Vol 18, No 2 (2021)

Research works

Tibetan blockprint from Khara-Khoto preserved in the Collection of the IOM, RAS

Turanskaya A.A.

Abstract

Fragments of Tibetan manuscripts and block prints from Khara-Khoto that were transferred to the Asiatic Museum after the P.K. Kozlov’s Mongolia and Sichuan Expedition, have been insufficiently studied. As the result of the cataloguing project initiated by the researchers of the IOM, RAS in 2018, an unknown Tibetan block print was discovered. The preserved fragment includes two texts dedicated to Buddhist Deity Mañjuśrī. This paper presents the brief archaeographic description of the block print, transliteration and translation of the preserved parts of texts.

Pis'mennye pamiatniki Vostoka. 2021;18(2):5-23
pages 5-23 views

On Docetic Christology in Early Christianity. Pt. 2.2

Khosroyev A.L.

Abstract

According to the doctrine of so-called docetic Christology, earthly Jesus and heavenly Christ were two different persons. It was Jesus who suffered on the cross, Christ just entered Jesus’ body for a while and abandoned it before his death on the cross; consequently, suffering of Christ was mere appearance. On the base of some passages from Gnostic texts containing examples of docetic Chrstology, the author attempts here to trace the origin of that concept, starting with the New Testament (Pt. 1: Synoptic Gospels). In the previous part of the article (Pt. 2. 1) he analyzed such Paul’s passages as Rom. 1.3–4 and Gal. 4.4–7; in this part he deals with 1Cor 8.4–6 in order to find out whether the concept of pre-existent Jesus is present or not. The author argues in favour of the second answer. To be continued.

Pis'mennye pamiatniki Vostoka. 2021;18(2):24-35
pages 24-35 views

The Concept of Store-Consciousness in the “Laṅkāvatāra-Sūtra”

Burmistrov S.L.

Abstract

For the first time the concept of store-consciousness appears in “Laṅkāvatāra-sūtra”. The beginning of the formation of the sūtra dates back to the 2–3d c. AD, that allows us to suppose that this concept — one of the fundamental concepts in Yogācāra philosophy — appeared long before the formation of the Yogācāra itself and, possibly, before the appearance of the Madhyamaka school — historically the first Mahāyāna Buddhist philosophical school. Store-consciousness is the basis for seven empirical consciousnesses denoted as pravṛtti-vijñāna “evolving consciousness”. Attaining of the enlightenment is the cessation of the activity of evolving consciousness, but the store-consciousness remains free from real and potential afflictions and dispositions determined by karma. In the sūtra the concept of store-consciousness is associated with the teaching on three own-beings, and this shows that basic Yogācāra notions are fully presented in the sūtra. The causes of evolving consciousness are: ignorance concerning real nature of the objects of the mind; affliction concerning saṃsāra; essence of consciousness consisting in the difference between subject and object; and attraction to forms that support saṃsāra

Pis'mennye pamiatniki Vostoka. 2021;18(2):36-50
pages 36-50 views

The Concept of “Contemporary Place Names” in the Tibetan Translation of the Da Tang Xiyu Ji

Takata T.

Abstract

The Da Tang Xiyu ji (“Тhe Great Tang Records on the Western Regions”) was translated into Tibetan by the Mongolian scholar Gombojab (Mgon-po-skyabs) of the Qing dynasty (1644–1912), using the original Chinese text of the Qianlong Tripitaka, also called the Dragon Tripitaka. In the manuscript copy kept at Otani University (Kyoto), interlinear explanatory notes of the “contemporary place names” are found. The notes on the Central Asian place names might reflect the new geographical knowledge that Chinese society obtained after Qianlong’s campaigns against the Dzungars. In the present paper, the author discusses some of these notes. As the notes are not accurate and contain much misunderstanding, it is hard to use them as research sources. Nevertheless, they reveal the scope of knowledge of the time and deserve attention.

Pis'mennye pamiatniki Vostoka. 2021;18(2):51-63
pages 51-63 views

History and historiography

“Listen to the Masters!”: An Old Uyghur Maitreya Praise

Zieme P.

Abstract

The veneration of Maitreya is one of the important specifics of Old Uyghur Buddhism. There are numerous praises expressing the fervent wish to meet Maitreya, the Buddha of the future. Many of these praises are written in quatrains with strophic alliteration. In this paper, three fragments of the Serindia Collection of the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IOM, RAS) are published. Of special interest are some probable references to Chan Buddhism.

Pis'mennye pamiatniki Vostoka. 2021;18(2):64-79
pages 64-79 views

A Tangut Primary Reader. A Brief Collection by Taizong Kept at the IOM, RAS

Hongyin N.

Abstract

The previously undeciphered manuscript inv. No. 5875 preserved at the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts, Russian Academy of Sciences, proves to be a Tangut version of a primary reader. Its Chinese original is an inconsistently miscellaneous compilation of ancient literary allusions and contemporary folk maxims. The text combines the two distinct literary styles of antithetical couplet and ordinary prose and has no easily defined subject. Although its Chinese original has not been found yet, and the whole text has not been thoroughly deciphered so far, the present article offers a tentative translation of some of its stories in order to lay a foundation for further studies.

Pis'mennye pamiatniki Vostoka. 2021;18(2):80-113
pages 80-113 views

Collections and Archives

A Unique Manuscript of the Shibanid Epoch from the Fund of the Center of the Written Heritage of Tajikistan

Dodkhudoeva L.N.

Abstract

The article introduces the results of a preliminary study of the unique work, the Manaqib al-khulafa’ (“The Virtues/Excellences of the Caliphs”) compiled by Qawam ad-Din Muhammad al-Husaini alSanaujiradi al-Ziyaratgahi al-Harawi in 997/1588. This is a response to the protest message of the Shiites of Herat, who survived the siege and capture of the city by the Sunnis — the Shibanid troops. The Manaqib recreates the early stages of the history of Islam before the split caused by the difference in the understanding of principles of the supreme political power (elective or hereditary) transfer and reveals the virtues of the four righteous caliphs. Fragments of the Qur’an and hadiths cited in the treatise present irrefutable evidence of the Sunnis’ superiority over Shiism. The treatise is an excellent example of polemical literature of bitter ideological struggle between two orthodoxies — Sunni and Shiite — and contains valuable information on the religious and political history of Eurasia in the premodern period.

Pis'mennye pamiatniki Vostoka. 2021;18(2):114-132
pages 114-132 views

Academic Life

Conference in Memory of O.F. Akimushkin (St. Petersburg, February 17, 2021)

Ioannesyan Y.A.

Abstract

17 февраля 2021 г. состоялась очередная ежегодная иранистическая конференция
памяти О.Ф. Акимушкина (17.02.1929 — 31.10.2010) по широкой тематике (философия, религия, история и культура региона Среднего и Ближнего Востока). В этом году она проходила в особых условиях, связанных с пандемией. По этой причине организаторами были предусмотрены два формата участия в конференции и чтения докладов — очный и дистанционный. Последним воспользовались трое участников. Всего на конференции выступили 12 человек, представляющих ИВР РАН, Институт исмаилитских исследований (Великобритания), University of Amsterdam (Нидерланды), Институт истории, археологии и этнографии ДФИЦ РАН, СПбГУ (включая Институт философии СПбГУ), Государственный Эрмитаж и Российскую национальную библиотеку (РНБ). Отрадно, что значительную часть участников составляли молодые исследователи.

Pis'mennye pamiatniki Vostoka. 2021;18(2):133-139
pages 133-139 views

Reviews

Review of the book: Buddhist Tradition of Tantras in Tibet. Translation from Tibetan, Foreword, Introduction and Glossary by Raisa N. Krapivina St. Petersburg: Nestor-Istoria, 2020, 384 pp. ISBN 978-5-4469-1815-7 (in Russian)

Kharkova E.Y.

Abstract

В недавно вышедшей книге «Буддийская традиция тантр в Тибете» Раиса Николаевна Крапивина представила результаты своих многолетних исследований в области истории и литературы тибетской традиции буддийской тантры и перевод на русский язык устного комментария геше-лхарамбы Чжамьяна Кенцзэ (1927–2006) к сочинению «Прояснение текстов [традиции] Тантр: представление устройства этапов и уровней четырёх классов тайной тантры» (Gsang chen rgyud sde bzhi’i sa lam gyi rnam gzhag rgyud gzhung gsal byed) монгольского ученого Нгаван Пэлдэна Чойчжэ (Ngag dbang dpal ldan chos rje, 1797–1867). В этом труде разъяснение особенностей учения тантр и тантрийского пути относится к циклу Гухьясамаджа-тантры (тиб. Gsang’dus), которая входит в тибетобуддийский канон Кагьюр и считается одной из основных тантр в школе тибетского буддизма Гэлуг; ее изучению придавал большое значение Чже Цонкхава, основатель школы.

Pis'mennye pamiatniki Vostoka. 2021;18(2):140-143
pages 140-143 views

Review of the book: Youli A. Ioannesyan. The Babi Faith: Pages of History, Sources and the Teaching. Supplemented with images of related manuscripts’ pages. 2nd edition, corrected and updated. St. Petersburg: Herzen RGPU, 2020. 388 pp., ill. ISBN 978-5-8064-2892-0 (in Russian)

Litvinchuk V.G.

Abstract

Рецензируемая книга представляет собой наиболее объемный, глубокий и основательный труд о бабизме (вере баби) в современной российской науке. Данная работа может быть оценена как венец исследований феномена баби Юлием Аркадьевичем Иоаннесяном, поскольку не только дополняет работы 2005–2013 гг. (посвященные преимущественно отдельным первоисточникам и частным вопросам истории и вероучения веры баби), но и создает комплексную картину феномена баби и каким образом он изучался в XIX–XX вв. и на современном этапе в России и на Западе. Это находит отражение в структуре книги, первая часть которой посвящена Бабу и вере баби как объектам изучения в науке, а вторая — наиболее значимым составляющим вероучения баби.

Pis'mennye pamiatniki Vostoka. 2021;18(2):144-146
pages 144-146 views

This website uses cookies

You consent to our cookies if you continue to use our website.

About Cookies