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The most influential work on Buddhism to be published in the nineteenth century, Introduction ? l’histoire du Buddhisme indien, by the great French scholar of Sanskrit Eug?ne Burnouf, set the course for the academic study of Buddhism, and Indian Buddhism in particular, for the next hundred years. First published in 1844, the masterwork was read by some of the most important thinkers of the time, including Schopenhauer and Nietzsche in Germany and Emerson and Thoreau in America. But a century and a half on, Burnouf’s text has largely been forgotten.All that changes with Katia Buffetrille and Donald S. Lopez Jr.’s English translation of this foundational text. Reemerging here as a vibrant artifact of intellectual history and as a progenitor of the often colorful genealogy of Buddhist studies, Introduction to the History of Indian Buddhism provides a clear view of how the religion was understood in the early decades of the nineteenth century. Burnouf was an impeccable scholar, and his vision, especially of the Buddha, continues to profoundly shape our modern understanding of Buddhism. Indeed, the work offers a wellspring of still-valuable information and insight into the theory and practice of Buddhism. In reintroducing Burnouf to a new generation of Buddhologists, Buffetrille and Lopez have revived a seminal text in the history of Orientalism.
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I N T R O D U C T I O N TO T H E H I S TO RY O F I N D I A N B U D D H I S M
BUDDHISM AND MODERNIT Y A series edited by Donald S. Lopez Jr. Recent books in the series: Critical Terms for the Study of Buddhism, edited by Donald S. Lopez Jr. (2005) The Madman’s Middle Way: Reflections on Reality of the Tibetan Monk Gendun Chopel, by Donald S. Lopez Jr. (2006) The Holy Land Reborn: Pilgrimage and the Tibetan Reinvention of Buddhist India, by Toni Huber (2008) Buddhism and Science: A Guide for the Perplexed, by Donald S. Lopez Jr. (2008) Shots in the Dark: Japan, Zen, and the West, by Shoji Yamada, translated by Earl Hartman (2009) In the Forest of Faded Wisdom: 104 Poems by Gendun Chopel, a Bilingual Edition, edited and translated by Donald S. Lopez Jr. (2009)
I N T R O D U C T I O N TO T H E H I S TO RY O F
INDIAN BUDDHISM
EU G È N E B U R N O U F Translated by Katia Buffetrille and Donald S. Lopez Jr.
The University of Chicago Press | Chicago & London
EUGÈNE BURNOUF (1801–1852) was one of the leading Orientalist scholars of the nineteenth century, making important contributions to both Avestan and Sanskrit studies. In 1832 he was appointed to the chair of Sanskrit Languages and Literatures at the Collège de France, a position he held until his death. His Introduction à l’histoire du Buddhisme indien (1844) is considered one of the foundational texts for the academic study of Buddhism in Europe. His translation of the Lotus Sutra, Le Lotus de la bonne loi, was published in the year of his death. KATIA BUFFETRILLE is research scholar at the École pratique des Hautes Études in Paris. She is the author of Pèlerins, lamas et visionnaires (2000) and the coeditor of several books, most recently, with A. M. Blondeau, Authenticating Tibet: Answers to China’s 100 Questions (2008). DONALD S. LOPEZ JR . is the Arthur E. Link Distinguished University Professor of Buddhist and Tibetan Studies in the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of Michigan. He is the author or editor of a number of books, including, most recently, Buddhism and Science: A Guide for the Perplexed (2008) and In the Forest of Faded Wisdom: 104 Poems by Gendun Chopel, a Bilingual Edition (2009), both published by the University of Chicago Press.
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