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 [...]

The Centre for Eurasiatic and Afroasiatic Studies (CEAS), Bucharest organizes: The Fifth International Vedic Workshop Hotel Novotel, sala Paris Rive Droite, Bucharest 20.09.2011 – 11 papers 9.00-11.00 official opening: Sarvaśākhāsamanvayam vaidikamaṅgalam    addresses by the organizers: Michael Witzel, Shrikant S. Bahulkar, Jan E. M. Houben 11.00-11.30 coffee break 11.30-13.00 – plenary session: 3 papers MODERATOR: [...]

The following is the agenda, kindly sent via mail by Elisa Freschi, of: The Study of South Asia: between Antiquity and Modernity: Parallels and Comparisons. The Coffee Break Conference — 2 (8-10 September 2011) Where: Institute of Oriental Studies, Caserma Sani, via Principe Amedeo 182b (Underground “Vittorio”), Rome 1 1.1  Language as a Way of [...]

In “Adversaria Buddhica”, an article published by Christian Lindtner on the Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde Südasiens 26 (1982), the author collects the references that Bhāviveka makes in his Madhyamakaratnapradīpa (MRP) to other contemporary or previous philosophers or works. In the list on pages 175-176, we meet with the following point «d) A verse from [...]

In what follows, I  provide the English translation of some passages from Avalokitavrata’s Ṭīkā on Bhāviveka’s Prajñāpradīpa on Nāgārjuna’s Mūlamadhyamakakarika, from which some apparently discordant perspectives on the theory of causation of *Lokākṣa (’Jig rten mig), a mahārṣi among the Lokāyatas, are outlined. This is only a preliminary and incomplete collection (based only on the [...]

This is the edition and translation of the 6th chapter of Bhāviveka’s Madhyamakaratnapradīpa. The texts consists in just 5 stanzas, of which at least three are very similar – if not identical – to as many kārikās of Bhāviveka’s Madhyamakahṛdayakārikā. This, hence, allows us to interpret the Madhyamakaratnapradīpa in the light of the Madhyamakahṛdayakārikā. The [...]