Differentiating the Pearl from the Fish-Eye: Ouyang Jingwu and the Revival of Scholastic Buddhism by Eyal Aviv

Abstract

Reviewed by: Differentiating the Pearl from the Fish-Eye: Ouyang Jingwu and the Revival of Scholastic Buddhism by Eyal Aviv Alex Grabiner Eyal Aviv, Differentiating the Pearl from the Fish-Eye: Ouyang Jingwu and the Revival of Scholastic Buddhism. Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2020. xii, 214 pp. US$159. ISBN 978-90-04-43790-6 The late Imperial and early Republican periods in China saw an explosion of new ideas, produced by Chinese intellectuals and imported from abroad. Motivated to find a solution to the challenges posed by Western and Japanese imperialism, political instability, and technological innovations, reformers in every aspect of society turned to Chinese traditions. Yet the reformers found themselves divided over whether these traditions should be seen as millstones to be cast off, or vaults in which lay safeguarded the sources of China’s salvation. Buddhism would become one of the battlegrounds on which new and old ideas were contested, and these debates would help shape Buddhist modernism throughout Asia. Ouyang Jingwu 歐陽竟無 (1871–1943) was a leading figure in the movements that sought to reform Chinese Buddhism, and is the subject of Eyal Aviv’s intellectual history, Differentiating the Pearl from the Fish-Eye. Aviv carefully traces Ouyang’s career as a scholar and teacher who revived interest in the Yogācāra school of Indian Buddhist philosophy, and he explores both the formation of Ouyang’s approach to Buddhism and the legacy that he left behind. With the help of Ouyang’s copious prefaces and commentaries, as well as letters between the “Great Master” (dashi 大師) and his disciples, and several published scholarly debates, Aviv paints a detailed picture of Ouyang’s Buddhist philosophy. Hovering over this investigation is the question: Why, in this moment of crisis, did Ouyang believe that the answers to China’s problems lay in an ancient Indian school of thought? Aviv attributes the motivation behind Ouyang’s efforts to a quest for authenticity and a belief that “the unearthing of the authentic ([zhen] 真) teachings of Buddhism would be efficacious both on the individual existential level and as a spiritual solution for the new China” (p. 2). To help think through the way discourses of authenticity function in religion, Aviv draws upon the work of McCutcheon and Taylor, among others, as well as reviewing emic concepts of authenticity from the historical traditions of Confucianism and Buddhism. This includes the longstanding hermeneutical concerns with determining buddhavacana, the authoritative words of the Buddha, as well as Chinese Buddhist attempts to construct panjiao 判教, hierarchical systems of doctrinal classification that could make sense of the often conflicting texts transmitted to China. Surprisingly omitted is the role India has historically played in the Chinese Buddhist imagination as a place inherently linked with the conferral of authenticity, demonstrated by the attribution of many apocrypha to “Indian” monks and translators and the many journeys undertaken to retrieve teachings from the west. How much this conception of India played a role in Ouyang’s turn to Yogācāra in his attempts to resuscitate Chinese Buddhism remains a project for future research. [End Page 325] While authenticity remains the thematic scaffolding for the book, Aviv also shows that Ouyang’s fixation on distinguishing the inaccuracies of Chinese Buddhist texts seemed to have waned towards the end of his life, as his concerns shifted from purported provenance to soteriological efficacy. The book’s overall structure is fairly straightforward: after a brief biographical sketch in the first chapter, Aviv dives into Ouyang’s scholarship, examining his critiques of Chinese Buddhism generally and the famous text Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana (Dasheng qixin lun 大乘起信論) in chapters 2 and 3 respectively. Chapter 4 examines a key element of Ouyang’s original approach to Yogācāra thought, while chapter 5 covers the evolution of Ouyang’s views in his later years. Finally, chapter 6 explores the legacy of Ouyang’s contributions to the revival of scholastic Buddhism and to New Confucianism, especially through the work of his students. The strength of the book lies in Aviv’s deep engagement with Ouyang’s writings, as well as those of his peers and students. He has identified, within Ouyang’s extensive oeuvre, those passages...