Return to main conference page.
| 1 |
Dipen BARUA, The University of Hong Kong Reviving Buddhist Heritage: An Exploration of Bengali Translations of Pāli Literature and Pāli and Buddhist Studies in Bengal from the 1850s to the Present |
Historically, Buddhism originated in India and gradually disappeared from most of its birthplace, but it continued to survive in Bengal. ‘Bengal’ refers to what is now Bangladesh and West Bengal in India. This Buddhist tradition initially represented a unique mixture of Hindu-Buddhist tantric forms. However, it evolved under the influence of Burmese Theravada Buddhism throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, with approximately 0.06 percent of the population identifying as Buddhist in Bangladesh, and around 0.31 percent in West Bengal today, including New-Buddhists and Vajrayana followers.
The revival of Theravada Buddhism in Bengal is characterized by the translation of Pāli texts, the establishment of temples, Pāli institutions, schools, and organizations aimed at nurturing Buddhist practices and education. The first Buddhist text was Moghā Khamujā (1850s), followed by the Bauddha Rañjikā (1870), which narrates the life of the Buddha and includes homage to the Buddha, Icchāmati (a consort of Śiva), and Saraśvati. The translation of Pāli canonical text began with the Sutta Nipāta in 1887. Bengali monks such as Prajñālok Mahāthera (1879–1971) made significant contributions by establishing the Dharmadūt Vihar, a Buddhist Mission, and its own press in Rangoon, Burma (now Myanmar) in 1928. He translated over 50 books into Bengali from Burmese and Pāli. The Pāli Sāhitya Samiti and the government-managed Buddhist Religious Welfare Trust have published numerous Buddhist texts, including the Pāli-Bengali dictionary. Additionally, the Bangla Academy and various publishers, including the Mahabodhi Book Agency in Kolkata, have published many books on Buddhism. In August 2017, the Tripiṭaka Publishing Society unveiled a Bengali translation of the entire Pāli Canon at Rajban Vihar in Rangamati, Bangladesh. This event marks a significant milestone for the Buddhist community in the region. The contributions of Burmese and Sri Lankan styles of Pāli teachings, as well as translation efforts, have played a crucial role in this process. With the revival of Theravada Buddhism, the first Pāli institution, known as Ṭol, was established in 1885. Pāli studies were first introduced at the University of Calcutta in 1907. Since then, there has been a continued emphasis on Pāli and Buddhist studies through institutions such as Pāli Colleges under the Sanskrit and Pāli Education Board. Colleges like Chittagong College, and universities such as Dhaka University, Chittagong University, and the National University of Bangladesh have departments for Pāli and Buddhist Studies, offering courses from undergraduate to higher levels. This paper examines the translation of Buddhist texts into Bengali and the significance of the complete translation of entire Pāli Canon, along with Pāli and Buddhist Studies in Bengal. I will highlight how Burmese and Sri Lankan Pāli teachings and transmitted texts have shaped Theravada Buddhism in Bengal and emphasize the importance of preserving Buddhist heritage in a changing socio-cultural landscape. This paper is divided into three parts: Part I covers the revival of Theravada Buddhism in the 19th and 20th centuries; Part II addresses the translation of Buddhist texts, including the publication of the entire Pāli Canon; and Part III explores Pāli and Buddhist Studies in institutions, focusing on the emergence of Pāli studies as an independent field. |
| 2 | Nadine BREGLER, University of Hamburg 傅佩琳, 德國漢堡大學Chinese Buddhist Texts in Joseon Korea: Manuscript Culture and Practices of Translation |
This paper examines how Chinese texts, especially Buddhist materials, were transmitted and reshaped in premodern Korea. It treats translation not as a single act but as a range of practices through which texts were made usable in new contexts. These include selection, excerpting, paraphrase, and recompositing. The study asks how such practices affected the reception of Chinese Buddhist texts in Joseon scholarly and popular culture.
The study draws on Joseon materials containing Buddhist-related compilations based on Chinese sources. These survive mainly in early woodblock prints, later editions, and some manuscript copies in Korean collections. They preserve visible traces of textual handling, such as quotation, rearrangement, and commentary. The analysis treats these sources as records of use rather than fixed texts. It compares how Chinese Buddhist material is incorporated across different contexts and how it changes in the process. Attention is given to the material forms that preserve texts and textual variation compared to Chinese sources. This study proposes a broader view of translation as a continuum of textual practices. It understands Buddhist texts in Korea as being continually reinterpreted within literati and popular culture as well as religious settings. This perspective complements research on Buddhist translation by highlighting dispersed modes of translingual exchange. It also contributes to the study of Chinese Buddhist texts as a shared written medium in East Asia. The focus on extant manuscript and print evidence shows how texts were reshaped in practice. In doing so, it frames textual transformation as a basic mechanism of cultural exchange and intellectual history in the region. |
| 3 |
CHEN Jinhua, University of British Columbia 洛陽大聖善寺國際性譯師群體：構成與歷史作用 |
Forthcoming. |
| 4 |
CHEN Ruifeng, Zhejiang University From Indic Snare to Chinese Variants: A Philological Study of Six Translations in the Scripture on Upāsaka Precepts |
Diverse translations of the same Indic term in different Chinese Buddhist texts have been a significant focus for scholars of Buddhist studies. From a philological perspective, my study conducts detailed textual research and interpretation of six Chinese translations of a term previously unexplored by scholars. This term, likely of Indian origin, may represent a device akin to a snare. These translations are drawn from various versions of the Youposai jie jing 優婆塞戒經 (Scripture on Upāsaka Precepts) in the Dunhuang corpus (4th–10th century C.E.) and block-printed Chinese Buddhist canons. By analyzing these translations and illustrating their relationships, my study reveals how a simple term for a daily device with Indian roots was received and transformed in the Chinese context due to the influences such as graphical changes and phonetic loans of Chinese characters, as well as efforts to preserve the accurate meaning of the term in the text despite these influences. This case study serves a threefold purpose: it advances research on and accurate interpretation of Chinese Buddhist texts in Dunhuang manuscripts; it enhances understanding of the relationship between the Dunhuang Buddhist corpus and subsequent block-printed canons, as well as the evolution of Chinese Buddhist canons; and it illuminates transformations in imported concepts following Sino-Indian contact. |
| 5 |
CHEN Zhinan, University of Washington 敦煌寫本法成譯《諸星母陀羅尼經》研究
|
《諸星母陀羅尼經》爲吐蕃時期高僧法成 (Gos Chos grub) 於842年在甘州修多寺譯出的一部密教經典。該經未見於歷代經錄及漢文大藏經系統，但在敦煌文獻中卻保存有七十餘件相關寫卷。在敦煌文獻中，大經或常用經典保存大量寫本並不少見，但像《諸星母陀羅尼經》這樣未見於經錄卻留下七十餘件寫本的情況，是極不尋常的。與天竺僧法天攜梵本入宋後在朝廷支持下譯出的異譯本《聖曜母陀羅尼經》不同，法成的譯經活動是在吐蕃統治下河西地區的地方佛教網絡中展開的。本文以敦煌寫本爲主要材料，從寫本形制與文本流傳入手，考察法成譯經活動的歷史背景及其在河西地區的傳播情況，並嘗試尋找該經在當地流行的可能痕跡。在此基礎上，進一步探討吐蕃時期河西地區可能存在的地方性、非官方譯經機制，從而有助於理解中古時期佛教譯經網絡的多樣形態，以及邊疆地區佛教知識生產的運作方式。
The Sūtra of the Zhuxingmu Dhāraṇī 諸星母陀羅尼經 (Skt. Grahamātṛkādhāraṇī) is an esoteric Buddhist scripture translated by the Tibetan-period monk Facheng (Tib. Gos Chos grub) in 842 at Xiuduo Monastery in Ganzhou. The text is absent from traditional Buddhist catalogues and the Chinese canonical collections, yet more than seventy manuscript copies survive among the Dunhuang manuscripts. While numerous copies are common for major or popular scriptures in the Dunhuang corpus, the presence of over seventy manuscripts of a text not recorded in Buddhist catalogues is particularly noteworthy. Unlike the later translation, the Sūtra of the Shengyaomu Dhāraṇī 聖曜母陀羅尼經, produced by the Indian monk Fatian under imperial patronage after bringing an Indic manuscript of the sūtra to the Song court, Facheng’s translation was carried out within local Buddhist networks in the Hexi region under Tibetan rule. Drawing on the Dunhuang manuscripts, this paper examines the codicological features and textual transmission of the Zhuxingmu Dhāraṇī, investigates the historical background of Facheng’s translation and its circulation in the Hexi region, and considers possible traces of the text’s local popularity. In doing so, it contributes to a better understanding of Buddhist translation networks and the production of Buddhist knowledge in the frontier regions of medieval China. |
| 6 |
CHO Eunsu, Seoul National University The Goryeo Canon as Civilizational Currency: Textual Authority and Transregional Exchange in Medieval East Asia |
The Goryeo Buddhist Canon (Goryeo Daejanggyeong 高麗大藏經) originated in the tenth century when Goryeo received a set of printed copies of the Northern Song Kaibao Canon (Kaibao Zang 開寶藏) from China, which served as the foundation for its own canon-carving project. The first edition (Chojo Daejanggyeong 初雕大藏經), begun in 1011, was lost to the Mongol invasion of 1232 and subsequently re-carved as the second edition (Jaejo Daejanggyeong 再雕大藏經). The second edition, carved over fifteen years under the Choe military regime as Goryeo sought divine protection against the Mongol threat, was the product of a rigorous editorial process in which the monk Sugi 守其 systematically collated multiple recensions and documented his corrections in detail. What began as an act of reception and adaptation eventually produced a textual tradition that became one of the most frequently requested objects in medieval Korean-Japanese diplomatic exchange. Between the eleventh and sixteenth centuries, Japanese shoguns, regional lords, and Buddhist institutions submitted numerous formal requests for printed copies to the Goryeo and Joseon courts. This paper asks a question that has received surprisingly little attention: what made the canon so persistently desirable, and how did its value come to be understood by those who sought it?
This paper proposes a perspective rooted in Buddhist intellectual history, arguing that the canon’s appeal was grounded in its reputation as a philologically reliable and editorially authoritative text. Drawing on historical records of canon exchanges between Goryeo, Joseon, and Japan, the paper examines how this textual authority accumulated multiple layers of value: as an object of veneration, a marker of political prestige, and a medium of civilizational exchange. |
| 7 |
DING Yi (Allan), DePaul University Matching Normativity: ‘Patterns of the Ways’ (daoli 道理) in Chinese Translations of Indian Buddhist Texts |
The paper deals with how translators of Buddhist texts such as Paramārtha and Xuanzang utilize the Chinese term daoli 道理 to render different Sanskrit terms and ideas, and how institutional history may have played a role in the word choice.) It may fall into topic 6: Conceptual transformations and intellectual history of translated terms (e.g., śūnyatā, tathāgatagarbha, bodhi). |
| 8 |
FENG Guodong, Zhejiang University 目錄、儀式與經典崇拜：咫觀《法輪寶懺》初探 |
Forthcoming. |
| 9 |
Imre GALAMBOS, Zhejiang University The medieval reading of 般若 in manuscripts from the Silk Road |
Prajñā (‘wisdom’) is among the core concepts in Mahāyāna texts, commonly occurring in the phrase prajñāpāramitā (‘perfection of wisdom’), signifying the wisdom that enables bodhisattvas to attain buddhahood. The term was rendered into Chinese in several different ways, the most common of which was the transliteration using the characters 般若. Following up on earlier research, this paper examines how this word was pronounced during the medieval Tang-Song period when the overwhelming majority of Buddhist manuscripts we have today were produced. Rather than trying to reconstruct the ‘original’ pronunciation of this term at the time when it was first adapted into Chinese Buddhist texts, my focus is on how it was commonly read in the period in question, based on manuscripts excavated at sites along the Silk Road. |
| 10 |
HE Rong, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences “力”在漢語佛經中的語義考察：以近代太虛大師的作品爲參照 |
在佛教進入中國之前，“力”字便是一個常用字。隨着佛經漢譯工作的展開與深化，“力”與外來字彙相結合，融匯爲新的漢語概念，典型如業力、十力等，獲得了廣泛傳播、深入到日常語彙與社會思想。本研究認爲，作爲後綴的“力”，其意義與功能值得專門探討。在此基礎上，以太虛大師的相關作品爲參照，探究“力”在近代知識傳播中意義更形豐富的方面。 |
| 11 |
HOU Xiaoming, Ghent University Translation or Compilation: On the Textual Relationship between Dasazheniganzi suoshuo jing 大薩遮尼乾子所說經 (T272, *Mahāsatya-nigrantha-putra-vyākaraṇa-sūtra) and Foshuo faji jing 佛說法集經 (T761) |
Forthcoming. |
| 12 |
JIN Mingjun, Sichuan University 翻譯與修行體系的建構：漢譯禪經中的“五門禪”結構形成研究 |
漢譯禪經並非僅是印度禪修方法的語言轉寫，而是在傳譯、編排與詮釋過程中不斷重組修行知識並推動經典體系生成。《達摩多羅禪經》與《坐禪三昧經》作爲五門禪最具代表性的兩部經典，分別從階段次第與煩惱對治兩條路徑，重構了數息觀、不淨觀、慈悲觀、因緣觀及界分別觀、唸佛觀等觀法之間的結構關係。前者以“方便道—勝道”及“退、住、升進、決定”建立系統化修行框架，後者則依根器與煩惱分類形成更具適應性的實踐模式。兩經表明，“五門禪”並非既成不變的固定形態，而是在漢譯佛典的跨語際傳播與本土重構過程中逐漸形成的修行體系。這一過程顯示，翻譯不僅生成文本，也參與了修行結構、經典形態與早期中國禪學知識秩序的建構。 Chinese translations of Dhyāna scriptures are not merely linguistic renderings of Indian meditative techniques; rather, they continuously reorganize practical knowledge and contribute to the formation of scriptural systems through processes of translation, compilation, and interpretation. The Dharmatrāta Dhyāna Sūtra and the Zuochan Sanmei Jing (Sūtra on the Samādhi of Seated Meditation), as two of the most representative texts concerning the “Five Gates of Meditation,” reconstruct the structural relationships among various contemplative practices—including mindfulness of breathing, contemplation of impurity, cultivation of loving-kindness, contemplation of dependent origination, analysis of elements, and recollection of the Buddha—along two distinct pathways: sequential stages of practice and the counteraction of afflictions. The former establishes a systematic framework of practice through the dual structure of the “expedient path” and the “superior path,” as well as the four progressive phases of regression, stabilization, advancement, and determination. The latter, by contrast, develops a more adaptive practical model based on differences in practitioners’ capacities and the classification of afflictions. These two texts demonstrate that the “Five Gates of Meditation” did not exist as a fixed or pre-given structure, but rather gradually emerged as a system of practice through cross-linguistic transmission and localized reconstruction within the corpus of Chinese Buddhist translations. This process indicates that translation does not merely produce texts; it also actively participates in shaping structures of practice, forms of scripture, and the epistemological order of early Chinese Chan thought. |
| 13 |
John JORGENSEN, Griffith University Early Buddhist Translations and the Role of Confucian Philology with a Focus on An Shigao and His Circle |
Guided by the assumption that the language adopted by a translator largely reflects their social milieu and intended audience, this paper investigates the translations of Buddhist texts made in the late Han Dynasty in order to challenge the dominant view that the earliest translations were into a Chinese “colloquial” and were chiefly informed by popular Daoism.
An Shigao 安世高, the earliest translator, far from being an ex-prince of Parthia who became a monk living midst a non-Chinese diaspora, was more likely a layman from a Tarim Basin group that was a dependency of Han China. He was a maquis (hou侯) with an excellent education, probably in Confucian philology (Hanxue漢學) and Chinese medicine. He was assisted by Yan Fotiao嚴佛調 and An Xuan安玄, an official who would have been trained in Hanxue. These three, and some of the next generation of translators and commentators of Buddhist texts on meditation and abhidharma-style of analysis, drew upon their knowledge of Confucian philology to select Chinese words to represent Indian ideas about the body and mind that were alien to Chinese audiences. This investigation focuses on the strange translation of skandha (aggregates) by yin 陰 (hidden, shaded), as well as on related terms, to suggest that they were selected because of the derived meanings these words had been given in Confucian philology. |
| 14 |
KIM Jiyun, Dongguk University The Influence of Li Tongxuan’s Interpretation of the Avataṃsaka Sutra: Chinul in Korea and Myōe in Japan |
Among the Chinese Huayan 華嚴 masters, Li Tongxuan 李通玄 (635-730) was not included in the formal Huayan lineage like Fazang 法藏 (643-712), Chengguan 澄觀 (738-839), and Zongmi 宗密 (780-841); However, he is one of the figures who exerted a profound influence on Huayan studies. Although Li Tongxuan did not write a commentary on the Awakening of Faith in Mahāyāna 大乘起信論 (Dasheng qixin lun), it is inferred that he also consulted the text, given his intellectual relationship with figures like Zhiyan 智儼 (602-668) and Fazang, who cited it.
However, as the relationship between Li Tongxuan and the Awakening of Faith has been relatively under-explored, the correlation between his Huayan thought and the text remains unclear. Therefore, this study examines the citations of the Awakening of Faith within Li Tongxuan’s commentary on the Avataṃsaka Sutra 華嚴經 (Huayan jing), the Treatise on the New Translation of the Avataṃsaka Sutra 新華嚴經論 (Xin huayan jing lun), to explore his perspective on the Awakening of Faith. Furthermore, it aims to investigate how his citational tendencies were reflected in Chinul’s 知訥 (1158-1210) Essentials of the Huayan lun 華嚴論節要 (Hwaŏmnon chŏryo) during the Goryeo period in Korea, and in Myōe’s 明惠 (1173-1232) Meaning of the Gates to Enter of Liberation by Practicing Chan and Contemplation Based on the Avataṃsaka Sutra 華嚴修禪觀照入解脫門義 (Kegon shuzen kansho nyugedatsu mongi) during the Kamakura period in Japan. In this light, this study analyzes the textual transformation that occurred in Li Tongxuan’s citations of the Awakening of Faith, while also exploring the specific processes and modalities through which of Chinul and Myōe received and integrated his Treatise on the New Translation of the Avataṃsaka Sutra. As such, research that examines Li Tongxuan’s interpretation of the Avataṃsaka Sutra by connecting it with Chinul of Korea and Myōe of Japan holds significant academic value, as it clarifies the flow of thought across China, Korea, and Japan from the macro perspective of East Asian Buddhism. |
| 15 |
Sung-Eun Thomas KIM, Dongguk University Korean Vernacular Translations of Sinitic Buddhist Texts: The Role and Historical Context of the Directorate of Sūtra Publication (刊經都監) |
The Directorate Sūtra Publication (刊經都監) established in 1461 during the Choson dynasty (1392–1910), was administered for over ten years until 1471. During that time a total of thirty-seven Sinitic Buddhist texts were published and nine Buddhist texts were translated into the newly invented han’gŭl writing system, the Korean vernacular, officially promulgated in the text Hunminjŏngŭm 訓民正音 published in 1446.
Along with its main task of publishing and translating of Buddhist Sinitic texts, the directorate was also in charge of various Buddhist rituals and affairs including the construction and renovation of temples. Given its administrative duties and functions, it can be said that the directorate was established for the same purpose as the monastic certification or the identification systems, namely to effect government control over Buddhism, its temples and monks. In this sense, and given the characteristics of the published texts, it can be assumed that the publication project was not royal court-sponsored but mainly a state-sponsored endeavor. Furthermore, given the historical context of Chosŏn having adopted Neo-Confucian as its state ideology, the directorate was not designed to invigorate Buddhism nor in a manner that encroached on the status of the state ideology of Confucianism. However, surprising as it appears, it does not appear to be to suppress Buddhism, as was often interpretated by many modern scholars. The establishment of the directorate can be interpreted as the state’s attempt to control but also to preserve Buddhist institutions and practices as part of its governance. It was realized that Buddhism was indeed helpful in its rulership over the people. Accordingly, as explained in this paper, support of Buddhism was limited to within the bounds of state defined Confucian norms and values, providing a framework for a finer understanding of the state policy towards Buddhism and the position of Buddhism in relation to the state. Such framework can also be traced to the contents and the overall characteristics of the Buddhist texts that the directorate published and translated. |
| 16 |
Mónika KISS, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest Textual and Ritual Evolution from China to Japan: The Case of the Yiqie rulai jingang shouming tuoluoni jing 一切如來金剛壽命陀羅尼經 (T 1135, vol. 20) |
The Yiqie rulai jingang shouming tuoluoni jing 一切如來金剛壽命陀羅尼經 (T 1135, vol. 20) belongs to a group of scriptures associated with the concept of the “adamantine life-span” (Ch. jingang shouming/Jp. kongō jumyō 金剛壽命). The other texts in this group are T 1133, T 1134A, and T 1134B. According to their colophons, all four works are attributed to the translation activities of Amoghavajra (705–774; Chinese: Bukong [Jingang] 不空[金剛]). Three of these texts share a number of common features, including the setting of the sermon, the composition of the assembly, the deities invoked, and the mantras employed. T 1135, however, appears to constitute an exception within this group. Two additional texts preserved in the Buddhist canon are closely related to T 1135: the Zhufu jihui tuoluoni jing 諸佛集會陀羅尼經 (T 1346, vol. 21) and the Xichu zhongyao tuoluoni jing 息除中夭陀羅尼經 (T 1347, vol. 21). The former is a seventh-century translation attributed to Devaraprajña (active: 689–691; Chinese: Tiyunbore 提雲般若). The latter is a Song dynasty translation by Dānapāla (?–1017; Chinese: Shihu 施護), but it is generally regarded as another translation of T 1346. When considered together, these three texts appear to derive from a common origin. My research addresses two principal issues arising from this corpus. First, the translation of T 1135 and its central concept of the “adamantine life-span” raise important questions, since this notion does not appear in the other two related texts and seems to occur only in connection with the life of Amoghavajra’s master, Vajrabodhi (671–741; Chinese: Jingangzhi 金剛智). Second, T 1346 later served as the textual basis for an esoteric longevity ritual established in Japan in the eleventh century. Although the text had already been transmitted to Japan in the ninth century, it was not originally classified there as a longevity scripture. In this presentation, I compare these three texts in order to trace their development and dissemination from China to Japan. At the same time, I address two related questions: whether T 1135 represents a translation or rather an adaptation of an already existing text; and whether the arrival of T 1347 in Japan during the eleventh century may have prompted Japanese monks to rediscover an earlier, perhaps largely forgotten scripture and thereby inspired the establishment of a new ritual tradition. |
| 17 |
LI Bohan, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen 漢譯佛經中的“NP所” |
[摘要]漢譯佛經中頻繁出現表處所的“NP所”結構，源於譯者用“NP所”翻譯梵語“yena NP tena”，用以說明“NP所在之處”。自鳩摩羅什時期起，非位移動詞句中的“於NP所”逐漸凝固化，至玄奘時期成爲程式化表達。
The frequent appearance of the locative “NP suo” structure in Chinese translations of Buddhist scriptures stems from translators using it to render the Sanskrit phrase “yena NP tena” to indicate “the place where NP is located”. Starting from the Kumārajīva period, the “yu NP suo” construction in sentences with non-motion verbs gradually became fixed, and by the time of Xuanzang, it had developed into a formulaic expression. |
| 18 |
LI Wei, Henan University Metaphor as Translation Strategy: Literati Scribes and the “Wen-Zhi” Tension in Early Medieval Chinese Buddhist Translations |
The literary elegance and abundant use of analogies and metaphors (piyu 譬喻) in Chinese Buddhist scriptures stem not only from the traditions inherent in Indian Buddhist texts but, more crucially, from the deep involvement of literati serving as scribes (bishou 笔受) amid the “wen-zhi debate” (wenzhi zhizheng 文質之爭,the tension between ornate style and plain substance) during the translation process.
Zhi Qian 支謙 (ca. 194-253) originally addressed the problem of the Buddhist translation being too beautiful, which leads to the question whether Buddhist translation should be simple and straightforward (zhi質) or beautiful with style (wen文). This involvement systematically propelled the refinement of the scriptures and notably accentuated the literary dimension of metaphors. In terms of theoretical discuss, qiwen jiuzhi 棄文就質 (“abandoning literary style for simpler form”) has become a conscious principle as exemplified by Shi Dao’an 释道安(312-385). He argues that in the “translating from hu languages to Chinese” （yi hu wei qin譯胡為秦）process, there were “five deviations” ( wu shiben五失本) which includes Chinese people’s (qinren 秦人）love for beautiful language. This indicates that Chinese renditions systematically altered the word order, stylistic register, and repetitive cadences of Sanskrit and Prakrit originals—pruning redundancy to align with the Chinese tradition of concision. Paradoxically, this process created space for the distillation and aesthetic enhancement of analogies. Meanwhile, the prefaces to the scriptures themselves exhibit a high degree of literary artistry. Figures such as Kang Senghui 康僧會(?-280) and Shi Dao’an 釋道安 (312-385) crafted new analogies and infused personal pathos into their prefaces, transforming exegetical commentary into belletristic composition. Within the institutional framework of the translation bureaus, the role of the scribe proved decisive. Scribes not only transcribed and polished but also collated, edited, and even independently translated texts. The translation practices of Nie Chengyuan 聶承遠 of Western Jin Dynasty (265-316), Seng Rui僧叡 (ca.354-420), and others evince the scribes’ substantive creative authority over the final text. When Xie Lingyun 謝靈運 (385-433) and his collaborators revised the Southern version of the Dabo nieman jing 大般涅槃經[The Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra], they preserved the classificatory framework of the “eight types of metaphors” (bazhong yu八種喻) while extensively “discarding the plain and preserving the ornate,” (quzhi cunhua 去質存華） rendering the text restrained and elegant. Although this move provoked clerical censure from monks, it profoundly attests to the penetration of literati aesthetics into the scriptural corpus. The eight fold Buddhist classification of analogies evidently inspired indigenous Chinese rhetoric, as seen in the ten metaphors in Chen Kui’s 陳騤(1128-1203) Wenze 文則 [The Law of Writings], and a vast repertoire of Buddhist analogies became a recurring imagistic resource in Chinese literature. The analogical and literary beauty of Chinese Buddhist translations is the product of sustained “refinement” by literati-scribes amidst the wen-zhi debate. It constitutes both a textual dimension of the Sinicization of Buddhism and a vital mechanism in the transcultural aesthetic formation of early medieval China. 漢譯佛典善用譬喻、文采斐然，不僅源於印度佛典本有的傳統，更關鍵的是在佛經翻譯的“文質之爭”中，文人筆受者的深度參與系統性地推動了佛典的雅化，尤其強化了譬喻的文學特質。支謙最早提出了佛典翻譯過於華美的問題，從而引出一個根本追問：佛經翻譯應當質直樸素，還是應當文采斐然？這種參與系統性地推動了佛經文本的雅化，尤其顯著地強化了譬喻的文學維度。在理論探討層面，“棄文就質”已成為一種自覺的原則，釋道安（312–385）即為典型。他指出，在“譯胡為秦”的過程中存在“五失本”，其中之一便是秦人喜好文辭之美。這意味著漢譯對梵、胡原典在語序、文質、反復詠歎等方面進行了系統性改動——刪繁就簡以適應漢語簡約傳統，這反而為譬喻的精煉與美感騰出了空間。同時，經序本身即呈現高度文學性，僧會、道安等人在序文中廣設新喻、融入身世之感，使“序經”成為“作文”。譯場制度中，“筆受”一職至關重要。筆受者不僅承擔謄寫潤飾，更參與參校、刪定乃至獨立翻譯。聶承遠、僧叡等人的翻譯實踐均表明，均顯示筆受者對譯文的深度參與與改造。謝靈運等人修治南本《大般涅槃經》，在保留“八種譬喻”（順喻、逆喻、現喻等）分類框架的同時，大量“去質存華”，使文本含蓄典雅。此舉雖遭僧人的指責，卻深刻反映了文人審美對佛典的滲透。佛典中八種譬喻的分類啟發了後來中國本土修辭學，如宋代陳骙《文則》的“比喻十法”，大量佛教譬喻成為漢語文學反復取用的意象資源。總體而言，漢譯佛典的譬喻文學美感是文質之爭中文人筆受者持續“雅化”實踐的產物，既是佛教中國化的文本維度，也是中古跨文化審美生成的重要機制。 |
| 19 |
LI Xuetao, Beijing Foreign Studies University 跨語言的翻譯：鳩摩羅什與多語佛教知識網絡的生成 |
Forthcoming. |
| 20 |
LU Lu, Zhejiang University In Lokakṣema’s Own Words: Function Words, Textual Attribution, and Stylistic Profiling with Large Language Models |
Zhi Loujiachen 支婁迦讖 (Zhi Chen 支讖; Lokakṣema) was one of the most important translators of Buddhist scriptures in the late Eastern Han period. The corpus attributed to him is of great value for the study of Early Medieval Chinese. Yet, as Zürcher (1991) pointed out, the vast majority of Buddhist scriptures currently preserved in the Chinese canon under Han-period attributions cannot be regarded as reliable. The attribution of texts to Lokakṣema presents a particularly distinctive philological problem. In Dao’an’s 道安 Zongli zhongjing mulu 綜理眾經目錄, widely regarded as the most reliable early catalogue, only a very small number of scriptures are explicitly recorded as translations by Lokakṣema. A substantial portion of the attributions, by contrast, rests on Dao’an’s own stylistic judgment, expressed in the phrase “it seems to have been translated by Zhi Chen” 似支讖譯也. This means that even the earliest and most authoritative catalogue defines the scope of Lokakṣema’s translation corpus largely on the basis of a perceived linguistic style, rather than on firm external documentary evidence. For this reason, the question of what Lokakṣema’s linguistic style actually looks like becomes a fundamental issue that requires direct investigation.
Zürcher (1991) proposed a five-step procedure for identifying genuine early translations, moving from external bibliographic evidence to the internal analysis of terminology and style. Building on this framework, Nattier (2008) offered a comprehensive reassessment of Chinese Buddhist translations from the Eastern Han to the Three Kingdoms period, and established a tiered classification of the reliability of texts attributed to Lokakṣema. Her conclusions have been widely accepted in current scholarship. Within Chinese-language research, Fang Yixin and Gao Lieguo (2012) conducted a systematic linguistic study of suspect Eastern Han Buddhist scriptures and emphasized the importance of “ordinary discriminating words” for the authentication of translated Buddhist texts. On the basis of these earlier studies, however, there remains room to further refine our understanding of the reliable scope of Lokakṣema’s translations. First, previous studies have often relied heavily on Buddhist proper names, technical terms, and formulaic expressions. Such vocabulary is undoubtedly diagnostic, but it is limited in quantity and, precisely because of its prominence in Buddhist discourse, is especially susceptible to systematic alteration in the course of later transmission, scribal correction, and editorial standardization. By contrast, ordinary non-technical vocabulary often offers a more reliable basis for identifying a translator’s linguistic habits, but its comprehensive extraction was extremely difficult under earlier research conditions. Second, existing comparative methods have tended to focus on lexical items found in suspect texts but absent from reliable benchmark texts. This approach risks overlooking the fact that lexical absence is often caused by differences in textual content, and does not necessarily reflect the personal style of a translator. Third, an excessive emphasis on difference has often led scholars to stop at the judgment that a given text is “spurious,” without proceeding to a positive description of the translator’s overall linguistic profile. Yet, as noted above, what Dao’an’s phrase “seems to have been translated by Zhi Chen” points to is precisely a perception of overall style. Modern research should therefore provide a firmer empirical foundation for this kind of stylistic judgment. Building on my earlier work on large language model-assisted attribution of Buddhist translations, the present study adopts a comparative approach centered on function words. Taking the Daoxing bore jing 道行般若經, the most central and reliable translation attributed to Lokakṣema, as the primary benchmark, this study systematically investigates function words that are relatively less affected by textual content, including conjunctions, prepositions, and particles. It then compares these function-word systems with those found in suspect translations attributed to Lokakṣema. The focus is not merely on whether a given lexical member is present or absent, but more importantly on the distributional tendencies revealed by the relative frequency of competing members within the same functional domain. At present, semantic retrieval techniques supported by large language models make possible a degree of comprehensive feature extraction and fine-grained comparison that was previously difficult to achieve. Through systematic comparison between the suspect texts and the Daoxing bore jing, this study seeks to bring into sharper relief the linguistic features of the core text, to construct a more precise description of Lokakṣema’s habitual usage, and to provide a fuller basis for understanding the features of vernacular Chinese reflected in Buddhist translations of the Eastern Han period. |
| 21 |
LUO Mujun and Ge Peiyi, School of Humanities, Zhejiang University of Technology 中國化佛教的傳播與影響——以僞經《高王經》爲中心的考察 |
《高王觀世音經》是影響深遠的中國本土撰述經典之一，其經文以“摘抄編撰”的方式生成，既依托佛教真經獲得正統性支持，又立足本土民衆需求展開在地化創作。自問世以來，該經便在民間廣泛流傳，與之相伴的靈驗記不僅爲其注入強大生命力，使其在千年流傳中生生不息，更通過靈驗情節的跨媒介呈現，進一步擴大受衆範圍。此外，《高王經》及其靈驗記亦有西夏文譯本傳世，譯文既契合西夏文化特質，又深刻影響了西夏佛教文化。作爲典型的佛教疑僞經典，《高王經》之所以較部分真經更具傳播活力，關鍵在於構建起“誦經不死”的穩定信仰内核，并能順應時代、社會與民族等諸多因素靈活調適。這一個案研究集中展現了佛教在中國的本土化、世俗化適應，或可爲考察中國佛教疑僞經的生成機制與傳播路徑提供新的研究視角。
The Gaowang Guanshiyin Jing is one of the most influential locally created Buddhist classics in China. Compiled by excerpting and reorganizing canonical Buddhist texts, it draws authority from orthodox Buddhist sources while embodying localized creations tailored to the needs of the Chinese populace. Since its appearance, the scripture has enjoyed widespread popular circulation. The miracle stories associated with it not only endowed the text with enduring vitality that sustained its transmission over a millennium, but also expanded its audience through cross-media representations of miraculous episodes. In addition, a Tangut translation of the Gaowang Jing and its miracle stories has survived. The translation not only accords with the cultural characteristics of the Western Xia but also exerted a profound influence on its Buddhist culture. As a typical Buddhist apocryphon, its greater dynamism compared with orthodox canonical texts lies primarily in its establishment of the stable religious core of “reciting the scripture brings deliverance from death,” as well as its flexible adaptation to historical, social, and ethnic contexts. This case study vividly illustrates the localization and secularization of Buddhism in China, and may offer a new perspective for investigating the formation mechanisms and transmission paths of Chinese Buddhist apocrypha. |
| 22 |
Tom NEWHALL, University of Tokyo Translation to Interpretation to Application: An overview of the Translation the Vinaya and the development of the Vinaya School in China |
This presentation will give a brief overview of how monastic law (the Vinaya) was translated into Chinese, and how these translations were later studied by scholars associated with the Vinaya school and put into practice in monasteries in China, and other parts of East Asia. It will argue that the translation and development of the monastic system in China can be understood as a three part process that includes translation, interpretation, and application, but these processes do not always occur in that order, nor do they necessarily happen in isolation with one another, nor is it the case that all aspects of what was written in the Vinaya became applied to monasticism in practice. It will draw on writings from Daoxuan, the foremost scholar of the Vinaya in Tang-dynasty China, as well as the work of contemporary researchers that have aimed to put his work into context. |
| 23 |
PARK Chongdok C.H., Dongguk University Glorifying the Order and Creating Great Monks: A Critical Survey of Oral History within the Field of Modern Korean Buddhist Historical Studies |
Oral tradition has held a central place in Buddhism since the religion’s 5th Century BCE founding and remains so even today within Korea’s Buddhist temples and monasteries. Not only are sutras chanted daily, verbal anecdotes concerning prominent Zen (K. Seon) monastics are regularly shared in Dharma talks, meditation instruction and student-teacher interviews. Throughout Korean Buddhism’s turbulent modern history, such anecdotes have been critical in maintaining monastic values and identity while also preserving accounts of lived experience throughout Korea’s Japanese Annexation (1910-1945) and the cataclysmic violence of the Korean War (1950 – 1953). Oral tradition regarding the Dharma “transmission” (K. inga) between Seon masters and their Dharma heirs, has also served to legitimize often-competing monastic lineages during the contentious “Purification Movement” of the 1950s and 60s, ultimately resulting in the schism between the celibate Jogye and the married Taego Orders, as well as the Jogye Order’s own intra-sectarian conflicts of the 1990s. With the growth of academic interest in Korean Buddhism’s modern history over the 1990’s, newly-introduced oral history methodologies showed great potential. In contrast with oral history trends in western Buddhist studies, which tend towards anthropological studies of Buddhist communities and practice “on the ground,” oral history in Korean Buddhist studies emerged from the need to supplement the lack of surviving documentation and to record testimony regarding key historical events before witnesses pass away. While the first decades of Korean Buddhist oral history have produced an invaluable increase in primary sources available for current and future resources, the field has nevertheless suffered from methodological issues and limitations often resulting from the Korean Buddhist community’s conflation of oral history with its own preestablished oral traditions. Focusing on the pioneering publication Modern Buddhist History Seen through the Testimony of 22 People (2002) and the extensive research of Buddhist oral historian Gwangshik Kim, this study will examine how oral history methodologies have been mobilized to reconstruct Korea’s modern Buddhist past within South Korean academia. It will also critically evaluate the methodological limitations and institutional biases imbedded within these studies, before surveying more recent efforts to overcome these issues through greater critical rigor, methodological refinement, and the inclusion of more diverse perspectives. However, in order to provide sufficient background to these discussions, this article will first survey the roles of oral tradition in Buddhism along with the religion’s tumultuous modern history in South Korea as well as the introduction of oral history to Korean academia. |
| 24 |
Valeriia SOLOSTOVA, Independent Researcher Buddhist Translation as a Driver of Lexical Disyllabification in Chinese: From Old Chinese to Early Middle Chinese |
Disyllabification constitutes one of the most significant transformations in the history of the Chinese language, marking the transition from Late Old Chinese (c. 3rd c. BCE–2nd c. CE) to Early Middle Chinese (c. 3rd–7th c. CE). During this transition, the lexicon shifted from predominantly monosyllabic to increasingly disyllabic. While Buddhist translations are widely recognized as primary drivers of this lexical shift, the specific translatorial mechanisms, diachronic dynamics, and pathways through which disyllabic norms migrated beyond religious texts remain unaddressed at the corpus level. This study analyzes sutra translations by An Shigao, Dharmarakṣa, Kumārajīva, and Xuanzang (2nd–7th c. CE) as represented in the CBETA corpus, covering disyllabification from its nascent stages through its establishment as a lexical norm. Corpus frequency and comparative diachronic analyses are combined with lexical classification of transliterations and calques to isolate each strategy’s contribution; lexical diffusion analysis then tracks the integration of Buddhist disyllabic neologisms into the broader lexicon. The research argues that source-language structural pressure, the Chinese logographic writing system, and sutra recitation prosody together reinforced the spread of disyllabic patterns, an effect that grew stronger as translators shifted from transliteration to semantic calquing. Ultimately, the educated elite facilitated the diffusion of these norms beyond religious contexts, contributing to the vocabulary of the modern Sinographic world. |
| 25 |
SUN Yinggang, Zhejiang University 檀特山考 |
Forthcoming. |
| 26 |
WANG Yue, Kyoto University Smṛti的兩條概念重構路徑：“念”和“Mindfulness” |
本文探討佛教術語 smṛti 在中文與現代英文中的不同概念位置與實踐功能，並據此分析其所呈現的不同概念重構路徑。 本文以漢譯唯識學和阿毗達磨材料爲基礎，藏譯平行材料爲輔，指出“念”並不等同於世俗語義下的“記憶”，而是佛教心理學中的一個特定心所：指對熟悉對象的不忘失、持續保持與清晰呈現，並作爲心不散亂之所依。相比之下，英語語境所對應的“mindfulness” 雖源自佛教，卻在現代翻譯、詮釋與傳播過程中，被重構爲一種對當下不加評判的開放性覺知。這種形式更易於理解、訓練與運用，從而使其能夠被心理學、臨牀醫學、教育等現代科學領域廣泛接納與吸收。 本文主張，smṛti 在中文中形成的“念”與在英語中形成的 “mindfulness”，體現了兩種不同的概念重構路徑：前者重在維持 smṛti 在佛教哲學與心所體系中的意義位置，後者則傾向於在現代知識制度與語言環境中，將其重組爲易實踐、易傳播、易制度化和再開發的形態。 由此可見，翻譯不僅承載既有思想的延續，更是驅動概念重構的中介，它推動知識功能在歷史和不同話語體系間的整合，並深刻影響了相關概念在跨文化傳播中的生命力與表現形式。 This paper examines how the Buddhist term smṛti has come to occupy different conceptual positions and practical functions in Chinese and modern English, arguing that these differences reflect two distinct trajectories of conceptual reconfiguration through translation. Drawing primarily on Chinese Yogācāra and Abhidharma materials, with Tibetan parallel sources as supplementary evidence, this paper argues that niàn (念) is not equivalent to “memory” in its colloquial sense. Rather, it denotes a specific mental factor (心所) in Buddhist psychology: the non-forgetting, sustained retention, and clear mental expression of a familiar object, serving as the cognitive foundation for non-distraction. By contrast, although the modern English term mindfulness also derives from the Buddhist sources, it has been reconfigured through modern translation and interpretation as a form of non-judgmental, open awareness of present-moment experience—a construct that is more readily intelligible, cultivable, and operationalizable within secular domains such as psychology, medicine, and education. The paper argues that niàn and mindfulness embody two different paths of conceptual reconfiguration. Niàn largely preserves the semantic position of smṛti within Buddhist philosophy and the framework of mind and mental factors, whereas mindfulness tends to reorganize it within modern scientific and linguistic contexts into a form optimized for practice, communication, and institutional integration. This case demonstrates that translation serves not merely as a vehicle for the transmission of inherited meanings, but as an active agent of conceptual reconfiguration, thereby reshaping the epistemic functions across historical eras and discourse systems, while profoundly influencing their vitality and manifestations in cross-cultural dissemination. |
| 27 |
YAMABE Nobuyoshi, Waseda University The Three Chinese translations of the Bodhisattvabhūmi: Dharmakṣema, Gunavarman, and Xuanzang |
Forthcoming. |
| 28 |
YAN Yaozhong, Shanghai Normal University 佛典中“身份”含義在華土之影響 |
Forthcoming. |
| 29 |
ZHANG Rui, Université Lumière Lyon 2 / Institut d’Asie orientale Translating Hanshan: Buddhist Poetics and Conceptual Transformation in Modern French Reception |
Hanshan’s poetry, as a poetic expression of Buddhist thought in early medieval China, has traveled far beyond its original linguistic and cultural context, gaining particular resonance in modern France through translation. This paper examines the French reception of Hanshan as a case study of the translingual transformation of Buddhist poetics, with particular attention to the works of Patrick Carré, Jacques Pimpaneau, and the translation by Cheng Wing-fun and Hervé Collet.
The Buddhist elements in Hanshan’s poetry do not usually appear in the form of explicit doctrine, but are more loosely embedded in the poems themselves. This makes them particularly open to reinterpretation in translation. Rather than treating translation simply as a transfer between languages, this paper approaches it as a process through which texts are re-understood. It explores how certain Buddhist notions found in Hanshan’s poetry, such as emptiness (śūnyatā) and illusion (māyā), were re-expressed within modern French literary and intellectual contexts. In Patrick Carré’s translations, for instance, Hanshan is often presented less as a poet defined by a clear religious background than as a poetic figure associated with spontaneity, marginality, and existential freedom. At the same time, these translations may also be understood within a broader history of translation. In a modern and transformed form, they preserve certain basic features of Buddhist translation as a mode of cross-cultural knowledge production. Through close readings of selected poems and their French translations, combined with attention to their reception contexts, this paper suggests that translation not only changes the way a text is understood, but also contributes to the shaping of new cultural imaginaries. The French reception of Hanshan also offers a concrete perspective from which to consider how works carrying Buddhist resonances may be reinterpreted as they circulate globally. In this process, translation does not simply transmit ideas; it also shapes new ways of reading, and in some measure alters the relation between literature, religion, and philosophy. By situating this case within the broader context of Buddhist translation history and cross-cultural exchange, the paper further reflects on how translation functions as a mediating force between different cultural traditions and participates in the transformation of meaning. 寒山詩作為中國中古時期佛教思想的一種詩性表達，經由翻譯進入西方語境，並在現代法國引發了具有代表性的接受與再詮釋。本文以 Patrick Carré、Jacques Pimpaneau、Cheng Wing-fun 與 Hervé Collet 的譯本為中心，探討寒山詩在法語語境中的傳播與重構，並以此作為觀察佛教詩學在跨語言轉換中的一個具體案例。 寒山詩中的佛教思想往往並不以明確的教義形式呈現，而是以較為鬆散的方式融入詩歌之中。這一特點使得相關觀念在翻譯過程中更容易被重新理解與轉化。本文將翻譯視為一個重新理解文本的過程，而不僅僅是語言之間的轉換。文章著重分析寒山詩中所涉及的一些佛教觀念，如「空」、「幻」，如何在現代法國的文學與思想語境中被重新表達。在 Patrick Carré 的譯本中，寒山往往不再被呈現為一位具有明確宗教修行背景的詩人，而更接近一種與自由、邊緣處境與存在經驗相關的詩性形象。 與此同時，這些譯本亦可被置於更廣泛的翻譯傳統之中加以理解：它們在現代語境下，以不同方式延續並轉化了佛教翻譯作為跨文化知識生產機制的一些基本特徵。通過對原詩與法譯的細讀，並結合其接受語境的分析，本文嘗試指出翻譯不僅改變文本意義，也參與建構新的文化想象。 寒山在法國的接受，也為理解帶有佛教意涵的作品在全球流動過程中如何被重新詮釋，提供了一個具體的觀察視角。翻譯在這一過程中，不只是傳遞思想，也形塑文本的閱讀框架，並在一定程度上改變文學、宗教與哲學之間的關係。本文將該案例置於佛教翻譯史與跨文化交流的背景中加以考察，旨在進一步思考翻譯如何在不同文化傳統之間發揮中介作用，並參與意義的轉化。 |
| 30 |
ZHAO You, Peking University Bodies of Scriptures: Buddhist Exegesis in the Vyākhyāsaṃgrahaṇī of Yogācārabhūmi |
Forthcoming. |
