Jonathan A. Silk

Bio: Jonathan A. Silk is an academic researcher from Leiden University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Buddhism & Sanskrit. The author has an hindex of 12, co-authored 51 publications receiving 388 citations. Previous affiliations of Jonathan A. Silk include University of California, Los Angeles & University of Michigan.

What, if anything, is mahāyāna buddhism? problems of definitions and classifications

Abstract: This study investigates some problems regarding the definition of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Tracing the history of the notion in modern scholarship, it pays particular attention to the question of the relation between Mahāyāna and so-called Hīnayāna or Sectarian Buddhism. Finding the commonly used methods of classification which rely on necessary and sufficient conditions to be inadequate to the task, it suggests the alternative employment of polythetic classification, a method which permits a constantly variable set of questions and data to be taken into account in the most flexible and accommodating manner.

An early manuscript fragment of Dharmarakṣa’s translation of the *Ajātaśatru­kaukṛtyavinodana

Abstract: Until recently, the Mahāyāna sūtra known as the *Ajātaśatrukaukrt̥yavinodana (AjKV) had been paid scant attention by scholars, most likely because, in contrast to a work like the Lotus Sūtra, there was no continuing tradition of its study among modern Buddhist communities. However, the AjKV was one of the first Mahāyāna sūtras—one of the first Buddhist texts of any kind, in fact—translated into Chinese, having been rendered by Lokakṣema (支婁迦讖) in the mid-second century (Asheshi wang jing 阿闍世王經, T. 626), a fact which drew it, notably, to the attention of Paul Harrison (1993). In the years since, study of the AjKV has been promoted by the discovery of Sanskrit fragments principally from Afghanistan, published in the first instance in several articles contained in important volumes produced under the general editorship of none other than Jens Erland Braarvig (Harrison and Hartmann 1998, 2000, 2002, and more recently Ye, Li and Kano, 2013: 41–42, Kanō, 2015 [a twelfth century Kashmiri collection of excerpts, a format which raises many interesting questions]). In addition to the translation by Lokakṣema and the still quite fragmentary Sanskrit materials, we have a rendering in Tibetan (D 216), and two other Chinese translations. One of these is credited to Fatian (法天), the Weicengyou zhengfa jing (未曾有正法經, T. 628). The other is the focus of the present contribution, namely the Wenshushili Puchao sanmei jing (文殊師利普超三昧經, T. 627, hereafter PSJ), translated by Dharmarakṣa (竺法護) in 287 (according to the table in Boucher 2006, 24, published [出] on 28 January in that year). The manuscript studied here was seen by one of the authors [JAS] in 1997, at which time it was in the possession of Dr. Paul Wang of Kalamazoo, Michigan. He was given to understand that Dr. Wang had purchased it from a book dealer, perhaps in Taiwan or Hong Kong. At that time Silk obtained a photocopy of the manuscript,

Managing Monks: Administrators and Administrative Roles in Indian Buddhist Monasticism

Abstract: 1. Introduction 2. The Tension Between Service and Practice 3. Vaiyaprtyakara 4. Navakarmika 5. Varika and Specialization of Duties 6. Karmadana 7. Viharapala 8. Momodi and avasika 9. Classified Lists of Administrators 10. Misbehaving Managers 11. Chinese Terminology, and Additional Indian Terms 12. The Administered 13. Concluding Considerations

Good and Evil in Indian Buddhism : The Five Sins of Immediate Retribution

Abstract: Indian Buddhist sources speak of five sins of immediate retribution: murder of mother, father, an arhat, drawing the blood of a buddha, and creating a schism in the monastic community. This category provides the paradigm for sinfulness in Buddhism. Yet even these sins can and will, be expiated in the long run, demonstrating the overwhelmingly positive nature of Buddhist ethics

Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism (review)

Abstract: Anderson, Benedict. 1991. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. London: Verso. Briggs, Asa and Peter Burke. 2005. A Social History of the Media from Gutenberg to the Internet. Cambridge: Polity Press. Chun, Wendy Hui Kyong. 2006. \"Introduction: Did Somebody Say New Media?\" In Wendy Hui Kyong Chun and Thomas Kennan eds., New Media/Old Media: A History and Theory Reader. New York: Routledge, pp. 1-11. Deibert, Ronald. 1997. Parchment, Printing and Hypermedia: Communication in World Order Transformation. New York: Columbia University Press. Elsaesser, Thomas. 2006. \"Early Film History and Multi-Media: An Archaeology of Possible Futures?\" In Wendy Hui Kyong Chun and Thomas Kennan eds., New Media/Old Media: A History and Theory Reader. New York: Routledge, pp. 13-26. Jenkins, Henry. 2006. Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New York: New York University Press. Luhman, Niklas. 2000. The Reality of the Mass Media. Cambridge: Polity Press. Mirzoeff, Nicholas. 2006. \"Network Subjects or, The Ghost is the Message.\" In Wendy Hui Kyong Chun and Thomas Keenan eds., New Media/Old Media: A History and Theory Reader. New York: Routledge, pp. 335-345. Saenger, Paul. 1997. \"Introduction\" to Space Between Words: The Origins of Silent Reading. Stanford: Stanford University Press, pp. 1-17. Thorburn, David and Henry Jenkins eds. 2003. Rethinking Media Change: The Aesthetics of Transition. Boston: MIT Press.

Shared virtue : The convergence of valued human strengths across culture and history

Abstract: Positive psychology needs an agreed-upon way of classifying positive traits as a backbone for research, diagnosis, and intervention. As a 1st step toward classification, the authors examined philosophical and religious traditions in China (Confucianism and Taoism), South Asia (Buddhism and Hinduism), and the West (Athenian philosophy, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) for the answers each provided to questions of moral behavior and the good life. The authors found that 6 core virtues recurred in these writings: courage, justice, humanity, temperance, wisdom, and transcendence. This convergence suggests a nonarbitrary foundation for the classification of human strengths and virtues.

Shared Virtue: The Convergence of Valued Human Strengths Across Culture and History

Abstract: Pozitif Psikoloji, arastirma, tani ve mudahale icin bir omurga olarak pozitif ozellikleri siniflandirmak amaciyla uzerinde mutabik kalinmis bir yonteme ihtiyac duyar. Siniflandirmanin 1’inci adimi olarak yazarlar, her birinin ahlâki davranis ve iyi yasam sorularina bulmus olduklari cevaplar icin Cin (Konfucyusculuk ve Taoizm), Guney Asya (Budizm ve Hinduizm) ve Bati’daki (Atina Felsefesi, Yahudilik, Hiristiyanlik ve Islâmiyet) felsefi ve dini gelenekleri incelediler. Yazarlar bu yazilarda tekrarlanan 6 cekirdek erdem buldular: cesaret, adalet, insanlik, ilimlilik, bilgelik ve askinlik. Bu cakisma, yani erdemlerin bir noktada birlesmesi, insani guc ve erdemlerin siniflandirilmasi icin keyfi olmayan bir temele isaret etmektedir.

How the Brahmins Won: From Alexander to the Guptas

Abstract: This is the first study to systematically confront the question how Brahmanism, which was geographically limited and under threat during the final centuries BCE, transformed itself and spread all over South and Southeast Asia. Brahmanism spread over this vast area without the support of an empire, without the help of conquering armies, and without the intermediary of religious missionaries. This phenomenon has no parallel in world history, yet shaped a major portion of the surface of the earth for a number of centuries. This book focuses on the formative period of this phenomenon, roughly between Alexander and the Guptas.