Embedded Narratives of Buddhism

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Lokesh Chandra is Director of the Inter-national Academy of Indian Culture, a premier research institution for Asian cultures. He is President of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, and has been Chairman, Indian Council for Historical Research. He is a well-known historian and renowned scholar of Tibetan, Mongolian, SE Asian, and Sino-Japanese Buddhism. He has also served as a member of the Indian Parliament. In 2006, he was honored with the Padma Bhushan. He was born in 1927, obtained his Master's degree in 1947 from Punjab University (Lahore) and followed it with a Doctorate from the State University of Utrecht (Netherlands). Starting with an understanding of the most ancient of India's spiritual expression enshrined in the Vedic tradition, he has moved on to the interlocution between India, Tibet, Mongolia, China, Korea, Japan, South-East Asia, Indonesia and the Indo-European languages. He has studied over twenty languages, and has over 600 works and text editions to his credit.

Evanescence lingers on in the shadows of todays. This volume commences with Sudhana seeking the jewels of meditation. He travels far and wide trying to absorb the reflections of inner light. A number of depictions have been studied, but here are some portions of a rare scroll, a masterpiece of a great artist whispering the cadence of Sudhana's quest: "we are on to eternity". The "truncated verses" of the dhyana master Fo-kuo add to the wonderful aroma of the brush.

The etymology of `Ajanta' has been decoded from its original Marathi name Ajigtha, which leads us to the Gandharasanda monastery that outshone Nalanda with its opulence and abundant supply of necessities as narrated by using. The so-termed Padmapani of Ajigtha Cave 1 has been identified afresh, along with his opposite on the left of the Buddha. Both are royal personages with their conspicuous consorts, who have been conveniently overlooked. Ajiljthal and TransGandhara lead to the consideration of Buddhism and the NorthWest. The immediate predecessor Buddha of Sakyamuni is Konakamana of Bhama or Bamiyan. Konakamana is the form in an ASokan inscription. It is a Tocharian name meaning Siiryacandra (p.42).

The Gupta emperors had dual names: one ending with °aditya as a prince of the solar dynasty, and the other ending with °gupta after coronation as emperor. The name of the second Emperor Ghatotkaca has been clarified for the first time as pertaining to the flourishing (ut-kaca) trans-oceanic trade (ghata = kumbha `Aquarius'). His father Srigupta named his son Ghatotkaca as one who would develop transoceanic trade to shining (utkaca) heights.

Tamil: the glory of India' narrates the role of Tamilnadu in the foundation of Jerusalem during the rule of King Solomon in the tenth century BC, creation of the Champa kingdom on the coastline of Vietnam, trade with Rome that brought five million dollars per annum, and became the anguish of Roman historians: "This is the sum which our luxuries and our women cost us". Chennai became the headquarters of the Theosophical Society whose leaders gave rise both to the Congress and to cultural nationalism.

The writeup on Hindi points out the four strata of the vocabulary of a language: biological, educational, technical, and research. Hindi has been enriched with 150 thousand words of modern requirements by Prof. RaghuVira.

Short writeups on the Mahabharata, Siva as the Lord of Yoga (yogiSvara), Bodhicaryavatara, and the uncanny convergence of quantum reality and gfinyata are some contemporary aspects of Indology.

My sister the late Dr. Sudarshana Devi Singhal wrote a perceptive paper on the stupa as a visual symbol of the Buddha-realm. It breaks new ground and invites fresh consideration.

Central Asia was the crowning matrix of the cultures and civilizations of China, Korea and Japan. The literatures and philosophies, arts and architectures, languages and even public utility works (technically known as apurta in Sanskrit) had passed on from India to East Asia via Central Asia. The first Buddhist masters of China Matanga Kagyapa and Dharmaratna came from the Ylieh-chih court. The second monk Lokaksema who was the first to translate Sanskrit Sutras into Chinese was also a Yiieh-chih. The third An Shih-kao was a Parthian prince who translated 176 sutras of which 54 works are extant.

`Agoka and Khotan' (p.88) enunciates the global vision of ASoka and his concept of bhamiputra which is still relevant in Malaysia and Indonesia.

**Contents and Sample Pages**