Reinventing the Tripitaka

This collection goes well beyond the usual paleographical, philological, and redaction historical preoccupations of canonical scholarship to shed light on the life of the Buddhist canon in the wider world. These well-researched and highly readable studies show how the Buddhist scriptures function in the realms of politics, missions, nationalism, devotional practices, international relations, scholarship, and technology. This will be an indispensable addition to any collection of studies on Buddhist literary culture. -- Charles B. Jones, The Catholic University of America
Reinventing the Tripitaka: Transformation of the Buddhist Canon in Modern East Asia opens a new chapter in the study of East Asian Buddhism, focusing on the use of the Chinese Buddhist canon as an agent in constructing a modern framework for the study of Buddhism in the face of Western cultural, intellectual, and religious dominance. It is an excellent contribution to our knowledge and is highly recommended for those interested in the modern political and religious history of East Asia, digital humanities, bibliographic studies and the history of the book in East Asia. -- Albert Welter, University of Arizona
The Buddhist Canon translated from South Asian languages into Chinese constituted a staggering achievement in intercultural communication fifty times the size of the Bible, so transferring this vast mass of text into modern typeset and digital formats raises acute questions of cultural identity as well as technology. The essays on the topic collected here therefore open up some urgent contemporary issues in exciting new ways—well done! -- Timothy Barrett, University of London
The contemporary study of the history of Buddhist canons in East Asia has emerged in recent years as an important part of cultural as well as religious approaches. In this volume, we find an excellent summation of scholarly efforts that have been directed toward textual research in the field. The appraisal of the impact of digital and information technology is a welcome interpretation of present methodology in Buddhist studies. -- Lewis Lancaster, Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley