Differentiating the pearl from the fish eye

This dissertation explores the rise of Buddhist scholasticism in Republican China (1911-1949) through the career of one of its most outspoken leaders, Ouyang Jingwu (1871-1943). Ouyang Jingwu, a lay Buddhist intellectual, charismatic teacher and polemical writer, is most recognized for his critique of the East Asian Buddhist tradition, a critique that stands at the heart of the dissertation. In addition to presenting this critique, this dissertation will explore one of the most innovative hermeneutical alternatives offered by this influential and creative thinker. To date, the importance of Ouyang for later intellectual developments has been overlooked by scholars. I argue here that understanding Ouyang's critique is crucial for later developments in Chinese intellectual history both within and without Buddhism. The first chapter of this dissertation outlines Ouyang's biography, in order to provide a broader intellectual context. The second and third chapters discuss Ouyang's critique of the East Asian tradition. Chapter three surveys the problems Ouyang identified in the East Asian Buddhist tradition, while Chapter four highlights the core problem, in Ouyang's view, which is the spuriousness of the Awakening of Faith ( Dasheng qixin lun ). Finally, the fifth chapter introduces one of Ouyang's most controversial and idiosyncratic solutions to the problems he identified in the tradition, his "Two Paradigms" theory.

My dissertation concludes that Ouyang's alternatives posed one of the greatest challenges to traditional Chinese thought in the modern period. It offered a systematic critique, based on the medieval Indian Buddhist scholastic tradition. Later attempts to adapt traditional Chinese thought to the modern period, such as those by Buddhist apologists and the rise of the influential New Confucian movement, are closely linked to the scholastic Buddhist movement. It is impossible to understand the former without understanding the latter.