Analyzing Chinese Classics Quoted in the Shōbōgenzō: A Syntactical Comparison with Source Chinese Classics

Abstract

In previous scholarship, I have used syntactic analysis as a fresh perspective from which to analyze the syntax （kōbun 構文） of five representative volumes of Dōgen’s 道元 （1200-1253） main work, the Shōbōgenzō 正法眼蔵, as well as other Japanese Buddhist texts written in the Kamakura period 鎌倉期 （1185-1133）, and have confirmed that complex sentences are frequently used. Now, I would like to further clarify the characteristics of the Shōbōgenzō’s syntax by analyzing the Chinese classics （kanseki 漢籍） quoted therein. First, I conducted a syntactical analysis of its quotations of the Six Patriarchs （such as Rújìng/Nyojyō 如浄, Zhàozhōu/ Jyōshū 趙州, etc.）, whom the Shōbōgenzō quotes more than 10 times, according to Genryū Kagamishima’s 鏡島元隆 Dōgen in’yō goroku no kenkyū 道元引用語録の研究 （Studies of Dōgen’s Quotations from Zen Texts）. I found that complex sentences made up only 61% of the quotations, compared to 76% elsewhere in the Shōbōgenzō. Moreover, given that more than half of the quotations are written in affirmative complex sentences （fukubun 複文）, and many others are written in simple sentences, we can see that simple sentence constructions are predominant. In addition, the characteristic sentence complexity of paraphrases （iikae 言い換え） in the Shōbōgenzō, as well as its tendency to conceptualize via paraphrasing, are absent in the quotations.