tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32671574.post8937898120626336130..comments2024-03-22T14:47:42.501+02:00Comments on Tibeto-logic: Dromton's EncouragementUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32671574.post-31026691473929914902011-01-01T20:40:51.135+02:002011-01-01T20:40:51.135+02:00Oh, thanks a bundle, Geoff,
I haven't located...Oh, thanks a bundle, Geoff, <br />I haven't located a usable used copy at a doable price yet, but I'll keep looking for it. -DDanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10453904366382251766noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32671574.post-63136812238144062872010-12-06T17:09:05.404+02:002010-12-06T17:09:05.404+02:00As far as translations of Huc go, you should check...As far as translations of Huc go, you should check out 'Lamas of the Western Heavens', translated by Charles de Salis, and published in 1982 by the Folio Society. It is condensed, but the translation is good, it incorporates the original woodblocks and, a bonus for those of us who enjoy the physical form of a book, is beautifully printed and comes with a slipcase. Originally it was fairly expensive, but copies can be found online for less than $30.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32671574.post-78993515873451896122010-12-02T23:18:13.578+02:002010-12-02T23:18:13.578+02:00Dear Anon,
Thanks for your comment. I'm no e...Dear Anon,<br /><br />Thanks for your comment. I'm no epidemiologist, but if you will type "smallpox" in the <i>Search this Blog</i> box up at the top of this blogpage, you will see that the topic has already come up a few times in the past. I know that a type of early form of vaccination was in use quite early on — using sores from smallpox victims powdered into a kind of snuff — which doesn't allow accurate regulation of amounts... So some people would get seriously sick and even die from the prevention effort. The Thirteenth Dalai Lama had smallpox, as proven by the pock marks he had throughout His life. If I could find the place, there was a discussion in an earlier blog about the Panchen Lama's visit to Beijing, where smallpox figures very largely... I only say what I think I know, not to avoid the fact that I haven't really answered your question. Perhaps someone else could chime in on this one? Smallpox was in centuries past such a terror in Central Asia that if they had been convinced of the safeness of a prevention method, they would have eagerly accepted it, or so I think.<br /><br />Yours,<br />DDanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10453904366382251766noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32671574.post-81101589553771015282010-12-02T19:17:36.796+02:002010-12-02T19:17:36.796+02:00small pox:
It sounds funny that the then Tibetans ...small pox:<br />It sounds funny that the then Tibetans were afraid of the fact that the Dalai Lama might get infected, because I heard that Tibetans in those days were absolutely confident of the power of their "blessded purifying water" (khrus chu), which they believed could protect any kind of infection. It is said that they considered the vaccinations "grib" infested and thus not fit for lamas and trulkus.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32671574.post-19747143042329890472010-12-01T14:47:02.533+02:002010-12-01T14:47:02.533+02:00The link worked fine. Many thanks!The link worked fine. Many thanks!Ratnanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32671574.post-29844327151334260262010-12-01T13:10:54.975+02:002010-12-01T13:10:54.975+02:00Dear Ratna,
Thanks for writing! I think you must...Dear Ratna,<br /><br />Thanks for writing! I think you must mean the <i>Rdo rje theg pa rtsa ba'i ltung ba bsdus pa</i>, Tôhoku no. 2478, Dergé Tanjur, vol. ZI, folio 179. Perhaps you would like to download Tibskrit if you haven't, since it tends to have that kind of information (I use it all the time, just as I did just now to pull up the reference I just gave). It's near the bottom of the sidebar (down below on this very page you see in front of you) in the section entitled "Biblio Links." Just tap on the word Tibskrit when you get there. Tell me if it doesn't work and I'll try to fix it. (If a month goes by without a download, Megaupload drops it from their site.)<br /><br />Yours,<br />DDanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10453904366382251766noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32671574.post-75579288658873192732010-12-01T12:53:38.482+02:002010-12-01T12:53:38.482+02:00Thank you for the files and for the link to JA-- t...Thank you for the files and for the link to JA-- the whole paper there is very useful. I wasn't aware that Asvaghosa's text on the Mulapattis was extant, and published, in Sanskrit. It's a quite important text for Tibetan Buddhists.Ratnanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32671574.post-81814776899888255042010-12-01T11:56:44.243+02:002010-12-01T11:56:44.243+02:00Dear Arn,
I can’t for the life of me see why he w...Dear Arn,<br /><br />I can’t for the life of me see why he would have gotten bored. Even if reading about the hardships of day-after-day endless traveling can be tedious, there is plenty of interest in the book about communicable diseases. <br /><br />When Huc and Gabet were in Lhasa they weren't allowed to go to any audience with the Dalai Lama. The reason being this: a fear had been spread that they were likely carriers of smallpox and His Holiness might get it from them. The Dalai Lama at the time was Dalai Lama XI Khedrub Gyatso (Mkhas grub rgya mtsho; 1837-1855). He had been enthroned in 1841, but anyway was a very young child at the time, which could help explain some of the concern.<br /><br />If you can get to it, start reading at p. 264 of vol. 1 of the Hazlitt where there is a marvelously touching portrait of the lives of camels. Nothing not to like there, especially for a person with biological interests like we all have... although I guess it occasionally falls into the pathetic fallacy, as we all do (I see it as a mark of the writer's empathy).<br /><br />Thanks for writing with your valuable information as well as your concern and empathy, as always.<br /><br />Yours,<br />DDanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10453904366382251766noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32671574.post-11039619048456952712010-11-30T23:53:23.719+02:002010-11-30T23:53:23.719+02:00Hi Dan,
I believe your Gale C[harles] Griswold co...Hi Dan,<br /><br />I believe your Gale C[harles] Griswold completed a Master's degree in chemistry at Stanford in 1926 ("Reactions of the di-alkyl cyanamides in liquid ammonia"), before joining the faculty of Modesto Junior College (Modesto, CA) as chemistry and physics teacher. You can see a photograph of him <a href="http://www.e-yearbook.com/yearbooks/Modesto_Junior_College_Buccaneer_Yearbook/1929/Page_16.html" rel="nofollow">here</a>. Being a scientist he eventually got bored reading the book and left several sections uncut.<br />Sorry, this is a very weak contribution to your commentarial section, but thanks for the scans anyway!<br /><br />Bests,<br /><br />ArnoAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32671574.post-3061816867799244392010-11-30T21:02:26.220+02:002010-11-30T21:02:26.220+02:00Speaking of miracles, by some fluke I happened to ...Speaking of miracles, by some fluke I happened to Google up a paper I've wanted to see for a long time. It's by van Manen, entitled "<a href="http://books.google.co.il/books?id=HijD_WpBDW0C&lpg=PA44&ots=i9m12lAfNS&dq=%22wonder%20tree%22%20theosophist%20van%20manen&hl=en&pg=PA44#v=onepage&q&f=false" rel="nofollow">The Wonder Tree of Kumbum</a>," The Theosophist, vol. 34, pt. 2 (1913), pp. 44-57.<br /><br />I think it should be possible to see it all from beginning to end. I find it fascinating, regardless of the many confusingly combined rationalizations and conclusions about the tree you will find there. (Van Manen was a Theosophist, but he didn't pull punches when Blavatsky wasn't making any sense, as you can see.)<br /><br />For Tibetans it's just another example of a rangjung (rang-byung) phenomenon. Letters and images are growing out of rocks all the time, so why not also from a tree? (Not in this case a mulberry tree, but anyway.)Danhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10453904366382251766noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32671574.post-79027557810347489102010-11-30T20:13:05.945+02:002010-11-30T20:13:05.945+02:00I think you are right about it being mulberry pape...I think you are right about it being mulberry paper. Mulberry does tend to yellow over time, too, doesn't it? Or perhaps this particular mulberry paper wasn't well bleached to begin with?<br /><br />I do know of catalog descriptions by very reputable people that confuse mulberry paper with the daphne paper favored in central and southern Tibet (calling the latter the former). Between the two, the Amdo mulberry paper is so much finer, without the irregular blobs that wreak havoc on the clarity of the printing sometimes when the daphne paper is used.<br /><br />I remember some Tibetan woodblock printed books on such thin white paper that I would swear, the pages nearly levitated.Danhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10453904366382251766noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32671574.post-30281276081537537862010-11-30T19:49:24.034+02:002010-11-30T19:49:24.034+02:00That nice paper you like is mulberry paper. The be...That nice paper you like is mulberry paper. The better quality does not bleed. Note that you see more bleeding as the blocks become worn, because they begin to take up more ink on the surface.Editorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17607443504553459238noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32671574.post-69692843221557574752010-11-30T07:54:08.675+02:002010-11-30T07:54:08.675+02:00thank you very much Dan. I haven't found such ...thank you very much Dan. I haven't found such an excellent tool for my daily-online procrastination-ritual in a long time. what a joy!Adam Weisshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04547699750689389489noreply@blogger.com