Reinventing the Tripitaka: Transformation of the Buddhist Canon in Modern East Asia

The Chinese Buddhist canon is a systematic collection of all translated Buddhist scriptures and related literatures created in East Asia and has been regarded as one of the “three treasures” in Buddhist communities. Despite its undisputed importance in the history of Buddhism, research on this huge collection has remained largely the province of Buddhologists focusing on textual and bibliographical studies. We thus aim to initiate methodological innovations to study the transformation of the canon by situating it in its modern context, characterized by intricate interactions between East and West as well as among countries in East Asia. During the modern period the Chinese Buddhist canon has been translated, edited, digitized, and condensed as well as internationalized, contested, and ritualized. The well-known accomplishment of this modern transformation is the compilation of the Taisho Canon during the 1920s. It has become a source of both doctrinal orthodoxy as well as creativity and its significance has greatly increased as Buddhist scholarship and devotionalism has utilized the canon for various ends. However, it is still unclear what led to the creation of the modern editions of the Buddhist canon in East Asia. This volume explores the most significant and interesting developments regarding the Chinese Buddhist canon in modern East Asia including canon formation, textual studies, historical analyses, religious studies, ritual invention, and digital research tools and methods.

Table of Contents:
Introduction: Jiang Wu and Greg Wilkinson “The Reinvention of the Buddhist Tripitaka and the Rise of “Textual Modernity” in Modern East Asia” Part 1 The Buddhist Canon Encounters the West 1.Jiang Wu “Finding the First Chinese Tripitaka in the West: Early European Buddhology, the 1872 Iwakura Mission in Britain, and the Mystery of the Obaku Canon in the India Office Library” 2.Greg Wilkinson and Nicholas J. Frederick “Inventing Buddhist Bibles in Japan: From Nanjo Bun'yu to Numata Yehan” Part 2 Use and Utility of Modern Editions and Printings 3.Kida Tomoo “Otani Kozui's Tripitaka Diplomacy in China and the Qing Dragon Canon at Ryukoku University” 4.Gregory Adam Scott “The 1913 Pinjia Canon and the Changing Role of the Buddhist Canon in Modern China” 5.Richard D. McBride II “Bearing the Canon on the Crown of the Head: Jeongdae Bulsa and Worship of the Buddhist Canon in Contemporary Korean Buddhism” Part 3 The Buddhist Canon in the Digital Age 6.Christian Wittern “The Digital Tripita

About the Author :
Jiang Wu is professor of Chinese religion and thought in the Department of East Asian Studies and director of the Center for Buddhist Studies at the University of Arizona. Greg Wilkinson is assistant professor of religious education at Brigham Young University.

Review :
This collection goes well beyond the usual paleographical, philological, and redaction historical preoccupations of canonical scholarship to shed light on the life of the Buddhist canon in the wider world. These well-researched and highly readable studies show how the Buddhist scriptures function in the realms of politics, missions, nationalism, devotional practices, international relations, scholarship, and technology. This will be an indispensable addition to any collection of studies on Buddhist literary culture. Reinventing the Tripitaka: Transformation of the Buddhist Canon in Modern East Asia opens a new chapter in the study of East Asian Buddhism, focusing on the use of the Chinese Buddhist canon as an agent in constructing a modern framework for the study of Buddhism in the face of Western cultural, intellectual, and religious dominance. It is an excellent contribution to our knowledge and is highly recommended for those interested in the modern political and religious history of East Asia, digital humanities, bibliographic studies and the history of the book in East Asia. The Buddhist Canon translated from South Asian languages into Chinese constituted a staggering achievement in intercultural communication fifty times the size of the Bible, so transferring this vast mass of text into modern typeset and digital formats raises acute questions of cultural identity as well as technology. The essays on the topic collected here therefore open up some urgent contemporary issues in exciting new ways—well done! The contemporary study of the history of Buddhist canons in East Asia has emerged in recent years as an important part of cultural as well as religious approaches. In this volume, we find an excellent summation of scholarly efforts that have been directed toward textual research in the field. The appraisal of the impact of digital and information technology is a welcome interpretation of present methodology in Buddhist studies.