Faxian and the Meaning of Bianwen 變文: The Value of His Biography to the Study of China

Barrett, T.H.

Abstract

Abstract: In 1989 Victor Mair published a monograph entitled T’ang Transformation Texts that has subsequently come to determine the translation used for the term bianwen 變文 in English as ‘transformation’. In 1991 I published in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society a comment on Mair’s monograph proposing that a passage in Faxian’s biography noticed by some earlier scholars but not discussed by Mair suggested that other ways of construing the term were possible, and I have subsequently expanded on these remarks in passing. In 2016 the erudite Seishi Karashima published in the Annual Report of the International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology, Soka University a review of the early evidence for the meaning of bianwen that likewise draws on Faxian, though his explanation differs from and makes no reference to mine. How does Faxian’s evidence now stand?

Citation

Barrett, T. (in press). Faxian and the Meaning of Bianwen 變文: The Value of His Biography to the Study of China. Hualin international journal of Buddhist studies, 2(1), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.15239/hijbs.02.01.01

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 25, 2019
• Online Publication Date: May 1, 2019
• Deposit Date: Mar 21, 2025
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 21, 2025
• Print ISSN: 2576-2923
• Electronic ISSN: 2576-2931
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 2
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 1-15
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.15239/hijbs.02.01.01
• Keywords: Faxian, bianwen, 變文, Victor Mair, Karashima Seishi
• Publisher URL: https://glorisunglobalnetwork.org/hualin-international-journal-of-buddhist-studies/e-journal/2-1/1-15/