Friday, April 24, 2020

Ming-dynasty Style Chanting in Today's Manpukuji 黄檗山 萬福寺と雲水の一日 京都・宇治



It is amazing that Japanese monks in today's Manpukuji 萬福寺 in Uji 宇治 still chant liturgy in Chinese pronunciation. I recommend this short video to study the liturgical tradition Yinyuan Longqi 隱元隆琦 brought to Japan. Pay attention to 5:00'' and see how a monk chanted “謹白大眾, 生死事大,無常迅速,各宜醒覺,慎勿放逸。” in recognizable Chinese. It is clear that today's Chinese monastic liturgy originated from the seventeenth century.

Friday, April 10, 2020

William W. Rockhill 柔克义(1854-1914) on Buddhism


William W. Rockhill 柔克义(1854-1914) is one of the earliest scholars of Buddhism. He has published the following interesting works about Buddhist canon, the life of Buddha, Tibet and China.

Udânavarga: A Collection of Verses from the Buddhist Canon (1883)
Prâtimoksha sutra; ou, Le traité d'émancipation selon la version tibétaine: avec notes et extraits du Dulva (Vinaya)'' (1884)
with Ernst Leumann and Nanjo Bunyu, The Life of the Buddha: And the Early History of His Order'' (1884)
The Land of the Lamas: Notes of a Journey Through China, Mongolia and Tibet (1891) [1] [2]
Explorations in Mongolia and Tibet (1893)
Diary of a Journey Through Mongolia and Thibet in 1891 and 1892 (1894) [3] [4] [5]
Journey through Mongolia and Tibet, 1891 and 1892 (1894)
Notes on the Ethnology of Tibet: Based on the Collections in the U.S. National Museum (1895)
The Journey of William of Rubruck to the Eastern Parts of the World (1900) [6] [7]
with Sarat Chandra Das, Journey to Lhasa and Central Tibet (1902)
China's Intercourse with Korea from the XVth Century To 1895 (1905)
Diplomatic Audiences at the Court of China (1905)
The Dalai Lamas of Lhasa and Their Relations with the Manchu Emperors of China. 1644-1908 (1910)
 His biography can be accessed here through Wikipedia and Sogou baike.





Saturday, April 4, 2020

2013 Obaku Study Tour Essays in Chinese and Japanese


I am glad that my report on my 2013 visit to Japan have been published in both Chinese and Japanese. Thanks for many people who have helped me during the trip and for publishing and translating my essay.

Note: 黄檗参学記(和訳) : 隠元禅師ゆかりの寺院を巡って Translated by Yang Kuei Hsiang 楊桂香,  Hayashi Masako 林正子, and Tanaka Shōzō 田中昭三. Obaku Bunka 黄檗文華 (135): 223-204, 2015. (Translated from Chinese)