Buddhist literature in context: India, Tibet, China

A new era for research on the history of Buddhism in India was ushered in with the January 2004 signing of a general agreement between the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the China Tibetology Research Center (CTRC) in Beijing for the joint editing of Sanskrit texts on the basis of the CTRCs copies of manuscripts from the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR). Religious and philosophical works, all of which had previously only been available in Tibetan or Chinese translations and their original Sanskrit texts considered lost, are taken up first for critical editing. It is essential that diplomatic (in the case of codices unici) and critical editions of the original texts be made available to the international scholarly community as quickly as possible. The editions will be supplemented with translations and studies dealing with the development of ideas, with the latter based on the new editions and other primary sources, for which manuscripts of any other provenance (Patna, Rome, London, Nepal, etc.) will also be considered. Both the translations and the studies will take into account, to the extent possible, a broad contextual background: they will consider, on the one hand, specific concepts that developed within the religiously influenced Buddhist philosophical traditions and as a result of intra-Buddhist debates and, on the other hand, the polemic reactions of Brahmanical religio-philosophical traditions, as well as the later appropriation of the various Buddhist traditions in Tibet. The studies will deal not only with fundamental Buddhist theories such as the theory of the fallacious reasons or key concepts such as those of induction or concept formation (apoha), but will also include new materials on the topic of the dialectical and philosophical training of junior monks in the Indian Buddhist monastic environment. The most important text editions (some with translations) include: Jinendrabuddhis Pramana- samuccayatika (chapters 36) Dharmakirtis Hetubindu Dharmottaras Pramanaviniscayatika (chapters 2 and 3) Candrakirtis Madhyamakavatara (chapters 15) Bhavivekas Prajña- pradipa Ratnakarasantis Suddhamati on Maitreyas Abhisamayalankara Sthiramatis Abhidharmakosatika Tattvarthavyakhya SamayavajrasPañcakramapañjika Abhayakaraguptas Pañcakramatatparyapañjika Santaraksitas Tattvasiddhi with translation. The following works will be translated: Dharmakirtis Pramanavarttikasvavrtti (pp. 24,1693,5) Dharmottaras Pramanaviniscayatika (chapter 3, fols. 61111, explaining Dignagas hetucakra in PVin 3.3366). The translations will be accompanied by studies which present the relevant topics in a historical, philosophical and religious context.

The project was conceived as one stage in a long-term research enterprise and pursued a twofold aim: One was to produce critical editions of important Buddhist Sanskrit texts that were preserved in Tibet for centuries and became accessible only recently in their original language of Sanskrit. Of these, our interest focused primarily on texts on the Buddhist theories of epistemology and logic, and also on texts belonging to the two main philosophical traditions of Indian Mahayana Buddhism as well as scholasticism and Tantrism. Until recently, all of the texts in question were only available in Tibetan or Chinese translations. This material in Sanskrit is now accessible thanks to a cooperation agreement reached in 2004 between the Austrian Academy of Sciences (AAS) and the China Tibetology Research Center (CTRC), Beijing, an agreement that has since been renewed every three years. The second aim was to study characteristic topics in the religio-philosophical tradition of Buddhism and its context, and to produce editions and translations of relevant texts of this tradition, both from the original language and from Tibetan or Chinese translations. In fulfillment of the first aim, editions of the previously unavailable Sanskrit texts of Dharmakirti's Hetubindu and of Dharmottara's commentary on the first chapter of Dharmakirti's Pramanaviniscaya were published. Moreover, an edition of the first five chapters of Candrakirti's Madhyamakavatarabhasya was prepared, and philological work on the chapters three to six of Jinendrabuddhi's Pramanasamuccayatika was continued, as well as on the first chapter of Sthiramati's Abhidharmakosatika. Outstanding results related to the second aim were two extensive monographs: the first English translation of a long and important discussion in Dharmakirti's Pramanavarttika related to questions of philosophy of language, and a highly systematic documentation of the quotations from early and mostly lost works of important Indian traditions of thought as found in the Pramanasamuccayatika, chapters one and two.