The language of Chinese Buddhism

Abstract

This is a more detailed introduction of the language of Chinese Buddhism based on our latest research of Buddhist Chinese, which is a modern Chinese historical linguistic category applied to a form of written Chinese originated for and used in Buddhist texts, including the translations into Chinese of Indian Buddhist scriptures and all Chinese works of Buddhism composed by Chinese monks and lay Buddhists in the past. We attempt to answer in this paper the following questions: What is Buddhist Chinese? What is the main difference between Buddhist Chinese and non-Buddhist Chinese? What role did this language play in the history of Chinese language development? And what is the value of this language for the Chinese Historical Linguistics?