Pub Date : 2019-04-03DOI: 10.1080/23729988.2019.1639464
Juewei Shi
ABSTRACT The Buddhism that was introduced into China proposed that secular puṇya follows wholesome religious deeds intended to achieve happiness and prosperity in the human world or rebirth in heavenly realms. Buddhism then assimilated the classical Chinese fude and emphasised the merit field and transfer of merit. With the popularity of Mahāyana Buddhism, the cultivation of fude reached new heights. In the West, the Buddhist concepts of puṇya and fude did not take off. This article explores the extent to which Buddhist merit may be accepted in the West, and the mechanism by which it can be presented for easy acceptance. Australia’s largest Buddhist sanctuary, Fo Guang Shan Nan Tien Temple, hosts over 200,000 visitors and a public festival that attracts over 1,000 volunteers annually for more than 20 years. The studies in this article indicate that religious merit is attractive to those seeking blessings for a healthier, happier and more peaceful future as well as to those who wish to cultivate altruistic behaviour. Blessings and voluntarism may serve as skilful means to meet human needs in the short term as well as to introduce karmic merit and selfless bodhisattva aspiration in the long run.
{"title":"Buddhist merit in the West: a case study from Australia’s Nan Tien Temple","authors":"Juewei Shi","doi":"10.1080/23729988.2019.1639464","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23729988.2019.1639464","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The Buddhism that was introduced into China proposed that secular puṇya follows wholesome religious deeds intended to achieve happiness and prosperity in the human world or rebirth in heavenly realms. Buddhism then assimilated the classical Chinese fude and emphasised the merit field and transfer of merit. With the popularity of Mahāyana Buddhism, the cultivation of fude reached new heights. In the West, the Buddhist concepts of puṇya and fude did not take off. This article explores the extent to which Buddhist merit may be accepted in the West, and the mechanism by which it can be presented for easy acceptance. Australia’s largest Buddhist sanctuary, Fo Guang Shan Nan Tien Temple, hosts over 200,000 visitors and a public festival that attracts over 1,000 volunteers annually for more than 20 years. The studies in this article indicate that religious merit is attractive to those seeking blessings for a healthier, happier and more peaceful future as well as to those who wish to cultivate altruistic behaviour. Blessings and voluntarism may serve as skilful means to meet human needs in the short term as well as to introduce karmic merit and selfless bodhisattva aspiration in the long run.","PeriodicalId":36684,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Chinese Religions","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2019-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/23729988.2019.1639464","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41888233","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-04-03DOI: 10.1080/23729988.2019.1639455
R. Her
ABSTRACT Looking back in history, humans have put in much effort in making profit distribution fair: the outcome for Adam Smith’s proposition of maximising self-interest became public welfare in the end, which led to severe exploitation of the classes; Stalinist communism asserted that government should control distribution, which resulted in bureaucratic bureaucrat; Weber’s calling of the sagely hero, the entrepreneur, the actualisation of which has caused many imperialist expansions of capitalist enterprises; Hayek’s laissez-faire system, which resulted in Austria’s economic depression and high unemployment rate; and Schumpeter’s bureaucratic specialised management, where we see senior management gobbling up huge amounts of investors’ capital at Wall Street. Can Marx’s ideal of the proletariat’s dictatorship emerging from highly capitalist society ever be fulfilled? Hundreds and thousands of social entrepreneurs are now dedicated to solving social problems. They do this on the basis of benevolent motivations (not seeking person gain) and moral goals (not seeking the expansion of individual or organisation). Social enterprise is only the beginning for an ‘economy of goodness’ and ‘moral economy,’ not the end. If even more commercial corporations and for-profit enterprises could base their operational philosophy on benevolence and morality, it would have a historically profound and far-reaching impact on socio-economic impartiality and justice.
{"title":"Economy of goodness: the benevolence and morality of economic lifestyle","authors":"R. Her","doi":"10.1080/23729988.2019.1639455","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23729988.2019.1639455","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Looking back in history, humans have put in much effort in making profit distribution fair: the outcome for Adam Smith’s proposition of maximising self-interest became public welfare in the end, which led to severe exploitation of the classes; Stalinist communism asserted that government should control distribution, which resulted in bureaucratic bureaucrat; Weber’s calling of the sagely hero, the entrepreneur, the actualisation of which has caused many imperialist expansions of capitalist enterprises; Hayek’s laissez-faire system, which resulted in Austria’s economic depression and high unemployment rate; and Schumpeter’s bureaucratic specialised management, where we see senior management gobbling up huge amounts of investors’ capital at Wall Street. Can Marx’s ideal of the proletariat’s dictatorship emerging from highly capitalist society ever be fulfilled? Hundreds and thousands of social entrepreneurs are now dedicated to solving social problems. They do this on the basis of benevolent motivations (not seeking person gain) and moral goals (not seeking the expansion of individual or organisation). Social enterprise is only the beginning for an ‘economy of goodness’ and ‘moral economy,’ not the end. If even more commercial corporations and for-profit enterprises could base their operational philosophy on benevolence and morality, it would have a historically profound and far-reaching impact on socio-economic impartiality and justice.","PeriodicalId":36684,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Chinese Religions","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2019-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/23729988.2019.1639455","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47777308","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-04-03DOI: 10.1080/23729988.2019.1639465
Zeng Yang
ABSTRACT The Tang state under Emperor Daizong 代宗 was afflicted with acute financial depletion caused by prolonged warfare. In this time of hardship, the court provided institutional support to a series of costly Buddhist projects directed by Bukong 不空 in the name of state protection. This invited intense criticism from traditional historians, not only for the drain on national resources but also for the corruption done to governmental ethics. Why did a time that should have been the worst for massive religious booms turn out to be the best? This question deserves explanation, yet seems to have evaded scholarly efforts. This article shows that the ceremony of chanting the new Renwang jing 仁王經 in 765 ce is the key to answering this question. The unusual events during this ceremony, which was held for divine protection of the Tang against the ongoing Tibetans’ invasion, inspired a prevailing discourse of divine intervention. The widened and enhanced belief must be recognized. Even more important might be the political significance that emerged to address Daizong’s constant concern. The subsequently increased investment can be understood as efforts to reenact the divine intervention and refresh its discourse, so as to reutilize political value.
{"title":"Miracles and military merit: the state’s sponsor to Bukong’s 不空 Buddhist enterprise","authors":"Zeng Yang","doi":"10.1080/23729988.2019.1639465","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23729988.2019.1639465","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The Tang state under Emperor Daizong 代宗 was afflicted with acute financial depletion caused by prolonged warfare. In this time of hardship, the court provided institutional support to a series of costly Buddhist projects directed by Bukong 不空 in the name of state protection. This invited intense criticism from traditional historians, not only for the drain on national resources but also for the corruption done to governmental ethics. Why did a time that should have been the worst for massive religious booms turn out to be the best? This question deserves explanation, yet seems to have evaded scholarly efforts. This article shows that the ceremony of chanting the new Renwang jing 仁王經 in 765 ce is the key to answering this question. The unusual events during this ceremony, which was held for divine protection of the Tang against the ongoing Tibetans’ invasion, inspired a prevailing discourse of divine intervention. The widened and enhanced belief must be recognized. Even more important might be the political significance that emerged to address Daizong’s constant concern. The subsequently increased investment can be understood as efforts to reenact the divine intervention and refresh its discourse, so as to reutilize political value.","PeriodicalId":36684,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Chinese Religions","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2019-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/23729988.2019.1639465","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41426449","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-04-03DOI: 10.1080/23729988.2019.1639451
Tatsuhiko Seo
ABSTRACT Chang’an was a religious center of Buddhism in seventh- and eighth-century East Asia. More than 50,000 Buddhist monks, nuns and priests lived in the city. Buddhist monasteries spread all over in the city, centers of social, economic and cultural activity. Yet while a large number of research studies have explored Chang’an Buddhism in the mid-Tang, the relationship between the social economic history and the religious activities of Buddhist monasteries in this center remains little studied. This article aims to improve our understanding of this topic through a close reading of ninth-century Japanese Buddhist cleric Ennin’s (圓仁 794–864) Nittō Guhō Junrei Kōki 入唐求法巡禮行記 (The Record of a Pilgrimage to the Tang in Search of the Buddhist Law). After reviewing previous work in this field and putting Chang’an Buddhism in its historical context, this paper examines interconnections between commerce and Buddhism in the ninth-century capital as seen through the eyes of this well-known religious figure.
{"title":"Buddhism and commerce in ninth-century Chang’an: a study of Ennin’s Nittō Guhō Junrei Kōki 入唐求法巡禮行記","authors":"Tatsuhiko Seo","doi":"10.1080/23729988.2019.1639451","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23729988.2019.1639451","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Chang’an was a religious center of Buddhism in seventh- and eighth-century East Asia. More than 50,000 Buddhist monks, nuns and priests lived in the city. Buddhist monasteries spread all over in the city, centers of social, economic and cultural activity. Yet while a large number of research studies have explored Chang’an Buddhism in the mid-Tang, the relationship between the social economic history and the religious activities of Buddhist monasteries in this center remains little studied. This article aims to improve our understanding of this topic through a close reading of ninth-century Japanese Buddhist cleric Ennin’s (圓仁 794–864) Nittō Guhō Junrei Kōki 入唐求法巡禮行記 (The Record of a Pilgrimage to the Tang in Search of the Buddhist Law). After reviewing previous work in this field and putting Chang’an Buddhism in its historical context, this paper examines interconnections between commerce and Buddhism in the ninth-century capital as seen through the eyes of this well-known religious figure.","PeriodicalId":36684,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Chinese Religions","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2019-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/23729988.2019.1639451","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47011704","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-04-03DOI: 10.1080/23729988.2019.1639456
Leah Kalmanson
ABSTRACT When considering questions of Buddhism, business and the economy, the production and transfer of karmic merit is an often-overlooked resource, perhaps due to the unexamined assumption that merit is not, after all, ‘real.’ This essay aims to show that taking merit production seriously reveals a well-established economic model that operates alongside, and at times contrary to, systems of monetary exchange. Precisely because of the tendency to interface with money economies, networks of merit transfer can intervene in common economic practices underlying existing social conditions. For example, Xinxing (540–594), founder of the Sanjie movement, teaches that we can discharge our otherwise insurmountable karmic burden by making a single donation to the ‘Inexhaustible Storehouse.’ Donations to the Storehouse were thought to generate merit for the donors, a system already relied upon by Buddhist monasteries to raise money. However, unique to Xinxing’s Storehouse, anyone could borrow as needed, and repayment was optional. The Storehouse was so successful that it began to rival the government as a resource for social welfare, leading to its eventual disbandment. Moving from Xinxing to the present, this essay surveys other examples of merit-making rituals as drivers for charitable giving and socio-political change.
{"title":"Lessons from the Sanjie: merit economies as catalysts for social change","authors":"Leah Kalmanson","doi":"10.1080/23729988.2019.1639456","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23729988.2019.1639456","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT When considering questions of Buddhism, business and the economy, the production and transfer of karmic merit is an often-overlooked resource, perhaps due to the unexamined assumption that merit is not, after all, ‘real.’ This essay aims to show that taking merit production seriously reveals a well-established economic model that operates alongside, and at times contrary to, systems of monetary exchange. Precisely because of the tendency to interface with money economies, networks of merit transfer can intervene in common economic practices underlying existing social conditions. For example, Xinxing (540–594), founder of the Sanjie movement, teaches that we can discharge our otherwise insurmountable karmic burden by making a single donation to the ‘Inexhaustible Storehouse.’ Donations to the Storehouse were thought to generate merit for the donors, a system already relied upon by Buddhist monasteries to raise money. However, unique to Xinxing’s Storehouse, anyone could borrow as needed, and repayment was optional. The Storehouse was so successful that it began to rival the government as a resource for social welfare, leading to its eventual disbandment. Moving from Xinxing to the present, this essay surveys other examples of merit-making rituals as drivers for charitable giving and socio-political change.","PeriodicalId":36684,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Chinese Religions","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2019-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/23729988.2019.1639456","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47388067","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-04-03DOI: 10.1080/23729988.2019.1639454
Yongshan He
ABSTRACT This article investigates the relationship between two seemingly opposite aspects of Buddhist statues: being both a sacred object and a commodity. By looking at their production and transaction processes, it examines how these medieval Buddhist statues were ‘singularized’ and ‘commoditized,’ as well as the activities of different social groups in relation to them. This article intends to shed some new light on the roles played by ‘sacred objects’ in medieval Chinese society, through studying how people actually perceived and interacted with them in diverse ways. It is suggested that the ambiguity of the nature of these statues – being both singular and common, sacred and commercial – entailed a host of new religious and economic practices which contributed to the wide spread of the religion in medieval China.
{"title":"Commoditization of the sacred: production and transaction of Buddhist statues in fifth- to tenth-century China","authors":"Yongshan He","doi":"10.1080/23729988.2019.1639454","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23729988.2019.1639454","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This article investigates the relationship between two seemingly opposite aspects of Buddhist statues: being both a sacred object and a commodity. By looking at their production and transaction processes, it examines how these medieval Buddhist statues were ‘singularized’ and ‘commoditized,’ as well as the activities of different social groups in relation to them. This article intends to shed some new light on the roles played by ‘sacred objects’ in medieval Chinese society, through studying how people actually perceived and interacted with them in diverse ways. It is suggested that the ambiguity of the nature of these statues – being both singular and common, sacred and commercial – entailed a host of new religious and economic practices which contributed to the wide spread of the religion in medieval China.","PeriodicalId":36684,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Chinese Religions","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2019-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/23729988.2019.1639454","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46676798","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-04-03DOI: 10.1080/23729988.2019.1639463
Neil Schmid
ABSTRACT Inexhaustible storehouses and permanent assets of monasteries become fundamental strategies through which Chinese Buddhism flourishes economically during the medieval period. At the center of these linked phenomena is the act of donation that enmeshes donors in a network of transcendent human-divine relations secured in the stasis of inalienability. Although research has explored how these institutions impacted the economic development of Chinese Buddhism, little work exists on how they function as strategies for creating social capital and negotiating identities. This article examines types of donor goods together with contracts and deeds from Dunhuang that detail the exchange of possessions which at once furthered economic gains for monasteries while creating karmic and social capital for the donors in the form of sacralized networks and renegotiated identities. At the crux of the exchange are inalienable objects, such as paintings on silk, that engender prestige and social memory, and thereby valorize newly established collective and individual identities. Through these objects and their ritual transformation, the patrons, their associates and the divinities invoked share a now-transfigured status grounded in a rearticulated and invariable past set within a reified future, most clearly depicted in the Pure land spaces of the Mogao Caves themselves.
{"title":"Giving while keeping: inexhaustible treasuries and inalienable wealth in medieval China","authors":"Neil Schmid","doi":"10.1080/23729988.2019.1639463","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23729988.2019.1639463","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Inexhaustible storehouses and permanent assets of monasteries become fundamental strategies through which Chinese Buddhism flourishes economically during the medieval period. At the center of these linked phenomena is the act of donation that enmeshes donors in a network of transcendent human-divine relations secured in the stasis of inalienability. Although research has explored how these institutions impacted the economic development of Chinese Buddhism, little work exists on how they function as strategies for creating social capital and negotiating identities. This article examines types of donor goods together with contracts and deeds from Dunhuang that detail the exchange of possessions which at once furthered economic gains for monasteries while creating karmic and social capital for the donors in the form of sacralized networks and renegotiated identities. At the crux of the exchange are inalienable objects, such as paintings on silk, that engender prestige and social memory, and thereby valorize newly established collective and individual identities. Through these objects and their ritual transformation, the patrons, their associates and the divinities invoked share a now-transfigured status grounded in a rearticulated and invariable past set within a reified future, most clearly depicted in the Pure land spaces of the Mogao Caves themselves.","PeriodicalId":36684,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Chinese Religions","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2019-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/23729988.2019.1639463","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46948547","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-01-02DOI: 10.1080/23729988.2019.1630970
Vincent Goossaert
ABSTRACT From the late Ming onwards, the intense production of spirit-written texts, and morality books in particular, resulted in the circulation of a huge amount of religious literature. This led to various processes of canonization. This article examines one of the results of such processes, namely the publication of short compendiums of essential religious knowledge, oriented toward individual practice, that have circulated in Chinese society since the late eighteenth century, and that I call piety books. I first define this genre, introduce several examples published during the early nineteenth century, and then discuss the type of piety that these books recommended and articulated, organized around daily spiritual exercises.
{"title":"Late imperial Chinese piety books","authors":"Vincent Goossaert","doi":"10.1080/23729988.2019.1630970","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23729988.2019.1630970","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT From the late Ming onwards, the intense production of spirit-written texts, and morality books in particular, resulted in the circulation of a huge amount of religious literature. This led to various processes of canonization. This article examines one of the results of such processes, namely the publication of short compendiums of essential religious knowledge, oriented toward individual practice, that have circulated in Chinese society since the late eighteenth century, and that I call piety books. I first define this genre, introduce several examples published during the early nineteenth century, and then discuss the type of piety that these books recommended and articulated, organized around daily spiritual exercises.","PeriodicalId":36684,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Chinese Religions","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2019-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/23729988.2019.1630970","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41910618","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-01-02DOI: 10.1080/23729988.2019.1630971
Lina Wang
ABSTRACT The Buddha’s biographies in the Vinaya Piṭaka are mainly found in the ‘Grantha [Section] on Receiving the Precepts’ of the Tāmraparṇīya Vinaya, Four-Part Vinaya and Five-Part Vinaya. Each of these has its own Buddha’s biographical accounts, forming the Buddha’s biographical motif in the Vinaya Piṭaka. The Buddha’s biographies in the Vinaya Piṭaka are descriptions of the Buddha’s life that occurred during the establishment of the precepts. As such, these biographical accounts are concise and simple, and not develop into biographies that are systematic with distinct layers and clear motifs. The fragmented Buddha’s biographical accounts in the Vinaya Piṭaka can be seen as a transition from the Āgama Buddha’s biographies to the Buddha’s biographies of Mahāyāna Buddhism, and were the foundation for later biographies.
{"title":"A study of the Buddha’s biographies in the Vinaya Piṭaka: centered on the Chinese translations of the four complete Vinayas","authors":"Lina Wang","doi":"10.1080/23729988.2019.1630971","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23729988.2019.1630971","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The Buddha’s biographies in the Vinaya Piṭaka are mainly found in the ‘Grantha [Section] on Receiving the Precepts’ of the Tāmraparṇīya Vinaya, Four-Part Vinaya and Five-Part Vinaya. Each of these has its own Buddha’s biographical accounts, forming the Buddha’s biographical motif in the Vinaya Piṭaka. The Buddha’s biographies in the Vinaya Piṭaka are descriptions of the Buddha’s life that occurred during the establishment of the precepts. As such, these biographical accounts are concise and simple, and not develop into biographies that are systematic with distinct layers and clear motifs. The fragmented Buddha’s biographical accounts in the Vinaya Piṭaka can be seen as a transition from the Āgama Buddha’s biographies to the Buddha’s biographies of Mahāyāna Buddhism, and were the foundation for later biographies.","PeriodicalId":36684,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Chinese Religions","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2019-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/23729988.2019.1630971","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49514162","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-01-02DOI: 10.1080/23729988.2019.1630966
S. Andrews
ABSTRACT Early imaginings of Mount Wutai’s (the Mountain of Five Plateaus) importance were more diverse than we might expect given the site’s longstanding and intimate affiliation with Mañjuśrī (Wenshu). Alongside its importance as the Bodhisattva’s territory, early accounts of this place preserved in Huixiang’s (seventh-century) Ancient Chronicle of Mount Clear and Cool (Gu Qingliang zhuan) root Mount Wutai’s specialness in the presence of curatives and substances promoting longevity there. These stories indicate that Wutai’s connection with wellbeing played an important role in its seventh-century textual construction as a Buddhist sacred place.
{"title":"Gathering medicines among the cypress: the relationship between healing and place in the earliest records of Mount Wutai","authors":"S. Andrews","doi":"10.1080/23729988.2019.1630966","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/23729988.2019.1630966","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Early imaginings of Mount Wutai’s (the Mountain of Five Plateaus) importance were more diverse than we might expect given the site’s longstanding and intimate affiliation with Mañjuśrī (Wenshu). Alongside its importance as the Bodhisattva’s territory, early accounts of this place preserved in Huixiang’s (seventh-century) Ancient Chronicle of Mount Clear and Cool (Gu Qingliang zhuan) root Mount Wutai’s specialness in the presence of curatives and substances promoting longevity there. These stories indicate that Wutai’s connection with wellbeing played an important role in its seventh-century textual construction as a Buddhist sacred place.","PeriodicalId":36684,"journal":{"name":"Studies in Chinese Religions","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2019-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1080/23729988.2019.1630966","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44424929","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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