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Vol. 18, No. 2 (45)
Summer 2021

Journal based in 2004
Issued quarterly

Full text as a *.PDF file

PUBLICATIONS
HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY, PHILOLOGY

Anna A. Turanskaya. A Tibetan Block Print in the Collection of Tibetan Texts from Khara-khoto of the IOM, RAS — 5
Fragments of Tibetan manuscripts and block prints from Khara-Khoto, which were transferred to the Asiatic Museum after P. K. Kozlov’s Mongolian-Sichuan Expedition, have been insufficiently studied. As a result of the cataloguing project initiated by researchers of the IOM, RAS, in 2018, an unknown Tibetan block print drew our attention. The preserved fragment includes two texts dedicated to the Buddhist deity Manjuśrī. This paper presents a brief archaeographic description of the block print, a transliteration and translation of the surviving parts of the texts.
Key words: Tibetan block print, Tibetan texts from Khara-Khoto, Manjuśrīnāmasaṃgīti

RESEARCH WORKS
HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY, PHILOLOGY

Alexander L. Khosroyev. On “Docetic” Christology in Early Christianity. Pt. 2.2 — 24
According to the doctrine of the 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, the suffering of Christ was mere appearance. On the basis 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 is dealing with 1Cor 8.4–6 in order to find out whether the concept of a pre-existent Jesus is present or not. The author argues in favor of the latter answer. To be continued.
Key words: New Testament, pre-existence, Docetism, ap. Paul

Sergey L. Burmistrov. The Concept of Store-Consciousness in the Laṅkāvatāra-Sūtra — 36
For the first time, the concept of store-consciousness appears in the Laṅkāvatāra-sūtra. The formative period of the sūtra dates back to the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD, which 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 types of consciousness denoted as the pravṛtti-vijnāna, the “evolving consciousness”. The attainment of enlightenment is a cessation of the activity of evolving consciousness, but the storeconsciousness 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 the basic Yogācāra notions are fully presented in the sūtra. The causes of evolving consciousness are: the ignorance concerning the real nature of the objects of the mind; the affliction proceeding from saṃsāra; the essence of consciousness consisting in the difference between the subject and the object; and the attraction to forms that support saṃsāra.
Key words: religious and philosophical systems of ancient India, written monuments of Buddhism, Mahāyāna Buddhist philosophy, Yogācāra, store-consciousness, Buddhist psychology, Laṅkāvatārasūtra, Asaṅga, Abhidharma

Tokio Takata. The Concept of “Contemporary Place Names” in the Tibetan Translation of the Da Tang Xiyu Ji — 51
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.
Key words: Da Tang Xiyu ji, Tibetan translation, Gombojab, Central Asia, place names

HISTORY AND HISTORIOGRAPHY
TEXTOLOGY, CODICOLOGY, PALEOGRAPHY, ARCHEOGRAPHY

Peter Zieme. “Listen to the Masters!”: An Old Uyghur Praise of the Buddha Maitreya — 64
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.
Key words: Old Uyghur Buddhism, veneration of Maitreya, praises, poems in strophic alliteration

Nie Hongyin. A Tangut Primary Reader A Brief Collection by Taizong Kept at the IOM, RAS — 80
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.
Key words: Tangut; translation; primary reader; antithetical couplet; folk maxim

COLLECTIONS AND ARCHIVES

Lola N. Dodkhudoeva. A Unique Manuscript of the Shibanid Epoch from the Fund of the Center of the Written Heritage of Tajikistan — 114
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 al- Sanaujiradi 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.
Key words: Manaqib al-khulafa’, rashidun, confessionalization, sabaqat precedents, “the people of the Sunna and community”, Shiites, Neo-Genghisids

ACADEMIC LIFE

Youli A. Ioannesyan. Conference in Memory of O. F. Akimushkin (St. Petersburg, February 17, 2021) — 133

REVIEWS

Buddhist Tradition of Tantras in Tibet. Translation from Tibetan, Foreword, Introduction and Glossary by Raisa N. Krapivina. St. Petersburg: Nestor-Istoria, 2020, 384 pp. (Elena Yu. Kharkova) — 140

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 pages, with illustrations (Valeriy G. Litvinchuk) — 144