CHEN (Ch’en), Kenneth Kuan-Sheng. Honolulu 20.9.1907 — 25.4.1993. U.S. Indologist (Buddhist scholar). Son of Hua-hsiu Ch’en, who had moved to Hawaii from South China and bought a rice plantation, and his wife Chu See. Studies at University of Hawaii (A.B. 1931), at Harvard-Yenching University in Peking (M.A. 1934), at University of California (in 1940-41), and at Harvard (Ph.D. 1946 in Buddhism and Indology, under Ingalls). In 1935-36 Instructor in History at Harvard-Yenching Institute, 1936-40 in Chinese at University of Hawaii. In 1946-47 research fellow at Harvard-Yenching, 1947-50 assistant director and Professor there and in 1950-58 Visiting Lecturer in Far Eastern Languages at Harvard. In 1958-61 Professor of Oriental Languages at University of California in Los Angeles, 1961-68 Professor of Buddhism at Princeton University. In 1968-71 William H. Danforth Professor of Religion at Princeton, and 1971-76 Professor of Buddhism and Chairman of Department of Oriental Languages at University of California in Los Angeles. In 1976 emeritus. Married 1935 Chao-ying Tan and as a widower 1970 Man Hing Yue Mok, one daughter and one son with the first wife.
In his active time Chen was rather well known and appreciated, but after retirement seems to disappear.
Publications: Diss. A study of the Svāgata story in the Divyāvadāna in its Sanskrit, Pāli, Tibetan, and Chinese versions. Manuscript 1946, publ. in HJAS 9, 1945, 207-314.
– Buddhism in China. A Historical Survey. 12+560 p. Princeton 1964.
– Buddhism, the Light of Asia. 8+297 p. Woodbury, N.Y. 1968.
– The Chinese Transformation of Buddhism. 9+345 p. Princeton 1973.
– Articles and reviews in HJAS, e.g. “The Tibetan Tripitaka”, HJAS 9, 1945, 53-62; “Apropos the Neṇḍhaka Story”, HJAS 16, 1953, 374-403.
Sources: C. Mallet in alumni.princeton.edu with photo; Peiris, Buddhism, 272f. with photo; Dir. Am. Sch. 1st ed. 1942; 2nd ed. 1951; 3rd ed. 1953; 5th ed. 4, 1969; 6th ed. 4, 1974; 8th ed. 4, 1982; parents and family (but not death) in prabook.com; stray notes in Internet.
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