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Newly published books:

 

Linnart Mäll
"Studies in the Astasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā and other Essays"

Centre for Oriental Studies, University of Tartu
Greif, 2003, 237 pp.

For purchasing this book look: http://www.kriso.ee/cgi-bin/shop/9985403703.html


First Indian edition:

Linnart Mäll. 'Studies in the Astasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā and other Essays'
Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 2005, 238 pp.

For details see: www.mlbd.com

A considerable part of this book is devoted to the study of the Astasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā, one of the most important scriptures of Mahayana Buddhism. The analysis of the text is based on the key terms of the sutra: dharma, bodhisattva and prajñaparamita. But other Buddhist texts are discussed as well, for example the Heart Sutra is used to explain the mechanism of the process of text-generation in Buddhism, and an analysis of the Bodhicaryavatara by Shantideva explicates the role of the dialogue in the structure of the text. Also some non-Buddhist texts are treated in the book, the Bhagavadgita and the Daodejing are compared as the ‘light path’ and the ‘dark path’, respectively; the Daodejing is separately analysed as a schematic text. The book gives also an overview of Buddhist mythology and Tibetan cultural model. The last part of the book presents the concept of the humanistic base texts. It focuses on some of the texts that have emerged from Indian, Chinese, and Mediterranean cultures and observes their influence throughout the history following the principle that all these texts convey – the humanism.

Dr. Linnart Mäll is the most prominent scholar of Estonian oriental studies. He has studied Buddhist texts as well as other Asian cultural base texts over forty years. Most of his articles in this book have been published first in Russian or in Estonian; only some recent articles have been published before in English.

Contents

Preface by Jaan Puhvel
Introductory Remarks
The Zero Way
A Possible Approach Towards Understanding Sunyavada
Some Aspects of the Emergence of Mahayana
Studies in the Astasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā

            1. Dharma
                        1.1 Dharma in European Buddhist studies
                   1.2 Two meanings of the term dharma
               1.3 Three operations with dharma
1.4 Sunyata
            2. Bodhisattva
                        2.1 Bodhisattva and three yanas
                        2.2 Bodhisattva-Mahasattva
            3. Prajnaparamita
                        3.1 Nirvana
                        3.2 Prajnaparamita
                        3.3 Sarvajnata
                        3.4 Anuttara samyaksambodhi
                        3.5 Tathata
            4. Text as a Teacher
                        4.1 Terms denoting ‘shock’
                        4.2 Marakarma
Heart Sutra of Transcending Awareness
Dialogue in the Bodhicaryavatara
The Light Path and the Dark Path
The Course of Translation
Buddhist Mythology
The Cultural Model of Tibet
Once More about Yamantaka
1, infinity and 0 as Text Generators and States of Mind
Semiotics as a Possibility for the Study of Religious Texts Under Communist Dictatorship
The Concept of Humanistic Base Texts
Linnart Mäll's Contribution to Oriental and Buddhist Studies in Estonia by Märt Läänemets
Bibliographical Data
Notes and References
Index

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New translations of the Buddhist texts in Estonian by Linnart Mäll

 

Budismi pühad raamatud. 1 [Sacred Books of Buddhism. Vol. 1]
Tartu: Lux Orientis, 2004, 264 pp.

The first volume of the Sacred Books of Buddhism in Estonian contains translations of few important texts of the Pali Canon: Dhammacakkappattana, Khutthakapatha, and Dhammapada with preface, introductory article, commentaries, and indexes. Besides the literary translation the terminological translation is also found in the book as well as original texts in Pali language.

 

Budismi pühad raamatud. 2 [Sacred Books of Buddhism. Vol. 2]
Tartu: Lux Orientis, 2005, 208 pp.

The second volume contains translations of three short texts of the Transcending Awareness (Prajñaparamita) cycle of the Mahayana Buddhism: Diamond Sutra, Heart Sutra, and One Syllable Sutra with introduction, commentaries, terminological translation, Sanskrit or Tibetan text, and indexes.

 

Dhammapada
Tartu Ülikooli orientalistikakeskus, Budismi Instituut, 2005, 104 lk.

The third Estonian edition of Dhammapada was prepared for publication by the Centre for Oriental Studies at the University of Tartu and Estonian Institute of Buddhism.
Printed and donated for free distribution by the Corporate Body of the Buddha Educational Foundation in Taiwan

 

 

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