Visible Layouts, Hidden Dynamics: Reading, Reproducing, and Reframing Chinese Buddhist Glossaries
This paper investigates how the layout strategies of Xuanying’s <i>Yiqiejing yinyi</i> (mid-7th c.), the earliest surviving Chinese Buddhist glossary, evolved across manuscripts, Buddhist Canon editions, and Qing-era scholarly reprints from the 7th to 19th centuries. While Xuanying’s wor...
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MDPI AG
2025-05-01
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| author | Ziwei Ye |
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| author_sort | Ziwei Ye |
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| description | This paper investigates how the layout strategies of Xuanying’s <i>Yiqiejing yinyi</i> (mid-7th c.), the earliest surviving Chinese Buddhist glossary, evolved across manuscripts, Buddhist Canon editions, and Qing-era scholarly reprints from the 7th to 19th centuries. While Xuanying’s work serves as the central case due to its breadth of preservation and representativeness, this study also references Huiyuan’s glossary (early-8th c.) to highlight broader patterns of reception and adaptation, particularly in late imperial China. Through a usability–production efficiency framework, the study identifies a continuum from the flexible manuscript layouts to the standardized double-line format used in Buddhist woodblock printing, and later to Qing-era adaptations that integrated Buddhist glossaries into evidential studies. It argues that layout decisions were influenced not merely by practical considerations of use and production but also by changing conceptions of textual function and authority. It also highlights the unintended effects of layout standardization, which at times introduced new interpretive complexities. By demonstrating how layout actively influenced the reproduction and reception of Buddhist glossaries, this study offers a new perspective on the intersection of materiality, textual transmission, and reading practices in pre-modern China. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-794e6df96f32458c93fde5db68b64825 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2077-1444 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-05-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
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| series | Religions |
| spelling | doaj-art-794e6df96f32458c93fde5db68b648252025-08-20T01:56:39ZengMDPI AGReligions2077-14442025-05-0116562910.3390/rel16050629Visible Layouts, Hidden Dynamics: Reading, Reproducing, and Reframing Chinese Buddhist GlossariesZiwei Ye0Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 2LE, UKThis paper investigates how the layout strategies of Xuanying’s <i>Yiqiejing yinyi</i> (mid-7th c.), the earliest surviving Chinese Buddhist glossary, evolved across manuscripts, Buddhist Canon editions, and Qing-era scholarly reprints from the 7th to 19th centuries. While Xuanying’s work serves as the central case due to its breadth of preservation and representativeness, this study also references Huiyuan’s glossary (early-8th c.) to highlight broader patterns of reception and adaptation, particularly in late imperial China. Through a usability–production efficiency framework, the study identifies a continuum from the flexible manuscript layouts to the standardized double-line format used in Buddhist woodblock printing, and later to Qing-era adaptations that integrated Buddhist glossaries into evidential studies. It argues that layout decisions were influenced not merely by practical considerations of use and production but also by changing conceptions of textual function and authority. It also highlights the unintended effects of layout standardization, which at times introduced new interpretive complexities. By demonstrating how layout actively influenced the reproduction and reception of Buddhist glossaries, this study offers a new perspective on the intersection of materiality, textual transmission, and reading practices in pre-modern China.https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/16/5/629Chinese Buddhist glossarieslayoutmanuscript and print cultureinformation management |
| spellingShingle | Ziwei Ye Visible Layouts, Hidden Dynamics: Reading, Reproducing, and Reframing Chinese Buddhist Glossaries Religions Chinese Buddhist glossaries layout manuscript and print culture information management |
| title | Visible Layouts, Hidden Dynamics: Reading, Reproducing, and Reframing Chinese Buddhist Glossaries |
| title_full | Visible Layouts, Hidden Dynamics: Reading, Reproducing, and Reframing Chinese Buddhist Glossaries |
| title_fullStr | Visible Layouts, Hidden Dynamics: Reading, Reproducing, and Reframing Chinese Buddhist Glossaries |
| title_full_unstemmed | Visible Layouts, Hidden Dynamics: Reading, Reproducing, and Reframing Chinese Buddhist Glossaries |
| title_short | Visible Layouts, Hidden Dynamics: Reading, Reproducing, and Reframing Chinese Buddhist Glossaries |
| title_sort | visible layouts hidden dynamics reading reproducing and reframing chinese buddhist glossaries |
| topic | Chinese Buddhist glossaries layout manuscript and print culture information management |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/16/5/629 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT ziweiye visiblelayoutshiddendynamicsreadingreproducingandreframingchinesebuddhistglossaries |