Kashmir, Tamilnadu, Panini, Abhinavagupta, etc.

[Petr Mares]

> Swaminathan Madhuresan asked:
> >Please tell whether there is a manuscript or received tradition
> >on P'u t'o island, especially from 6th to 9th centuries AD in China?
Dear Mr. Ganesan

The problem is: there may be dozens of texts talking about this
island. Chinese Tripitaka has thousands of sutras, shastras, vinaya
works, commentaries etc. starting from the 148 A.D. when the
Parthian missionary AnShiGao arrived in Han Dynasty capital
Loyang until now. I do not know what texts speak of this mountain
but expect the number to be enormous (received texts as well as
the manuscripts).
>  I am very interested too!
>
>  Alexander C. Soper, Literary evidence for early Buddhism in China,
> 1959 says that the two earliest Chinese translations of GaNDavyUha
> sUtra DOES NOT PLACE Mt. Potalaka in ANY island.
>
>  Chun-fang Yu's article talks of P'u t'o only from
> 10th century (gave the relevant sentences from Yu earlier).
There may be mistake in the abstract, I have not read the article at all yet, just the abstract, so I do not know.
But I suggest you contact prof. Ba1Zhou4,  he wrote many books on Chinese Buddhism of Tang Dynasty, some in English.
He is using the English name W. Pachow and he occasionaly teach in

The Chung-Hwa Institute of Buddhist Studies
276, Kuang-Ming Rd., Peitou, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
Telephone: (02)891-2550,892-6111
Fax: (02)895-7337

where this article and abstract was also published.
Actually the Institute has many authorities on the Tang Dynasty Buddhism and many vvisiting professors such as Dr. Pachow.
They may give you contacts on him as well as suggestion on
whom else to contact on Taiwan. Actully the most knowladgeable
scholars in Taiwan and PRC do not publish in English so only
contacting them will yield in results.

Please do not quote me on anything, I just specialize in
Lankavatara and any other information is not backed by extensive
study.

Sincerely


Petr Mares
Petr Mares
Lengqie Research
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