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《華林國際佛學學刊》第一卷‧第一期(2018):61–88; https://dx.doi.org/10.6939/HIJBS.201804_1(1).0003
(本文屬於專刊《佛教在西方》

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歷史的轉向:中國佛教遊記如何改變西方對佛教的認識The Historical Turn: How Chinese Buddhist Travelogues Changed Western Perception of Buddhism

寧梵夫(Max DEEG
英國卡迪夫大學(Cardiff University, UK)

摘要(Abstract)直到19世紀初,西方關於佛教的信息充其量是殘缺與模糊的。第一批研究印度原始資料的東方學者不得不依賴於用梵文書寫的印度教文本(例如《往事書》),這些文本把佛陀描繪成印度教毗濕奴的化身。隨著喬治·特努爾(George Turnour)等學者從斯里蘭卡發現巴利語文本,以及詹姆斯·普林斯普斯(James Princeps)對阿育王銘文的解讀,使該宗教的歷史維度變得明顯,這種情況從而發生了改變。佛陀的史實性以及他所創立的宗教的最終確認,從中國佛教旅行者(法顯、玄奘、義淨)的記述中得出的,他們曾行訪過印度的重要佛教聖地,並收集了有關該宗教歷史的其他信息。本文將討論這些遊記的第一批西方譯本,以及它們在這一時期學術話語中的接受情況,並將指出它所引領的歷史轉向對佛教的研究與接受產生的強烈影響——在某種程度上開啟了佛教研究作為一門學科的篇章。

Information about Buddhism was scarce and vague at best in the West until the beginning of the nineteenth century. The first Orientalists studying Indian sources had to rely on Hindu texts written in Sanskrit (e.g. Purāṇas) which portrayed the Buddha as an avatāra of the Hindu god Viṣṇu. The situation changed with the discovery of the Pāli texts from Śrī Laṅkā through scholars like George Turnour (1799–1843) and the decipherment of the Aśokan inscriptions through James Prinsep (1799–1840) by which the historical dimension of the religion became evident. The final confirmation of the historicity of the Buddha and the religion founded by him was taken, however, from the records of Chinese Buddhist travelers (Faxian, Xuanzang, Yijing) who had visited the major sacred places of Buddhism in India and collected other information about the history of the religion. This paper will discuss the first Western translations of these travelogues and their reception in the scholarly discourse of the period and will suggest that the historical turn to which it led had a strong impact on the study and reception of Buddhism—in a way the start of Buddhist Studies as a discipline.

關鍵詞(Keywords)法顯(Faxian)、玄奘(Xuanzang)、義淨(Yijing)、威廉·瓊斯(William Jones)、佛教遊記(Buddhist travelogues)

 

關於作者:寧梵夫是英國卡迪夫大學(Cardiff University)歷史、考古與宗教學院的佛教學教授,專精於佛教史及從英國向中亞、東亞的傳播研究。他的研究興趣廣泛,包括亞洲的其他宗教,比如印度教、耆那教、道教、摩尼教與東方基督教等。他目前正在致力於重新英譯玄奘的《大唐西域記》。他的近著包括:Miscellanae Nepalicae: Early Chinese Reports on Nepal: The Foundation Legend of Nepal in Its Trans-Himalayan Context (Lumbini: Lumbini International Research Institute, 2016); Religion in China: Major Concepts and Minority Positions (M. Deeg and B. Scheid eds, Wien: Verlag der Oesterreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2015); Das Lotos-Sūtra (Translation, Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 2009).

 

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