Daoism [also spelled “Taoism”] is the only organized religion ever to have arisen in China. It is commonly known as the “religion of immortality” because followers hoped to merge their bodies with the Dao, the basic life-force of the universe. Recent scholars have made tremendous advances in studying the contents and organization of Daoist scriptures. There have already been a handful of bibliographies detailing the scholarship about the history and contemporary Daoism (see below). The following list of articles and books is focuses on providing a short list of basic resources intended to assist translating Daoist scriptures into English. Continue reading A Beginner’s Guide to Translating Daoist Scriptures
Category Archives: Chinese & East Asian Medicines
A Beginner’s Guide to the Academic Study of Chinese Buddhist Texts
Here are some resources for getting started in the study of Chinese Buddhist texts. This page will be updated on a periodic basis, so feel free to suggest any additions via email or Facebook. The date above reflects the last time this page was modified.
Preliminary Readings
The Encyclopedia of Buddhism has an entry-level essay on the Buddhist canon by (see Vol. 1, pp. 111–5).
The Encyclopedia of Religion (2nd Edition) has two articles that serve as useful starting points. Under “Buddhist Books and Texts” in Vol. 2, see entries on Canon & Canonization (pp. 1251–61) and Translation (pp. 1265–8).
For more historical information on the development of the Chinese canon, see Mizuno, Kogen. Buddhist Sutras: Origin, Development, Transmission. Tokyo: Kosei Publishing Co., 1995.
Navigating the Canon
CBETA’s digitized, corrected Buddhist canon is available online at http://www.cbeta.org/index.htm, and in jCBReader (an off-line Java app available for multiple platforms) at http://www.cbeta.org/reader/jcbreader.php. I prefer the reader, as is has many powerful search functions. A tutorial on the current version of the software is available here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAPhm3kiJOA
Many people prefer to use SAT’s online canon: http://21dzk.l.u-tokyo.ac.jp/SAT/index_en.html. One advantage is that it is linked directly to individual entries in the Digital Dictionary of Buddhism. However, in some recent tests, I have found that the interface is buggy with certain features only working intermittently. When working on a text, you should always check the SAT version against the CBETA version, as there may be differences in punctuation and sometimes corrections that have been made in the latter that can be quite helpful.
If you want to check the original text, both the Korean Tripitaka http://kb.sutra.re.kr/ritk_eng/search/searchBranch.do and the Dunhuang corpus http://idp.bl.uk are available online.
For cross-references to the Pāli, Sanskrit, and Tibetan canons, use the online version of Lancaster & Park http://www.acmuller.net/descriptive_catalogue/index.html or CBETA’s tool http://jinglu.cbeta.org which also includes Manchurian and some Western translations.
Chuck Muller’s index page http://www.buddhism-dict.net/ddb/indexes/taisho-ddb.html links to the Digital Dictionary of Buddhism entries on each text and to Marcus Bingenheimer’s comprehensive running list of sutras available in translation.
For quick look-ups of titles, attributed authors, and attributed dates for texts that aren’t in the DDB, use the Fascicule Annexe du Hōbōgirin (1978 ed.) and Christian Wittern’s online index: http://kanji.zinbun.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~wittern/can/can2/ind/canwww.htm
Dictionaries
The best online dictionary, which incorporates numerous print dictionaries, is Chuck Muller (ed.), Digital Dictionary of Buddhism: http://www.buddhism-dict.net/ddb/
For problem characters, type one of its radicals (or better yet, more than one) into this search field: http://chise.zinbun.kyoto-u.ac.jp/ids-find If you still can’t find a Unicode character, use the DIY tool here: http://www.sinosplice.com/life/archives/2013/02/26/creating-characters-by-svg
Sanskrit, Pāli, and Tibetan terms are included in the DDB, and the home page links to standard online dictionaries for these languages and a number of other language tools: http://www.buddhism-dict.net/ddb/
Other online dictionaries you might want to try include (in no particular order): http://www.buddhism-dict.net/dealt,http://dictionary.buddhistdoor.com/en/, http://taotao-project.org/translator,http://www.hanyudazidian.com/bolshaya_kitayskaya_entsiklopediya, http://www.zdic.net.
Other Useful Websites
William Bodiford’s reference guide for Buddhist Studies has useful background information and bibliographic information: http://www.alc.ucla.edu/refguide/refguide.htm
For secondary scholarship, see Chuck Muller (ed.) H-Buddhism Bibliography Project on Zotero: https://www.zotero.org/groups/h-buddhism_bibliography_project
When you can’t figure it out yourself, you can always throw out a question on the Scholars of Buddhist Studies Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/221346307889011/
A Beginner’s Guide to the Academic Study of History of Chinese Medicine
Here are some resources for getting started in the study of Chinese medical history. This page will be updated on a periodic basis, so feel free to suggest any additions via email or Facebook. The date above reflects the last time this page was modified. Continue reading A Beginner’s Guide to the Academic Study of History of Chinese Medicine
[NBN Episode] TJ Hinrichs and Linda L Barnes, Chinese Medicine and Healing: An Illustrated History
Syndicated from: http://newbooksineastasianstudies.com/2013/07/29/t-j-hinrichs-and-linda-l-barnes-eds-chinese-medicine-and-healing-an-illustrated-history-harvard-up-2012/ Continue reading [NBN Episode] TJ Hinrichs and Linda L Barnes, Chinese Medicine and Healing: An Illustrated History
[NBN Episode] Volker Scheid and Hugh MacPherson, Integrating East Asian Medicine into Contemporary Healthcare
Syndicated from: http://newbooksinscitechsoc.com/2012/08/25/volker-scheid-and-hugh-macpherson-integrating-east-asian-medicine-into-contemporary-healthcare-churchill-livingstone-2011/ Continue reading [NBN Episode] Volker Scheid and Hugh MacPherson, Integrating East Asian Medicine into Contemporary Healthcare
Garlic and Cow Dung
The following is a syndicated post that first appeared at http://huayanzang.blogspot.nl/2012/07/garlic-and-cow-dung.html.
Garlic as an edible substance was forbidden in the early sangha. It seems that, at the time, many people found it to be an utterly offensive substance, and this was not limited to Buddhists. In the Vedic traditions as well we see a strong disdain for garlic, as well as onions. For example, in the Manusmṛti (Laws of Manu), which admittedly dates a few centuries after the Buddha’s lifetime, we see the following proscriptions:
5. Garlic, leeks and onions, mushrooms and (all plants), springing from impure (substances), are unfit to be eaten by twice-born men.…19. A twice-born man who knowingly eats mushrooms, a village-pig, garlic, a village-cock, onions, or leeks, will become an outcast.
「若比丘尼、噉生蒜、熟蒜、若雜蒜者、咽咽波逸提。比丘、突吉羅。式叉摩那、沙彌、沙彌尼、突吉羅、是謂為犯。不犯者、或有如是病、以餅裹蒜食。若餘藥所不治、唯須服蒜差、聽服。若塗瘡不犯。」(CBETA, T22, no. 1428, p. 737, b10-14)“If a bhikṣuṇī (nun) eats raw garlic, old garlic or mixed garlic, it is a pāyattika offense when swallowed. For a bhikṣu (monk) it is a duṣkṛta (misdemeanor) offense. For a śikṣamāṇā, śrāmaṇera (male novice) or śrāmaṇerī (female novice), it is a duṣkṛta offense. This is considered a violation. A non-violation would be if someone had an illness as such and the garlic was eaten in a biscuit. If one cannot be cured with other medicines and only by treatment with garlic will one recover, then the treatment is permitted. If smeared on a skin sore there is no violation.”
「若服蒜為藥者、僧伽臥具大小便處、咸不應受用。不入眾中、不禮尊像、不繞制底。有俗人來、不為說法、設有請喚亦不應往。應住邊房服藥既了、更停七日待臭氣銷散、浴洗身衣並令清潔、其所居處牛糞淨塗。」(CBETA, T24, no. 1458, p. 571, a10-15)“If treating [an illness] with garlic, neither the sangha bedding nor lavatory should be used. One should not join the sangha assembly, prostrate to the Buddha or circumambulate caityas. If a laymember comes, one should not teach the Dharma. Even if requested one should not go. One should reside in a room on the periphery [of the monastery]. When the treatment of medicine is completed, remain settled for a further seven days to wait for the odor to disperse. Washing the body and clothes, making them pure, the place where one stayed is to be purified by smearing it with cow dung.”
「其所居處、掃灑淨塗。」(CBETA, X40, no. 717, p. 237, b8-9 // Z 1:63, p. 60, d4-5 // R63, p. 120, b4-5)“The place one stayed in is to be swept and purified by smearing.”
“First one should sweep and dust thoroughly, and then one should further cleanse with water and cow dung. Having dried the temple, one should sprinkle scented water and decorate the temple with mandalas.”
「佛言: 有無齒牛食噉糠麥、後時便出其粒仍全。用此為麨、非時應服。」(CBETA, T24, no. 1452, p. 427, b18-20)The Buddha said, “Have a toothless cow eat husked wheat. Later it will then eject the grain still whole. Use this for roasted flour and take it when it is untimely.”
「服已應七日行隨順法。在一邊小房中、不得臥僧床褥、不得上僧大小便處行、不得在僧洗脚處洗脚、不得入溫室講堂食屋、不得受僧次差會、不得入僧中食及禪坊、不得入說法布薩僧中。若比丘集處一切不得往、不應遶塔、若塔在露地者、得下風遙禮。七日行隨順法已、至八日、澡浴浣衣熏已得入僧中。」(CBETA, T22, no. 1425, p. 483, b29-c7)“When the treatment is completed, for seven days one will abide by [the following] rule. Stay in a small periphery room [of the monastery]. One must not lay on the sangha mattress. One must not use the sangha lavatory. One must not wash one’s feet in the sangha feet washing area. One must not enter the bathroom, lecture hall or dining hall. One must not [attend] offering gatherings based on seniority. One must not join the sangha assembly when eating the midday meal, or in the meditation hall. One must not join the monks when the Dharma is being taught, or precepts are being recited. If the bhikṣus assemble together in one place together, one must not go. One should not circumambulate stūpas. If a stūpa is on open ground, one must carry out prostrations downwind far from it. Having followed the rule for seven days, on the eighth day one bathes, washes one’s clothes and scents them before being allowed to join the sangha.”
「雖是我所制、而於餘方不以為清淨者、皆不應用。雖非我所制、而於餘方必應行者、皆不得不行。」(CBETA, T22, no. 1421, p. 153, a14-17)
“Even if it be something that I have prohibited, if it is not considered pure [conduct] in other lands, then none of it should be adopted. Even if it is not something that I have prohibited, if something must be carried out in other lands, then it always must be carried out.”
[NBN Episode] Judith Farquhar and Qicheng Zhang, Ten Thousand Things: Nurturing Life in Contemporary Beijing
Syndicated from: http://newbooksineastasianstudies.com/2012/07/09/judith-farquhar-and-qicheng-zhang-ten-thousand-things-nurturing-life-in-contemporary-beijing-zone-press-2012/ Continue reading [NBN Episode] Judith Farquhar and Qicheng Zhang, Ten Thousand Things: Nurturing Life in Contemporary Beijing
[NBN Episode] Marta Hanson, Speaking of Epidemics in Chinese Medicine: Disease and the Geographic Imagination in Late Imperial China
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[NBN Episode] Yi-Li Wu, Reproducing Women: Medicine, Metaphor, and Childbirth in Late Imperial China
Syndicated from: http://newbooksineastasianstudies.com/2011/11/01/yi-li-wus-book-reproducing-women-medicine-metaphor-and-childbirth-in-late-imperial-china-university-of-california-press-2010/ Continue reading [NBN Episode] Yi-Li Wu, Reproducing Women: Medicine, Metaphor, and Childbirth in Late Imperial China