Papers by Shenghai Li
“Two Mirrors, Fleeting Reflections: Traces of Sanskrit Poetics in East Asia.” In A Lasting Vision: Dandin’s Mirror in the World of Asian Letters, edited by Yigal Bronner, 466–513. New York: Oxford University Press., 2023
This chapter traces Dandin’s Mirror of Literature (Kāvyādarśa) in East Asia. Although the Mirror ... more This chapter traces Dandin’s Mirror of Literature (Kāvyādarśa) in East Asia. Although the Mirror was never adapted into premodern Chinese, indirect knowledge of it and of Sanskrit poetics more generally can be deduced. The chapter follows three extended moments of cultural exchange between South Asia and East Asia. The first phase consists of the earliest (pre-Dandin) wave of translations of Buddhist literature into Chinese, where knowledge of Sanskrit ornaments (alaṅkāra) is demonstrable. The second is found in an early ninth-century anthology of Chinese poetics by the Japanese scholar Kukai who had studied in China; his Mirror of Literature and Treasury of Mysteries has suggestive parallels with Dandin’s Mirror, especially in its discussion of literary flaws and of patterns of syllabic repetition. The third was under the auspices of Song emperor Taizong (927–997), when Indian visual poetry stimulated the development of Chinese counterparts, with some striking parallels to Dandin and Ānandavardana.
In The Language of the Sūtras: Essays in Honor of Luis Gómez, edited by Natalie Gummer, 231–62. Berkeley, CA: Mangalam Press., 2021
The cover drawing depicts the endles knot, one of the eight auspicious symbols of Buddhism. Drawi... more The cover drawing depicts the endles knot, one of the eight auspicious symbols of Buddhism. Drawing and cover design by Ignacio Ercole.
Religions, 2020
Disgust occupies a particular space in Buddhism where repulsive aspects of the human body are vis... more Disgust occupies a particular space in Buddhism where repulsive aspects of the human body are visualized and reflected upon in contemplative practices. The Indian tradition of aesthetics also recognizes disgust as one of the basic human emotions that can be transformed into an aestheticized form, which is experienced when one enjoys drama and poetry. Buddhist literature offers a particularly fertile ground for both religious and literary ideas to manifest, unravel, and entangle in a narrative setting. It is in this context that we find elements of disgust being incorporated into two types of Buddhist narrative: (1) discouragement with worldly objects and renunciation, and (2) courageous acts of self-sacrifice. Vidyākara's anthology of Sanskrit poetry (Subhās. itaratnakos. a) and the poetics section of Sa skya Pan. d. ita's introduction to the Indian systems of cultural knowledge (Mkhas pa rnams 'jug pa'i sgo) offer two rare examples of Buddhist engagement with aesthetics of emotions. In addition to some developed views of literary critics, these two Buddhist writers are relied on in this study to provide perspectives on how Buddhists themselves in the final phase of Indian Buddhism might have read Buddhist literature in light of what they learned from the theory of aesthetics.
Dhīḥ: Review of Rare Buddhist Texts, 2009
Journal of the American Oriental Society, 2017
What texts did Buddhists of South Asia and beyond read? How did they read, interpret, and use the... more What texts did Buddhists of South Asia and beyond read? How did they read, interpret, and use these texts? This essay focuses primarily on the first of the two questions and examines in this connection instances of citation found in the early Mūlamadhyamakakārikā commentaries and in a related Tibetan work as evidence of the uses of Buddhist texts. The collected samples indicate two major shifts in Indian and Tibetan Buddhist textual practices. The first transition occurred in the sixth and seventh centuries when Indian commentaries on the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā began to cite scriptural passages with greater frequency, especially from the Mahāyāna sūtras. The example of Tsong kha pa's Madhya-maka work represents a later trend in which Tibetan writers repeated sūtra passages previously cited in the Indian texts that were the main objects of their study and attention. What emerges here is the pivotal role played by the middle-period Indian Mādhyamikas. Writers such as Bhāviveka and Candrakīrti contributed very substantially to the collection of core scriptural citations that were deployed in the Madhyamaka texts. While some of the sūtra passages these Indian Madhyamaka authors used were circulated outside the circle of their own philosophical tradition , others appear to have been newly collected through their private reading experience.
Journal of Indian Philosophy, 2019
Although Candrakīrti has been a focus in the recent scholarly attention on conventional reality (... more Although Candrakīrti has been a focus in the recent scholarly attention on conventional reality (saṃvṛtisatya) in Buddhist philosophy, the complexity of his discussions of the status of phenomenal world on the surface or conventional level has not been adequately explored. In cataloging the wide-ranging interpretations that Candrakīrti has offered, this paper identifies several clusters of connected ideas that are delineated here as dimensions of Candrakīrti’s conventional reality. It will be shown that his thoughts on the subject have divergent orientations, ranging from commonsensical to technical. Thus, on the one hand, conventional reality represents the beliefs and consensus that ordinary people share about their world, while, on the other, traditional Madhyamaka, grammar, and Abhidharma discourses are used to provide linguistic and Buddhist doctrinal outlines of that same reality. The mobilization of available resources affords Candrakīrti several layers of articulation, as it does again for the eighth-century writers Jñānagarbha and Śāntarakṣita, who bring Dharmakīrti’s thought and Yogācāra philosophy to bear on the Madhyamaka theory of conventional reality.
Journal of Indian Philosophy, 2019
Aśvaghoṣa follows his scriptural sources closely in his narration of the story of the Buddha’s la... more Aśvaghoṣa follows his scriptural sources closely in his narration of the story of the Buddha’s last journey leading to his nirvāṇa. The Buddhacarita and the Pāli Mahāparinibbānasutta mirror each other in their accounts of most of the places that the Buddha visited and the many events that took place during that journey. What the Buddhacarita and the Pāli sutta have in common also suggests that Aśvaghoṣa’s sources are already highly literary, even though the Buddhist poet transforms the traditional materials through versification and literary embellishment. He also freshly designs occasional religious dialogs and philosophical meditation. Aśvaghoṣa’s literary accomplishments met with different responses outside South Asia. In China, the translation of the Buddhacarita was used as an authority and a source of information in erudite biographies of the Buddha, a Buddhist history, a Buddhist encyclopedia, and lexicographical works. In Tibet, where Indian literary classics were actively studied, interpreted, and used as literary models, the Buddhacarita has been surprisingly ignored after it was rendered by a lesser known Tibetan translator between 1260 and 1280.
Book Review by Shenghai Li
Conference Presentations by Shenghai Li
Candrakirti’s critique of Dignaga’s theory of perception in Prasannapada not only offers a critic... more Candrakirti’s critique of Dignaga’s theory of perception in Prasannapada not only offers a critical
Madhyamika response to Buddhist epistemology but also suggests Candrakirti’s reservations about Dignaga’s
transformation of the Abhidharma categories. The specific links that Candrakirti points to reveal, upon examination,
that Dignaga’s two-fold classification of knowledge and its object is based on an earlier Abhidharma model that
contrasts the five sense consciousnesses with the mental consciousness. The ideas that the five sense
consciousnesses, corresponding to Dignaga’s perception, perceive svalaksana as their object and that they are
devoid of conceptual construction already existed in a number of earlier Abhidharma texts, although in
appropriating these ideas Dignaga replaces the older concepts of svalaksana and conceptuality with others that are
also found in these very Abhidharma texts. Viewed in this way, we perceive a underlying disagreement between
Candrakirti and Dignaga that revolves around the interpretations and creative uses of Abhidharma.
Books by Shenghai Li
Gummer, Natalie, editor. 2021. The Language of the Sūtras: Essays in Honor of Luis Gómez (Berkeley, CA: Mangalam Press)
Based on a conference held at Mangalam Research Center for Buddhist Languages, this collection of... more Based on a conference held at Mangalam Research Center for Buddhist Languages, this collection of essays explores the narrative strategies and uses of language employed by Buddhist sūtras to create imaginal worlds and invite the reader or listener to enter. Not content to read Buddhist texts solely for their doctrinal meaning, the authors of these papers focus on the ways in which the sūtras draw the audience into their worlds. The act of reading becomes a central focus for examining the way sūtras structure symbolic and ritual worlds. The essays in the book are presented in honor of the late Luis Gómez, who inspired a generation of young scholars to attend to the practice of reading Buddhist texts creatively and with appreciation.
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Papers by Shenghai Li
Book Review by Shenghai Li
Conference Presentations by Shenghai Li
Madhyamika response to Buddhist epistemology but also suggests Candrakirti’s reservations about Dignaga’s
transformation of the Abhidharma categories. The specific links that Candrakirti points to reveal, upon examination,
that Dignaga’s two-fold classification of knowledge and its object is based on an earlier Abhidharma model that
contrasts the five sense consciousnesses with the mental consciousness. The ideas that the five sense
consciousnesses, corresponding to Dignaga’s perception, perceive svalaksana as their object and that they are
devoid of conceptual construction already existed in a number of earlier Abhidharma texts, although in
appropriating these ideas Dignaga replaces the older concepts of svalaksana and conceptuality with others that are
also found in these very Abhidharma texts. Viewed in this way, we perceive a underlying disagreement between
Candrakirti and Dignaga that revolves around the interpretations and creative uses of Abhidharma.
Books by Shenghai Li
Madhyamika response to Buddhist epistemology but also suggests Candrakirti’s reservations about Dignaga’s
transformation of the Abhidharma categories. The specific links that Candrakirti points to reveal, upon examination,
that Dignaga’s two-fold classification of knowledge and its object is based on an earlier Abhidharma model that
contrasts the five sense consciousnesses with the mental consciousness. The ideas that the five sense
consciousnesses, corresponding to Dignaga’s perception, perceive svalaksana as their object and that they are
devoid of conceptual construction already existed in a number of earlier Abhidharma texts, although in
appropriating these ideas Dignaga replaces the older concepts of svalaksana and conceptuality with others that are
also found in these very Abhidharma texts. Viewed in this way, we perceive a underlying disagreement between
Candrakirti and Dignaga that revolves around the interpretations and creative uses of Abhidharma.