How Buddhism Acquired a Soul on the Way to China - Jungnok Park †
8. A Survey of Interpolations and Adaptations of an Agent in Saṃsāra
How Buddhism Acquired a Soul on the Way to China - Jungnok Park †
Jungnok Park † [+]
Oxford University
Jungnok Park, 1971-2008, was a Korean student of outstanding intelligence and originality. He began his university education only after spending 10 years (1989-1999) as a Buddhist monk. He had a brilliant career in the Dept. of Philosophy at Seoul National University; his MA thesis was on Nirvana and Buddhist Ethics. In 2003 he came to Wolfson College, Oxford, on a scholarship from the Korea Foundation. Already proficient in Classical Chinese and fluent in reading Japanese, he soon learnt enough Sanskrit and Pali to use them for his research. This book is based on his Oxford D.Phil. thesis, which he completed early in 2008.
Description
In this chapter, by surveying the interpolations and adaptations that reflect the idea of an imperishable soul, I aim to shed light on the chronological development of the Chinese idea of an imperishable soul at the canonical level. The following discussions are based on the chronological survey presented in the Appendix.