A Chinese 'Hitopadesa' - Or: a ruler's mirror: The didactic aspects of the Da Tang Xiyu ji

Deeg, Max ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5703-2976 2022. A Chinese 'Hitopadesa' - Or: a ruler's mirror: The didactic aspects of the Da Tang Xiyu ji. Chen, Jinhua, ed. Transmission of Buddhism in Asia and Beyond - Essays in Memory of Antonino Forte (1940-2006), Hualin Series on Buddhist Studies, vol. 4. Singapore: World Scholastic Publishers, pp. 111-165.

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Abstract

The article discusses several aspects of Xuanzang's Da Tang Xiyu ji that can be subsumed under the didactic genre of specula regis, 'mirror for kings.' This type of literature, well known from Western antiquity and the medieval period, was meant to influence rulers and to give them advice about the most ideal and best way of ruling the realm. In this article, I discuss examples from the Da Tang Xiyu ji of such attempted educational influence on the Tang emperor Taizong, some them quite indirect and subtle (e.g., Taizong's campaigns against Koguryo). I argue that Xuanzang skillfully addressed Taizong's own interest in ideal rulership to propagate Buddhist idea(l)s about rulership and governance.

Item Type:	Book Section
Status:	Published
Schools:	History, Archaeology and Religion
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BQ Buddhism D History General and Old World > DS Asia
Publisher:	World Scholastic Publishers
ISBN:	978-981-18-4424-9
Last Modified:	24 Jan 2023 11:30
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/155849

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