ANNOUNCEMENT> "Primer in Chinese Buddhist Writings"

Marcus Bingenheimer Discussion

Dear Colleagues,

The recent announcement of an introductory reader for Buddhist Chinese reminds me that John Kieschnick's (free) "Primer in Chinese Buddhist Writings" seems not as widely known as it deserves to be. The volumes (currently six) can be downloaded here:
https://religiousstudies.stanford.edu/people/john-kieschnick/primer-chinese-buddhist-writings

I have used the Primer several times in introductory reading classes and found it very helpful.

All the best

Marcus Bingenheimer
Temple University

4 Replies

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Dear colleagues,

These books are indeed good. Thank you, Marcus, very much for posting this link.

I wonder if anyone on the list knows if there is a book or a series of small books (like these) to learn Classical Tibetan?

I have tried to use "Translating Buddhism from Tibetan" by Joe B. Wilson. It presented some difficulties, and among them Wilson's attempts to guide students reading Tibetan script with Tibetan pronunciation. I then had difficulty reading Romanised transliterations of Tibetan texts. In my case, I also do not find necessity of reading much of his extra explanations about Buddhism in Tibet. It seems that he has aimed at a student who does not know both Tibetan and Buddhism.

If anyone would share their experiences teaching from or using such books to learn Tibetan, such as this Chinese primer, I would be most grateful.

With maitri
Bertram G. Liyanage
Encyclopaedia of Buddhism, Sri Lanka

Dear Bertram Liyanage,

Sorry for this delayed reply, but, if your goal is just to begin to read classical Buddhist texts in Tibetan, then your best bet is probably Stephen Hodge, An Introduction to Classical Tibetan, which focuses more closely on the language of canonical texts than do other available works in English. If you are at ease with German, however, I would recommend the works by Michael Hahn (Lehrbuch der klassischen tibetischen Schriftsprache) or Peter Schwieger (Handbuch zur Grammatik der klassischen tibetischen Schriftsprache).

Good luck!

Matthew Kapstein

Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes

Dear Friends,

Although I am not sure it always works best as an introductory work (although I myself used it many years ago), Hahn's book is available in a (draft) English translation, floating around, one copy apparently here: https://www.twirpx.com/file/1676620/.

It would be a good thing to officially publish this... Although not mentioned by Matthew, I think that Bacot's old grammar in French (_Grammaire du tibétain littéraire_, with the invaluable _Index morphologique_) is also very good, as is Lalou's (_Manuel élémentaire de tibétain classique_).

Jonathan Silk

Dear Matthew Kapstein,

Thank you for your kind reply. As you have mentioned, my purpose is, in fact, reading classical Tibetan texts. I checked both Stephen Hodge’s and Michael Hahn’s. Apparently, both have similar flow in teaching method, but I prefer go with English text only because my German knowledge is still poor. I have just got the book by Hodge and had a look at first three chapters. It is marvellous! Thanks again.

Bertram