How Buddhism Acquired a Soul on the Way to China

Jungnok Park (1971-2008) was a Korean student of outstanding intelligence and originality. He began his university education only after spending 10 years (1989-1999) as a Buddhist monk. He had a brilliant career in the Dept. of Philosophy at Seoul National University; his MA thesis was on Nirvana and Buddhist Ethics. In 2003 he came to Wolfson College, Oxford, on a scholarship from the Korea Foundation. Already proficient in Classical Chinese and fluent in reading Japanese, he soon learnt enough Sanskrit and Pali to use them for his research. This book is based on his Oxford D.Phil. thesis, which he completed early in 2008.

• INTRODUCTION Part I: Chinese Buddhist Translation in its Cultural Context Preamble Chapter 1: The characteristics of Chinese Buddhist translation Chapter 2: The verification of the traditional attributions of translatorship Part II: The Development of the Indian Buddhist Concept of Self Preamble Chapter 3: Self in early Buddhist soteriology Chapter 4: Development of Buddhist self Chapter 5: Nirvana and a permanent self Part III: The Development of the Chinese Buddhist Concept of Self Preamble Chapter 6: Chinese ideas about self before the arrival of Buddhism Chapter 7: Non-self but an imperishable soul in Chinese Buddhist translations Chapter 8: A survey of interpolations and adaptations of an agent in sansara Chapter 9: The characteristics of the Chinese Buddhist concept of self CONCLUSION