On Buddhist Text Information

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THE JOURNAL

OF THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATIONOF

BUDDHIST STUDIES

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

A . K. Narain

EDITORS

Heinz Bechert Leon Hurvitz

Lewis Lancaster A.W. MacDonald

B. J. Stavisky A lex Waym an

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Stephen Beyer

Volume 1 Number 1 1978

c/o Department of South Asian Studies, University of Wisconsin, Madison,

Wiscons in 53706



CONTENTS

I . A R T I C L E S

1. B udd hism and Pol i t i ca l Po w er in K ore an H is to ry , 9

by S. Keel

2 . M a h a m a u d g a l y a y a n a ' s S e r m o n o n t h e L e t ti n g -i n a n d N o t 2 5

Let t ing- in (of Sens i t ive Inf luences ) , by E. Waldschmidt

3 . T h e M a h a s a m g h i k a a n d t h e T a t h a g a t a g a r b h a , 3 5

by A . Way man

I I . S H O R T P A P E R S

1. Va j rayana in G os tan a-de sa , by H. W. Bailey 5 3

2 . " O u r B u d d h a " i n a n A s o k a n I n s c r i p t i o n , by A. K. Narain 5 7

3 . The Story of Vyasa and KasTsundarT, by L. Zwilling 65

4 . New Areas of Rese arch for Arc haeo logi s t s and 71

B u d d h o l o g i s t s , by G. Tucci

I I I . B O O K R E V I E W S

1 . A n A n t h o l o gy o f Bu ddh i s t Ta n t r i c Song s : a S t u dy o f 77

the CaryagTti , by Per Kvaerne

2 . Ti b e t an M ed i c i ne : Wi t h Spec ia l Re fe r ence t o Yo gasa t aka , 81

by Vaidya Bhagwan Dash

I V . N O T E S A N D N E W S

On Bud dh i s t Te x t I n f o r m a t i on (B .T . I. ) o f t he In s t i t u t e 87

for Advanced Studies of Wor ld Rel ig ions ( IASWR),

N e w Y o r k , by R. A . Gard

V . O B I T U A R Y

P. L. Va i dya , by P. V. Bapat 9 1



On Buddhis t Text Informat ion (B.T. I . )

Of the Inst i tu te for Advanced Studies

Of World Rel igions ( IASWR), New York

by R. A . Gard

The Institute for Advanced Studies of World Religions (IASWR, New

York) started a periodical Buddhist Text Information (BTI), in Novem

ber 1974, as a bibliographic information service for which the author is

responsible as BTI Editor. It is issued four times a year (March, June,

September, December) and numbered consecutively from Number 1,

with a Cumulative Index published annually in December. In addition

to describing texts and their published editions, translations, studies,indices, etc., the BTI devotes special attention to research planned, in

progress, or completed according to information received through cir

culated Author Entry Forms. In each BTI Number the data are ar

ranged by basic texts with romanized titles listed in A-Z order and a

brief identification. Under each text title, the bibliographic entries are

listed chronologically according to the date of publication or the

Author Entry Form received; they are numbered consecutively for each

issue. Each BTI Number has a Title Index in which the underlined numbers of entries refer to work planned, in progress, or completed but not

yet published. Where applicable, Asian words are transliterated, with

diacritics, according to the systems used by The Library of Congress

(Washington, D.C.).

The bibliographic nature of the data in BTI Numbers is indicated

by a letter code added to the entry number.- a = abridgement/abstract,

b = bibliography/catalog/list, c = concordance, d = dissertation/thesis,

e = edition, f = facsimile, g = glossary, i = index, m = manuscript, p =

pictorial data/illustrations, r = revised/corrected/added entry, s = study,

modern commentary, t = translation, v = vocabulary, x = extracts/se

lections, incomplete work. An asterisk * applied to a letter code indi

cates that the item is available in microform or xerographic copy at cost

from the IASWR Library, w ithin the provisions of the copyright law if

applicable.

The BTI Cumulative Index consists of two parts: Title Index of

basic texts, and Name Index of authors, editors, translators, and com-

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m en tato rs w i th dates and v ar iant names given wh en kno w n. To aid

cross-reference study, entr ies are coded in i tal ics and symbols: bw =

basic work descr ip t ion , tc = traditional commen tary descr ip t ion , cw =

commented work descr ip t ion , tt = traditional translation [o f bw, tc,

cw ] descr ip t ion , mw = modern work: edi t ion , t r ans la t ion , s tudy, e t c . , re

= related entry-, edi t ion, etc . by others to which may be added i f

ne ed ed : [e] = ed itor , [r] = reviewer, [ t] = tran sla tor ; = derived from;

original name , = became: transliterated/translated/reconstructed n a m e ,

/ = alternative date/variant name. The Cumula t ive Index a l so employs

the let ter code used in BTI N u m b e r s .

In each N um ber an at te m pt is m ade to includ e Bu ddhis t texts in

Pal i , Sanskr i t , Tibetan, Chinese, and Japanese or other Asian languages .

The selection policy is to l is t a text on which someone reportedly is

working (edi t ing, t rans lat ing, s tudying, etc . ) add whatever informat ion

is available about i ts other Asian language versions or translat ions and

relevant Western and Asian publ icat ions , and then descr ibe the author 's

current work in his own words . The BTI Numbers and Cumula t ive

Indexes are typ ed by an IBM Correct ion Select ric I I ; Chinese, Japa nese ,

and K orean charac ter s are han dw r i t t en on the type d cop y; Tibe tan

script for t i t les is xero grap hically co pied from pu blished catalo gu es and

s t r ip-pas ted on the ty pe d c op y; oth er Asian wo rds are rom anized only.

Al ternat ive dates and var iant names are given whenever known. The

f inal copy is photopr inted. Typographical er rors are corrected when

discovered and add i t ional or upd ates inform at ion is given whe n avail

able in subsequent BTI issues.

By per iodical ly l i s t ing bo th pu bl ished and in-progress work inform at ion

ab ou t Bud dhis t tex ts , i t is ho ped tha t Buddh ist Text Information will

help supplement the data contained in publ ished bibl iographies and fa

ci l i ta te an exchange of informat ion between scholars about thei r Buddhis t textual s tudies . For the lat ter purpose, names and addresses are

given for current research entr ies . Thus, a scholar planning to work on

a par t icular Bu ddhis t text may di rect ly con tac t an oth er who is repo r t

edly working on the same text to ascer tain whether thei r research wi l l

dupl i ca te or complement each o ther . At t imes , the BTI Editor is asked

by co rresp on den ts in Asia (par t icular ly India, Jap an , Sri La nk a) , Eu rop e,

and N orth Am erica if som eo ne is wo rking on a Bud dhis t text no t yet

repor ted in the BTI. In such cases, a brief query on the matter is inser ted in a Number and the des i red informat ion, i f and when received,

is forwarded to the inquir ing scho lar .

A dm it ted ly, tex tua l s tudies are only a smal l and very specialized

pa rt of the wh ole of B ud dhist s tu dies, as catego rized above in nine f ields.

Current ly, much more research and publ icat ions are being under taken

in Buddhis t int roductory, doct r inal , ins t i tut ional -social , and cul tural

subjects , evidently less in historical , biographical , and l i terary subjects

88



and, comparat ively l i t t le , but much needed, in reference and general

wo rk. Avai lable publ ishe d Bud dhist bibl iographies are no w inad eq ua te:

the y are unav oidably inco m plete , issued to o infreq uen t ly, and are be

coming outdated. Fur thermore , how can Buddhis t s tudents , beginners

or advanced scholars , in North America, Asia, and Europe know suff i

cient ly about each others ' work publ ished or in progress?

Buddhist mater ials , or f ields of Buddhist s tudies , may be divided

into nine or mo re ca tegories: I . Reference Works (bibl iographies, ency

clopaedias, directories , etc .) , I I . General Works (col lected wri t ings, com

memorative volumes, series, periodicals, audiovisual aids, etc.) , III . In

t rodu ct ions (method ologies , in t rod uct ion s , surveys, com para t ive s tudies ,etc . ) , IV. Histor ies (s tudies of Bud dhist per iod s, areas, cou ntr ie s , and

topics such as events, councils, schisms, etc. , as well as Buddhist values,

welfare activit ies, education, etc. , in various societies), V. Biographies

and th e Bud dha ideal (s tudies of Bud dhist m on ast ics , teach ers , lay per

sonages, and of ideal ized f igures, pantheons, etc .) , VI. Li teratures and

Te xts (s tud ies of B uddh ist folklore, essays, po etr y, s tor ies , etc . , and of

texts and c om me ntar ies , both canonica l and ext racan onica l ) , VII . P r in

ciples and P ract ices (s tudies of Buddh ist con cep ts , do ctr ine s, ceremo nies,cus toms, medi ta t ion, e tc . ) , VII I . Organiza t ion, Movements , Schools /

Sects (s tudies of Buddhist inst i tut ions, organizat ional developments ,

Sangha and monastic l ife, lay groups and religious l ife, etc.) , IX. Cul

tural Arts (s tudies of Buddhist aesthet ics and symbolism, archi tecture,

dance, drama, handicraf ts , music, the pictor ial ar ts , and sculpture (for

cerem onial ar ts see above, V II; for l i terature see abov e, VI) .

Within these nine bibliographic categories or fields of Buddhist

s tudies , textual s tudies (part VI. Li teratures and Texts) are of pr imaryim po rtan ce for m ost of the o the r f ields, and it is par t icular ly helpful

for prospect ive edi tors , t rans la tors , and commenta tors to know what

has been publ ished, or is being undertaken or even planned, by others

on a part icular Bud dhist text before th ey begin wo rk on i t. Th roug h ap

propriate bibl iographic information, individual t ime and effort can be

conserved and, i f desired, cooperat ion can be achieved in Buddhist

textual s tudies .

In these circumstances, should The Inst i tute for Advanced Studiesof World Rel igions s tar t another bibl iographic service complementary

to Buddhist Text Information? Tentatively, i t might be called Bud-

dhist Studies Survey (BSS) and list periodically reports and inquiries

ab ou t Bu ddhist research in the nine f ields m en tion ed abov e. If so, i t

would necessar i ly exclude references to work already publ ished; other

wise, to revive the Bibliographie Bouddhique (Par i s , 1930-1961) , which

covered Janvier 191 8 to Mai 19 54 , wo uld require very sub stant ial fund

ing and staff org aniz ation .

Responses from readers of the Journal of the International A sso-

89



ciation of Buddhist Studies concerning the desirability, scope, format,

and potential circulation-subscription of a Buddhist Studies Survey

would be greatly appreciated. (Similarly, author entries and subscrip

tions to Buddhist Text Information are always welcome.) Please sendyour comments to: Dr. Richard A. Gard, Director of Institute Services,

The Ins titute for Advanced Studies of World Religions, Melville Mem o-

riial Library, State University of New York at Stony Brook, New York

11794, U.S.A.

90

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On Buddhist Text Information