T H Barrett
Dados Biográficos
| ID | 318820 |
|---|---|
| NOME | T H Barrett |
| PRENOMES | T H |
| SOBRENOME | Barrett |
| ASSINATURA | BARRETT T H |
| AFILIAÇÕES | SOAS University of London |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-7381-1387 |
| VERIFICADO | Sim |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 75 |
| TOTAL DE CITAÇÕES | 20 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 75 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 0 |
| PRIMEIRO ANO DE PUBLICAÇÃO | 1980 |
| ANO MAIS RECENTE DE PUBLICAÇÃO | 2025 |
| ÍNDICE H | 2 |
The Women Who Ruled China
Patterns in a short life
The missionary Theodosia Ann Barker was the first British-born woman to publish in Chinese in the early nineteenth century. She has been largely forgotten but her brief life and work not only highlight women’s contributions to translation history but also deepen our understanding of the female missionary experience in East Asia. This paper takes a historiographical approach by focussing on Theodosia Ann Barker in order to explore the important co…
The Flowering of British Sinology
This account of Sinology in the United Kingdom, in part incorporating personal reminiscence, starts with an analysis of the growth of the British library resources necessary to the practice of Sinology, followed by a sketch of the marginality in Britain in the early twentieth century of this type of scholarship. The changes brought about by the military requirements of World War II are seen as foreshadowing an era during which large-scale funding…
Literati Encomia on Embroidered Buddhist Icons, c.700-900 CE
This study examines all the surviving examples of short prose pieces written in praise of embroidery depicting Buddhist objects of worship between circa 700 and 900. The process whereby they were transmitted to the present is traced wherever possible, and the main themes are indicated by means of the identification of recurrent vocabulary items. Typically, the embroideries described are said to have been created by women for the posthumous benefi…
China in British Education
Michael Natzler's report for the Higher Education Policy Institute of March 2022 entitled “Understanding China: The Study of China and Mandarin in UK Schools and Universities” surveyed the provision of Chinese Studies in Britain since the Second World War and pointed out Britain's slow progress and current unpreparedness to cope with the new role of China in world affairs. In reviewing his very valuable contribution a longer-term perspective is a…
Opposition to Buddhism and the Han Legacy
Michael Loewe has repeatedly and as recently as 2021 looked at how Confucius appears in Han sources and has drawn attention to his lack of prominence, at least to the degree one might expect. Here, a preliminary assessment of the sources of opposition to Buddhism in one key sixth-century c.e. collection of polemics further demonstrates that adherence to mingjiao 名教 (Teaching of a Good Name) or to lijiao 禮教 (teaching on ritual) appears there as th…
A Short History of an Abbreviated Tang Tiantai Text
Japanese Monks and Chinese Books
In the17th and 18th centuries, just as English scholars were reading and writing about their heritage in the continental prestige language of Latin, so too were Japanese members of the Buddhist clergy researching and publishing about the Chinese language heritage of their own religious tradition, drawing both on new printed books, often imported from China, and on much earlier manuscripts and printed texts preserved in their own country. The impo…
Against Epigraphy
When in 1938 the pioneering Japanese Buddhist historian Ui Hakuju extended his research to investigating the lineage of the eighth century Chan master Weiyan of Yaoshan , he rejected the evidence contained in the master's epitaph by Tang Shen , on the grounds that this inscription was probably a later forgery. Subsequent scholarship has generally come to the conclusion that the epitaph can only be genuine. Yet even as an indubitable historical do…
Northern Wei Wutaishan
This study is an attempt to look at Wutaishan from an outside, non-Chinese, non-Buddhist perspective in order to imagine its possible religious significance to the Taugast, the group originally from beyond the northern limits of Chinese civilization who came to be known in China as the Northern Wei, when they first began to pay attention to what was then a mountain not strongly associated with Buddhism, or even Daoism. Though the amount of textua…
Breaking the Reputation of Female Rule in China
Usurpation by a woman made the reign of Wu Zhao a problem in the history writing of the restored Tang dynasty (618-907; interregnum 690-705) and thereafter that has often attracted the epithet ‘Confucian’. An examination of the rewriting of history to change the meaning of two miracles reported during her reign – the appearance of a new (though small) mountain and of Laozi, supposed ancestor of the Tang imperial line – shows that among those keen…
A possible Buddhist influence on Chinese political thought
Proponents of twentieth century Chinese critiques of pre-modern Chinese autocracy could point to one or two earlier examples of negative views of autocratic rule, but the ultimate origin of these views has been hard to identify. In pre-modern Chinese accounts of the beginnings of human society, the position of ruler was generally described as an institution established as it were from above, by ‘sages,’ or perhaps by Heaven. Buddhism has by contr…
A wooden manuscript from late Qing Yunnan(救世鴻文)
This paper explores the role of wood, a crucial material in East Asian print and manuscript culture, in East Asian traditions of knowledge in two parts. The first provides an overarching historical survey of wood in printing, contextualizing its use in conjunction with the West and the circumstances of its employment in the two main religious traditions of China – Daoism and Buddhism. The second introduces a late Qing woodblock from Yunnan of A M…
The Beginning of the Subtle School of Taoism 一切道經音義妙門由起
A Bicentenary in Robert Morrison's Scholarship on China And his Significance for Today
Robert Morrison (1782–1834), the first Protestant missionary to China, was responsible for the completion of the earliest Chinese-English Dictionary in 1814. Though this work would not have reached publication without the help of Chinese assistants, and of the printer P. P. Thoms (1790–1855), even so Morrison's scholarly achievements in this and other aspects of Chinese studies were prodigious. This survey of recent research makes clear the conti…
The Woman Who Invented Notepaper
Comparative writing about the history of science and technology in different cultures tends to assume that differences in the ways in which these cultures write their histories are not important. But this is unlikely to be the case. The comparative lack of historical writing about printing in China by European standards should not in itself lead us to conclude that print only played a minor role there, any more than the tendency to downplay the i…
Rebirth From China To Japan In Nara Hagiography
This study takes up a portion of the early hagiography of a Japanese prince who was reputedly a reincarnated Chinese monk, and uses a peculiarity in a colophon dated 718 to argue that though the text may have been composed in China, it must in that case derive from the writing of a Japanese visitor. A possible identification of the visitor is made, and some attention is given to the likely sources he used
Superstition and its Others in Han China
Any discussion of the history of superstition in a broadly comparative context must inevitably begin with a few words of linguistic explanation, in order to assure the reader as to the extent to which like is being compared with like when materials in completely unrelated languages are being used. This is of course a topic on which it might be possible to philologize indefinitely, but in order to move as rapidly as possible to the contemplation o…
Climate Change and Religious Response
The following remarks were originally drafted to serve as the thirty-seventh Evans-Wentz Lecture in Asian Philosophy, Religion and Ethics at Stanford University in May 2006, and take therefore as their tacit point of departure the work of Walter Y Evans-Wentz (1878–1965). His Tibetan Book of the Dead , first published by Oxford University Press in 1927, long remained the most influential account of the way in which Buddhists confronted their futu…
Religious Meaning of Buddhist Sculpture in its Cultural Setting
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The British Library
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Chinese Religion in English Guise
The purpose of the following remarks is to trace the way in which, for over a century from the time of the first Opium War to that of the emergence of the study of Chinese religions as a separate specialization in the 1970s, the English-language world sustained a description of religion in China that was at very considerable variance with the facts. The narrative is not designed to be definitive-the choice of materials drawn upon is restricted, a…
Religion and the first recorded print run
The Xuanjie lu has long been recognized as an early recorded example of a printed text. The date of printing given in its preface suggests that its author, Hegan Ji, was about to be or had just been demoted from the governorship of Canton on the grounds of corruption, from where he was sent to Luoyang. This article argues for the latter place of publication, and suggests that the printing of 'several thousand' copies of this short work, while a n…
Was there an imperial distribution of Buddha relics in ninth-century China
To judge from one recorded case, the Huichang persecution of Buddhism in China of 840-44 could have brought a number of relics of the Buddha into the hands of the government, and this might further have allowed the succeeding, more pro-Buddhist, emperor to carry out a redistribution of these sacred objects to enhance his own prestige, as had already been done twice by earlier rulers. But while it is clear that he was prepared to send a relic to K…
The woman who discovered printing
"T. H. Barrett, a leading scholar of medieval China, brings us the answers through the intriguing story of Empress Wu (AD 625-705) and the revolution in printing that occurred during her rule. Linking Asian and European history with substantial new research into Chinese sources, Barrett identifies methods of transmitting texts before printing and explains the historical context of seventh-century China. He explores the dynastic reasons behind Emp…
Stupa, Sutra and Sarira in China, C. 656-706 CE
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Chinese Religion in English Guise
The purpose of the following remarks is to trace the way in which, for over a century from the time of the first Opium War to that of the emergence of the study of Chinese religions as a separate specialization in the 1970s, the English-language world sustained a description of religion in China that was at very considerable variance with the facts. The narrative is not designed to be definitive-the choice of materials drawn upon is restricted, a…
Climate Change and Religious Response
The following remarks were originally drafted to serve as the thirty-seventh Evans-Wentz Lecture in Asian Philosophy, Religion and Ethics at Stanford University in May 2006, and take therefore as their tacit point of departure the work of Walter Y Evans-Wentz (1878–1965). His Tibetan Book of the Dead , first published by Oxford University Press in 1927, long remained the most influential account of the way in which Buddhists confronted their futu…
China and the Redundancy of the Medieval
This article takes as its starting point the 'Naito hypothesis' which postu lates an end to the Chinese Middle Ages about 1000 A.D., and suggests that it may have been inspired by a Japanese Buddhist division of history which has had some influence in the West, and which uses an identical periodisation. Other non-Buddhist schemes with similar dates are then considered, and finally the arguments voiced against them in eighteenth century Japan and …
Rebirth From China To Japan In Nara Hagiography
This study takes up a portion of the early hagiography of a Japanese prince who was reputedly a reincarnated Chinese monk, and uses a peculiarity in a colophon dated 718 to argue that though the text may have been composed in China, it must in that case derive from the writing of a Japanese visitor. A possible identification of the visitor is made, and some attention is given to the likely sources he used
Religious Meaning of Buddhist Sculpture in its Cultural Setting
.
Religion and the first recorded print run
The Xuanjie lu has long been recognized as an early recorded example of a printed text. The date of printing given in its preface suggests that its author, Hegan Ji, was about to be or had just been demoted from the governorship of Canton on the grounds of corruption, from where he was sent to Luoyang. This article argues for the latter place of publication, and suggests that the printing of 'several thousand' copies of this short work, while a n…
On the reconstruction of the Shenxian zhuan
The Shenxian zhuan is a biographical (or hagiographical) collection of great importance to our understanding of the formation of the Taoist religion in the early centuries of the Common Era
Buddhism, Taoism and the eighth-century Chinese term for Christianity
Although the presence of Nestorian Christianity in China under the Tang dynasty is a familiar enough matter to students of religion, many scholars in Chinese studies were until very recently reluctant to undertake substantial research into this topic, for the very good reason that they had been expecting the appearance of posthumous work on one of our main sources for this episode by Paul Pelliot (1878–1945), who was probably the greatest Asianis…
The Chinese for 'Confucius' confirmed
In February 1999 I published a review article in the Bulletin (62/1) pointing to the difficulties encountered in trying to confirm the derivation of the Latin term ' Confucius' from its supposed Chinese original, ' Kong Fuzi'. Briefly, the only general lexicographer to cite the Chinese term from premodern materials, Morohashi Tetsuji, does no more than quote a memorial inscription from the early nineteenth century, long after the Jesuit coinage o…
The Modern Historiography of Asia and the Faking of 'The City of Light
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The date of the Leng-chia shih-tzu chi
Among the many manuscripts relating to Ch’an Buddhism included in the Tun-huang finds of the early years of this century, the Leng-chia shih-tzu chi has always been regarded by scholars as a discovery of unusual importance, since it presents an unrivalled picture of the early development of this type of Buddhism from the long-obscured viewpoint of the so-called Northern school of Ch’an. The text has been rendered into English lately by J. C. Clea…
Towards a date for theChin-so liu-chu yin
TheChin-so liu-chu yinis a text of twenty-nine fascicles preserved in the Taoist canon in the form of a revelation to Chang Tao-ling, the late Han founder of the Taoist religion, to which comments by Li Ch'un-feng(602-670) are attached. Though scholars have not so far addressed the question of the origins of the text itself, a certain willingness to accept the attribution of the commentary has already been made manifest. Yet to the eye of the exp…
On the transmission of the Shen Tzu and of the Yang-sheng yao-chi
Western sinologists dealing with texts of any antiquity are usually as aware as their East Asian colleagues of the importance of textual scholarship as the foundation of their studies. Yet despite the considerable sophistication of the techniques developed in the West for editing the texts of our own classical heritage we have until now largely left the collation of Chinese texts to East Asian scholars working on the basis of their indigenous aca…
Taoist and Buddhist mysteries in the interpretation of the Tao-te ching
After over a century and a half of increasingly superfluous translations of the Tao-te ching one might be pardoned for thinking that there was no further need for sinologists to devote attention to this text. Nothing could be further from the truth. The publication in 1974 of two manuscripts from the tomb at Ma-wang-tui dating to the early years of the 2nd century B.C., together with some previously unknown works of the same period, constituted a…
Change and Progress in Understanding Chinese Religion
Wu-Shang Pi-Yao
Wu-Shang Pi-Yao: Somme Taoiste Du VIe Siècle. By John Lagerwey. (Publications de l'Ecole Française d'Extrême-Orient, Vol. CXXIV.) pp. [iv], 291. Paris, Ecole Française d'Extrême-Orient, 1981. - Volume 115 Issue 1
Matériaux pour l'étude de la culture chinoise du Moyen âge
Matériaux pour l'étude de la culture chinoise du Moyen âge: le lo-yang k'ie-lan ki. By Genowefa Zduń. (Polska Akademia Nauk. Komitet Nauk Orientalistycznych. Prace Orientalistyczne, Tom XXX.) pp. 161. Warszawa, Pań;stwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, 1982. Zł. 150. - Volume 115 Issue 2
Arthur Waley, D.T. Suzuki and Hu Shih
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Towards a date for theChin-so liu-chu yin
TheChin-so liu-chu yinis a text of twenty-nine fascicles preserved in the Taoist canon in the form of a revelation to Chang Tao-ling, the late Han founder of the Taoist religion, to which comments by Li Ch'un-feng(602-670) are attached. Though scholars have not so far addressed the question of the origins of the text itself, a certain willingness to accept the attribution of the commentary has already been made manifest. Yet to the eye of the exp…
The date of the Leng-chia shih-tzu chi
Among the many manuscripts relating to Ch’an Buddhism included in the Tun-huang finds of the early years of this century, the Leng-chia shih-tzu chi has always been regarded by scholars as a discovery of unusual importance, since it presents an unrivalled picture of the early development of this type of Buddhism from the long-obscured viewpoint of the so-called Northern school of Ch’an. The text has been rendered into English lately by J. C. Clea…
Stanley Weinstein and the Study of Sino-Japanese Buddhism
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The Origin of the Term pien-wen
No one has done more over recent years to promote the study of the genre of Chinese literature known as pien-wen in the English-speaking world than Victor Mair of the University of Pennsylvania. Since the discovery of this type of T'ang popular tale among the Tun-huang manuscripts which were recovered at the start of this century, a considerable body of scholarship has been produced to explain its origins and affiliations. The results of all this…
Ji Xianlin on the original language of Buddhism
T . H . B A R R E T T JI X I A N L I N O N T H E O R I G I N A L L A N G U A G E O F B U D D H I S M Ji Xianlin has emerged since the Cultural Revolution as the doyen of Chinese Indologists: he is the author of a number of important studies on Indological or Sino-Indian themes, and the holder of several influential posts in Chinese academic life, including a vice-presidency of Peking University. 1 His credentials go
Singular Listlessness
The Secret History of the Mongols
As is well known, the Secret History is the only surviving source on the rise of the Mongol empire produced by the Mongols themselves, yet controversy continues to surround its value, its purpose, even its date. The fullest and earliest attested version of the text does not even survive in the Uyghur script employed by the Mongols, but only in a transcription into Chinese characters, accompanied by Chinese translation; a transposition carried out…
Li Ao
Li Ao and history Li Ao and Zen Li Ao and friends the Fu-hsing shu of Li Ao understanding Li Ao - a historical approach. Appendix: Li Ao's date of birth and the date of the Fu-hsing shu.
Shorter Notices
Journal Article Shorter Notices Get access T. H. BARRETT T. H. BARRETT School of Oriental & African StudiesLondon Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The English Historical Review, Volume CVIII, Issue CCCCXXIX, October 1993, Pages 1057–1058, https://doi.org/10.1093/ehr/CVIII.CCCCXXIX.1057 Published: 01 October 1993
Tominaga our Contemporary
Just supposing that the British Council were able to offer lecture tours by the world's great minds of the past, I am sure that names like Aquinas, Chu Hsi or Dōgen would be able to pack an auditorium even now. But in the pub afterwards we would probably find them less easy company, not quite at home in our own times. Reading Tominaga Nakamoto (1715–46), however, one gets the extraordinary but quite palpable feeling of encountering an intelligenc…
Confucian Values and Popular Zen
Confucian Values and Popular Zen: Sekimon Shingaku in Eighteenth-Century Japan. Janine Anderson Sawada. Univerity of Hawaii Press, Honolulu 1993. xi, 256 pp. $30
Ignorance and the technology of information
Nagarjuna in China. A Translation of the Middle Treatise. Brian Bocking
Nagarjuna in China. A Translation of the Middle Treatise. Brian Bocking. The Edwin Mellor Press, Lewiston/Queenston/Lampeter 1994. iv, 499 pp. £59.95, US$119.95
The Great Calming and Contemplation
The Great Calming and Contemplation: A Study and Annotated Translation of the First Chapter of Chih-i's Mo-ho Chih-kuan. Neal Donner and Daniel B. Stevenson. The University of Hawaii Press, Honolulu 1993. xx, 385 pp. US$45
Li Ao
The Skill in Means (Upayakausalya) Sutra. Mark Tatz
The Skill in Means (Upayakausalya) Sutra. Mark Tatz. Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi 1994. 128 pp. Rs 150
Inquiry into the Origin of Humanity
Inquiry into the Origin of Humanity: An Annotated Translation of Tsung-mi's Yuan-jen lun with a Modern Commentary. Peter N. Gregory. A Kuroda Institute Book. University of Hawai'i Press, Honolulu 1995, xv, 264 pp. Cloth $46.00, pbk $17.95
Taoism under the T'ang
The Feng-tao k'o and Printing on Paper in Seventh-Century China
One of the arguments for supposing that the 'world's earliest printed book', the Diamond Sūtra in the Stein collection in London, is actually the outcome of a long process of development relies on the very high quality of the images contained in the frontispiece. It is possible, of course, to point to much more crudely formed Buddha images stamped on paper from the same source at Tunhuang, but the dated examples that have been studied are actuall…
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