This article offers definition and systematization of historical information as preserved in Shu-jing («The Canon of Writings»). Its aim is also to provide help in understanding the reasons and purposes pursued by the authors, who contributed to this work. The study showed that the selection of historical information regarding these periods was aimed as follows: to justify the removal by force the legitimate ruler (following the concept of the «heavenly command» tianming 天命), to show by using earlier precedents that the ruler was not in a position without previous consulting wise dignitaries, to justify the transfer of the capital in 771 BC.

 

This is another article in the series of researches published by the present author, which deal with the iconography and the meaning of Buddhist deities of Vajrayana in particular in Mongolian Buddhism. Buddha Akshobhya is a one of the Tathagata Buddhas, the forefathers of Five Buddha families or Five Dhyani Buddhas. The article deals with the development stages of the Akshobhya cult, some specific features of its practice among Mongolian Buddhists and the visual representations by the famous master Ondor Gegen Zanabazar (1635–1723). The author publishes here images of various sculptures of Akshobhya from the collections of temples, museums, as well as private collections in Mongolia.

Russian Buddhist scholars face the daunting task of translating into Russian the main works of Buddhist heritage currently preserved in the languages of India (P ali, Sanskrit, Prakrit, the hybrid Sanskrit), in Chinese, Tibetan, Japanese, Korean, Mongolian and other languages of East and South Asia. Scholars of no country have so far coped with this task. With regard to the Russian Foederation, Buddhism is the historical religion of several peoples who live there and occupies the minds of literally millions of Russian speakers. Regardless of the fact, that translation of the Buddhist heritage into Russian has been conducted for the last 200 years, one can say that the scholars who deal with this task are still only going through a stage of preparation. Nevertheless, the task of translating into Russian main works of Buddhist heritage was set at the Conference of Buddhist Text Translators, which was held at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow) in November 2018 during the celebration of the 200th anniversary of the Institute (November 6–9, 2018).

The article deals with the achievements of A. K. Kazem-bek in the field of Eastern numismatics. It offers updated data on his collection of Eastern coins, provides interesting information about the place of the Eastern numismatics in the Russian University curriculum (the Kazan and St. Petersburg universities). The biography and results achieved by A.K. Kazem-bek are used in the article to discuss some modern and other issues regarding the training of specialists in Islamic coins and coinage.

The article presents an investigation of the questions of the components, structure and genesis of the corpus of base texts (tantras) of the Kālacakra Buddhist teaching. Discovering common text block in the Sekoddeśa and the Śrīkālacakra, as well as discovering redaction of the text, that presented in four verses of the Sekoddeśa, in the Śrīkālacakra, evidence in favor of traditional indications that the Sekoddeśa and the Śrīkālacakra are extracts from the Ādibuddha (according to the tradition of the Kalachakra teaching the root text of this teaching; only fragments that according to this tradition belong to this text are known). Due to discovering this common text block and redaction of named text, a hierarchical two-level system of texts for five of the six complete tantras of the Kālacakra teaching was revealed. Through cross-analysis of the Vimalaprabhā and the Sekoddeśaṭippaṇī revealed that according to information presented in these texts, verses 70–79 of the Sekoddeśa have its origins from the second chapter of the Ādibuddha and the Sekoddeśa contains a set of fragments of several chapters of the Ādibuddha. The research presented in the article makes a contribution to the source study in the field of the Kālacakra teaching both in the aspect of methodology and in the aspects of revealing facts and revealing traditional opinions.

This is a first Russian translation of the complete version of the treatise «On Intellect» (Fī al-‘aql) by Abu Nasr al-Farabi (870–950) the founder of classical Muslim philosophy. The preface to the translation highlights the relation of this treatise to other works by this philosopher, as well as various aspects al-Farabi’s noology, such as the ontological-cosmogonic, prophetological, felicitological and eschatological (soteriological).

This is the second part of the article (the first part see in Orientalistica [1]. It comprises the analysis of the approach made by Ibn Sina (Avicenna, 980–1037) to the «Metaphysics» by Aristotle. This approach was aimed to reconsider the work by Aristotle from the point of view of monotheism and shape the metaphysics as rigorous scientific discipline. The author focuses on the analysis of the introductory chapters to the «Theology / Metaphysics» (al-Ilāhiyyāt) of Avicennian encyclopedia «The Healing» (ash-Shifā’), which sets out the philosopher’s attitude on the essence  of metaphysics as a science, primarily its subject matter and goal to achieve.

The article deals with the poetical heritage of Abulqasim Lahuti, more precisely his poetical works of an early period, which constitute a special section in his collection of poems, the Divan. It was published in Teheran as early as in 1979 by ‘Ali Bashiri under the title Aš‘ār-e mażḥabi va ‘erfāni («Religious and Sufi verses»). The revolutionary, patriotic and lyrical poetical works by A. Lahuti published since 1909 are well-known. However, his early poetry, which reflects the time when he was in contact with various Sufi brotherhoods remains almost a terra incognita for most scholars who have been studying his poetry ever since. Moreover, the existence of such poetry of his was hardly even accounted for, at least by the Soviet scholars who made attempts to reconstruct Lahuti’s biography as a poet. Usually, it is difficult to link an author of a poetical piece (ghazal) with a certain Sufi brotherhood or school unless there is a direct indication left by his biographers that he was taught by certain sheiks. One of the least researched questions in the text studies remains, whether an ideology of a given brotherhood can be traced in the poetic features of a given ghazal. The section from the Divan by A. Lahuti contains traditional “genres”, such as the tawḥid (the Unicity of the Almighty); na‘t (praise to the Prophet Muhammad, praise to ‘Ali and Ḥussain); lamentation on the events in Karbala; praise to Sheikh Ḥayrān Kurdistāni and some other works. The second part of the section comprises 107 ghazals. As A. Lahuti mentions in his autobiography, he became a member of a Sufī brotherhood. The article explores the connection between the early poetry by A. Lahuti and the doctrine of Sufi brotherhoods as reflected in the poetics of his ghazals. His work of this period reveals his awareness of the doctrines of ne‘matallāhi and ahl-i ḥaqq (or ‘Aliilāhi) Sufi orders. The poet had three mentors, each of whom represented the following types of the Sufi Path: ecstatic and visionary one; a militant one; and a humble one praising holy behaviour and being content with little. The early ghazals by A. Lahuti respectively reflects these types of the Sufi Path.

The article deals with the text in Coptic language, which occupies a rather specific place in the apocryphal literature. This is a eulogy to the Angel of Death called Abbaton. The text structure is a complicated multi-tiered «story-to-story» framework. The history of the making the Angel of Death the King of the living and dead is incor- porated into the legend of Adam and Eve, which dates back to the Jewish exegesis of the Book of Genesis, which is also widely represented in the early Christian literature. A significant place in the narrative is also occupied by the «myth of Satan» – the story of the fall of the supreme angel and his subsequent transformation into the spirit of evil. This myth is a kind of compromise between the monistic and dualistic concepts regarding the origin and nature of evil.

The article comprises the continuation of research on the chapter called «The Diverse Writings» (Za shu 雜述) from the famous «A Book to Burn» (Fen shu 焚書), the opus magnum of the thinker Li Zhi (李贄, 1527–1602) from the late Ming. It presents the first translations into Russian of essays by Li Zhi, which deal with such issues as politics and governing. They are «An Article with the Discourse on Governing» ( 論 政 篇 Lun zheng pian) and «A Discourse on the Warring States [Period]» (戰國論 Zhan guo lun). The main idea of these texts could be described as follows: the methods of governing are never cast in iron and remain without an alter- native. They should vary depending on the object of governing and the current situ- ation, which always changes.

The modem teaching of language as a cultural and social phenomenon goes back directly to the European linguistic tradition. This tradition was finally shaped in the Hellenistic era in the city of Alexandria. However, other traditions have formed at different times in the world. Among them the Indian, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, which share many common features. With the exception of the European linguistic tradition, they all had a common starting point. According to it, the «real» language has always been one (the idea of comparing languages has not been developed). This language does not change, although it can be corrupted. Its study is necessary for practical needs, in the first instance, to establish the norms. For a long time, the European tradition was not the most developed. In comparison, Indian and Arabic phonetics were much more detailed. Besides, in the European tradition there were there no complete dictionaries. The grammar dealt with only one category, i.e. the word. However, starting from 13^th to 18^th cent., the linguistic tradition in Europe underwent three major radical changes. In the 13^th-14^th centuries the modistae school began to compose philosophical grammars that did not aim any practical needs. In the 16^th - 17^th cent., was developed the idea of the multiplicity of languages and subsequently the possibility of comparing between them. In the 13^th cent., was developed a notion of historicism appeared. All this led to the fact that the European linguistic tradition from the beginning of the 19^th cent. became world-wide acknowledged.

the article comprises a report of the 15-th Sharjah conference on contemporary Arabic literature held in Rabat (Morocco) in September 2018. The author, Professor Mikulski (Moscow) provides in detail the list of topics discussed as well as the history of the meeting, which dates back to 2003. The innovative aspect of the present report are the informal interviews taken by Professor Mikulski from some of the most prominent participants. These interviews comprise a number of aspects among which are the personal views on Russia and the Russian traditions of Arabic studies, as well as their concepts of historical and cultural relations between the Arab countries and the West. Of course, the Arab intellectuals could not help to ignore the classical Arabic literary legacy, which continues to be their constant object of cultural and literary reflections and the inexhaustible source of mental pabulum. The article presents a vivid image of the thoughts and views of our Arab colleagues.

Оn October 28–30, 2019, at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, was held the 9th International Conference “Written Historical Sources of the East. Aspects of Translation and Interpretation”. It attended by Orientalist scholars of different specialties: historians, specialists in languages and historians of literature. They offered their interpretation of the wide variety of historical sources written in more than 10 languages. The variety of researched material invited various approa ches and methods of its analysis as it has been demonstrated by 30 speakers, who represented institutions of Moscow, St. Petersburg, Ufa and Olomouc (Czech Republic). The Conferences was opened by Professor Vladimir Alpatov, the Member of the Russian Academy. In his talk, he highlighted the fact that the interdisciplinary format of the Conference has transpired to attract various scholars who work on various aspects of the history of the East. Over a third of the conference participants attended it for the first time. The present communication provides a summary of the most interesting talks made at the conference.

 

 The article deals with activities of a famous Russian artist and public figure Nikolai K. Roerich in the field of Oriental studies. N.K. Roerich read law at the St Petersburg University, however he also attended the lectures at the faculty of history. His genuine interest in history later revealed in numerous studies in archaeology, ethnography, folklore, general and cultural history of the Eastern counties. As a scholar, he visited Altay, Mongolia, India and Tibet, lived there and conducted his research. He was also instrumental in organizing two complex research expedition to Central Asia and Manchuria. Besides he took part in short term expeditions to Western Himalaya as part of the work of the Himalayan Research Institute. This Institute was founded by the Roerich family and was based in the Kullu valley (India). During his expeditions he collected vast material, which comprised historical sources of different art and nature. This material was subsequently researched by himself as well as by his elder son the Orientalist scholar George (Yurii) Roerich. Nikolaj Roerich developed a unique research method, which combined purely academic and artistic approach.