This presentation explores the accumulation of Indian astronomical knowledge within Chinese Buddhist scriptures and its dissemination across Chinese society through a comparative study of the Modengjia jing (Ch1 of the ZKA) and the Xiuyao jing (XYJ). The period from Ch1 of ZKA to the XYJ was a time when Buddhism was in the midst of developing and maturing within China. Ch1 of the ZKA is regarded as the first Buddhist scripture from India to including a complete account of Indian nakṣatra astrology. The XYJ is not a translation, but rather an authoritative handbook of Indian astrological knowledge taught by Amoghavajra. A detailed comparison of the contents of the two texts shows that the knowledge contained within Ch1 of the ZKA belongs to the Vedic era, and that the XYJ belongs to the post-Vedic era. Yang Jingfeng’s revision and explanation of the first fascicle of the Sutra reflects the ancient Chinese intellectuals’ acceptance, digestion, and recreation of Buddhist astronomical knowledge. His abandonment of the “Calculation of weekdays” reflects the influence of the Chinese mathematical and astronomical tradition and the calendar tradition upon his view; perhaps this is one of the reasons why China has accepted the weekday within daily life up to the modern era. Every civilization, in learning to assimilate other cultures, has a choice between foreignization and domestication, within which a tension is reflected.

The ways in which foreign astronomy was introduced into China and had an impact on local astronomy can be roughly divided into two paths: one can be called the official path, where experts in foreign astronomy and related knowledge directly entered China's official astronomical institutions and played a role in calendar revision and reform, such as the "Three Families from India" and the "Navagraha Calendar" in the Tang Dynasty; Another way, which can be called the folk route, is through the mastery of relevant astronomical knowledge by the fortune-teller or astrologer community, utilizing the demand of the lower class for astrology, therefore this knowledge could be disseminated among the people, such as the "Fu Tian Li". This presentation aims to examine the different characteristics and impacts of these two paths of foreign astronomy influencing Chinese local astronomy through the analysis of some individual cases and the excavation of details, and further explore the two different modes of integrating extraterrestrial astronomy into Chinese local culture.

Ptolemy's Almagest stands as the most influential work in the development of geocentric astronomy in the Western world. The Latin translation of the Almagest sparked an unstoppable refinement in the development of mathematical astronomy and the work was studied, debated, built upon, and subjected to tentative improvements. Likely, the most remarkable extension of Ptolemy into new territory is manifested in the Flores Almagesti of the Italian astronomer Giovanni Bianchini. Indeed, his exposition of the Almagest (composed between 1440 and 1460) contains a substantial number of innovations and demonstrates an unusual approach to mathematical astronomy, stemming from the abacus schools associated with merchant training. The work provides mathematical demonstrations that Giovanni Bianchini revisits in the rest of his scientific production and was likely left unfinished, as it only reaches the end of Book VI of the Almagest. The existing manuscripts of the Flores Almagesti include between eight and ten chapters, and it appears that the work has expanded over time, as a result of a process of simultaneous reworking and refinement of Bianchini’s mathematical astronomy across multiple works constituting his scientific output. Therefore, the Flores Almagesti is a key work for exploring the pinnacle of the reception and expansion of Ptolemy's work, the progress of mathematics in the West intertwined with the merchant tradition, and constitutes an exceptional example for exploring the bond between astronomical practices and underlying textual practices.

Prof Glen Van Brummelen
Trinity Western University