Master Yin Shun’s autobiography; narrative voice of “ordinariness”; reader construction; the self of not-self; “Yin Yuan” as guidance
摘要
In the most common understanding, an autobiography is a narrative of one’s own life written by a person, to present a coherent and true picture of the life experiences one has gone through. As a literary genre, it has a post-Renaissance popularity, although scattered examples of intimate first person narratives can be found long before that. Religious figures, however, have presented quite a number of personal experiences in words throughout the Western culture, partly as record of life, and more importantly as a celebration of grace and used as a tool to spread the religious teachings to the reading public. In the context of Buddhist Studies in the Chinese world, however, an autobiography occupies an interesting position. While Buddhist teachings include the concept of “not-self”, an autobiography (which is a narrative defined by the identity of the name on the cover and the subject recorded between the covers) may be seen as the ultimate narrative of a self. How does an autobiography of the monastics interact with the readers in terms of its role as a tool to spread Buddhist teachings (as its counterpart in the Christian religion)? This presentation reads Master Yin Shun’s autobiography as such an example to investigate how a Chinese monastic has employed this literary form and turned it into a medium for spreading Buddhist teachings. Special attention is paid to how the narrative constructs a relationship with the readers.
