Jana Benicka | Comenius University in Bratislava (original) (raw)
Papers by Jana Benicka
![Research paper thumbnail of MIND OR HEART? ON TRANSLATING THE _ CHARACTER X IN [1] IN CHINESE BUDDHIST MAHÄYÄNA TEXTS INTO WESTERN LANGUAGES](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/110038554/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](Asian and African Studies, 2003
The aim of this article is to shortly examine some implications of the term xin (mind; hearl, etc... more The aim of this article is to shortly examine some implications of the term xin (mind; hearl, etc) in Chinese Buddhist texts (against the background of the main philosophical implications of Mahäyäna teachings as such), to show a primary danger o f interpreting (or translating) this term (and other terms like essence, principle, One mind, etc.) as entities "inherently existing", or as independent substances.
Studia Orientalia Slovaca, 2018
(1895-1976) is one of the most noted intellectuals active in the reform of written Chinese, and b... more (1895-1976) is one of the most noted intellectuals active in the reform of written Chinese, and belongs to the circle of influential figures of the New Culture Movement of the late 1910s and early 1920s who were promoting baihuawen ('written vernacular') as the language (or rather: language register) for a new literature and as a medium of learned discourse. 1 However, the term baihuawen itself, despite having been a widely discussed issue for decades, was never easy to define since as a language with the aspiration to become a nationwide normative written language close to speech, it could only become a compromise within the diversity of various languages spoken in China. 2 In this respect, we should talk about diglossia-a hierarchical structured
Studia Orientalia Slovaca, 2018
Liang Qichao 梁啟超 (1873–1929) was a prominent Chinese political reformer, man of letters and trans... more Liang Qichao 梁啟超 (1873–1929) was a prominent Chinese political reformer, man of letters and translator. Much is known about his contribution to the formation of the concept of ‘new literatur’, yet, his deep belief in Buddhism and the influence of this fact on his writings on literature is often omitted in the scholarly works.
Asian and African Studies, 2002
The aim of this article is to briefly examine the main philosophical implications of the notion o... more The aim of this article is to briefly examine the main philosophical implications of the notion of different 'levels' or 'stages' of discernment of the true nature of the world by some schools of Chinese Buddhism. The postulations of the 'levels' and their explications by the representatives of the Chinese form of Indian Yogäcära-the Faxiang School, the Huayan School and Chan Buddhism will be analysed.
![Research paper thumbnail of FA [1]: DID ITS MEANING CHANGE IN CHINESE PHILOSOPHY? SOME REMARKS ON FA IN CONFUCIANISM AND LEGALISM](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/110036966/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](Asian and African Studies, 2001
The aim o f this article is to briefly analyse the use o f the character fa in early Chinese phil... more The aim o f this article is to briefly analyse the use o f the character fa in early Chinese philosophical texts and in the works of so-called Legalists, and give some justifications for the claim that the meaning o f the character did not simply change from 'standard', 'to mod el' in the texts o f the Confucians into the meaning 'law ' in the intentions o f legal positivism, as it is often interpreted in the books on Chinese philosophy.
Acta orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae (Print), Nov 1, 2003
Monumenta Serica, 2006
In the texts of Chinese Mahãyãna Buddhism (including of course the translations of Indian sütras ... more In the texts of Chinese Mahãyãna Buddhism (including of course the translations of Indian sütras or treatises), the Chinese character xin'ù appears very often. And, when these texts are translated into English (or interpreted using the terms of Western philosophical ...
Talking Literature. Essays on Chinese and Biblical Writings and Their Interaction , 2013
Gongsun Long (late 4th c. BCE), the supposed author of the Discourse on the White Horse (Bai ma l... more Gongsun Long (late 4th c. BCE), the supposed author of the Discourse on the White Horse (Bai ma lun), one of the famous writings of ancient China, was a renown and successful scholar-politician (shi 1) as well as a thinker in the field of Chinese logic and rhetoric. 1 Only little is known about his life. Tradition ranks him with the representatives of the so-called School of Names (mingjia), 2 active in China beginning from the 4th century BCE onwards. Most of his works have been lost and so only six of his treatises are known nowadays. All of them are incorporated in the text entitled Gongsun Long zi (Master Gongsun Long), from 1 For Gongsun Long's intellectual career see Mei Y. P., »The Kung-sun Lung-tzu with Translation into English«, Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 16 (1953), 404-437. 2 Mingjia is usually translated into English as »sophists«, »logicians« or »dialecticians«. According to Fung Yu-lan [Feng Youlan ], the literal translation as »School of Names« for the Western world also accentuates a fact that one of the fundamental problems discussed in Chinese philosophy was the problem of the relation between ming2 ('name') and shi2 ('reality'). In works of the 'Golden Age' of Chinese philosophy, the representatives of this school were also known as bianzhi ('disputers', 'argumentators'). Fung assumes that it was because those who originally went under these names were lawyers [e.g., Deng Xi, mentioned in the Spring and Autumn Annals (Lüshi chunqiu), who died in 501 BCE] and they appear to have been among the first ones to introduce the study of "names" into the Chinese tradition. Fung Yu-lan, Selected Philosophical Writings of Fung Yu-lan (Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 1991), 280, 282. Benická & Hubina 12 which we have also drawn the Discourse on the White Horse, 3 a text written in dialogue form-between the master and his disciple. Regarding the previous treatment of the Discourse on the White Horse (especially its key sentence-bai ma fei ma 'a white horse is not a horse'), two basic interpretative approaches have been assumed so far: abstract and nominalistic. The abstract theories, inspired by Platonism and its abstract forms, give an interpretion of the text as a discourse on the process of denotation of objects of the real world by word via abstract mental entities, while the most influential interpretation of Gongsun Long's thought as a philosophy of universals was formulated by Fung Yu-lan. 4 On the other hand (since it has been generally agreed that the Late Mohist's 5 discussion centred on the relation between names and their respective objects), nominalistic interpretations-3 Other short treatises are Zhiwu lun (Discourse on Pointing Things Out), Tongbian lun (Discourse on Change); Jian bai lun (Discourse on Hard and White); Ming shi lun (Discourse on Names and Objects); Jifu (Storehouse of Traces).
Acta Orientalia, 2003
Dongshan Liangjie (807-869), the founder of the Caodong (Jap. Soto) Branch of Chinese Chan Buddhi... more Dongshan Liangjie (807-869), the founder of the Caodong (Jap. Soto) Branch of Chinese Chan Buddhism, formed and elaborated the theory of five positions, or five levels of discernment of true reality. The main philosophical implications of the theory are believed ...
Resumé Tento článok sa zaoberá úvahami významného čínskeho intelektuála Lin Yutanga, ktorý sa v 3... more Resumé Tento článok sa zaoberá úvahami významného čínskeho intelektuála Lin Yutanga, ktorý sa v 30. rokoch 20. storočia domnieval, že Čína sa musí začať brániť jazykovému a kultúrnemu impe-rializmu, konkrétne, keď rázne vystúpil proti snahám zavádzať BASIC English ako celosvetový jazyk komunikácie. Lin Yutang namiesto neho navrhuje vytvorenie takého jazyka, ktorý by vychádzal z (čínskej) pidgin English. Abstract This article examines how the influential Chinese intellectual Lin Yutang, starting from the 1930s, believed the China must start fighting against linguistic and cultural imperialism, namely when rigorously opposing efforts to introduce BASIC English as a language of international communication worldwide. Instead, Lin Yutang proposes to create such a language on the basis of (Chinese) pidgin English.
Asian and African Studies, 2003
The aim of this article is to shortly examine some implications of the term xin (mind; hearl, etc... more The aim of this article is to shortly examine some implications of the term xin (mind; hearl, etc) in Chinese Buddhist texts (against the background of the main philosophical implications of Mahäyäna teachings as such), to show a primary danger o f interpreting (or translating) this term (and other terms like essence, principle, One mind, etc.) as entities "inherently existing", or as independent substances.
Studia Orientalia Slovaca, 2018
(1895-1976) is one of the most noted intellectuals active in the reform of written Chinese, and b... more (1895-1976) is one of the most noted intellectuals active in the reform of written Chinese, and belongs to the circle of influential figures of the New Culture Movement of the late 1910s and early 1920s who were promoting baihuawen ('written vernacular') as the language (or rather: language register) for a new literature and as a medium of learned discourse. 1 However, the term baihuawen itself, despite having been a widely discussed issue for decades, was never easy to define since as a language with the aspiration to become a nationwide normative written language close to speech, it could only become a compromise within the diversity of various languages spoken in China. 2 In this respect, we should talk about diglossia-a hierarchical structured
Studia Orientalia Slovaca, 2018
Liang Qichao 梁啟超 (1873–1929) was a prominent Chinese political reformer, man of letters and trans... more Liang Qichao 梁啟超 (1873–1929) was a prominent Chinese political reformer, man of letters and translator. Much is known about his contribution to the formation of the concept of ‘new literatur’, yet, his deep belief in Buddhism and the influence of this fact on his writings on literature is often omitted in the scholarly works.
Asian and African Studies, 2002
The aim of this article is to briefly examine the main philosophical implications of the notion o... more The aim of this article is to briefly examine the main philosophical implications of the notion of different 'levels' or 'stages' of discernment of the true nature of the world by some schools of Chinese Buddhism. The postulations of the 'levels' and their explications by the representatives of the Chinese form of Indian Yogäcära-the Faxiang School, the Huayan School and Chan Buddhism will be analysed.
Asian and African Studies, 2001
The aim o f this article is to briefly analyse the use o f the character fa in early Chinese phil... more The aim o f this article is to briefly analyse the use o f the character fa in early Chinese philosophical texts and in the works of so-called Legalists, and give some justifications for the claim that the meaning o f the character did not simply change from 'standard', 'to mod el' in the texts o f the Confucians into the meaning 'law ' in the intentions o f legal positivism, as it is often interpreted in the books on Chinese philosophy.
Acta orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae (Print), Nov 1, 2003
Monumenta Serica, 2006
In the texts of Chinese Mahãyãna Buddhism (including of course the translations of Indian sütras ... more In the texts of Chinese Mahãyãna Buddhism (including of course the translations of Indian sütras or treatises), the Chinese character xin'ù appears very often. And, when these texts are translated into English (or interpreted using the terms of Western philosophical ...
Talking Literature. Essays on Chinese and Biblical Writings and Their Interaction , 2013
Gongsun Long (late 4th c. BCE), the supposed author of the Discourse on the White Horse (Bai ma l... more Gongsun Long (late 4th c. BCE), the supposed author of the Discourse on the White Horse (Bai ma lun), one of the famous writings of ancient China, was a renown and successful scholar-politician (shi 1) as well as a thinker in the field of Chinese logic and rhetoric. 1 Only little is known about his life. Tradition ranks him with the representatives of the so-called School of Names (mingjia), 2 active in China beginning from the 4th century BCE onwards. Most of his works have been lost and so only six of his treatises are known nowadays. All of them are incorporated in the text entitled Gongsun Long zi (Master Gongsun Long), from 1 For Gongsun Long's intellectual career see Mei Y. P., »The Kung-sun Lung-tzu with Translation into English«, Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 16 (1953), 404-437. 2 Mingjia is usually translated into English as »sophists«, »logicians« or »dialecticians«. According to Fung Yu-lan [Feng Youlan ], the literal translation as »School of Names« for the Western world also accentuates a fact that one of the fundamental problems discussed in Chinese philosophy was the problem of the relation between ming2 ('name') and shi2 ('reality'). In works of the 'Golden Age' of Chinese philosophy, the representatives of this school were also known as bianzhi ('disputers', 'argumentators'). Fung assumes that it was because those who originally went under these names were lawyers [e.g., Deng Xi, mentioned in the Spring and Autumn Annals (Lüshi chunqiu), who died in 501 BCE] and they appear to have been among the first ones to introduce the study of "names" into the Chinese tradition. Fung Yu-lan, Selected Philosophical Writings of Fung Yu-lan (Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 1991), 280, 282. Benická & Hubina 12 which we have also drawn the Discourse on the White Horse, 3 a text written in dialogue form-between the master and his disciple. Regarding the previous treatment of the Discourse on the White Horse (especially its key sentence-bai ma fei ma 'a white horse is not a horse'), two basic interpretative approaches have been assumed so far: abstract and nominalistic. The abstract theories, inspired by Platonism and its abstract forms, give an interpretion of the text as a discourse on the process of denotation of objects of the real world by word via abstract mental entities, while the most influential interpretation of Gongsun Long's thought as a philosophy of universals was formulated by Fung Yu-lan. 4 On the other hand (since it has been generally agreed that the Late Mohist's 5 discussion centred on the relation between names and their respective objects), nominalistic interpretations-3 Other short treatises are Zhiwu lun (Discourse on Pointing Things Out), Tongbian lun (Discourse on Change); Jian bai lun (Discourse on Hard and White); Ming shi lun (Discourse on Names and Objects); Jifu (Storehouse of Traces).
Acta Orientalia, 2003
Dongshan Liangjie (807-869), the founder of the Caodong (Jap. Soto) Branch of Chinese Chan Buddhi... more Dongshan Liangjie (807-869), the founder of the Caodong (Jap. Soto) Branch of Chinese Chan Buddhism, formed and elaborated the theory of five positions, or five levels of discernment of true reality. The main philosophical implications of the theory are believed ...
Resumé Tento článok sa zaoberá úvahami významného čínskeho intelektuála Lin Yutanga, ktorý sa v 3... more Resumé Tento článok sa zaoberá úvahami významného čínskeho intelektuála Lin Yutanga, ktorý sa v 30. rokoch 20. storočia domnieval, že Čína sa musí začať brániť jazykovému a kultúrnemu impe-rializmu, konkrétne, keď rázne vystúpil proti snahám zavádzať BASIC English ako celosvetový jazyk komunikácie. Lin Yutang namiesto neho navrhuje vytvorenie takého jazyka, ktorý by vychádzal z (čínskej) pidgin English. Abstract This article examines how the influential Chinese intellectual Lin Yutang, starting from the 1930s, believed the China must start fighting against linguistic and cultural imperialism, namely when rigorously opposing efforts to introduce BASIC English as a language of international communication worldwide. Instead, Lin Yutang proposes to create such a language on the basis of (Chinese) pidgin English.