In Avalokitavrata’s (fl. 700 CE ca.) Ṭīkā we find a quote of a well-known Cārvāka stanza (see D, dBu-ma, Źa, 334b7-335a1): ma śi’i bar du bde bar ’tsho | | śi zin phan chad spyod yul med | | lus ni thal bar gyur pa la | | phyir yaṅ ’oṅ ba ga la yod […]
One of the works that happens to me to deal with from time to time is the Skhalita-pramathana-yuktā-hetu-siddhi, attributed to Āryadeva. Today I’d like to put forward few considerations on the svabhāvavāda section (pūrvapakṣa only) contained in this writing. In what follows I provide the critical edition, the translation and an explanation of the section: […]
Andrea Acri, Dharma Pātañjala; A Śaiva Scripture from Ancient Java Studied in the Light of Related Old Javanese and Sanskrit Texts, Egbert Forsten 2012, pp. xviii + 706. Gonda Indological Series XVI The book presents an edition, English translation and study of the Dharma Pātañjala, a previously unpublished Old Javanese-Sanskrit Śaiva scripture transmitted through a single palm-leaf codex […]
To solve the problem of who the author of the Skhalitapramathanayuktāhetusiddhi (SPHYS) was, is a very difficult task. In order to fix a starting point, however, let us begin by admitting that his name was really Āryadeva, as is referred in all the colophons.1 Moreover, I take for granted that he was a later namesake […]
In the 5th chapter of the Madhyamakaratnapradīpa (MRP) we find the following stanza, attributed to Diṅnāga (sDe-dge 272b4-5): slob dpon phyogs kyi glaṅ pos kyaṅ | ’di na mya ṅan ’das lam groṅ khyer du | | de bźin gśegs pa’i gsuṅ gi ñi ma’i ’od can gyis | | bdag med śes pa’i ’phags […]
In the 7th chapter of the Madhyamakaratnapradīpa, a work traditionally attributed to Bhāviveka, while discussing some fundamental concepts of the cittamātra doctrine, the author inserts an interesting quotation which is attributed to (the tantric?) Candrakīrtipāda (zLa-ba-grags-pa’i-źal-sṅa-na). Unfortunately, the original text from which the citation was taken remains still untraced. Nevertheless, what is interesting here, is […]
Today I have received an email from my friend Lara Maconi concerning a fund-finding campain for a documentary on E. Gene Smith (here some among the principal obituaries from newspapers: The Economist, The NY Times, The Telegraph, The Washington Post). Althought the documentary is almost completed, few but essential things are still to be done. The […]
The particular contents of this blog, and the fact that I add more or less only one post per month, are two relevant factors that contribute, on the one side, to select the visitors on the basis of their interests and, on the other side, to keep the number of visitors low. Indeed, and of […]
As is well-known, according to Indian Cārvāka/Lokāyata materialism (on account of which see here) cognition (jñāna, but also caitanya) emerges only where and when the material elements (earth, water, fire and air) are mixed up to constitute a physical living body. This perspective has been, of course, criticized by lots of non-Cārvaka philosophers in lots […]
Colette Caillat, Selected Papers, The Pali Text Society, Bristol 2011, pp. lxxiii + 387. From the Introduction: «Colette Caillat (1921-2007) was first trained in classical languages (Latin and Greek) and philology at the Sorbonne University, Paris, and started her career by teaching in various secondary schools. Later on, when she turned to the field of […]
