Afterword to the Electronic Edition

Nine years after the publication of the book, two words come to my mind: gratitude and
apologies. Sincerest gratitude is due to all the kalyāṇamitras who have generously given
their feedback and encouragement over the years, to my colleagues at the International
College for Postgraduate Buddhist Studies and its International Institute for Buddhist
Studies whose wholehearted support has made my research and this electronic edition
possible, and last but not least, to all the readers who have kindly perused, purchased, or
merely leafed through the book.
It came as a great surprise that only a few years after its publication, this modest
study went out stock. I still cannot fathom the mysterious (acintya!) forces behind this
unexpected honour, but my first reaction was that a second edition would be the best way
to show my gratitude. This was also made necessary by the imperfections besetting the
first edition as well as the developments in many of the areas directly or indirectly relevant
to the Śrāvakabhūmi. And for a while, I did work on a second edition. Unfortunately, as I
became involved in a few different projects, more urgent in nature, my toil on the new
edition has slowly petered out.
This brings me to the apologies: unfortunately, a second edition appears now an
increasingly distant dream. As the International Institute for Buddhist Studies has decided
to post its publications online starting with the titles out of print, it seems more practical –
at least for now – to make the book available to a wider readership as it is (yathābhūtam!).
My apologies do not stop here: the labours with the would-have-been second edition have
made my digital file unusable. In its current form, my manuscript is neither a donkey nor a
horse 非驢非馬: some parts are heavily edited while others are virtually unchanged, with
the consequent havoc in pagination. This explains why the online file is an unsearchable
scan of the printed book. For all these reasons as well the many flaws of the first edition, I
sincerely apologise to all my readers.
What was the second edition supposed to look like? Roughly speaking, the revision
would have consisted in updating and refining the content (from the philological and
codicological data concerning the Sanskrit, Tibetan, and Chinese textual witnesses to the
historical background of early Yogācāra Buddhism and the legacy of the Śrāvakabhūmi),
polishing the style, and last but least, correcting the numerous typos.1

1
I hope the latter deficiency is partly alleviated by the accompanying Addenda and Corrigenda.
There remain, however, typos and stylistic imperfections for which I do apologise. I add here only
the correction of one embarrassing error which goes beyond mere spelling. On page 468, line 26,
‘eleven mahābhūmikas’ should be emended (of course!) to ‘ten mahābhūmikāḥ’.

1
 I am relieved, however, that as to this date no major error in the edited texts has
come to my attention. A possible alteration in the overall structure would have been to get
rid of the entire Diplomatic Edition of the Sanskrit Manuscript (Part Two, Chapter Two),
which appears to me now as a superfluous appendage. Its automatic excision would,
however, affect cross references in the Critical Edition as well as the entire pagination and
therefore the index. Unfortunately, fixing these details would require more time than I can
spare at the moment. Superfluous as it may be, I dare believe, however, that this diplomatic
edition is just a harmless philological curio.
As far as the major updates are concerned, suffice it to mention that the most
exciting news concerning the Śrāvakabhūmi is the completion of the critical edition and
Japanese translation of its Yogasthāna II and Yogasthāna III thanks to the tireless efforts of
the Śrāvakabhūmi Study Group.2 I hope the Group will continue its admirable work and
before long we shall also have Yogasthāna IV and thus the entire text in its first
trustworthy edition and translation into a modern language.
The Śrāvakabhūmi is not only a mine of scholastic reflection on meditative theory
and psychology but also a vibrant guidebook to its actual practice offering a rare glimpse
into the way Buddhist contemplatives lived and taught their spiritual path some eighteen
centuries ago. The entire picture of this intricate edifice has recently received more and
more attention in scholarly circles.3 And I hope one day, not so far from now, a faithful
and clear translation into English will make this fascinating text available to a larger
readership.
March 2015

2
Śrāvakabhūmi Study Group 声 聞 地 研 究 会 , Śrāvakabhūmi: The Second Chapter, with
Asamāhitā bhūmiḥ, Śrutamayī bhūmiḥ, Cintāmayī bhūmiḥ 瑜伽論 声聞地 第二瑜伽処 付 非三
摩呬多地・聞所成地・思所成地―サンスクリット語テキストと和訳―(Tokyo: Sankibo Press,
2007). The edition and translation of Yogasthāna III includes six instalments published from 2008
to 2013 in the Annual of the Institute for Comprehensive Studies of Buddhism, Taisho University
(Nos. 30-35), the last one being Shōmon ji Kenkyūkai 声聞地研究会, ‘Bonbun Shōmon ji (27):
Daisan yugasho (6) wayaku, kamon ’ 梵文声聞地（二十七）― 第三瑜伽処（６）和訳・科文―.
Taishō daigaku sōgō bukkyō kenkyūjo nenpō 大正大学総合佛教研究所年報 35 (2013): 65-97.
3
For systematic discussions of the spiritual path in the Śrāvakabhūmi, see Lambert
Schmithausen, ‘Aspects of Spiritual Practice in Early Yogācāra’ (Journal of the International
College for Postgraduate Buddhist Studies 国際仏教学大学院大学研究紀要 11 (2007): 215-232)
and Florin Deleanu, ‘Far From the Madding Strife for Hollow Pleasures: Meditation and Liberation
in the Śrāvakabhūmi’ (Journal of the International College for Postgraduate Buddhist Studies 国際
仏教学大学院大学研究紀要 16 (2012): 1-38).

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 ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Florin Deleanu
(born 9 December 1959; Constanţa, Romania)

Education
1983: MA in Philology (Chinese Literature and English Literature) from the Faculty of
Foreign Languages and Literatures, University of Bucharest
1991: MA in Oriental Philosophy from the Postgraduate School of Literature,
Waseda University (Tokyo)
1994: Completed doctoral course in Oriental Philosophy at the Postgraduate School
of Literature, Waseda University (Tokyo)
2005: Doctor of Philosophy in Indology from the Department of Indian and Tibetan
Culture and History, Institute of Asian and African Studies, University of Hamburg

Professional Experience
1994-2001: Kansai Medical University (Osaka), Department of Liberal Arts, Professor
of English and Philosophy
2001-2003: International College for Postgraduate Buddhist Studies (Tokyo), Reader in
Buddhist studies
2003-present: International College for Postgraduate Buddhist Studies, Professor of Buddhist
studies

Main Publications
„Systems of Buddhist Meditation‟. In Michael Zimmermann ed. (forthcoming). Blackwell
Companion to South and Southeast Asian Buddhism. Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishing.
The Scripture on the Buddha’s Coming to the Island (An English translation of the
Laṅkāvatārasūtra, forthcoming in the BDK English Tripiṭaka).
Mind-Only and Beyond: An Introduction to the History of Meditation in Yogācāra Buddhism.
Volume I: From Canonical Origins to the Classical System (forthcoming).
„Yugagyō no jissen‟ [„Spiritual Cultivation in Yogācāra Buddhism‟] 瑜伽行の実践. In Katsura
Shōryū 桂紹隆 et al. eds. Yuishiki to yugagyō [Representation-Only and Yogācāra] 唯
識と瑜伽行 (Shirīzu Daijō bukkyō [Mahāyāna Buddhism Series] シリーズ大乗仏教,
Volume VII). Tokyo: Shunjū-sha, 2012: 151-180.
„Tempering Belles Infidèles and Promoting Jolies Laides: Idle Thoughts on the Ideal Rendering
of Buddhist Texts and Terminology‟. Journal of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies
2 (2012): 146-178.

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„Meditative Practices in the Bodhisattvabhūmi: Quest for and Liberation through the Thing-In-
Itself‟. In Ulrich Timme Kragh ed. The Foundation for Yoga Practioners: The Buddhist
Yogācārabhūmi Treatise and Its Adaptation in India, East Asia, and Tibet. Cambridge &
London, England: Harvard University Press, 2013: 884-919.
„Far From the Madding Strife for Hollow Pleasures: Meditation and Liberation in the
Śrāvakabhūmi‟. Journal of the International College for Postgraduate Buddhist Studies
国際仏教学大学院大学研究紀要 16 (2012): 1-38.
„Transmission and Creation: Ordinations for Nuns in Ancient and Early Mediaeval Japan‟.
Journal of the International College for Postgraduate Buddhist Studies 国際仏教学大
学院大学研究紀要 14 (2010): 1-99.
„Agnostic Meditations on Buddhist Meditation‟. Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science.
Vol. 45 (3) (2010): 605-626.
„A Preliminary Study on Meditation and the Beginnings of Mahāyāna Buddhism‟. In Paul
Williams ed. Buddhism: Critical Concepts in Religious Studies, Volume III. London and
New York: Routledge, 2005: 26-73 [originally published in 2000].
„The Newly Found Text of the Anban shou yi jing 安般守意經 Translated by An Shigao
安世高‟. Journal of the International College for Advanced Buddhist Studies 国際仏教
学大学院大学研究紀要, 6 (2003): 63-100.
„Buddhist “Ethology” in the Pali Canon: Between Symbol and Observation‟. The Eastern
Buddhist (New Series) 32(2) (2000): 79-127.
„A Preliminary Study of An Shigao‟s 安世高 Translation of the Yogācārabhūmi 道地經‟.
The Journal of the Department of Liberal Arts of Kansai Medical University 関西医科
大学教養部紀要 17 (1997): 33-52.
„Śrāvakayāna Yoga Practices and Mahāyāna Buddhism‟. Bulletin of the Graduate Division of
Literature of Waseda University. Special Issue No. 20 (Philosophy-History) 早稲田大学
大学院文学研究科紀要別冊 第 20 集 (哲学・史学編) (1993): 3-12.
„An Shigao and the History of the Anban shouyi jing’ [: An Shigao‟s 安世高 Biography
Revisited]. Asian Culture and Thought 論叢―アジアの文化と思想 2 (1993): 1-47.
„Mindfulness of Breathing in the Dhyāna Sūtras‟. Transactions of the International Conference
of Orientalists in Japan 37 (1992): 42-57.
„An Seikō yaku Anpan shui kyō genkōbon no seiritsu ni tsuite‟ [„On the Formation of the
Present [Taishō] Version of the Anban shouyi jing Translated by An Shigao‟] 安世高譯
『安般守意經』現行本の成立について. Thought and Religion of Asia 東洋の思想と
宗教 9 (1992): 48-63.
„Filozofia limbii in China antică‟ [„Language Philosophy in Ancient China‟]. Studii şi cercetări
lingvistice [Romanian Academy: Linguistic Studies and Research] Part I: 35 (5) (1984):
452-465; Part II: 35 (2) (1984): 94-103.