Publication announcement (WSTB): Delhey, Sam āhitā Bhūmiḥ; Tauscher, Gondhla catalogue, etc.

[Birgit Kellner]

Dear colleagues,

[apologies for cross-posting]

I am delighted to announce the publication of Martin Delhey's edition 
and partial German translation of the Samāhitā Bhūmiḥ of the 
Yogācārabhūmi as volume 73 of the WSTB, published in Vienna:

Martin Delhey, "Samāhitā Bhūmiḥ " Das Kapitel über die meditative 
Versenkung im Grundteil der Yogācārabhūmi (2009) 521p. ISBN 13: 
978-3-902501-11-0. EUR 28.00. (For a description of the content, see 
further below.)

The more Tibetologically inclined among you may also be interested to 
learn about  (or be reminded of) the two preceding WSTB publications: 
Helmut Tauscher's catalogue of the Gondhla Proto-Kanjur (no. 72), and 
proceedings of a conference on the cultural history of Western Tibet, 
jointly held by the China Tibetology Research Center and the University 
of Vienna, edited by Deborah Klimburg-Salter, Junyan Liang & Helmut 
Tauscher et als. (no. 71)

For further information and orders, see the WSTB website:
http://www.istb.univie.ac.at/cgi-bin/wstb/wstb.cgi

Note: customers from outside Europe are advised to select
PayPal as a payment option. Bank fees for checks are significantly
higher than PayPal fees.

With best regards,

Dr. Birgit Kellner
Arbeitskreis für Tibetische und Buddhistische Studien Universität Wien -
Association for Tibetan and Buddhist Studies, University of Vienna
Austria


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Martin Delhey, "Samāhitā Bhūmiḥ " Das Kapitel über die meditative 
Versenkung im Grundteil der Yogācārabhūmi (2009) 521p. ISBN 13: 
978-3-902501-11-0. EUR 28.00.

[italics omitted in the following]

The Yogācārabhūmi (YBh), an anonymous compilation belonging perhaps to 
the 4th century CE, is an invaluable source of information on Indian 
Buddhist scholasticism (abhidharma). At the same time, it also marks the 
beginning of the Yogācāra school, one of the two main schools of Indian 
Mahāyāna thought. Approximately one half of this extremely extensive 
work is preserved in Sanskrit original. These materials are 
indispensible for gaining a better understanding of the YBh in its 
original literary, dogmatic and historical context. Still, large parts 
of them are completely inaccessible to the public, or available only in 
unsatisfactory editions.

This two-volume publication contributes towards filling this gap with an 
editio princeps of the Samāhitā Bhūmiḥ, one of the chapters of the 
so-called Basic Section of the YBh. As its title indicates, this chapter 
deals with deep meditative concentration in which one temporarily 
transcends the sphere of everyday consciousness, that is, the sphere of 
sensual desire (kāmadhātu). Rather than presenting a manual for 
meditative practice, the anonymous authors are predominantly concerned 
with an exegetical and doctrinal, yet highly creative treatment of their 
subject-matter.

For this chapter of the YBh, only one Sanskrit manuscript is known, 
available only in low-quality photographs. In view of this rather 
difficult situation, the present work focuses on editorial aspects and 
presents both a diplomatic and a critical edition of the Sanskrit text, 
the latter making full use of the Tibetan and Chinese translations and 
of other secondary materials including canonical sources that the 
authors frequently cite. An edition of the especially important Tibetan 
translation is also provided. In addition, the study contains an 
annotated partial German translation and a complete structural analysis 
of the chapter. The introductory chapters deal, among others, with 
previous research, features of the manuscript, the language of the text 
and methodological problems, and discuss selected aspects of the 
contents of the Samāhitā Bhūmiḥ. Indices of selected names, words and 
technical terms and of selected primary text passages are included.