Languages, scripts, and Chinese texts in East Asia
出版日期
2018.02
資料類型
專題研究論文=Research Paper
使用語言
英文=English
關鍵詞
scripture; orality; sermons; Chinese Buddhist canon; Japan; Korea; Vietnam; Tibet; Tanguts
摘要
Although Buddhism is now seen as a scriptural religion, its earliest oral transmission to various language communities necessitated the use of translation, and the tolerance of translation in Buddhism is demonstrated by the many languages and scripts in which excavated early fragments of texts were written. Subsequently, translation into Chinese created what is known as the Chinese Buddhist canon, which was and still is normative in Japan, Korea, and Vietnam, but other societies, especially Tibet and the Tangut empire, reacted differently by undertaking translations. Why did this difference occur? Even in those societies in which the Chinese Buddhist canon was normative, it must be remembered that the practice of Buddhism was predominantly oral: for this reason not only was phonological vernacularization inevitable when chanting the scriptures, but also, for the purpose of sermons and other forms of teaching, vernacular explanations and vernacular translation was indispensable.
