Book Reviews

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

Page 13

REVIEWS
231
Buddhist Research Information, Number 1 (April 1979), 30 pp., Buddhist Text Information, Number 20 (June 1979), 13 pp.; Sikh Religious Studies Information, Number 1 (July 1979), 28 pp. Published by the Institute for Advanced Studies of World Religions, Melville Memorial Library, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, New York 11794, U.S.A.
Buddhist Text Information has been published since 1974. Recently R. A. Gard has explained the editorial policy: "In each Number an attempt is made to include Buddhist texts in Pali, Sanskrit, Tibetan, Chinese, and Japanese or other Asian languages. The selection policy is to list a text on which someone reportedly is working (editing, translating, studying, etc.), add whatever information is available about its other Asian language versions or translations and relevant Western and Asian publications, and then describe the author's current work in his own words” (The Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, vol. I, no. 1, 1978, p. 88). Buddhist Text Information combines a bibliography of Buddhist texts with a report on current projects. One wonders whether this combination is advisable. A text is selected because somebody happens to be working on it. There is therefore no attempt to compile a systematic bibliography of Buddhist texts. A further drawback of this system is that bibliographical information continues to be added in later issues so that it becomes necessary to consult several issues for information on one text. The twentieth issue contains the first part of a bibliography of the Ratnakuta texts which begins with general information on this group of texts and subsequently enumerates the titles of the first seventeen texts, first the reconstructed Sanskrit title followed by the titles of the Chinese, Mongolian and Tibetan translations. It seems superfluous to list in detail the titles of the translations because it would have been sufficient to give references to the number of the translation in existing catalogues of the Taisho daizõkyo (Répertoire du canon bouddhique sino-japonais), the Tibetan Kanjur (Otani Catalogue) and the Mongolian Kanjur (Ligeti Catalogue). More detailed information is given on the Rästrapalapariprcchā of which the Sanskrit text was published by L. Finot in 1901. No mention is made of the important review of this edition by Louis de la Vallée Poussin (Muséon, N. S., IV, 1903, pp. 306-312). The information given on the Chinese translations comes from Kenneth Ch'en's review of Ensink's translation (HJAS 17, 1954, 274-281). However, Ch'en's information is not complete, for there are not two but three translations of the Rastrapalapariprcchā into Chinese, as was pointed out in a review of Ensink's translation which is not mentioned (Journal asiatique, 1953, p. 545). Kenneth Ch'en's review is the only one listed (for Volume 47 read Volume 17), although other reviews are of greater relevance for the study of the text and the translation (cf. D. R. Shackleton Bailey, JRAS, 1954, pp. 79-82; F. Edgerton, JAOS 73, 1953, pp. 169-170). Finally, an article published in 1968 has been entirely overlooked (Remarks on the text of the Răstrapālapariprcchā', Adyar Library Bulletin 31-32, pp. 1-7). Ensink's translation is listed under item 1.17.4 and Ch'en's review in the following item. It is certainly unnecessary to repeat again the title of Ensink's book under 1.17.5. It seems also completely superfluous to indicate the full title and place of publication of the Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies.
It seems to me that it would be far preferable to separate the two functions of this bulletin and to produce two annual publications, the first containing information on editions, translations, and studies of texts published during the previous year and information on current projects, the second a systematic bibliography. Such a bibliography ought to be carefully planned. A Systematic Survey of Buddhist Sanskrit Literature is being published by Heinz Bechert. The first fascicle appeared in 1979 (Akira Yuyama, Systematische Übersicht über die buddhistische Sanskrit-Literatur. Erster Teil: Vinaya-Texte. Wiesbaden). Yuyama's meticulous and exhaustive bibliography shows that it is possible with the help of an ingenious system of abbreviations to accumulate a maximum amount of information in a relatively limited space. The fact that this project is already being undertaken, makes it advisable to concentrate on a different topic, for instance, the Pāli literature and to undertake a systematic bibliography under the following headings: I. Vinaya; II. Sutta; III. Abhidhamma; IV. Later Päli literature.