Download Buddhism and the Rise of the Written Vernacular in East Asia: The

Buddhism and the Rise of the Written Vernacular in East Asia: The Making of National
Languages
Author(s): Victor H. Mair
Source: The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 53, No. 3 (Aug., 1994), pp. 707-751
Published by: Association for Asian Studies
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2059728
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Buddhismand the Rise of the
WrittenVernacularin
East Asia:
The Makingof NationalLanguages
VICTOR
H. MAIR
THE VAST MAJORITY OF PREMODERN CHINESE LITERATURE, certainly
all ofthemost
famousworksof the classical tradition,were composedin one formor anotherof
Sinitic(hereafter
Literary
also oftensomewhatambiguouslycalled
LS, wen-yen[-wen},
"ClassicalChinese"or "Literary
Chinese").Beginningin themedievalperiod,however,
of writtenVernacularSinitic(hereafter
an undercurrent
VS, pai-hua[-wen})started
to develop. The writtenvernacularcame to full maturityin China only with the
May FourthMovementof 1919, afterthe finalcollapseduringthe 1911 revolution
of the dynastic,bureaucraticinstitutionsthat had governedChina formore than
two millennia.It mustbe pointedout thatthe difference
betweenwen-yen
and paihua is at least as great as that betweenLatin and Italian or betweenSanskritand
Hindi. In my estimation, a thoroughlinguistical analysis would show that
and pure pai-hua are actuallyfar more dissimilarthan are
unadulteratedwen-yen
Latin and Italian or Sanskritand Hindi. In fact,I believethatwen-yen
and pai-hua
belong to wholly differentcategoriesof language, the formerbeing a sort of
ofAsianand MiddleEasternStudiesat theUniversity
VictorH. Mairis Professor
of
Pennsylvania.
forthefinalversionofthisstudy,beguna half-dozen
Research
yearsago, was carried
Centerduringtheacademicyear1991-92. Workat the
out at theNationalHumanities
Centerwassupported
fortheHumanities
bygrantsfromtheNationalEndowment
and the
I am grateful
AndrewW. MellonFoundation.
to all threeof theseorganizations
forproa number
to complete
ofprojects.In addition,I wouldlike
vidingme theidealconditions
individuals
whoreadthisworkin oneor moreofitsmanyprevious
to thankthefollowing
S. RobertRamsey,
GariLedyard,
incarnations:
JohnDeFrancis,
JamesUnger,JanNattier,
Tsu-LinMei, LudoRocher,Oskarv. Hinaber,T. Griffith
Foulk,StephenF. Teiser,Richard Mather,David Utz, and LindaChance.Whileall of themoffered
helpfulcomments
I aloneam responsible
and usefulreferences,
foranyerrors
of factand interpretation
that
remain.The linguists,
ChouYu-kuang,Jerry
Norman,W. SouthCoblin,andTakataToassistance
on technical
kio,provided
questions,forwhichI am deeplythankful.
Finally,I
theclose,criticalreadingofthreeanonymous
referees
appreciate
forthisjournalwhomade
forimprovement.
severalusefulsuggestions
A monographic
treatment
of thissubject,entitledTheConcept
of"NationalLanguage"
is forthcoming
in EastAsia and ItsBuddhist
in Sino-Platonic
Beginnings,
Papers.
TheJournal
ofAsianStudies
53, no. 3 (August1994):707-751.
(? 1994 by theAssociation
forAsianStudies,Inc.
707
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708
VICTOR
H.
MAIR
demicryptography
largely divorced from speech and the latter sharing a close
is reflectedin
with spokenformsof living Sinitic. This difference
correspondence
literallymeaning"literary
the namesforthesetwo typesof writtenSinitic,wen-yen
language" and pai-hua meaning"unadornedspeech." The problemis that stylists
and pai-hua traditionsseldom, if ever,employedan unalloyed
in both the wen-yen
formof thesetwo typesof writtenSinitic.Thus, therearevaryingdegreesof mixtures
as pan-wen-pan-pai
(semiliterary-semivernacular).
thatare looselycharacterized
Linguisticdata indicatethatLS and VS have been distinctsystemsas farback
as theycan be traced.This is certainlytruefromthe WarringStatesperiod(475249 B.C.E.) on, but I suspect that eventuallywe will be able to demonstrate
conclusivelythat LS, startingwith its earlieststage in the oracle shell and bone
abbreviated
and so replete
inscriptions
(around1200 B.C.E.), was alwaysso drastically
conventionsused only in writingthatit nevercame
with obligatorynonvernacular
livingvarietyof Siniticspeech. Naturally,LS
close to reflecting
any contemporary
infusedby some varietyor varieties
musthave been foundedupon and continuously
of VS, just as writtenSumerian(whichwas likewise"unsayable")must have been
basedupona formof thelivinglanguageof thepeopleofancientSumer(cf. DeFrancis
order
1989:78-79). Yet the disparitybetweenLS and VS is of a whollydifferent
of magnitudethan that between,say, writtenand spokenEnglish or writtenand
spokenRussian.
An analogythatmay be used to illustratethe relationshipbetweenLS and VS
is thatof the relationshipbetweena code or cipherand the naturallanguageupon
is not so drasticas it normallyis in the
whichit is based, althoughthe difference
lattercase whereintentional(thoughstrictlyprincipledand hence reversiblefora
privilegedreceiver)scramblingmay be involved.Or we may describethe radical
reductionof VS to LS as being somewhatsimilarto the making of shoppingor
chorelistsand the jottingdownof lecturenotesthatincludeall sortsof abbreviations
and omit auxiliaries,prepositions,endings, and other morphemesthat are not
absolutelyessential.Apart fromits being unnecessaryforthe writerto spell out
in detail,earlyscribesdoubtlesshad addedincentives
to economize
everything
explicitly
taskof preparingtheawkwardmaterialstheyworkedwithon the time-consuming
clay on the one hand and bones and shells on the other-and to be as terseas
possiblewith the complicated,inefficient
morphosyllabic
symbolsof theirscripts.
Afterthis sortof shorthandgot started,it mayhave seemedthe normforwriting.
Such drasticallypared-down,unnatural(in termsof real [spoken] language) styles
and perpetuated
would have been fostered
by thoseelite ritualspecialistswho wished
to monopolizetheirexoticskill. In thecase of Sinitic,once such an ellipticalsystem
was established,it divergedmoreand morefromthespokenlanguageas thewriting
remainedlargelyfixedwhilespeechchangedovertime(DeFrancis1991). The difference
betweenLS and VS is thus not just a matterof diachronicchange,as betweenOld
English and ModernEnglish or betweenOld Russian and Modern Russian. It is,
linguisticmedia. As we shall
rather,a distinctionbetweentwo separatelystructured
see below, LS and VS coexistedin China forthousandsof years.Their maintenance
as competing systemswas due to support from differentsocial and political
constituencies.
Going fromLS to VS or in the otherdirectiondefinitelyrequiresa processof
witnessthe burgeoningnumberof VS translations
or translation;
decoding/encoding
of LS textsfromall ages thatare beingproducedin Taiwanand the People'sRepublic
of China. If LS and VS weremerelytwo variantsof the same language,therewould
be no compellingneed to translatetheone into the other.The confusednotionthat
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BUDDHISM
AND THE RISE OF WRITTEN
VERNACULAR
709
LS and VS are simplyconstituentsof a single language is due to theirfrequent
borrowingfromand mixingwith each other.More of this is done by VS fromLS
(e.g., ch'eng-yii
["set phrases,"commonlyreferred
to looselyas "idioms"] whoseLS
grammar,syntax,and lexiconare noticeablydistinctfromthe VS matrixin which
theyare implanted)thanby LS fromVS, sincewriters
ofLS tendto be moreconscious
ofmaintainingtheintegrity
and purityoftheirhighlymanneredstyle,whilewriters
of VS oftenaspireto affectan LS aura withoutreallymasteringthe entireartificial
language.
In a stimulatingarticle,"On RepresentingAbstractionsin ArchaicChinese,"
HenryRosemont,Jr.(1974) basicallyconcurswiththeseviewson LS whenhe states
that it was not a spoken language but an exclusivelywrittenlanguage and hence
that it cannot be classifiedas a naturallanguage. Tsu-Lin Mei (1992a) takes the
contraryposition that the Analects,to a certainextent,reflectsspoken language.
He sees the best evidence forthis in fusionwords (or what W.A.C.H. Dobson
[1974:101-21 has called "allegroforms").Since theycan occuronlyin rapidspeech,
he regardsthemas "primafacieevidencethatthe Masterdid speak in a formpretty
close to what was recorded."Indeed, the Analectsis morevernacularthan the Tso
in the sense thatit uses moregrammaticalparticles,requires
chuan[Tso'sChronicle]
more words to say the same thing, etc., and that both are more vernacularthan
bronzeinscriptions.Nonetheless,I still maintainthat all LS texts
contemporary
are dramatically
(includingtheAnalectsand Tso'sChronicle)
divorcedfromvernacular
speech and representa separatesystemof linguisticand orthographic
conventions
employedsolely in writing.The clearestevidenceforthe separatenessof the two
systemscan be seen in the much higherdegreeof polysyllabicity
of the vernacular,
and usages(see the discussionofshihbelow
starklydifferent
grammaticalstructures
forone tellingexample;manyothers,such as distinctivedemonstrative
words,the
methodforhandlingpossessivesand relativeclauses,different
approachesto measure
words [also called countersand classifiers},and verbal complements,might be
adduced), and the factthatthe borrowingback and forthbetweenthe two systems
is so conspicuous.We shall returnto the alleged vernacularity
of the Analectsagain
underthe rubricof kuan-hua.
EarlyWrittenVernacularin China
A curiousphenomenonabout the way the vernacularfirstcomes to be written
down in China is thatthe earliestinstancesof writtenVS occuralmostexclusively,
certainlywithabsoluteand unmistakablepredominance,in Buddhistcontexts.The
most conspicuous examples of this phenomenonare the Tun-huang pien-wen
texts:eighthto tenthcenturies)thatI have workedon forthe past
(transformation
two decades (Mair 1983, 1988, 1989; Iriya 1961, 1985) and the recordedsayings
to as yii-luthatdate fromthe periodimmediatelyfollowing
of Zen mastersreferred
(Maspero 1914; Kao 1948; Berling 1987). Equally strikingis the high proportion
of vernacularelementsthatare presentin the earliesttranslations
of Buddhisttexts
into Sinitic,startingfromthe secondcenturyof the CommonEra (C.E.). This has
been demonstrated
conclusivelythroughthe carefulresearchof the eminentDutch
Buddhologist,Erik Zurcher(1977; 1980; 1991), and, followingin his footsteps,
the youngChineselinguist,Chu Ch'ing-chih(1990).
Chu's studyis based on a close readingof all the ChineseBuddhisttextsof the
earlymedievalperiod,bywhichhe intendstheEasternHan, Wei, Chin,and Northern
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710
VICTOR
H.
MAIR
and SouthernDynasties,fromabout 25-589 C.E. There is an enormousamountof
of theearlymedievalperiodaloneamount
materialto be covered-Buddhistscriptures
to 960 titlesin 2,990 scrollsor fasciclescomposedof roughly25,000,000 graphs,
more than the secularnativeliteraturefromthe same period.
surprisingly
Chu richlyand conclusivelydocumentsa highlysignificantphenomenon,that
medieval Buddhist textsare decidedlymore vernacularand colloquial than their
fromthe same period. One of the most obvious aspects
non-Buddhistcounterparts
of ChineseBuddhisttextsin comparisonwith nativeworksis that theycontainfar
morepolysyllabicwords(particularly
disyllabicwords),but thereare also noticeable
(cf. Watters'sexcellentbut littleknownwork
syntacticand grammaticaldifferences
of 1889, esp. chapters8 and 9 ["The Influenceof Buddhism on the Chinese
Language"]). Some of thisinfluencewas in directresponseto the linguisticfeatures
fortheChinesetranslations
of theIndic(and perhapsIranianand Tocharian)prototypes
of Buddhisttexts.It is clear,however,thatthe implantationof Buddhisminto the
Chinesesociolinguistic
colloquial,
bodyalso servedto elicitin an activewayvernacular,
and dialecticalelementsthatbelongedproperlyto spokenSiniticlanguagesbut that
had been rejectedby the indigenoustextualtraditionas vulgarisms.
I shallgivehereonlytwoexamplesin supportofChu's thesis,thefirstgrammatical
and the secondlexical. Shihas thecopulativeverbshowsup in theearliestBuddhist
translations(i.e., startingfromthe second centuryC.E.) and is quite commonin
medievalpopular Buddhist literature.This is in completecontrastto its use as a
in LS. Veryearlyuse ofshihas the vernacularcopulativehas recently
demonstrative
confirmedby the discoveryof an astronomicaltextin which
been archaeologically
occursin thatcapacity(cf. Tuan Li-fen1989). Since
and
it repeatedly unmistakably
to
well
text
dates
beforethe beginningof the CommonEra (from
found
this newly
near the beginningof the WesternHan [i.e., the earlypart of the second century
B.C.E.}),
copulativeshihcan hardlybe attributedto the coming of Buddhism. It
must, rather,be a featureof the vernacularlanguage that was presentveryearly,
perhapsfromthestart,but thatwas ignoredby LS writers(cf. Cantonesehai, which
seems to representanothermodernsurvivalof the same vernacularelement).This
of VS (A shihB ["A is B"J) which is so apparenteven up
distinctivecharacteristic
different
fromLS, whichlacksa copulativeverbaltogether.
to thepresentday,is utterly
Instead,LS employsthe nominativesentencestructureA B yeh("A [is] B"). It is
thatSsu-maCh'ien'sRecords
(Shih-chi)
(c. 90 B.C.E.),
oftheGrandHistorian
noteworthy
whichof all LS textsdating to the period beforethe Common Era has a tendency
to admit a few discernableelementsfromVS, includesa numberof instancesin
whichA shihB and A B yehare combined,hence A shihB yeh.Ohta (1958:189)
offersan astuteanalysisof this phenomenon.
of thelargelypolysyllabic
VS lexiconis oftenerroneously
The emergence
explained
as the resultof the combinationof monosyllabicwordsfromLS, as thoughVS were
somehowderivedfromLS or an attemptto makeLS moreexplicitand understandable
whenspoken.Conceptuallythismakesno sensewhatsoever,sincespokenlanguages
of theirwrittenforms.Historically,
theallegedderivation
alwaysprecedetheinvention
false.In a fullertreatment,
I could cite hundreds
ofVS fromLS is also demonstrably
of instancesthat show that polysyllabicvocabularyhas been a featureof VS from
the earliesttimes that can be attested,but here I shall referonly to one, namely
tao-lu("way, road"). Tao-lu is a venerableVS wordstill in use todaythat is found
in a wide varietyof pre-Ch'intexts,includingthe Tso chuan(Tso's Chronicle)
(463
B.C.E.)
by Tso Ch'iu-ming(cf. Mair 1990:22-23 forthe phonologyand philology
ofthisword).The factthatthewordtazo-/uis usuallyreducedto justtazoin LS texts
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BUDDHISM
AND THE RISE OF WRITTEN
VERNACULAR
711
7t!m
q
:
.5
Figure
Lin
5.1::.
writ
1.MediealVenaculrSintic
1
of.............
theI"Long Scroll" from Tun huang
andrndacOffic
ofigthe OriMenteal
withe
Colletinco
At
indTibean
OffiscrLibrar.
With the permissionof the BritishLibrary.
showsthatthe relationshipbetweenLS and VS is exactlythe oppositeof thatwhich
is commonlyassumed. To wit, wherewe can test specificinstancesin the early
stagesof the formation
of LS, it seems to be the resultof drastictruncationof VS,
includinganaphoraso extremethatit could not possiblybe toleratedin intelligible
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712
VICTOR
H.
MAIR
speech. Of course,once LS was securelyestablished,it became possible to create
new polysyllabic(chieflybisyllabic)wordsin VS by joining togethermonosyllabic
LS words.But thiswas a relativelylate phenomenonand would have been possible
onlyforthosefewwho wereliteratein LS. The mass of the populationwould have
continuedto use and createpolysyllabic
wordsas theyalwayshad fromthe beginnings
of the Siniticlanguagegroup, i.e., irrespective
of the tetragraphic
script.
What Zurcherand Chu havebothshownclearlyis that,fromtheverybeginnings
of Buddhismin China, the translatedtextsof this new religiondisplaya higher
degreeof vernacularcontentthando non-Buddhisttexts.No othertextsfromthe
same periodcan begin to comparewiththe earlyBuddhisttranslations
forthe large
amountofvernacularisms
theycontain.Indeed, it is extremely
rarein non-Buddhist
textsof the same age ever to findeven a single unambiguouslyvernacularusage.
Nonetheless,it must be pointed out that, as the eminentRussian specialiston
MedievalVernacularSinitic,I. S. Gurevich(1985) has shown,even theTun-huang
pien-wen
can by no meansbe said to represent
a pure formof VS, inasmuchas they
still containa significantproportionof LS elements.This is probablydue to the
natureof the sinographicscriptwhich is so perfectly
well suited to LS but rather
inimicalto a full representation
of any VS language. It should also be mentioned
that, once Buddhistshad paved the way for the use of a vernacularizedwritten
medium,it was tentatively
adopted-through emulation-for secularpurposesby
otherswho were living in close associationwith them. Witness the occasional
transformation
texts,stories,rhapsodies,cantos,and othergenreson non-Buddhist
subjectsthat came to be writtendown at Tun-huang.By the Sung period, it had
become acceptable-among certainstill mostlynonelitesocial classes-to employ
the writtenvernacularforhistoricalmedleys,love stories,and lyrics.
The evidenceforthe intimaterelationshipbetweenBuddhismand the written
in Chinais so irrefutable,
vernacular
thatit demandsan explanation.
yetso unexpected,
Given thattheconnectionis bothobviousand uncontested,one mightimaginethat
therewould be an easily identifiableset of reasonsfor this phenomenon.Such,
is not the case. The situationis actuallyquite complex and it is
unfortunately,
to declarewithassurancepreciselywhatit was about Buddhismthatproved
difficult
to be conduciveto the adoptionof the vernacularas an acceptablewrittenmedium.
This is all the moreremarkablein lightof the factthatChineseliteratihad always
looked down upon any traceof the vernacularin writingas crude and vulgar(su).
Naturally,like all othervocalhumanbeings,Chinesescholarsthemselves
wereforced
to use the vernacularin daily conversation,but committingit to writingwas an
entirelyseparatematter.On the face of it, the adoptionby Chinese Buddhistsof
writtenvernacularand BuddhistHybridSinitic(hereafter
BHSi) as vehiclesforthe
of theirfaithseemsimprobable.One would have thoughtthattheywould
expression
have chosen,instead,LS, since it was uniformly
consideredby the Chineseelite to
be moreelegant. Surelystraightwen-yen
would have been moreappropriateif one
were deliberatelysearchingfora suitablesacredlanguage in which to couch one's
in a new arenaof evangelism.Hence, the blatantBuddhistpreference
scriptures
for
mixed with large chunks of pai-hua vocabularyand syntaxis
pai-hua or wen-yen
puzzling froma conventionalpoint of view.
With time, stylesof Buddhistwritingin China morenearlyapproximating
LS
did develop, especiallyforthose textsthat were composedby nativeauthorsand
were not translatedfromnon-Siniticlanguages. To one degree or another,most
Buddhisttextsthat were translatedfromnon-Siniticlanguages,particularlythose
done by non-Chinese
individuals,displayvarioustypesof grammatical
and syntactical
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BUDDHISM
AND THE RISE OF WRITTEN
VERNACULAR
713
discrepancieswith LS. This is not, of course, to mentionthe large amountsof
translatedand transcribed
thatalso stampBHSi as different
terminology
fromLS.
In the next section,I would like to identifya numberof factorspeculiar to
Buddhismthatpossiblymighthave contributedto the acceptanceof the vernacular
as a workabletool forwrittenexpression.Because of the tremendouscomplexityof
thisissue,I will refrain
fromanysimple,unidimensional
explanation.Startingfrom
the most abstractand generalaspects,I shall move to more concreteand specific
featuresthat may have fosteredthe growthof the writtenvernacularin China.
Buddhismand Language
Buddhism,aboveall, is a sophisticated
religionwithan extensive
bodyofdoctrine.
PerhapsBuddhistteachingcontainsa corepreceptthatis conduciveto thevernacular,
a teachingforwhich therewas no parallel in native Chinese traditions,such as
Confucianismand Taoism. One that leaps to mind is the notionof upaya (fangpien,skillfulmeans).Accordingto thisdoctrine,believersshoulduse whatevermeans
are appropriateto ensurethe salvationof all sortsof living creatures.Upaya was
but was activelyappliedin Buddhistpreaching
notjusta rarefied
theory,
and teaching.
In China, forexample, lecturesforlaymen(su-chiang)
were deliveredby eminent
monks(kao-seng)
and, upon occasion,by a fewwho werenot so eminent.The notes
forsome of theirlectureshave been preservedamong the Tun-huangmanuscripts
texts(chiang-ching-wen)
and theyarequitevernacular
as sutra-lecture
in theirorientation
ramifications
ofthedoctrineofupayaareBuddhistparables,
(Mair 1986). Otherliterary
apologues,and birth-talesknownas avadana, nidana,and jataka. These, too, were
in China and popularwiththemasses.Vivid descriptions
much-favored
ofBuddhist
and lecturingmay be foundin the Biographies
storytelling
Monks(KaoofEminent
in China (e.g., Ennin'sDiary),classicalfiction
sengchuan),travelrecordsof foreigners
(ch'uan-ch'i),Tun-huangtexts (e.g., the tale of Hui-yuan [S2144 in the British
Library]),anecdotalliterature,and othersources.
Buddhismis not only a religion,however,forit also functionsas an elaborate
philosophicalsystem.Is thereanythinginherentin Buddhistthoughtthat might
sanctionthe use of the vernacular?Here I am ratherskepticalthat we can find
much thatwill help us elucidatethe mystery
of the ChineseBuddhistpredilection
forthe vernacular.My suspicionabout the applicabilityof philosophicalpremises
to our presentquandaryis based on the fundamentalineffability
of Buddhahood
and otherassociatedconcepts,such as nirvana.Alreadyin the Nikayas (the early
Pali texts)and the Agamas (a group of textsin the Sanskritcanon thatcorrespond
to the Pali Nikayas),it is clear thatultimatereligiousgoals are held to lie outside
the realmof discourseand, hence, discursivethought.The Suttanipatainformsus
thattheBuddhais beyondthe "pathsofspeech"and in theTheragatha
he is described
as being inconceivablein visual or auditoryimages (Gomez 1987:446a). It is a
commonplacein Mahayanatexts that enlightenmentis incompatiblewith words
and intellection.The usual formulationis "the way of language is cut off,the
tao tuan, hsin-hsing
workingsof the mind are obliterated"(yuen-yiu
ch'u mieh).
chih-tuln (T25[15091.7 1c),
See, for example, MahdprajfipdramitopadeYa/Ta
Avatamsakasitra/Hua-yen
ching(T9[278J.424c), and *Mahasamathavipasyana
[?P/Mohe chih-kuan
(T46[19111.59b). Even the Zen masters,whose wordsare ironically
preservedin writtenvernacular(perhapsone shouldsay,especiallytheZen masters),
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714
VICTOR
H. MAIR
frommind to mind" (i hsinch'uanhsin)and
insiston such notionsas "transmission
of writtenwords" (pu 1i wen-tzu),which disparagethe efficacy
"nonestablishment
of language,especiallyin its writtenform,to conveyessentialtruths.
Despite Buddhism'spresumedphilosophicalderogationof language,no religion
can survivewithoutsacredtexts,and Buddhismdefinitelyproducedan abundance
of scripture(threehuge basketsfull!). What is unusualabout the Buddhistcanon,
pretensethatit has an immediateoral basis. It is remarkable
however,is thepervasive
how many works in the Buddhist Tripitaka begin with the formula evam
mesuta,m
("Thus have I heard,"in Siniticju shihwo wen),or
maydsrutam,Pali eva,m
words to that effect.The simulacrumis that of the eminent disciple Ananda
recitingthe Buddha's wordsto the assembledfaithfulat Rajagrhaafterhis death.
but
This formulanot only stressesthe presumedreliabilityof directtransmission,
and
thence
to
Ananda,
were
conveyed
siutras
orally
the
Buddhist
that
also reveals
is like a
markof oral transmission
to the restof the community.This self-evident
of the
doctrines
the
It
distinguishes
that
follows.
the
text
that
authenticates
stamp
Buddha fromthose of teacherswho were presumablyheretical.Ultimately,then,
a large and long scriptural
the entireBuddhistcanon-while it clearlyrepresents
added later-is ostensibly
and
exegeses
discourses,
commentaries,
with
rules,
tradition
word(v. Hinuber
the
spoken
upon
founded
almost
"aggressively")
say
(one might
East
whose
the
s-utras
in
of
Asian
also
reflected
number
large
This
is
5).
1990:ch.
fulltitlesstartwith the expressionFo shuo("spokenby the Buddha," fromSanskrit
even thoughit would have been impossibleforthe
or buddhabhhisita),
buddhavacana
Buddha to utterall of the words in them, especiallythose that were originally
composed in China, Japan, and Korea! There is even an entireszitra(Pali sutta)
whichmeansroughly"the speechesbeginningwiththe words
entitledthe Itivuttaka,
'This was spoken (by the Lord).'" The equivalentSinitic title is Ju shihyi ching
of the Pali
[SzitraSpokenThus]. This is the fourthscripturein the Khuddaka-nikaya
bhagavatdvuttamarahatd'ti
heta,m
canon. Each sectionof the siutrabegins Vuttam
ju shihshuo["Thus did I heartheworshipful
ts'eng
ying-kung
mesuta,m
(Wowenshih-tsun
World-Honoredspeak"}). Interspersedin the text we find such expressionsas iti
vuccati(ju shihyen["said thus"}). At the end of each sectionoccursthe following
shuotz'u i
formula:Ayampi atthovuttobhagavataiti mesutamti (Wo wenshih-tsun
["I heardthe World-Honoredexplainthis meaning"],translatingthe Sinitictext;
of earlyBuddhistreligious
the Sanskrithas "I also heard . . ."). The oral affinities
or dharma-bhdnaka,
whose duty
textsare underscoredby the professionof bha,naka
fashion(Hoffman
it was to declaimthemaloud, apparentlyin a ratherentertaining
1990).
With such tremendousemphasison the presumedoralityof the canon, there
it in stilted,"unsayable"LS. I am somewhat
to rendering
mighthave been resistance
explanationforthe decision to employ
dubious, however,that this is a sufficient
largeamountsof vernacularin ChineseBuddhisttexts.Afterall, theAnalects[LunyiiJare famousforthe tzuyiieh("the Mastersaid"), whichprefacesConfucius'severy
utterance,but that did not detertheircompilersfromutilizingLS as the vehicle
forconveyinghis sagelywisdom.
and Psalmody
Translation,
Linguistics,
It would seem, instead,thattheactualprocessof translationitselfhad a greater
impacton the quality of ChineseBuddhistwrittenlanguage than any ideas about
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BUDDHISM
AND THE RISE OF WRITTEN
VERNACULAR
715
4~~~~~N
Figure 2. Imperial Decree [of June 17, 1389} to the BuddhistMonk
Irinjin Dzangbu (in Tibetan Rin-c'en bTsang-po). Huaz-i i-yii fSino( 1389),
MongolianTranslations},ed. by Qoninc'i and Ma Salh-Muhammad
in sinographswith interlinear
8a. Mongoliantext transcribed
phonological
notes between graphs and on the left, interlinearvernacular(Early
Mandarin)glosseson the right,and vernacular
(Early Mandarin)translations
Lewicki
Mostaert
sentence.
each
the
end
of
at
1949:183;
1977:17.
ofrendering
theBuddh'stscriptue
thenatureofthecanon.The entireenterprise
abouta dozenofwhomare
textsintoSiniticwas begunbyforeigners,
and literary
to thecollapseofthe
knownfortheperiodfromthemiddleofthesecondcentury
in 220 C.E. Amongtheseindividuals
weretheParthian
EasternHan dynasty
prince
An (forArsacid)Shih-kao,who arrivedin thecapitalat Loyangin 148 and was
An Hsuian,whowas activein Loyang
activeuntil'around170; anotherParthian,
as Ju-chih),presumablyKushain,
c. 180; the Yuieh-chih(also transcribed
ChihYao,
who workedin Loyangfromc. 170-90; anotherKush-an,
Lokaksema
and theSogdian,K'ang Meng-hsiang,
whowas activelate in thesecondcentury;
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716
VICTOR
H. MAIR
who collaboratedwith the Indians Chu Ta-li (Mahabala [?1) and Chu T'an-kuo
(Dharmaphala[?}) around the turn of the century.These men produceda large
amountof materialin Sinitic. Applyingthe most stringentcriteria,thereare 29
worksin 70 fasciclesthat still survive,and hundredsof additionaltitles
different
are attributedto them.
difficult
LS is an extremely
languageto master,notjust becauseof thesinographs
but also because it is so terriblyallusive, requiringat least ten to fifteenyearsto
In contrast,the spokenSinitic languages,in part
gain a modicumof proficiency.
due to theirlack of inflection,are relativelyeasy to acquire throughimmersionin
a Chinese environment,
especiallyif one does not have any severehangupsabout
the tones. Since theseforeigntranslators
usuallycame to China as adultsand often,
accordingto theirbiographies,quicklyplunged into the businessof translation,it
would have been well-nighimpossibleforthem to commandLS sufficiently
well
to create passable translationsin it. Therefore,it was inevitablethat whatever
proficiency
theyacquired in writingSiniticwas bound to be highlycontaminated
elements.Even whenthe foreigntranslators
reliedon Chineseassistants
by vernacular
the necessary
to writeout theirdraftsin sinographs,
oral metaphrases
or collaborators
thattheyprovidedwould have had a pronouncedtendencyto infiltrate
the intended
LS product.The result,then,was the peculiartypeof BHSi thatis so conspicuous
in the earliesttranslations
and, indeed,whichexiststo one degreeor anotheras an
acceptablesubcategoryof LS throughoutthe historyof Chinese Buddhism. This
would also have been the case with the presumablybetteracculturatedtranslators
such as the TocharianDharmaraksa(activec. 265-313), the so-calledBodhisattva
of Tun-huang,and Kumarajiva(b. 344 or 350, d. 409 or 413), who was of Indian
(Kashmiri) and Tocharian (Kuchan) parentage.These famouspillars of Chinese
Buddhism producedan enormousnumberof Sinitic texts but, wheneverprecise
information
concerningtheirmodusoperandiis available, we findthat-more often
thannot-they workedin teamswithChinesecollaborators,
sometimesas manyas
tenpeople fora singletext,or thattheysimplydictatedtheirtranslations
to Chinese
scribes(Fuchs 1930).
of Europeanand American
The famouslate Ch'ing-early
Republican"translator"
novelsintoSinitic,Lin Shu (1852-1924), was also dependenton oralVS interpretation
by othersbecausehe knew no Westernlanguages.However,wherehe was content
to paraphraselooselythe secularnovelsthathe renderedintoLS, theearlyBuddhist
stroveto make accuraterenditionsof the sacredtextswith whichthey
translators
weredealing, in spite of the vast dissimilaritiesbetweenthe Siniticand Sanskritic
languagesin whichtheywere written.
The special qualityof BHSi persistseven when learnednativeChinesesuch as
Hsuan-tsang(596-664) and 1-ching(635-713) laterbecomeproficientin Sanskrit
by travelingto India and studyingthere for an extendedperiod of time. The
translations
theyproducedupon theirreturnto China werestillso heavilyinfluenced
by Sanskritgrammar,syntax,and lexicon that theyare noticeablydistinctfrom
that individualssuch as Hsuan-tsangand
typicalLS. I should note, furthermore,
1-chingwho acquiredthe abilityto readSanskritwereextremely
rarein China. The
majorityofChinesewho claimeda knowledgeofsacredBuddhistlanguage(s)usually
werefamiliaronlywith the Siddhamscriptat best (van Gulik 1956).1 Oftentheir
of very
acquaintancewith Indic languages was limited to syllabic transcriptions
'Siddhamwas derivedfromtheGuptaformoftheSanskrit
alphabetand was usedin
forthe writingof dhdrani-s,
East Asiancountries
mantras,and other(usuallyverybrief)
Buddhisttexts.
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BUDDHISM
AND THE
RISE OF WRITTEN
VERNACULAR
717
shorttextsin sinographs.Systematicexpositionsof grammardo not seem to have
become available before about the eighteenthcentury,and even these were
obscure.
disappointingly
Regardlessof how we classifyBHSi, however,one thing is clear: the early
of Buddhisttextsinto Siniticcame primarily
impetusforthe translation
fromforeign
monks residentin China. Indeed, the churchat Loyang initiallyseems to have
consistedsolelyof foreigners
and it only graduallycame to include a fewChinese
(Zurcher1990; Maspero 1934). Anothercomplicatedfacetof the earlytranslations
is thefactthatmostofthemweredonenotby Indians,but by Iranian-and Tocharianspeakingindividuals.This must have had a great impact on the developmentof
the Chinese Buddhist canon, yet, aside froma few articlesby the distinguished
Sanskritistand TocharianspecialistChi Hsien-lin (1947; 1956; 1959; 1990) on
veryspecificterms,this vital issue has scarcelybeen touched.
JohnBrough(1961) has highlightedthe importance
of the northwestern
Prakrits
(vernaculars)forthe earlyChinese Buddhist translations.In particular,he makes
the case that manyof the earlyChinese translationsof Buddhist textswere done
fromPrakritssuchas GandharlratherthanfromSanskrit.Thereis also good evidence
fromChinese sourcesthat the Sinitic translationof the Sfitraof the Wiseand the
Foolish(Hsien-yiching)was takendownorallyin Khotanby eightmonksfromwestern
China and compiled by themaftertheyhad returnedto Qoco (Turfan)(Takakusu
1901; Pelliot 1929).
There must have been a flourishing
vernacularBuddhist"literature"(if that is
whatwe maycall it; I preferto referto nonwritten
narrative
and dramatictraditions
as "dicture")in the oral realm in CentralAsia beforeBuddhismwas transmitted
to China. The paucityof written Buddhist textsin the indigenouslanguagesof
CentralAsia beforethe seventhcenturymay be due to the perceptionof adherents
of the religiontherethat scriptureshould be reservedforthe sacred language of
Sanskrit.Some evidenceforthe existenceof Buddhisttextsin the local languages
of CentralAsia may be foundin the richtraditionof Buddhistnarrativeart at sites
such as Kucha and Bezeklik, severalexamples of which have extensivenarrative
inscriptionsin Tocharianor othernon-Sinitic,non-IndicCentralAsian languages,
avadina fromthe Knights'Cave at Kirish (Along
e.g., the exquisiteMahdprabhdsa
theAncient
Silk Routes:
105-6).
We must also rememberthat, under Indian tutelage, the Tibetans started
Buddhisttextsintotheirown languageby theseventhcentury.Buddhist
translating
while
Tibetan,
stickingcloselyto the Sanskrit,is as much Tibetan as the usually
BHSi
translations
are Sinitic. Furthermore,
loose
quite
the Tibetansplayed a truly
majorpolitical role in CentralAsia just at the time translationsof Buddhisttexts
intoKhotanese,Sogdian,and otherlanguageswerebecomingpopular(cf. Beckwith
1987). I suspect that the second vernacularrevolution(fromaround the seventh
whenBuddhisttextswereappearingin the indigenouslanguagesof Central
century),
Asia, may be relatedto the wide-rangingactivitiesof the Tibetanstherebeginning
about that time, just as the first"vernacular"revolution(fromthe second halfof
the second century),when textsbegan to appear in BHSi, was most likelydue to
the sponsorshipof Kushan, Parthian,and otherCentralAsian peoples. The large
intervalbetweenthetwo revolutions
(nearlyhalfa millennium)
wouldseemto indicate
that, while the idea of the translationof Indian Buddhist textshad alreadybeen
floatedby thesecondhalfofthesecondcentury,
circumstances
sociopolitical
apparently
did not permitits realizationoutsideof China until the seventhor eighthcentury.
Hence, in strivingto understandthe timing of the firstand second vernacular
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718
VICTOR
H. MAIR
revolutions,perhapswe should focusmore on geopoliticalconditionsand less on
religiousand linguisticcriteria.
As a matterof fact,the first"vernacular"revolutionwas not reallyvernacular
in naturebecause BHSi is basicallyLS with some admixturesfromVS. This may
explainwhy it was possible forCentralAsian monksand missionariesto translate
Indian Buddhisttextsinto BHSi but not into theirown vernaculars.In essence,by
scriptures
Sanskritand Pali textsintoBHSi, theyweresimplytransferring
rendering
fromone sacredlanguageinto another.Like LS, BHSi was not sayable(i.e., it was
and hencehad presentedlittledangerof trulysecularizingthe sacred
nonvernacular)
Indian texts.The firstvernacularBuddhisttextsin Siniticdid not appearuntilthe
textsj),afterthe vernacular
middleof the eighthcentury(thepien-wen
[transformation
revolutionhad alreadytaken place in CentralAsian Buddhism. As we have seen
above, thepien-wenthemselveswere farfrombeing fullyvernacular,thoughthey
more
weredecidedlymorevernacularthanthe typicalBHSi text,and incomparably
so thanall writingin LS.
enoughthatour biggest
Aboveall, it cannotbe stressedoftenenoughor strongly
the historyof CentralAsian Buddhism (and virtually
problemin reconstructing
everythingelse about Central Asia) is due to the lack of systematic,scientific
authorizesand
archaeologicalexcavationin Sinkiang.Until theChinesegovernment
in thisregion,all thatwe sayabout its history
supportsmorethoroughinvestigations
must be consideredextremelytentative.The notionthat CentralAsian Buddhists
did not createtexts in theirown languages beforethe sixth or seventhcentury,
whereastheydid so forthe Chinese fromthe second century,may be simplyan
or lack thereof(cf. Nattier 1990).
artifactof preservation
of the Buddhisttranslation
forlanguageusage
While the repercussions
enterprise
in China were undoubtedlyenormous,more specifickinds of linguisticexpertise
It would not be an exaggerationto state that every
were also being transferred.
majoradvancein linguisticsfromtheHan perioduntiltheadventofJesuit-inspired
in the Ch'ing period over 1,500 yearslater,
evidentiallearning(k'ao-cheng-hsiieh)
in phonology,was dependentupon or conditionedby Buddhismin one
particularly
way or another.Here we need-mentiononly such momentousdevelopmentsas the
creation of countertomyor cut-and-splicepseudospelling(fan-ch'ieh),generally
attributedforthe last thousandand more yearsto the Buddhists,which forthe
firsttime enabled Chinese to indicatethe pronunciationof unknowngraphsfairly
and analytically
(Mair 1992a); thewholesystemof rhymeclassification
unambiguously
which laid the foundationsof linguisticscience in China that are still
(teng-yun)
tzu-mu)of the late T'ang
quasiletters(san-shih-liu
operativetoday;and the thirty-six
("consonants"),whichconstituted
monkShou-wen,inspiredby Sanskritvyanjanam
forSinitic(Ni
a sortofabortivealphabet(moreaccuratelytermeda "consonantary")
1948:17). All of thisunaccustomedattentionto the soundsof spokenlanguage,in
contrastto the traditionalemphasisof Chinesescholarson the shapesof the written
graphs,must have contributedto the legitimationof the vernacularvis-a-visLS.
werenotso readilytransferable
While thenonphonological
aspectsofIndianlinguistics
to China, Buddhistswerevaguelyawareof theirimportanceas subsumedunderthe
renderedin Siniticas "voice-insight"
(shengaccurately
generalcategoryofsiabda-vidyd,
ming),althoughthe Sanskritexpressionrefersto grammarand philologyas well as
forthe Indian traditioncan be seen by
phonology.The significanceof sabda-vidyd
its inclusionamong thepanca vidyd-sthdndni
(fivetypesof knowledge,Siniticwu(psychology,
(logic, yin-ming),
ming),the otherfourbeinghetu-vidyd
adhydtma-vidyd
(arts
and .si/pa-karmnasthdna-vidyd
(medicine,i-fang-ming),
nei-ming),
iyddhi-cikitsd-vidyd
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BUDDHISM
AND THE RISE OF WRITTEN
VERNACULAR
719
Yet we should rememberthat this kind of linguistic
and crafts,kung-ch'iao-ming).
knowledgewas restricted
to a relativelysmall groupof specialists,so I suspectthat
it was not the chiefreasonforthe establishment
of the writtenvernacular.
Probablymoreimportantin raisingthe consciousnessof some Chinesethatthe
simplesoundsoflanguagewerejust as essentialas theirelaborateand exaltedscript,
if not moreso, was the Buddhistpenchantforpsalmody.There was no precedent
in the indigenousliteraryand religioustraditionsforthe flood of sacred singing
and chantingthat engulfedChina with Buddhism. The Chinese were completely
unpreparedforand utterlybedazzled by the meticulousnessand seriousnesswith
which theirIndo-Iranianteachersdeliveredtheir*brahma-pdtha
(hymns,fan-pai),
gdthd(verses,chi), sloka (stanzas,shou-/u),songs of praise (sung),stotra(eulogies,
tsan),dhdranT
(mysticalcharmsand prayers,t'o-lo-ni),mantra(magicalformulasand
and so forth.Dharanf,forexample, were thoughtto be
incantations,man-t'e-lo),
potentonly if properlypronounced,hence theywere transcribedin theirentirety,
not translated.Even the manticrecitationof theBuddha's name(nienFo) musthave
impressedupon the masses the power of the spoken word, althoughmost of the
listedabovewereprincipally
othertypesof religiousutterances
thepreserve
ofreligious
experts. The very real consequencesof Indian prosody,as introducedthrough
Buddhism, for even the most celebratedsecular verse in China have now been
demonstrated
by Mair and Mei (1991).
Social Values, IntellectualHistory,
and ReligiousMission
So farwe havebeenexaminingdoctrinal,philosophical,
intellectual,
and technical
aspects of Buddhism that may have played a role in the growthof the written
vernacular.
Perhapswe have overlookedcertainsocialvaluesof Buddhismthatmight
have had an equal or even greaterbearingon this question. We must remember
that traditionalChinese society,accordingto Confucianorthodoxyand to a great
extentin actuality,was rigidlyhierarchical
fromthefamilyrightup to theemperor.
The same, of course,was largelytrueof Hindu society.It is noteworthy
that,both
in India and in China,at leastin theearlyphases,Buddhismfunctioned
(and perhaps
originated)as a meansforthe individualto escape fromthe normalsocietalbonds.
Leaving the home (Sanskritpravrajya;Sinitic ch'u-chia)and becoming a monk
a profoundbreakwith the ordinaryrulesgoverningsocial and political
represented
intercourse.
Even theelder(srestha;chang-che),
thehouseholder(grhastha;
su-jen),the
and the lay woman (updsikd;chin-shih-ni),
layman(updsaka;chii-shih),
who never
reallyquit the family,was enjoinedto subscribein his/herdaily lifeto an entirely
different
set of preceptsfromthose who were completelyoutside of the Buddhist
This constituted
a dangerously
subversive
community.
challengeto existingstructures
and institutions,
one thatis measurablein economic(Gernet1956) and demographic
(Hartwell and Hartwell 199 la; 199 lb) terms,not to mentionother indicators.2
Certainlythe Chinese authoritieswere threatenedby encroachments
of Buddhist
to the Hartwells,the Buddhistsamghawas perhapsthe mostegalitarian
2According
in Sungsociety.See especially
institution
theirinteresting
noteandcomments
on themonk
Tsung-ku
(database#16548)whowastheilliterate
sonofa Shao-wu(in northwest
Fukien)
farmer
andbecamethefounder
ofan important
Zen temple.Amonghisfriends
anddisciples
weremembers
ofsomeof themostdistinguished
families
oftheSungperiod.
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720
VICTOR
H. MAIR
ideology,organizations,and wealth, so much so that theyperiodicallylaunched
massivepersecutionsagainst the alien faith-even afterit had, as it were, been
doctrinaireConfucianliteratikept
domesticated.For theirpart, the morenarrowly
up a vigorouspolemical attack almost fromthe momentBuddhism set foot on
Chinese soil, so that therewas frequenttensionbetweenchurchand court even
whenthe latterwas not burningthe temples,meltingthe statues,confiscating
the
lands, and defrockingthe monksand nuns of the former.
We are slowlygaininga betterpictureof the truecompositionof the Buddhist
communityin China and are findingthatit includeda high proportionof widows,
orphans,and othertypesof individualswho did not fitwithinthe usual patternof
societalrelationships.The compositionof the Chinesesamghamay be interpreted
as havinga bearingon language usage. LS was clearlyidentifiedwith the literati
establishment.The vernacular,on the otherhand, servedas a moreeasilyacquired
tool forwrittenexpressionof the dispossessedand thosewho lackedtheopportunity
to masterthe literary
or meansforthe long and tediouseducationnecessary
language.
With thesequalities of sociallyembeddedBuddhismin mind, I view the written
vernacularas a kind of demotic empowerment.Living in an age of massive
manipulationof languageforsociopoliticalends, which I have oftenreferred
to as
I thinkwe can readilyappreciatethe dramaticconsequences
"linguisticengineering,"
of an assertivewrittenvernacularopposingitselfto a privileged,hieratic,classical
3
script.
Daniel Gardner(1991) has recentlycalled attentionto the importanceof the
in Neo-Confucianism,
bothforthefreer,moreinquisitiveapproach
writtenvernacular
it permittedtowardthe classics and for allowing the extensionof philosophical
discourseto a broadersegmentof the population.Considering
the powerfulinfluence
of Neo-Confucianthoughtand practice,theadoption
ofBuddhismon theformation
as a legitimateformofseriousintellectualdiscussionwould
ofthewrittenvernacular
of Confucianismbrought
seem to be one moreexampleof the radicalrestructuring
about by this foreignreligion(Angurarohita1989).
Tsu-Lin Mei has writtena lengthyresponse(1992b) to Gardnerthat he does
notplan to publish.Some ofthemajorpointshe raises,and whichhe has authorized
me to presenthere,are:
theepistemological
stresses
1. WhereasGardner
ofNeo-Confucians
assumptions
thepowerofmindin everymanto comprehend
thetruthexpressed
concerning
in
thesociolinguistic
plaincolloquialstyle,Mei emphasizes
and historical
linguistic
ofthedevelopment
ofthewritten
background
vernacular.
2. In spiteof its technical
soundingname,yu-luis simplythe "transcript"
of
conversations
twoor morepersonsin colloquialSinitic.Its use during
involving
thosewhowrotedownearlyvernacular
textsin Chinawerenecessarily
3Although
dependent
ofexpression,
it rather
upontheveryscriptwhichlimitedtheirfreedom
theytreated
casually
and lessforlogographic
thanwas
byusingthegraphsmoreforphonetic
purposes
purposes
in LS. This is evident,forexample,in T'angperiodtransformation
textswhere
customary
and "mistakes"
occur.
homophonic
borrowings
routinely
natureof the sinographs
is still verymuch in dispute.A few
The fundamental
mindedscholarscontinueto insistthatthe Chinesewriting
philosophically/theoretically
andideographic,
whereas
mosthistorically/empirically
is pictographic
oriented
system
linguists
as a hugeandphonetically
it to function
consider
fundamentally
imprecise
morphosyllabary
features
withconspicuous
logographic
(Hansen1993a, 1993b;Unger1993). One thingis
and thatis thefactthatChinesecharacters-unlike
theelements
ofa true
sure,however,
or alphabetwhichconveyonlyphoneticinformation-carry
both
syllabary,
consonantary,
semantic
and phoneticweight(albeitlimitedin bothcases).
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BUDDHISM
AND THE RISE OF WRITTEN
VERNACULAR
721
the Sung was not just limitedto Zen (Ch'an) Buddhistsand Neo-Confucians;
emissaries
on foreign
missions
alsousedthisformto transcribe
whatwassaidduring
theirdiplomatic
negotiations
(e.g., Shihpeiyu-lu[Transcripts
from
a Northern
Mission)),
withtheKhitansandJurchens.
particularly
The rationale
forusingthevernacular
rather
thantheliterary
wasthattheformer
language
medium
wascapableofrecording
whatwas actuallysaid duringthenegotiations
moreaccurately
which,afterall,
toucheduponsensitive
matters
of nationalsecurity
(Mei 1980).
3. Vernacular
shortstoriesand southern
dramas(hsi-wen)
containing
colloquial
dialoguealso make theirappearancearoundthe same time(twelfth-thirteenth
centuries).
4. The questionoftimingcannotbe limitedto theyu-lu,butmustalsobe asked
aboutthecolloquialdiplomatic
and thevernacular
transcripts
texts.
literary
forunderstanding
5. The mostnaturalcontext
theoriginofSungcolloquialand
socialclassesis theriseand development
its use amongdifferent
of thewritten
vernacular
duringthelateT'angperiod.DuringtheT'ang,theabilityto compose
inthewritten
vernacular
waslimited
topersons
individuals
witha Buddhist
(especially
notbelonging
disposition)
to, or marginally
belonging
to, theelite.The turning
pointseemsto havecomein thesecondhalfoftheeleventh
andespecially
century,
whena substantial
duringthetwelfth,
numberof thebureaucratic
eliteacquired
theabilityto writecolloquialChinese.The reasonwhyConfucians
did notturn
to thecolloquialyu-luformpriorto thesecondhalfoftheeleventh
century
may
of the elite had not yetmastered
merelybe thattheyand othermembers
the
whichtheretofore
writtenvernacular,
had developedin an essentially
Buddhist
environment.
6. Anotherfactorthathas to be takenintoaccountis the spreadof literacy.
theNeo-Confucians'
efforts
todisseminate
theirdoctrines
Obviously,
viathecolloquial
yii-luwouldhavebeenin vainifa readership
withan adequatedegreeof literacy
hadnotexistedat thattime.VictorMair(1989:135-39) hasshownthatlow-level
was alreadywidespread
in the lateT'ang period.Frompreviousstudies,
literacy
we knowthattheinvention
ofprinting,
theestablishment
ofgovernment
schools
and privateacademies(attachedto monasteries),
and thecivilserviceexamination
at its lowestlevels)all promoted
system(particularly
literacy.By theSung,the
had becomean East Asianphenomenon;
spreadof literacy
theTangutscriptand
thechui'n0om
scriptwerebothinvented
duringthisperiodin orderto writethe
vernacular
languagesoftheTangutsand theVietnamese.
Combiningthe findingsof Gardnerand Mei withthe comprehensive
intellectual
historyof the period, we may deduce that the gradual adoptionof the vernacular
forlimitedpurposesduring the T'ang and Sung was the resultof a complicated
adjustmentto the normsand values of Buddhistideology.These normsand values
manifestedthemselvesin diversefieldsof humanendeavor(literature,philosophy,
government
fornon-Siniticrulers,etc.), but all of them
documents,commentaries
be
as
may analyzedsociolinguistically emanatingfromthe fundamentally
demotic
impulsesof the religion.
AnotherreasonforBuddhismto choose the vernacularover the classical may
have been its strongmissionaryzeal. For a religionthat wishes to move rapidly
intoa newarea,complexand hard-to-learn
writtenlanguageslike LS are a frustrating
obstacleto rapiddisseminationof its doctrines.They are, furthermore,
usuallythe
jealous possessionof an entrenched
bureaucratic
or priestlyelite who would actively
oppose the spreadof potentiallysubversiveideologiesthat are directedtowardthe
populace. One of the major themesin David Diringer'swell-knownbook Writing
is that "alphabet follows religion." In particular, he shows the close connection
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722
VICTOR
H. MAIR
betweenthe spreadof Buddhismand the creationof writtenvernaculars
fromIndia
to Central,Inner,East, South,and SoutheastAsia (1962:148). It would be revealing
to make a study of just how many languages in these areas receivedtheirfirst
writtenexpressionthroughthe activitiesof Buddhist monks and other typesof
I suspectthat, beforethe coming of Christianity
proselytizers.
to this part of the
world, aside froma handfulof sinographically
inspiredscripts(most of whichare
now dead [Tangut, Khitan,Jurchen,Vietnamese,etc.] or dying [Yao, Women's
Script/Nu-shu,etc.)) (Zhou 1991; Sofranov1991; Sino-Platonic
Papers31 [October
east of the Pamirsto the Pacific
19911:29-33), nearlyall of the writtenvernaculars
Ocean were a directresultof the Buddhist missionaryenterprise.Thus, the two
great missionaryreligions,Christianityand Buddhism, togetheraccount forthe
overwhelming
majorityof Central,Inner,East, South,and SoutheastAsian languages
thathave been committedto writing.The othergreatreligionof conversion,Islam,
and theolderSemiticfaithsaccountformostof the remainder.The roleofChristian
missionariesduringthe nineteenthand twentiethcenturiesin creatinghundredsof
writtenvernacularsthroughoutthe entireworld is well known.
The IndianBackground
of Buddhism that seems to have lent supportforthe
The final characteristic
whichI wishto examineis a matterof religiouspolicyor practice.
writtenvernacular
As Buddhism swiftlyexpanded from its original base in Magadha (Rajagrha,
Pataliputra)and gained convertseven fromamong the Brahmans,the founderof
the religionwas facedwith the pressingissue of linguisticusage. Should a single
prestigedialect be designatedto ensurerespectforthe Buddha's word?Or should
a pluralityof languagebe permittedto enable the unimpededspreadof the dharma
amongthosewho werenot privyto thepriestlytongue?Judgingfromall accounts,
the Buddha made the wise decisionto allow Buddhistpractitioners
to transmithis
teachingsin theirown respectivelanguages.4This scenario,at anyrate,is repeatedly
maintainedbymostextantversionsofthevinaya(monasticrules)and mustrepresent
one of the earliestlayersof Buddhistliterature.
Since the storyis well known,I will simplysummarizeit here. Two brahman
brothersconvertto Buddhismand join the sam.gha.Having a backgroundin Vedic
recitation,theyare concernedthatothermonksof diversebackgroundswill corrupt
theBuddha'steachingsby recitingthemin substandard
ways.Theygo to theBuddha
4Due to themisleading,ifnotwhollyerroneous,
commentary
ofBuddhaghosa(Cullavagga
5.33; Vinayaii, 139, 1-16), therehas been a small amount of scholarlycontroversy
over
whetherthe Buddha enjoinedhis followersto use his own nativetongueor theirown native
tonguesin spreadingthedharma(Brough 1980). It would seem thatthe operativePali word
sakdya(or sakkiya= Sanskritsatkdya),underthe givencircumstances,
is moreapt to function
as a third-person
reflexivepronounthan as a first-person
reflexive.Furthermore,
it has not
previouslybeen pointedout thatthe passage in questionwould seriouslycontradictitselfif
we accepted Buddhaghosa's explanation("Lord, here monks of miscellaneousorigin are
corruptingthe Buddha's [i.e., your) words [by repeatingthem) in yourown dialect"[!}).
This simplydoes not make sense. Only when we understandsakdyaas "their"is the entire
passagecomprehensible.
Cf. Edgerton(1953:1-2) and Lin Li-kouang(1949:216-27). Finally,
no one seriouslydisputesthe claim that the Buddha was in favorof the vernacularsat the
expenseof the classical,priestlylanguage.Of one thingwe can be certain,linguisticdiversity
was presentin ancientBuddhismalmost fromthe verybeginningof the religion(Bechert
1980:15).
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BUDDHISM
AND THE RISE OF WRITTEN
VERNACULAR
723
and proposethattheystandardizehis wordin chandas.Althoughthereare numerous
of the word chandas,this presumablysignifiesmannered,metrical
interpretations
verseand in this contextprobablyjust means "Veda," which is how the famous
Paanini(fifthor sixthcenturyB.C.E.) uses it. In anyevent,the brahman
grammarian,
brothersare surelyproposingan elite styleof deliveryforwhichtheirtrainingsuits
them. The Buddha will have none of it. Roundlyrejectingthem,he emphatically
advocatesthe propagationof his teachingsin the vernacular.
The actual historyof linguisticusage in Indian Buddhismaside, the Buddha's
in thiscelebratedpassagestuck.Let us followit throughthevinaya
pronouncement
of five differentschools preservedin the Chinese Buddhist canon. In the
Dharmaguptakarecensiontranslatedby Buddhayasasduringthe years410-12, the
Buddha calls upon his followersto use "the vernacularlanguages understoodin
(Lamotte1958:612) to recitetheBuddhist
prdkrtabhdsah)
diverselocales(pradesandm
sztras"a(T22[14281.955a). Althoughthe equivalentsentenceis missingin the vinaya
translatedby Punyatara,Dharmaruci,and Kumarajivafrom
of the Sarvastivadins,
404-9, thesamesenseis retainedin thepassagetakenas a whole.(T23[14351.274a).5
version,translatedintoChinesein about418, expandsthepassage
The Vinayamatrka
thus: "You should speak in whateverlanguage all the living beings can obtain
For this reasonit is called 'doing in accordancewiththe country',b
enlightenment.
(T24[14631.822a). The vinayaof the Mahisasakaschool,translatedinto Chineseby
Buddhajiva in 422-23, only indicatesthat the Buddha's word should be "recited
according to the language of the country''C(T22[14211. 174b). Finally, the
of the Malasarvastivada,translatedby 1-chingin 702 or 703,
Vinayaksudrakavastu
declaresthat "therewill be no errorif one is requiredto drawout the voice when
recitingin the languageofa givenlocale (prade(asvara)"d (T24[14511.232c).6 There
can be littledoubt that, no matterwhichversionof the vinayaChineseBuddhists
chose to follow,use of the vernacularwas approvedby the Buddha himself.
It is worthobservingthatPali, the languageof the earlyBuddhistcanon, was
originallybut one of the Prakrits(v. Hinuber 1986). Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit
(BHS), likewise, was actuallya Prakritwith augmentedelementsfromSanskrit
(Bender 1991). Aside frombeing the usual prosedialectofSanskritplays,Sauraseni
is a typeof Prakritused in the laterDigambara scripturesof the Jains. Magadhi
is anothertypeof Prakritused in Sanskritplays,but forpersonsof still lowerrank
than those who speak Sauraseni.Ardha-magadhi(semi-Magadhi)is intermediate
betweenSauraseniand Magadhi and is importantbecause it was used in the old
thatMahavira(thefounderofJainism)
Jainwritings.Alsdorf(1980) has demonstrated
and SakyamuniBuddha sharedcertainMagadhisms(Chi 1959). Thereare also clear
the
recommending
pointthatthesentence
5JanNattier(1991:3) makestheexcellent
This was,afterall, probably
the
is absentin theSarvastivada
vinaya.
use ofthevernacular
in favorofelegant,classicalSanskrit.
In herwords,
firstsectto abandontheuse ofPrakrit
omission."
to see thisabsenceas a deliberate
"It wouldnotbe at all difficult
6The quotationgiven here is precededby these sentences:"If a bhiksuin rethatis a mistake.
thesoundsas thoughhe weresingingorchanting,
citinga satraprolongs
thesutras
shouldnotdrawouthisvoicein songor chantwhenreciting
a bhiksu
Therefore,
recitesthesiitrasand othertextswiththesoundsofthechandas,
If a bhiksu
or thevinaya.
thelaw."Thequotation
is followed
bythiscommentary:
a sinbyoverstepping
he willcommit
ofthebrahmans.
Theyprolongthesoundsand
refers
to themethodofrecitation
"Chandas
by pointingwiththeirfingerin theair. The mastersingsfirstand the
keeptherhythm
othersfollowalongafterhim."
I have not been able to locate the equivalentpassage in the vinayaof the
Mahasamghika (T22[ 14251.227-549),
4 16-18.
translated by Fa-hsien and Buddhabhadra in
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724
VICTOR
H. MAIR
similaritiesbetweenOld Ardha-magadhiand the language of the Asokan pillar
also referred
to as Asokan Magadhi. Maharastrior
inscriptions,which is therefore
becauseofitsuse in thelaterscriptures
Old Marathiwas influential
oftheSvetambaras
and in drama. Among the Vibhasas, or lesserPrakrits,of which thereare many,
Saurastriis interestingbecause it containselementsof Scythiandialects (Walker
1968:2.234-35). FromthisverybriefsurveyofthePrakrits
(earlyIndianvernaculars),
it is apparentthat theywere oftenused by religionsand othersocial groupswho
stood outsideof the dominantVedic-Upanisadic-Sanskritic
culture.Viewed in this
light, the Prakritsplayed the same role in Indian societythat BHSi and written
VS did in China.
an expressionmeaning"languageofa country"
The wholeapproachto desa-bhdasa,
whichcan be foundalreadyin the Mahabhdrata(Poona Criticaledition, 9.44.98;
Calcutta edition, 9.2605; Madras edition, 40.103; Bombay edition, 45.103cd),
the exerciseof the vernaculars
may have stimulatedor reflected
in India, unlikethe
attitudetowardfang-yen
(topolect,"the languageof a place") (Mair 1991), its parallel
in China, which seems to have inhibitedtheiruse. There has always been such
official
disdainin Chinaforthetopolects(in favorofthestandardlanguage)
pronounced
that the notionof theirbeing writtendown is virtuallyinconceivable.This is in
withlocal languageswas esteemed.
contrastto thesituationin India wherefamiliarity
Thus, among the 64 kala (practicalskills) cataloged in the Saivatantra,we find
dei'a-bha,s-(vi)jFdna
("knowledgeof local languages").This is immediatelypreceded
which clearlysignifiesa babel of foreigntongues,and is
by mlecchitaka-vikalpd4,
the ability to understandthe omens of
followedby puspa-s'akatika-nimitta-jnana,
heavenlyvoices. Given such a positiveattitudetowardthe variousdes'a-bhhas,,
with
the adventof alphabeticwritingit has always been acceptablein India to record
many different
languages and dialects. Conversely,since any living language in
China was perforcemerelya topolect,therewas an almost insuperableprejudice
againstthe writingdown of vernaculars,even the spokenlanguageof the capital.
The verynotionof the Prakrits(prakrta,literally"made before")as "natural"
(i.e., unadorned,unrefined)languages versus Sanskrit(samnskrta,
literally"made
together,"i.e., refined)as an "artificial"(in the Buddhistcontext)languagediffers
markedlyfromthe Chineseconceptionof the variousfang-yen
as vulgar(su) and LS
as elegant(ya). Eventually,however,even the Prakritsbecame decadent,and by
about 550 C.E., variousapabhrams'a
(deviations)spokenby the laukika(commoners)
came into existence.We find no mentionof apabhrazms'a
in Vararuci,the oldest
Prakritgrammarianwho was writingaround579 C.E. (Cowell 1854). Hemacandra
definesapabhrarms'a
(1088-1172), on the otherhand, interestingly
as Prakritwith
additionalinfusionsof popular(deff)speech (Walker 1968:2.233)7
Were it notforthepermissiveIndianattitudetowardthevernaculars,
we would
nothavethepresentsituationwherethereare overa dozenmajorIndo-Aryanofficial
languagesstill being spokenand writtenin India, includingsome such as Hindi,
Bengali, Marathi,Gujarati,and Oriya with rich literarytraditions.This is not to
mentionthe Dravidian languagessuch as Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam,which
7It is likely, however, that there were already written apabhramsraby the
sixthcentury(e.g., an inscriptionof King DharasenaII of Valabhl refersto compositionin
and theymay even have existed by the thirdor fourthcentury(e.g., certain
apabhrams'a)
The bulk of laterapabhrars'aliterature
versesin the fourthact of Kalidasa's Vikramorvasfya).
was mostlyJain works(eighthto twelfthcenturies).See Encyclopaedia
Britannica,15th ed.
(1988), vol. 22, p. 618:2a; vol. 21, p. 50:lb; and vol. 1, p. 475:3a. Technicallyspeaking,
defiis consideredto mean language that is "non-derivablefromSanskrit."
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BUDDHISM
AND THE RISE OF WRITTEN
VERNACULAR
725
histories.How starklydissimilarthe situation
likewisehavelong and gloriousliterary
is in China can be seen by the factthat therewas not even officialrecognitionof
ModernStandardMandarin(MSM) as an acceptableformofwritinguntilthefounding
of the Republic of China in the firstquarterof this century.The amount of
unadulteratedwritingin the othervernacularSinitictopolectsand languagesis so
patheticallysmall as to be virtuallynonexistent,exceptin fairlyrecentromanized
transcriptions
(mostlyby Christianmissionariesand theirChinesefollowers).Since
about the Sung dynasty(960-1279), therewas a rathersurreptitious
traditionof
secularvernacularfictionand drama,based largelyon the languageof the capital.
Beforethat, as I have shown, virtuallyall vernacularand semivernacular
writing
was done by Buddhists.And, to this day, it remainsalmostunthinkableto write
downanyof thetopolectsin a relativelyintegralform,althoughisolatedtopolectical
expressionsare occasionallyadded to Mandarintextsto give a bit of local flavor.
Judgingfromthe overallpatternof the developmentof the writtenvernacularin
China,I believewe are justifiedin statingunequivocally
thatBuddhismwas centrally
as a viable mode of expression.
involvedin its establishment
The Concept of "National Language"
to saythatthewholeidea ofwrittennationallanguages
One mightgo evenfurther
in East Asia as foundedon the spokenvernacularsmay well have been inspiredby
introduced
theIndianconceptofde&a-bhdsd
byBuddhism.The exactSiniticequivalent
Beforethe comingof Buddhismto China, thesetwo graphs,
is kuo-yii.
ofdeda-bhds4
in theordergiven,meantonlyone thing:thetitleofa bookin 21 fascicles
traditionally
said to have been completedby the historianTso Ch'iu-mingin the year469 B.C.E.
Naturally,the Kuo-yu,like all otherpre-Buddhistwritingin China, was composed
in LS. In thiscase,thetwosinographs
designatetheindividualaccounts(yu) concerning
each of the eight majorcontendingstates(kuo)thatbecameprominentas the Chou
Aftertheadventof Buddhism,
dynasty
beganto breakapartintospheresof influence.
however,theexpression
kuo-yu
beganto takeon a radicallydifferent
meaning,namely,
the vernacularlanguage belongingto a nation in the sense of a people who saw
themselvesas a separatepolitico-ethnicentity.
that may referto a vernacularSinitic
Perhapsthe earliestoccurrenceof kuo-yui
is foundin a Buddhistcontext.This is the accountof Vighna's
topolect(fang-yen)
translationof the Fa-chuching(Dhammapada)in the Kao-sengchuan(Biographies
of
Eminent
Monks)by Hui-chiao (497-544):
was originally
Vighna(Wei-chih-nan)
fromIndia. Forgenerations
his family
a heterodox
thefiresacrifices
had professed
way,considering
of the
(presumably
or possiblyof Zoroastrianism)
Atharva-veda
as the truereligion.It so happened
thatan Indiansramana
in Hinayana("LesserVehicle")
(monk),whowaspracticed
in Buddhistic
and whowas proficient
arts,wishedto lodgein Vighna'shouseat
a longjourney.
SinceVighna'sfamily
after
nightfall
subscribed
to a heterodox
way,
ofBuddhists
andmadehimsleepoutsidein theopen.During
theyweresuspicious
thenight,thesramanasecretly
utteredan incantation,
causingthefirethatwas
in Vighna'shousesuddenly
to be extinguished.
worshipped
theentire
Thereupon
wentout and respectfully
household
invitedthesramana
to go insidewherethey
madeofferings
to him.The sframana
responded
by causingthefireto lightagain
withhis incantatory
arts.Perceiving
thatthesupernatural
powerof theframarna
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726
VICTOR
H. MAIR
ofthe
becamean adherent
hisown,Vighnahappilyandenthusiastically
surpassed
(theBuddhistdoctrine).
Buddhadharma
faithand lefthisfamily
hisprevious
he abandoned
Consequently,
(pravraj)to
he receivedthe
followthe Buddhistway. Inductedas a monkby thes'ramana,
(the"threebaskets"oftheBuddhistcanon),wonderful
oftheTripitaka
teachings
ofthe"Hinayana"
He travelled
scriptures).
andthefourAgamas
(division
goodness,
andconverting,
andall whomhe encountered
accepted
preaching
to manycountries,
thefaith.
that
indicates
Chu Lu-yen(thesurname
In theyear224, withhiscompanion
at Wu-ch'ang
wherehepresented
(in Hupeiprovince)
he wasan Indian),hearrived
thatis, theSu7tra
ontheDharma.
ofVerses
textof theDharmapada,8
theSanskrit
of Wu requestedthatVignhaproduce[a Chinese
At thattime,thegentlemen
But Vighnahad notyetmastered
thelanguageof the
versionof) thescripture.
withhis companion
it into
Li-yen,he translated
so, together
country
(kuo-yu)
spokenSinitic(HanLu-yenlikewisehad notmastered
written
Sinitic(Han-wen).
Theiraimwasto preserve
thesenseof
yen),so therewerequitea fewdeficiencies.
plainness.
theoriginal,but theirstyleapproached
Hui (r. 290-306)
It was notuntiltheend ofthereignoftheChinemperor
it in fivescrolls,
withthesramana
Fa-liretranslated
Fa-chiiwriting
thatthes'ramana
ornate.Fa-lialso producedfouror so minor
it down.Theirstylewas somewhat
but mostofthemwerelostduringthechaosat theend oftheYungscriptures,
chiaperiod(307-13).
(T5012059).326bc)
withtheostensible
Althoughthispassageis valuableforitsearlymentionofkuo-yui
meaningof vernacular,it evincesthe same sort of confusionbetweenspokenand
writtenlanguageas well as betweenlocal and nationallanguage that has plagued
Chinese linguisticsrightup to the presentday. Han-yenand kuo-yiiboth imply
spokenlanguage, but kuo-yi here seems to indicatethe local Ngua (Wu) topolect
(forwhich thereneverwas a full writtenformuntil Christianmissionariesmuch
varietiesof Nguo speechand
latercreateda romanizedalphabetto recorddifferent
in
whereas
tracts
Han-yenwould appear to indicatea
them)
to publish religious
betweenHan-yenand Han-wenin thispassage
nationallinguafranca.The relationship
is unclear,as is the varietyof Sinitic upon which theywere based. Presumably,
however,the basis forHan-yenwas the standardizedspeechof the capital used by
bureaucratsfromaroundthe countryto communicatewith each other(a precursor
of kuan-huaor Mandarin).9Han-wenmust have been a currentdesignationforLS
(or, morepreciselyin this case, its BHSi variant).
It is remarkablethatthe firstclearapplicationof kuo-yiiwith the new meaning
of a vernacularbelongingto a separatepolitico-ethnicentitywas to the language
of a devoutlyBuddhistnon-Siniticgroupof people knownas the Tabgatch(T'o-pa
who ruledovernorthChina from386in ModernStandardMandarintranscription)
(or perhaps
534 as theNorthernWei dynasty.These weremostlikelyproto-Mongols
forthebuildingofthemonumental
assemblages
a Turkicpeople)who wereresponsible
of Buddhist sculpture at Yun-kang and Lung-men in north China. In the
be thought
ofas "thePalitextoftheDhammapada."
moreaccurately
8Thisshould,perhaps,
shi tsz7kJ,
Ohta tOtal Tatsuodescribesthe
In theeleventhchapterof his Chu7gokugo
(the[common]languageoftheHan people)as a legitimate
yen-yu
sporadicriseofHan-erh
He demonstrates
notonlythatthedevelopment
ofthenational
vernacular
modeofexpression.
in thepopularrealmand thatit was counterpoised
to the
but thatit occurred
was fitful,
of the termkuan-hua
discussion
and its history,
see the
LS of theelite. Foran extensive
nextsection.
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BUDDHISM
AND THE RISE OF WRITTEN
VERNACULAR
727
"BibliographicalTreatise"("Ching-chichih") of Chang-sunWu-chi (d. 659) et al.,
in the HistoryoftheSui (Sui shu), part 1, we read that,
WhentheLaterWei [i.e., theNorthern
Wei = Tabgatch}firsttookcontrol
oftheCentralPlains,all ofthecommands
forthedisposition
oftheirarmieswere
givenin "barbarian"
language(i-yi). Later,whentheyhad becometaintedby
Chinesecustoms(jan Hua-su),manyof themcould no longerunderstand
their
own tongue.So theybeganto teachit to eachother,callingit their"national
language"(kuO-yd).e
(4. 32.947)
It is most intriguingthat the "BibliographicalTreatise"lists over a dozen works
(4.32.935, 945; Dien 1991:55a, 59b n. 87; Ligeti 1970:279-80) on a wide variety
oftopicswrittenin Tabgatchand *Saerbi(or *Shirvi;Hsien-peiin ModernStandard
anotherpowerful,supposedlyproto-Mongol,group who
Mandarintranscription),
were active in northChina fromthe second centuryon.10Unfortunately,
none of
thesebookssurvive,but it would be extremely
valuableto knowwhatscript(s)they
evidencefromthe"Bibliographical
werewrittenin. This tantalizing
Treatise"indicates
that it was possible to writeTabgatch and *Saerbi centuriesbeforeany formof
Altaic writingknown to modernscholars.What script(s)did the Tabgatch and
*Saerbi use? This is a dark mysterywhose solution may unfolda new and very
importantchapterin the historyof writing.What is significantforour purposes
here,however,is the factthatwrittenTabgatchand *Saerbiare openlyreferred
to
in the "BibliographicalTreatise"as kuo-yui
or "nationallanguages."
Elsewherein Chinese historicalrecords,we can findreferences
to such works
as Liao shihkuo-yui
[NationalLanguageHistoryof theKhitanjand Chin shihkuo-yui
[NationalLanguageHistoryof theJurchenl.These were presumablyhistoriesof the
Khitanand Jurchendynastiesthatruledovermuchof northChina duringthe tenth
throughtwelfthcenturies,writtenin theirnativeAltaic and Tungusic languages.
been lost, scatteredinscriptionaland
Althoughthese books have also regrettably
instancesof writingin thesesinographically
documentary
inspiredscriptsdo survive
and scholarsare workingon theirdecipherment
(Sofranov1991; Jensen1969:19597). It is clear that the earliestusage of the term kuo-yui
("national/vernacular
language"), indeed rightup to the end of the last dynasty,the Manchu Ch'ing,
to non-Siniticpeoples (Norman 1988:133).
was almostalwaysin reference
The History
oftheYuanDynasty
(10. 115.2893) recordsthat,in thesparemoments
whenhe was not attendingto his troops,thegreatMongol warrior-prince
Kammala
(1263-1302, son of Chen-chin["True Gold"J, who was Khubilai's second son)
would orderone of his trustedadvisersto lecturehim on the Tzu-chiht'ung-chien
Mirror
thequintessential
[Comprehensive
forAid in Governmentj,
chronologically
arranged
historyof China compiledby Ssu-maKuang (1019-86), in the "nationallanguage,"'
to explicitlyin the same fashion.
meaningMongolian. Manchu, too, was referred
chi[Records
For instance,in Wei Yuan's Sheng-wu
ofSagelyMilitaryExploitsl(1.9a),
we read that "the literaryofficialswere orderedto createa nationalscripton the
basis of the nationallanguage, using neitherMongol nor Sinitic writing."gEven
of a writtenvernacularwith the creationof
the.1 Vietnameseadopted the notion
I
quoc ngu'. As used in Vietnam,quocngu' seems originally(perhapsas earlyas the
fourteenth
century)to havesignifiedthe spokennativelanguageas opposedto Sinitic
languages.Later,quocngu'was appliedto chui'nom("script"+ "vulgar"= "vernacular
to statethatTabgatchwasthenameofoneclan(theroyalclan)
10Itmaybe morecorrect
withintheethnicgroupknownas the*Saerbior #Shirvi.
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728
VICTOR
H. MAIR
writing"),a systemforwritingVietnameseinvolvingphoneticuse of sinographs
and the creationof new, wholly indigenous lopographicsymbols composed of
components.Still later, the termquo^ngui'was used to designatethe
tetragraphic
(DeFrancis
romanized
employedby theVietnamese
alphabetcurrently
French-sponsored
ngu'as a writtennationallanguageappearsto have
1978:83-87). The notionofquo^c
been borrowedby Vietnameserefugeeintellectualsin Japan fromkokugo(Modern
MSM, kuo-yii).
StandardMandarin,hereafter
Mandarin as koine
Mandarinis, in effect,the close English translationof the MSM expression
kuan-hua("officials'speech") which, in the latterpart of the Ch'ing period, was
based on the dialect of the capital at Peking and which enabled the bureaucrats
fromthevariouspartsofChina whosenativelanguagesweremutuallyunintelligible
to conversewitheach other.The word"Mandarin"was borrowedinto Englishfrom
Malay, in turn,acquired the
Portuguese,which picked it up fromMalay menteri.
("counselor,minister")<
wordfromHindi mantri,whichis fromSanskritmantrin
mantra("counsel").
to the
The termkuan-huawas in use fromthe Yuan period on and referred
whichwas based on the speechof the
spokenlanguageof officaldom
(kuan-ch'ang),
capital (mostlyPeking fromthat time till the present;Nanking speechwas taken
as the standardduring the late Ming)." There are many recordsfromthe Ming
was considered
to be a prestigesupradialect
and Ch'ingperiodsthatprovethatkuan-hua
that bureaucratsfromall over the empirewere forcedto learn if theywished to
have a successfulcareer.For most of them, this meantacquiringa second spoken
in theirpronunciation
and vocabulary.
language,notmerelymakingminoradjustments
aroundthe
The complexionof kuan-huawas deliberatelychangedby reformers
end of the nineteenth
centurywho wishedto make it the linguafrancaof all China,
not just of the officials.Chiefamong thesewas Wang Chao (1859-1933), a highrankingliteratuswho fled to Japan afterthe collapse of the ReformMovementof
to overcomethedifficulties
1898. While there,theJapaneseuse oftheirkanasyllabaries
of the Siniticscriptinspiredhim to devisehis own spellingsystem
and restrictiveness
called kuan-huatzu-mu("Mandarin letters").Aside fromcourageouslypromoting
this enlightenedphoneticscriptduring the late Ch'ing-earlyRepublican period,
pushed forthe adoptionof Mandarinas China's national
Wang also energetically
notes
spokenand writtenlanguage. The followingremarksfromthe introductory
tzu-mu[Letters
theSoundsofMandarin]serve
forCombining
to his Kuan-huaho-sheng
to illustrateWang's attitudetowardkuan-huaand his consciouseffortto remoldit
as a popularlanguageforthe whole Chinesenation:
aredifficult
to understand,
I wishto devisea script
BecausetheChinesecharacters
to it as
basedon colloquialPekingese.To facilitate
popularusage,I do notrefer
as kuan-hua.
The reasonforthisis to followpopular
colloquialspeechbut rather
to
custom.Northas faras theAmurRiver,westacrosstheT'ai-hangMountains
Nanyangand Loyang,southalmostto theYangtze,and eastto theocean:all of
Mandarin
was based
oftheMingdynasty
"Paul Yang (1989) has shownthatStandard
on theNankingtopolect,notthatof Peking,in spiteof thefactthatthelattercitywas
theprimary
NankingwasthecapitalduringtheearlyMing
capitalformostofthedynasty.
capitallater.
to serveas thesecondary
(1356-1421) and continued
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BUDDHISM
AND THE
RISE OF WRITTEN
VERNACULAR
729
the colloquiallanguagesfromnorthto southand fromeast to westforseveral
tricents
thousand
{li, threehundred
pacesor abouta thirdofa mile]aremoreor
withthelanguageof thecapital,but the languagesof
less mutuallyintelligible
Forthisreason,it is most
provinces
outsidethisareaaremutually
unintelligible.
to spreadthelanguageofthecapital.Therefore,
convenient
I call it kuan-hua.
By
is thus"speechforpublicuse." Its selectionis
kuan,I mean"public";kuan-hua
areaand thelargestproportion
becauseit occupiesthegreatest
ofthe
appropriate
population.
fromits originalmeaning
AlthoughWang's explanationof kuan is quite different
as "[pertainingto thel Mandariniatel,"the linguisticfeaturesof the language in
questionwereessentiallythesame in bothcases. Wang Chao laterplayeda blustery,
belligerentrole in enforcingnorthernMandarinas the standardnationallanguage
overtheothertopolectsin February1913, not long afterthefoundingof theRepublic
of China (Ramsey 1987:7-8).
Kuan-huacorrespondsto JerryNorman's concept of a koine(a linguafranca
developingout of a mixtureof otherlanguages)(1988:5, 48, 186f., 246, and 249)
12 This was a supradialectical
whichmaybe tracedback as earlyas theT'ang dynasty.
formof speechwhich was normallybased on the dialect of Ch'ang-an,Loyang,or
K'aifeng (capitals located along the centralpart of the Yellow River). The early
Siniticequivalentof the termkoineis t'ung-yii
("commonlanguage"; cf. the current
name forMandarinin the People's Republic of China, P'u-t'ung-hua["common
speech")),whichdatesto aroundthebeginningoftheCommonEra. Strainedattempts
have been made to findevidenceof such a commonlyacceptedpatternof speech
even in the time of Confucius(55 1-479 B.C.E.). The usual reference
is to ya-yen
("elegantlanguage") whichoccursin Analects7.18. Much fantasticspeculationhas
thatit demonstrates
beenutteredoverthepassagein question.Asidefromtheassertion
the existenceof Mandarinin the sixthcenturyB.C.E., the passage supposedlyalso
"proves"thattherewas a connectionwiththe nebulouslyconceivedspokenlanguage
remainsto be demonstrated,
in spiteof wishful
of the Hsia dynasty(whosehistoricity
ya is conveniently
thinkingto the contrary).To arriveat thisforcedinterpretation,
made to be a synonymof Hsia. Such readingsare possible only if much violence
"The languagethatthe
is done to the originaltext,whichis quite straightforward:
Masterconsideredelegant is that of the Odes,History,Arts,and Ritual; these are
all writtenin elegant language. h Judgingfromthe actual texts that have been
to us, it is fairlycertainthatya-yenis a designationforan earlyform
transmitted
of LS or, at best, a standardreadingpronunciation.In any event,by no meanscan
this sentencebe legitimatelyused to constructa theoryof a VS koineduring the
millenniumB.C.E., whateverotherdata may or may not be available to
mid-first
constructsuch a theory.
We must observethat the koinedid not correspondto the writtenlanguageof
whichwas alwaysLS. Instead,the koineconstitutedthe foundationof
government,
the emergingwrittenVS. When spokenby individualsfromvariousareasof China
muchfromconversations
havebenefited
on thissubjectwithTsu-LinMei who is
a majorstudyconcerning
thegrammatical
influence
ofthekoine
on the
currently
preparing
topolects
duringtheT'ang and Sungperiods.In it, he will showhowtheEarlyMandarin
cameto function
as a koine
and how,bytheSung,it had
dialectofthemid-eighth
century
vernacular
bothforpopularliterature
and forlimitedbureaucratic
developedas a written
untiltheturnofthetwentieth
LS remained
thesolesanctioned,
purposes.
Nonetheless,
century,
and therewas no consciousattemptto elevatethekoineto the
mediumforwriting
official
statusofa nationallanguage.
121
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730
VICTOR
H. MAIR
outsideof the urbancentersupon whichit was based, the koinewas heavilyaffected
lexicon,and, to a lesserextent,grammar-as is MSM today.
by local pronunciation,
remainedunwritten
and, indeed,"unwritable"
The otherSiniticlanguagesessentially
because the set of morphosyllabicsinographs(han-tzu),though mind-bogglingly
enormous,was inadequate to recordaccuratelyall the morphemesin the spoken
vernaculars.At the same time, therewere no conventionsin medieval China for
the alphabeticor syllabicspellingof connectedSinitic speech.
fromthat in medievalEurope whereLatin was
This situationis verydifferent
both sayableand writableand hencecould serveas a completevehicleboth forthe
speech and the writingof the educated. Subsequently,just beforeand duringthe
Renaissance,each nationalvernacularin Europe took on a life of its own separate
in Europewas also facilitated
of the writtenvernaculars
fromLatin. The development
withease anyvarietyofspokenlanguage.
by an alphabetthatwas capableof recording
inhibitedthe growthof the individualwrittenvernaculars
In contrast,the sinographs
Mandarin(it is
in China and tendedto discourageeven the writingof full-fledged
usuallycontaminatedby LS to one degreeor another).Thus thereis no flourishing
traditionforCantonese,Taiwanese,Shanghaiese,and the otherVS languages
literary
as thereis forFrench,German,Italian, English, and so forth.At best, thereare
scatteredtexts(onlyan exceedingfewof whichdate frombeforethe late nineteenth
century)that include a smatteringof elementsof the various regionallanguages
matricesto providea
embedded in basicallyMandarinor semi-Mandarin-semi-LS
bit of "local flavor."
The JapaneseInspirationforkuo-yii
It is paradoxicalthattheChineserecognizedone oftheirown spokenvernaculars
as the basis fora national language (kuo-yii)only in this century.This occurred
when the governmentof the Republic of China declared afterthe May Fourth
Movementof 1919 thatMandarinwas to be spreadthroughoutall of China as the
and education.The firstpersonknownto have used
officiallanguageofgovernment
a
to
Siniticlanguagewas the scholarand educatorWu
in
reference
the termkuo-yii
to
Wu
went
In
Japan to observethe educationalsystemthere.He
Ju-lun.
1902,
withwhichtheJapanesegovernment
had spread
the
success
was deeplyimpressedby
(i.e., kuo-y/)(Ramsey 1991). Upon his
the use of the Tokyo dialectas theirkokugo
returnto China, Wu began advocatingto the Ch'ing governmentthe adoptionof
Mandarinas a nationallanguage. By 1909, varioustentativesteps had been taken
in thisdirection,but the dynastycollapsedbeforetheybecamea reality(Chung-kuo
Yii-yenwen-tzu:123ab). It remainedforthe RepublicofChina,
ta pai-k'ech'iian-shu,
underpressurefromprogressiveintellectuals(Li Chin-hsi 1934), to make official
what had slowly been becominga realityever since the arrivalof Buddhism in
China-the acceptanceof the vernacularas a legitimatetool forwriting.
in
It is not strangethatWu Ju-lunwould have picked up the idea of a kuo-yii
Japan,fortheJapaneseactuallyhad a strongconsciousnessof possessinga writable
forexample,was written
forcenturies.The Tale ofGenji(Genjimonogatari),
vernacular
in
the
vernacular
Shikibu
Murasaki
court
the
phonetickana) already
(with
lady
by
at the beginningof the eleventhcentury.(Gender dynamicsappear to have been
operativein thisand similarcases, such as thatof the recentlydiscoveredWomen's
the vernacularserveas
Script[Nii-shul in Hunan. Phoneticscriptsforrepresenting
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BUDDHISM
AND THE RISE OF WRITTEN
VERNACULAR
731
an empowering
to the male-dominated
counterweight
morphosyllabic
[or logographici
sinographsthatare so splendidlywell-suitedforwritingLS.) The Japanesepreface
(dated 1714) to the Fa-hua lun-shu(Commentary
on theLotusSu7tra)by the noted
Chinesemonk Chi-tsang(fl. 549-69), who was of Parthiandescent,statesthat in
preparingthe blocks forprinting"the national/vernacular
language (kokugo)has
been added at the side."' (T40[18181.785a) Regrettably,moderneditionshave not
preservedthe runningJapaneseannotations.
In its earliestJapaneseappearances,the termkokugoseems to have had more
the connotationof "local vernacular"than of an official"national language." In
Tokugawa-period
Japan,forexample,it could even referto Dutch (Ramsey1993:3).
All of this, plus the distinctlySinitic ring to the word, recallsthe Chinese usage
ofthetermkuo-yu
to designatespokenvernacular
languagesas opposedto thecustomary
writtenlanguage,namelykanbun(LS). As we have alreadyseen, it was the Buddhists
who introducedthis notion to China and it seems to have spread fromthereto
Japan. Only slowly,however,did the idea ofJapanesekokugoas "local vernacular"
become transformed
into the statusof "nationallanguage." Not until around the
middleof the nineteenth
did it graduallycome to referspecifically
century
to Japanese
as theofficialnationallanguageofJapan.Slow as the transformation
mayhave been,
vernacular
Japanesebecamethe accepted,officiallanguageof the people who spoke
it long beforeany varietyof VS was sanctionedas the nationallanguageof China.
It is ironic,in both cases, that the rootsof the acceptanceof the vernacularas the
officiallanguage of the countrylay in the Indian Buddhistconceptof desa-bhhsa.
The seminal importanceof Buddhism in the developmentof writtenvernacular
Japaneseduringthe earlyHeian (794-898) is recognizedby Habein (1984:22) and
Miller(1967:126). The roleof Buddhismin the developmentofthekana syllabaries
is detailedby Seeley(1991:ch. 4, 59-89), especiallyin such textsas theAbidatsuma
zojuron(Abhidharmasamuccayavydkhyd)
and OkutsumarakyJ
or
(Angulimalika-suitra
both of which date to around800 C.E. (also see Miller 1967:
Ahgulimd1iya-sutra),
128).
Language Reformin Korea
While, like kuo-yiiforMandarinand quocngui'forVietnamese,the conceptof
kug'oas the language of a modernKorean nation-statewas inspiredby Japanese
kokugo,the Koreans themselveshad a traditionof writingin the vernacularthat
stretched
all the way back to the idu ("clerkreadings")and hyangch'al
("local letters")
scripts.These dependedon eitherSino-Koreanphoneticor nativeglosses (similar
to Japaneseon and kun readingsof sinographs)and are attributedto S61 Ch'ong,
son of Korea's greatestBuddhistthinker,W6nhyo,in the late seventhcentury.The
used exclusivelyforvernacularsongs and poetry(judging fromthe few
hyangch'al,
survivingspecimens),may alreadyhave died out beforethe adventof the Chos6n
(so-calledYi) dynastyin 1392. The earliestvernaculartexts(songs and poems) in
Korean literaryhistoryare foundonly in Buddhistsources,and most of themare
by Buddhistson Buddhist themes (Lee 1959, 1961). The secular derivativeof
hyangch'al-idu-lasted rightdown to the nineteenthcentury,even in spite of the
coexistenceof the alphabet(Ledyard1992b).
In 1446 theenlightened
King Sejong(1397-1450) promulgated
Hunminchong'uzm
("correctsoundsforinstructing
the people," also the titleof the book in whichthe
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732
VICTOR
H. MAIR
king introducedthis new systemof writing)as an easilylearnedphoneticscriptfor
Confucianliteratiwere adamantly
Korea.'3 Of course, the elite Chinese-oriented
and gave it thepejorative
opposedto the use of a demoticscriptlike Hunminchong'zm
(vernacularwriting,literally"proverbialwriting")becauseit threatened
nameJnmun
theirmonopolyon literacy.The Sinitic script,which was the prevailingmethod
forwritingin Korea fromthe end of the seventhcentury,was clearlythe preferred
was initiallyattacked
Thus, althoughHunminch&ng'im
choiceof mostof the officials.
by Korean intellectualswho had a vested interestin the cumbersomesinographs,
acceptedin Korea (both
duringthe twentiethcenturyit has now becomeuniversally
northand south) as the standardformof writingcalled han'gul(Korean letters).
Since 1948, therehas been exclusiveuse of han'gulin the north,and the occasional
has beensteadilydecreasing-nowdwindledalmostto nothing
ofsinographs
admixture
in generalpublic usage (a small group of Siniticallyorientedscholarsstill cling to
the Chinese charactersstubbornly,if only in a tokenfashion)-in the south.
The Koreans take great nationalisticpride in han'gulas a scriptthat permits
themto recordaccuratelythe soundsand wordsof theirown language ratherthan
LS or what amountsto variousdegreesof writtencreolization(if we may coin a
FlorianCoulmas
phrase)thatresultedwhentheywereforcedto relyon thesinographs.
Hans
the
thatKoreans
and
describe
contortions
10-11)
Jensen(1969:2
(1989:115-17)
had to go throughwhen theytriedto writetheirlanguage with sinographs.King
are expressedin his preface
Sejong'sown intentionsin creatingthe Hunminch&ng'um
as follows:
fromthoseof the
The speechsoundsof ourcountry's
languageare different
withthecharacters.
amongthe
Therefore,
MiddleKingdomandarenotconfluent
to
people,therehavebeenmanywho,havingsomething
stupid[i.e., "common"]
I havebeen
put intowords,havein theendbeenunableto expresstheirfeelings.
letters,whichI
becauseof this,and havenewlydesignedtwenty-eight
distressed
fortheirdaily
wishto haveeveryone
practiceat theirease and makeconvenient
use.
(adaptedfromLedyard1966:224)
It is clear that Sejong was deeplyconcernedabout literacyforthe commonpeople
and that he believed a phoneticscriptpermittingthem to write out easily the
sounds of theirown spoken language would be much more appropriatefor that
purposethan the clumsysinographs.
A similarattitudeis expressedin Ch6ng Inji's postfaceto the Hunminch,ng'z`m
Soundsfor Instructing
the People),a
and Examplesof the Correct
haerye(Explanations
on the Hunminch6ng'zm
preparedby a group of scholarscommissioned
commentary
by King Sejong:
arecomparable
to
In ourEasternQuarter,ceremonials,
music,and literature
ofthoseofChina,butourlocalspeechand rusticcolloquialarenot
and imitative
the
of understanding
thesame.Studentsof booksare troubledby thedifficulty
are
thosewhopresideat processes
purportand meaning[ofChinesecharacters];
ofthetwistsand turns[ofa legaltext].In oldendays,
at thedifficulty
distressed
in the
S61Ch'ongof Silla firstmadetheClerkReadings,and theyare practiced
and amongthepeopleto thisday.But all ofthemareusedas
offices
government
somegrateon you,othersstopyoucompletely.
Theyarenot
borrowed
characters;
ofHunmin
seeRamsey1992.Formoreinformation
brief
account
13Foran excellent
chotng'um,
has
ofhan'gul,see GariLedyard's
which,unfortunately,
superbdissertation
on thehistory
presented
neverbeenpublished.I havereliedon it heavilyfortheaccountofKoreanwriting
in theseparagraphs.
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BUDDHISM
AND THE RISE OF WRITTEN
VERNACULAR
733
'0~~~
1~~~~$~i
m
_
-_
m
Opening page of the preface to Hunmin chong'Wm[CorrectSounds
Sejong ( 1397- 1450). It was in this
work that the Buddhistically inclined, enlighted ruler formally presented
his alphabet for spelling vernacular Korean. National Treasure No. 70,
preserved in the Kansong Art Museum. Ch'on 1993:13.
Figure 3.
for instructingthe Peop/le by King
just rusticand crudeand unattested;when it comes to the realmof actual speech,
not one in a myriadof them is applicable.
lettersare used, their shiftsand changes in
. Though only twenty-eight
areendless;theyare simpleand fine,reducedto theminimumyetuniversally
flunction
applicable.Therefore,
a wise man can acquainthimselfwiththembeforethe morning
is over; a stupid man can learn them in the space of ten days. Using these in
explainingbooks,one can knowtheappropri[elties;
usingthesein hearinga litigation,
one can grasp the situation.Insofaras the phonologyof charactersis concerned,
clear and eluvial can be distinguished;in mattersof music and singing,the twelve
semi-tonesmay be blended. There is no usage not providedfor,no directionin
which theydo not extend. Even the sound of the winds, the cryof the crane,the
cackle of fowland the barkingof dogs-all may be written.
(quoted in Ledyard 1966:257-58)
There can be no doubt that the devisers and advocates of the Korean alphabet were
searchingfora simple means that would permit theirpeople to express their thoughts
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734
VICTOR
H. MAIR
and ideas in theirown language and that theyconsideredthe sinographsto be illof the last sentence
adaptedforthatpurpose.What is more,the strikingformulation
expostulationin theprefaceto theSung scholar
derivesfroma remarkable
manifestly
on theSevenSounds]in which
Cheng Ch'iao's (1104-62) Ch'i-yinliueh[Compendium
he profuselypraises the phonological sophisticationof Buddhist monks (Mair
1993:338-39). Ch6ng Inji and his associateswere obviouslystrivingto emulate
of Indianphoneticwritingthatwas so muchadmiredby ChengCh'iao.
theflexibility
It is significantthat King Sejong and his wife (d. 1446) were both devout
Buddhistsand that all except two of the earliesttextswrittenin this new script
ConfucianSongsofDragons
wereBuddhist.The two exceptionsare the stultifyingly
Heaven(Yongbioch'onka, 1447) and the Sino-Koreanglossaryentitled
Flyingthrough
As literature,the Buddhistworksare quite impressive,certainly
chong'un.
Tongguk
althoughHunminchong'uim
farsuperiorto theSongsoftheFlyingDragons.Furthermore,
(i.e., han'gul)is deservedlypraisedas an ingeniousand accuratephoneticscript,it
was based in parton 'Phags-pa,a Mongolianscriptdevisedby a Tibetan lama with
thateponymin 1260 to replacethemodifiedold Uighur(< old Syriac< Palmyrene
< Aramaic< NorthSemitic)scriptthathad previouslybeen used to writeMongol
(the modifiedold Uighur scriptsurvivedas the usual way to writeMongol until
of Cyrillicand was lateradaptedby the Manchus
importation
the twentieth-century
to writetheirown language). The shapesof the 'Phags-pa letterswere inspiredby
Tibetan letterswhich themselveswere modeled upon Indian Gupta letters.The
(ca.
Tibetan scripthad been commissionedby the greatking Srong-brtsan-sgam-po
608-50), who is creditedwith introducingBuddhismto Tibet. It is evidentthat
Khubilai was actingunderBuddhistinfluencewhen he ordered'Phags-pato create
a new scriptforMongol. The Buddhistimpetus,in turn,carriedthroughto King
Also operativewas Chinese phonology,in which King
Sejong's Hunminchong'um.
werequite learnedand
Sejong and his closestassociatesin devisingHunminchong'um
theories
on
Indian
was
based
initiallybroughtto China
phonological
which,in turn,
It is not surprising,
and
Six
the
Han
periods.
Dynasties
monks
Buddhist
during
by
welcomed the new alphabetic,
therefore,that Korean Buddhists enthusiastically
device forthe propagationand studyof theirfaith,
demoticscriptas an effective
officialswho resolutelyresistedit.
unlike the elitist,Confucian-minded
of phoneticwriting
A further
observationconcerningthe Buddhistaffiliations
was precededby an even moreexplicitlyIndianin Korea is thatHunminchong'km
inspiredscript,poms6(= MSM fanshu,"Brahmanicscript," probablya formof
and phonologicalcompositionof the scriptall
Siddham). The name, arrangement,
clearlyreveal its ultimate Indian origins. Pomsois still employed today for the
of Sanskrittermsin Buddhistritualtexts(Jensen 1969:216).
transcription
Ledyard'sdissertation(1966) providesa greatamountof detailedevidencethat
Buddhism was indeed a key factorin the creationof the Korean alphabet. For
and
example, he delineates(pp. 261ff.)an alliance betweenthe pro-alphabeticists
(p. 267), thatmanyof the earliestcompositions
Buddhists.He shows,furthermore
using the new alphabet were Buddhist, including a Korean translationof the
(HeartSuitra).He also notes(p. 90) thatthe good king
Prajfidpdramita-hrdaya-si7tra
Sejong himselfput his alphabetto workby composingodes in Korean on the life
and workof the Buddha. It cannotbe emphasizedtoo oftenthatSejong carriedout
his Buddhist-inspired
programof vernacularlanguage reformin the face of fierce
oppositionfromthe literati:
In thelastyearsofhis life,Sejongturnedmoreand moreto thecomforts
of
to alienating
himself
almostcompletely
from
and thiswas tantamount
Buddhism,
on thepathological.
themenofhis time,whosehatredof thatreligionbordered
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THE
AND
BUDDHISM
RISE
OF
WRITTEN
735
VERNACULAR
--
I, VYM I
JZ
Cal
P
A~~~~~~~~~~
swf
19Sam
C,
samt
,2
e
y CaIIV
in ~can
~
-Yu.
'
p
^T
Fiur 4
-u
teiAR
XI
lyUl pr
1.'UI
Oenngpae
A
n+
t~~~~~~(
f n rtcl o
M
R
m
4
witn
ro
Hitzgc'-h
A~~~~~~
( 15 52- 1610).
Although Ricci's book was written in Literary Sinitic, it
represented the first use of the Roman alphabet to indicate the sounds
of a Sinitic language and ultimately led to the creation of convenient
methods for writing all of the vernacular languages of China. Published
herewith the permissionof the Vatican Library.
to Buddhismfromearlyin his reign,
But Sejonghad actuallybeensympathetic
hadfought
himon thiseversince1426,whentheypetitioned
andhisremonstrators
on oneoftheceiling
rooma dharanb
written
fromhisthrone
himto haveremoved
beamsin Siddhamletters.
(Ledyard 1966:90;
thereference
si//ok,
is to Sejong
in thelastsentence
November12, 1426, 34.3a)
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736
VICTOR
H. MAIR
stimulatedhim to concrete
But it was not just King SejongwhoseBuddhistaffinities
of writingin Korea. Alreadynine centuries
action aimed at the vernacularization
earlier,the Buddhist contributionsto the establishmentof an authenticKorean
literaturewere absolutelyessential:
must
ofKoreanwriting
in theearlyhistory
The leadingroleplayedbyBuddhists
it was
ofSilla poetryis anyindication,
be emphasized. . . If whathas survived
it through
Buddhists
preserved
whowrotemostofSilla'snativeliterature.
Buddhists
ofKyunyoand theSamguk
wrotethebiography
theKory6period,and Buddhists
all we knowof thatliterature
to moderntimes.Even
yusaand thustransmitted
classics,was thesonof
oftheChinese(Confucian)
S61Ch'ong,thegreatexpositor
a Buddhistpriest(thefamousW6nhyo,b. 597), and wouldhavegrownup with
It wasnoaccident
forthenativelanguagesharedbyhisco-religionists.
theconcern
longsystematized
whoshouldhavefinally
thatit was a manof thisbackground
intoa practicalwayofwritingKorean.It was
in transcription
standing
practices
of
notjust in Koreathatit was so. The roleof Buddhismin thegeneralhistory
will
in its entirety,
writingin Asia is a storythat,whenit comesto be written
volumes.
fillmanyinteresting
(Ledyard1966:57)
.
The role of Buddhism in the rise of printingis anotherimportantarea of
investigationthat deservesattention.There is little doubt that printingin East
Asia, fromits veryinception,was primarilya Buddhistphenomenon.In fact,the
inventionof printingitselfmay have occurredas an extensionof the practiceof
impressingwoodcut engravingsof the Buddha's image on silk and paper and of
(charmsor prayers,especiallyas used in Tantrism).Both of
duplicatingdhdranzf
these practiceswere alreadywidespreadin China during the seventhcentury.By
werebeing printedin Japan. For example,
the eighthcentury,millionsof dhdranT
between764 and 770, one milliondhdranzwereprintedby the orderof the empress
Sh6toku(d. 769) and were depositedin small st-upaswhich were distributedto a
numberof majorBuddhisttemples(Goodrich 1960:117). The Buddhistmonopoly
on the earlyprintingof books properin Japan is noteworthy:
to
intoJapan(about740 A.D.) was confined
afterits introduction
Printing
untiltowardtheendoftheKamakura
period(about
Buddhistmonasteries
wealthy
eithertoBuddhist
sutrasorChinese
1569)[siclwiththeresultthatit wasrestricted
in thisperiodfrom740 to 1569.
texts.Therewas verylittlesecularprinting
(Peake 1939:58)
The matterof Buddhism's contributionto the historyof printingin East Asia,
althoughrelatedto the riseof the writtenvernacularin the sense thatboth pertain
oflearningbeyondConfucianliteraticircles,is a separatequestion
to thedissemination
requiringintensive,specializedresearchof its own. Still, it is significantthat this
democratic
Indian religionhad a decisiveimpactupon both of thesefundamentally
developmentsconcerningwritingin East Asia that occurredat approximatelythe
same time. This naturallyleads us to a considerationof the broaderissues of the
lie beyondthe scope of the present
sociologyof knowledge,but theseunfortunately
study.For the moment,however,it needs to be pointedout thatthe legitimization
of the vernacularas a writtenmedium, the inventionof phoneticsyllabariesand
phenomenathatwould
alphabets,and the inventionof printingare all interrelated
appear to stem fromthe Buddhist missionizingproclivity,namely,the desire to
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BUDDHISM
-
AND
THE
RISE
OF
WRITTEN
VERNACULAR
737
%
AL
4-t -dd
's LN
CC-nt@C iY
rbLoJMs-X
BMfib
.e af--M'0 o
x,&o xurW
tJu
zJtfl; !4L
iL
LL~?r
/
# ~4S
'fj'~1~
$t-4NS
Figu .
A
pI-mu
j
D
e W
rJ-4a
C4
Pt-TeI
}
c&ue;-crkt-+
/ a Lchu-chec
[F rst-St
$ttat7ts1i c-&-b
t44XiNtt w I- U-cwo
f,s
w
A
A
[First Stepsin BeingAble
Figure 5. A page fromI-mu liao-j'anch'u-chieh
at a Glance] by Lu Chuang-chang(1854-1928), who had
to Comprehend
close ties with Christianmissionaries.
This is the firstwork by a Chinese
author advocatinga systemof phoneticspelling for Sinitic languages.It
was publishedin Amoy in 1892 and was keyed to the local Southern
Min language,but Lu contendedthat his systemcould be applied to all
thelivingSiniticvernaculars.
of their
spreadtheBuddha'swordas farafieldand to as manypeople,regardless
or station,as possible.
background
returned
to the questionof the significance
Ledyard(1992a) has recently
of
in his"TheInternational
ofhan'gul
'Phags-paforthecreation
Linguistic
Background
SoundsfortheInstruction
ofthePeople."Alongwithhim,we must
oftheCorrect
thatHunmin
was notmerely
makea specificdisclaimer
a combination
of
ch6ng'zm
and
Sino-Indian
but
a
remarkable
creationfor
'Phags-paorthography
phonology,
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738
VICTOR
H.
MAIR
and perceptively
deservesmuchcredit.Ledyardcorrectly
whichKing Sejongpersonally
pointsout the connectionbetweenthe Koreanadoptionof vernacular(i.e., native)
languageas a legitimatemediumforwriting(as opposedto LS) and the consequent
need fora phoneticscriptwith which to representit. It was this motivationthat
impelled the king and his associatesingeniouslyto adapt 'Phags-pa to theirown
purposes. The han'gulalphabet that resultedis marvelouslywell suited for the
of Koreanand is justlyhailedas beingperhapsthemost
phonologicalrepresentation
logicallydesignedof all alphabetsin the world. A drawbackto the use of han'gul
withtheadventofmoderninformation-processing
becameapparentonlyin thiscentury
(i.e., square)configuration
techniques(mechanicaland electronic).The tetragraphic
of syllables(originallyintendedforease of combinationwith the sinographs)in the
applicationof moderninformationKoreanalphabetposes an obstacleto the efficient
processingmethodsthatare essentiallylinear(Chung 1991). Therehave latelybeen
attemptsto rearrangethe scriptin a linearsequenceand to markword boundaries
in information-processing
systems(Hannas 1993).
forgreaterefficiency
Conclusion
We have seen how, under the probable influenceof the Indian concept of
broughtto China by Buddhism,numerouspeoples in East Asia created
de(a-hhd4s
a whole seriesof writtenvernaculars.While Chineseauthoritiesstubbornlyresisted
recognitionof any of theirown vernacularsas a nationallanguage-probably due
to the extremely
highprestigeand powerof LS-the Buddhistsused thevernacular
as a functionalalternativewritten
liberallyin theirown writings.Once proffered
language,use of the vernacularsteadilygrewuntil, by the late Ming-earlyCh'ing,
it is likely that as many books were being printed in vernacularor a heavily
the censureand ridiculeof
literarystyleas in LS, notwithstanding
vernacularized
scholars.Finally,even the Manchus,who alreadyhad theirown written
strait-laced
nationallanguage, which was swiftlydying out because of pervasivesinicization,
yieldedto the idea thattheirSiniticsubjects,too, neededa nationallanguagekeyed
to one of the spokenvernaculars.Afterthe agitationof the May FourthMovement
Chineseintellectualsand students,manyof whom wereexposed
led by progressive
about
to radicalideas
languageand otheraspectsof cultureand societythroughthe
of
window Japan, kuo-yiiwas publiclyproclaimedthe officialwrittenlanguage of
the nation.This markedthe formalend of the multimillennialseparationbetween
and spokenlanguage(k'ou-yfi)
in China.
book language(shu-mien-yi)
That Buddhismplayeda crucialrole in the evolutionof the writtenvernacular
East Asia is beyondany doubt. The questionremains,however:Which
throughout
was responsibleforthesemomentouschanges?Was theresome
Buddhism
of
aspect
to Buddhismthat fosteredthe writtenvernacular?Or
doctrine
belonging
religious
was it due to a special Buddhistphilosophicalprinciple?Was it the fondnessfor
preaching,and public speakingby the earlyBuddhistsin the language
storytelling,
of the people? Did the ostensibleoralityof Buddhistscripturehave anythingto do
with the originsof the writtenvernacularin China? Was the factthatmost of the
of BuddhisttextsintoSiniticwereforeigners
witha poor command
earlytranslators
factor?And did thephonologicalsophistication
of theliterarylanguagea significant
of Indian linguisticalscience lend credibilityto the spoken vis-a-visthe written?
of chantingand recitation?
definedIndiantraditions
What of theelaborate,rigorously
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BUDDHISM
AND THE RISE OF WRITTEN
VERNACULAR
739
And maythe social values, institutions,
and positionofBuddhismhave contributed
to the riseof the writtenvernacular?Last but not least, did Buddhistpracticehave
to do withthevalidationofthevernacular?
anything
PerhapsI haveentirely
overlooked
some vital facetof Buddhismthatcontributedto thisprocess.In the end, Buddhist
supportforthe writtenvernacularmaybest be identifiedas a complexcombination
all ofwhichweredetermined
ofdiversefactors,
byan integrated
socioreligious
ideology.
Abbreviations
B.C.E.
BHSi
BHS
C.E.
LS
MSM
p.n.
T
VS
BeforeCommon Era
BuddhistHybridSinitic
BuddhistHybrid Sanskrit
Common Era
LiterarySinitic
ModernStandardMandarin
propername
TaishoTripitaka(the standardeditionof the ChineseBuddhistcanon)
VernacularSinitic
Glossary
Abidatsuma
zojuron
AnHsuan
AnShih-kao
chang-che
Chang-sun
Wu-chi,"Chingchichih"
ChengCh'iao
ch'eng-yui
chi
ChiHsien-lin
ChiTsang
Ch'i-yin
luieh
chiang-ching-wen
ChihLou-chia-ch'an
ChihYao
Chinshihkuo-yii
chin-shih-ni
iLT
Ch6ngInji
ChouYu-kuang
ChuCh'ing-chih
P"
2tJtfI
AA
Af,*i1EEa3,g
F=
-bE1J
_go 3
U
jV
zw
i
gl=o
MA
FM
;
Abhidharmasamuccayavydkhyd
p.n.
p.n.
elder
srestha
Treatise"
"Bibliographical
p.n.
setphrase(so-called
"idiom")
gdthd
verse
p.n.
p.n.
ontheSeven
Compendium
Scripts
siitralecture
text
p.n.
p.n.
National
Language
History
ofthe
Jurchen
upasika
laywoman
p.n.
p.n.
p.n.
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740
VICTOR
H.
MAIR
ChuLu-yen
ChuTa-li
ChuT'an-kuo
chi' no^m
ch'u-chia
*-
*
chui-shih
ch'uan-ch'i
rekishi
Chu-gokugo
bunpo
Yg=
shitszko
Chu-gokugo
t
Chung-kuo
tapai-k'ech'uan-shu
i
Yii-yenwen-tzu
3Z
Fa-chui
Fa-chii
ching
Fa-hsien
Fa-li
t;Lp.n.
Fa-hualun-shu
<J1
fan-pai
XV5
fan-shu
fang-pien
fang-yen
fang-k'uai-tzu
Foshuo
,@
{WQ
hai
Han-erhyen-yii
hsi-wen
Hsien-pei
ching
Hsiien-yii
EL
31
i-l
A
2jo.
03Z
Ov,,
A Historical
Grammar
ofModern
Chinese
A Historical
Study
ofChinese
Language
The
T GreatChinese
Encyclopedia.
LanguageandScript.
p.n.
Dhammapada
p.n.
ontheLotusSitra
Commentary
7-5
"Fo-tien
yuchung-ku
Han-yu{K
tz'u-hui
yen-chiu"
Han-yen
Han-wen
Han-tzu
Hsi-tzuch'i-chi
-
*f:L
fan-ch'ieh
p.n.
Vietnamese
vernacular
writing
Palipabbajjd
pravrajyd,
leaving
thehome(tobecomea
monk)
updsaka
layman
classicalfiction
<;
o"u
p.n.
p.n.
ig
J*Il+
countertomy;
cut-and-splice
pseudospelling
*brama-pdtha
"Brahmanic"
(i.e.
Buddhist)
hymnody
Brahmanic
script
updya
skillful
means
topolect
tetragraph
buddhavacana,
buddhabhdsita
spokenbytheBuddha;cf.
(thatwhichwas
{W1Nf
spokenbytheBuddha),
A-M, M , tff-3 (the
truewordsoftheBuddha),
= f= (thewordsofthe
variousBuddhas)
"A StudyoftheRelationship
between
Buddhist
Scriptures
andtheVocabulary
of
MiddleSinitic"
to be (Cantonese)
the(common)languageofthe
Han people
spokenSinitic
writtenSinitic
sinograph
("Chinese
character")
TheMiracleofWestern
Letters
southern
drama
*Saerbi,*Shirvi
oftheWiseand theFoolish
Su~tra
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All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
BUDDHISM
AND THE RISE OF WRITTEN
Hsiian-tsang
Hua-i i-yui
Hua-yenching
Hui-chiao
Hui-yuan
Hunminch'ng'ufm
M
r
JiIE
,1
d1 I :IIE 'E""4J
hyangch'al
1-ching
idu
i-fang-ming
ORL
A
i hsinch'uanhsin
J1JLfW'L
IriyaYoshitaka
i-yii
jan Hua-su
Ju-chih,see Yiieh-chih
ju shihwowen
4JRThR
ju shihyen
Ju shihyuching
kanbun
K'ang Meng-hsiang
Kao Ming-k'ai
kao-seng
chuan
Kao-seng
k'ao-cheng-hsuieh
kokugo
k'ou-yii
kuan-ch'ang
kuan-hua
Kuan-huaho-sheng
tzu-mu
kuan-huatzu-mu
kug'o
kun
Z-f
j75
1Ui t_1
i
;
10
/
IT0
M.
mit
-r
IfIi
I
4:1 a
t==n
Ig=E
a
011
kung-ch'iao-ming
II1'5EH
kuo
kuo-yui
Li Chin-hsi,Kuo-yui
yun-tung ;
shihkang
741
p.n.
Sino-Mongolian
Translations
Avatamsakasi7tra
p.n.
p.n.
correctsoundsforinstructing
thepeople
Explanations
and Examples
ofthe
Correct
Sounds
forInstructing
thePeople
local letters
p.n.
clerkreadings
vyddhi-cikitsa-vidydsthana
medicine
transmission
frommindto
mind
p.n.
"barbarian"language
taintedby Chinesecustoms
,
Hunminchong'um
haerye
VERNACULAR
J
evammayda
rutamThus have I
heard;var.POlYg, Thr41II
;t, nXglU?,etc.
said thus
SiitraSpokenThus
LS as writteninJapan
p.n.
p.n.
eminentmonk
Biographies
Monks
ofEminent
evidentiallearning
(Japanese)nationallanguage
spokenlanguage
officialdom:
theMandarinate
Mandarin
Letters
theSoundsof
forCombining
Mandarin
Mandarinletters
(Korean)nationallanguage
theJapanesereadingofa
sinograph
arts
sfilpa-karma-sthdna-vidyd
and crafts
nation
country,
national(vernacular)language;
titleofan ancientChinese
historicalwork
Outline
History
oftheNational
LanguageMovement
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All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
742
VICTOR
H. MAIR
Li-shih
yen-chiu
Liaoshihkuo-yui
LinShu
4,
Lu Chuang-chang,
I-muliao- F
jan ch'u-chieh
H J;
Lun-yii
Analects
Lung-men
Ma S51h
-Muhammad
I
MeiTsu-Lin,"San-ch'ao
pei-
Ft,iifiM,
A
man-t'e-lo
Studies
onHistory
National
Language
History
ofthe
Khitan
p.n.
FirstSteps
inBeing
Ableto
Comprehend
ata Glance
i '
place-name
,
meng
li te pai-hua
hui-pien
b M--, (Lt1Ig
JM
shu-mu Hf IJ)
tzu-liao,"Chung-kuo
chi-k'an
Mo-hechih-kuan
nei-ming
Ni Hai-shu,Chung-kuop'in@g
vf#T,
-3r;
yinwen-tzu
kai-lun
nienFo
I f
nii-shu
t;f
Ohta [Otal Tatsuo
)K
Okutsumaraky5o
p.n.
mantramagicalformulaor
incantation
"Vernacular
Materials
inthe
Compendium
ofNorthern
Treatises
ofThreeEmperors,"
Bibliographic
Quarterly
*Mahasamathavipasyand
adbydtma-vidyd
psychology
Introduction
totheChinese
Phonetic
Script
recitethename oftheBuddha
women'sscript
p.n.
Angulimalika-sutra
or
Angulimdl
yd-sutra
on
onmun
pai-hua[-wen]
pan-wen-pan-pai
Pei Wei
pien-wen
pomso
pu 1iwen-tzu
p'u-t'ung-hua
;
i
[j;1
D
3ZTj
1LV
W;
$
T
X= j
QoninJ'i
quocngu'l
san-shih-liu
tzu-mu
Sejong
Sejongsillok
Shao-wu
sheng-ming
shih
Shihpeiyii-lu
shou-lu
Shou-wen
shu-mien-yu
il
t
MA
tw
tffi
J
Chinese-style
phoneticreading
ofa sinographused in
Japanese
vernacularwriting
writtenVernacularSinitic
semiliterary-semivernacular
NorthernWei
transformation
text
Brahmanicscript(seefan-shu)
notto establishwrittenwords
commonspeech(i.e., Modern
StandardMandarin)
p.n.
Vietnameseromanalphabet
thirty-six
letters
p.n.
Veritable
Records
oftheReignof
KingSejong
nameofa place in Fukien
sabda-vidyd
linguistics
to be
a Northern
Transcripts
from
Mission
slokastanza
p.n.
book language
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BUDDHISM
AND THE RISE OF WRITTEN
S61Ch'ong
-g4,!
Ssu-maCh'ien,Shih-chi,
J , t U
Ssu-maKuang, Tzu-chih
Il$g?, j
t'ung-chien
Su
f4
su-chiang
f4
su-jen
f{J\
sung
i
Sung Lien,Yuanshih
,
Ta chih-tu
lun
y h
Takata Tokio, "Chibettomoji
i>:
14 , ')
shosha'Ch6kan'no kenkyu @9; -:F
ow3p
(honbunhen),"Toh5gakuh5 (4C7XJ),
7
Ta-lu ti-ch'iipo-shihlun-wen 7
ts'ung-k'an
"T'ang-taich'an-chiayii-luso }ffftT
ffi <tfAn ;
iT
chiente yii-fach'eng-fen"
MZ3'
tao-lu
teng-yuin
t'o-lo-ni
Tongguk
chong'un
M
pt,n t,
*IiEM
T'o-pa
II4E/P
"TonkJ
henbun
shiV'kogogoiho-i F
rF !
F
"Tonkohenbun
shu"kigogoi
sakuin
i
"Tsai lun yiian-shih
Fo-chiao :
te yii-yenwen-t'i"
"Tsai t'an Fu-t'uyu Fo"
4
tsan
g
Tsochuan
te fa-hsien
"T'u-huo-lo-yii
tE
Tso Ch'iu-ming
chich'itsai
yuk'ao-shih
Chung-Yinwen-huachiaoliu te tso-yung"
5rF
t
nj
LII
Ei-fl
U?:S
1
g=, R.
t
tpAfJ3iJf'p+
" -ff
Tuan Li-fen,"Tsui-tsaoch'uifQW,j
FQ
hsienhsi-tz'u(shih)te tijttFf
,
i t.
hsia tzu-liao,"Yui-wen
t'ien-ti
Tun-huang
t'ung-yii
tzuyuieh
-F I
WangChao
R
3E,
VERNACULAR
743
p.n.
Records
oftheGrandHistorian
Mirror
Comprehensive
forAid in
Government
vulgar
lay lecture
grhastha
householder
songofpraise
History
oftheYuoan
Dynasty
Mahoiprajoiipdramitopadeia
"Studieson the 'Long Scroll'in
TibetanTranscription
(Text),"
JournalofOriental
Studies
MainlandRegionDoctoral
DissertationsSeries
"GrammaticalElementsObservedin Zen Recordsof
Conversations
fromthe
T'ang Period"
way,road
rhymeclassification
dhdranF
mysticalcharm,prayer
Correct
Rhymes
oftheEastern
Kingdom
Tabgatch
Supplement
ofColloquialExpressionsin "Tun-huangpien-wen
chi"2
IndexofColloquialExpressions
in
"Tun-huangpien-wen
chi"
"A Reexamination
ofthe
LanguageProblemof
PrimitiveBuddhism"
"Moreabout theChinese
Terms'Fu Tu' and 'Fo"'
stotraeulogy
p.n.
Tso'sChronicle
"The TokharianLanguage: Its
andDecipherDiscovery
mentand Its Role in the
CulturalRelationsbetween
India and China"
"The EarliestExcavatedMaterialfortheCopula shih,"The
WorldofLanguageand Script
place-name
commonlanguage
themastersaid
p.n.
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All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
744
VICTOR
H.
MAIR
Wei Cheng,Sui shu
Wei-chih-nan
Wei Yuan, Sheng-wu
chi
a M
wen-yen
[-wen]
Wowenshih-tsun
shuotz'ui
3Z-A [i13]
,ZJt-lLt
t-"
P6
Wowenshih-tsun
ying-kung
ts'engjushihshuo
W6nhyo
Wu (Ngua)
Wu Ju-lun
wu-ming
.
ya-yen
yeh
Yen-ching
hsueh-pao
A,8
T
yin-ming
[MR)]
yiiff
yii-lu
Yii-yen
yen-chiu
,
a, 1=
Yiin-kang
taotuan,hsin-hsing
ch'u
yen-yii
T JL'VIAM
mieh
Yongbioh'onka
1,4
Yiieh-chih(also pronounced ,
as Ju-chih)
iv
var. ,l ;, ,
.,
History
oftheSui Dynasty
Vighna(p.n.)
Records
ofSagelyMilitary
Exploits
Sinitic
Literary
"I heardtheWorld-Honored
explainthis[meaning]."
"Thus did I heartheworshipful
World-Honoredspeak."
p.n.
p.n.
p.n.
fivetypes
paozcavidyd-sthdndni
ofknowledge
elegantlanguage
LS sentenceparticle
YenchingJournal
hetu-vidyd
logic
language
recordedsayings
Linguistic
Researches
place-name
"The wayoflanguageis cut
off,theworkingsofthe
mindare obliterated."
SongsofDragonsFlyingthe
Heavens
"Indo-Scythian,"
moreproperly
Kushanor Kusana; perhaps
wereoriginally
Tocharians
Texts
A
a.
c.
f.
mm'H
npREStW--nENgSX TS
g.L. ripXCS_
M
S
iJ
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All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
BUDDHISM
AND THE RISE OF WRITTEN
VERNACULAR
745
List of References
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1982. New York: The MetropolitanMuseum of Art.
ALSDORF, LUDWIG. 1980. "Ardha-Migadhi."In Heinz Bechert,ed., Die Sprache
der iltesten
buddhistischen
Uberlieferung,
pp. 17-23.
ANGURAROHITA, PRATOOM. 1989. "BuddhistInfluenceon the Neo-Confucian
Conceptof the Sage." Sino-Platonic
Papers10 (June).
BANERJEE, MURALYDHAR. 1931. TheDesffnamamdld
ofHemacandra.PartI-Text
withReadings,Introduction
and IndexofWords.Calcutta:University
ofCalcutta.
BECHERT, HEINZ, ed. 1980. Die Sprache
deriltestenbuddhistischen
Uberlieferungl
The Language of the Earliest Buddhist Tradition. Symposium zur
II. Abhandlungender Akademieder Wissenschaften
Buddhismusforschung,
in
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oftheStruggle
for GreatPoweramongTibetans,Tarks,Arabs,and Chineseduring
theEarlyMiddleAges. Princeton:PrincetonUniversityPress.
BERLING, JUDITH. 1987. "Bringingthe Buddha Down to Earth: Notes on the
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BENDER, ERNEST. 1991. Personalcommunications
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BHAYANI , HARIVALLABH C. 1966. Studies in Hemacandra'sDeszna-mamlad.
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The
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WordoftheBuddha. Colombo: M. D. Gunasena.
BOND,
1982.
BROUGH, JOHN. 1949-50. "Thus Have I Heard.
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CH 'EN, KENNETH K. S. 1964. Buddhism
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PrincetonUniversityPress.
CHI
HSIEN-LIN (also transcribed as CHI HSIAN-LIN, DSCHI HIAN-LIN, and JI
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