h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Sherlock Holmes Part I - the Character - A2570825
Author: Danny B. [Musicians' Guild (U150368)] - U182633

The recent collaborative Entry on Sherlock Holmes sort of... grew a bit...

So, this is the first part, about the character of Holmes and the other characters in the stories.

Part II will follow shortly.

As always, many thanks to all those who contributed to the conversations on which the Entries are based

I have to admit that I didn't contribute because I've not read the books . Just a couple of nits..

The picture's going to be removed in the editing process anyway.. well one nit actually : Good work

The picture was created specifically for this Entry and, if previous talking points are anything to go by, will be kept. I'll leave it to Jimster to rule on that one though!

I thought so, as it fits so well, but for some reason I can't remember the talking point.

I need to get out less..

Sorry I didn't spot this when this was being put together, but regarding roying's Zen section:

'There has been mention in his novels of Holmes's special interest in the study of Buddhism of Ceylon (Hinayana).'

It would probably be advisable to note that Ceylon has been Sri Lanka apparently for some time ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceylon ); presumably the old name is the one used in the books, but it wasn't familiar to me. Also, I don't think having the word Hinayana there is really necessary, but if you want to keep it you'd better say what it means, since it doesn't specifically mean 'Sri Lankan Buddhism'. It refers to the 'traditional' school of Buddhism, which calls itself Theravada ('school of the elders', I think) but is referred to by members of the Mahayana ('great vehicle' -- the schools that split off from Theravada Buddhism) schools as Hinayana ('lesser vehicle'), a rather derogatory but commonly used term. As I recall the Pali Canon (the canonical texts of the Theravada tradition) was the version of the Buddhist teachings preserved and recorded in Sri Lanka, so in this sense Theravada Buddhism can be called Sri Lankan -- but that's hardly a straightforward sense, and it remains the case that not all Theravadins are Sri Lankan.

'The word Zen comes from the Japanese word Zenna meaning 'quiet mind concentration'.'

The etymology I encountered while studying Buddhism at A-Level was: Zen (meditation, Zen Buddhism) in Japanese, from Cha'n (meditation, Zen/Cha'n Buddhism) in Chinese, in turn from Dhyana (meditation) in Sanskrit. Two online Japanese dictionaries, one of which includes a special dictionary of Buddhist terms, produced only one, quite different definition for Zenna:

http://www.solon.org/cgi-bin/j-e/sjis/dosearch?sDict=on&sBud=on&H=PS&L=J&T=zenna&WC=none
http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/jwb/wwwjdic?1E

One more thing: Zen isn't Sri Lankan; in fact, it's Mahayana, not Theravada/Hinayana.

Fantastic, Danny. Very happy with this, and its little sibling.

RFJS - I've updated the Buddhism section to deal with your points (actually, I just deleted the offending statements - I don't think the Entry losing anything by that). It might be worth your checking it again though. I just copied and pasted roying's text more-or-less in its entirety, as it's not something I know anything about!

Jimster - thanks!

I think it really needs to be looked at by someone who knows about both Buddhism and the books, and can work out how much of that section is directly based on the novels and how much is roying's interpretation. No offence to roying, but if 'Eastern Mysticism and Quantum' is anything to go by there's quite a risk of there being a theoretical superstructure here. Unfortunately I don't know what references to Buddhism are in the books, so I can't tell how much of a superstructure there is.

Your Guide Entry has just been picked from Peer Review by one of our Scouts, and is now heading off into the Editorial Process, which ends with publication in the Edited Guide. We've therefore moved this Review Conversation out of Peer Review and to the entry itself.

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Thanks everyone!