In texts, through thoughts, with pleasure

This is a: article, written by Birgit Kellner 79 days ago.
Keywords: philosophy

“Nagarjuna verehrt Buddha als Vertreter einer kritischen Theorie. Er rühmt Buddha als Zertrümmerer der Illusion, nicht als Propheten einer anderen, besseren Welt. Nagarjuna, das zeigt Geldsetzer, arbeitet in seiner Interpretation der Lehren des Buddha mit Kategorien von Aristoteles. Die vier Ursachen, die Nagarjuna zitiert, sind die des Aristoteles. Mindestens ebenso interessant ist freilich, dass Nagarjunas Verfahren der Urteilssuspension, sein Mittlerer Weg, nirgendwo in der indischen Philosophie eine Entsprechung hat, aber – so Geldsetzer – der “Urteilsenthaltung” der skeptischen Schule des Sextus Empiricus zum Verwechseln ähnelt.”

“Wir haben es also mit einem südindischen Text aus dem zweiten oder dem frühen dritten nachchristlichen Jahrhundert zu tun, der zentrale Gedanken und Abschnitte der Gedankenentwicklung nicht nur des großen Klassikers der griechischen Philosophie, Aristoteles, sondern auch eines beinahe zeitgenössischen griechischen Autors, des Sextus Empiricus, aufnimmt und fruchtbar macht für die indische Tradition. Dieser so gefundene, so konstruierte Mittlere Weg prägte dann die Philosophie ganz Asiens.”

Arno Widmann reviews Lutz Geldsetzer’s translation of Nāgārjunas Mūlamadhyamakakārikās (German translation from the Chinese translation) in the German newspaper ‘Frankfurter Rundschau’

This is more than a bit bizarre, in more than one ways. Most fundamentally, I would have hoped that such moves had already died out: observe a few similarities between Greek and Indian philosophy (by selective interpretation and superimposition of one’s own thought categories), and use that as a basis to conclude historical relationships.

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This is a: snip, written by Birgit Kellner 97 days ago.
Keywords: Sanskrit manuscripts

An exciting recent publication just arrived in the mail. These proceedings of a panel devoted to Sanskrit manuscripts in China at a Seminar on Tibetan Studies held in Beijing in 2008 mark an important step towards improving the preservation of Sanskrit manuscript treasures in the Tibetan Autonomous Region, and also demonstrate progress in research on the Buddhist texts that these manuscripts record. As a whole, the volume hopefully paves the way for increasing international cooperation, including especially scholars working within the PRC.

Steinkellner, Ernst (ed.); in cooperation with Duan, Qing and Krasser, Helmut: “Sanskrit manuscripts in China. Proceedings of a panel at the 2008 Beijing Seminar on Tibetan Studies, October 13 to 17” China Tibetology Publishing House (Beijing) 2009

• Duan, Qing: “A fragment of the Bhadrakalpasūtra in Buddhist Sanskrit from Xinjiang”, 15-39.
• Fan, Muyou: “Some grammatical notes on the Advayasamatāvijayamahākalparājā”, 41-46.
• Hugon, Pascale: “Phya pa Chos kyi seng ge’s synoptic table of the Pramāṇaviniścaya”, 47-88.
• Isaacson, Harunaga: “A collection of the Hevajrasādhanas and related works in Sanskrit”, 89-136.
• Kapstein, Matthew: “Preliminary remarks on the Grub mtha’ chen mo of Bya ‘Chad kha ba Ye shes rdo rje”, 137-152.
• Katsura, Shōryū: “Rediscovering Dignāga through Jinendrabuddhi”, 153-166.
• Krasser, Helmut: “Original text and (re)translation – a critical evaluation”, 167-178.
• Li, Xuezhu: “Candrakīrti on dharmanairātmya as held by both Mahāyāna and Hīnayāna – based on Madhyamakāvatāra Chapter 1”, 179-193.
• Luo, Hong: “A preliminary report on a newly identified Sanskrit manuscript of the Vinayasūtra from Tibet”, 195-224.
• Luo, Zhao: “The cataloguing of Sanskrit manuscripts preserved in the TAR: A complicated process that has lasted more than twenty years”, 225-233.
• Saerji: “Sanskrit manuscripts of the Svapnādhyāya preserved in Tibet”, 241-257.
• Sferra, Francesco: “The Manuscripta Buddhica project – Alphabetical list of Sanskrit manuscripts and photographs of Sanskrit manuscripts in Giuseppe Tucci’s collection”, 259-278.
• Steinkellner, Ernst: “Strategies for modes of management and scholarly treatment of the Sanskrit manuscripts in the TAR”, 279-292.
• Gyurme, Tsewang: “Protecting the Sanskrit palm-leaf manuscripts in the Tibetan Autonomous Region – A summary”, 303-305.

• Ye, Shaoyong: “A preliminary survey of Sanskrit manuscripts of Madhyamaka texts preserved in the Tibetan Autonomous Region”, 307-335.

The contributions by Li, Luo Hong, Luo Zhao and Steinkellner are also published in Chinese translation in the same volume.

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This is a: article, written by Birgit Kellner 203 days ago.
Keywords: Indian logic

The proceedings of the panel “Logic in Earliest Classical India” of the 12th World Sanskrit Conference in Helsinki (2003) finally appeared (kudos to the editor Brendan Gillon, and to Petteri Koskikallio for his neverending patience with obstinate authors!):

Logic in Earliest Classical India, edited by Brendan S. Gillon. Papers of the 12th World Sanskrit Conference, v. 10.2. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers.

Table of Conents (pasted from B. Gillon’s announcement on INDOLOGY):

The Development of Logic in Early Classical India
by Brendan S. Gillon

Reasoning as a Science, its Role in Early Dharma
Literature, and the Emergence of the Term nyaya
by Karin Preisendanz

On the Proof Passage of the Carakasamhita:
Editions, Manuscripts and Commentaries
by Ernst Prets

The Logical Reason Called virodhin in Vaisesika and Its
Significance for Connection-based Theories of Reasoning
by Birgit Kellner

The Discussion of pramanas in the Spitzer Manuscript
by Eli Franco

The Logic of the Saüdhinirmocanastra: Establishing
Right Reasoning Based on Similarity (sarupya) and
Dissimilarity (vairupya)
by Chizuko Yoshimizu

Obversion and Contraposition in the Nyayabhasya
by Brendan S. Gillon

Anumana in Bhartrhari’s Vakyapadiya
by Akihiko Akamatsu

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