Jan Nattier | University of California, Berkeley (original) (raw)
other recent positions:
Tianzhu Visiting Professor, Group in Buddhist Studies, University of California
at Berkeley (fall semester 2019)
Visiting Scholar, Group in Buddhist Studies, University of California at
Berkeley (2016-2019, mostly in absentia)
Visiting Lecturer, Dept. of Asian Languages and Literature, University of
Washington, spring quarter 2016
Numata Visiting Professor of Buddhist Studies, UC Berkeley, fall semester
2015
Shinnyōen Consulting Professor (Buddhist Studies), Stanford University,
spring quarter 2014
Visiting Fellow, Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, University of Tokyo,
2010
Research Professor of Buddhist Studies, International Research Institute for
Advanced Buddhology, Soka University, Tokyo, Japan, 2006-2010
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Papers by Jan Nattier
It is often assumed that names and terms that are transcribed, rather than translated, in Chinese... more It is often assumed that names and terms that are transcribed, rather than translated, in Chinese Buddhist scriptures offer us direct access to the underlying Indic-language term from which the text in question was translated. In this paper I provide evidence that this is not always the case. In a significant number of instances it can be shown that translators used what was originally a transcription of one word (e.g., 佛 fó as a transcription of a Middle Indic form of the word buddha) to translate a different term (e.g., 佛 as a translation of bhagavat). Such terms are not functioning as transcriptions in the ordinary sense, but rather are serving as translations of a different word, i.e., as "substitution terms.
Annual Report of the International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology, 2023
The Faju jing 法句經, initially translated by Zhu Jiangyan 竺將炎on the basis of a text brought to the ... more The Faju jing 法句經, initially translated by Zhu Jiangyan 竺將炎on the basis of a text brought to the Wu 吳kingdom by Weizhinan 維祇難(*Vijitananda) in 224 CE and subsequently revised and edited Zhi Qian 支謙, is a remarkable example of a hybrid translation. According to the information contained in a preface thought to have been authored byZhi Qian himself, we learn that the translator supplemented the initial translation with
substantial material drawn from one or more additional sources. In this paper we examine two verses from Zhi Qian’s hybrid translation that had been considered in previous scholarship to lack parallels in any known version of the Dhammapada or Udānavarga. On the contrary, it has been possible to demonstrate that these verses have a wide range of parallels not only in the Sanskrit Udānavarga but in other Buddhist scriptures as well. A close examination of the occurrences of these parallels in other Buddhist texts strongly suggests that Zhi Qian drew them from a Sarvāstivādin or Mūlasarvāstivādin source, adding them to a pre-existing chapter(Chapter 22, “On the Buddha”) contained in the text originally brought by Weizhinan, which surely belonged to a different Buddhist school and may well have been recorded in a language similar to Pāli.
This is an unpublished response to a published paper.
Annual Report of The International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology at Soka University for the Academic Year 2020, 2021
In the third and final volume of his monumental comparative study of the biography of the Buddha,... more In the third and final volume of his monumental comparative study of the biography of the Buddha, André Bareau examined the passage in which nanda pleads with the Buddha not to die in Kuśinagara, but rather in a more illustrious town. Comparing the names of such towns presented in seven different versions of the text, Bareau considered the list of names found in the translation of the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra by Zhi Qian 支謙(般泥洹經, T6) to be both unusually short and aberrant in content. This paper presents a detailed examination of each of the names given in Zhi Qian’s translation, showing that there was a consistent method governing his renditions (both transcriptions and translations) and that two of the names not recognized by Bareau can now be identified. This places Zhi Qian’s version of the text within the mainstream of parinirvāṇa narratives, while casting new light on Zhi Qian’s translation techniques.
Brill's Encyclopedia of Buddhism Volume II, 2019
, in: Annual Report of The International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology at Soka Unive... more , in: Annual Report of The International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology at Soka University, vol. VIII (2005), pp. 361–376.
The pdf provided by the publisher (which I have attached here) didn't include the full reference,... more The pdf provided by the publisher (which I have attached here) didn't include the full reference, so here it is:
“Now You Hear It, Now You Don’t: The Phrase ‘Thus Have I Heard’ in Early Chinese Buddhist Translations.” In Tansen Sen, ed., Buddhism Across Asia: Networks of Material, Intellectual and Cultural Exchange (Singapore: Institute for Southeast Asian Studies, University of Singapore), in press, 2013.
This is a Japanese translation by Kudō Noriyuki and Fukita Takamichi of "The Heart Sūtra: A Chin... more This is a Japanese translation by Kudō Noriyuki and Fukita Takamichi of "The Heart Sūtra: A Chinese Apocryphal Text?," Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, vol. 15, no. 2 (1992), pp. 153-223. The full bibliographical reference (in Japanese and English) is:
KUDŌ Noriyuki 工藤順之 and FUKITA Takamichi 吹田隆道, trans., “Hannya shingyō wa chūgoku gikyō ka?” 『般若心経』は 中国偽経か？,” [The Heart Sūtra: A Chinese Apocryphal Text?], Sanko bunka kenkyujō nenpō 三康文化研究所年報 [Annual of the Sanko Research Institute for the Studies of Buddhism], no. 37 (2006), pp. 17-83.
This is a Dutch translation by Sven Vanderbiest of "The Indian Roots of Pure Land Buddhism: Insi... more This is a Dutch translation by Sven Vanderbiest of "The Indian Roots of Pure Land Buddhism: Insights from the Oldest Chinese Versions of the Larger Sukhāvatīvyūha" (Part 1)
It is often assumed that names and terms that are transcribed, rather than translated, in Chinese... more It is often assumed that names and terms that are transcribed, rather than translated, in Chinese Buddhist scriptures offer us direct access to the underlying Indic-language term from which the text in question was translated. In this paper I provide evidence that this is not always the case. In a significant number of instances it can be shown that translators used what was originally a transcription of one word (e.g., 佛 fó as a transcription of a Middle Indic form of the word buddha) to translate a different term (e.g., 佛 as a translation of bhagavat). Such terms are not functioning as transcriptions in the ordinary sense, but rather are serving as translations of a different word, i.e., as "substitution terms.
Annual Report of the International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology, 2023
The Faju jing 法句經, initially translated by Zhu Jiangyan 竺將炎on the basis of a text brought to the ... more The Faju jing 法句經, initially translated by Zhu Jiangyan 竺將炎on the basis of a text brought to the Wu 吳kingdom by Weizhinan 維祇難(*Vijitananda) in 224 CE and subsequently revised and edited Zhi Qian 支謙, is a remarkable example of a hybrid translation. According to the information contained in a preface thought to have been authored byZhi Qian himself, we learn that the translator supplemented the initial translation with
substantial material drawn from one or more additional sources. In this paper we examine two verses from Zhi Qian’s hybrid translation that had been considered in previous scholarship to lack parallels in any known version of the Dhammapada or Udānavarga. On the contrary, it has been possible to demonstrate that these verses have a wide range of parallels not only in the Sanskrit Udānavarga but in other Buddhist scriptures as well. A close examination of the occurrences of these parallels in other Buddhist texts strongly suggests that Zhi Qian drew them from a Sarvāstivādin or Mūlasarvāstivādin source, adding them to a pre-existing chapter(Chapter 22, “On the Buddha”) contained in the text originally brought by Weizhinan, which surely belonged to a different Buddhist school and may well have been recorded in a language similar to Pāli.
This is an unpublished response to a published paper.
Annual Report of The International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology at Soka University for the Academic Year 2020, 2021
In the third and final volume of his monumental comparative study of the biography of the Buddha,... more In the third and final volume of his monumental comparative study of the biography of the Buddha, André Bareau examined the passage in which nanda pleads with the Buddha not to die in Kuśinagara, but rather in a more illustrious town. Comparing the names of such towns presented in seven different versions of the text, Bareau considered the list of names found in the translation of the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra by Zhi Qian 支謙(般泥洹經, T6) to be both unusually short and aberrant in content. This paper presents a detailed examination of each of the names given in Zhi Qian’s translation, showing that there was a consistent method governing his renditions (both transcriptions and translations) and that two of the names not recognized by Bareau can now be identified. This places Zhi Qian’s version of the text within the mainstream of parinirvāṇa narratives, while casting new light on Zhi Qian’s translation techniques.
Brill's Encyclopedia of Buddhism Volume II, 2019
, in: Annual Report of The International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology at Soka Unive... more , in: Annual Report of The International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology at Soka University, vol. VIII (2005), pp. 361–376.
The pdf provided by the publisher (which I have attached here) didn't include the full reference,... more The pdf provided by the publisher (which I have attached here) didn't include the full reference, so here it is:
“Now You Hear It, Now You Don’t: The Phrase ‘Thus Have I Heard’ in Early Chinese Buddhist Translations.” In Tansen Sen, ed., Buddhism Across Asia: Networks of Material, Intellectual and Cultural Exchange (Singapore: Institute for Southeast Asian Studies, University of Singapore), in press, 2013.
This is a Japanese translation by Kudō Noriyuki and Fukita Takamichi of "The Heart Sūtra: A Chin... more This is a Japanese translation by Kudō Noriyuki and Fukita Takamichi of "The Heart Sūtra: A Chinese Apocryphal Text?," Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, vol. 15, no. 2 (1992), pp. 153-223. The full bibliographical reference (in Japanese and English) is:
KUDŌ Noriyuki 工藤順之 and FUKITA Takamichi 吹田隆道, trans., “Hannya shingyō wa chūgoku gikyō ka?” 『般若心経』は 中国偽経か？,” [The Heart Sūtra: A Chinese Apocryphal Text?], Sanko bunka kenkyujō nenpō 三康文化研究所年報 [Annual of the Sanko Research Institute for the Studies of Buddhism], no. 37 (2006), pp. 17-83.
This is a Dutch translation by Sven Vanderbiest of "The Indian Roots of Pure Land Buddhism: Insi... more This is a Dutch translation by Sven Vanderbiest of "The Indian Roots of Pure Land Buddhism: Insights from the Oldest Chinese Versions of the Larger Sukhāvatīvyūha" (Part 1)
This OCR'd version was produced by Michael Radich, whose help I would like to gratefully acknowle... more This OCR'd version was produced by Michael Radich, whose help I would like to gratefully acknowledge here.
Please also download the Addenda and Corrigenda page (an updated version is currently being prepared).
This class handout (prepared for students in graduate seminars taught at Indiana University) offe... more This class handout (prepared for students in graduate seminars taught at Indiana University) offers suggestions on a wide range of ways in which a footnote—a genre which, in my view, is worthy of appreciation in itself—can be used to convey useful information to readers in academic papers and books while freeing those with more general interests to focus only on the content of the main text itself..
Chán Buddhism in Dūnhuáng and Beyond, 2020
