World of the Buddha: An Introduction to Buddhist Literature by Lucien StrykReview by: James P. McDermottJournal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 103, No. 4 (Oct. - Dec., 1983), pp. 812-813Published by: American Oriental SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/602284 .

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812 Journal of the American Oriental Society 103.4 (1983)

passing remark reveals much about the depth of Mughal disorganization at this time-such as the information that when Haidar QUIT Khan was appointed commander of the artillery, he found that the men were three years behind in their pay. Often the text confirms our expectations of an empire in decay with its sorry record of lies and hypocrisy, of unctuous flattery to a man's face and treachery behind his back.

Dr. Askari is well known for his many contributions on 18th century Indian political history, although in recent years he has turned his attention to the history of Sufism in India. Here he returns to his field of interest and performs a double service to India specialists: giving us a very rare text in easily accessible form, and elucidating it with his notes, thus making clear many otherwise very obscure passages.

FRITZ LEHMANN

UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA

Arabic Linguistics. By M. G. CARTER. Pp. 485. (Amsterdam Studies in the Theory and History of Linguistic Science III, Studies in the History of Linguistics, Vol. 24.) Amster- dam: JOHN BENJAMINS B. V. 1981.

M. G. Carter's contributions to linguistic science in general and to the study of the history of linguistics in particular have been continuous and impressive. First Mr. Carter set out to present the work of Sibawaihi (d. 793 A.D.?) under a new light and to verify the raison d'&tre of Arabic linguistic learning in a truly original way; we may cite, for example, his Ph.D. thesis, A Study of Slbawaihi's Principles of Gram- matical Analysis (Oxford, 1968), "Twenty Dirhams in Kitdb Sibawaihi" in BSOAS 35 (1972), "Les origines de la gram- maire arabe" in BEI 40 (1972), "An Arab grammarian of the eighth century A.D." in JAOS 93 (1973), "S$arf et Kildf" in Arabica 20 (1973). Now, Mr. Carter has crowned his generous gifts to linguistic scholarship with a work of primary impor- tance to the study of the history of the Arabic language, done with absolute care and unsurpassed patience and learn- ing, the commentary on the Jjurrumiyya by the Egyptian savant Muhammad al-ShirbinT (d. 1570 A.D.) Nar as-Sajiyya ft Hfall AIfdz jjurramiyya. This new contribution by Mr. Carter represents a landmark and a guide-post in Arabic linguistics; it is a work that is indispensable not only to English speaking students of its subject but to native Arab linguists as well. Happily, Mr. Carter provides a mistake-free Arabic text, clearly printed and masterfully translated into English on one page, and on the opposite page elaborate notes of much originality and clarity "covering technical, historical, textual and comparative topics as seems appropri-

ate." In addition to all this, Mr. Carter provides "Para- digms, . . . partly to supplement the information already set out in transliteration in other works of reference, and partly to offer the reader more opportunities to verify or extend the theories advanced in text and annotations."

Obviously, Arabic Linguistics is a work of primary interest to scholars and students of linguistics in general and Arabic linguistics in particular. For, as Mr. Carter correctly says in the introduction to his book, "If the AjurrUmiyya is the quintessence of Arabic grammar, then A?-SirbTnT's commen- tary on it is surely the essence."

KHALIL I. SEMAAN

STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK AT BINGHAMTON

World of the Buddha: An Introduction to Buddhist Litera- ture. Edited with an Introduction and Commentaries by LUCIEN STRYK. Pp. liv + 423. New York: GROVE PRESS,

INC. 1982. $9.95.

This is a reprint of an anthology of Buddhist literature originally published by Doubleday in 1968. Its arrangement is roughly chronological. About half the selection consists of excerpts from the Pali literature of Theravada. Three Jataka tales open the collection. A few biographical passages from the Sanskrit Buddha-caritra are followed by accounts of the Buddha's retirement, quest, enlightenment, and final nibbana from the Tipitaka. Several discourses of the Buddha, a handful of chapters from the Dhammapada, a group of parables from the Drgha Nikdya relating to life after death, some shorter excerpts from the Nikayas relating to medita- tion, and the Patimokkha are among the materials which round out the selections from the Pali Canon. Over fifty pages from the post-canonical but nonetheless authoritative Milindapahha, as well as tastes of Buddhaghosa and the edicts of Asoka are included.

The Mahaydna Sitras are represented by all too brief passages from the Lotus, Vimalakirti, Avatamsaka, and Lahkdvatdra Satras. Mahayana thinkers such as Ndgarjuna, Asanga, Vasubandhu, and 9antideva, among others, also find representation.

Tibetan Buddhism is cursorily acknowledged in but twelve pages, while the contribution of Chinese Buddhism is recog- nized solely through passages from I-tsing and the Platform Sitra of the Fifth Patriarch.

Many of Lucien Stryk's previous publications have con- sisted of translations of Zen poetry, sermons, anecdotes, and the like. Thus, it is not surprising that nearly sixty pages of the total volume should consist of such materials.

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Brief Reviews 813

The work strikingly concludes with "a condensed version of Pang Kham's Laotian epic, the Sin Xai" (p. 401).

Although, as Stryk rightly notes in his Introduction (p. xxxiii), anthologies are highly personal creations, one may nonetheless question the balance of a selection fully 25% of which is devoted to the Milindapafiha and Zen.

For the most part translations have been chosen from sources readily available in print, some of them-such as the selections from F. Max Muller's Sacred Books of the East- quite old, but nonetheless serviceable. One minor but some- what annoying flaw is the editor's decision to follow the diverse systems of transliteration adopted by his sources. This can only be confusing to the non-specialist.

JAMES P. MCDERMOTT

CANISIUS COLLEGE

Thirty Minor Upanishads, Including the Yoga Upanishads. By K. NARAYANASVAMI AIYAR. Pp. viii + viii + 280. El Reno, Oklahoma: SANTARASA PUBLICATIONS. 1980. (Re- printed from the edition of Madras, 1914.) $16.95.

It is well known that the upanisad is a genre of Hindu religious literature whose literary and spiritual importance extends far beyond the age of the Veda. Indeed the greatest number of documents styling themselves upanisads have little or no claim to "canonical" status. Nonetheless these characteristic documents of classical and medieval Hinduism have only received a fraction of the attention which has been devoted to the "principal" upanisads, especially those com- mented on, or more precisely those presumed to have been commented on, by gamkara. Much of the credit for keeping some attention on the later literature, literature which is, after all, far more normative for popular Hinduism than the indubitably Vedic upanisads, certainly goes to the Theo- sophical Society at Adyar, for relatively few independent scholars have turned to these texts.

This volume reprints translations, according to its own classification, of fourteen "Vedanta-," two "Physiological-," three "Mantra-," two "Samnyasa-," and nine "Yoga- upanishads." We should certainly be grateful for the pub- lisher's making this volume available once again. It can still serve to introduce this literature to beginners, especially beginners who are limited to reading English translations. Nonetheless, these translations can hardly count as scientific, nor are they based on scientific editions. Anyone seeking a more discriminating appraisal of this literature and of the sort of Hinduism which it expresses must turn to more recent scholarship, for example the works of Sprockhoff and Olivelle on samnydsa. It would be inappropriate to provide a

bibliography here. To determine whether a particular text has been the subject of scholarly analysis one should make use of the standard bibliographical tools of Indology.

HARVEY ALPER

SOUTHERN METHODIST UNIVERSITY

Transzendenzerfahrung, Vollzugshorizont des Heils: Das Problem in indischer und christlicher Tradition, Arbeits- dokumentation eines Symposiums. (Publications of the De Nobili Research Library, vol. V). Edited by GERHARD OBERHAMMER. Pp. 253. Wien: INSTITUT FUR INDOLOGIE DER UNIVERSITAT WIFN. 1978. AS 270.

This important collection of essays brings together a series of papers originally presented at a symposium sponsored by the Indological Institute of the University of Vienna and held in February 1977. That symposium-one of an important series sponsored by the Institute-focused on the problem of "Transzendenzerfahrung, Vollzugshorizont des Heils; Zur Relevanz der indischen Spiritualitat und Mystik fur die christliche Theologie." The volume is appropriately divided into an Indological and a theological section. The Indological section contains the following seven essays: "Das Transzen- denzverstandnis des sadrkhyistischen Yoga als Strukturprin- zip seiner Mystik" (G. Oberhammer); "Vedisches Opfer und Tranzendenz" (J. C. Heesterman); "Erfahrung des Unerfahr- baren bei gankara" (T. Vetter); "Die Unvermittelheit der hbchsten Erfahrung bei Abhinavagupta" (B. Baumer); "Die islamische Transzendenzerfahrung im indischen Kontext, Zur Beziehung zwischen Sufismus und Bhakti" (A. Roest Crol- lius); "Zur Struktur der erlosenden Erfahrung im indischen Buddhismus" (L. Schmithausen); "Yogische Erkenntnis als Problem im Buddhismus" (E. Steinkellner). The theological section contains the following four essays: "Das Problem der Transzendenzerfahrung aus katholisch-dogmatischer Sicht" (K. Rahner); "Transcendance et Gnose, Remarques sur les criteres d'orthodoxie au second siecle" (E. Lanne); "Transzen- denzerfahrung in der Auffassung der deutschen Mystik" (A. M. Hass); "Gott als Person und Gott als das unpersonlich Gottliche, Bhakti und Jiana" (P. Schoonenberg).

As the titles indicate the symposium was poised at the intersection of four areas of scholarly expertise: Indology, History of Christian Thought, Religionswissenschaft, and Theology. Many-perhaps most-readers will, no doubt, consult the volume solely for those essays that address subjects particularly of interest to themselves. In spite of this, and in spite of the rather large disparity of styles and subjects among the essays, the volume can be approached- and should be approached-as a multi-faceted exploration

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