Jerry Norman & His Posthumous Work, A Comprehensive Manchu-English Dictionary

Jerry Lee Norman (羅杰瑞; July 16, 1936 – July 7, 2012) was an American sinologist and linguist who was known for his study of the Manchu language and Chinese dialects. He died of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis in Seattle on July 7, 2012. He is survived by his wife, Stella Chen Norman, a brother, sister, children, grandchildren, and a world of friends and admiring colleagues.

Biography

Norman was born July 16, 1936 in Watsonville, and he went to the University of California - Berkley, where he studied Chinese under Chao Yen Ren. In 1965 he worked with Leo Chen on an introduction to the Fuzhou dialect and a Fuzhou-English glossary. In 1966 he joined the Chinese Linguistics Project at Princeton University as a staff linguist. He subsequently went to Taiwan to engage in field research on Taiwanese, and in 1969 he completed his PhD at Berkeley, with a dissertation "The Kienyang Dialect of Fukien." He joined the faculty of the Department of Asian Languages and Literature in 1972. He remained at Seattle for his entire career, retiring as Professor emeritus in 1998. In 2006, he gave the Distinguished Faculty Lecture on "Inner Asian Words for Paper and Silk".

Manchu Dictionary

Norman  is perhaps most recognized as the author of A Concise Manchu-English Lexicon, which appeared in 1978 (U. Washington Press) . An earlier version of this dictionary was published in 1967 (Taipei). Since late Spring of 2009, his student and collaborator David Prager Branner has been helping him get the final revision of his Manchu lexicographic material into shape for publication. He persuaded Norman to add material on pronunciation and the script. Just days before he died, having received the final proofs of the Manchu-English Dictionary, Norman completed one final amendment. He told his daughter, “I’m happy that dictionary is done.”  The revised dictionary is scheduled to be published in 2013 by Harvard University Asia Center as A Comprehensive Manchu-English Dictionary. The new Dictionary, based exclusively on Ch'ing sources, not only retains all of the information from the earlier Lexicon, but also includes hundreds of additional entries cited from original Manchu texts, enhanced cross-references, and an entirely new introduction.

"Peer Reviews"

Alexander Vovin of the University of Hawai'i at Manoa, wrote in the online guest book: "Professor Norman was one of the greatest Western specialists in the Manchu language. His everlasting contributions to Manchu lexicography as well as to the historical Manchu and Tungusic phonology cannot be overestimated." One of his former students, Stephen Durrant of the University of Oregon (who completed his doctoral studies under the late Paul Serruys and Jerry Norman, recalled him as "a magnificent scholar, a generous teacher and a kind man." Laurent Sagar of the Centre de recherches linguistiques sur l'Asie orientale (CRLAO - UMR 8563) unit of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) echoed the sentiments of many former students and colleagues when he wrote that Jerry Norman "was a great scholar who has changed the way we look at Chinese." Wolfgang Behr of the University of Zurich commented: "He has been a true giant in so many linguistic fields, someone who[m] I will continue to admire for his scientific creativeness, independence of mind, argumentative precision, consistency and clarity. "

(Ed. by Tak-sing Kam, Manchu Studies Group, CCU)

2012年中正大學暑期史學研習營

中正大學歷史系於2012年7月份舉辦中正史學營，從全國招募約50名對歷史有興趣之高中學子，進行為期四天的學習。甘德星教授是本次研習營授課教師之一，演講題目為「內陸歐亞史中的中國歷史」。

「內陸歐亞史中的清史」

甘教授帶領同學從內陸歐亞史的角度切入，重新審視傳統中國史是否能有不同的看法。甘教授首先說明Inner Asia、Central Eurasia、Inner Eurasia等名詞的差異，指出該地域在東西交流以及和定居文明交流的重要性。接著甘教授以清史為例，舉出孝莊文皇后下嫁傳聞、雍正奪嫡疑案等例子，說明滿洲人作為內陸歐亞民族的特色，另一方面也舉出其近期研究之台南赤崁樓乾隆御碑群與國學大師毓老的例子，以討論滿洲人與漢文化的互動過程。最後甘教授拋出「滿洲人漢化後還是不是滿洲人」此族群性問題，讓同學思考。

「滿漢文檔案中的滿漢關係」

營隊中另安排史料閱讀課程，由中正大學滿洲研究班蔡名哲擔任課程講師。他以「滿漢文檔案中的滿漢關係」為題，給同學介紹清代的滿漢文檔案，並選擇不同時期，關於「滿洲人的奴才稱呼」、「滿洲人生性純樸」的記載，與同學一起討論史料更改背後的社會脈絡。


（滿洲研究班蔡名哲）

新近發現有關大成就者鄔堅巴的藏文史料

十三世紀藏地傳奇 ：大成就者鄔堅巴

鄔堅巴·仁欽貝Grub-chen U-gyan-pa Rin-chen-dpal（1230-1309）生於後藏拉堆洛，俗名僧格貝，20歲受比丘戒，法名仁欽貝。他是藏傳佛教竹巴噶舉派高僧郭倉巴的首徒，以及噶瑪噶舉派黑帽系第二世噶瑪巴的晚年弟子，並且是第三世噶瑪巴的老師，是藏傳佛教活佛轉世系統肇始的關鍵人物。

大成就者鄔堅巴

他既是兼通顯、密佛學與“時輪金剛密法”的高僧，也是得道的瑜伽行者、名醫、大學者，是紛亂的 13世紀後藏舉足輕重的人物。他堅毅不屈、文武兼備、行俠仗義、嫉惡如仇，其特立異行極具代表性。

十一世紀從北印度傳入藏地的“時輪金剛密法”，是藏傳佛教密宗無上瑜伽部的最高密法，於十二、十三世紀發展極盛。鄔堅巴幼有宿慧，年少時已得多名大師傳授此密法，成為當時藏地集“時輪金剛”三派承傳的權威。

鄔堅巴23歲時啟程往藏西及北印苦行遊方，為了求取最高密法，經歷萬難穿過當時極紛亂的北印度，抵達相傳為密宗發源地和有“空行淨土”之稱的鄔堅（即玄奘《大唐西域記》提到的烏仗那，又稱烏仗，今巴基斯坦東北Swat Valley），據謂得金剛瑜伽母的化身親授獨門秘法“金剛三念修”，得神通。前後六年返回後藏，脫胎換骨，得“大成就者鄔堅巴”稱號。此後獻身教化，造福眾生，曾兩次經尼泊爾前往印度朝聖，足跡及於南印，並多次率徒往衛藏一帶傳法。晚年應元世祖忽必烈之邀，率徒眾跋涉東行，前往上都謁見，但不肯接受冊封與賞賜，亦不久留。由於《元史》沒有記載他曾到訪，一直以來有認為根本是他杜撰，但2009年在北京發現他當年命人刻板的《時輪攝略經》，篇末附有他寫的跋，始證明他確曾到過元都。

他和弟子著述頗多，包括內容豐富精彩的自傳、有關其獨門教法的法本、他去世後弟子為他寫的傳記等，是研究十三世紀藏地以至北印的寶貴文獻。可惜絕大部分都封存於各寺院之藏經閣，拉薩哲蚌寺收藏尤豐，但已列為聖物，不得窺探。七百年來他的獨門密法被零散收入其他派系，不復獨立存在。當年藏地政治與宗教派系紛爭極為複雜與激烈，加上他桀骜不群而屢屢樹敵，其嫡系未能流傳，總有原因。

弟子為他寫的傳記，其中只有一部有緣於1997年輯印成書，但印行極少，旋即絕版。機緣巧合，2008年我在英國牛津得到此書，翌年夏天再親到拉薩取經，以無比誠懇和耐性，並通過有心人襄助，取得另外多個長短與內容不盡相同的傳記版本（影印本數碼檔案），成為我的博士論文A critical study of the life of the 13th-century Tibetan monk U rgyan pa Rin chen dpal based on his biographies的文本根據。

鄔堅巴一生極富傳奇，他的傳記內容，為研究十三世紀西藏和周邊地區的政治、宗教、經濟、地理、交通史等，提供了很寶貴的資料，補充了很多不足，甚至空白 。


(李惠玲 Brenda Li , 牛津大學西藏及喜馬拉雅研究博士, D.Phil.,Tibetan and Himalayan Studies, Oxford University/ 香港中文大學西藏語文導師)