MAHĀPIṬAKA
Newsletter New Series No. 14
January 1, 2009

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

Editor: MAYEDA Sengaku

New Year Greetings for 2009
We extend our best wishes to each and everyone of you. May the light of the Buddha reachevery corner of darkness and may the new year be a time of happiness and fulfillment.

MAYEDA Sengaku

John R. McRae

Chair, Editorial Committee
Tokyo, Japan

Chair, Publication Committee
Tokyo, Japan

Table of Contents
New Year Greetings
By MAYEDA Sengaku & John R. McRae........................................................... 1
Publishing Schedule
Published in 2008................................................................................................. 2
Forthcoming titles ................................................................................................ 2
Review:
Kyōgyōshinshō: On Teaching, Practice, Faith, and Enlightenment
Translated by INAGAKI Hisao
By Kenneth K. Tanaka .....................................................................................3-4
A Report on the XVth IABS Conference(Atlanta, 23-28 June, 2008)
By SAITŌ Akira.................................................................................................4-6
Announcement:
A Gigantic Tiny Step
By John R. McRae ............................................................................................6-8

Publishing Schedule
Published in 2007:

1. SHŌBŌGENZŌ: THE TRUE DHARMA-EYE TREASURY
Volumes 2, 3, and 4(正法眼藏 Shōbōgenzō, Taisho 2582)
Translated by Gudo Nishijima & Chodo Cross(Reprint of the books published by Windbell Publications in 1996, 1997, and 1999)

Forthcoming titles:

1. SUTRA ON THE CONCENTRATION OF SITTING MEDITATION(坐禪三昧經 Zazensanmaikyō, Taisho 614)
Translated by YAMABE Nobuyoshi & SUEKI Fumihiko

2. IN PRAISE OF BUDDHA’S ACTS
(佛所行讃 Busshogyōsan, Taisho 192)
Translated by Charles Willemen

3. MAHAPARINIRVANA SUTRA FASCICLES I - X(大般涅槃經 Daihatsunehangyō, Taisho 374, 卷1-10)
Translated by Mark Blum

4. DISCOURSE TO PRINCE CANDRAPRABHA(月燈三昧經 Gattōzanmaikyō, Taisho 639)
Translated by MURAKAMI Shinkan

2Review:

Kyōgyōshinshō: On Teaching, Practice, Faith, and Enlightenment
Translated by INAGAKI Hisao(BDK English Tripiṭaka Series, published in 2004)
Kenneth K. Tanaka
Musashino University
Kyōgyōshinshō is undoubtedly Shinran’s (1173-1263) main work and has been the most authoritative
text for Jōdo Shinshū scholars and priests. We can, thus, appreciate its influence within contemporary
Japanese Pure Land Buddhism, given that there are around 21,000 Shinshū temples in Japan andanother 200 outside Japan.
Despite the importance of this text, there had not been a translation that is both complete
and reliable English translation until recently, when the translation committee of the Hongwanji
Translation Center published the entire text in four separate volumes from 1983 to 1990 (1983, 1985,
1987, 1990). This translation was later included among Shinran’s other works in the two-volume
Collected Works of Shinran, published in 1997.
Prior to this Hongwanji translation, there were translations by Kōshō Yamamoto (complete
but unreliable, according to many) and by D.T. Suzuki. This translation by Suzuki is, of course, highly
reliable but is unfortunately partial, for it’s missing the last two chapters among six. Nevertheless,
Suzuki’s translation is groundbreaking for his bold adoption of non-traditional yet insightful English
terms for such key ideas as “行 gyō” (translated “living” instead of “practice”) and “願 gan” (translated“prayer” instead of “vow”).
Concerning the BDK translation, it is worth noting that Dr. Inagaki, the translator, wasinvolved in two previous translation projects of the Kyōgyōshinshō. One was the above-mentioned
Hongwanji translation as a key member of the translation team and the other as the chief translator andeditor of Kyō Gyō Shin Shō, a translation of only Shinran’s commentarial section (not the scriptural
passages that make us bulk of the work) and published by Ryukoku University in 1966.
In providing an assessment of Dr. Inagaki’s BDK translation, allow me to juxtapose thethree translations of the opening lines of Chapter One.
“As I respectfully reflect on the true doctrine of the Pure Land, there are two forms of ekō:
the outgoing ekō and the returning ekō. It is in the outgoing ekō that we have the true teaching,true living, true faith, and true realization.” (D.T. Suzuki)“Reverently contemplating the true essence of the Pure Land way, I see that Amida’s
directing of virtue to sentient beings has two aspects: the aspect for our going forth to the Pure
Land and the aspect for our return to this world. In the aspect for going forth, there is the true
teaching, practice, shinjin and realization.” (Hongwanji Translation Center)3

“When I humbly contemplate the true essence of the Pure Land Way, I realize that
[Amida’s] merit transference has two aspects: one is the aspect of gong forth, and the other thatof returning. Concerning the aspect of going forth of merit transference, there are true teaching,practice, faith, and enlightenment.”(H. Inagaki)
In comparing the three, I find Dr. Inagaki’s translation to be not only readable as“everyday” English but also renders technical terms into English while the other two opt to leave themin their original (ekō and shinjin). As this one sample shows, Dr. Inagaki’s translation should not only
be accessible to a large reading audience, but any reader should rest assured that the translation is ingood hands, carried out by a person who has devoted a significant portion of his academic life to thiswork.

A Report on the XVth IABS Conference(Atlanta, 23-28 June, 2008)SAITŌ Akira
The University of Tokyo
The International Association of Buddhist Studies (IABS), founded in 1976, is devoted to promoting
and supporting scholarship in Buddhist Studies in all its aspects, past and present, around the world.
From the 23rd to 28th of June 2008, the IABS held its XVth Conference, at Emory University, Atlanta,
Georgia, USA. The organizing committee of the XVth conference was composed of President (Robert
A. Paul), Chair (Sara L. McClintock), Convener (John D. Dunne), Advisors, Graduate Student Teamand Wonderful Others.
The academic programme of the Conference was structured by "panels" and "sections". In
this Conference, 33 panels dealing with specific topics were organized by their conveners who invitedthe participants and were responsible for the thematic unity. The following were the topics of panels
in alphabetical order:

1) The Academic Discipline of Buddhist Studies in North America (Convener:

Charles Prebish), 2) Analyzing and Advancing Buddhist Philosophy (I): The Two Truths in India andTibet, (II): The Two Truths in East Asia, (III): Philosphical Reflections on the Two Truths (Jay
Garfield and Jan Westerhoff), 3) Beyond Simple Constructions of So-called Humanistic Buddhism(renjian fojiao): Reinterpreting Modernity in Twentieth Century Buddhism in China and Taiwan(Esther-Maria Guggenmos), 4) Borobudur in International Perspective (Hudaya Kandahjaya), 5)
Buddhism in the Writings of Ippolito Desideri, S.J.(1684-1733) (Trent Pomplun), 6) Buddhist
Commentarial Traditions: Transdiscursivity and Textual Production in Buddhist Intellectual History(Mark Dennit), 7) Buddhist Funerary Cultures: Art, Text, Ritual, Performance (Justin McDaniel and4

Pattaratorn Chirapravati), 8) Buddhist Munumental Sculpture and Architecture (Cameron David
Warner), 9) Buddhist Theories of Self-Awareness (svasaṃvedana): Interpretations and Critiques(Birgit Kellner), 10) Chinese Buddhist Meditation Practices and Chan (John McRae and Eric Goodel),11) Facets of Esoteric Buddhism and Tantras in East Asia (Charles D. Orzech), 12) Gandhāran
Manuscripts and Gandhāran Buddhism (Richard Salomon), 13) How Theravāda is Theravāda? (Peter
Skilling), 14) Humor and Buddhism (Shayne Clarke), 15) Indian Buddhist Metaethics (Martin Adam),16) Madhyamaka and Yogācāra Models of Truth or Reality in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism (Klaus-Dieter
Mathes), 17) Mahāmudrā: Approaching the Great Seal (Roger Jackson and Lara Braitstein), 18)Mahāyāna Sūtras (Jonathan A. Silk), 19) Miracles and Superhuman Powers in Buddhism (David
Fiordalis), 20) New Research in Avadāna Literature (Andy Rotman), 21) Pioneer Translators,
Missionaries, and Their Transmitted Texts (Mariko Namba Walter), 22) Rebirth of Buddhist
Scholasticisms in Twentieth-Century China (Eyal Aviv and Jason Clower), 23) Recovering Anew the
Lotus Sutra’s Originality as a Religio-Philosophical System (Joseph Logan), 24) Reexamining Tibetan
Auto/ Biographical Writing (Sarah Jacoby and Andrew Quintman), 25) Representations of Brahmins
andBrahmanism in

Early

Buddhist

Literature(BrianBlack), 26)Śāntideva

and theBodhisattvacaryāvatāra (Ani Kunga Chodron), 27) Tibetan Scholasticism in the 11th and 12th
Centuries (Pascale Hugon, Kazuo Kano, and Kevin Vose), 28) “Terms of Art” in Indian Esoteric
Buddhism (David B. Gray and Christian K. Wedemeyer), 29) Theory and Practice of Healing,
Medicine and Longevity in Buddhism (Robert Mayer and Geoffrey Samuel), 30) Universal Claims,
Postcolonial Frames: An Interdisciplinary Session on Bodhgaya (Tara Doyle and David Geary), 31)
Uses and Abuses of the “Modern” in Tibet and Tibetan Buddhism (Leigh Sangster, Robbie Barnett,
and Laura Harrington), 32) Wonhyo (617-686) and his Comprehensive Buddhist Philosophical Vision(Charles Muller), 33) Yogācāra Buddhism: Approaches (Tao Jiang).
Besides the panels, the Conference Committee also organized various "sections" whichwere expected to maintain, as far as possible, general thematic consistencies. Approximately one thirdof the contributions, 226 in total, were assigned to the following 20 sections moderated by theirrelevant scholars: 1) Buddhism and the West (Moderator: Eve L. Mullen), 2) Buddhist Art (Cristina
Scherer-Schaub), 3) Buddhist Theories of Mind and Meditation (Tao Jiang), 4) Contemporary
Developments in Buddhism (Eve L. Mullen), 5) Dunhuang Studies (Cristina Scherer-Schaub andLiying Kuo), 6) East Asian Buddhism (Mark Blum), 7) East Asian Buddhist Philosophy (Chen-kuoLin), 8) Early Buddhism (Steven Collins), 9) Ethnographic Studies (Abraham Zablocki), 10)
Hermeneutics, Scholasticism, and Commentarial Techniques (Robert Gimello), 11) Himalayan
Buddhism (Todd Lewis), 12) Indian and Tibetan Buddhist Philosophy (John Dunne), 13) Inner Asian,
Mongolian and Korean Buddhism (Jiri Holba), 14) Logic and Epistemology (Helmut Krasser), 15)Mahāyāna Buddhism (Andy Rotman), 16) Narrative Studies (Charles B. Jones), 17) South Asian
Buddhism (Shoryu Katsura), 18) Textual and Philological Studies (Robert Thurman), 19) Vajrayāna
Buddhism (Christian K. Wedemeyer), 20) Vinaya Studies (Charles Prebish).
As may be seen from these topics, the panels and sections reflected both traditional5

Buddhological or Indological approaches as well as a wide range of recent scholarly interests in thefield of Buddhist studies. One of the striking features I noticed in this Conference is the large numberof panels. This should indeed be welcomed for an International Conference of such scale; however, on
the other hand, it also means that we are obliged to miss some of the interesting panels held at thesame time as the one we attend. It may be suggested in this regard that panels of similar topics beplaced in different times or days, if allowed. Furthermore, what impressed me in this Conference isthat a number of papers were read on the newly published Tibetan materials including the collectionsof bKa’ gdams pa school.
Although this time I was strongly impressed by a large and growing number of scholars andstudents specializing in a wide range of Buddhist studies such as those of Indian, Tibetan, Central
Asian, Chinese, Korean, Japanese and so on, I had at the same time an impression as follows: Not asmall number of presenters, especially those from English-speaking countries, read their own drafts
without distributing any handouts. This, I suggest, is worth rethinking in order to encourage a more
fruitful discussion.
In the Convocation held on 23rd June, Prof. Oskar von Hinüber, the President of IABS,
delivered a keynote address titled "Hoary Past and Hazy Memories: Tracing the History of Early
Buddhist Texts”.
The XVth Conference saw the largest number of participants since the IABS wasestablished in 1976, which appears to witness to a world-wide rise of interest in both Buddhism andBuddhist studies. In the General Assembly of Members held on 27th of June, it was announced thatthe next XVIth Conference will be held in Taiwan in 2011.

Announcement:

A Gigantic Tiny StepJohn R. McRae
Chair, Publication Committee
In the long history of the spread of Buddhism it is only a tiny step, but its impact will be undeniably
huge. In the vast universe of the contemporary information society it is only a miniscule contribution,
but its stature is positively gigantic.
I refer to the exciting new development that has just taken place in the Numata
Foundation’s long-term project for the English translation of the East Asian Buddhist canon. We have
now placed three translations, freely accessible and in conveniently usable PDF format, online forunrestricted downloading at http://www.numatacenter.com/. The three texts currently available are
only the beginning, since over the coming months we will process all of our translations for similar
6

distribution. And, this step is only the very beginning of what we hope will be an important new
dimension to our project, as we develop closer and closer integration with the electronic canon as
made available from the SAT Daizōkyō Text Database (http://21dzk.l.u-tokyo.ac.jp/SAT/index.html).
At this point we can only guess what possibilities are in store for the future, but all of us involved in
the BDK translation project are profoundly excited by the prospects that lie ahead!
At present there are thirty-nine printed books already published in the BDK series,
providing superb English renderings of 65 original texts. Our current operating schedule is to publish
three printed volumes a year, with bound volumes available for purchase from our website and fromthe University of Hawai‘i Press website at http://www.uhpress.hawaii.edu/ (hint: in the “specificsearch” window select “Sponsor” and enter “Numata”). No change is planned for these arrangements.
In addition to keeping the printed volumes available for purchase, we will now be making
available without cost PDF files that represent very close facsimiles of the printed books. That is, users
who download and open one of our PDF files will find copies of entire individual volumes that are,with a few very minor modifications, exact images of the respective published books.
The virtually identical quality of the online files is made possible by the fact that, right fromthe beginning of our project, our publications have been sent to the printer in the form of PDF files.
Therefore, the basic task of “repurposing” our print-output PDF files for web distribution and online
use is a relatively simple matter of removing various printer’s marks and annotations. One might think,then, that we could easily manage to roll out all of our published translations in very short order. Ah,
but the real world is never quite so straightforward! I will not try to itemize the software and fontissues that make converting the earlier works in our series to the current web-distribution format, but
rest assured that there are sufficient nitty-gritty tasks to keep our superb editor, Marianne Dresser,
busy for months on this task alone!
So, when I wrote above that our web-published files will differ from the printed volumes by“a few very minor modifications,” what will the differences be and which volumes will they involve?
To take the latter question first, most of the expected changes will involve the earlier volumes in theseries, which were done with a now outdated font. We have now moved to the use of a Unicode-aware
font, Times Ext Roman, and its very slightly different size characteristics mean that there may beslight changes in page breaks and pagination. In the long run, though, using a consistent
Unicode-aware font in all our translations will allow for easier adaptation to other web-based offerings
planned for the future.
Other than this, we will also take the opportunity to “silently” correct any typographicalerrors or misprints encountered in the published volumes — although I am happy to report that there
are a vanishingly small number of these, a testament to the high work standards of the editorial andpublication teams over the years. At this point we do not envision any truly substantive changes to ourtranslations, but just in case we have put on the website suggestions for how best to cite the online
publications.
Using the PDF files Buddhists and students of Buddhism around the world will be able to7

read our texts and to print them out for students to use. We hope that this opens up a vast newreadership to the wonders of the Buddhist teachings. We also suspect that opening up our translations
to web distribution will suggest other possibilities beyond simple PDF facsimiles. We have our own
ideas about how to proceed from this point, but we would be very pleased to hear your suggestions as
to what other innovations we might implement. Please contact us (http://www.numatacenter.com/)with your comments and recommendations!

MAHĀPIṬAKA
Newsletter New Series No.14
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-jp.org
URL: http://www.bdk-jp.org

8