Abstract:Fo Xue (Buddhist studies), Fan Xue (Sanskrit studies) and Indology are three closely related but different concepts in China. They were created in different historical periods but all related to the contemporary Chinese socio-political situation and its foreign relations at the time. Fo Xue emerged with the expansion of Buddhism to East Asia. Buddhism and Fo Xue are two interrelated but different terms. In ancient China, Fan Xue and Fo Xue were always used interchangeably. With a deeper understanding of the mainstream Indian culture represented by Hinduism, the term Fan Xue gained its popularity in Chinese academia. The application of the concept Indology in China was closely related to the awakening of India and Chinese intellectuals’ new understanding of India after the invasion of Western colonialism, and China's study of India also shifted from Fo Xue and Fan Xue to Yin Du Xue (Indology). Chinese Indology has two sources in its scholarship. One is the tradition from Fo Xue and Fan Xue, the other is the Indology of the West and modern India. The two sources converged at Peking University and gave birth to Chinese Indology in 1950s, which has achieved unprecedented development since 1949.
郁龙余. 从佛学、梵学到印度学:中国印度学脉络总述[J]. 《深圳大学学报》(人文社科版), 2018, 35(6): 5-8.
YU Long-yu. From Buddhist Studies, Sanskrit Studies to Indology: a Review of Chinese Indology. , 2018, 35(6): 5-8.