H-Buddhism.

Table of Contents

1. Re: QUERY> Buddhism and Ecology for undergrads
2. Kieschnick on Lock and Linebarger, 'Chinese Buddhist Texts: An Introductory Reader' [review]
3. WORKSHOP> 4th Nanzan Graduate Student Seminar for the Study of Japanese Religion and Culture

Re: QUERY> Buddhism and Ecology for undergrads

by Wendi Adamek

Hi All --
Pasting below the works I used in a related course last winter/spring -- not all Buddhist, but provide points of dialogue with Buddhism. Also used YouTube clip of David Loy lecture, and a great documentary: BBC/CCTV 2016, China: Between Clouds and Dreams.
Books would also recommend: David Graeber, Debt, and Philip Goodchild, The Theology of Money.
Books:
Duara, Prasenjit (2015). The Crisis of Global Modernity: Asian Traditions and a Sustainable Future. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1-288.
Hershock, Peter (2012). Valuing Diversity: Buddhist Reflection on Realizing a More Equitable Global Future. Albany: SUNY Press. 1-293.
Latour, Bruno [2002] (2013). Rejoicing: Or the Torments of Religious Speech. Trans. Julie Rose. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.
Loy, David (2002). A Buddhist History of the West: Studies in Lack. Albany: SUNY Press. 1-214.
Mauss, Marcel [1925] (1990). The Gift: The Form and Reason for Exchange in Archaic Societies. Trans. W.D Halls. London: Routledge. ix-107.
Raworth, Kate (2017). Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st Century Economist. Kindle, Random House Business. 384 pages.
Weber, Max. [1930] (1992). The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. Trans. Talcott Parsons. London: Routledge. vii-125
Weiner, Annette B. (1992). Inalienable Possessions: The Paradox of Keeping-While-Giving. Berkeley: University of California Press. 1-155.
Selections:
Adamek, Wendi L. (2005). “The Impossibility of the Given: Representations of Merit and Emptiness in Medieval Chinese Buddhism.” History of Religions 45.2: 135-181.
Gethin, Rupert, trans. (2008). “Advice to Sigāla.” In Sayings of the Buddha: A Selection of Suttas from the Pali Nikāyas. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 129-138.
Schopen, Gregory (1997). “The Ritual Obligations and Donor Roles of Monks in the Pāli Vinaya.” In Bones, Stones, and Buddhist Monks. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, pp. 72-85.
Walsh, Michael J. (2007). “The Economics of Salvation: Toward a Theory of Exchange in Chinese Buddhism.” Journal of the American Academy of Religion: 1-30.
All best,
Wendi

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Kieschnick on Lock and Linebarger, 'Chinese Buddhist Texts: An Introductory Reader' [review]

by System Administrator

Graham Lock, Gary S. Linebarger. Chinese Buddhist Texts: An Introductory Reader. Abingdon: Routledge, 2018. 188 pp. $35.95 (paper), ISBN 978-1-138-95333-8; $136.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-1-138-95332-1.
Reviewed by John Kieschnick (Stanford University) Published on H-Buddhism (August, 2018) Commissioned by Rafal Stepien (University of Oxford)
Printable Version: http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showpdf.php?id=52935
Like all other students of classical Chinese of my generation and earlier, I devoted countless, weary hours to the tedious task of counting strokes, deciphering radicals, learning the four-corner system, converting from one peculiar romanization system to another, scanning dictionary pages, and so on—all in the service of finding out the basic meaning and pronunciation of a given character or compound. It is only quite recently that the availability of classical Chinese texts in digital form and digital dictionaries have shaved minutes off each instance of looking up an unfamiliar character, catapulting today’s student months if not years ahead of me at a similar stage in my career. Textbooks and techniques for teaching modern Chinese are also much improved over what they were a few decades ago—students today are no longer required to muddle through the adventures of Gubo and Palanka in “New China.” And for classical Chinese, the recent publication of Paul W. Kroll’s A Student’s Dictionary of Classical and Medieval Chinese (Leiden: Brill, 2015) finally replaces the famously inadequate Mathew’s Chinese-English Dictionary that beginners had wrestled with since 1931. (Kroll’s Student’s Dictionary is also available in digital format.)
Several introductions to classical Chinese for foreigners have appeared in recent years, most notably Michael A. Fuller’s An Introduction to Literary Chinese (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2004) and Paul Rouzer’s A New Practical Primer of Literary Chinese (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2007), both of which are excellent. These works focus on the pre-Qin classical tradition, though Fuller includes as well some samples from Tang and Song poetry, and narrative and philosophical writings. Neither includes any works from the Buddhist canon.[1] The same is true for Wang Li’s 王力 four-volume introduction to classical Chinese, Gudai Hanyu 古代漢語 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju), first published in 1964 and subsequently the standard textbook generations of college students in China used when learning classical Chinese. Since 1983, Chinese students interested in Buddhism could turn to Huo Taohui’s 霍韜晦 Foxue 佛學 for a selection of introductory texts with notes and glossaries (Hong Kong: The Chinese University of Hong Kong, multiple reprints). But abroad, teachers in graduate programs in Buddhist studies were left to devise their own sets of readings and glossaries, and students hoping to learn to read Buddhist texts on their own were left to their own devices.
Graham Lock and Gary S. Linebarger have now introduced the first textbook for Chinese Buddhist writings to be published by a major press, complete with a sampling of a variety of types of texts, glossaries, and explanations of difficult terms and grammar. Lock and Linebarger assume that the users of their book “will have had at least one year’s college-level study of Chinese and will know roughly one thousand of the most common characters in the language” (p. viii). But they go on to suggest that even those without this background could conceivably learn to read Buddhist texts by working with their textbook. This is not so different from authors of textbooks for literary Chinese. Rouzer and Fuller both assume students who pick up their textbooks have some knowledge of characters, though both argue that “literary Chinese” is a pan-East Asian textual tradition, and so do not insist on knowledge of modern Chinese with Mandarin pronunciation over other East Asian languages. Rouzer even supplies Japanese kanbun renderings of the texts along with Mandarin and Korean pronunciation indexes. The consensus, then, is that ideally one should first spend a year or two studying modern Chinese or Japanese concurrently with or closely followed by a year of study of literary Chinese before embarking on the study of Chinese Buddhist texts (more on that later). 
After a brief survey of Chinese Buddhist history, notes on the Chinese Buddhist canon, some comments on the language of Chinese Buddhist texts, and a list of key reference works (a scant thirteen pages in total), Lock and Linebarger begin immediately with a text, the Heart Sutra, given in full, followed by a glossary and explanatory notes. This choice to begin with a chunk of primary material rather than attempting to provide a systematic explanation of classical Chinese grammar together with exercises is in keeping with, for instance, Rouzer’s approach to teaching classical Chinese.[2] In addition to the Heart Sutra, Lock and Linebarger provide selections from the Āgamas, the Diamond Sutra, the Lotus, and the Discourse on the Ten Wholesome Ways of Action (Shishan ye dao jing 十善業道經, Sanskrit Sāgara-nāga-rāja-paripṛcchā), representing the Indian tradition. These are followed by texts composed in China, including, in chronological order, selections from a biography of Kumārajīva (from the Gaoseng zhuan 高僧傳), Zhiyi’s short meditation manual (Xiuxi zhiguan zuochan fayao 休習止觀坐禪法要), the Platform Sutra, Yongjia’s Song of Enlightenment (Yongjia zhengdao ge 永嘉證道歌), the Blue Cliff Record, Yuan Liaofan’s 袁了凡 Four Lessons (Sixun 四訓), and Zhugui’s 朱珪 Commentary on the Heart Sutra (Mohe banruoboluomiduo xin jing zhujie 摩訶般若波羅密多心經注解). These are well-known texts in China, representing a range of genres and periods.
After a brief introduction, each text is broken into extracts of, first, the text, then the text with pin-yin pronunciation and a word-for-word literal translation. For example, the opening line of the second chapter of the Lotus Sutra is given as: “爾時, 世尊從三昧安詳而起, 告舍利弗 / ěrshí shìzūn cóng sānmèi ānxiáng ér qǐ gào shè lì fú / at-that-time world-honored-one from sāmādhi [sic] serene and rise tell Śāriputra” (p. 47).This is followed by a vocabulary list and notes explaining difficult terms or grammar. Later in the book, they gloss fewer standard words, encouraging the reader to begin to make use of dictionaries. At the end of each text, the authors suggest further readings and references. They do not provide a full, fluid translation of the passages, though they do recommend translations in their suggestions for further readings. 
One can quibble about the selections of further readings: there is a heavy emphasis on the publications of Hsuan Hua, but no reference to John McRae’s translation of the Platform Sūtra (Berkeley: BDK America, 2000) or that of Philip Yampolsky (New York: Columbia University Press, 1978). In the case of Liao Yuanfan’s extracts, it isn’t clear what edition of the text the authors are quoting. The reference section mentions some Chinese editions of texts, but not, for instance, Funayama Toru and Yoshikawa Tadao’s excellent Japanese translation and annotation of the Gaoseng zhuan (Kosōden [Tokyo: Iwanami, 2009]), the source of the biography of Kumārajīva. And there are a few typographical slips: Hurvitz is repeatedly misspelled as Hurvitze, Gaoseng zhuan as Gaoshen zhuan, samādhi as sāmādhi, and Kumārajīva as Kumarajīva; and on page 115, 何不讀書 is confusingly given as 何書. But overall the material is admirably clear and accessible. Appendices list word-class categories (demonstratives, auxiliary verbs, etc.), a comprehensive vocabulary list, and the texts in simplified characters. In short, this is a cogent and useful introduction to reading Chinese Buddhist texts; I wish that it had been available when I first started to study this material.
I have compiled my own textbook for Buddhist Chinese writings, “A Primer in Chinese Buddhist Writings.”[3] While I have not published it with a press, I have made it available on my website for the past few years. I hope it is not out of place to make some comparisons here between my text and that of Lock and Linebarger to give readers a sense of which might be best for them. My text has grown in recent years, with the assistance of my graduate students. I divide the core text into three volumes: volume 1, “Foundations” (compiled with Simon Wiles), in which we begin with ten lessons introducing parts of speech and drawing on a single text, the Daben jing 大本經 (Pali Mahāpadāna-suttanta; Sanskrit Mahāvadāna-sūtra), followed by the sutra in its entirety; volume 2, “The Indian Tradition,” a selection of texts from the three baskets (a sutra, a few passages from abhidharma texts, and a passage from a vinaya text); and volume 3, “Buddhist Texts Composed in China,” which, in addition to a selection of texts, includes some technical instruction in converting dates, the various types of Chinese names, standards of citation, and so on. I have also compiled a series of supplements, including (with Adeana McNicholl) a Mahāyāna supplement that, along with vocabulary lists, also includes a volume of annotation that compares published translations of the texts glossed; an Esoteric supplement (compiled with contributions from a number of graduate students) that focuses on Esoteric (also known as Tantric) texts; and an epigraphy supplement (with Sinae Kim), with much more technical information for advanced students interested in inscriptions.
In addition to the advantage of a printed and bound book, which, I must admit, I still prefer to either reading on a screen or printing out and clipping together, Lock and Linebarger’s Chinese Buddhist Texts is, at 175 pages, more manageable and perhaps less daunting than my series of more technical textbooks (Lock and Linebarger is also available as an e-book). Unlike Lock and Linebarger, I opted to provide translations for the texts I introduce. The jury is out on whether it is preferable to include translations in textbooks like these. Are they a useful tool, or a too-tempting crutch? In the realm of classical Chinese textbooks, Rouzer and Fuller do not provide translations, while Mark Edward Lewis’s excellent (free!) online textbook, “Chinese Philosophical Texts,” does include translations.[4] I begin with exercises that illustrate classes of words in Chinese before starting with a full text, while Lock and Linebarger begin directly with the Heart Sutra. My textbook suggests that students primarily interested in reading Chinese translations of Indian texts can start right in without first spending a year on modern Chinese, while Lock and Linebarger assume their readers have at least some knowledge of Chinese. 
Which of these assumptions works best is anyone’s guess; I know of no formal, systematic study of techniques for learning classical Chinese, much less premodern Chinese Buddhist texts. Should textbooks provide a translation or not? Should a student begin with some grammar or dive right into a text? Is it practical to learn to read Buddhist texts in Chinese with no prior knowledge of Chinese? In their introduction, Lock and Linebarger recommend that their readers first read a passage out loud several times, then check glossary and notes when necessary for understanding, then copy out the text a half dozen times or more, then translate it, and then, ideally, learn it by heart. Is this sort of intense concentration on a few texts more effective than reading widely at greater speed? This too is an open question. While I remain uncertain about which of these techniques is the most effective, I am confident at least that when starting out, approaching Chinese Buddhist texts through textbooks that provide selections, vocabulary lists, and notes is much more efficient than trying to learn to read these texts without a textbook. And until the day when linguists have determined with scientific precision the quickest way to master the skills needed to read Chinese Buddhist writings—a day that may never come—students can dip in and out of multiple textbooks depending on their particular interests. And ultimately this—enthusiasm inspired by personal interest—is the most important element for learning any language, Buddhist Chinese included.
Notes
[1]. Rouzer is up front about the value of introducing the study of literary Chinese with a focus on the “common ground: classical prose of the ‘classical’ and early imperial (second century B.C.E. to second century C.E.) periods,” suggesting, reasonably, that Buddhist writings, like medical language, is “so far beyond other forms of literary Chinese as to make them good examples of self-contained ‘dialects’” that “would perhaps best be learned on their own.” Paul Rouzer, A New Practical Primer of Literary Chinese (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2007), xiii.
[2]. Rouzer writes: “Because of the complexity of the character-writing system, literary Chinese evolved a flexible and open-ended grammar with few rules and essentially no inflections. Understanding a passage depends not on the previous mastery of a grammatical system but on the ability to intuit the thrust of an argument or narrative as well as the knowledge of the past usage of particular characters.” Ibid., xii. Fuller, in contrast, begins with a series of grammatical exercises before turning to longer passages.
[3]. John Kieschnick, “A Primer in Chinese Buddhist Writings,” Stanford University, Religious Studies, https://religiousstudies.stanford.edu/people/john-kieschnick/primer-chinese-buddhist-writi...(accessed August 7, 2018).
[4]. Mark Edward Lewis, “Chinese Philosophical Texts,” http://chinesetexts.stanford.edu/ (accessed August 7, 2018).
Citation: John Kieschnick. Review of Lock, Graham; Linebarger, Gary S., Chinese Buddhist Texts: An Introductory Reader. H-Buddhism, H-Net Reviews. August, 2018. URL: http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=52935

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

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WORKSHOP> 4th Nanzan Graduate Student Seminar for the Study of Japanese Religion and Culture

by Matthew McMullen

Dear members,
I would like to announce that we are now accepting applications for presenters at the 4th Nanzan Seminar for the Study of Religion and Culture, sponsored by the Nagoya University JSPS Core-to-Core Program. The seminar will be held on January 13-15 at the Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture in Nagoya, Japan. Details are provided below. 
For an application to present at the event, please contact me directly at mcmullen@nanzan-u.ac.jp. 
Sincerely, 
Matthew McMullen

Nanzan Seminar for the Study of Religion and Culture 2 

(A Nagoya University JSPS Core-to-Core Program)

Application Information

The Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture will conduct a Seminar in Japanese for international graduate students (who do not speak Japanese as their native language) on 13–14 January 2019. Presentations and discussion will all be held in Japanese. We invite advanced graduate students eager to present their research in Japanese to apply for participation in this Seminar, which is sponsored by a JSPS Program (coordinated by Abe Yasuro of Nagoya University).

Conditions for Participation

1. Applicants should be graduate students (or recent post-docs) who are not native speakers of Japanese and conducting research in Japanese religions for a university outside Japan. Five participants will be chosen from among the applicants.

2. Participants will be provided an economy-class round-trip air ticket between their current residence and Japan, and expenses for the duration of the Seminar (transportation and meals). Hotel accommodations will also be provided. Participants must attend and participate in the entire program of the Seminar.

3. An excursion is planned for 15 January (Tuesday), the day following the Seminar, as part of the JSPS Core-to-Core Program. All participants are encouraged to attend.

Application Procedures

1. Applicants should fill out the Application Form (download here from the Institute homepage). Submit an English abstract (250–350 words) and a Japanese summary (600–900 characters) of your research presentation by 30 September 2018. Please send completed applications as an attachment by e-mail to nirc-office@ic.nanzan-u.ac.jp with the title “Nanzan Seminar Application.”

2. The chosen applicants will be notified by 15 October.

3. Participants must submit a full paper either in English (under 8,000 words) or in Japanese (under 12,000 characters) by 1 December, sent by e-mail attachment. If papers are not submitted on time, participation may be revoked. Presentations will last for 45 minutes, followed by 45 minutes of discussion.

4. Discussants will need to read the papers in advance in order to facilitate comment and discussion, so the presentation should follow the content of the prepared paper. The presentation must be in Japanese, and the discussion will also be in Japanese with some English if necessary.

Seminar Schedule

12 January (Sat): Arrive in Nagoya by evening and check in to Hotel.

13 January (Sun): Arrive at the Nanzan Institute after lunch.

13:00 Opening Ceremony

13:10–14:30 Opening lecture

14:45–16:15 Seminar Presentation 1

16:30–18:00 Seminar Presentation 2

18:30 Welcoming Party

14 January (Mon): Second day of presentations at Nanzan Institute

9:30–11:00 Presentation 3

11:15–12:45 Presentation 4

Lunch

14:00–15:30 Presentation 5

15:45–17:00 Final Discussion

17:30 Closing Dinner

15 January (Tue): Excursion

16 January (Wed): Leave Nagoya

Advisers

Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture

James Heisig (Philosophy of Religion, Japanese Philosophy)

Kim Seung Chul (Theology, Interreligious Dialogue)

Okuyama Michiaki (Religious Studies, History of Religion)

Paul Swanson (Buddhist Studies, Religious Studies)

Matthew McMullen (Buddhist Studies, Esotericism)

Tim Graf (Religious Studies, Documentarian)

Discussants

Abe Yasuro, Nagoya University

Iwata Fumiaki, Osaka University of Education

Kobayashi Naoko, Aichi Gakuin University

Yoshida Kasuhiko, Nagoya City University

Chikamoto Kensuke, Nagoya University

Academic Staff

Yokoi Momoko (Sociology of Religion)

Fukahori Ayaka (Religion and Musicology)

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