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Conference Paper: The Sacred Buddhist Book Culture in the Han-jin Period
Title | The Sacred Buddhist Book Culture in the Han-jin Period 漢晉佛教寫經與官方組織的建立 |
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Authors | |
Issue Date | 25-Jun-2014 |
Citation | The 5th International Sheng Yen Education Foundation Conference, Taiwan, 29-30 June 2014. How to Cite? |
Abstract | The development of Chinese Buddhism in the initial stage of the Han dynasty was mainly established by the translation and composition of scriptures. This was also the period in which the art of Chinese calligraphy had reached its apogee, and there were a great many calligraphers working in a wide variety of styles. But with so many styles of scripts to choose from, how did Buddhist monk translators decide which was most appropriate for sacred Buddhist writing? In the early twentieth century, many religious and secular manuscripts were discovered in Dunhuang and Turfan which constituted a significant boon to the study of the development of Buddhism and Chinese calligraphy. Yet, to date the Buddhist manuscripts have only been studied by a small number of scholars, and a systematic analysis of their calligraphy has yet to be carried out. In this paper, I will focus on the study of these manuscripts from three perspectives: (1) Examine the calligraphic styles of dated Buddhist manuscripts with inscribed stone inscriptions from the 3rd to 6th century. It can be seen clearly the three main phases evolution of Buddhist sacred writing from the clerical script to standard script. (2) Of particular note is that some manuscripts of the Sixteen Kingdoms period written by foreign monks or professional scribes who specialized in writing bilingual or multi-language scripts. Furthermore, under the influence of state sponsorship, a solid foundation was laid by the establishment of an organized Buddhist texts translation bureau. (3) Before the invention of printing technology, the ancient books, or Buddhist texts, were all dependent on scribes for copying. This practice was eventually superseded by the introduction of woodblock printing, and today the entire Chinese Buddhist canon is available in a digital form readable on any computer. Thus, many may wonder whether the manual copying of scriptures still has any role to play in the contemporary Buddhist practices. After presenting some of Master Shengyen’s thoughts on the subject, I also explore how the simple practice of copying Buddhist sutras can be applied as meditation discipline. |
Description | There are two parts to this conference, general audience and academic. Part Two, the academic part of the conference from June 29-30. Conference theme: Transmission and Practice in Contemporary Chinese Buddhism and the Thought of Venerable Sheng Yen 主題: 「聖嚴思想與當代漢傳佛教的傳承與實踐」 |
Persistent Identifier | http://hdl.handle.net/10722/198301 |
DC Field | Value | Language |
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dc.contributor.author | Tsui, C | en_US |
dc.date.accessioned | 2014-06-25T03:00:34Z | - |
dc.date.available | 2014-06-25T03:00:34Z | - |
dc.date.issued | 2014-06-25 | - |
dc.identifier.citation | The 5th International Sheng Yen Education Foundation Conference, Taiwan, 29-30 June 2014. | en_US |
dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10722/198301 | - |
dc.description | There are two parts to this conference, general audience and academic. Part Two, the academic part of the conference from June 29-30. | - |
dc.description | Conference theme: Transmission and Practice in Contemporary Chinese Buddhism and the Thought of Venerable Sheng Yen | - |
dc.description | 主題: 「聖嚴思想與當代漢傳佛教的傳承與實踐」 | - |
dc.description.abstract | The development of Chinese Buddhism in the initial stage of the Han dynasty was mainly established by the translation and composition of scriptures. This was also the period in which the art of Chinese calligraphy had reached its apogee, and there were a great many calligraphers working in a wide variety of styles. But with so many styles of scripts to choose from, how did Buddhist monk translators decide which was most appropriate for sacred Buddhist writing? In the early twentieth century, many religious and secular manuscripts were discovered in Dunhuang and Turfan which constituted a significant boon to the study of the development of Buddhism and Chinese calligraphy. Yet, to date the Buddhist manuscripts have only been studied by a small number of scholars, and a systematic analysis of their calligraphy has yet to be carried out. In this paper, I will focus on the study of these manuscripts from three perspectives: (1) Examine the calligraphic styles of dated Buddhist manuscripts with inscribed stone inscriptions from the 3rd to 6th century. It can be seen clearly the three main phases evolution of Buddhist sacred writing from the clerical script to standard script. (2) Of particular note is that some manuscripts of the Sixteen Kingdoms period written by foreign monks or professional scribes who specialized in writing bilingual or multi-language scripts. Furthermore, under the influence of state sponsorship, a solid foundation was laid by the establishment of an organized Buddhist texts translation bureau. (3) Before the invention of printing technology, the ancient books, or Buddhist texts, were all dependent on scribes for copying. This practice was eventually superseded by the introduction of woodblock printing, and today the entire Chinese Buddhist canon is available in a digital form readable on any computer. Thus, many may wonder whether the manual copying of scriptures still has any role to play in the contemporary Buddhist practices. After presenting some of Master Shengyen’s thoughts on the subject, I also explore how the simple practice of copying Buddhist sutras can be applied as meditation discipline. | en_US |
dc.language | chi | en_US |
dc.relation.ispartof | 5th International Sheng Yen Education Foundation Conference 2014 | en_US |
dc.relation.ispartof | 2014 第五屆聖嚴思想國際學術研討會 | - |
dc.title | The Sacred Buddhist Book Culture in the Han-jin Period | en_US |
dc.title | 漢晉佛教寫經與官方組織的建立 | en_US |
dc.type | Conference_Paper | en_US |
dc.identifier.email | Tsui, C: chunghui@hku.hk | en_US |
dc.identifier.hkuros | 229162 | en_US |