On Joseph's Chinese Buddhist Studies

Joseph Edkins is an English missionary of the London Society who entered China in the mid-19 th century.During his half-century in China,he has conducted extensive and in-depth exploration of Chinese culture in order to promote the development of missionary work.Among them,he made important achievements in linguistics and religious studies.As far as Chinese religion is concerned,he focused on Chinese Buddhism in his research,and his research was considered to be one of the authorities in related fields among the missionaries who entered China at that time.Therefore,I select Joseph Edkins as the research object,deeply analyzes his understanding of Chinese Buddhism,and tries to have a general understanding of Chinese Buddhism in the eyes of missionaries.In the structure of the thesis,in addition to the introduction and conclusion,the full text is divided into five chapters.The first chapter summarizes the current situation of overseas Chinese Buddhist studies,introduces the history of “amateur” research mainly made by missionaries,and the history of “professional” research mainly made by sinologists.This is to provide the background for Joseph Edkins' s study on Chinese Buddhism.The second chapter introduces Joseph Edkins' s observation and research on Chinese Buddhism,including his missionary life in China,his interaction with Chinese religions and Chinese Buddhist believers,and his writings.From the third chapter to the fifth chapter are the core chapters of this thesis,detailing Joseph Edkins' s understanding of three aspects of Chinese Buddhism: worship objects;classics and sects;teaching system.The third chapter introduces Joseph Edkins' s understanding of the worship objects of Chinese Buddhism.In his research,he corresponds the widely worshiped Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in Chinese Buddhism with the Gods in Christianity,focusing on explaining whether Buddhas and Bodhisattvas have divinity.He believes that the divine nature of Buddha Shakyamuni is “added”,while the other Buddhas and Bodhisattvas are “fictional”,and Chinese Buddhist believers' worship of them takes the place of God's worship.The fourth chapter expounds Joseph Edkins' s understanding of Chinese Buddhist texts and sects.He introduces the collection of Buddhist scriptures and the history of Chinese translation,and questions the authority of Mahayana Buddhist scriptures.He supposes that the authors of the Vinaya discipline write those Mahayana scriptures.At the same time,when he introduced the sects of Chinese Buddhism,he emphasized their attitude towards idols.The fifth chapter introduces Joseph Edkins' s understanding of Chinese Buddhist teaching system.He explains from the Christian system of redemption,arguing that Buddhism emphasizes that life is suffering,which is different from Christianity's belief that human nature is sinful.At the same time,Buddhism's moral system based on reincarnation and afterlife cannot effectively achieve the goal of redemption.Compared with the professional research on Chinese Buddhism conducted by overseas sinologists,the research of missionaries represented by Joseph Edkins is mostly regarded as “amateur”.Nonetheless,as religious believers,missionaries' understanding of Chinese Buddhism can touch upon the core issues of religious belief,which is the uniqueness of their research.Therefore,the exploration of Chinese Buddhism by the missionaries represented by Joseph Edkins should be included in the category of overseas Sinology,and then promote the comprehensive development of overseas Chinese Buddhism research.This paper is an attempt on this aspect.At the same time,in the process of studying Joseph Edkins' understanding of Chinese Buddhism,I adopt the perspective of religious studies,which is the innovation of this thesis.