depth research in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Kang Youwei 康有為 (1858–1927) is certainly not a minor figure in Chinese modern history. Best known for his unsuccessful participation in the Hundred Days Reforms of 1898, he was the last interpreter of the New Text School of Classicism -- a progressive interpretation of the Confucian Canon, which praised political participation and institutional transformations. Kang's adherence to this philosophical view and his subsequent personal elaboration of Classicism, is already visible in the lectures he gave to his students in Guangdong from 1891 to 1896, published in 1897 as the Wanmu caotang kousho 萬木草堂口說 (Instructions from the Hall of the Thousand Tree Cottage) and the Nanhaishi chengji 南海师承记 (Records of Master Nanhai's Lessons). This article sets out to analyse one of Kang's lessons from the second collection: Lecture on "Ren" 講仁字, in which the author provides the students with his own view of the Confucian value of "benevolence." In his interpretation, ren 仁becomes a form of universal empathy rather than the "old" value of traditional orthodoxy. This short text will be used as the departure point for a reflection on the formative process of the author's thought, following its philosophical hints in order to address two issues in particular: first, the origins of Kang's "reformism" and "progressivism" (underlying his subsequent political activism and finally flowing into the utopianism of the Book of Great Concord), which may appear to be more rooted in a long-standing debate among Chinese Classicists than in the abrupt awakening caused by foreign influences; second, the presence of a pervading Buddhist undertone throughout Kang's production, and its apparent contrast with his "Confucianist" intellectual endeavour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the question of 'Reformation' (in a broad sense) and asks whether it is a defining characteristic, that is, a basic structural element in the history of religions. In order to answer this question, firstly, the terms 'reformation' and 'reform' are defined etymologically and in light of conceptual history. Following this short overview, the article focuses on highlighting the factual context in which these terms have been applied in the traditional phenomenology of religions and are currently being applied within the field of religious studies. Lastly, against this background, it is shown how and why the term 'Reformation', which was essentially coined for the European history of religion and Christianity, has been applied to reform processes within a non-Christian religion that originated outside of Europe - namely Buddhism, one of the major world religions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most of the first century of Christian missions in Thailand is characterized by temporary visits of priests of the regular orders. The first two missionaries arrived in Ayutthaya around 1567 and attempted to establish a church, but it disappeared in the Burmese capture and partial depopulation of the Thai capital in 1569. Many individual missionaries visited Ayutthaya from time to time during subsequent decades up to the time of King Narai. The names of about fifty Dominicans, Jesuits, and Franciscans are known during this period. They ministered to Portuguese, Japanese and other Christians who settled in the Thai capital, but few remained for long. By the 1640s and 1650s, however, mission churches were becoming firmly established and became a permanent feature of the city. The priests of the regular orders continued their role in ministering to the resident Christian community and were soon joined by those of a new missionary society—the Missions Etrangeres de Paris (MEP) or “Foreign Missions of Paris”—who were quick to develop a new role for themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Studi e Materiali di Storia delle Religioni is the property of Editrice Morcelliana S.p.A. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The study of the presence of Buddhism in Mexico is still in its infancy, but one of the diverse forms of this religion is called Soka Gakkai (sg). The objective of this article is to elucidate the motives that led people in the city of Mérida, Yucatán, to convert to sg. To achieve this, it adopts a perspective both subjectivist and objectivist. Based on the study model developed by Marzal, we inquired into the forms of contact between converts and the organization, while also exploring the personal reasons that lie behind conversion, uncovered through socio-anthropological analysis. This allows us to comprehend the forms of integration of different Buddhisms in societies far from their land of origin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article identifies and examines processes of othering in an early Indian Buddhist ascetic text, the Pali Vinaya of the Theravādins. By means of: (1) a critical discussion of the fact that the Pali Vinaya holds several terms for the early Buddhists' ascetic others; and (2) a close reading and analysis of a small group of – easily overlooked – Pali Vinaya passages with explicit references to supposed practices of the early Buddhists' ascetic others, I make explicit two aspects of the processes of othering of the early Buddhist ascetic community. I show how through processes of othering Buddhist bhikkhus, or at the very least the monk-editors of the Pali Vinaya, both negotiated a collective identity notion, and reflected on the significance of their own practices and values in direct relation to those of their ascetic others, whether real or imagined. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article examines shamanism and colonial control in the eastern borderlands of Russia from 1853 to 1917. Scottish traveler John Bell's views on shamanism is discussed as well as Siberian religious practices and the landscape of Buryat religion by Russian Orthodox missionaries resident in Baikal. Also tackled are missionaries' use of lamaism, shamanism as the Buryat's authentic religion, and the relationship between shamanism and lamaism.

The Chinese goddess known as Guanyin may commonly be referred to with the Buddhist epithet of "bodhisattva," yet her many hagiographies contain only the most stereotypical references to anything that could be defined unambiguously as "Buddhist." Instead, the narrative of Guanyin that gains greatest popularity between the twelfth through the nineteenth centuries is one that describes the bodhisattva's last incarnation, as the unmarried Princess Miaoshan, within the parameters of indigenous Chinese religion--or, rather, its demonology. I argue that all of the many versions of Miaoshan's legend represent her deification into Guanyin as a process necessary for solving her spirit's demonical status that has arisen from the recurring violence done to her body by herself and her father. Moreover, I show how Miaoshan's narrative of a violated body is deeply rooted in practices of trance-possession that ultimately explain her efficacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In postcolonial Burma, two trends within lay Buddhism — largely in tension with one another — developed into large-scale movements. They focused upon different meditation practices, insight meditation and concentration meditation, with the latter also including esoteric lore. An impetus largely shared by the movements was to define an “authentic" Buddhism to serve as the primary vehicle of the quest for individual, local, and national identity. While insight meditation was generally considered Buddhist meditation par excellence, concentration meditation was ascribed a more dubious Buddhist identity. Given this ambiguity, it could be considered rather paradoxical that concentration meditation could be viewed as a source of “authentic" Buddhism. The aim of this article is to investigate the issue of identity and the paradox of authenticity by examining the concentration meditation practices of one large esoteric congregation and tentatively comparing its practices with those of the insight meditation movement. It will be argued that the movements represented two varieties of so-called modern Buddhism (rationalist modern Buddhism and esoteric modern Buddhism) drawing on different Buddhist imaginaries and representing two main trends that are largely diametrically opposed to one another. They therefore represent two ways of constructing an individual, local, and national identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The imperial bestowal, as a major way of distributing the Buddhist canon, profoundly affected the contours of Buddhism in late imperial China. But why did the inner court engage in the distribution? How did it choose the recipient from the outside world? How was it possible for an aspirant to the canon to win out among the competitors? These questions concern the dynamics and mechanism behind the diffusion of the canon. They also cast new light on the relationship between Buddhism and the state and local society by revealing how the two otherwise separated worlds interacted. This paper is intended to tackle these unexplored questions by examining the extensive bestowal of the Ming Beizang during the Wanli court (1573-1620). It first makes a survey, revealing how uneven the distribution was in terms of both time and region. It then explores the motives of the imperial members as patrons in the context of court politics. Its focus, however, is on the agents and elements working behind the selection of the beneficiaries, and how their interplays conditioned the influence of the canon in local societies. In the process, the roles of the emperor, court women, eunuchs, officials, monks, and local elites are all examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article deals with a recently discovered fragment from Qaraqota, to date the only remainder of a medieval Mongol book printed in square script. Without any doubt it was produced during the Yuan period. We do not know if the Mongol text was first written in square script or in Uygur letters, but the square script print fragment found in Qaraqota is a further proof of the authenticity and significance of the St. Petersburg manuscript, this precious and rich monument of the Middle Mongol language, the medieval Tibetan-Mongol literary relations, and the history of Mongol culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article refers to materials of psychiatric interest found in the Manimekalai written by the 2nd Century CE Buddhist poet Sathanar. From the early description of a wandering psychotic in the streets of Pukar, the ancient maritime capital of the Cholas it is opined that this description fits that of present-day schizophrenia. A drunkard making fun of a Jain monk and a cross-dressed individual are also found in the same streets. Manimekalai's request to the Chola king to convert the prison to a place of piety with Buddhist monks is mentioned. Lord Buddha's teachings on the compassionate way of life are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]