Indra’s Network: Zhang Taiyan’s Sino-Japanese Personal Networks and the Rise of Yogācāra in Modern China

Abstract

This chapter emphasizes the role Japanese scholars played in the revival of Yogācāra in late-Qing/early Republican China, particularly through the networks around Zhang Taiyan 章太炎 (1869–1936). The first section examines Yogācāra (Faxiang; Hossō) in Tokugawa and Meiji Japan as background before turning the focus onto Zhang Taiyan and his networks. Topics covered include non-Buddhist Indian studies; texts on Buddhist logic that had been preserved in Japan; and the study of Sanskrit. The next section turns to examine Zhang’s networks over the course of his career as a scholar and revolutionary, and demonstrates the key role that Yogācāra came to play in these networks, reflecting the many philosophies, ideas, and political theories that appeared around him like a jewel in Indra’s net.