The Grove and the Lotus: A Tale of Two Manuscripts Containing Lost Texts from China Preserved in Japan

Abstract:

This talk will focus on a manuscript from Kōyasan 高野山 that includes handwritten texts on the frontside and the backside. The front side contains a 9th century (823 CE) manuscript of the Wenguan cilin文館詞林 [Grove of Texts from the Literature Office; Jpn. Bunkan shirin]. Different sections of the manuscript, classified as a “National Treasure” 国宝, have been located at the Shōchi-in正智院 and Hōju-in 宝寿院 on Kōyasan 高野山, and the full manuscript has recently made available to me. The Wenguan cilin—originally in 1,000 juan—was ordered to be complied by Emperor Gaozong 唐高宗 (628-683) in the early Tang and the project was completed by Xu Jingzong 許敬宗 (592-672) in 658. It included texts from the Han 漢 (206 BCE-220 CE) up through the early Tang. By the Southern Song the Wenguan cilin had become lost in China and became virtually forgotten (probably due to the success of the Wenyuan yinghua 文苑英華 [Blossoms and Flowers from the Literary Garden]). Some fragments were discovered in Japan in the late-18th century. To date about 30 juan have been recovered and published in various editions. Many of the surviving works, which were long presumed to be lost, survive in the newly discovered fragments. This collection is noteworthy since it includes works that are not found in other large collections in China.

The backside of the manuscript contains another text, namely Senkan’s 千観 (918–983) Hokke-sanshū-sōtaishō 法華三宗相対抄 [Extracts on the Comparison [of the Interpretations] of the Lotus Sūtra by the Three Schools], which is a valuable work for the study of Tiantai/Tendai Buddhism (as well as Hossō and Sanron), and doctrinal debates concerning the issue of “buddha-nature” 仏性問題 in particular. Senkan was a specialist of Buddhist logic, but his works have received surprisingly little attention by scholars since he and his lineage were largely overshadowed by the success of the lineage traced from Ryōgen 良源 (912-985) to Genshin 源信 (942-1017). What is distinctive about the Kōyasan manuscript of the Hokke-sanshū-sōtaishō is that it includes a rich body of quotations from other Tiantai Buddhist texts which no longer survive in China (including, for instance, the Tang dynasty Fahua jing xuanzan yaoji 法華經玄贊要集 by Qifu 栖復). For the purposes of this talk I will focus my attention on the quotations from the no longer extant Chinese Buddhist sources that are contained in the manuscript. Therefore, this talk will concern both the study of early medieval Chinese literature and history as preserved in the individual texts collected in the Wenguan cilin and the study of Tang-Song Chinese Tiantai Buddhism and Heian and Kamakura period Japanese Tendai Buddhism. One of the questions that will be addressed is: Is there any relationship between the two works that are found back-to-back on this manuscript? I am afraid that I will be unable to offer any definitive answer to that question, but it provides us with an opportunity to reflect on the flow of texts and people between China and Japan from the 8th-10th century.

Short bio:

James ROBSON 羅柏松 is the James C. Kralik and Yunli Lou Professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University and the Director of the Harvard-Yenching Institute. He also served as the Director of the Harvard Asia Center for six years. Robson received his Ph.D. from Stanford University, after spending many years doing research in China, Taiwan, and Japan. He previously taught at Williams College, the University of Michigan, and was a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University.  He specializes in the history of East Asian religions and Chinese local history. His book the Power of Place: The Religious Landscape of the Southern Sacred Peak [Nanyue 南嶽] in Medieval China received the Stanislas Julien Prize and the Toshihide Numata Prize in Buddhist Studies. He is also the editor of the Norton Anthology of World Religions: Daoism.