Tibetan and Buddhist Studies (In 2 Volumes)

The 200 anniversary of the birth of Alexander Csoma de Koros, the Siculo-Hungarian scholar, is celebrated in 1984. As his primary aim was to discover the origin of the Hungarian people, he is particularly famous in Hungary, though his greatest scientific importance lies in his pioneering role in the research of a faraway culture. His achievements in modern Tibetology and the research of Buddhism and Central Asia are still considered important, while his outstanding personal qualities make him a living example to this day. In the present volume the most excellent representatives of the discipline, nurtured on Csoma de Koros achievement, publish their latest results, paying homage to the memory of this outstanding scholar. The 46 studies of scholars from 17 countries cover the problems of almost all fields of Tibetan studies and related branches. The topics of the history of religion lead from Buddha’s life, from early Tibetan Buddhism, Tantrism and Bon religion, to popular religion and Shamanism. There are also papers dealing with several schools of Buddhist philosophy and Buddhist logic. The articles dealing with the history of literature treat the Buddhist Canon (Tibetan and Tangut), the individual Sutras, the philosophical questions of the texts that were discovered in Tunhuang and Turfan, the Tibetan and Sanskrit collections of sayings and Tibetan folk tales. Some articles examine historical events, problems of Tibetan and Central Asian chronology and questions concerning the statehood and law of Tibet and some other Asian countries, too. Some of the studies deal with geographical topics, discussing analyses of river-names and toponyms. The sphere of linguistic studies ranges from traditional Tibetan grammar to the problems of the structure and phonetics of Modern Tibetan, including some dialects. This rich collection also contains articles on Tibetan therapeutics and Tibetan music. The sources presented in the volume are written, besides Tibetan, in the Sanskrit, Chinese, Mongolian, Tangut, Uighur, and Saka language.