| This dissertation is a study of the Shomangyo-gisho , one of three Buddhist commentaries written in classical Chinese that have been attributed to Japanese Prince Shotoku (574-622). The thesis begins with a series of questions drawn from a declaration that appears at the beginning of the commentary, which reads: "This is the individual work of King Jogu (another name for Shotoku) of the Great Land of Yamato, it was not composed by someone from across the sea."; I ask, what is "this" and who is "King Jogu" its author? Why is it important that he is from the Great Land of Yamato, not from across the sea? How, also, is it significant that this claim of local Japanese authorship is written in the translocal Chinese language? And does this simple statement offer clues to why "this" was identified as a valuable religious scripture and to why it has retained such value even in the present day?; This study offers answers to these questions, but answers that differ in fundamental ways from those proposed in a large body of received scholarship. Previous studies have focused on recovering the "true record" (J. jitsuroku), which includes determining whether Shotoku was a historical figure who authored the text. This approach, which looks to the point of the text's production, assumes that textual value lies in the truth or falsity of its attribution.; To offer an alternative, I draw on scholarship outside traditional Buddhist studies that views texts, authors, and textual value in dynamic terms. This body of thought seeks to understand how a text's reception and use are instrumental in the production of its value. I use the ideas of Edward Said, Michel Foucault, Pierre Bourdieu, and other scholars as the theoretical basis for understanding how key transformations in textual use have produced the text's value. Based on this analysis, I conclude that the survival of the Shomangyo-gisho as a valued canonical text for over one millennium is closely related to the functions that it has served, particularly proving the legitimacy of Japanese Buddhist traditions relative to their Chinese and Korean counterparts. |
