Where did Kamalaśīla compose his works, and does it even matter?: reflections on the activities of Indian scholars in Imperial Tibet

This article reflects on the activities of the Indian Buddhist scholar-monk Kamalaśīla (c. 740–795) in imperial Tibet. Following accounts offered by Tibetan historians of later periods, these activities have so far been understood as more or less limited to Kamalaśīla’s victorious participation in the historically momentous “Great Debate” at Bsam yas monastery against the Chinese Chan master Heshang Moheyan. This article suggests that he also composed altogether seven of his works – and possibly more – while residing in Tibet, and sketches aspects of his intellectual profile on this basis. While remaining focused on Kamalaśīla, the article also raises wider-ranging questions regarding the activities of Indian Buddhist scholars in imperial Tibet against the backdrop of interconnected histories across South, Central and East Asia

Studies in Yogācāra-Vijñānavāda idealism I: The interpretation of Vasubandhu's Viṃśikā

Abstract In recent scholarship there has been a persistent tendency, especially among North-American scholars, to deny that Indian Yogācāra philosophy is a form of idealism. The discussion has naturally focused on the interpretation of Vasubandhu's Viṃśikā, a foundational text of the school, as well as one of the most accessible, which other researchers have taken to be denying the existence of a material world external to consciousness. In this article, after noting some of the points in favor of a non-idealist reading of the Viṃśikā, we shall offer a new reading that supports the old “standard”, but still widespread, interpretation that it indeed intends to deny the existence of physical objects outside of consciousness. We suggest that Vasubandhu develops in the Viṃśikā an extended argumentum ad ignorantiam where the absence of external objects is derived from the absence of evidence for their existence. This reading is the result of examining argumentation strategy rather than investigating the logical structure of individual proofs in isolation, and it takes cues from Vasubandhu's strategy for refuting the existence of a self in Abhidharmakośabhāṣya IX. In addition, our reading looks at the entire Viṃśikā, rather than isolating a purported argumentative “core” (vv. 11–15), and draws attention to the relevance of some of its subtleties. Finally, we also suggest that Vasubandhu might have opted for a less direct argumentation strategy to prove the non-existence of the external world because of specific soteriological aspects of the doctrine of vijñaptimātratā.</jats:p

Autochthonous heritage languages and social media:writing and bilingual practices in Low German on Facebook

This article analyses how speakers of an autochthonous heritage language (AHL) make use of digital media, through the example of Low German, a regional language used by a decreasing number of speakers mainly in northern Germany. The focus of the analysis is on Web 2.0 and its interactive potential for individual speakers. The study therefore examines linguistic practices on the social network site Facebook, with special emphasis on language choice, bilingual practices and writing in the autochthonous heritage language. The findings suggest that social network sites such as Facebook have the potential to provide new mediatized spaces for speakers of an AHL that can instigate sociolinguistic change

The database of the PREDICTS (Projecting Responses of Ecological Diversity In Changing Terrestrial Systems) project

© 2016 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. The PREDICTS project—Projecting Responses of Ecological Diversity In Changing Terrestrial Systems (www.predicts.org.uk)—has collated from published studies a large, reasonably representative database of comparable samples of biodiversity from multiple sites that differ in the nature or intensity of human impacts relating to land use. We have used this evidence base to develop global and regional statistical models of how local biodiversity responds to these measures. We describe and make freely available this 2016 release of the database, containing more than 3.2 million records sampled at over 26,000 locations and representing over 47,000 species. We outline how the database can help in answering a range of questions in ecology and conservation biology. To our knowledge, this is the largest and most geographically and taxonomically representative database of spatial comparisons of biodiversity that has been collated to date; it will be useful to researchers and international efforts wishing to model and understand the global status of biodiversity