The Image of the Body in Ancient India: the Buddhist Meditation on the Impure

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25370064
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Chinese philosophy/Indian philosophy/Buddhist studies
• Research Institution: Kyoto Notre Dame University
• Principal Investigator: Kritzer Robert 京都ノートルダム女子大学, 人間文化学部, 教授 (70288611)
• Research Collaborator: Kenney E. R. 関西外国語大学, 外国語学部, 准教授 (60368272)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: Indian Buddhism / asubhabhavana / meditation on the impure / Sravakabhumi / Yogacarabhumi / Vibhasa

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Asubhabhavana is the Buddhist meditation on impurity. It consists of either a meditation on a corpse in various stages of decomposition or meditations both on a corpse and on the meditator's own body. Two texts that contain some of the most extensive accounts of asubhabhavana are Vibhasa and Sravakabhumi. During the grant period, I translated 52 passages in the Chinese Vibhasa, including one very long, important passage, available in two separate Chinese translations, which I compared in the form of a table. Mine is the first complete English translation of this passage.
I also made corrections to the published Sanskrit text of three passages in Sravakabhumi and translated them completely into English, two for the first time.
In addition, I made a presentation and published a paper, entitled "Asubhabhavana in Vibhasa and Sravakabhumi," in which I compared passages from the two texts, showing their two different styles of analysis, explanatory in Vibhasa, practical in Sravakabhumi.

Free Research Field

Humanities