On October 20 and 21, 2018, the 3rd Seminar on the Language and Scripts Used in Buddhist Sutras & the International Momoyo Okura Symposium co-organized by Hangzhou Buddhist Academy and the Okura Culture Society of Japan was held at Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou. University scholars and learners of Sanskrit from India, Nepal, Germany, Japan and China gathered together to discuss the language of Sanskrit used in Buddhist Sutras.

The Abbot of Lingyin Temple Venerable Master Guangquan attended and addressed the opening ceremony. He first extended warm welcome to the participants in the seminar and then had a review of the translation history of Buddhist texts in Sanskrit, which promoted the development of Buddhism in China. Venerable Master Guangquan also gave a general overview of the teaching and research of Sanskrit in modern times and the achievement of Hangzhou Buddhist Academy on Sanskrit teaching and studies.

Sanskrit is considered as ＂lost knowledge＂ in China. Hangzhou Buddhist Academy attaches great importance to the teaching of Sanskrit. Soon after its establishment, the academy invited Professor Han Tingjie of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and later Dr. Li Wei who had finished his PhD education in Germany to teach Sanskrit to the students. The major of Sanskrit research was offered in 2014 in order to cultivate research talents in Buddhist texts who are proficient in both Sanskrit and Chinese. Sanskrit courses were open to the public in 2015 and received enthusiastic response with over 400 people signing in for the first Sanskrit-learning workshop. Since 2016, Hangzhou Buddhist Academy has regularly invited scholars from home and abroad to make academic exchanges on Sanskrit studies so as to learn from their rich research experience and promote the development of Sanskrit teaching and studies in China.

The topic of the 3rd Seminar on the Language and Scripts Used in Buddhist Sutras was ＂the study of reference books on Indology＂. The seminar aimed to discuss the status and significance of Sanskrit in the development of Buddhism in China and to facilitate exchanges and cooperation among countries in the studies of Sanskrit reference books. During the seminar, ten scholars gave academic reports on the history and current status of Sanskrit (as well as Pali) lexicography, which were believed to help accelerate the development of Sanskrit lexicography in China.

 

At the seminar

Venerable Master Guangquan delivering a speech

Dai Ajari Uehara Gyōshō from Mount Hiei of Japan delivering a speech

Mrs. Yoko Okura-Mieli and the Okura Foundation giving financial support for the teaching and research of Sanskrit

Scholars who attended the seminar

The Buddhist and Sanskrit dictionaries compiled by experts and scholars of India, Germany, Japan and other countries

A group photo