Northern Buddhism Research Articles

REVIEWS OF BOOKS

Book reviewed in this article:BOOKS ON BUDDHISM: Le Modernisme Bouddhiste et le Bouddhisme du Bouddha. Par Alexandra DavidBOOKS ON BUDDHISM: Buddhist Psychology. An inquiry into the analysis and theory of mind in Pali Literature. By Mrs. C. A. F. Rhys DavidsBOOKS ON BUDDHISM: Buddhism and Science. By Paul Dahlke. Translated from the German by the Bhikkhu SīlācāraBOOKS ON BUDDHISM: Buddhist Stories. By Paul Dahlke. Translated by the Bhikkhu SīlācāraBOOKS ON BUDDHISM: Psalms of the Early Buddhists. Vol. ii. Psalms of the Brethren. By Mrs. C. A. F. Rhys DavidsBOOKS ON BUDDHISM: The End of the Law: or Christ and Buddhism. By D. C. Gilmore and J. F. SmithBOOKS ON BUDDHISM: The Life and Teachings of Buddha. By Anagarika DharmapalaBOOKS ON BUDDHISM: Buddha and His Sayings. By Pandit Shyama ShankarBOOKS ON BUDDHISM: The Life or Legend of Gaudama, the Buddha of the Burmese. By the Right Rev. P. BigandetBOOKS ON BUDDHISM: The Gods of Northern Buddhism: Their History, Iconography and Progressive Evolution. By Alice GettyTHE HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS: History of Christian Missions. By Charles H. RobinsonA HISTORY OF PERSIA: A History of Persia. By Lieut‐Col. P. M. SykesCHANGING CHINA IN RECENT LITERATURE: Le Régime des Capitulations et La Réforme Constitutionnelle en Chine. Par Louis Ngaosiang TchouCHANGING CHINA IN RECENT LITERATURE: Village and Town Life in China. By Y. K. Leong, LL.B., and L. K. Tao, B.Sc.CHANGING CHINA IN RECENT LITERATURE: Home Life in China. By Isaac Taylor Headland. London: Methuen & Co. 10s. 6d. net. 1914.CHANGING CHINA IN RECENT LITERATURE: Forces Mining and Undermining China. By Rowland R. Gibson. London: Melrose. 7s. 6d. net. 1914.CHANGING CHINA IN RECENT LITERATURE: The Remaking of China. By Adolf S. WaleySTUDIES IN JAPANESE CONFUCIANISM: Light from the East: Studies in Japanese Confucianism. By Robert Cornell ArmstrongTHE UNSOLVED RIDDLE OF THE NATIONS: History of the Jews in America, from the period of the discovery of the New World to the present time. By Peter WiernikTHE UNSOLVED RIDDLE OF THE NATIONS: The Jews of To‐Day. By Dr. Arthur RuppinTHE UNSOLVED RIDDLE OF THE NATIONS: Jewish Life in Modern Times. By Israel CohenTHE UNSOLVED RIDDLE OF THE NATIONS: The Jews: A Study of Race and Environment. By Maurice FishbergTWO BOOKS ON THE DUTCH EAST INDIES: Java and her Neighbours. A traveller's notes in Java, Celebes, the Moluccas and Sumatra. By Arthur S. WalcottTWO BOOKS ON THE DUTCH EAST INDIES: Java, Sumatra and the other Islands of the Dutch East Indies. By A. Cabaton

XXI The Secret of Kanishka

The interest which attaches to Kanishka is manifold. Primarily it is Buddhist. Kanishka convoked the fourth great Buddhist Council, the Council held in Kashmir, which gave consistency and official sanction to the doctrines of Northern Buddhism and led to its adoption by the Yue-che, who in their turn became ardent propagators of the faith, diffusing its light among the nomads of Central Asia and introducing it to the knowledge of the cultured Chinese. The Buddhists in the north-western corner of the Panjāb preserved the memory of their royal patron; they adorned his memory with miracle and legend; they placed him by the side of Aśoka, the first great foster-father of their religion; and vague reminiscences of Kanishka lingered in this region to the time of the learned Alberūnī and of Kalhaṇa, author of the metrical Chronicles of Kashmir.

Art. I.—Catalogue of Buddhist Sanskrit Manuscripts in the possession of the Royal Asiatic Society (Hodgson Collection)

The manuscripts of Buddhist works described in the following pages were collected in Nepal by Mr. Brian Houghton Hodgson—who has contributed so largely to the elucidation of Northern Buddhism—and presented by him to the Royal Asiatic Society in 1835 and 1836. The great importance of a thorough examination of the Buddhist Sanskrit works of Northern India, both for Prâkrit philology and for Buddhist research, is becoming more and more apparent; and it seemed very desirable that the contents of this collection, which, though deficient in many of the standard works, is perhaps the finest of original manuscripts in Europe, should become better known to scholars interested in these inquiries. A detailed analysis of the works was beyond the scope of the present catalogue, as it would in many cases be extremely difficult, if not impossible, without comparing other copies. It is hoped, however, that the brief description now offered will, at least, suffice for the identification of the works, and will for that reason be acceptable to Sanskrit scholars.

ART. X.—Northern Buddhism. [Note from Colonel H. Yule, addressed to the Secretary.

The inclosed is an extract from a letter which Mr. B. H. Hodgson did me the honour to write to me about two years ago, in reference to some passages in a paper on the Senbyú Pagoda in Burma, which appeared in the Society's Journal for 1870, with additional remarks by the late Mr. C. Horne and by Mr. Fergusson. I inclose the original sketch which Mr. Hodgson put into my hands along with the letter, authorizing me to make what use of them seemed best.