Buddhist translation practices in Medieval China. The case of the Buddhacarita

Laura Lettere

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L'Erma di Bretschneider, 2023, 250 pp. NUOVO---- The Buddhacarita, composed by Aśvaghoṣa in the late first or early second century CE, is a Sanskrit poem that depicts the life of the Buddha. Its Chinese translation, known as the Fo suoxing zan 佛所行讚, was completed in the first half of the fifth century CE and is attributed to Baoyun 寶雲 (376?-449), a Chinese monk. Since the translation includes several chapters missing in the Sanskrit poem, it stands as the earliest complete hagiography of the historical Buddha. This study delves into the evolution of academic research on the Buddhacarita, encompassing the process of rediscovery of the Sanskrit manuscript, as well as recent textual interpretations. It also examines the reception of the Chinese translation, drawing insights from the relevant literature. The investigation includes an exploration of the translator's biography and reconstructs the historical circumstances surrounding the translation process. Utilizing an n-gram based search, the study uncovers and interprets various intertextual relationships between the Fo suoxing zan and other texts in the Chinese Buddhist Canon, assessing for the first time the influence of the Fo suoxing zan on other coeval translations. The final chapter scrutinizes the narrative and stylistic inconsistencies between the first part of the poem (sarga 1-15), available in Sanskrit, and the second part, only accessible through the Chinese and Tibetan translations, and explores the motivations behind crafting such an extensive and atypical narrative about the life of the Buddha. Questo lavoro nasce con l intenzione di analizzare il fenomeno della traduzione in prospettiva storico-religiosa, prendendo in esame il poema sanscrito Buddhacarita (I-II sec. d. C.), oggi la più nota agiografia del Buddha storico, e la sua unica traduzione cinese, completata all inizio del V sec. d.C. Lo studio presenta le varie fasi che hanno portato il Buddhacarita a divenire un classico della letteratura buddhista in contesto accademico; ne propone poi la contestualizzazione storica e una rideterminazione del valore della traduzione cinese: spesso criticata come non sufficientemente aderente all originale, la traduzione cinese è ampiamente citata negli studi accademici come surrogato delle parti perdute del poema sanscrito questo studio intende porre per la prima volta la traduzione cinese al centro dell analisi filologica e storica, mettendo in luce come essa abbia diffuso un modello di biografia del Buddha storico in tutta l Asia orientale. Introduction Chapter 1. The discovery of a classic: the story of the Buddhacarita 1.1 The discovery of the Buddhacarita 1.2 From Johnston s edition onwards: literary, linguistic studies and art history 1.3 Aśvaghoṣa, the concept of dharma and the epics 1.4 The fame of the Buddhacarita in China and Japan Chapter 2. The history of a translation: the case of the Fo suoxing zan 佛所行讚 2.1 Clearing the field: the Fo suoxing zan 佛所行讚 and Fo benxing jing 佛本行經 are not different translations of the same text 2.2 Quotes in the Shijia pu 釋迦譜 and the Dunhuang manuscript 2.3 Studies and debates on the Fo suoxing zan (T192) 2.4 A note on the Tibetan translation Chapter 3: The history of a translator: Baoyun 寶雲 (376?-449) 3.1 Sources and historical background 3.2. Baoyun s life account and translations in the ChSZJJ 3.2.1 The role of Baoyun in translation teams 3.3 References to Baoyun s collaboration in translation projects from the lives of other monks 3.3.1 Buddhabhadra 3.3.2 Zhiyan 3.3.3 Saṃghavarman 3.3.4 Guṇabhadra 3.4 Uncertain attributions 3.5 List of titles with possible Taishō references 3.5.1 A preliminary search based on internal evidence: biographies of the Buddha 3.5.2 A n-gram based search for internal evidence 3.6 Conclusions Append. Seller Inventory # ca4000

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