Politics in the Translation of Buddhist Texts: Timothy Richard and the Awakening of Faith

This paper is focused on the political rhetoric hidden in the English translation by Timothy Richard of the Awakening of Faith (Dasheng qixin lun 大乘起信論), one of the most popular Buddhist texts in East Asia. It first treats Richard’s translation as an important event in the intellectual history by pl...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Gong, Jun (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group 2017
In: Studies in Chinese Religions
Year: 2017, Volume: 3, Issue: 1, Pages: 26-54
Further subjects:B Mahāyāna
B Hinayana
B Politics
B Timothy Richard
B The Awakening of Faith
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Summary:This paper is focused on the political rhetoric hidden in the English translation by Timothy Richard of the Awakening of Faith (Dasheng qixin lun 大乘起信論), one of the most popular Buddhist texts in East Asia. It first treats Richard’s translation as an important event in the intellectual history by placing it back to the distinctly different veins of Buddhist studies respectively in China and in the West since the nineteenth century. It then explores Richard’s creative interpretations for the two key Buddhist concepts of Mahāyāna and Hinayana as well as his hidden writing strategies while translating and interpreting Buddhist texts. Finally, this paper analyzes in detail the ‘Western "matching-meaning"’ (yang geyi 洋格義) as expressed in the translation of the Awakening of Faith, bringing to light Richard’s Christian reconstruction of Buddhist scriptures over the course of translation.
ISSN:2372-9996
Contains:Enthalten in: Studies in Chinese Religions
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1080/23729988.2017.1319671