The controversy over the awakening of faith in early-twentieth-century China

Cheng, Yu-Ming

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Description

Title

The controversy over the awakening of faith in early-twentieth-century China

Author(s)

Cheng, Yu-Ming

Issue Date

2016-04-21

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Mayer, Alexander Leonhard

Department of Study

Religion

Discipline

Religion

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

M.A.

Degree Level

Thesis

Keyword(s)

• Awakening of Faith
• China
• 1920s
• controversy
• qixinlun
• Chinese Buddhism
• authenticity

Abstract

The debate on the authenticity of the Awakening of Faith in early-twentieth-century China was significant in its impact on the modernization of Chinese Buddhism. It reveals the complex relation between Yogācāra and the Chinese Buddhist schools that are built on tathāgatagarbha thought. The core of the controversy is the authenticity of the Awakening of Faith, which has three aspects: the authenticity of authorship, the question whether it is a translation and its doctrines. The participants of the debate were all prominent Buddhists and scholars, but they often confused these aspects. Despite the fact that they had formulated various conclusions concerning the authenticity of the Awakening of Faith, nearly all of them defended the book's legitimacy. Even for those who maintained that the book was not authentic, few chose to denounce it. The separation of academic findings and sectarian positions reveals the inherent and unsolved tension, in Chinese Buddhism, between Indian origination and Chinese localization, as well as that between authenticity and applicability.

Graduation Semester

2016-05

Type of Resource

text

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Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2016 Yuming Cheng

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