En Ru
Login
ISSN: 0320-8095
ISSN: 0320-8095
En Ru
Search
The Adamant Book by Hieromonk Daniil: a historiographical fact of the 19th-century Russian Buddhology

The Adamant Book by Hieromonk Daniil: a historiographical fact of the 19th-century Russian Buddhology

Download in pdf (RU)

Received: 09/30/2025

Accepted: 11/10/2025

Published: 12/25/2025

Keywords: archimandrite Daniil, D.P. Sivillov, The Diamond Sutra, The Adamant Book, Buddhology, historiography Funding: Foundation for the Promotion of Buddhist Education and Research, project topic “The first Russian studies on Buddhism of the early 19th century by hieromonk Daniil”.

Available in the on-line version with: 26.12.2025

To cite this article

Stezhenskaya L.V. The Adamant Book by Hieromonk Daniil: a historiographical fact of the 19th-century Russian Buddhology. // Lomonosov Oriental Studies Journal. 2025. Vol. 69. N 3,69 p.61-76 https://doi.org/10.55959/MSU0320-8095-13-69-3-5.

Creative Commons Attribiution - NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribiution - NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)
N 3, 2025
Stezhenskaya L.V. (Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences)

Abstract

The article presents a historical and bibliographic sketch of the manuscript “Translation of the Sacred Book of the Foyan Sect called Fo niu jin gang jing, meaning The Adamant Book, or The Adamant-like Book of Foy’s Teaching” by Hieromonk (later Archimandrite) Daniil (Dmitry Petrovich Sivillov, 1798-1877), stored in the Department of Manuscripts and Rare Books (15322, II/44, l. 1-3 vol.) of Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University. The manuscript is an unfinished draft translation from Kumarajiva’s (early 5th century) Chinese version of the canonical Buddhist Diamond Sutra. This translation, done in Beijing around 1828, precedes the German translation of the Diamond Sutra from Tibetan by Russian academician J.I. Schmidt published in 1837, hence ought to be seen as the first attempt of this sutra translation into a European language. The bibliographic descriptions of the manuscript by A.I. Artemiev (1882, 1884), J. von Gottwald (1884), Henri Cordier (1893, 1904), A.A. Petrov (1937) and P.E. Skachkov (1977) are discussed. Erroneous transcription fo niu for fo shuo (‘Buddha speaks’) in the title of the Chinese original; the obsolete Russian ‘adamant’ for ‘diamond’ as well as the obsolete ‘Fo’ and ‘Foy’ for the name of Buddha are pointed out in particular. A.I. Artemyev’s bibliographic description undertaken between 1844 and 1851 is valued as the original one, while all the others must have been the secondary follow-ups. A.I. Artemyev had provided dating of the manuscript based on the filigree (watermark) of its paper. Although The Diamond Sutra is of prime importance for Buddhism, Fr. Daniil’s translation has been overlooked by historiographers. Unpublished works on Buddhism by Fr. Daniel, along with the works of J.I. Schmidt, J.S. Kowalewski, and some other scholars, provide a basis for revising the historiography of Russian Buddhology, highlighting its initial or preliminary stage in the first half of the 19th century.

References

  1. Aristov V.V., Ermolaeva N.V. Istoriya nauchnoy biblioteki im. N.I. Lobachevskogo (1804–1850) [History of The N.I. Lobachevsky Academic Library ((1804–1850)). Kazan: Kazan University Publishers, 1985. (In Russ.).
  2. Artemiev A.I. Biblioteka Imperatorskogo Kazanskogo universiteta: Statiya pervaya [Kazan Imperial University Library: First Article]. Journal of the Ministry of National Enlightment. Part LXX: (Section III). Saint-Petersburg: Imperial Academy of Sciences Typography, 1851. P. 83–112 (In Russ.).
  3. Artemiev A.I. Biblioteka Imperatorskogo Kazanskogo universiteta: Statiya vtoraya [Kazan Imperial University Library: Second Article]. Journal of the Ministry of National Enlightment. Part LXXII: (Section III). Saint-Petersburg: Imperial Academy of Sciences Typography, 1851. P. 1–30 (In Russ.).
  4. Artemiev A.I. Istoricheskie rukopisi Biblioteki Imperatorskogo kazanskogo universiteta: Statiya pervaya [Historical Manuscripts of the Kazan Imperial University Library: First Article]. Journal of the Ministry of National Enlightment. Part LXXV: (Section III). Saint-Petersburg: Imperial Academy of Sciences Typography, 1852. September. P. 23–76 (In Russ.).
  5. Artemiev A.I. Opisanie rukopisey, hranyaschihsya v biblioteke Imperatorskogo Kazanskogo universiteta [Description of the Manuscripts Stored in the Imperial Kazan University Library]. Saint-Petersburg: The Panteleev Brothers Typography, 1882 (In Russ.).
  6. Artemiev A.I. Opisanie rukopisey, hranyaschihsya v biblioteke Imperatorskogo Kazanskogo universiteta [Description of the Manuscripts Stored in the Imperial Kazan University Library]. The Chronicle of the Archeographic Commission Proceedings. 1876–1877. Seventh Issue: Section III. Saint-Petersburg: The Panteleev Brothers Typography, 1884 (In Russ.).
  7. Artemiev Aleksandr Ivanovich [Artemiev Aleksandr Ivanovich]. A.A. Polovtsov Russian Biographical Dictionary. Vol. 2 (1900): Aleksinsky — Bestuzhev-Riumin. P. 326–330 (In Russ.). https://ru.wikisource.org/wiki/%D0%A0%D0%91%D0%A1/%D0%92%D0%A2/%D0%90%D1%80%D1%82%D0%B5%D0%BC%D1%8C%D0%B5%D0%B2,_%D0%90%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%81%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B4%D1%80_%D0%98%D0%B2%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B8ч (accessed: 04.09.2025).
  8. Bezmenov, Vladislav. “V biblioteke Kazanskogo universiteta hranyatsya starinnye astronomicheskie rukopisi…” [“There are Ancient Astronomical Manuscripts Stored in the Library of Kazan University… [Interview with the Scholarly Activities Deputy Director of The N.I. Lobachevsky Academic Library Amerhanova Elmira Iskhakovna…]]. August 24, 2024 (In Russ.). URL: https://milliard.tatar/news/v-biblioteke-kazanskogo-universiteta-xranyatsya-starinnye-astronomiceskie-rukopisi-napisannymi-pri-zizni-ulugbeka-i-rannii-spisok-divana-navoi-6044 (accessed: 04.09.2025).
  9. Ermakova T.V. Buddiyskiy mir glazami rossiyskih issledovateley XIX — pervoy poloviny XX veka (Rossiya I sopredelnye strany) [The Buddhist World through the Eyes of the 19th — First Third of the 20th Centuries Russian Researchers (Russia and the Adjacent Countries)]. Saint-Petersburg: Nauka, 1998 (In Russ.).
  10. Zamotaylo I. Neopublikovannyi perevod Dao-de-dzin’a archim. Daniila (Sivillova) [Unpublished Translation of Da-de-jing by Archimandrite Daniil (Sivillov)]. Transactions of the Imperial Novorossiysk University Odessa Bibliographical Society. September–December, 1915. Vol. IV. Issue 5–6. P. 209–245; 1916. Vol. V. Issue 1–2. P. 3–21 (In Russ.).
  11. Istochnikovedenie i istoriografiya istorii buddizma. Strany Tsentralnoy Azii: [Sb. st.] [Historical Sources and Historiography of Buddhist History. Central Asian Countries: [Collected Papers] / Resp. ed. R.E. Pubaev]. Novosibirsk: Nauka, 1985 (In Russ.).
  12. Kulikov A. M. “Tao Te Ching” Translated by Archimandrite Daniel (Sivillov). Herald of the Historical Society of Saint Petersburg Theological Academy, 2024. No. 1 (17). P. 46–57 (In Russ.).
  13. Markovskaya G.M., Fradkina Z.L. Sovetskaya istoricheskaya bibliografiya (1917– 1958) [Soviet Historical Bibliography (1917–1958)]. Soviet Bibliography: Collected Papers / Chief ed. V.G. Olishev. Moscow: [s.l.], 1960. P. 195–229 (In Russ.).
  14. OR RNB. F. 608, № 50. [1831] (In Russ.).
  15. Petrov A.A. Rukopisi po kitaevedeniyu i mongolovedeniyu, hranyaschiesya v Tsentralnom arhive TASSR i v biblioteke Kazanskogo universiteta [Chinese and Mongol Studies Manuscripts Stored in the Central Archive of the Tatar ASSR and in the Library of Kazan University]. Oriental Bibliography. Moscow; Leningrad: USSR Academy of Sciences Publishing House, 1937. Issue 10 (1936). P. 139–155 (In Russ.).
  16. ORRK KFU 15322, II/44. Ff. 1–3 verso (In Russ.).
  17. Skachkov P.E. Ocherki po istorii russkogo kitaevedeniya [Sketches of Russian China Studies History]. Moscow: Nauka, Oriental Literature Chief Editorial Board, 1977.
  18. Stoliarov Yu.N. V.N. Tatischev kak knigoved (k 300-letiyu so dnya rozhdeniya) [V.N. Tatischev as a Book Scholar: (On the 300th anniversary of his birth)]. Book: Research and Materials. Moscow, 1986. Collection 53. P. 144–153 (In Russ.)
  19. Torchinov E.A. O psihologicheskih aspektah ucheniya pradzhnyaparamimity (na primere “Vadzhrachchhedika-pradzhnyaparamita-sutry”) [Apropos of Psychological Aspects of Prajnaparamita Teaching (Vajracchhedika Prajnaparamita Sutra as an Example)]. Psychological Aspects of Buddhism / Ed. by V.V. Mantatov. Novosibirsk: Nauka. Siberian branch, 1986. P. 47–69 (In Russ.)
  20. Torchinov E.A. Vvedenie v buddologiyu: Kurs lektsiy [An Introduction to Buddhology. A Course of Lectures]. Saint-Petersburg: Saint-Petersburg Philosophical Society, 2000 (In Russ.).
  21. Bibliotheca sinica. Dictionnaire bibliographique des ouvrages relatifs à l’Empire chinois. Supplément / par Henri Cordier. Paris: Ernest Leroux, 1893.
  22. Bibliotheca sinica. Dictionnaire bibliographique des ouvrages relatifs à l’Empire chinois / par Henri Cordier. Vol. I. Paris: E. Guilmoto, 1904 (2me éd.).
  23. Gottwaldt J. von Dr . Manuscrits relatifs a la Chine (Notes bibliographiques): V. Bibliothèque de Kasan. Revue de l’Extrême-Orient. 2me année (1883). T. II. Paris: Ernest Leroux, 1884. P. 399–413.
  24. Lexique de l’ancien Français. Par Godefroy, Frédéric [1826–1897]. Paris; Leipzig: H. Welter, 1901.
  25. Schmidt I.J. Über das Mahâjâna und Pradschnâ-Pâramita der Bauddhen. Mémoires de l’Académie impériale des sciences de St. Pétersbourg, VIme série. Sciences politiques, histoire, philologie. T. 4, 2me livr. 1837. P. 123–229. URL: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=chi.096260575&seq=153