Buddhist Literature in China

The book is organized around four lectures. Lecture I, “Early Translators of Buddhist Books in China,” surveys the earliest accounts of Buddhism’s arrival in China and presents lists of translators and translated works from different dynastic periods, emphasizing the historical role of Indian, Parthian, Central Asian, and Chinese monks in transmitting Buddhist scriptures. Lecture II, “On the Method of Buddha’s Teaching as Exhibited in the Vinaya Piṭaka,” examines Buddhist disciplinary and doctrinal teaching through materials preserved in Chinese translation, with attention to monastic rules, narrative instruction, and ethical formation. Lecture III, “Aśvaghoṣa,” discusses the life, works, and religious significance of Aśvaghoṣa, including his association with Buddhist poetry, biography, and the development of Mahāyāna ideas. Lecture IV, “Coincidences between Buddhism and Other Religious Systems,” compares Buddhist cosmological and mythological themes with those found in other traditions, especially in relation to sacred mountains, heavenly realms, symbolic geography, and religious imagination.