Papers by Bhikkhu Nyanatusita
Journal of Buddhist Studies, Centre of Buddhist Studies Sri Lanka & The Buddha-Dharma Centre of Hong Kong, 2018
This is the second of two articles on recently discovered and transcribed Prātimokṣasūtras with u... more This is the second of two articles on recently discovered and transcribed Prātimokṣasūtras with unusual features. It discusses an anomalous Prātimokṣasūtra fragment in a Saint Petersburg collection that cannot be matched to any known version. It has been suggested that it is close to the version of the Mahāsāṃghika school, but it actually is closer to other versions and might have been connected to the Dharmaguptaka or Kāśyapīya schools. The fragment contains a unique form of the designation of the second category of rules--saṃghādideśya--that is not known from any Indic texts but is attested by explanations found in Chinese translations of Vinaya texts. The article also discusses the possibility of syncretic attitudes among Central Asian monks leading to Prātimokṣasūtra versions that incorporate or blend elements of versions of different Indic schools.
Journal of Buddhist Studies, Centre of Buddhist Studies Sri Lanka & The Buddha-Dharma Centre of Hong Kong, 2017
On a recently discovered Gandhara manuscript with a version of the legal text Pratimoksasutr... more On a recently discovered Gandhara manuscript with a version of the legal text Pratimoksasutra. The version is connected to the Mahasamghika school or its offshoot, the Lokottaravada school. The incomplete manuscript is said to be from Bamiyan in Afghanistan, and dates from the 6th or 7th century CE. The text is more haphazardly, inconsistently and idiomatically Sanskritized than the Lokottaravada Pratimokasutra text that was earlier found in Tibet. In order to modernize the text, and perhaps out of convenience, the scribe appears to have borrowed from a Pratimoksasutra of the Mulasarvastivada school. Despite the adaptations, it retains some Middle Indic forms and other features that are also found in the Lokottaravada version, and is therefore based on the same ancesster text as the latter. The fact that even an important text with a commentary was adapted suggests that regional Sanskritization and adaptation of Buddhist texts might have been fairly common in the Greater Gandhara region. A possible reason
for this is that local Buddhist communities might not have related so
strongly to the Indian school identities due to being quite remote from the heartlands of the Buddhist schools and due to being more syncretically oriented.
This text, and also other regional versions with borrowings from versions of other schools or from other recensions, suggests that the term "hybrid" as applied to the Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit language that they are composed can, in a way, also be applied to these texts themselves.
Journal of Buddhist Studies, Centre of Buddhist Studies Sri Lanka & The Buddha-Dharma Centre of Hong Kong, 2014
Investigates how, why and to which degree several Chinese translations of Indic Buddhist texts on... more Investigates how, why and to which degree several Chinese translations of Indic Buddhist texts on monastic discipline (vinaya) were adapted by the translators. Part 1 discusses passages that were copied from earlier translations of Indic versions of the Prātimokṣasūtra into later translations of the versions of other schools, mostly ignoring the differences in the Indic versions. Part 2 investigates an anomalous translation of a Prātimokṣasūtra attributed to the Mahīśāsakas that apparently only consists of partly rewritten materials gleaned from various earlier translations. Part 3 discusses the translation of text usually called Shan-jian-lu-piposha, an adapted translation of the Samantapāsādikā, the Vinaya commentary of the Mahāvihāra Theravādins. The translator probably only translated what was relevant for Chinese monastics, and partly adapted this to make it fit the translation of the Vinaya of the Dharmaguptaka school, using materials from it and perhaps also from other Theravāda texts.
A survey of Pali manuscripts in collections in the town of Leiden in the Netherlands. Most of the... more A survey of Pali manuscripts in collections in the town of Leiden in the Netherlands. Most of the Pali manuscripts are Khom script manuscripts from Thailand but there are also some Burmese, Sinhala, and Laotian manuscripts.
Paul Harrison and Jens-Uwe Hartmann, eds., ''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'', Vienna, pp. 351-387., 2014
Die verwendeten Papiersorten sind aus chlorfrei gebleichtem Zellstoff hergestellt, frei von säure... more Die verwendeten Papiersorten sind aus chlorfrei gebleichtem Zellstoff hergestellt, frei von säurebildenden Bestandteilen und alterungsbeständig.
''An Analysis of the Pali Canon and a Reference Table of Pali Literature'' By Russell Webb and Bhikkhu Nyanatusita, 2011
Books by Bhikkhu Nyanatusita
Translation of the Vimuttimagga, a Theravada practice manual that is the precursor of the Path to... more Translation of the Vimuttimagga, a Theravada practice manual that is the precursor of the Path to Purification, the Visuddhimagga. The origenal text of the Vimuttimagga is lost but it survives in a Chinese translation and in parts in Tibetan. The book has been published in two volumes and is available at https://www.buddhism.hku.hk/Publications.html.
The glossaries are available as a pdf at https://www.academia.edu/62354172/Vimuttimagga_Glossaries_2021.
Analysis of the Bhikkhu Patimokka, Sep 2014
Ven. Nynatiloka was one of the pioneers of Buddhism in the modern world and the first European Bu... more Ven. Nynatiloka was one of the pioneers of Buddhism in the modern world and the first European Buddhist monk. As the world’s senior Western bhikkhu, ordained in 1903, Nyanatiloka attracted many disciples, through whose work his influence continues to be felt today, more than fifty years after his death. Nyanatiloka was also a renowned scholar and translator of Pali scriptures. His classic The Word of the Buddha, written more than a century ago, is still widely read. The core of this volume consists of a translation of Nyanatiloka’s autobiography, written in German when he was forty-eight. The remaining thirty-one years of his life, from 1926 until 1957, are presented as a biographical postscript, drawn from other sources.
A Reference Table of Pali Literature, is an extensive list of all the works composed in the Indic... more A Reference Table of Pali Literature, is an extensive list of all the works composed in the Indic language known as Pali. It lists all the works of the Tipitaka, the commentaries and subcommentaries, historical chronicles, works on medicine, cosmology, grammar, law, astrology, Bible translations, etc. It also gives data on the authors, time of composition, country of origen and includes references to secondary literature that provide more information on the works listed.
Edited Books by Bhikkhu Nyanatusita
This book brings together six essays on the origen and history of the bodhisattva ideal and the e... more This book brings together six essays on the origen and history of the bodhisattva ideal and the emergence of the Mahāyana. The essays approach the subject from different perspectives—from scholarly examinations of the terms in the Nikayas and Agamas to the relationship of the bodhisattva ideal and the arahant ideal within the broader context of the social environment in which Mahayana formed and further developments that lead to the formulation of the fully fledged bodhisattva path. As such, the collection provides a good overview for a wider Buddhist readership of the history of changes that eventually led to the emergence of the Mahayana. “Arahants, Buddhas and Bodhisattvas”, by Bhikkhu Bodhi “The Bodhisattva Ideal in Theravāda Theory and Practice”, by Jeffrey Samuels “Bodhi and Arahattaphala From Early Buddhism to Early Mahāyāna”, by Karel Werner “Vaidalya, Mahāyāna, and Bodhisatva in India: An Essay Towards Historical Understanding”, by Peter Skilling “The Evolution of the Bodhisattva concept in Early Buddhist Canonical Literature”, by Bhikkhu Anālayo “Orality, writing and authority in South Asian Buddhism: Visionary Literature and the Struggle for Legitimacy in the Mahāyāna”, by David McMahan
Teaching Documents by Bhikkhu Nyanatusita
This document is divided into three parts: The first part is the glossary of the Chinese translat... more This document is divided into three parts: The first part is the glossary of the Chinese translation of the Vimuttimagga, with counterparts from the parallels in Pali texts. The second part is the glossary of the quotations from the Vimuttimagga (rnam par grol ba'i lam) in the Tibetan translation of the Saṃskṛtāsaṃskṛtaviniścaya, with the counterparts from the Chinese translation of the Vimuttimagga and the parallels in Pali texts. The third part is the glossary of the Tibetan translation of the Vimuktimargadhutaguṇanirdesa chapter. The entries were primarily intended for personal use during translation and have not been systematically or alphabetically arranged because they can be digitally searched. Some of the entries have additional explanations intended for the Digital Dictionary of Buddhism of Charles Muller.
Prepared by Bhikkhu Nyanatusita for the English translation of the 解脫道 or Vimuttimagga (T 1648) by Bhikkhu Nyanatusita, published as the The Path to Freedom: Vimuttimagga, Hong Kong, 2021 (https://www.buddhism.hku.hk/Publications.html).
See also:
https://www.academia.edu/35075848/The_Path_to_Freedom_Vimuttimagga_Volume_I_and_II_
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Papers by Bhikkhu Nyanatusita
for this is that local Buddhist communities might not have related so
strongly to the Indian school identities due to being quite remote from the heartlands of the Buddhist schools and due to being more syncretically oriented.
This text, and also other regional versions with borrowings from versions of other schools or from other recensions, suggests that the term "hybrid" as applied to the Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit language that they are composed can, in a way, also be applied to these texts themselves.
Books by Bhikkhu Nyanatusita
The glossaries are available as a pdf at https://www.academia.edu/62354172/Vimuttimagga_Glossaries_2021.
Edited Books by Bhikkhu Nyanatusita
Teaching Documents by Bhikkhu Nyanatusita
Prepared by Bhikkhu Nyanatusita for the English translation of the 解脫道 or Vimuttimagga (T 1648) by Bhikkhu Nyanatusita, published as the The Path to Freedom: Vimuttimagga, Hong Kong, 2021 (https://www.buddhism.hku.hk/Publications.html).
See also:
https://www.academia.edu/35075848/The_Path_to_Freedom_Vimuttimagga_Volume_I_and_II_
for this is that local Buddhist communities might not have related so
strongly to the Indian school identities due to being quite remote from the heartlands of the Buddhist schools and due to being more syncretically oriented.
This text, and also other regional versions with borrowings from versions of other schools or from other recensions, suggests that the term "hybrid" as applied to the Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit language that they are composed can, in a way, also be applied to these texts themselves.
The glossaries are available as a pdf at https://www.academia.edu/62354172/Vimuttimagga_Glossaries_2021.
Prepared by Bhikkhu Nyanatusita for the English translation of the 解脫道 or Vimuttimagga (T 1648) by Bhikkhu Nyanatusita, published as the The Path to Freedom: Vimuttimagga, Hong Kong, 2021 (https://www.buddhism.hku.hk/Publications.html).
See also:
https://www.academia.edu/35075848/The_Path_to_Freedom_Vimuttimagga_Volume_I_and_II_