Vasily Pavlovich Vasilyev or Wassiljew (Василий Павлович Васильев; 1818-1900) was the preeminent Russian Sinologist of the 19th Century. Vasiliev was born in

Nizhny Novgorod Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət ), colloquially shortened to Nizhny, from the 13th to the 17th century Novgorod of the Lower Land, formerly known as Gork ...

and entered the Oriental department of the

Kazan University Kazan (Volga region) Federal University (russian: Казанский (Приволжский) федеральный университет, tt-Cyrl, Казан (Идел буе) федераль университеты) is a public research uni ...

in 1834. It was the first school of

Oriental studies Oriental studies is the academic field that studies Near Eastern and Far Eastern societies and cultures, languages, peoples, history and archaeology. In recent years, the subject has often been turned into the newer terms of Middle Eastern studi ...

in Russia. During a ten years' residence at the Peking Orthodox Mission (1840-50) Vasiliev was able to study a number of obscure

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

manuscripts. Back in Russia in 1850, he was offered the chair in Chinese philology at the university of Kazan. He was elected into the

Petersburg Academy of Sciences The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; russian: Росси́йская акаде́мия нау́к (РАН) ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across t ...

in 1886 and was in charge of the Department of Oriental Studies at the

University of St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg State University (SPBU; russian: Санкт-Петербургский государственный университет) is a public university, public research university in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Founded in 1724 by a de ...

between 1878 and 1893. Vasiliev's

magnum opus A masterpiece, ''magnum opus'' (), or ''chef-d’œuvre'' (; ; ) in modern use is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, ...

is a three-volume history of Buddhism (1857, 1860, 1865). The first volume was quickly translated into German and French. Another important work, ''Islam in China'', did not appear in English until 1958.Translated into English by R. Lowenthal, Library of Congress, Washington, DC, 1958. Some of Vasiliev's most ambitious works remained unpublished and were destroyed through the negligence of his domestics. His grandson

Nicolai A. Vasiliev Nicolai Alexandrovich Vasiliev (russian: Николай Александрович Васильев), also Vasil'ev, Vassilieff, Wassilieff (December 31, 1940), was a Russian logician, philosopher, psychologist, poet. He was a forerunner of Paracons ...

(1880-1940) was a noted logician.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vasiliev, Vasily 1818 births 1900 deaths Writers from Nizhny Novgorod People from Nizhny Novgorod Governorate Russian sinologists Russian scholars of Buddhism Full members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences Kazan Federal University faculty