Shuyu Kanaoka

Shuyu Kanaoka

Shuyu Kanaoka is a distinguished Japanese scholar specializing in Buddhist studies, with a particular focus on comparative textual analysis and the transmission of Buddhist texts across different cultural and linguistic contexts. Her scholarly work primarily centers on the Bodhicaryāvatāra, a seminal Mahāyāna Buddhist text attributed to the 8th-century Indian philosopher Śāntideva.

Kanaoka has made significant contributions to the understanding of Buddhist textual traditions, particularly in her meticulous comparative studies of Sanskrit, Tibetan, and Mongolian Buddhist manuscripts. Her research delves deep into the nuanced transmission and interpretation of Buddhist philosophical texts, with a special emphasis on the Bodhicaryāvatāra and its various regional adaptations.

Her notable publications include several in-depth scholarly articles that explore the textual complexities of Buddhist literature:

• "On the Duplicated Chapter of the Mongolian Bodhicaryāvatāra"
• "A Comparative Study of Sanskrit, Tibetan and Mongolian on Prajñāpāramitā Chapter of Śāntideva's Bodhicaryāvatāra"
• "Characteristics of the Buddhist Mongolian Texts: The Lineage of the Bodhicaryāvatāra"
• "Regional Characteristics of Mongolian Buddhism: A Study on the Basis of the Bodhicaryāvatāra"
• "Śāntideva's Attitude towards Vijñāna Theory"

Through her scholarly work, Kanaoka has made important contributions to understanding the intricate transmission and interpretation of Buddhist philosophical texts across different linguistic and cultural traditions, particularly focusing on the Mongolian Buddhist textual landscape. (Generated by Claude AI March 26, 2025)

Weeraratne, D. Amarasiri. "Bodhicaryāvatāra." The Maha-Bodhi 79, nos. 2–3 (1971): 406–9.

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Śāntideva (ཞི་བ་ལྷ་). Bodhicaryāvatāra [बोधिचर्यावतार]. byang chub sems dpa'i spyod pa la 'jug pa [བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའི་སྤྱོད་པ་ལ་འཇུག་པ།]. [The Way of the Bodhisattva]. Tengyur, RKTST 3216 http://www.rkts.org/cat.php?id=3216&typ=2.

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Mahāyāna - Mahāyāna, or the Great Vehicle, refers to the system of Buddhist thought and practice which developed around the beginning of Common Era, focusing on the pursuit of the state of full enlightenment of the Buddha through the realization of the wisdom of emptiness and the cultivation of compassion. Skt महायान  Tib ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ།  Ch 大乘  

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Lele, Amod. "Śāntideva." In Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, edited by James Fieser and Bradley Dowden. Accessed Feb. 11, 2021. https://iep.utm.edu/santideva/.

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Tsukamoto, Keisho, Yukei Matsunaga, and Hirofumi Isoda, eds. "Śāntideva." In A Descriptive Bibliography of the Sanskrit Buddhist Literature. Vol. 3, Abhidharma, Madhyamaka, Yogācāra, Buddhist Epistemology and Logic, 250–69. Kyoto: Heirakuji-Shoten, 1990.

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Lang, Karen. "Śāntideva." In Buddhist Philosophy from 600 to 750 A.D., edited by Karl H. Potter, 137–39. Vol. 21 of Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 2017.

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Goodman, Charles. "Śāntideva." In Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Accessed March 15, 2021. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/shantideva/

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Potter, Karl H., David J. Kalupahana, and Michael J. Sweet. "Śāntideva." In Buddhist Philosophy from 600 to 750 A.D., edited by Karl H. Potter, 516–25. Vol. 21 of Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 2017.

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Potter, Karl H. ed. "Śāntideva." In Bibliography: Part 1, Texts Whose Authors Can Be Dated; Authors Listed Chronologically, 5th through 9th Century. Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies. Online edition. Last updated Apr 15, 2020. https://faculty.washington.edu/kpotter/xtxt2.htm.

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Prajñāpāramitā - A class of Mahāyāna sūtras which represents some of the earliest known literature of this genre of Buddhism. There are around forty texts associated with this category, though the most widespread is the exceedingly brief Prajñāpāramitāhṛdayasūtra, popularly known as the Heart Sūtra. This class of literature is typically associated with the second turning of the dharma wheel and especially with the teachings on emptiness (śūnyatā). As such, these texts were the primary scriptural source for the philosophy of the Madhyamaka school. Skt प्रज्ञापारमिता  Tib ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ་ and ཤེར་ཕྱིན་  Ch 般若波羅蜜多  

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