Coming to Terms With Chinese Buddhism: A Reading of the Treasure Store Treatise (Studies in East Asian Buddhism)

The materials produced by the interaction of the mature forms of Chinese Buddhism and Taoism constitute some of the most sophisticated and complex examples of the meeting of Chinese and non-Chinese thought ever written. In his work on the Treasure Store Treatise Robert Sharf has at last established their remarkable value and defended them conclusively against the charge that they lack intellectual integrity. This study will remain a basic source of theoretical guidance and practical help for any scholar or student wishing to confront the multifaceted and interactive nature of China's major philosophical and religious traditions for many years to come. —Timothy Barrett, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London "Sharf has produced an elegant and impeccably researched study of medieval Chinese Buddhist thought, focussed on a Buddho-Taoist text of considerable intrinsic interest. The argument is persuasive and significant, and the book will have a profound impact on the way that Sinologists and Buddhologists approach Chinese Buddhist literature." —Stephen F. Teiser, Princeton University Annotation Chinese Buddhism is often portrayed as the product of a protracted encounter between Indian Buddhism and Chinese civilization, an encounter that led to the "sinification" of Buddhist teachings and practices. In a masterful display of scholarship, Robert Sharf makes a major contribution to the re-evaluation of the encounter. He shows that, although the Chinese were cognizant of the foreign origins of Buddhism, their actual exposure to South Asian clerics and Sanskrit texts was limited throughout medieval times. For the most part, Sharf argues, the Chinese dialogue with Buddhism took place among the Chinese themselves. That being the case, Chinese Buddhism is more properly approached as a product of sinitic culture, not a distorted reflection of normative Indian Buddhist prototypes. Sharf draws his argument in part from a close analysis of an obscure, nominally Buddhist text, the Treasure Store Treatise (Pao-tsang lun). The book begins with a careful reconstruction of historical and religious provenance of the text. It next turns to an analysis of internal evidence to demonstrate the close affinity between the Treatise and texts associated with Ox-head Ch'an and Twofold-Mystery Taoism. There follows a fascinating discussion of the metaphysical underpinnings of the Treatise in Chinese "correlative cosmology", in which Sharf points out the degree to which the metaphysical notion of "sympathetic resonance" (kan-ying) structured the medieval Chinese understanding of virtually all aspects of Buddhist doctrine, ritual, and soteriology. The introductory section is followed by a translation of the three chapters of the Treatise, including lengthy annotation that provides extended philologicaland philosophical discussion of dozens of key terms and concepts. The study concludes with a critical analysis of the place of Tantric, or Esoteric, Buddhism within the Chinese Buddhist tradition The issue of sinification—the manner and extent to which Buddhism and Chinese culture were transformed through their mutual encounter and dialogue—has dominated the study of Chinese Buddhism for much of the past century. Robert Sharf opens this important and far-reaching book by raising a host of historical and hermeneutical problems with the encounter paradigm and the master narrative on which it is based. Coming to Terms with Chinese Buddhism is, among other things, an extended reflection on the theoretical foundations and conceptual categories that undergird the study of medieval Chinese Buddhism. Sharf draws his argument in part from a meticulous historical, philological, and philosophical analysis of the Treasure Store Treatise (Pao-tsang lun), an eighth-century Buddho-Taoist work apocryphally attributed to the fifth-century master Seng-chao (374–414). In the process of coming to terms with this recondite text, Sharf ventures into all manner of subjects bearing on our understanding of medieval Chinese Buddhism, from the evolution of T'ang'gentry Taoism'to the pivotal role of image veneration and the problematic status of Chinese Tantra. The volume includes a complete annotated translation of the Treasure Store Treatise, accompanied by the detailed exegesis of dozens of key terms and concepts. Contents......Page 8 Acknowledgments......Page 10 Abbreviations......Page 12 Conventions of Usage......Page 13 Introduction: Prolegomenon to the Study of Medieval Chinese Buddhist Literature......Page 16 Part 1: The Historical and Cosmological Background......Page 44 1. The Date and Provenance of the Treasure Store Treatise......Page 46 2. Chinese Buddhism and the Cosmology of Sympathetic Resonance......Page 92 Part 2: Annotated Translation of the Treasure Store Treatise......Page 150 Introduction to the Translation......Page 152 3. The Treasure Store Treatise / Chapter One: The Broad Illumination of Emptiness and Being......Page 158 4. The Treasure Store Treatise / Chapter Two: The Essential Purity of Transcendence and Subtlety......Page 208 5. The Treasure Store Treatise / Chapter Three: The Empty Mystery of the Point of Genesis......Page 243 Appendix 1: On Esoteric Buddhism in China......Page 278 Appendix 2: Scriptural Quotations in the Treasure Store Treatise......Page 294 Notes......Page 302 Works Cited......Page 360 Index......Page 394 About the Author......Page 416 The Volume Includes A Complete Annotated Translation Of The Treasure Store Treatise, Accompanied By The Detailed Exegesis Of Dozens Of Key Terms And Concepts.--jacket. Machine Generated Contents Note: Introduction: Prolegomenon To The Study Of Medieval Chinese Buddhist Literature -- Part 1: The Historical And Cosmological Background -- 1. The Date And Provenance Of The Treasure Store Treatise -- 2. Chinese Buddhism And The Cosmology Of Sympathetic Resonance -- Part 2: Annotated Translation Of The Treasure Store Treatise Introduction To The Translation -- 3. The Treasure Store Treatise/chapter One The Broad Illumination Of Emptiness And Being -- 4. The Treasure Store Treatise/chapter Two The Essential Purity Of Transcendence And Subtlety -- 5. The Treasure Store Treatise/chapter Three The Empty Mystery Of The Point Of Genesis -- Appendix 1: On Esoteric Buddhism In China -- Appendix 2: Scriptural Quotations In The Treasure Store Treatise. Robert H. Sharf. A Kuroda Institute Book. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 345-378) And Index. Publisher Fact Sheet In this book, Richard Sharf meticulously analyses the historical, philological, & philosophical aspects of the Treasure Store Treatise, an eighth-century Buddho-Taoist work "The volume includes a complete annotated translation of the Treasure Store Treatise, accompanied by the detailed exegesis of dozens of key terms and concepts."--BOOK JACKET.