Recent Buddhist Studies In Europe And America

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

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DE JONG
failed to mention the Abhidharma studies published by Frauwallner in 1963, 1964, 1971, 1972 and 1973.55 It is the only systematic survey of Abhidharma literature in a Western language and it is a pity that these studies have not been included in his Kleine Schriften. It is to be hoped that they will be published in a separate volume and stimulate further Abhidharma studies.
In the field of Prajñāpāramitā studies Edward Conze, the great pioneer who has done so much in this neglected field, continued his work. In 1978 he published a revised and enlarged edition of his book on The Prajñāpāramitä Literature.56 Apart from this book Conze has published since 1973 a translation of The Short Prajñāpāramitā Texts (London, 1973), a translation of The Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines & its Verse Summary (Bolinas, 1973), an edition of chapters 70 to 82 of The Gilgit Manuscript of the Astadaśasāhasrikā-Prajñāpāramitā (Roma, 1974), and a further volume of collected articles entitled Further Buddhist Studies (Oxford, 1975). In the volume in honour of Conze, Prajñāpāramitā and related systems,57 most contributions deal with one aspect or another of the Prajñāpāramitä literature. This volume shows clearly that Conze's example has stimulated younger scholars to engage in the study of the Prajñāpāramitā literature. Much remains still to be done and it is to be hoped that a future edition of Conze's book on the Prajñāpāramitā literature will testify to a continuing interest in this branch of Buddhist
studies.
With regard to Mahāyāna sūtras we have mentioned already the many publications of facsimiles and romanised editions of the Saddharmapundarikasūtra. Paul Harrison published an edition of the Tibetan text of one of the earliest Mahāyāna sütras, the Pratyutpanna-buddha
Stations of Mindfulness', Mahāyāna Buddhist Meditation: Theory and Practice (Honolulu, 1978), pp. 207-248; 'Dharmaśrī on the Sixteen Degrees of Comprehension', JIABS II, 2 (1979), pp. 7-30. On the second article see J. W. de Jong's remarks in Eastern Buddhist XII, 2 (1979), pp. 159-160.
55 WZKS 7 (1963), pp. 20-36; 8 (1964), pp. 59-99; 15 (1971), pp. 69-121; 16 (1972), pp. 95-152 and 17 (1973), pp. 97-121.
56 Tokyo, 1978. For additions see von Hinüber's review, IIJ 23 (1980), pp. 73-74. Yuyama's edition of the recension A of the Prajñāpāramitāratnaguņasamcayagāthā and his grammar of the same text were reviewed by Gregory Schopen, IIJ 20 (1978), pp. 110-124.
57 Berkeley Buddhist Studies series, Volume I, Berkeley 1977 [published in 1979].
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