Chinese Buddhism

Shengyu from Wang Daiyu's Xizhen Zhengda

by Leopold Eisenlohr

Notes to the Shengyu from Xizhen Zhengda

by Leopold Eisenlohr

Seeking Islam and the Buddhist Heterodox in Wang Daiyu's Xizhen Zhengda

by Leopold Eisenlohr

Taming Tigers in Medieval Chinese Buddhism (in Chinese)

by Huaiyu Chen

Taipei: Institute of Chinese Literature and Philosophy, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan, 2012.

Institutionalizing Modern "Religion" in China's Buddhism: Political Phases of a Local Revival

by David Wank

In Making Religion, Making the State: The Politics of Religion in Modern China. Coedited with Yoshiko Ashiwa, pp. 126-150. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2009.
Final preproduction draft

Making Religion, Making the State in Modern China: An Introductory Essay

by David Wank

Co-authored with Yoshiko Ashiwa. In Making Religion, Making the State: The Politics of Religion in Modern China. Coedited with Yoshiko Ashiwa, pp. 1-21. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2009.
Final preproduction draft

Interview with Abbot Yi Chen of Zhenru Monastery, Jiangxi Province, China, 1987

by James Mitchell

The Buddhist re-interpretation of the legends surrounding King Mu of Zhou

by Thomas Jülch

Journal of the American Oriental Society, vol. 130(4), 2011. pp. 625-627.

両界曼荼羅

by Pierre Bonneels

Review of Performing the Visual: The Practice of Buddhist Wall Painting in China and Central Asia, 618–960 (Sarah Fraser. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2003)

by D. Neil Schmid

Review of Performing the Visual: The Practice of Buddhist Wall Painting in China and Central Asia, 618-960 (2004), by Sarah Fraser. History of Religions, Spring 2007, pp. 175-178

Mixing Metaphors: Translating the Indian Medical Doctrine Tridoṣa in Chinese Buddhist Sources

by Pierce Salguero

2010–11, "Mixing Metaphors: Translating the Indian Medical Doctrine Tridoṣa in Chinese Buddhist Sources," Asian Medicine: Tradition and Modernity 6: 55–74.

What constitutes success in the translation of a medical doctrine? Scholars have long thought that Chinese translators... more What constitutes success in the translation of a medical doctrine? Scholars have long thought that Chinese translators failed to understand or to transmit faithfully the Indian medical terminology they encountered within the Buddhist Tripitaka. This paper takes a closer look at the variations in the translation of the doctrine tridosạ in Chinese. I argue that translation inconsis- tencies reflect not confusion, but a range of strategic translation decisions. While some translators prioritised closer fidelity to Sanskrit originals, most chose to emphasise the compatibility between Indian and Chinese medical thought by glossing the tridosạ with terms that were loaded with indigenous metaphorical connotations. In a rereading of one such passage, I show that understanding so-called errors as translation tactics allows historical analysis to move beyond a limited focus on the accuracy of translations and to instead explore the cultural resonances and social logics of translated texts in their historical context.

'A Flock of Ghosts Bursting Forth and Scattering': Healing Narratives in a Sixth-Century Chinese Buddhist Hagiography

by Pierce Salguero

2010, "'A Flock of Ghosts Bursting Forth and Scattering': Healing Narratives in a Sixth-Century Chinese Buddhist Hagiography," East Asian Science Technology & Medicine (EASTM) 32: 89–120.

The Buddhist Medicine King in Literary Context: Reconsidering an Early Medieval Example of Indian influence on Chinese Medicine and Surgery

by Pierce Salguero

2009, "The Buddhist Medicine King in Literary Context: Reconsidering an Early Medieval Example of Indian influence on Chinese Medicine and Surgery," History of Religions 48 (3): 183-210.

Historians long have considered the biography of Jīvaka, the Buddhist “Medicine King” (Ch. Qiyu or Qipo) to be an... more Historians long have considered the biography of Jīvaka, the Buddhist “Medicine King” (Ch. Qiyu or Qipo) to be an important example of the introduction of Indian medicine to China. This article challenges such claims by reappraising the authorship, dating, and genre of the hagiography, and by prioritizing local processes of cultural translation in the reception of Indian religion and medicine. In Chinese translation, the Medicine King was recreated as a model Chinese physician and as the founder of a Buddhist medical lineage that could rival the classical medical tradition. The text also mobilized language from popular literature to transform the Medicine King into a familiar figure from the medieval anomaly tale genre: the miracle-healing wonder-worker. The purpose of the text was not medical but hagiographic. Employing both classical frames of medical authority and popular literary conventions, the text demonstrates the importance of medical hagiography to Buddhist proselytism and legitimation in China. Claims for the Medicine King’s supremacy and efficacy, by extension also applied to those who invoked his name, leading Buddhists to adopt Jīvaka as a source of authority for a wide range of medical activity throughout the medieval period.

最澄所引の賓法師『融文』について

by Shigeki Moro

On the Yū-mon融文of Pin Fa-shih賓法師 quoted by Saichō 最澄
Bulletin of the Graduate School, Toyo University, 34. Feb., 1998, pp. 153-171.

The Shugo-kokkai-shō 守護国界章 (abr. Shugo-shō) written by Saichō最澄, a founder of the Japanese Tendai School, is the most... more The Shugo-kokkai-shō 守護国界章 (abr. Shugo-shō) written by Saichō最澄, a founder of the Japanese Tendai School, is the most comprehensive work on the debates between Saichō and a Hossō monk Tokuitsu 徳一. The Yū-mon融文 is one of numerous quotations of the Shugo-shō, and its correct name seems to be the Joshō-hokke-yū-mon-shū助照法華融文集atrributed to Pin Fa-shih賓法師.
In Saichō’s texts, Pin Fa-shih took rank with Ling-jun霊潤and Fa-pao法宝 of the Nieh-p’an涅槃 school (Mahāparinirvāņa-sūtra school) and other scholars of one-vehicle sects, so that his identity might be Ting-pin定賓 of the Hsiang-pu相部sect of the Lü-tsung律宗 (Vinaya school). Ting-pin also studied the one-vehicle sūtras (e.g. the Lotus-sūtra, Mahāparinirvāņa-sūtra, Tathāgatagarbha-sūtra etc.) and translations by Hsüan-tsang玄奘 (e.g. Yogācāra-bhūmi, Vijñaptimātratāsiddhi, Nyāyapraveśaka etc.).
The Yū-mon arranged the two variations of four noble truths (Catuh-satya) in order of the wheels of Doctrine. It is similar to Fa-pao’s order to make a strict distinction between before the Samdinirmocana-sutra and after the Lotus-sutra.
According to other Pin Fa-shih’s quotations of the Saicho’s works, natural arhats (jōshō-shōmon定性声聞) and natural pratyekabuddhas (jōshō-dokkaku定性独覚) could become Buddhas even after they had realized their Hīnayāna goals.

玄奘の唯識比量と新羅仏教 日本の文献を中心に

by Shigeki Moro

Xuanzang’s Inference and Silla Buddhism: Focusing on Japanese Texts

According to his biographies, Xuanzang 玄奘 (602-664) wrote several texts in India. Although we cannot read them since... more According to his biographies, Xuanzang 玄奘 (602-664) wrote several texts in India. Although we cannot read them since they have not been preserved, a part of their contents could be gathered from several texts. Yinmin-ruzhengli-lun-shu 因明入正理論疏 (Commentary on Nyāya-praveśa) written by Ji 基 (632-682) says that Xuanzang made an inference to prove the truth of Yogācāra.
The similarity between this inference and Bhāvaviveka’s (c. 490-570) method of logic has been pointed out from Xuanzang’s lifetime until now. One of the features of Bhāvaviveka’s logic is the restriction “in the ultimate reality” which Xuanzang also uses in his inference. Bhāvaviveka has been criticized by the Faxiang / Hossō school, since he has been regarded as a master of the Mādhyamika school. Therefore, just after Xuanzang how to interpret his inference was in chaos in East Asia.
Hajime Nakamura regards Silla Buddhists’ interpretations of Xuanzang’s inference as what shows a characteristic of the way of thinking of the Korean. Comparing with the invention of Hangul, he states that Silla Buddhists’ interpretations show the rationalism of Korean people. In this paper, I would like to critically examine Nakamura’s hypothesis by considering the feature and uniqueness of Silla Buddhists’ interpretations of Xuanzang’s inference.
In the second section of this paper I overview Silla Buddhists’ reputations of Bhāvaviveka’s inference in Dasheng zhangzhen lun 大乗掌珍論. Zenju’s 善珠 Yuishiki bun ryou ketsu 唯識分量決 states that Weonhyo 元曉 and Sinbang 神昉 regard Bhāvaviveka’s inference as same as Dharmapala’s inference, although Dojeung 道証 and Gyeongheung 憬興 don’t. Moreover, according to Daehyeon’s 大賢 Seong yusing non hakgi 成唯識論學記, Weonhyo and Sungyeong 順憬 claims that Bhāvaviveka and Dharmapala did not make any essential discussion.
In the third part I examine Silla Buddhists’ interpretations of Xuanzang’s Yogacara inference. Weonhyo interprets the inference as no errors although pointing out the error of the inference. Sungyeong’s standpoint seems very much alike to Weonhyo’s, since he was regarded as a messenger of Weonhyo’s interpretation. However, Nakamura thinks highly of them as critics of Xuanzang. On the other hand, Daehyeon criticizes Weonhyo and other old scholars such as Ji based on Gyeongheung and Dojeung, and shows another interpretation which also supports Xuanzang.
Comparing these two groups, the former seems to interpret Xuanzang’s inference based only on the system of the Buddhist logic (因明), the later regards it as a problem of Yogācāra thought considering beyond the scope of the Buddhist logic. It should be noted that the members of these two groups are similar to those of Bhāvaviveka’s inference. Consequently, Nakamura had one-sided view in thinking that the rationalism was the feature of Silla Buddhism based only on Weonhyo and Sungyeon. Conversely, in my opinion, the diversity of interpretations should be regarded as a characteristic of Silla Buddhism.

相部律宗定賓の行状・思想とその日本への影響--『四分律疏飾宗義記』 に見える仏身論を中心に

by Shigeki Moro

From Calendarical Animals to Demonic Beasts: Changing Images of the Twelve Zodiac Animals in Medieval Chinese Buddhist Literature (in Chinese)

by Huaiyu Chen

7.7. “From Calendarical Animals to Demonic Beasts: Changing Images of the Twelve Zodiac Animals in Medieval Chinese Buddhist Literature.” Journal of Tang Studies (Tang yanjiu) vol. 13 (Beijing, 2007), pp. 301-345. 《從十二時獸到十二精魅：南北朝隋唐佛教文獻中的十二生肖》，《唐研究》13，2007年, 頁301-345。

When Cosmopolitanisms Intersect: An Early Chinese Buddhist Apologetic and World Literature

by Alexander Beecroft

Coming Soon! COMPARATIVE LITERATURE STUDIES Volume 47, Number 3, 2009

Purifying Words: The Rhetorical Aspects of Spiritual Environmentalism

by Seth Clippard

Studies of Master Sheng Yen, volume 2. 75-111. Taipei: Fagu wenhua, 2011.

Review of The Two Truths in Chinese Buddhism, by Chang-Qing Shih

by Burkhard Scherer

Buddhist Studies Review 2006.1, pp. 134-137.