評印順法師《中國禪宗史》 ── 管窺自他語境下民國佛教學術的發展困境=Comments on The History of Chinese Chan Buddhism by Master Yin-shun: An Epitome of the Buddhist Academic Development in the Republican Period
Master Yin-shun’s book The History of Chinese Chan Buddhism is a famous and admired masterpiece of Buddhism in East Asia. The book has two characteristics. Firstly, it was a Buddhist history divided according to dynasties. Secondly, Master Yin-shun used the logical analysis as the book’s writing skills and combined it with the historical research method which was the pioneer of Buddhist academic circle in the Republican period. And these two characteristics are also the reason for the extreme evaluations of the book. Based on this situation, the author of this article writes to analyze how the two characteristics come, from the following three dimensions: opportunity of the book’s origin, Master Yin-shun’s experiences and own road of Buddhism Studying, the formation of his personal unique research methods. Through the process of the analysation, the dilemma of Republican Period’s Buddhist academic would be comprehended to a certain extent.
