The present book is a compilation of studies on narratives of mythical origins in different cultures written by outstanding specialists. It aims to provide a broad view on creation-myths from different times and areas of the world with a particular focus on how these texts contributed to the conception of the past as “universal history”, as a common origin of mankind or as the great opening, the theatrum mundi. On the other hand, the purpose of this book is to study the phenomenon from a typological point of view, analyzing the specific characteristics of this particular type of texts, rather than finding influences between the different cultures in the genesis of these narratives.
The Many Canons of Tibetan Buddhism is one of the first publications to include scholarship on both the mainstream Tibetan canons of translated Buddhist classics, and the alternative canons of literature of the Nyingma sectarian traditions.
Sumerian was the first language to be put into writing (ca. 3200–3100 BCE), and it is the language for which the cuneiform script was originally developed. Even after it was supplanted by Akkadian as the primary spoken language in ancient Mesopotamia, Sumerian continued to be used as a scholarly written language until the end of the first millennium BCE. This volume presents the first comprehensive English-language scholarly lexicon of Sumerian. This dictionary covers all the nuances of meaning for Sumerian terms found in historical inscriptions and literary, administrative, and lexical texts dating from about 2500 BCE to the first century BCE. The entries are organized by transcription and are accompanied by the transliteration and translation of passages in which the term occurs and, where relevant, a discussion of the word’s treatment in other publications. Main entries bring together all the parts of speech and compound forms for the Sumerian term and present each part of speech individually. All possible Akkadian equivalents and variant syllabic renderings are listed for lexical attestations of a word, and a meaningful sample of occurrences is given for literary and economic passages. Entries of homonyms with different orthographies and unrelated words with the same orthography are grouped together, each being assigned a unique identifier, and the dictionary treats the phoneme /dr/ as a separate consonant. Written by one of the foremost scholars in the field, An Annotated Sumerian Dictionary is an essential reference for Sumerologists and Assyriologists and a practical help to students of ancient cultures.
Presents a new vision of the Buddhist history and philosophy of emptiness in Tibet. This book brings together perspectives of leading international Tibetan studies scholars on the subject of zhentong or “other-emptiness.” Defined as the emptiness of everything other than the continuous luminous awareness that is one’s own enlightened nature, this distinctive philosophical and contemplative presentation of emptiness is quite different from rangtong—emptiness that lacks independent existence, which has had a strong influence on the dissemination of Buddhist philosophy in the West. Important topics are addressed, including the history, literature, and philosophy of emptiness that have contributed to zhentong thinking in Tibet from the thirteenth century until today. The contributors examine a wide range of views on zhentong from each of the major orders of Tibetan Buddhism, highlighting the key Tibetan thinkers in the zhentong philosophical tradition. Also discussed are the early formulations of buddhanature, interpretations of cosmic time, polemical debates about emptiness in Tibet, the zhentong view of contemplation, and creative innovations of thought in Tibetan Buddhism. Highly accessible and informative, this book can be used as a scholarly resource as well as a textbook for teaching graduate and undergraduate courses on Buddhist philosophy. “The book contains extremely interesting material and makes a valuable contribution to the study of Tibetan Buddhism. It will be appreciated by those interested in the development of one of the important and yet understudied of its traditions, the other emptiness tradition.” — Georges B. J. Dreyfus, coeditor of The Svātantrika-Prāsaṅgika Distinction: What Difference Does a Difference Make?
A History of Traditional Fields of Learning contains a concise history of dissemination of traditional fields of learning in Tibet during the early and later diffusion of Buddhism. It also mentions the translators and scholars who visited Tibet, text translated and monasteries founded by them and further highlights the spread of Buddhism to Mongolia and China and Tibet text translated in their native language. This work by a highly respected contemporary Tibetan scholar Muge Samten (1914-1993) is from the third volume of his collected works and is a very reliable source on the subject. A History of Traditional Fields of Learning is a must for those who wants to study the history of Tibetan literature. Muge Samten was born in 1914 in Muge in southern Amdo. He had his preliminary study at Muge Tashi Kharlo monastery and later joined the great monastery of Labrang Tashikhyil where he mastered sutras, tantras, and all the traditional sciences. At the age of 35 (1947), Muge Samten received the title of Geshe Dorampa. Since then, his fame spread far and wide. After the Chinese occupation of Tibet in 1949, Tibetan religion and culture experienced wanton destruction, the height of which was reached during the Cultural Revolution. Muge Samten felt the vital importance of religion and culture for the survival of the Tibetan people and took upon himself the responsibility of reviving and resorting the Tibetan religion and culture to its former glory. He has authored six volumes and many articles on various subject of Tibetan studies.
