Project

A Translation of Wang Rixiu’s Longshu jingtuwen “Essays on the Pure Land from Longshu” (1162 CE)

Program

The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Translation Grants in Buddhist Studies

Department

Religion

Abstract

The aim of this project is to translate an extensive, seminal 12th-century Chinese Buddhist text, the “Essays on the Pure Land from Longshu” by Wang Rixiu (1105-1173). Wang’s Essays are the first extensive discussion of the tenets of the Pure Land School of Buddhism from the perspective of an elite, Confucian-trained, lay Buddhist. The text is ten fascicles long and, written by a highly erudite 12th-century literatus, not without difficulty. The resulting translation will be c. 60,000 words in English.