From Modengjia Jing to Xiuyaojing: The Accumulation of Indian Astronomical Knowledge in the Chinese Buddhist Canon

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

I think this paper has something to offer—suggested in its title, but if so, it is very difficult to find.  There are several major problems.  The English is clearly a problem (some examples below), but it is less of a problem than the style of the writing and what is actually written.  The writing is very descriptive, very repetitive (many points are noted several times) and winding around itself, the tables are not at all helpful (presented entirely in Chinese).  The bulk of the paper appears merely to repeat other’s work.

If the goal of the paper is to compare and contrast two key cultures’ astronomy writings to demonstrate how and why one has affected the other (I believe this is what section 3 of the paper is supposed to do?), I suggest making that the focus and bulk of the paper and developing visuals—for example, tables that compare and contrast the two works side by side and flow charts that illustrate the evolution of similarities and differences in the two works, and/or how Indian knowledge builds over time into the Chinese work and culture—as a guide and facilitation for the readers AND THE AUTHORS to much more clearly and explicitly make their main points. 

Finally, a secondary, but larger and potentially important part of this paper is what the authors state as both the last line of the abstract and of the paper itself: ‘Every civilization, in learning to assimilate other cultures, has a choice between foreignization and domestication, within which a tension is reflected. Learning from foreign cultures is about keeping up with the most advanced civilizations in the world and advancing with the times, while maintaining one's own cultural identity and cultural characteristics is necessary for one's own civilization; these two notions are complementary and should not be neglected.’ This is a strong and important statement, but is only addressed by example in the text without any connection to the more specific goals of the author, without citing other literature and examples of such cultural tensions and evolution and how this paper's example is similar or different than others.  I suggest that throughout the paper—to make it much stronger, more broadly applicable, and engaging— the authors build from and connect their work more explicitly to this statement and the literature around it.

Some other specific problems:

 

1. Most of the problems with English are minor and easily correctable, but in several cases, these problems make the story even more difficult to follow.  

1. For example, by the ‘localization of Buddhism’ (line 65, 127, other places), do the authors mean the ‘original location’ of Buddhism, maybe?  Or ‘origination’?

2. Another example: ‘their periodical backgrounds’ (line 61 and elsewhere).  What does this mean?  Does it mean WHEN the works were written or translated?  Not clear.

2. What is a ‘fasc.’? (lines 244-247)  Is this an abbreviation for something?  Needs a definition or another word.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

Please see above comments.

Author Response

Thanks a million for your suggestions which I benefit a lot. I've tried my best to correct all mistakes and try to make my argument clear. And I asked English language editing from the academic editor. 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

1.        The astronomical knowledge introduced to China with Buddhism has different sources and dissemination methods at different times. This paper focuses on the accumulation of Indian astronomy knowledge in the Chinese Buddhist Canon from Modengjia Jing to Xiuyaojing and provides a thorough analysis. The topic of this paper has been carefully considered and has significant academic value.

2.        The first section of the paper introduces the background of Buddhism and the composition of the two Buddhist scriptures. It is helpful to explain the similarities and differences in astronomical knowledge between two Buddhist scriptures. However, the localization background of Buddhism that begins with the Zen story in Section 1.1 seems somewhat distant from the main theme of this article. In addition to focusing on the localization process of Buddhism, the changes in Buddhist astronomy over time in India also seem to be an element that can be helpful for the discussion in this article.

3.        The title of Section 3 is ‘From Modengjia Jing to Xiuyaojing: The Accumulation of Indian Astronomical Knowledge in the Chinese Buddhist Canon’ (line 267-268), which is exactly the same as the paper title. This should be avoided as much as possible.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

There are several English translation issues, listed as follows:

1.        Line 128, ‘Chugong 垂拱’, should be ‘Chuigong 垂拱’

2.        Line 192, ‘thin eclipses’, its original Chinese text is ‘boshi薄食’，here ‘bo薄’ doesn't mean ‘thin’，it means ‘to approach’. An eclipse occurs as the sun and moon approach. So ‘boshi薄食’ can be translate directly into ‘eclipses’.

3.        Line 201-202, ‘排渾天’(Pai huntian) is translated into ‘set up the Muddy Sky’. Here ‘排’(pai) means ‘to refuse’, ‘to exclude’. Appropriate translation of ‘渾天’(huntian) is ‘the theory of Sphere-Heavens’. So ‘排渾天’(Pai huntian) should be translated as ‘rejecting the theory of Sphere-Heavens’.

4.        Line 266-267, for the table between line 266 and 267, is it better to translate the table content into English?

5.        Line 320-324: “If one wishes to find the host to which one belongs, one takes the next host on the fifteenth day of the month of one's birth on the chart, and counts backwards and forwards from there to the host to the end of one's birth day, and then one has found the host to which one belongs. 夫欲求人所屬宿者，即於圖上，取彼生月十五日下宿，從此望宿逆順數之，至彼生日止，則求得彼人所屬宿也。 ( T21, no. 1299, p. 395b1-3)”

Here ‘十五日下宿’ means the ‘宿’(Xiu, host) in which the moon is located on the fifteenth day of the month of one's birth, there's no intention of ‘next’ here. So “取彼生月十五日下宿” can be translated into ‘one takes the host in which the moon is located on the fifteenth day of the month of one's birth on the chart’.

Author Response

Thanks a million for your suggestions which I benefit a lot. I've tried my best to correct all mistakes and try to make my argument clear. And I asked English language editing from the academic editor. 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The authors have adequately addressed all of my concerns.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

As noted, English will require some editing.