介紹「阿育王法敕」的網站

介紹「阿育王法敕」的網站

「挪威奧斯陸大學文獻學院 Norwegian Institute of Philology Buddhadhamma Norwegian-society」
http://www.polyglotta.no/index.php?page=library&bid=14
---------------------
目前關於「阿育王法敕」的漢文書籍只有英國 Vincent A. Smith 文森/史密斯(1848-1920)的 "Asoka, The Buddhist Emperor of India" (華文出版社於 2019年五月出版的新書《阿育王：一部孔雀王國史》，高迎慧翻譯)。英文原書為1920出版，2016年重出新版，翻譯者高迎慧現任山西大學外國語學院講師。
日本《南傳大藏經》為1935年至1941年之間，高楠博士功績記念會將巴利聖典協會出版之巴利三藏翻成日文出版。台灣高雄元亨寺則於1990年至1998年之間，由日文版翻譯為台灣版。
所以，即使日文《南傳大藏經》中翻譯的「阿育王法敕」，其所參考的考古學術論著，恐怕也是在 1920-1930 的學術水準。 這將近一百年間應該有些訂正與新發現。
國內對於「阿育王法敕」的評介或論述，仍然是寸草不生的荒原，期待有人能填補此一空洞 。
---------------------
以下為挪威奧斯陸大學文獻學系的網站「阿育王文獻」，帖主陸續翻譯如下，請無法閱讀英文的群組內法友稍安勿躁，我喝個茶、吃塊月餅再繼續。
The Ashoka Library contains an edition of Ashoka’s inscriptions ordered into ten types as seen in the menu on the left. The texts and translations are so far based upon Hultzsch (1925). Input of texts and images was undertaken by Jens Braarvig and completed in May 2014. Matthew D. Milligan has reread and corrected the texts.
「阿育王法敕圖書館」包含了分為十類的「阿育王銘文」的版本，如網站左側目錄所示。「銘文」的轉寫與翻譯為根據 Hultzsch (1925) 的著作， Jens Braarvig 負責輸入文字與圖像，完成於 2014年五月。Matthew D. Milligan 覆讀並作了訂正。
The site will also publish the rest of the known inscriptions, and, further, images and secondary materials on the topic for both educational needs and research.
此一網址將繼續刊登其餘已知的銘文與圖像，以及進一步刊錄與此議題相關的資料，以備教育和研究的需要。
The development of the library is a cooperation between indological milieus at Texas University, Austin, and at Oslo University. Below is a project description which is the basis of the cooperation. Other contacts are also being made to build the site further. The persons involoved so far are: Joel Brereton, Donald R.Davis, Oliver Freiberger, Janice Leoshko, Patrick Olivelle, Texas University; Ute Hüsken, Klaus Peter Zoller, Jens W. Borgland, Jens Braarvig, Oslo University.
此一圖書館的發展是來自 UT Austin 美國德州大學奧斯汀分校的印度學與挪威奧斯陸大學的合作，底下的描述是關於此一合作根源的專案，也有其他相關的接觸來繼續構建本網址。本專案的成員有：德州大學 Joel Brereton, Donald R.Davis, Oliver Freiberger, Janice Leoshko, Patrick Olivelle; 奧斯陸大學 Ute Hüsken, Klaus Peter Zoller, Jens W. Borgland, Jens Braarvig.
The Ashoka Library: A cooperation between Texas University, Austin, and Oslo University.
"阿育王法敕圖書館：美國德州大學奧斯汀分校與挪威奧斯陸大學的合作專案"
The cooperation between TU and UiO has been very successful, in particular in exchanging teaching staff. There is thus all reason also to develop research activities with the frame of the cooperation to serve also the more advanced research students, as well as developing projects involving the scholars from both institutions. This has been accomplished to some degree between individual scholars, but it is the opinion of the undersigned that more stable projects, involving doctoral students and research staff, definitely have their place within the framework of the cooperation.
美國德州大學奧斯汀分校與挪威奧斯陸大學的合作專案非常成功，特別是在交換教學人員方面。如此有很多理由來
As the cooperation started out from Indology, we hereby propose the project “Ashoka and his contexts” for such a cooperation.
Ashoka, as is well known, was the first ruler to politically unify what we today call India under his rule in the 3rd century B.C. As such his dynasty, the Maurya, is of central importance for any historical study of India. However, also in the modern construction of India Ashoka has played a great role as a unifying figure, thus the Indian flag as adopted at the independence in 1947 has the “Wheel of Ashoka” as its central symbol. Thus the study of Ashoka is crucial to understand Indian history and its projection into the present. Ashoka has throught history represented an imperial ideal of just rule throughout Indian history, and even beyond India, since Ashoka has also this function in Buddhism, where he symbolises the Dharmarāja, “King of Religion”. A project on Ashoka will thus be a cross-displinary undertaking involving archaeology, palaeography, philology, history, religious studies, identity studies, political science and other disciplines.
A study of Ashoka naturally involves India. His rule however, bordered on the Persian Empire, which dominated parts of western India until Alexander The Great’s conquests, and the ensuing rule of his generals. Thus Ashoka had important connections with the West, placing his kingdom in an international context. Topics to be researched in the proposed project would be the following:
1. The beginning of writing in India is connected with the rule of Ashoka, as the earliest examples of writing are found in is famous edicts promulgated as inscriptions on stone extant until today. Two writing systems seems to stem from his time, namely the Kharoshti, which has died out, and Brahmi, which is the forefather of all modern Indian writing systems, as well as those of Tibet and South East Asia. These writing systems were both modelled on the writing systems of the Aramaic language, employed by the Persian rulers as a lingua and scriptura franca.
2. The edicts of Ashoka, where he promotes a mild form of rulership, are by many quoted as an early examples of a rule involving the respect for human rights and religious freedom. The edicts of Ashoka were also written in Aramaic and Greek, which bear witness to the fact that Ashoka wished to project his power westwards.
3. As shown in the inscriptions of Ashoka he had interest in developing communication with countries outside his own. The interaction of the Maurya dynasty with the Hellenistic civilizations is also documented in Greek writing in the earliest Greek writings on India, as in the Indica of Megasthenes (350 – 290 BC) who was sent on a political mission to Candragupta, Ashoka’s grandfather. Thus Ashoka’s reign together with Alexander’s campaign is the start of a more extensive interaction between the Mediterranean and Indian civilizations, which is not very well understood, though confirmed by both archaeological and written records.
4. Ashoka is the royal ideal above all in Buddhism, and thus there is a plethora of legends of him in the Buddhist traditions in Sanskrit, Tibetan and Chinese. Most of this literature has been edited, but is often difficult to access. As for its study and analysis much remains to be done.
5. It is generally believed that Buddhism gained foothold and momentum only under Ashoka, who seems to have sponsored religion in general, and probably Buddhism in particular, as documented by his inscriptions. The main split in Buddhism, between the Sthavira and the Mahāsāṅghika, probably also happened during his reign. Much remains here to be analysed, to distinguish what is real history and what is legend.
6. There is quite an amount of research on Ashoka, recently a book has been published on Ashoka as an historical figure as well as an ideal employed to construct modern Indian identity, Patrick Olivelle, Janice Leoshko, Himanshu Prabha Ray: Reimagining Ashoka. Another work, documenting the finding places and landscape context of the inscriptions has recently been published by Harry Falk in Aśokan Sites and Artifacts. However, the materials on Ashoka is not always easy to access, and the first undertaking of the present project would be to digitalize as much of the archeological materials as possible, including the inscriptions as images and transliterations as well as translations. Further, the legends and written sources on Ashoka should be digitalized to the extent that it is not yet done. In this way the materials can be made available on the internet for general research.
7. The first financial need of the project is to make the relevant material available as described in the previous paragraphs. For digitalizing and making the materials ready for “The Digital Ashoka Library” we will work with the AIIS and their Indian partners. Priority will be given to have all Ashoka’s inscriptions available in one place, then after that the historical literature on him, as well as research publications. The Bibliotheca Polyglotta is an internet facility that makes input of text and images easy, and will be employed for the purpose.
8. Later one might envisage doctoral grants for students who wish to build up the library with their research, and any scholarly activity in the project will be published on the internet as well as in printed books and papers as needed.
9. As is the rule in both universities, instruction and teaching should be based on research. Thus the Ashoka Library, as planned below as our first theme in such cooperation, will also serve as an important teaching resource, since all students of India should know something about Ashoka.
TU and UiO should be very well positioned to work together on the project, given the relevant expertise found in our two universities, and well placed in finding other relevant partners.
The copyrights for all the texts in the Bibliotheca Polyglotta belong to Jens Braarvig and the Norwegian Institute of Palaeography and Historical Philology. Any fair use of the texts is allowed under general Open Access conditions.
The Bibliotheca Polyglotta application is Copyright 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 University of Oslo, Norwegian Institute of Palaeography and Historical Philology, Jens Braarvig, Asgeir Nesøen, and released under the GNU General Public License version 3.