Book Reviews

Author(s): J W De Jong
Publisher: J W De Jong

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REVIEWS
For more than forty years the Mikkyo daijiten has remained the only major Tantric dictionary. An entirely new Tantric dictionary was published in 1975 (cf. IIJ 18, 1976, pp. 320-321). This latter dictionary is called Mikkyo jiten but, whereas the Mikkyo daijiten is primarily a dictionary of Mikkyo, the Sino-Japanese tradition of Tantrism, the Mikkyo jiten is a dictionary of Tantrism because it incorporates not only Mikkyo but also Tantrism in India, Tibet, Nepal, etc. Like the great Bukkyo daijiten in 10 volumes, the Mikkyo daijiten is an encyclopaedia rather than a dictionary. For the study of the Sino-Japanese tradition of Tantrism it is an indispensable standard work which is not likely to be replaced in the near future. Since its original publication in 1931-1933 Japanese specialists in Tantrism have become more and more interested in the study of Indian Tantrism on the basis of Sanskrit texts and Tibetan translations and especially since the second world war, much progress has been made in this field. However, the study of Indian Tantrism is still in its infancy and it is not very likely that in the near future it will be possible to compile a comprehensive dictionary of Tantrism with all its ramifications.
We must be extremely grateful to the scholars who made such important additions to the index volume of the Mikkyo daijiten and to the Hõzõkan publishing company for having reprinted this revised edition in six splendid volumes.
Australian National University
J. W. DE JONG
Hartmut Walravens (Hrsg.), Kleinere Schriften von Berthold Laufer. Teil 2: Publikationen aus der Zeit von 1911 bis 1925 (Sinologica Coloniensia 7). Wiesbaden, Franz Steiner Verlag GmbH., 1979. 2 Bde, LIII, 1-828 pp.; 829-1625 pp. DM 168.-.
The first part of Laufer's Kleinere Schriften comprised works published between 1894 and 1910 (cf. IIJ, 20, pp. 129-130). This second part contains a selection of Laufer's publications in the years 1911-1925 and a few additions to the first part. In the first part the editor reprinted all of Laufer's writings during the period 1894-1910 with the exclusion of those which had been reprinted already. According to Walraven's bibliography Laufer's publications in the years 1911-1925 amount to 180 (nos. 137-316). About half of them are reprinted in these two volumes (pp. 319-1604). Regrettably not reprinted are the many articles which Laufer contributed to the T'oung Pao (nos. 149–151, 176-178, 183-187, 199-205, 209-212, 235). Tibetologists will be particularly disappointed not to find here such important articles as "The application of the Tibetan sexagenary cycle' (TP, 14, 1913, pp. 569-596), 'Bird divination among the Tibetans' (TP, 15, 1914, pp. 1-110), 'Was Odoric of Pordenone ever in Tibet?' (TP, 15, 1914, pp. 405-418) and 'Loan-words in Tibetan' (TP, 17, 1916, pp. 403-552). Also not reprinted is Laufer's translation of the bTsun-mo bka'i t'ar yig (Der Roman einer tibetischen Königin, Leipzig, 1911) which has become a bibliographical rarity. However, one must welcome the fact that Laufer's work on the Citralaksana has been reprinted notwithstanding its size (pp. 540-740).
Laufer's productivity in this period is truly amazing. Apart from numerous articles and reviews, he published several books of which the most important are his book on Jade (Chicago, 1912) and the Sino-Iranica (Chicago, 1919). Both books testify to the range and depth of Laufer's scholarship during the most productive period of his life. It is not surprising to see that they have been reprinted several times. In the years 1908-1910 Laufer was in charge of the Mrs. T. B. Blackston Expedition to China and Tibet, and in the following years he published many contributions to the study of Chinese art which are reprinted here with the exclusion of