Reviewing the Methodologies of Buddhist Studies

Abstract

After having not been of concern for some time, the matter of whether or not Buddhist studies should be seen as an independent discipline has recently resurfaced within related academic communities. Now that the environments of scholarship in the arts and humanities are being radically transformed in terms of elucidating, preserving, and transmitting knowledge under the strong influence of radical innovations in information communication technologies, another moment has apparently arrived where this subject needs to be brought into careful consideration. In this new digital horizon of research, each product of research that heretofore conveniently existed independently cannot help from getting involved in one vast interconnected context, in which their mutual methodological relationships need to be clarified. This paper, paying attention to the question of “the linguistic turn” in history, reviews the methodologies of Buddhist studies and discusses the great significance of the concept of “textuality” in Buddhist studies in this new environment.