How Buddhism Acquired a Soul on the Way to China

260 Pages·2012·8.27 MB·English

by  Jungnok Park

How Buddhism Acquired
a Soul on the Way to China

How Buddhism Acquired a
Soul on the Way to China
Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies Monographs
Series Editor: Richard Gombrich, Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies
The Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies promotes teaching and research into
all Buddhist traditions, as found in texts and in societies, and is equally open to
the study of Buddhism by methods associated with the humanities (philology,
philosophy, history) and the social sciences (anthropology, sociology, politics).
It insists only on using sources in their original languages and on aiming at the
highest scholarly standards.
Recently published by Equinox
Richard Gombrich, What the Buddha Thought
Venerable Seongcheol, Sermon of One Hundred Days: Part One
Previously published
Buddhist Meditation: An Anthology of Texts from the Pali Canon
Sarah Shaw
Early Buddhist Metaphysics: The Making of a Philosophical Tradition
Noa Ronkin
How Buddhism Began: The Conditioned Genesis of the Early Teachings.
2nd edition
Richard F. Gombrich
Metaphor and Literalism in Buddhism: The Doctrinal History of Nirvana
Soon-11 Hwang
Mindfulness in Early Buddhism: New Approaches Through Psychology and
Textual Analysis, of Pali, Chinese and Sanskrit Sources
Tse-fu Kuan
Miphamis Dialectics and the Debates on Emptiness: To Be, Not To Be,
or Neither
Karma Phuntsho
Remaking Buddhism from Medieval Nepal: The Fifteenth-century Reformation
ofNewar Buddhism
Will Tuladhar-Douglas
The Biographies of Rechungpa: The Evolution of a Tibetan Hagiography
Peter Alan Roberts
The Origin of Buddhist Meditation
Alexander Wynne
How Buddhism Acquired a
Soul on the Way to China
Jungnok Park
equinox
Published by Equinox Publishing Ltd
UK: Unit S3, Kelham House, 3 Lancaster Street, Sheffield, S3 8AF
USA: ISD, 70 Enterprise Drive, Bristol, CT 06010
www.equinoxpub.com
First published 2012
© The Estate of Jungnok Park 2012
All rights reserved. No part of this publication maybe reproduced or transmitted
in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission
in writing from the publishers.
ISBN: 978-1-84553-996-2 (hardback)
978-1-84553-997-9 (paperback)
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publishing Data
Park, Jungnok, 1971-2008.
How Buddhism acquired a soul on the way to China / Jungnok Park.
p. cm. — (Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies Monographs)
“This book is based on his Oxford D.Phil. thesis, which he completed
early in 2008"—Data view.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-84553-996-2 (hb) — ISBN 978-1-84553-997-9 (pb)
1. Buddhism—China. 2. Buddhism—Sacred books—Translating—History. 3.
Buddhism—China—Doctrines—History. 4. Buddhism—India. 5.
Self—Religious aspects—Buddhism. I. Title. BQ628.P37 2012
294.3'422—dc22
2011006347
Typeset by S.J.I. Services, New Delhi
Printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon
e l -
CONTENTS
Foreword: The Late Jungnok Park vii
Richard Gombrich
Preface ix
Introduction 1
PART I: CHINESE BUDDHIST TRANSLATION IN
ITS CULTURAL CONTEXT
1. The Characteristics of Chinese Buddhist Translation 5
2. The Verification of the Traditional Attributions of
Translatorship 37
PART II: THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE INDIAN
BUDDHIST CONCEPT OF SELF
3. Self in Early Buddhist Soteriology 65
4. Development of a Buddhist Self 104
5. Nirvana and a Permanent Self 126
PART III: THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHINESE
BUDDHIST CONCEPT OF SELF
6. Chinese Ideas about Self before the Arrival of Buddhism 151
7. Non-self but an Imperishable Soul in Chinese Buddhist
Translations 177
vi Contents
A Survey of Interpolations and Adaptations of an Agent
in Samsdra 196
The Characteristics of the Chinese Buddhist Concept of
Self 207
Conclusion 223
Appendix 225
References 232
Index 241
FOREWORD: THE LATE JUNGNOK PARK
Richard Gombrich
This book is closely based on the DPhil thesis 'The Translation and
Transformation of the Buddhist Concept of Self between India and
China', which Jungnok Park completed in March 2008. The thesis was
supervised in the Faculty of Oriental Studies, University of Oxford, by
Mr Lance Cousins and myself. The oral examination took place in July
2008, but Jungnok died tragically the next day, before the result could
be determined. I have edited the thesis for publication with a very light
touch: most of the changes consist of small adjustments to make the
English read more smoothly. The change of title merely reflects the fact
that the thesis title is unwieldy.
Jungnok Park was born in South Korea in 1971. From 1989 to 1999 he
was a Buddhist monk in the Jogye Order; he disrobed because he found
he could no longer accept all the required beliefs. In 1997 he entered the
Philosophy Department of Seoul National University, where he took a
BA in 2000 and an MA in 2002; his MA thesis was titled 'Nirvana and
Buddhist Ethics! From 1998 to 2001 the Korean Foundation for Advanced
Studies awarded him a scholarship for classical Chinese studies; and in
2003 the same foundation gave him a scholarship of full support for his
doctoral studies, which he pursued at Wolfson College, Oxford.
Though modest to a fault, Jungnok had to admit that his classical
Chinese was good. He also read Japanese fluently. On the other hand,
he arrived at Oxford knowing no Sanskrit or Pali, but acquired full
competence within two years. The improvement in his English, which he
came to write like a native speaker, was scarcely less remarkable. These
achievements, however, pale beside his razor-sharp intelligence and his
determination to take nothing on trust. He thought for himself every inch
of the way. He was receptive to advice, and indeed sought it, but when
it was given he never would accept it without question; he always had to
viii Foreword: The Late Jungnok Park
mull it over and come to his own decision. As a monk, he had rebelled
(as he himself recorded) against what he saw as injustice and corruption
within the Order. Alluding to this, he wrote that the approaches he had
adopted in both his theses were intended 'to reveal how a tradition
of normative orders assimilates alien principles of social justice and
develops into a new system, maintaining its “traditional” identity! He
had extensive plans for further research into the historical relations
between Buddhism and the struggle for social justice in China.
Jungnok was one of the most gifted students I have ever encountered.
His capacity for hard work was phenomenal. Moreover, he was no less
remarkable for his kindness and sensitivity. His early death was a terrible
blow to scholarship, and I shall never stop missing him.