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5th

Recruit: Mar. 2013
Term: Apr. 2014 ～ Mar. 2019

The Map of Hakubi Researchers.

● Bill MAK Associate Professor

Research Interests: Indology, History of Science

Research Topic: Historical transmission of Indian astral science in East and Southeast Asia

Short Introduction

Bill was born in Hong Kong and since childhood has been fascinated by astronomy. With a background in science, he received his Bachelor's degree in linguistics, specializing in Sanskrit at McGill University. His PhD thesis, submitted to Peking University, consisted of a philological analysis of an eighth century Buddhist commentary utilizing Sanskrit manuscripts. Bill specializes in deciphering ancient Sanskrit and Chinese texts related to astral science, and is interested in how this once esteemed body of prescientific knowledge disseminated and flourished throughout Asia while Europe was in its so-called "Dark Ages". Bill's research examines how ideas are transmitted and transformed across cultures and other kinds of boundaries. Specific topics include the observation of planetary motion, the conception of pseudoplanets and the hybridization of horoscopy.

Latest News

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The Hakubi Project

Members

5th

● Bill MAK Associate Professor

Short Introduction

Latest News

Associate Professor Bill Mak gave a talk at Biennial Conference of the European Society for the History of Science.

Associate Professor Bill Mak gave a talk at Eurasian Connections - Annual Conference of the Center for Global Asia.

Associate Professor Bill Mak gave a talk at The 17th World Sanskrit Conference.

Bill Mak published a paper titled “The First Two Chapters of Mīnarāja’s Vṛddhayavanajātaka” in Zinbun, Vol 48, pp. 1-31 (March, 2018).

Bill Mak delivered a paper titled “Garga and the Astronomical Chapters of the Gārgīyajyotiṣa” at the 228th meeting of the American Oriental Society, Pittsburgh, U.S.(March 17, 2018).

Bill Mak published a paper titled “Tithikarmaguṇa in Gārgīyajyotiṣa – Tithi worship according to a number of early sources” in Journal of Indian and Buddhist Studies, Vol 66, No.3, pp. 985-991(March 2018).

Bill Mak et al published a paper titled “Garga and early astral science in India” in History of Science in South Asia, Vol 5, p151–191 (December 22, 2017).

Bill Mak gave a talk on “Sanskrit inscriptions and manuscripts in Yunnan, a preliminary survey”, at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Division of Humanities, Hong Kong, China (August 30, 2017).

Bill Mak delivered the "Inaugural Otto Neugebauer Lecture in the History of the Exact Sciences in Antiquity”titled “Transmission of Greco-Babylonian planetary science and horoscopy in India and China” at Brown University, Providence, U.S. (May 2, 2017).

Bill Mak delivered public lectures in universities:"Magical science of the West: Foreign astronomy and astrology in Tang China" Temple University, Philadelphia, U.S. November 11, 2016.

Bill Mak delivered public lectures in universities:"Monks and magic: Greek and Indian astral divination in Tang China" University California Riverside, U.S. November 28, 2016.

Bill Mak delivered public lectures in universities:"Foreign astrology in disguise: Sources and transmission of Amoghavajra’s Xiuyao jing宿曜經" SOAS, London, U.K. December 9, 2016.

Bill Mak delivered public lectures in universities:"Fanyu qianziwen梵語千字文 and Chinese-Sanskrit lexicons.” Working group “Thinking in Many Tongues,” Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte. Berlin, Germany. December 14, 2016.

Bill Mak published a book chapter titled "Matching Stellar Ideas to the Stars: Remarks on the Translation of Indian jyotiṣa in the Chinese Buddhist Canon” in Cross-Cultural Transmission of Buddhist Texts: Theories and Practices of Translation.

Bill Mak gave a talk titled "Fanyu qianziwen梵語千字文 and Chinese-Sanskrit lexicons" at the working group "Thinking in Many Tongues," at the Max-Planck-Institut fur Wissenschaftsgeschichte. Berlin, Germany. December 14, 2016.

Bill Mak gave a talk titled "Foreign astrology in disguise: Sources and transmission of Amoghavajra’s Xiuyaojing宿曜經" at the SOAS, London, U.K. December 9, 2016.

Bill Mak gave a talk titled "Monks and magic: Greek and Indian astral divination in Tang China" at the University California Riverside, U.S. November 28, 2016.

Bill Mak gave a talk titled "Magical science of the West: Foreign astronomy and astrology in Tang China" at the Temple University, Philadelphia, U.S. November 11, 2016.

Bill Mak published a book chapter titled "Matching Stellar Ideas to the Stars: Remarks on the Translation of Indian jyotiṣa in the Chinese Buddhist Canon” in Cross-Cultural Transmission of Buddhist Texts: Theories and Practices of Translation.

Research on Yunnan Sanskrit inscription conducted by Bill Mak and Christophe Vielle (Université catholique de Louvain) was featured in the newspaper magazine "La Libre" (5th of May) in Belgium.

A lecture titled "Sacred Indian Script in Buddhist Asia" (Oriental Lecture Series 2016) by Bill Mak will be held on May 5, 2016 at Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium. For more information, please visit the website (https://www.uclouvain.be/580860.html).

A lecture titled "Buddhist Astral Science in Asia - Origins, development and current practice" (4th Lecture series on Indology 2016) by Bill Mak will be held on April 29, 2016 at Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand.

Bill Mak gave a talk on "Astral Science from the Near East to China in the late first millennium AD" at SEAC (Société Européenne pour l'Astronomie dans la Culture) 2015 Annual Conference (November 9, 2015, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy).

Bill Mak published "The Career of Utsuki Nishū in Hong Kong during the Japanese Occupation Period (1941–1945)”in Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch.

Bill Mak published " The Transmission of Buddhist Astral Science from India to East Asia : The Central Asian Connection" in Historia Scientiarum.

Bill Mak gave a paper on "The astronomical knowledge of the Buddha, sages and foreigners - The Question of Authority in Buddhist Astral Science in South and East Asia" at the Twelfth Biennial History of Astronomy Workshop, University of Notre Dame (Jun 24, 2015, South Bend, IN, United States).

Bill Mak gave a paper on "Lingvo-lernado kaj Esperanto: Pragmataj kaj Idealismaj Lecionoj pri Homa Diverseco de Umesao Tadao" at the 6th public lecture in commemoration of the "Esperanto Day", Esperanto-Domo (Jun 21, 2015, Tokyo, Japan).

Bill Mak gave a paper on "Greek Astral Science in China: Nestorians, Perso-Arabs, and the Jesuits" and organized a panel titled “Overlapping cosmologies and cosmographies in pre-modern Asia” at the 19th Asian Studies Conference Japan, Meiji Gakuin University (Jun 20, 2015, Tokyo, Japan).

Bill M. Mak gave a presentation on "Ritualistic cyclicity in Indo-Greek astral science – expressions for various modes of time measurement in the Yavanajātaka" at the Workshop on Astral sciences, Mathematics and Rituals.

Bill Mak published "Yusi Jing - A treatise of 'Western' astral science in Chinese and its versified version Xitian yusi jing" in SCIAMVS.

Bill M. Mak gave a presentation titled "Tetrablibos, Yavanajātaka and Yusi jing -- The Transmission of Indo-Greco Astral Science from the "West" to East Asia" at the Third Indological and Buddhological Conference, Chinese Academy of Social Science, Beijing, China, on 17 October, 2014.