Spreading Buddha's Word in East Asia: The Formation and Transformation of the Chinese Buddhist Canon

Editors:
Jiang Wu and Lucille Chia

Publisher:
Columbia University Press

Publication Year:
2015

Abstract:
A monumental work in the history of religion, the history of the book, the study of politics, and bibliographical research, this volume follows the making of the Chinese Buddhist canon from the fourth century to the digital era. Approaching the subject from a historical perspective, the book ties the religious, social, and textual practices of canon formation to the development of East Asian Buddhist culture and opens up the study of Chinese Buddhist texts to readers interested in the evolution of Chinese writing in general and the Confucian and Daoist traditions in particular.

The collection undertakes extensive readings of major scriptural catalogs from the early manuscript era as well as major printed editions, including the Kaibao Canon, Qisha Canon, Goryeo Canon, and Taisho Canon. Contributors add fascinating depth to such understudied issues as the historical process of compilation, textual manipulation, physical production and management, sponsorship, the dissemination of various editions, cultic activities surrounding the canon, and the canon's reception in different East Asian societies. The Chinese Buddhist canon is one of the most enduring textual traditions in East Asian religion and culture, and through this exhaustive, multifaceted effort, an essential body of work becomes part of a new, versatile narrative of East Asian Buddhism that has far-reaching implications for world history.

Table of Contents:

Preface, by Lewis Lancaster

Introduction, by Jiang Wu and Lucille Chia

Part I: Overview

1. The Chinese Buddhist Canon Through the Ages: Essential Categories and Critical Issues in the Study of a Textual Tradition, by Jiang Wu

2. From the "Cult of the Book" to the "Cult of the Canon": A Neglected Tradition in Chinese Buddhism, by Jiang Wu

Part II: The Formative Period

3. Notions and Visions of the Canon in Early Chinese Buddhism, by Stefano Zacchetti

4. Fei Changfang's Lidai sanbao ji 歷代三寶記 and Its Role in the Formation of the Chinese Buddhist Canon, by Tanya Storch

Part III: The Advent of Printing

5. The Birth of the First Printed Canon: The Kaibao Edition and Its Impact, by Jiang Wu, Lucille Chia, and Chen Zhichao

6. The Life and Afterlife of Qisha Canon, by Lucille Chia

7. Managing the Dharma Treasure: Collation, Carving, Printing, and Distribution of the Canon in Late Imperial China, by Darui Long

Part IV: The Canon Beyond China

8. Better Than the Original: The Creation of Goryeo Canon and the Formation of Giyang Pulgyo, by Jiang Wu and Ron Dziwenka

9. Taisho Canon: Devotion, Scholarship, and Nationalism in the Creation of the Modern Buddhist Canon in Japan, by Greg Wilkinson

Appendix 1. A Brief Survey of the Printed Editions of the Chinese Buddhist Canon, by Li Fuhua and He Mei

Appendix 2. The Creation of the CBETA Electronic Tripitaka Collection in Taiwan, by Aming Tu