Peter Romaskiewicz, PhD

数字藏经洞 数字藏经洞网站是数字敦煌团队基于莫高窟第17窟的文物内容的数字化收集、采集、加工及广大敦煌学的研究基础上开发，面向全球公众的藏经洞文物全球共享科普研究平台。网站集文物数字化、数据智能加工、资源共享共建、藏经洞文献研究等功能为一体，将莫高窟第17窟精彩纷呈，仿若一座图书馆的浩瀚历史文物内容在数字世界中全新呈现

Dunhuang Digital Library Cave Database 数字藏经洞
cave17.e-dunhuang.com

The disappearance of the unclear question AI speeds up research, but without friction, do students lose the deep thinking that turns bad questions into meaningful learning?

"In many fields of study, including literature, philosophy, and the humanities more broadly, ambiguity is not a problem to be solved. It is a resource for continuous critical thinking, renegotiating arguments, and reflection." Co-written w/ @jeppestricker.bsky.social
www.unesco.org/en/articles/...

Pakistan committed to preserve Gandhara Civilization: Asim Pakistan committed to preserve Gandhara Civilization: Asim

The exhibition showcased 39 rare artifacts from the Gandhara and Indus Valley civilizations, all recovered and repatriated to Pakistan through the efforts of the Manhattan District Attorney's Antiquities Trafficking Unit.

www.radio.gov.pk/24-05-2025/p...

This unexpected image of Kannon / Avalokiteśvara continued to be re-used well into the 19th century, having a life-span of nearly 200 years.
For example, we also see it a Picturesque Trip around the World (Viaje pintoresco alrededor del mundo) from 1841.

12th century manuscript leaf depicting St. John and Philadelphia - one of the Seven Churches of Asia. Originally from the monastery of San Pedro de Cardena at Burgos in Spain, the manuscript is now part of the collections at the Met in New York. 📷 My own. #ManuscriptMonday

TIbetan manuscript with large lotus in color in center middle of page.

Black ink lotus between two sections of Tibetan manuscript

The lotuses in this 9th or 10th-century Tibetan manuscript from Dunhuang mark the end of a section and represent a relatively early example of Tibetan illuminated manuscripts. Most lotuses are in black ink, but at least one is in color.
#ManuscriptMonday gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/b...

Image shows a (most likely) plaster seated buddha resting on fake grass for a miniature golf hole. His robe is painted bright ruby red with a high gloss finish. His skin is painted gold. Let's just say his face does not follow the standard proportions of Buddhist iconography.

Buddha Hole at Wacky Golf, North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

From Library of Congress' John Margolies Roadside America Collection - "one of the most comprehensive documentary studies of vernacular commercial structures along main streets, byways, and highways throughout the United States."

Posted 99 objects with 99 stories so far @buddhasinthewest.bsky.social ...#100 coming Monday. 🙌

Thank you to everyone supporting this...wildly experimental project. Updated archive of all 99 posts can be found here: tinyurl.com/4kmcwp87

...early *20th century / late* Victorian era photographs.

Sherab Gyatso, the head of Yiga Choeling Monastery, can be found in several early Victorian era photographs depicting Tibetan Buddhism.

Here's a staged photo from the Journey to Lhasa and Central Tibet in 1902, he's seated in the center.

Stereoviews are two photographs taken from slightly different angles, thus when viewed properly provide an illusion of depth.

James Ricalton, "Buddhist Priest and Scholar," 1903

An update to my map San Francisco Chinatown temples before the 1906 earthquake and fire. 🗃️

💥 25 locations (inc. district assoc., sec. societies, guilds)
💥 40+ photos & illustrations of shrine halls & building exteriors

🗺️ tinyurl.com/yv5z2pxa

Agreed. I've also used the "Argument Clinic" sketch to start discussion about sound argumentation. "You vacuous toffee-nosed malodorous pervert." 😆

@bokane.org Link fixed! 🙏

An update to my map San Francisco Chinatown temples before the 1906 earthquake and fire. 🗃️

💥 25 locations (inc. district assoc., sec. societies, guilds)
💥 40+ photos & illustrations of shrine halls & building exteriors

🗺️ tinyurl.com/yv5z2pxa

Whoops! 😜

Yet again a big "meta-analysis" of the effects of ChatGPT on "learning performance" - largely arguing there are big positive effects - is getting wildly and uncritically promoted by the usual big names and yet again it appears to be a review of seriously bad science...

One of many wonderful full-page watercolour illustrations in a 16th-century edition of Pedanius Dioscorides’s work on herbal medicine, De Materia Medica (ca. 80 AD). More here: publicdomainreview.org/collection/w...

That Daruma “egg” is great! Some quality thrifting opportunities @secondhandsacred.bsky.social!

Auction of ancient Indian gems ‘imbued with presence of Buddha’ condemned Sotheby’s sale of Piprahwa gems, excavated after burial with Buddha’s remains, denounced as perpetuating colonial violence

Auction by Sotheby's of ancient Indian gems ‘imbued with presence of Buddha’ condemned
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...

Auctioning the Buddha's relics is perpetuating colonial violence (RNS) — For the Buddhists who deposited these relics — as for Buddhists today — the gems, bone and ash all belong to the Buddha and shouldn’t just be sold to the highest bidder.

Sotheby's is about to auction off remains of the Buddha taken by colonial officials from India in 1898. "For the Buddhists who deposited them-as for Buddhists today-the gems, & his bone & ash, all belong to the Buddha & shouldn’t just be sold to the highest bidder." religionnews.com/2025/04/22/a...

The Museum of Applied Arts in Vienna has a large portfolio of Wilmhelm Burger's photographs c. 1870, including this alternative photo of the Daibutsu.

sammlung.mak.at/en/collect/j...

Ode de la méditation
Ru Xiaofan 茹小凡

ruxiaofan.com/ode-de-la-me...

Was Carl Linnaeus Bad at Drawing? - JSTOR Daily Linnaeus has often been thought of as a poor artist, but visualization was a core element of his analytical tool set.

Historians have debated if Carl Linnaeus was bad at drawing, and how much he valued illustration. But Linnaeus used illustration and visual thinking at every stage in his career, even if some of his own sketches were a little... rough-and-ready.

daily.jstor.org/was-carl-lin...

#histsci #biology 🗃️

How Photography From the Vietnam War Changed America (Gift Article) The images changed how the world saw Vietnam, but especially how Americans saw their country, soldiers and the war itself, which ended 50 years ago this month.

A truly brilliant feature worth your time and attention. Gift article: Damien Cave (@damiencave.bsky.social), "How Photography From the Vietnam War Changed America" (NYT; #skystorians, #photography) www.nytimes.com/2025/04/29/w...

Staging the East: Orientalist Photography in Chicago Collections | Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures A Special Exhibition at the ISAC Museum

Staging the East: Orientalist Photography in Chicago Collections

isac.uchicago.edu/stagingtheea...

John Doe Chinaman — Harvard University Press A revelatory history of the laws that conditioned the everyday lives of Chinese people in the American West—and of those who negotiated, circumvented, and resisted discrimination.Legal discrimination ...

My next book. Out in September!
@harvardpress.bsky.social
www.hup.harvard.edu/books/978067...

Notably, some of the earliest photographs of the Kamakura Daibutsu from the 1860s show people climbing into its lap. 🪜

collections.mfa.org/objects/528566

A new documentary checks out the many ways libraries are a 'Free For All' By examining the value of libraries in the distant and recent past, this PBS film makes a compelling case for the importance of the American public library system today.

On PBS from today 📚 📜:

Can you learn about Japan’s history and culture from pamphlets? Sheet music? Postcards? 🏣 Revisit our #NCCSpotlight by Joanne Bernardi (University of Rochester) to discover some of the fascinating modern Japanese ephemera her Re-Envisioning Japan project explores! guides.nccjapan.org/homepage/new...