MAHĀPIṬAKA
Newsletter New Series No. 29

January 1, 2024

EDITORIAL COMMITTEE of
the ENGLISH TRANSLATIONof the CHINESE TRIPIṬAKA
Bukkyō Dendō Kyōkai(Society for the Promotion of Buddhism)

Editor: Kenneth K. Tanaka

Table of Contents
Publishing Schedule
Published in 2023.................................................................................................. 1
Forthcoming titles ................................................................................................. 1
Review:
The Hundred Records of the Temple of National Purity(Translated by Paul L. Swanson)
By YAMAGUCHI Hiroe .................................................................................... 2
Report:Buddhist Literature Survey and Meditation Design
By MINOWA Kenryō ....................................................................................... 4
Announcement (Repost of MAHĀPIṬAKA Newsletter New Series No. 24):
Translations be Completed by 2027
By Kenneth K. Tanaka.......................................................................................... 6
Committee Members ........................................................................................................ 7

Publishing Schedule
Published in 2023:

THE HUNDRED RECORDS OF THE TEMPLE OF NATIONAL PURITY(國淸百録 Kokusei-hyakuroku, Taishō 1934)
Translated by Paul L. Swanson

COMBINED VOLUME: THE DIAMOND NEEDLE/ THE TREATISE ON
DOCTRINAL DISTINCTIONS OF THE HUAYAN ONE VEHICLE/ THE KEY
TO THE SECRET TREASURY(金剛針論 Kongō-shin-ron, Taishō 1642/ 華嚴一乘教義分齊章 Kegon-ichijō-kyōgibunzai-shō, Taishō 1866/ 般若心経秘鍵 Hannyashngyō-hiken, Taishō 2203-A)
Translated by KAWAMURA Yūto and BAI Jinghao/ *Taitetsu Unno, Mark Unno,
and Monica E. McLellan/ Matthew McMullen

THE MADHYAMA ĀGAMA (MIDDLE-LENGTH DISCOURSES)(中阿含經 Chū-agonkyō, Taishō 26)

Volume IVTranslated by 關則富, 朱倍賢, 釋法曜, Marcus Bingenheimer, and 釋純因
Edited by Bhikkhu Anālayo and Roderick S. Bucknell
Forthcoming titles:

THE FAYUAN ZHULIN (THE JADE GARDEN OF DHARMA FOREST)(法苑珠林 Hō-on-jurin, Taishō 2122)

Volume VI (Fasc. 35–40)
Translated by Harumi Hirano Ziegler

FLOWER ORNAMENT SUTRA (AVATAṂSAKA-SŪTRA)(大方廣佛華嚴經 Dai-hōkō-butsu-kegon-gyō, Taishō 279)
Translated by Dharmamitra

THE TREATISE ON THE TEN GROUNDS(十住毘婆沙論 Jūjū-bibasha-ron, Taishō 1521)
Translated by Dharmamitra

GREAT CESSATION-AND-CONTEMPLATION(摩訶止觀 Maka-shikan, Taishō 1911)
Translated by Paul L. Swanson

1Review:

The Hundred Records of the Temple of National Purity(Translated by Paul L. Swanson)
YAMAGUCHI Hiroe
Associate Professor, Komazawa University
The Hundred Records of the Temple of National Purity, in four volumes, is a compilation of 104
documents related to Tiantai Zhiyi (538–597), the founder of the Tiantai sect in China, by his disciples.
These include the manuals of monastic events, the Dharma rituals of confession, etc., the edicts of kings,
correspondence with high priests, and the last will and testament of Tiantai Zhiyi. The vocabulary isboth elegant and difficult to understand. The English translation has now been completed by Professor
Emeritus Paul L. Swanson of Nanzan University, who published the Clear Serenity, Quiet Insight:
T’ien-t’ai Chih-i’s Mo-ho chih-kuan in 2017, an English translation of the Mohe zhi-guan, in a volume
in the BDK English Tripiṭaka series.
Until now, the most comprehensive study of the Hundred Records has been IKEDA Rosan’s
Kokusei hyakuroku no kenkyu (Study of the Hundred Records) in 1982. In his postscript, he describes
the situation in which his annotated translation started: the reading class of the Hundred Records washeld at Taisho University in the 1960s, TSUKAMOTO Zenryū expounded the significance of the source
material, KAMATA Shigeo also had a class of reading the text at Komazawa University in the late 1960s,
and it was amidst this growing momentum for research on the Hundred Records that IKEDA began histranslation research (IKEDA 1982, 561–563). Subsequently, HIRAI Shunei’s Hokke mongu no seiritsu ni
kansuru kenkyu in 1985 and Jinhua Chen’s Making and Remaking History: A Study of Tiantai Sectarian
Historiography in 1985 was published. They pointed out the possibility that some of the contents may
have been fabricated, but forty years has passed since IKEDA’s translation study without a review of thetext as a whole.
The translation in question provides a platform to break through such stagnation in the academic
world for the sake of the international textual research.
As is shown in many papers and lectures, including “Butten no eiyaku to Maka shikan sono kadai
to charenji” (English Translation of Buddhist Scriptures and Moho Chihkuan: Its Challenges and Issues)in 2018, Prof. Swanson has established his expertise in translating Buddhist texts through many yearsof translation work. In carrying out his translation of the Hundred Records, he would have added detailed
notes and appendices, as he did with the Clear Serenity, Quiet Insight. According to the “Translator’sIntroduction,” however, this translation does not include any notes, in keeping with the series’ policy offaithfully translating Taisho’s texts (Swanson 2022, xix). The Glossary at the end of the book is so
detailed that the readers should be satisfied with that alone. However, various issues discussed inprevious studies, such as the authenticity of Jizang’s letters in the 102nd and 103rd Documents as
pointed out by Chen Jinhua, are mentioned in the “Translator’s Introduction” but not in the translation.

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Also, the dates of the letter in the 53rd Document as well as the subsequent return of Zhiyi to the Mount
Tiantai are not clarified in the “Translator’s Introduction,” probably because there are differences of
opinion among various studies. We imagine that the translator himself found this most frustrating.
Nevertheless, it is fortunate that in many cases there is no difficulty in reading through thetranslation, since the sources of the cited sutra and the year of the incident, which were not explicitly
stated in the original, are supplemented without excess and deficiency. For example, the first Document
is translated as “I reentered Tiantai (in 595)” (Swanson2022, 7), in which the year that is not mentioned
in the original is added. This indicates that the translator understands Zhiyi’s return to Mount Tiantai to
be in 595, following a standard theory.
In addition, I would like to refer to two points to be reconsidered.
The English translation of the 48th Document “經稱非禪不禪不智、非智不禪,” following
IKEDA’s note (IKEDA 1982, 330), reads “The [Dharmatara Meditation] Sutra says …” (Swanson 2022,
85). However, it is not a quotation from the Dharmatara Meditation Sutra, but from the introduction to
the Lushan Huiyuan (334–416). The phrases “非禪不禪” and “非智不禪” are also found in the Mohezhiguan, which is annotated by the same translator as a citation from the Suiyao-jing (『出曜經』), “無禪不智、無智不禪” (T4. 766b) as the source (Swanson2017, 1163). This phrase is a well-known
expression in China by the 6th century, since it also found in the Faju jing (『法句經』 T4. 572a) andthe Chengshi lun (『成實論』 T32. 281b).
Next, “the eight scrolls of the textual commentary [on the Lotus Sutra (Fahuawenju)]” (Swanson
2022, 178) in the 101st Document might not be appropriate, since this phrase in the document does notrefer to that on the Lotus Sutra but to volumes 1–8 of the “Weimo jing Commentary” (『維摩経文疏』)
presented by Zhiyi to Jin’s king Kuan (later Emperor Xi of Sui Dynasty) at his request, based on theunderstanding of SATŌ Tetsuei’s study of the Tendai Daishi in 1961. Incidentally, Zhiyi’s will in the65th Document states that this commentary should be burnt out because of fault descriptions in many
respects.
This book is a translation of the Tiantai texts, which Prof. Swanson has devoted as his life work
to translating the Tendai texts into English. We, his successors, must take our study of Zhiyi to a newstage while benefiting from his great works.

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Report:Buddhist Literature Survey and Meditation Design
MINOWA Kenryō
Professor, Graduate School of the University of Tokyo
One of the Japanese Government Cabinet Office’s research programs is called the Moonshot Researchand Development Program. In this program, the government broadly calls on researchers to solve
problems facing modern society, and JST (Japan Science and Technology) joins in and asks researchers
to propose solutions to these problems. It is a top-down research program, the opposite of the Grant-inAid for Scientific Research that we university professors are accustomed to.
Among the nine goals, the following are of great interest. The first is to free the body, brain, space,
and time from constraints; the fourth is to regenerate the global environment; the eighth is to reduce
extreme wind and flood damage through weather control; and the ninth is to increase peace of mind andvitality. I am involved in Goal Nine.
The leader of the research project is Dr. IMAMIZU Hiroshi, Director of the Brain Information
Research Institute of ATR (Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International). He iscurrently a professor in the Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology of the University of Tokyo.
I am collaborating with him as the project sub-leader, and the task assigned to me is “Survey of Buddhist
Literature and Meditation Design.”
The entire research and development project is titled “Eastern View of Humanity and Brain
Informatics for Realizing Peace of Mind and Compassion,” and my role is that of a subject promoter
under the supervision of Project Manager IMAMIZU.
Where do the goals of the project, namely, peace of mind and vitality, come from? The answer tothis question is assumed to be Buddhist meditation. When Buddhist meditation was initiated by the
Buddha, it seems to have been expressed in one word, sati, which can be translated very simply as“always be aware.” It is thought that this meditation was eventually divided into two parts: cessationand observation, with cessation meditation being called “concentration meditation” and observation
being called “open monitoring” or “insight meditation.” When this meditation is fully mastered, ourmind can detach itself from automatic thinking. We believe that this detachment from automatic thinking
is nothing short of peacefulness. We also believe that vitality will be realized when compassion is added
to Buddhist meditation.
However, if we examine meditation historically, we see a different development.
Theravada Buddhism, Mahayana Buddhism, and Vajrayana Buddhism are the three main typesof Buddhism in existence today. Theravada Buddhism is present in Southeast Asia, and Mahayana
Buddhism developed in East Asia. Vajrayana Buddhism, also called “Esoteric Buddhism,” is found on
the Tibetan plateau and in the Himalayas. It has many followers and monks in Nepal, Bhutan, and the4Indian states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. In India, the BIR in Himachal Pradesh is probably
the largest center.
Now, I am currently involved in Moonshot 9, which is to extract descriptions of meditation from
Buddhist literature, to identify the sources of meditation, and to propose specifications for a smartphone
application to practice meditation based on these sources. For this purpose, I have hired people who
study the three Buddhist traditions as specially appointed researchers. In the course of our research, wehave found that there is a wide range of understanding with regard to the topic of cessation andobservation.
In the Theravada Buddhist tradition, the term “cessation” is understood as being aware of a single
object, while "observation" is understood as being aware of a large number of objects. This is a very
different understanding from that of Mahayana Buddhism, especially that of the Yogacara school. In the
Yogacara school, the term “cessation” is also understood as being aware of a single object, but“observation” is understood as observing or being aware in great detail the one object of cessation. Thus,
we see a huge difference in the understanding between the two schools. It is this Yogacara understandingthat has been inherited by the mainstream Tibetan Buddhism.
We also see two tendencies in Theravada Buddhism in the way it perceives “observation.” Theforest-dwelling tradition, based on the Satipaṭṭhānasutta tradition, teaches the importance of changing
the objects of observation one after another, of letting go, and of meditating generously.
On the other hand, the monastic-dwelling tradition, based on the Visuddhimagga tradition, teaches
the importance of observing the one object in detail and to notice that one object is divided into two
aspects, 1) the function of the mind that has grasped and 2) the object the object that is grasped. In otherwords, the two are nāma (naming) and rūpa (object). From this, detailed wisdom is said to arise.
Both methods lead to the truth of impermanence, suffering, and no-self, but the “realm” realized
by the teachings of the Visuddhimagga is minute and detailed. The realm found in the scriptures is arealm that can only be practiced by experts. On the other hand, the observation method that values thesutras is more open-minded and teaches that anyone can reach the state realized by Shakyamuni. Thislatter type of meditation seems to have been transmitted to East Asian Buddhism.
It can be inferred that Mahayana probably began as the antithesis of the increasingly detailed
nature of the practice. Although it would be difficult to prove this in the literature, if the beginning ofMahayana was in the Theravada lineage, I feel that it would add another perspective to our considerationof the origins of Mahayana Buddhism.

5Announcement (Repost of MAHĀPIṬAKA Newsletter New Series No. 24):

Translations be Completed by 2027
Kenneth K. Tanaka
Chairperson of the Editorial Committeeof the BDK English Tripiṭaka Translation Project

BDK English Tripiṭaka Translation Project inaugurated its ambitious task in January of 1982 with theinspiration of one man, Rev. Dr. Yehan Numata, the founder of Bukkyō Dendō Kyōkai. By July of thesame year, an editorial committee had been established and announced its hopes of completing the First
Series, comprised of 139 texts. As of today we have completed 60 percent of the total pages.
If we think about it, our translation effort is certainly historically significant. In the long history
of Buddhist transmission throughout East Asia, translations of Buddhist texts were carried out andfunded by emperors and governmental institutions. So, our translation project is a monumental endeavor,
worthy of being a national project.
As if to support the significance of our project, we have been heartened to learn that the access tocompleted online BDK translations on our website has been surprisingly robust with thousands of hits
per any one month. For example, we have averaged about 5,000 downloads per month in 2018. So thedemand is definitely there. And it serves as our incentive to step up our effort.
We have asked all translators with uncompleted texts to adhere to the newly deadline establishedat the last meeting of the Editorial Committee in December, 2017. The new goal is for all translations
to be submitted in 9 years or December, 2027!
The Editorial Committee continues to seek the cooperation of all the translators and the supportersof our project.

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Committee Members
Editorial Committee, Tokyo:
Kenneth K. Tanaka (Chairperson), Professor Emeritus, Musashino University
ICHISHIMA Shōshin, Professor Emeritus, Taisho University
MINOWA Kenryō, The University of Tokyo
Muller, A. Charles, Musashino UniversitySAITŌ Akira, International College for Postgraduate Buddhist Studies
SHIMODA Masahiro, Musashino University
WATANABE Shōgo, Professor Emeritus, Toyo University
YONEZAWA Yoshiyasu, Taisho University
Publication Committee, Berkeley:
A. Charles Muller (Chairperson), Musashino University
Carl W. Bielefeldt, Professor Emeritus, Stanford University
Marianne Dresser, BDK America
Hudaya Kandahjaya, BDK America
Brian Kensho Nagata, BDK America
Robert H. Sharf, University of California, BerkeleyMAHĀPIṬAKA
Newsletter New Series No.29
EDITORIAL COMMITTEE of
the ENGLISH TRANSLATION of the CHINESE TRIPIṬAKA
c/o Bukkyō Dendō Kyōkai (Society for the Promotion of Buddhism)
4-3-14 Shiba, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108-0014, JAPAN
Tel: +81-3-3455-5851
Fax: +81-3-3798-2758
E-Mail:bdk@bdk.or.jp
URL: http://www.bdk.or.jp

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