chinese ming dynasty book

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HandsomeMonkeyking
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Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2015 12:36 pm

chinese ming dynasty book

Post by HandsomeMonkeyking »

A book appeared online from the Ming dynasty (1428), written in Chinese script but seems like describing buddhism from the Tibetan tradition.
It might be interesting for people here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B59W0k ... pFOTA/view

Additionally I would be interested to learn more about this Tibetan-Chinese connection, what this form of buddhism is called, how the transmission went, and other interesting things.

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Caoimhghín
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Location: Whitby, Ontario

Re: chinese mind dynasty book

Post by Caoimhghín »

It could also be esoteric Cundī veneration, or preserved Tángmì in general, if it is "Chinese" but "looks Tibetan(-ish)". I can't read the writing, though, or identify the Indic character in the middle. Outrightly presentationally 'vajrayāna' Buddhism(s) experienced a bit of a flourishing in China during the Táng before falling out of practice.

That some of it would linger until the Míng wouldn't be surprising.

Maybe it's that?
Then, the monks uttered this gāthā:

These bodies are like foam.
Them being frail, who can rejoice in them?
The Buddha attained the vajra-body.
Still, it becomes inconstant and ruined.
The many Buddhas are vajra-entities.
All are also subject to inconstancy.
Quickly ended, like melting snow --
how could things be different?

The Buddha passed into parinirvāṇa afterward.
(T1.27b10 Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra DĀ 2)
HandsomeMonkeyking
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Re: chinese mind dynasty book

Post by HandsomeMonkeyking »

Coëmgenu wrote:It could also be esoteric Cundī veneration, or preserved Tángmì in general, if it is "Chinese" but "looks Tibetan(-ish)". I can't read the writing, though, or identify the Indic character in the middle. Outrightly presentationally 'vajrayāna' Buddhism(s) experienced a bit of a flourishing in China during the Táng before falling out of practice.

That some of it would linger until the Míng wouldn't be surprising.

Maybe it's that?
Is there some book describing Vajrayana in China? I would be interested in learning more about this.


Also the link I posted shows a book with some hundred pages, its not just the image I posted (as an example)
ItsRaining
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Re: chinese mind dynasty book

Post by ItsRaining »

From what I got after googling this in Chinese. Apparently this text was either translated during the Ming Dynasty Buddhist Master Zhi Guang but it is also now believed to be either written or heavily edited by Zhi Guang due to it's inclusion of Daoist concepts and gods.

Zhi Guang is recorded to have been a student of an Indian Buddhist Master who at the time lived at the capital (Bei Jing) where I assume he learnt sanskrit as the Emperor Zhu Yuan Zhang ordered him to translate "Bodhisattva Precepts for the Four Audiences (Bikkus, Bikkunis, Female Male Lay People). The Emperor later aslo sent him to Nepal, India and Tibet as part of a group of Ambassadors.
humble.student
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Re: chinese ming dynasty book

Post by humble.student »

This is a beautifully written and illustrated book, preserved in the Palace Museum in Taipei. There has been some research done on it, and one article states that it comes from the Achali religion of Yunnan. See here for (slightly) more details on the latter: http://tibeto-logic.blogspot.com/2016/1 ... unnan.html
HandsomeMonkeyking
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Re: chinese ming dynasty book

Post by HandsomeMonkeyking »

Thanks for that info! :consoling:
tingdzin
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Re: chinese ming dynasty book

Post by tingdzin »

HandsomeMonkeyking wrote: Thu Sep 21, 2017 5:23 pm Is there some book describing Vajrayana in China?
If you can borrow it from a library, Robert Orzech's "Esoteric Buddhism and the Tantras in East Asia" can tell you everything you want to know and more.
humble.student
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Re: chinese ming dynasty book

Post by humble.student »

In no particular order, the following books and articles will help give a better idea of Tantrism in China.

Chou Yi-liang: Tantrism in China
Michel Strickmann: Mantras and Mandarins
Robert Sharf: Appendix 1: ‘On Esoteric Buddhism in China’, in: Coming to Terms with Chinese Buddhism.
Charles Orzech: ‘Seeing Chen-yen Buddhism: scholarship and the Vajrayana in China’
Richard McBride: “IS THERE REALLY “ESOTERIC” BUDDHISM?”
Richard K. Payne: Tantric Buddhism in East Asia
Orzech et al eds.: Esoteric Buddhism and the Tantras in East Asia
Yael Bentor ed.: Chinese and Tibetan Esoteric Buddhism
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