The Vimalakīrtinirdeśa Commentary [T1775] by Sengzhao et alii and the Chinese Conquest of Buddhism
Year: 2019
Type: dissertation
Abstract: The arising of a new awareness: from geyi 格義 to textual study By the time he moved to Chang'an Dao'an was already deeply aware of the pitfalls and shortcomings of the earlier exegetical techniques aiming at making sense of the often obscure and even abstruse Buddhist texts in Chinese translation such as the "matching concepts" (geyi 格 義).This expedient consisted in "correlating the enumerations of items (shishu 事數) 98 in the sūtras with [comparable lists of notions found in] non-Buddhist writings for the purpose of generating understanding" 99 .Dao'an had learned this approach from Zhu Faya 竺法雅 (1 st half 4 th cent.) 100 between 335 and 348 101 while residing in Ye 鄴 (near Linzhang 臨漳, in Southern 95 昔晉氏平吳，利在二陸。今破漢南，獲士裁一人有半耳 (Xi Zuochi's biography 習鑿齒傳, in Jin Shu 晉書 vol.82).This fact is differently reported in Dao'an's biography in Gaoseng zhuan [T2059]: "[Dao]an and [the Jin commander and governor of the Jin 晉 fortress of Xiang Yang 襄陽] Zhu Xu were both captured by [Fu] Jian.[Fu] Jian said to the vice director of the Department of State Affairs Quan Yi: 'I took [the city of] Xiangyang employing a hundred thousand divisions and I only obtained a man and a half.[Quan] Yi asked: 'Whom?' Jian replied 'The one man is Dao'an, while Xi Zuochi is the half man'" 「安與朱序俱獲於堅。堅謂僕射權翼曰："朕以十萬之師取 襄陽，唯得一人半。"翼曰："誰耶？"堅曰："安公一人，習鑿齒半人也。"」(vol.5, p. 352, c25-28) 96 The best account of Dao'an and his equipe's translation activity in Chang'an is found in Palumbo's study on the translation of the Ekottarikāgama 增一阿含經 and its commentary, the Fenbie gongde lun 分別功德論 (Palumbo, 2013).See also Ren Jiyu 1985, p. 181 and Tang Yongtong 2000, vol. 1, p. 167.For a historical study on Fu Jian and his rule see Rogers 1968.97 This new phase is described by Zürcher as follows: "[...] a new chapter in the history of Northern Buddhism [...] characterized by a renewed influx of missionaries, scriptures and ideas from Central Asia and India, huge translation projects, state patronage and supervision, and the emergence of a body of scriptural and scholastic literature (Hīnayāna and Mahāyāna) together with a new method of exegesis and a new translation technique" (Zürcher 2007, p. 114) 98 The term shishu 事數 is used in Shishuo xinyu , Wenxue 59 (cf.Yu Jiaxi 1993, p. 210) and clearly explained in
Author: Giacomo Baggio
Language: English
Topic: Indian and Buddhist Studies
Subfield: Religious studies
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2971551375