2020

Laura Lettere

  • Postdoctoral Scholar
Picture of Laura Lettere

Project

Buddhist translation practices in Medieval China: the case of the Buddhacarita

Program

The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowships in Buddhist Studies

Abstract

This research aims to produce a complete monograph on the Chinese translation of the Buddhacarita, the Fo suoxing zan (T192). By means of both an accurate philological reading and computer-based analysis, this work will explain the peculiarities of T192 as a translation and explain T192’s interrelation with earlier Chinese translations of Buddhist texts. Through an analysis of T192’s relationship with the Tibetan translation, we shall clarify whether chapters 15 to 28 of the Chinese account are an actual translation of a lost Sanskrit source or were composed in China and based on earlier Chinese translations or Central Asian sources. A preliminary study of the last fourteen chapters of the Tibetan version of the Buddhacarita will be a byproduct of this research.