Michael Radich | Universität Heidelberg (original) (raw)
Books by Michael Radich
Famously, tathāgatagarbha doctrine holds that every sentient being has within the body a womb for... more Famously, tathāgatagarbha doctrine holds that every sentient being has within the body a womb for Buddhas, or an embryonic Buddha – the potential for full buddhahood. Previous scholars have seen this doctrine as originating in the Tathāgatagarbha-sūtra. In this book, Michael Radich argues that rather, the Mahāparinirvāṇa-mahāsūtra is most likely our earliest extant tathāgatagarbha text. Radich then argues that tathāgatagarbha ideas originated as part of a wider pattern of docetic Buddhology – ideas holding that Buddhas are not really as they appear. Buddhist docetic texts are clearly troubled by the notion that Buddhas could have flesh-and-blood human mothers. The Mahāparinirvāṇa-mahāsūtra is one such text, and tathāgatagarbha functions as a better substitute for imperfect human maternity: rather than a putrid, painful human womb, buddhahood springs from a “womb” inherent in every sentient being, which promises final liberation from flesh altogether. This book should interest readers concerned with the history of Buddhist ideas, gender in Buddhism, the early Mahāyāna, the cult of the Buddha’s relics, and relations between Buddhist ideas and practice.
In this book, an international team of fourteen scholars investigates the Chinese reception of In... more In this book, an international team of fourteen scholars investigates the Chinese reception of Indian Buddhist ideas, especially in the sixth and seventh centuries. Topics include Buddhist logic and epistemology (pramāṇa, yinming); commentaries on Indian Buddhist texts; Chinese readings of systems as diverse as Madhyamaka, Yogācāra and tathāgatagarbha; the working out of Indian concepts and problematics in new Chinese works; and previously under-studied Chinese evidence for developments in India. The authors aim to consider the ways that these Chinese materials might furnish evidence of broader Buddhist trends, thereby problematizing a prevalent notion of “sinification”, which has led scholars to consider such materials predominantly in terms of trends ostensibly distinctive to China. The volume also tries to go beyond seeing sixth- and seventh-century China primarily as the age of the formation and establishment of the Chinese Buddhist “schools”. The authors attempt to view the ideas under study on their own terms, as valid Buddhist ideas engendered in a rich, “liminal” space of interchange between two large traditions.
Ajātaśatru is famous in Buddhist literature for having killed his father, Bimbisāra, in order to ... more Ajātaśatru is famous in Buddhist literature for having killed his father, Bimbisāra, in order to come to the throne. This study traces the development of this story in Indian, Chinese and Japanese sources, from canonical Mainstream Buddhism to the modern era. Over the course of that long history, this story was transformed many times, a process that culminated in perhaps the most startling transformation of all – the elaboration of the modern psychoanalytic theory of a psychological complex named after Ajātaśatru by Kosawa Heisaku and Okonogi Keigo (the "Ajase Complex"), and the attendant reinvention of Ajātaśatru as "Ajase". Particular attention is given in this study to connecting transformations in the Ajātaśatru narrative to features of the cultural context at two key junctures in its history – in China in the fifth and sixth centuries, and in modern Japan. The study is also presented as an attempt to model ways of using narrative materials as windows into the historical Buddhist worlds they traveled through, and that shaped them. Another dimension of the study that should be of particular interests to Buddhologists is the links between certain texts in Buddhist literature revealed by the narrative and its transformations, particularly among members of a group of texts related to the Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa sūtra. More generally, the book should be relevant to readers in Buddhist Studies, medieval Chinese studies, Japanese cultural studies, and psychoanalytic theory and its history.
Papers by Michael Radich
Ratnakūṭa Studies, Volume I,, 2025
Radich, Michael. "Appendix: Computer-Assisted Analysis of Internal Stylistic Evidence for the Com... more Radich, Michael. "Appendix: Computer-Assisted Analysis of Internal Stylistic Evidence for the Composition Scenario of the Shi'er toutuo jing." Appendix to Jonathan A. Silk, "Assembled in China: A Study of the Shi'er toutuo jing 十二頭陀經," in Ratnakūṭa Studies, Volume I, edited by Rafal Felbur, 122–197; Radich Appendix, 190–195. Leiden: Brill, 2025.
Buddhakṣetrapariśodhana: A Festschrift for Paul Harrison, 2024
Radich, Michael. "Xuanzang's Rājāvavādaka-sūtra." In Buddhist Stone Sutras in China. Shaanxi Prov... more Radich, Michael. "Xuanzang's Rājāvavādaka-sūtra." In Buddhist Stone Sutras in China. Shaanxi Province, Volume 2, edited by Michael Radich and Rong Zhao, 73–84. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag/Hangzhou: China Academy of Art Press, 2024.
Radich, Michael, Claudia Wenzel, et al., trans. "The Sūtra in which the Thus-Come One Exposes a T... more Radich, Michael, Claudia Wenzel, et al., trans. "The Sūtra in which the Thus-Come One Exposes a Teaching for King Prasenajit." In Buddhist Stone Sutras in China. Shaanxi Province, Volume 2, edited by Michael Radich and Rong Zhao, 363–370. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag/Hangzhou: China Academy of Art Press, 2024.
The Fo yi jing 佛醫經 T793, a short text, discusses physical and mental health, presenting its conte... more The Fo yi jing 佛醫經 T793, a short text, discusses physical and mental health, presenting its content as the teachings of the Buddha. The Taishō presents the text as translated by Zhu Lüyan 竺律炎 and Zhi Qian 支謙 . We survey bibliographic records to propose that this attribution is unreliable. Using computer assisted analysis, we locate passages in the text possibly borrowed from early Chinese sources, among them most notably An Shigao’s 安世高 Jiu heng jing 九橫經 T150A(31) . These findings indicate that T793 was probably compiled in China on the basis of various sources . We also find that some basic early Buddhist teach-
ings, such as the four nutriments (āhāra) and rules regarding the eating of meat, are misunderstood or misrepresented in T793 . Taking into account some terms and phrases in T793 that occur more frequently in translations in the Western Jin period, we suggest that T793 is likely a compilation made between the late third and early fourth centuries. It is thus probably one of the earliest extant Chinese compositions of this kind.
Chinese translation of English paper in same volume.
New Zealand Journal of Asian Studies, 2021
Buddhist Studies Review, 2021
In her 2010 study of the Shi zhu duan jie jing 十住斷結經 T309, Jan Nattier found that several passage... more In her 2010 study of the Shi zhu duan jie jing 十住斷結經 T309, Jan Nattier found that several passages in T309 were copied from earlier Chinese Buddhist texts. She thus proposed that T309 is not a translation from an Indian text, but a “forgery” by Zhu Fonian. Extending Nattier’s analysis with the help of TACL, a tool for computational textual analysis, we conducted a more thorough analysis of Zhu Fonian’s four Mahāyāna texts, namely, T309, the Pusa chu tai jing 菩薩處胎經 T384, the Zhongyin jin 中陰經 T385, and the Pusa yingluo jing 菩薩瓔珞經 T656, and found in T309 and T656 additional content deriving from earlier Chinese texts. On the basis of this analysis of these features of the texts, we propose that all four were likely compiled by Zhu Fonian himself.
![Research paper thumbnail of Lin Qian 林乾 and He Shuqun 何书群 [Michael Radich]. "Zhu Fonian suo 'yi' dasheng jingdian de jisuanji fuzhu wenben fenxi yanjiu" 竺佛念所"译"大乘经典的计算机辅助文本分析研究. Shijie zongjiao wenhua 世界宗教文化 (2020), no. 6: 16-22.](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/66021775/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](Shijie zongjiao wenhua 世界宗教文化, 2020
本文通过计算机文本分析工具TACL全面地分析了竺佛念的《十住断结经》《菩萨处胎经》《中阴经》和《菩萨璎珞经》，在《十住断结经》和《菩萨璎珞经》中发现较多的抄袭内容，并通过分析这几部经文中的不同寻... more 本文通过计算机文本分析工具TACL全面地分析了竺佛念的《十住断结经》《菩萨处胎经》《中阴经》和《菩萨璎珞经》，在《十住断结经》和《菩萨璎珞经》中发现较多的抄袭内容，并通过分析这几部经文中的不同寻常之处，认为这四部经有可能都是竺佛念自己编写而不是翻译的。
![Research paper thumbnail of Radich, Michael. “Reading the Writing on the Wall: 'Sengchou’s' Cave at Xiaonanhai, Early Chinese Buddhist Meditation, and Unique Portions of *Dharmakṣema’s Mahāparinirvāṇa-mahāsūtra.” Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 42 (2019 [2020]): 515-632.](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/66021783/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](He wanted … just to know how it would be, Just to know how it would feel, released from destructi... more He wanted … just to know how it would be, Just to know how it would feel, released from destruction, To be a bronze man breathing under archaic lapis, Without the oscillation of planetary pass-pass, Breathing his bronzen breath at the azury centre of time. 2 1 I here record my gratitude to Eric Greene, Paul Harrison, Lothar Ledderose, Yamabe Nobuyoshi, Claudia Wenzel, Stefano Zacchetti, and two anonymous reviewers for JIABS, who generously lent their time and learning to give numerous criticisms and suggestions for improvement on earlier drafts of this work, and saved me from more than one embarrassing error. I am also grateful to Hanno Lecher for helping me obtain materials at the eleventh hour. I was fortunate enough to present this work at the University of Vienna on December 7 2018, on a visit funded by the Erasmus+ Programme and hosted by Karin Preisendanz. I benefitted on that occasion from discussion with colleagues in attendance. Of course, I alone am responsible for the mistakes that undoubtedly remain.
In the Taishō canon, the Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra 大般涅槃 經 T no. 7 is attributed to Faxian 法顯. However... more In the Taishō canon, the Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra 大般涅槃 經 T no. 7 is attributed to Faxian 法顯. However, on the basis of an examination of reports in the catalogues about various Chinese versions of the 'mainstream' Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra, Iwamatsu Asao 岩松浅夫 once questioned whether Faxian ever translated any such text. Iwamatsu argued further, on the basis of unspecified features of translation terminology and phraseology, that T no. 7 should instead be reascribed to Guṇabhadra 求那跋陀羅. This paper will examine the problem of the attribution of T no. 7 on the basis of a detailed examination of its language.
Famously, tathāgatagarbha doctrine holds that every sentient being has within the body a womb for... more Famously, tathāgatagarbha doctrine holds that every sentient being has within the body a womb for Buddhas, or an embryonic Buddha – the potential for full buddhahood. Previous scholars have seen this doctrine as originating in the Tathāgatagarbha-sūtra. In this book, Michael Radich argues that rather, the Mahāparinirvāṇa-mahāsūtra is most likely our earliest extant tathāgatagarbha text. Radich then argues that tathāgatagarbha ideas originated as part of a wider pattern of docetic Buddhology – ideas holding that Buddhas are not really as they appear. Buddhist docetic texts are clearly troubled by the notion that Buddhas could have flesh-and-blood human mothers. The Mahāparinirvāṇa-mahāsūtra is one such text, and tathāgatagarbha functions as a better substitute for imperfect human maternity: rather than a putrid, painful human womb, buddhahood springs from a “womb” inherent in every sentient being, which promises final liberation from flesh altogether. This book should interest readers concerned with the history of Buddhist ideas, gender in Buddhism, the early Mahāyāna, the cult of the Buddha’s relics, and relations between Buddhist ideas and practice.
In this book, an international team of fourteen scholars investigates the Chinese reception of In... more In this book, an international team of fourteen scholars investigates the Chinese reception of Indian Buddhist ideas, especially in the sixth and seventh centuries. Topics include Buddhist logic and epistemology (pramāṇa, yinming); commentaries on Indian Buddhist texts; Chinese readings of systems as diverse as Madhyamaka, Yogācāra and tathāgatagarbha; the working out of Indian concepts and problematics in new Chinese works; and previously under-studied Chinese evidence for developments in India. The authors aim to consider the ways that these Chinese materials might furnish evidence of broader Buddhist trends, thereby problematizing a prevalent notion of “sinification”, which has led scholars to consider such materials predominantly in terms of trends ostensibly distinctive to China. The volume also tries to go beyond seeing sixth- and seventh-century China primarily as the age of the formation and establishment of the Chinese Buddhist “schools”. The authors attempt to view the ideas under study on their own terms, as valid Buddhist ideas engendered in a rich, “liminal” space of interchange between two large traditions.
Ajātaśatru is famous in Buddhist literature for having killed his father, Bimbisāra, in order to ... more Ajātaśatru is famous in Buddhist literature for having killed his father, Bimbisāra, in order to come to the throne. This study traces the development of this story in Indian, Chinese and Japanese sources, from canonical Mainstream Buddhism to the modern era. Over the course of that long history, this story was transformed many times, a process that culminated in perhaps the most startling transformation of all – the elaboration of the modern psychoanalytic theory of a psychological complex named after Ajātaśatru by Kosawa Heisaku and Okonogi Keigo (the "Ajase Complex"), and the attendant reinvention of Ajātaśatru as "Ajase". Particular attention is given in this study to connecting transformations in the Ajātaśatru narrative to features of the cultural context at two key junctures in its history – in China in the fifth and sixth centuries, and in modern Japan. The study is also presented as an attempt to model ways of using narrative materials as windows into the historical Buddhist worlds they traveled through, and that shaped them. Another dimension of the study that should be of particular interests to Buddhologists is the links between certain texts in Buddhist literature revealed by the narrative and its transformations, particularly among members of a group of texts related to the Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa sūtra. More generally, the book should be relevant to readers in Buddhist Studies, medieval Chinese studies, Japanese cultural studies, and psychoanalytic theory and its history.
Ratnakūṭa Studies, Volume I,, 2025
Radich, Michael. "Appendix: Computer-Assisted Analysis of Internal Stylistic Evidence for the Com... more Radich, Michael. "Appendix: Computer-Assisted Analysis of Internal Stylistic Evidence for the Composition Scenario of the Shi'er toutuo jing." Appendix to Jonathan A. Silk, "Assembled in China: A Study of the Shi'er toutuo jing 十二頭陀經," in Ratnakūṭa Studies, Volume I, edited by Rafal Felbur, 122–197; Radich Appendix, 190–195. Leiden: Brill, 2025.
Buddhakṣetrapariśodhana: A Festschrift for Paul Harrison, 2024
Radich, Michael. "Xuanzang's Rājāvavādaka-sūtra." In Buddhist Stone Sutras in China. Shaanxi Prov... more Radich, Michael. "Xuanzang's Rājāvavādaka-sūtra." In Buddhist Stone Sutras in China. Shaanxi Province, Volume 2, edited by Michael Radich and Rong Zhao, 73–84. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag/Hangzhou: China Academy of Art Press, 2024.
Radich, Michael, Claudia Wenzel, et al., trans. "The Sūtra in which the Thus-Come One Exposes a T... more Radich, Michael, Claudia Wenzel, et al., trans. "The Sūtra in which the Thus-Come One Exposes a Teaching for King Prasenajit." In Buddhist Stone Sutras in China. Shaanxi Province, Volume 2, edited by Michael Radich and Rong Zhao, 363–370. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag/Hangzhou: China Academy of Art Press, 2024.
The Fo yi jing 佛醫經 T793, a short text, discusses physical and mental health, presenting its conte... more The Fo yi jing 佛醫經 T793, a short text, discusses physical and mental health, presenting its content as the teachings of the Buddha. The Taishō presents the text as translated by Zhu Lüyan 竺律炎 and Zhi Qian 支謙 . We survey bibliographic records to propose that this attribution is unreliable. Using computer assisted analysis, we locate passages in the text possibly borrowed from early Chinese sources, among them most notably An Shigao’s 安世高 Jiu heng jing 九橫經 T150A(31) . These findings indicate that T793 was probably compiled in China on the basis of various sources . We also find that some basic early Buddhist teach-
ings, such as the four nutriments (āhāra) and rules regarding the eating of meat, are misunderstood or misrepresented in T793 . Taking into account some terms and phrases in T793 that occur more frequently in translations in the Western Jin period, we suggest that T793 is likely a compilation made between the late third and early fourth centuries. It is thus probably one of the earliest extant Chinese compositions of this kind.
Chinese translation of English paper in same volume.
New Zealand Journal of Asian Studies, 2021
Buddhist Studies Review, 2021
In her 2010 study of the Shi zhu duan jie jing 十住斷結經 T309, Jan Nattier found that several passage... more In her 2010 study of the Shi zhu duan jie jing 十住斷結經 T309, Jan Nattier found that several passages in T309 were copied from earlier Chinese Buddhist texts. She thus proposed that T309 is not a translation from an Indian text, but a “forgery” by Zhu Fonian. Extending Nattier’s analysis with the help of TACL, a tool for computational textual analysis, we conducted a more thorough analysis of Zhu Fonian’s four Mahāyāna texts, namely, T309, the Pusa chu tai jing 菩薩處胎經 T384, the Zhongyin jin 中陰經 T385, and the Pusa yingluo jing 菩薩瓔珞經 T656, and found in T309 and T656 additional content deriving from earlier Chinese texts. On the basis of this analysis of these features of the texts, we propose that all four were likely compiled by Zhu Fonian himself.
Shijie zongjiao wenhua 世界宗教文化, 2020
本文通过计算机文本分析工具TACL全面地分析了竺佛念的《十住断结经》《菩萨处胎经》《中阴经》和《菩萨璎珞经》，在《十住断结经》和《菩萨璎珞经》中发现较多的抄袭内容，并通过分析这几部经文中的不同寻... more 本文通过计算机文本分析工具TACL全面地分析了竺佛念的《十住断结经》《菩萨处胎经》《中阴经》和《菩萨璎珞经》，在《十住断结经》和《菩萨璎珞经》中发现较多的抄袭内容，并通过分析这几部经文中的不同寻常之处，认为这四部经有可能都是竺佛念自己编写而不是翻译的。
He wanted … just to know how it would be, Just to know how it would feel, released from destructi... more He wanted … just to know how it would be, Just to know how it would feel, released from destruction, To be a bronze man breathing under archaic lapis, Without the oscillation of planetary pass-pass, Breathing his bronzen breath at the azury centre of time. 2 1 I here record my gratitude to Eric Greene, Paul Harrison, Lothar Ledderose, Yamabe Nobuyoshi, Claudia Wenzel, Stefano Zacchetti, and two anonymous reviewers for JIABS, who generously lent their time and learning to give numerous criticisms and suggestions for improvement on earlier drafts of this work, and saved me from more than one embarrassing error. I am also grateful to Hanno Lecher for helping me obtain materials at the eleventh hour. I was fortunate enough to present this work at the University of Vienna on December 7 2018, on a visit funded by the Erasmus+ Programme and hosted by Karin Preisendanz. I benefitted on that occasion from discussion with colleagues in attendance. Of course, I alone am responsible for the mistakes that undoubtedly remain.
In the Taishō canon, the Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra 大般涅槃 經 T no. 7 is attributed to Faxian 法顯. However... more In the Taishō canon, the Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra 大般涅槃 經 T no. 7 is attributed to Faxian 法顯. However, on the basis of an examination of reports in the catalogues about various Chinese versions of the 'mainstream' Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra, Iwamatsu Asao 岩松浅夫 once questioned whether Faxian ever translated any such text. Iwamatsu argued further, on the basis of unspecified features of translation terminology and phraseology, that T no. 7 should instead be reascribed to Guṇabhadra 求那跋陀羅. This paper will examine the problem of the attribution of T no. 7 on the basis of a detailed examination of its language.
![Research paper thumbnail of He Shuqun 何書群 [Michael Radich]. "Zhu Fahu shi fou xiuding guo T474? 竺法護是否修訂過T474?" Foguang xuebao 佛光學報, New Series, 5, no. 2 (2019): 15-38.](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/59908022/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](In both the pre-modern tradition and modern scholarship, there has been controversy over whether ... more In both the pre-modern tradition and modern scholarship, there has been controversy over whether the Vimalakīrti-nirdeśa (VKN) attributed in the present canon to Zhi Qian 支謙 (fl. 223-252), the Weimojie jing 維摩詰經 T474, is in fact by Zhi Qian or by Dharmarakṣa 竺法護 (fl. ca. 280-308).
Using copious internal evidence discovered by computer-assisted methods developed by the author, this paper argues that our extant text is a revision of a Zhi Qian original text by Dharmarakṣa or someone very closely associated with Dharmarakṣa’s circle.
Journal of Chinese Religions, 2018
In previous work, I have shown that the (Mainstream, “smaller”) Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra ascribed to... more In previous work, I have shown that the (Mainstream, “smaller”) Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra ascribed to Faxian is in fact almost certainly not his work, and that internal evidence closely associates it with two other texts: the Guoqu xianzai yinguo jing ascribed to Guṇabhadra and the *Mahāmāyā-sūtra ascribed to Tanjing. This paper analyzes the content of these texts, in order to ascertain (as much as possible) their likely relation to one another; the context in which they were composed; and their relations to that context. In addressing questions of context, the analysis applies innovative computer-assisted methods, which allow us to pinpoint detailed clues of highly specific intertextual relationships among a broad range of texts. This enables us to discover in the present triad of texts internal evidence pointing to close relations to a very specific body of literature in the fifth century.
On the basis of a large set of diverse stylistic markers, this paper argues that the Ekottarikāga... more On the basis of a large set of diverse stylistic markers, this paper argues that the Ekottarikāgama was translated by Zhu Fonian, and not by Saṃghadeva. The paper also considers implications of its findings for the broader corpus of texts ascribed to Zhu Fonian, and for methods in assessing ascriptions of Chinese Buddhist texts on the basis of internal evidence.
This paper examines various elements of Indian Buddhist thought that may be regarded as parts of ... more This paper examines various elements of Indian Buddhist thought that may be regarded as parts of the background to the concept of amoluoshi 阿摩羅識, or *amalavijñāna, as elaborated by Paramārtha 真諦 (499-569). It is a companion study to two other articles in which I examined elements of Chinese Buddhist thought that can also be interpreted as parts of the background to the same concept. In conjunction, these studies are intended to form a case study in the supposed "sinification" of Buddhist ideas. *Amalavijñāna has frequently been regarded as a classic instance of such "sinification". However, I hope to show here that the Indic background to the doctrine of *amalavijñāna is far richer than has been recognised in previous scholarship, and that the posit of "sinification" is therefore not required to explain its emergence. At the same time, the companion studies are intended to show that the Chinese background could also adequately explain the emergence of the doctrine. This means that the doctrine of *amalavijñāna is overdetermined, and that it is unhelpful to ask whether this doctrine is exclusively or predominantly Indic, or Chinese, as if these are mutually exclusive alternatives. To the extent that we can generalise from this case, it suggests that classic theories of the so-called "sinification" of Buddhist concepts have been predicated upon false assumptions, and in particular, that they have tended to overlook the degree to which the Indic and Chinese traditions shared a great deal of common ground.
Chugoku -Nihon hen cpOO • 8$.~ 23 (Tokyo: Chuo koron sha, 1995), pp. 680-82. y anagida' s impress... more Chugoku -Nihon hen cpOO • 8$.~ 23 (Tokyo: Chuo koron sha, 1995), pp. 680-82. y anagida' s impression is that Nukariya'_s dis~ove_~ ~fShenh~i was predicated on his reliance on Dagen and Dogen s criticism of Song-dynasty Chan, and that Hu could not comprehend Nukariya's position reg~ding Dagen; also see Yanagida's general comments on t?e epoch~ significance of Nukariya's work on pp. 674-675. Yanagida s evaluation of Nukariya is cited, with lengthy and repeated quotations, in Yamauchi, Dagen-Zen, 2001, 28, 54-55, 103-104, and 131-136; and Zoku Dagen-Zen 28, 33-34, 36, 40, and 45. 56. Hu Shi t.13~, Shenhui heshang y[ji-fo Hu xiiinsheng zuihou de yanjiu t$ ~f• r•j}!~-fit.135t~mHiB'9frff~ (Anthology of the extant works of
Journal of Chinese Religions 41, no. 1., 2013
The Journal for Asian Studies, 72 no. 2 (2013): 457-458., 2013