Two Precious Scroll Narratives of Guanyin and Her ... - Khamkoo

Acknowledgments
My interest in the rich vernacular literature on the bodhisattva
Guanyin was first aroused by the publications of Glen Dudbridge,
but I only started to pursue this topic in more detail when Mark
Meulenbeld decided to devote his MA thesis to a novel on Guanyin
from the early years of the twentieth century. Because of our
discussions I was stimulated first to read and then to translate The
Precious Scroll of Incense Mountain, first into Dutch, and later into
English.
After I moved from Leiden to Harvard, I twice co-taught a class
on Buddhist bianwen with Robert Gimello. I learned a lot from
him in this way, and I hope that my enhanced understanding of
Buddhism is reflected in the current translations. Beata Grant
kindly read through the draft of the complete manuscript, which
was greatly improved by her many suggestions on matters of style
and content. I also benefited from detailed suggestions by Stephen
Teiser and Dan Stevenson. William Bodiford supplied me with the
computer font to insert all the diacritics required by publications
on Buddhist subjects.
I am very grateful to Peter Gregory and the Board of the Kuroda
Institute for their decision to publish this work in their prestigious
series. The comments and corrections of the two anonymous
readers were very helpful. It is also a pleasure to acknowledge the
efficient production of this book by University of Hawai‘i Press. A
special word of thanks is due Joanne Sandstrom for her meticulous
copyediting.
Needless to say, all remaining defects of this monograph are
purely my own.
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