maybe some of you could be eager or interested to subscribe to the volume of the Acta Orientalia Belgica described below, now in press, dedicated to our colleague Jean-Marie Verpoorten. A pre-order made before the 20th of February will allow the subscriber to be mentioned in the Tabula Gratuloria of the volume (pre-orders are to be sent to the President of the Royal Belgian Society of Oriental Studies - see forwarded message and attachment).

Dieux, génies, anges et démons dans les cultures orientales & Florilegium Indiae Orientalis Jean-Marie Verpoorten in honorem, ed. Christophe Vielle, Christian Cannuyer & Dylan Esler, Bruxelles : Société Royale Belge d'Études Orientales, 2017 (Acta Orientalia Belgica, 30).

Table of Contents [part] with English abstracts

Jean-Marie Verpoorten, décrypteur de la pensée indienne

Bio-bibliography of Jean-Marie Verpoorten (by C. Vielle) - 18 pp.

Florilegium Indiae Orientalis [Jean-Marie Verpoorten in honorem]
– Guillaume Ducœur, Du mont Potala au mythe du déluge dans l’Asia Polyglotta de J. Klaproth

From the 17^th century onwards, research into the historicity of a vast flood, whether local or universal in nature, led European Orientalists to investigate the redactional history of the various mythological versions of the Purāṇas, and induced explorers to record a number of Himalayan oral traditions related to such a deluge. In his work Asia polyglotta, which was published in 1823, Julius Klaproth attempted to sketch a chronology of these various Oriental versions of a flood myth, and put forward the idea that the recollection of a vast Asian flood had been preserved in the Tibetan oronym “Buddala” or “Schiffsträger”. The present article briefly examines this interpretation of the toponym Potala, quite unique in its time, incorporating as it did Indian and Tibetan Mahāyāna Buddhist traditions concerning the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara. - 12 pp.

– Paul-Émile Dumont (†), Le Vedânta d’après Shankarâcharya

This article is the edition of a detailed summary (of which only a few rare copies were printed) of a causerie which was delivered in Brussels in the year 1927 by the Belgian Indologist Paul-Émile Dumont (1879-1968). The aim of this paper was to present to a non-specialist audience the main tenets of the Advaita-Vedānta doctrine according to Śaṅkara. The author introduces in a clear manner several important Sanskrit philosophical concepts and deals successively with what he calls the theology – exoteric or esoteric –, the cosmology, the psychology and the eschatology of the Vedānta, even venturing a few comparisons with the Christian doctrine of the Gospels. It appears that Dumont draws here directly from a paper by Paul Deussen, which he merely summarizes in translating and paraphrasing extracts. - 5 pp.

– Vincent Eltschinger, The Yogācārabhūmi against Allodoxies (paravāda): 3. The Caste-Classes

The Yogācārabhūmi, a massive compilation of the early Yogācāra “school(s),” contains a comparatively short section dedicated to the critical examination of sixteen “allodoxies” (paravāda), mostly non-Buddhist doctrines, practices and institutions, some of which go back to the Brahmajāla- and Śrāmaṇyaphalasūtra of the Dīrghāgama. This section, which could be dated to the late 3^rd century CE, is a remarkable milestone in the history of philosophy in the Buddhist environment in that it summarizes and updates earlier canonical arguments, adapting them to a new polemical context, and reveals Buddhist philosophy’s profound indebtedness to sūtra literature. The present paper analyzes allodoxy no. 14 (agravāda), the brahmins’ claim to socio-religious superiority, i.e., to be the purest and most excellent of the caste-classes. - 38 pp.

– Dylan Esler, L’époque dynastique de l’empire tibétain

This article seeks to provide some indispensable reference points for a contextual understanding of the dynastic age of the Tibetan empire, a significant period in Tibetan history that was to have a determining influence on the Tibetans’ self-understanding of their cultural, religious and political identity. - 12 pp.

– Emmanuel Francis, La sixième « vacherie » d’Ellis

At the beginning of the 19^th c., Francis Whyte Ellis (1777‒1819), one of the major figures of Orientalism, notably as the discoverer of the Dravidian group of languages, wrote in Tamil a treatise in order to persuade Indians to undertake smallpox vaccination, introducing it as the sixth boon from the cow. A manuscript kept in the BULAC in Paris contains the only Tamil version known so far. The present paper provides the sketch of a deeper investigation about this manuscript, its Tamil text, Ellis’s project and its historical context. - 14 pp.

– Marie-Hélène Gorisse, Rāvaṇa empereur universel ? Point de vue sémantique et problèmes de référence chez le jaïn Prabhācandra

In his 11^th century Prameyakamalamārtaṇḍa, ‘The sun [that opens] the lotus of the knowable’, Prabhācandra supports the Jain thesis of non-one-sidedness. According to this version of epistemological pluralism, apparently antagonistic sets of justified knowledge statements can coexist. This is due first, to the nature of the object of knowledge, which is essentially complex; second, to the nature of human epistemic faculties, which cause human beings to subsume diversity into unity and to resolve the however essential complexity of the object of knowledge. Jains call ‘viewpoints’ the main types of explanation of the world through the resolution of complexity and they develop classifications of these viewpoints. Prabhācandra is part of a tradition that claims that there are seven of them. The aim of this paper is to display one of the lines of criticism that Prabhācandra addresses to the representative of the fifth viewpoint, called ‘semantic’ viewpoint, namely the grammarians inasmuch as they intend to formulate a unique system of distinctions apt to represent the distinctions active in the language that describes the world. From the analysis of this line of criticism about the meaning of grammatical tenses and the denotation of an expression containing implicit temporal parameters, our aim is to show that what is called into question in these arguments is firstly the possibility to establish in a universal way a system of rules. - 11 pp.

– Kunio Harikai, Mīmāṃsaka Theory of Gauṇa or Metaphor, from Śabarasvāmin to Kumārilabhaṭṭa

This essay intends to describe some of the general opinions on gauṇa, the metaphorical function of the word, from the viewpoints of the Mīmāṃsā school. Specializing in Vedic exegesis, the school has developed considerations on the metaphorical function of words, which can be found gathered within the arthavāda sections of its main works. At first I explore the commentary (Bhāṣya) of Śabarasvāmin on the Mīmāṃsāsūtra, and then examine Kumārila’s Tantravārttika, the critical sub-commentary on the Bhāṣya, thereby clarifying the general conception of gauṇa for these two Mīmāṃsā scholars and at the same time pointing out differences of interpretation between them. The most conspicuous difference is that Kumārila might have, perhaps for the first time in the Mīmāṃsā tradition, documented the āropa (superimposition) theory and attacked it in his Tantravārttika, this being dependent on the condition that Kumārila precedes Prabhākara. The āropa theory itself was accepted by Buddhist philosophers. It is possible, therefore, that Kumārila was arguing against Buddhist philosophers, especially against the epistemological school of Buddhism initiated by Dignāga. I could not, however, find any clear evidence thereof. More detailed and comprehensive studies would have to be carried out in order to arrive at this conclusion. - 19 pp.

– Philippe Swennen, Le nom de Yayāti

Although Yayāti is a hero well known in the Sanskrit epics, there is no satisfying analysis of his name. In this article, it is shown that no etymological key exists because Yayāti’s name is built on the basis of the beginning of the stanza RV VIII 42,3c. The main texts justifying this hypothesis are collected. - 9 pp.

– Christophe Vielle, Les moyens de connaissance valide selon le Rasavaiśeṣika-sūtra et son commentaire par Narasiṃha

This article examines the means of valid knowledge (pramāṇas) according to Bhadanta Nāgārjuna’s Rasavaiśeṣika-sūtra (IV 70), an ancient Āyurvedic work (4^th-5^th centuries CE?), and its commentary by Narasiṃha. Following the sūtra, the pramāṇas are six, viz. pratyakṣa (perception), anumāna (inference), upamāna (identification), āgama (tradition), arthāpatti (implication) and saṃbhava (inclusion). These are the same as in the Mīmāṃsā tradition except for the sixth. Quoted and parallel passages for this portion of Narasiṃha’s commentary are found in the works of the Buddhist logician Dignāga and in Candrakīrti’s Prasannapadā (a commentary on Nāgārjuna’s Madhyamakakārikās), as well as in the Carakasaṃhitā, the Nyāyabhāṣya, the Yuktidīpikā and other commentaries to the Sāṃkhyakārikās (4-5), and in Vyāsa’s bhāṣya to the Yogasūtras (I 7). Accordingly, the commentary could date to the 7^th-8^th centuries; its author appears to have been a Buddhist physician, like the author of the sūtras. - 13 pp.

Dieux, génies, anges et démons

– Jacques Scheuer, Entre démons, dieux, Bouddhas : des frontières fluides

The disciples of the Buddha have nothing to expect from gods and nothing to fear from demons. Indian and Tibetan stories of subjugation of Hindu deities by Buddhas or Bodhisattvas should not be interpreted as mere display of superior power. The skilful use of violence cab be a compassionate way to manifest the potential for full awakening present in all beings, including gods and demons. - 16 pp.

Début du message réexpédié :

De: Christian Cannuyer <cannuyerchristian@gmail.com>
Objet: Mélanges en l'honneur de Jean-Marie VERPOORTEN ACTA ORIENTALIA BELGICA 30
Date: 18 janvier 2017 13:07:25 UTC+1

Madame, Monsieur,
Chère collègue, cher collègue,

veuillez trouver ici en pièce attachée le bulletin de souscription à nos Acta Orientalia Belgica 30, offerts en hommage à Jean-Marie VERPOORTEN.
Nous vous rappelons que les membres de notre Société Royale Belge d'Études Orientales en règle de cotisation pour 2016 recevront automatiquement ce volume. Ils ne doivent donc pas souscrire. Si vous êtes dans ce cas, merci cependant de diffuser ce bulletin de souscription auprès de toute personne qui pourrait être intéressée dans votre réseau de relations.

Si vous n'êtes pas membre en règle de cotisation pour 2016, la souscription à ce volume est ouverte jusqu'au 20 février. Les noms des souscripteurs et membres de la SRBEO en ordre de cotisation figureront dans la Tabula Gratulatoria.

Avec les meilleurs voeux pour 2017 de tout le Bureau de la SRBEO.

Christian CANNUYER
Faculté de Théologie catholique de Lille
Président de la Société Royale Belge d'Études Orientales
(http://www.orientalists.be)
Directeur du Bulletin Solidarité-Orient Werk-voor-het-Oosten
(http://www.orient-oosten.org/)
Directeur de la Collection "Fils d'Abraham" (Brepols)
Secrétaire Général du Cercle Royal d'Histoire et d'Archéologie d'Ath

adresse: rue Haute, 21 - B 7800 Ath (Belgique)
té.: 00+32+ (0)68-287467
email : cannuyerchristian@gmail.com