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新一年，決心多用中文寫作。

過去寫作，不管是個人創作，工作書信，還是學術文章，都以英文居多。去年簽了兩本中文書的稿約，還有社科院《小品般若》梵漢對勘本，拖延了近十年，看來不可以再耽誤。日後中文出書的機會預計不少，所以一定要把中文寫得順暢。慚愧的說，我的日語，甚至世界語的文章，比中文的還要多。這幾年在書院裡改不少中文卷，學生的文筆比我的好，我倒要向他們學習。

除此之外，還有什麼願望？

學術著作方面，當然Routledge的那本書一定要上半年內完成。已經逾期一年多，本來預算在劍橋定稿，疫情爆發給我添了一個延誤的藉口。其他幾個項目，已接近完成，成果指日可待。Brill的「古代東亞宇宙觀」論文集上月最後定稿，預算四月出版，內容質量我還算滿意，合編者Eric功不可沒，從編輯、修改，到索引，整個過程都十分細心，一個近七年的跨國跨學科的研究項目，從日本開始、途徑德、美、英多國，最後回到香港，總算劃上句號。

SCIAMVS一比較長的文章，今天主編又催稿了。這篇文章的靈感，來自2013年跟矢野教授的一場對話，當時矢野教授提及到他的一位學生杉田女士，年紀要比教授大，但對印度天文學文獻的研究十分熱心，90年代時把一批梵文天文學文獻數據化並公諸於世，回饋學界。杉田女士當時打算修讀博士課程，遺憾丈夫突然得病，無奈棄學歸家照料家人。矢野教授已經退休了，杉田的研究課題二十年來無人問津，其中涉及到有關印度Brāhmapakṣa「梵派」天文學早期天文學文獻的問題，正是現在我這篇文章的題目。幾年前離開日本前，我跟矢野教授一同到静岡探望杉田女士，眼見兩位長者都沒有繼續文獻考證的工作了，我心想我也換了老花鏡，寫本的工作必須趁著眼睛還好時完成。

2018年矢野教授和我花了幾個月的時間，先把Paitāmahasiddhānta印刷版的內容讀了一遍。接著我搜集了幾部寫本，開始進行精挍工作。其實當時比較關心的是Gargasaṃhitā(Gārgīyajyotiṣa)的校對和出版，所以Paitāmahasiddhānta做得比較慢。最後第一二章內容整理出來，2019年1月在孟買IIT大學會議時發表，同年3月又在哥本哈根大學工作坊跟其他梵文學者細讀原文，當時Martin Gansten給我提供了不少寶貴的意見。這篇文章本來打算在古代印度數學期刊Gaṇita Bhāratī刊登，後來編輯覺得數學內容不足，探討的問題主要為歷史與文獻，於是決定投稿SCIAMVS。由於過去在SCIAMVS已經投過兩次稿，程序和格式都熟悉，稿件很快就接了，並得到兩位匿名審評的認可。其中一名審評給我提供了大量意見，密密麻麻五六頁紙，涉及很多異常複雜的問題，大半年來一直抽不出時間來改稿。不過這次主編連同矢野教授也來催稿，不得不就範，上週開始馬不停蹄的改，越看越不滿意，無論如何下週一得交稿。這篇文章涉及兩位教授，Pingree和Van der Waerden近三十年對古代印度天文學源流的爭論，我拿出了新的證據，試圖提供一個最合理的結論。做得不好也算一個交待，反正梵文的精挍本出版了大家可以批評指正。

若干年後，這些早期梵文天文學的文獻需要整理出版。上月MLBD一個主編跟我聯繫，問我有沒有新作打算出版，現在先不想，關鍵是先把手上必須完成的做好後再說。

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Greek horoscope in Oxyrhynchus papyrus P. Oxy. 235. Although its content was dated to 15/22 CE by Neugebauer and Van Hoesen, the papyrus itself may be dated considerably later, possibly third century or later. Despite the question of material dating and the contradictory astronomical data as Alexander Jones has pointed out, this specimen remains nonetheless one of the oldest horoscope diagrams extant. This radial-type Greek horoscope survived in a handful of Byzantine documents, but earlier specimens translated into other languages are found preserved in Japan (as Buddhist horoscopes in Chinese) and in various Southeast Asian countries such as Myanmar, Cambodia and Thailand (as Greco-Indian horoscopes).

A sketch of this horoscope was reproduced in Neugebauer and Van Hoesen (1959). Greek Horoscope, pp. 18–19. The original photo has not been published to my knowledge. The photo here is reproduced here (courtesy of Jones from Neugebauer’s archive) from Mak, Bill. 2018. “The First Two Chapters of Mīnarāja’s Vṛddhayavanajātaka.” Zinbun 66 (48), p.7:

http://hdl.handle.net/2433/230620

More on Oxyrhynchus astronomical papyri:
Jones, Alexander. 1999. Astronomical Papyri From Oxyrhynchus : (P. Oxy. 4133-4300a). Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society.
Jones, Alexander. 2007. “Astrologers and their Astronomy.” In Oxyrhynchus: a city and its texts. London: Egypt exploration Society.

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The idea that Mars is not just a star or a planet like others began when the 17th century Italian astronomer Giovanni Cassini discovered with his telescope the rotation period of Mars (24h 40′) similar to Earth’s, as well as its unusual surface markings. Two centuries later another Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli claimed in 1877 to have discovered a network of “canali” (channels, not canals) and seas on Mars. Inspired by Schiaparelli, American amateur astronomer Percival Lowell published a book in 1906 titled “Mars and its Canals” which won him acclaims and awards up to his death in 1916, along with some critics. Lowell claimed to have discovered over 550 canals along with “oases” which served as nodes as the planet’s irrigation system. The idea of life and civilization in Mars was so popular that Lowell’s claims went largely unchallenged in public despite no astronomers could actually observe them. His claims were disproved definitively only after the 1960s when NASA spacecrafts captured the true images of the planet.

More on Lowell and his contempories: https://qz.com/…/when-reporters-accidentally-wrote-science…/

First image: “Explore Mars Trek” from https://mars.nasa.gov/maps/

How did Lowell in 1906 see all the Martian canals and oases which never existed? And how did other scientists a century ago accept his claims despite they could not observe them?

It is amazing how our mind can make us see all kind of things. The Buddhists like to tell the story of the “rope” and the “snake”. Or inversely, not seeing things which are staring in your face, like all the holocaust denials, Nanking-massacre denials, climate change denials and the “alt-facts” these days…

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Lecture by Dr. Bill M. Mak- Associate Professor at Kyoto University

Date: Friday, November 11, 2016, 3:00 pm

Venue: Temple University, 211 Anderson Hall, 1835 N. 12th Street, Philadelphia

Details: https://events.temple.edu/magical-science-of-the-west-foreign-astronomy-and-astrology-in-china-from-the-six-dynasties-to-tang

Since the Six Dynasties, a large influx of foreigners from different parts of Eurasia brought to China exotic arts and goods, novel ideas and knowledge. Among these was the astral science of the “West”, a highly idiosyncratic body of astronomical knowledge including meteorology, metrology, calendrics, astronomical measurement, to the more arcane arts of omen reading, apotropaic magic and horoscopy. The new “astral science” of the West was drastically different from the Chinese’s and became highly sought after by the progressive rulers and elites. The legacy and impact of this early contact of the East and the West has remained largely unknown to the scholarly world until manuscripts and fragments from the Silk Road were rediscovered and compared with texts in Greek, Sanskrit, Syriac, Sogdian and other languages.

Bill M. Mak completed his linguistic training at McGill University (B.A. Hons.) specializing in Sanskrit and East Asian languages and received his Ph.D. in Indian literature and Buddhist philology from Peking University. Mak held research and teaching positions at Hamburg University, University of Hong Kong and Kyoto Sangyo University, before his current appointment as Associate Professor at Kyoto University and Visiting Research Scholar at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York University.