Jiang Wu and Lucille Chia (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780231171601
- eISBN:
- 9780231540193
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231171601.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
A monumental work in the history of religion, the history of the book, the study of politics, and bibliographical research, this volume follows the making of the Chinese Buddhist canon from the ...
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A monumental work in the history of religion, the history of the book, the study of politics, and bibliographical research, this volume follows the making of the Chinese Buddhist canon from the fourth century to the digital era. Approaching the subject from a historical perspective, it ties the religious, social, and textual practices of canon formation to the development of East Asian Buddhist culture and enlivens Chinese Buddhist texts for readers interested in the evolution of Chinese writing and the Confucian and Daoist traditions. The collection undertakes extensive readings of major scriptural catalogs from the early manuscript era as well as major printed editions, including the Kaibao Canon, Qisha Canon, Goryeo Canon, and Taisho Canon. Contributors add fascinating depth to such understudied issues as the historical process of compilation, textual manipulation, physical production and management, sponsorship, the dissemination of various editions, cultic activities surrounding the canon, and the canon’s reception in different East Asian societies. The Chinese Buddhist canon is one of the most enduring textual traditions in East Asian religion and culture, and through this exhaustive, multifaceted effort, an essential body of work becomes part of a new, versatile narrative of East Asian Buddhism that has far-reaching implications for world history.Less
A monumental work in the history of religion, the history of the book, the study of politics, and bibliographical research, this volume follows the making of the Chinese Buddhist canon from the fourth century to the digital era. Approaching the subject from a historical perspective, it ties the religious, social, and textual practices of canon formation to the development of East Asian Buddhist culture and enlivens Chinese Buddhist texts for readers interested in the evolution of Chinese writing and the Confucian and Daoist traditions. The collection undertakes extensive readings of major scriptural catalogs from the early manuscript era as well as major printed editions, including the Kaibao Canon, Qisha Canon, Goryeo Canon, and Taisho Canon. Contributors add fascinating depth to such understudied issues as the historical process of compilation, textual manipulation, physical production and management, sponsorship, the dissemination of various editions, cultic activities surrounding the canon, and the canon’s reception in different East Asian societies. The Chinese Buddhist canon is one of the most enduring textual traditions in East Asian religion and culture, and through this exhaustive, multifaceted effort, an essential body of work becomes part of a new, versatile narrative of East Asian Buddhism that has far-reaching implications for world history.
T. Griffith Foulk
Steven Heine and Dale S. Wright (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- February 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195150674
- eISBN:
- 9780199784615
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195150678.003.0010
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
This essay examines an entire class of Zen literature, the so called qinggui (J. shingi) or “rules of purity.” It demonstrates that the qinggui is actually several genres, some written to regulate ...
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This essay examines an entire class of Zen literature, the so called qinggui (J. shingi) or “rules of purity.” It demonstrates that the qinggui is actually several genres, some written to regulate one particular monastic community and others intended more broadly for all Chinese Buddhist communities. This essay traces the historical origins of this broad genre, its steady development, and its relations to early Buddhist vinaya. Its goal is to clarify the relations between these widely used texts, and show how changing social and political contexts are reflected in them.Less
This essay examines an entire class of Zen literature, the so called qinggui (J. shingi) or “rules of purity.” It demonstrates that the qinggui is actually several genres, some written to regulate one particular monastic community and others intended more broadly for all Chinese Buddhist communities. This essay traces the historical origins of this broad genre, its steady development, and its relations to early Buddhist vinaya. Its goal is to clarify the relations between these widely used texts, and show how changing social and political contexts are reflected in them.
Dale S. Wright
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195304671
- eISBN:
- 9780199866861
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195304671.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
The ritual dimension of the Zen tradition in East Asia took the particular shape that it did primarily by means of thorough absorption of two different cultural legacies in China, one—the Confucian ...
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The ritual dimension of the Zen tradition in East Asia took the particular shape that it did primarily by means of thorough absorption of two different cultural legacies in China, one—the Confucian —indigenous to China and one entering East Asia from India and Central Asia in the form of the Buddhist tradition, and influence Zen even today. The introduction places the Zen ritual tradition in relation to the growing interdisciplinary field of critical ritual studies. Relevant contemporary ritual theories include those that focus on the non‐intellectual dimensions of life, where the emotive and bodily dimension of learning and culture are given greater appreciation, and theories of ritual change that attempt to see how rituals tend to evolve over time without practitioners necessarily being aware of that transformation.Less
The ritual dimension of the Zen tradition in East Asia took the particular shape that it did primarily by means of thorough absorption of two different cultural legacies in China, one—the Confucian —indigenous to China and one entering East Asia from India and Central Asia in the form of the Buddhist tradition, and influence Zen even today. The introduction places the Zen ritual tradition in relation to the growing interdisciplinary field of critical ritual studies. Relevant contemporary ritual theories include those that focus on the non‐intellectual dimensions of life, where the emotive and bodily dimension of learning and culture are given greater appreciation, and theories of ritual change that attempt to see how rituals tend to evolve over time without practitioners necessarily being aware of that transformation.
Erik Hammerstrom
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- January 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780231170345
- eISBN:
- 9780231539586
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231170345.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
Kexue, or science, captured the Chinese imagination in the early twentieth century, promising new knowledge about the world and a dynamic path to prosperity. Chinese Buddhists embraced scientific ...
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Kexue, or science, captured the Chinese imagination in the early twentieth century, promising new knowledge about the world and a dynamic path to prosperity. Chinese Buddhists embraced scientific language and ideas to carve out a place for their religion within a rapidly modernizing society. Examining dozens of previously unstudied writings from the Chinese Buddhist press, this book maps Buddhists’ efforts to rethink their traditions through science in the initial decades of the twentieth century. Buddhists believed science offered an exciting, alternative route to knowledge grounded in empirical thought, much like their own. They encouraged young scholars to study subatomic and relativistic physics while still maintaining Buddhism’s vital illumination of human nature and its crucial support of an ethical system rooted in radical egalitarianism. Showcasing the rich and progressive steps Chinese religious scholars took in adapting to science’s rising authority, this volume offers a key perspective on how a major Eastern power transitioned to modernity in the twentieth century and how its intellectuals anticipated many of the ideas debated by scholars of science and Buddhism today.Less
Kexue, or science, captured the Chinese imagination in the early twentieth century, promising new knowledge about the world and a dynamic path to prosperity. Chinese Buddhists embraced scientific language and ideas to carve out a place for their religion within a rapidly modernizing society. Examining dozens of previously unstudied writings from the Chinese Buddhist press, this book maps Buddhists’ efforts to rethink their traditions through science in the initial decades of the twentieth century. Buddhists believed science offered an exciting, alternative route to knowledge grounded in empirical thought, much like their own. They encouraged young scholars to study subatomic and relativistic physics while still maintaining Buddhism’s vital illumination of human nature and its crucial support of an ethical system rooted in radical egalitarianism. Showcasing the rich and progressive steps Chinese religious scholars took in adapting to science’s rising authority, this volume offers a key perspective on how a major Eastern power transitioned to modernity in the twentieth century and how its intellectuals anticipated many of the ideas debated by scholars of science and Buddhism today.
Paul S. Ropp
- Published in print:
- 1990
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520064409
- eISBN:
- 9780520908932
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520064409.003.0007
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Asian Cultural Anthropology
This chapter discusses Chinese Taoism and Buddhism that contrast very sharply with the Judeo-Christian tradition. It argues that it was largely their continued possession of religious writings that ...
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This chapter discusses Chinese Taoism and Buddhism that contrast very sharply with the Judeo-Christian tradition. It argues that it was largely their continued possession of religious writings that gave them coherence as traditions over space and time and that this textual legacy makes them uniquely approachable to researchers from outside the Chinese cultural world. Despite its borrowings from Buddhism, Taoism had very ancient roots in China, and it retained a distinctly Chinese outlook, particularly with regard to social and political questions over which Buddhism came into conflict with Chinese ways of thinking. The collapse of the T'ang dynasty deeply affected Taoism and Buddhism. Both Chinese Buddhism and Taoism are generally much more interested in practice than belief. One can point to a Taoist “ten commandments” but not to any Taoist creed, and the same essentially holds true for Buddhism as well.Less
This chapter discusses Chinese Taoism and Buddhism that contrast very sharply with the Judeo-Christian tradition. It argues that it was largely their continued possession of religious writings that gave them coherence as traditions over space and time and that this textual legacy makes them uniquely approachable to researchers from outside the Chinese cultural world. Despite its borrowings from Buddhism, Taoism had very ancient roots in China, and it retained a distinctly Chinese outlook, particularly with regard to social and political questions over which Buddhism came into conflict with Chinese ways of thinking. The collapse of the T'ang dynasty deeply affected Taoism and Buddhism. Both Chinese Buddhism and Taoism are generally much more interested in practice than belief. One can point to a Taoist “ten commandments” but not to any Taoist creed, and the same essentially holds true for Buddhism as well.
Albert Welter
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195175219
- eISBN:
- 9780199850679
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195175219.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
The Chan (Zen in Japanese) school of Chinese Buddhism began when, in the 7th century, a small religious community gathered around a Buddhist monk named Hongren. Over the centuries, Chan Buddhism grew ...
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The Chan (Zen in Japanese) school of Chinese Buddhism began when, in the 7th century, a small religious community gathered around a Buddhist monk named Hongren. Over the centuries, Chan Buddhism grew from an obscure movement to an officially recognized and eventually dominant form of Buddhism in China and throughout East Asia. This book presents the story of the rise of Chan, a story which has been obscured by myths about Zen. Zen apologists in the 20th century, the book argues, sold the world on the story of Zen as a transcendental spiritualism untainted by political and institutional involvements. The book shows that, in fact, the opposite is true: relationships between Chan monks and political rulers were crucial to Chan's success. The book concentrates on an important but neglected period of Chan history, the 10th and 11th centuries, when monks and rulers created the so-called Chan “golden age” and the classic principles of Chan identity.Less
The Chan (Zen in Japanese) school of Chinese Buddhism began when, in the 7th century, a small religious community gathered around a Buddhist monk named Hongren. Over the centuries, Chan Buddhism grew from an obscure movement to an officially recognized and eventually dominant form of Buddhism in China and throughout East Asia. This book presents the story of the rise of Chan, a story which has been obscured by myths about Zen. Zen apologists in the 20th century, the book argues, sold the world on the story of Zen as a transcendental spiritualism untainted by political and institutional involvements. The book shows that, in fact, the opposite is true: relationships between Chan monks and political rulers were crucial to Chan's success. The book concentrates on an important but neglected period of Chan history, the 10th and 11th centuries, when monks and rulers created the so-called Chan “golden age” and the classic principles of Chan identity.
Chün-fang Yü
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824836580
- eISBN:
- 9780824871086
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824836580.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
The term “revival” has been used to describe the resurgent vitality of Buddhism in Taiwan. Particularly impressive is the quality and size of the nun's order: Taiwanese nuns today are highly educated ...
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The term “revival” has been used to describe the resurgent vitality of Buddhism in Taiwan. Particularly impressive is the quality and size of the nun's order: Taiwanese nuns today are highly educated and greatly outnumber monks. Both characteristics are unprecedented in the history of Chinese Buddhism and are evident in the Incense Light community (Xiangguang). This book is the first in-depth case study of the community, which was founded in 1974 and remains a small but influential order of highly educated nuns who dedicate themselves to teaching Buddhism to lay adults. It begins with a historical survey of Buddhist nuns in China, followed by discussions on the early history of the Incense Light community; the life of Wuyin, one of its most prominent leaders; and the crucial role played by Buddhist studies societies on college campuses, where many nuns were first introduced to Incense Light. Later chapters look at the curriculum and innovative teaching methods at the Incense Light Buddhist Seminary and the nuns' efforts to teach Buddhism to adults. The book ends with portraits of individual nuns, providing details on their backgrounds, motivations for becoming nuns, and the problems or setbacks they have encountered both within and without the Incense Light community.Less
The term “revival” has been used to describe the resurgent vitality of Buddhism in Taiwan. Particularly impressive is the quality and size of the nun's order: Taiwanese nuns today are highly educated and greatly outnumber monks. Both characteristics are unprecedented in the history of Chinese Buddhism and are evident in the Incense Light community (Xiangguang). This book is the first in-depth case study of the community, which was founded in 1974 and remains a small but influential order of highly educated nuns who dedicate themselves to teaching Buddhism to lay adults. It begins with a historical survey of Buddhist nuns in China, followed by discussions on the early history of the Incense Light community; the life of Wuyin, one of its most prominent leaders; and the crucial role played by Buddhist studies societies on college campuses, where many nuns were first introduced to Incense Light. Later chapters look at the curriculum and innovative teaching methods at the Incense Light Buddhist Seminary and the nuns' efforts to teach Buddhism to adults. The book ends with portraits of individual nuns, providing details on their backgrounds, motivations for becoming nuns, and the problems or setbacks they have encountered both within and without the Incense Light community.
Beverley McGuire
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780231168021
- eISBN:
- 9780231537773
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231168021.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
Ouyi Zhixu (1599–1655) was an eminent Chinese Buddhist monk who, contrary to his contemporaries, believed karma could be changed. Through vows, divination, repentance rituals, and ascetic acts such ...
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Ouyi Zhixu (1599–1655) was an eminent Chinese Buddhist monk who, contrary to his contemporaries, believed karma could be changed. Through vows, divination, repentance rituals, and ascetic acts such as burning and blood writing, he sought to alter what others understood as inevitable and inescapable. Drawing attention to Ouyi's unique reshaping of religious practice, this text reasserts the significance of an overlooked individual in the modern development of Chinese Buddhism. While Buddhist studies scholarship tends to privilege textual analysis, Living Karma promotes a balanced study of ritual practice and writing, treating Ouyi's texts as ritual objects and his reading and writing as religious acts. Each chapter addresses a specific religious practice—writing, divination, repentance, vows, and bodily rituals—offering first a diachronic overview of each practice within the history of Chinese Buddhism and then a synchronic analysis of each phenomenon through close readings of Ouyi's work. This book sheds much-needed light on a little-known figure and his representation of karma, which proved to be a seminal innovation in the religious thought of late imperial China.Less
Ouyi Zhixu (1599–1655) was an eminent Chinese Buddhist monk who, contrary to his contemporaries, believed karma could be changed. Through vows, divination, repentance rituals, and ascetic acts such as burning and blood writing, he sought to alter what others understood as inevitable and inescapable. Drawing attention to Ouyi's unique reshaping of religious practice, this text reasserts the significance of an overlooked individual in the modern development of Chinese Buddhism. While Buddhist studies scholarship tends to privilege textual analysis, Living Karma promotes a balanced study of ritual practice and writing, treating Ouyi's texts as ritual objects and his reading and writing as religious acts. Each chapter addresses a specific religious practice—writing, divination, repentance, vows, and bodily rituals—offering first a diachronic overview of each practice within the history of Chinese Buddhism and then a synchronic analysis of each phenomenon through close readings of Ouyi's work. This book sheds much-needed light on a little-known figure and his representation of karma, which proved to be a seminal innovation in the religious thought of late imperial China.
Winston Kyan
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199860265
- eISBN:
- 9780199979929
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199860265.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
Pictorial and textual representations of the Sujati Jataka in medieval China illustrate more than the perfection of generosity that is the central message in numerous jataka tales; the specific ...
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Pictorial and textual representations of the Sujati Jataka in medieval China illustrate more than the perfection of generosity that is the central message in numerous jataka tales; the specific description of a young boy cutting and offering his flesh to his starving parents involve complicated social and cultural issues of self-mutilation, cannibalism, and the parent-child relationship that illuminate the construction of childhood in medieval China. Focusing on visual representations of this narrative from Mogao Caves and original translations of this story from the Sutra on the Wise and Foolish and the Sutra on Repaying Kindness, this chapter situates representations of the Sujati Jataka into shifting attitudes toward childhood authority and parental responsibility that take place in medieval Chinese Buddhism from the sixth to eighth century, when tensions between Buddhist ideals of renouncing the family and Confucian imperatives of filial piety were particularly intense.Less
Pictorial and textual representations of the Sujati Jataka in medieval China illustrate more than the perfection of generosity that is the central message in numerous jataka tales; the specific description of a young boy cutting and offering his flesh to his starving parents involve complicated social and cultural issues of self-mutilation, cannibalism, and the parent-child relationship that illuminate the construction of childhood in medieval China. Focusing on visual representations of this narrative from Mogao Caves and original translations of this story from the Sutra on the Wise and Foolish and the Sutra on Repaying Kindness, this chapter situates representations of the Sujati Jataka into shifting attitudes toward childhood authority and parental responsibility that take place in medieval Chinese Buddhism from the sixth to eighth century, when tensions between Buddhist ideals of renouncing the family and Confucian imperatives of filial piety were particularly intense.
Alan Cole
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780520284067
- eISBN:
- 9780520959750
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520284067.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
The truth of Chan Buddhism—better known as “Zen”—is regularly said to be beyond language, and yet Chan authors—medieval and modern—produced an enormous quantity of literature over the centuries. To ...
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The truth of Chan Buddhism—better known as “Zen”—is regularly said to be beyond language, and yet Chan authors—medieval and modern—produced an enormous quantity of literature over the centuries. To make sense of this well-known paradox, this book explores several genres of Chan literature that appeared during the Tang and Song dynasties (c.600–1300), including genealogies, biographies, dialogues, poems, monastic handbooks, and koans. Working through this diverse body of literature, the text details how Chan authors developed several strategies to evoke images of a perfect Buddhism in which wonderfully simple masters transmitted Buddhism's final truth to one another, suddenly and easily, and, of course, independent of literature and the complexities of the Buddhist monastic system. Chan literature, then, reveled in staging delightful images of a Buddhism free of Buddhism, tempting the reader, over and over, with the possibility of finding behind the thick façade of real Buddhism—with all its rules, texts, doctrines, and institutional solidity—an ethereal world of pure spirit. This book charts the emergence of this kind of “fantasy Buddhism” and details how it interacted with more traditional forms of Chinese Buddhism in order to show how Chan's illustrious ancestors were created in literature in order to further a wide range of real-world agendas.Less
The truth of Chan Buddhism—better known as “Zen”—is regularly said to be beyond language, and yet Chan authors—medieval and modern—produced an enormous quantity of literature over the centuries. To make sense of this well-known paradox, this book explores several genres of Chan literature that appeared during the Tang and Song dynasties (c.600–1300), including genealogies, biographies, dialogues, poems, monastic handbooks, and koans. Working through this diverse body of literature, the text details how Chan authors developed several strategies to evoke images of a perfect Buddhism in which wonderfully simple masters transmitted Buddhism's final truth to one another, suddenly and easily, and, of course, independent of literature and the complexities of the Buddhist monastic system. Chan literature, then, reveled in staging delightful images of a Buddhism free of Buddhism, tempting the reader, over and over, with the possibility of finding behind the thick façade of real Buddhism—with all its rules, texts, doctrines, and institutional solidity—an ethereal world of pure spirit. This book charts the emergence of this kind of “fantasy Buddhism” and details how it interacted with more traditional forms of Chinese Buddhism in order to show how Chan's illustrious ancestors were created in literature in order to further a wide range of real-world agendas.
Tam Wai Lun
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- April 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780199763689
- eISBN:
- 9780190459451
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199763689.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
This chapter aims to explore how the Tantric teaching of a new Buddhist school called the True Buddha School has changed and adapted itself in a Chinese context. The founder of the school, Lu ...
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This chapter aims to explore how the Tantric teaching of a new Buddhist school called the True Buddha School has changed and adapted itself in a Chinese context. The founder of the school, Lu Shengyan (b. 1945), studied with a Chinese Tantric master with a Tibetan name of Thubten Dorge (19212006), who was a disciple of a Tibetan lama in the Gelugpa tradition. He also received empowerments from other Tibetan teachers, including Shakya Zhengkong, a noted lama of the Tibetan Sakya School, H. H. the 16th (Gyalwa) Karmapa (1924–1981), and the 12th Tai Situpa Rinpoche, Pema Donyo Nyinje Wangpo (b. 1954) of the Kagyu Karma School. In addition, Lu studied with Pufang, a Chinese master of the Shingon tradition in Taiwan. As the result of Lu’s wide exposure to Tantric Buddhism, the True Buddha School represents one of the most comprehensive systems of Tantric Buddhist practices.Less
This chapter aims to explore how the Tantric teaching of a new Buddhist school called the True Buddha School has changed and adapted itself in a Chinese context. The founder of the school, Lu Shengyan (b. 1945), studied with a Chinese Tantric master with a Tibetan name of Thubten Dorge (19212006), who was a disciple of a Tibetan lama in the Gelugpa tradition. He also received empowerments from other Tibetan teachers, including Shakya Zhengkong, a noted lama of the Tibetan Sakya School, H. H. the 16th (Gyalwa) Karmapa (1924–1981), and the 12th Tai Situpa Rinpoche, Pema Donyo Nyinje Wangpo (b. 1954) of the Kagyu Karma School. In addition, Lu studied with Pufang, a Chinese master of the Shingon tradition in Taiwan. As the result of Lu’s wide exposure to Tantric Buddhism, the True Buddha School represents one of the most comprehensive systems of Tantric Buddhist practices.
Chün-Fang Yü
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824836580
- eISBN:
- 9780824871086
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824836580.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
This book examines the spiritual lives of Buddhist nuns at the Incense Light community in contemporary Taiwan. Taiwanese nuns today are highly educated and greatly outnumber monks, characteristics ...
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This book examines the spiritual lives of Buddhist nuns at the Incense Light community in contemporary Taiwan. Taiwanese nuns today are highly educated and greatly outnumber monks, characteristics unprecedented in the history of Chinese Buddhism. This book explores how and why a young woman becomes attracted to Buddhism and decides to become a nun; what kind of training she receives at a seminary once she joins the sangha; what kind of work she does upon graduation; and what sorts of problems and setbacks she experiences. By answering these questions, we can get a sense of the bigger picture of Buddhism in Taiwanese society. This introduction discusses the history of Buddhist nuns in China; the text The Lives of Nuns (Biqiuni zhuan), written by the monk Baochang, and its profiles of nuns; updates to The Lives of Nuns; and accounts of nuns in literature.Less
This book examines the spiritual lives of Buddhist nuns at the Incense Light community in contemporary Taiwan. Taiwanese nuns today are highly educated and greatly outnumber monks, characteristics unprecedented in the history of Chinese Buddhism. This book explores how and why a young woman becomes attracted to Buddhism and decides to become a nun; what kind of training she receives at a seminary once she joins the sangha; what kind of work she does upon graduation; and what sorts of problems and setbacks she experiences. By answering these questions, we can get a sense of the bigger picture of Buddhism in Taiwanese society. This introduction discusses the history of Buddhist nuns in China; the text The Lives of Nuns (Biqiuni zhuan), written by the monk Baochang, and its profiles of nuns; updates to The Lives of Nuns; and accounts of nuns in literature.
Alan Cole
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780520284067
- eISBN:
- 9780520959750
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520284067.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
This chapter examines vast compendiums in Song-era Chan literature that present information about many hundreds of past Chan masters. The Song compendiums functioned as museums of sorts, museums ...
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This chapter examines vast compendiums in Song-era Chan literature that present information about many hundreds of past Chan masters. The Song compendiums functioned as museums of sorts, museums which held idealized images of the past masters in a kind of suspended animation. Considered more broadly, it would seem that very old Chinese assumptions about the quasi-presence of ancestors joined forces with new and evocative literary styles that gave readers an enhanced sense of being in the company of the patriarchs as they read through these highly fictionalized “histories.” Thus, it was that with the new literary talents of the Song, past masters could be made to live alongside ordinary Chinese Buddhism, thereby providing attractive and inspiring examples of a Buddhism that could never exist in the real world, but could, in literary form, enhance more traditional forms of Buddhism and advance various real-world agendas.Less
This chapter examines vast compendiums in Song-era Chan literature that present information about many hundreds of past Chan masters. The Song compendiums functioned as museums of sorts, museums which held idealized images of the past masters in a kind of suspended animation. Considered more broadly, it would seem that very old Chinese assumptions about the quasi-presence of ancestors joined forces with new and evocative literary styles that gave readers an enhanced sense of being in the company of the patriarchs as they read through these highly fictionalized “histories.” Thus, it was that with the new literary talents of the Song, past masters could be made to live alongside ordinary Chinese Buddhism, thereby providing attractive and inspiring examples of a Buddhism that could never exist in the real world, but could, in literary form, enhance more traditional forms of Buddhism and advance various real-world agendas.
Justin R. Ritzinger
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780190491161
- eISBN:
- 9780190491185
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190491161.003.0008
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
The conclusion summarizes the monograph’s findings, retracing the reimagining of the cult of Maitreya, its origins in Taixu’s encounter with anarchism, and its decline and subsequent revival. It then ...
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The conclusion summarizes the monograph’s findings, retracing the reimagining of the cult of Maitreya, its origins in Taixu’s encounter with anarchism, and its decline and subsequent revival. It then offers thoughts on the significance of these findings for scholarship. It is hoped that the monograph puts to rest the notion that the reform movement was demythologized and deritualized; contributes to the project of placing modern Chinese Buddhism more firmly in historical context, particularly in relation to other religious movements; highlights the need to reappraise Buddhism in post-retrocession Taiwan; and illustrates the potential of a Taylorian approach to the study of alternative modernities and the role of religions in their formation.Less
The conclusion summarizes the monograph’s findings, retracing the reimagining of the cult of Maitreya, its origins in Taixu’s encounter with anarchism, and its decline and subsequent revival. It then offers thoughts on the significance of these findings for scholarship. It is hoped that the monograph puts to rest the notion that the reform movement was demythologized and deritualized; contributes to the project of placing modern Chinese Buddhism more firmly in historical context, particularly in relation to other religious movements; highlights the need to reappraise Buddhism in post-retrocession Taiwan; and illustrates the potential of a Taylorian approach to the study of alternative modernities and the role of religions in their formation.
Pi-yen Chen
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- April 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780199737642
- eISBN:
- 9780190490133
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199737642.003.0004
- Subject:
- Music, Ethnomusicology, World Music, Performing Practice/Studies
Chinese Buddhism retains several holidays that demonstrate the connection of Buddhist tradition to its ancient Indian origins, including celebrations for the birth of Sakyamuni Buddha and the end of ...
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Chinese Buddhism retains several holidays that demonstrate the connection of Buddhist tradition to its ancient Indian origins, including celebrations for the birth of Sakyamuni Buddha and the end of the summer retreat. These liturgies, which differ from most Chinese Buddhist rituals, were directly taught by the Buddha and revealed in the sutras. Notably, the rite for bathing the statue of the Buddha is used for celebrating the Buddha’s birthday, while the rite of Ullambana (or avalambana) is held on the last day of the summer retreat. Recently in Taiwan, while almost all Buddhist rituals remain liturgically consistent, the celebrations for these two core holidays generate diverse forms of worship representing a variety of religious and moral themes. These liturgical variations transform not only the long-term established practice and meaning of such festivals but also the understanding and roles of these specific religious settings for the savgha and lay Buddhists.Less
Chinese Buddhism retains several holidays that demonstrate the connection of Buddhist tradition to its ancient Indian origins, including celebrations for the birth of Sakyamuni Buddha and the end of the summer retreat. These liturgies, which differ from most Chinese Buddhist rituals, were directly taught by the Buddha and revealed in the sutras. Notably, the rite for bathing the statue of the Buddha is used for celebrating the Buddha’s birthday, while the rite of Ullambana (or avalambana) is held on the last day of the summer retreat. Recently in Taiwan, while almost all Buddhist rituals remain liturgically consistent, the celebrations for these two core holidays generate diverse forms of worship representing a variety of religious and moral themes. These liturgical variations transform not only the long-term established practice and meaning of such festivals but also the understanding and roles of these specific religious settings for the savgha and lay Buddhists.
Chün-Fang Yü
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824836580
- eISBN:
- 9780824871086
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824836580.003.0008
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
This concluding chapter assesses the Incense Light community's present situation and offers projections about its future direction. Incense Light, like Taiwanese Buddhism in general, is undergoing ...
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This concluding chapter assesses the Incense Light community's present situation and offers projections about its future direction. Incense Light, like Taiwanese Buddhism in general, is undergoing constant changes. The community's rapid growth in the 1980s and early 1990s has slowed considerably in recent decades, as many more activities and clubs now compete for the attention of today's college students. Buddhist studies societies, which played such an important role in introducing college students to Buddhism, are having a much harder time attracting members. Incense Light's Buddhist nuns have not particularly focused on either the history or the unique characteristics of Chinese Buddhism, but have become open to learning from other Buddhist traditions, as evidenced by their interest in non-Chinese forms of meditation.Less
This concluding chapter assesses the Incense Light community's present situation and offers projections about its future direction. Incense Light, like Taiwanese Buddhism in general, is undergoing constant changes. The community's rapid growth in the 1980s and early 1990s has slowed considerably in recent decades, as many more activities and clubs now compete for the attention of today's college students. Buddhist studies societies, which played such an important role in introducing college students to Buddhism, are having a much harder time attracting members. Incense Light's Buddhist nuns have not particularly focused on either the history or the unique characteristics of Chinese Buddhism, but have become open to learning from other Buddhist traditions, as evidenced by their interest in non-Chinese forms of meditation.
Graham Priest
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- December 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780198758716
- eISBN:
- 9780191818639
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198758716.003.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
This chapter explains the background of Buddhist philosophy needed to understand the rest of the book: its historical and geographical development in India and China, the foundational principles of ...
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This chapter explains the background of Buddhist philosophy needed to understand the rest of the book: its historical and geographical development in India and China, the foundational principles of the Four Noble Truths, and the notions of impermanence and no self.Less
This chapter explains the background of Buddhist philosophy needed to understand the rest of the book: its historical and geographical development in India and China, the foundational principles of the Four Noble Truths, and the notions of impermanence and no self.
Marcus Bingenheimer
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- April 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780190456191
- eISBN:
- 9780190456214
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190456191.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
Island of Guanyin explores how Mount Putuo, one of the most popular Buddhist sites in China, has been depicted in a particular genre—the temple or mountain gazetteer. Guanyin (Skr. Avalokiteśvara), ...
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Island of Guanyin explores how Mount Putuo, one of the most popular Buddhist sites in China, has been depicted in a particular genre—the temple or mountain gazetteer. Guanyin (Skr. Avalokiteśvara), the Bodhisattva of Compassion, is one of the most beloved deities of the Buddhist World. For more than a thousand years Mount Putuo has been a busy pilgrimage site, where pilgrims hope to catch a glimpse of the Bodhisattva. Over the centuries much information about Mount Putuo has been collected in a series of gazetteers. Gazetteers are compiled from texts of different genres to present an encyclopedic overview of a site or region. This book demonstrates how the different genres in a series of gazetteers have constructed—textualized—the sacred site of Mount Putuo in cultural memory. The book itself it structured like a gazetteer in that each chapter is dedicated to a genre that is used in gazetteers. After a chapter on prefaces and postscripts, there follow chapters on maps, miracle tales, landscape, biographies, inscriptions, poems, and travelogues. In each chapter three or four exhibits showcase important people, events, and ideas surrounding the history of Mount Putuo between the twelfth and the twentieth century.Less
Island of Guanyin explores how Mount Putuo, one of the most popular Buddhist sites in China, has been depicted in a particular genre—the temple or mountain gazetteer. Guanyin (Skr. Avalokiteśvara), the Bodhisattva of Compassion, is one of the most beloved deities of the Buddhist World. For more than a thousand years Mount Putuo has been a busy pilgrimage site, where pilgrims hope to catch a glimpse of the Bodhisattva. Over the centuries much information about Mount Putuo has been collected in a series of gazetteers. Gazetteers are compiled from texts of different genres to present an encyclopedic overview of a site or region. This book demonstrates how the different genres in a series of gazetteers have constructed—textualized—the sacred site of Mount Putuo in cultural memory. The book itself it structured like a gazetteer in that each chapter is dedicated to a genre that is used in gazetteers. After a chapter on prefaces and postscripts, there follow chapters on maps, miracle tales, landscape, biographies, inscriptions, poems, and travelogues. In each chapter three or four exhibits showcase important people, events, and ideas surrounding the history of Mount Putuo between the twelfth and the twentieth century.
