Rìběn fójiào mùlùxué de xíngchéng — yǐ Dōngyù chuándēnglù wéi zhōngxīn 日本佛教目錄學的形成——以《東域傳燈錄》為中心
The Formation of Japanese Buddhist Bibliography — Centered on the Tōiki dentō mokuroku by 末木文美士 (Sueki Fumihiko)
About the work
A scholarly article by Sueki Fumihiko 末木文美士, item No. 066 in Zàngwài fójiào wénxiàn vol. 7, examining the formation of Japanese Buddhist bibliography (mokuroku-gaku 目錄學) through close study of the Tōiki dentō mokuroku 東域傳燈目錄 — the catalogue of Japanese Buddhist literature compiled by the Kōfuku-ji 興福寺 monk Eichō 永超 (1014–1095) at age 81 and presented to the Shōren-in 青蓮院 in Kanji 寬治 8 (1094 CE).
Abstract
The article challenges the dominant interpretation of the Tōiki-roku established by Inoue Mitsusada 井上光貞 (1917–1983) — that the catalogue is primarily a window onto Nara-period (710–794) Buddhist scholarship and demonstrates the doctrinal-derivative nature of Nara learning. Sueki argues against this on three grounds: (1) the Tōiki-roku is an 11th-c. work, not an 8th-c. one — it primarily reflects mid-late Heian period Buddhist intellectual life, not Nara; (2) many extant Nara-period scholarly works are not in the Tōiki-roku, undermining its representativeness for Nara; (3) Sueki’s own research on Nara-period scholar-monks shows that they were not merely repeating Chinese sectarian-founder doctrines, but engaged in original interpretation. The article surveys recent Japanese bibliographic scholarship (the Nanatsu-dera 七寺 kōitsukyōten kenkyū-han publications) and the parallel Chinese work of Fāng Guǎngchāng on Dūnhuáng-excavated jīnglù 經錄, arguing for a renewed comparative bibliographic study of East-Asian Buddhism.
Translations and research
- Sueki Fumihiko 末木文美士, Heian shoki bukkyō shisō no kenkyū 平安初期佛教思想の研究 (Tokyo: Shunjūsha, 1995).
- Inoue Mitsusada 井上光貞, “Tōiki dentō mokuroku ni mietaru Nara-jidai sōryo no gakumon 東域傳燈目錄所見奈良時代僧侶之學問,” in Inoue Mitsusada chosaku-shū (Tokyo: Iwanami, multiple yrs).
- Fāng Guǎngchāng 方廣錩, Bā—shí shìjì fójiào dà-zàng-jīng shǐ (Beijing: Zhōngguó shèhuì kēxué, 1991).
- Abé Ryūichi, The Weaving of Mantra: Kūkai and the Construction of Esoteric Buddhist Discourse (New York: Columbia University Press, 1999) — context for early Heian Buddhist intellectual life.
Other points of interest
The article is a programmatic statement for renewed comparative East-Asian Buddhist bibliographic scholarship. Sueki and Fāng Guǎngchāng’s Sino-Japanese collaboration is one of the most significant scholarly axes of the Zàngwài fójiào wénxiàn project as a whole — the article and Fāng’s KR6v0062 Tiāntái jiàodiǎn rùzàng kǎo and KR6v0090 Dūnhuáng sìyuàn suǒcáng dàzàngjīng gàimào are companion essays in this comparative bibliography programme.