Tibetan Studies.

• Author: WAYMAN, ALEX
• Position: Review

Tibetan Studies. By JAN WILLEM DE JONG. Indica et Tibetica, vol. 25. Swisstal-Odendorf: INDICA ET TIBETICA VERLAG, 1994. Pp. ix + 254.

The book consists of de Jong's previously published "articles"--of the thirty-two entries most are in the form of book reviews (nine such in English, and sixteen in French), of which reviews he has shown himself over the years to be a master. The reviews in French go back to when de Jong, as a result of his studies in France, published Cinq Chapitres de la Prasannapada (Paris, 1949), the translation into French, along with the Tibetan in transcription and a Sanskrit-Tibetan Glossary. This led to a series of comptes rendus, the examples contained herein all from the journal T'oung Pao. The reviews in English overwhelmingly appeared in the Indo-Iranian Journal, which he has co-edited since its inception. They are exacting and mistake-exposing, while those in French I have noticed to be slightly less so.

Nos. 5-9 are comptes rendus of five works on the Poet-Saint Milarepa, preceded by four on Rama, nos. 1 and 4 in English, nos. 2 and 3 in French. Nos. 10-11 are devoted to reviews of books on Naropa, the first in French, second in English. The remainder of the book's contents up to no. 32 are on diverse topics, although the author does devote nos. 25 to 31 to Mongolian forms of Tibetan Lamaism, with nos. 27-31 on Walther Heissig's works.

The reviewer prefers not to discuss de Jong's review of any particular book, since it would give an impression of joining in criticism or praise of a certain author. We all like certain authors more than others, but there are other, more diplomatic ways, to show this.

But...