Introduction to the History of Indian Buddhism (Buddhism and Modernity)

618 Pages·2010·2.43 MB·English

by  Eugene Burnouf

INTRODUCTION TO
THE HISTORY OF INDIAN BUDDHISM
BUDDHISM AND MODERNITY
A series edited by Donald S. Lopez Jr.
Recent books in the series:
Critical Terms for the Study of Buddhism, edited by Donald S. Lopez Jr. (2005)
Th e Madman’s Middle Way: Refl ections on Reality of the Tibetan Monk Gendun Chopel, by
Donald S. Lopez Jr. (2006)
Th e Holy Land Reborn: Pilgrimage and the Tibetan Reinvention of Buddhist India, by Toni
Huber (2008)
Buddhism and Science: A Guide for the Perplexed, by Donald S. Lopez Jr. (2008)
Shots in the Dark: Japan, Zen, and the West, by Shoji Yamada, translated by Earl Hartman
(2009)
In the Forest of Faded Wisdom: 104 Poems by Gendun Chopel, a Bilingual Edition, edited and
translated by Donald S. Lopez Jr. (2009)
INTRODUCTION TO
THE HISTORY OF
INDIAN BUDDHISM
EUGÈNE BURNOUF
Translated by Katia Buff etrille
and Donald S. Lopez Jr.
Th e University of Chicago Press | Chicago & London
EUGÈNE BURNOUF (1801–1852) was one of the leading Orientalist scholars of the nine-
teenth century, making important contributions to both Avestan and Sanskrit studies. In 1832
he was appointed to the chair of Sanskrit Languages and Literatures at the Collège de France,
a position he held until his death. His Introduction à l’histoire du Buddhisme indien (1844) is
considered one of the foundational texts for the academic study of Buddhism in Europe. His
translation of the Lotus Sutra, Le Lotus de la bonne loi, was published in the year of his death.
KATIA BUFFETRILLE is research scholar at the École pratique des Hautes Études in Paris.
She is the author of Pèlerins, lamas et visionnaires (2000) and the coeditor of several books, most
recently, with A. M. Blondeau, Authenticating Tibet: Answers to China’s 100 Questions (2008).
DONALD S. LOPEZ JR. is the Arthur E. Link Distinguished University Professor of Bud-
dhist and Tibetan Studies in the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures at the University
of Michigan. He is the author or editor of a number of books, including, most recently, Buddhism
and Science: A Guide for the Perplexed (2008) and In the Forest of Faded Wisdom: 104 Poems by
Gendun Chopel, a Bilingual Edition (2009), both published by the University of Chicago Press.
Th e University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
Th e University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
© 2010 by Th e University of Chicago
All rights reserved. Published 2010
Printed in the United States of America
19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 1 2 3 4 5
ISBN-13: 978-0-226-08123-6 (cloth)
ISBN-10: 0-226-08123-0 (cloth)
Th e University of Chicago Press gratefully acknowledges the generous support of the Institute
for the Study of Buddhist Traditions at the University of Michigan toward the publication of this
book.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Burnouf, Eugène, 1801–1852.
[Introduction à l’histoire du Buddhisme indien. English]
Introduction to the history of Indian Buddhism / by Eugène Burnouf ; translated by Katia
Buff etrille and Donald S. Lopez Jr.
p. cm. — (Buddhism and modernity)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-226-08123-6 (hardcover : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-226-08123-0 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Buddhism—India—History. I. Title. II. Series: Buddism and modernity.
BQ334.B9713 2010
294.30954—dc22
2009008382
Th e paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American Na-
tional Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials,
ANSI Z39.48-1992.
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction to the Translation, by Donald S. Lopez Jr. 1
A Note on the Translation 29
INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF INDIAN BUDDHISM
Table of Contents 39
Analytical Table of the First Two Memoranda 41
Foreword 51
First Memorandum: Preliminary Observations 55
Second Memorandum: Description of the Collection of
the Books of Nepal 81
Appendixes 535
Index 595

Acknowledgments
Over the course of this project, we received the assistance and support of many
colleagues. Th ese include Stéphane Arguillère, Timothy Barrett, Anne Chayet,
Eugen Ciurtin, Christopher Cüppers, Madhav Deshpande, Catherine Despeux,
Isrun Engelhardt, Marie-Dominique Even, Jean-Philippe Geley, Roberte
Hamayon, Paul Harrison, Guo Liying, William Paulson, Jean-Noël Robert, Al-
exander von Rospatt, James Robson, the Société Asiatique (especially Jeanne-
Marie Allier and Pierre-Sylvain Filliozat), John Strong, and Hartmut Walravens.
Helpful comments on the translation were provided by the anonymous review-
ers for the University of Chicago Press. Finally, we gratefully acknowledge the
assistance of the Lumbini International Research Institute, which provided a
generous grant in support of the translation.

Introduction to the Translation
Introduction à l’histoire du Buddhisme indien by the great French scholar Eugène
Burnouf (1801–1852) was the most infl uential work on Buddhism to be written
during the nineteenth century. In important ways, it set the course for the aca-
demic study of Buddhism, and especially Indian Buddhism, for the next century.
Burnouf’s Introduction would infl uence two audiences: it off ered scholars both
a method of analysis and a massive amount of information about Buddhism; it
off ered the educated public a wealth of Buddhist literature, and a portrait of the
Buddha, that would captivate the European imagination for decades. For both
scholars and the public, it also played a key role in the creation of Buddhism
as a “world religion,” one that set forth an ancient philosophy that seemed si-
multaneously to be most modern. Th is masterpiece, fi rst published in 1844, is
largely neglected today. One might argue that the book has all but disappeared
and remains unread and unexamined, not because it is outdated or has been su-
perseded (although it is and has been on a number of individual points), but
because it became so fully integrated into the mainstream representation of Bud-
dhism, which it helped to create, that it is no longer visible.
Burnouf’s massive work (647 pages in the original edition) is of high histori-
cal value, providing a clear window onto how Buddhism was understood in the
early decades of the nineteenth century, just when the Buddhist traditions of
Asia were beginning to be studied by the philologists of Europe. At the same
time, it is not simply a monument of antiquarian scholarship; the work off ers a
vast fount of still accurate information and insight into Buddhist religion and
philosophy, as well as hundreds of pages of translations from important Bud-
I would like to thank Harmut Walravens and especially Katia Buff etrille for their assistance in the preparation
of this introduction.