Compilation of local chronicles and new directions in research of Chinese religious history

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis paper primarily investigates new trends in research on Chinese religious history based on local chronicles that are now being explored. It looks at three aspects from local chronicles including the numerous accounts of temples; various writings and illustrations (inscriptions, poems, etc.); and the relationships between the three teachings (Confucianism, Buddhism and Daoism) in the lives of common people and regional environments, analyzing and pointing out that research on Chinese religious history is shifting towards a focus on multidimensional historical research centered on temples; a departure from an earlier focus on linear history which was centered on individuals and thought. Research is trending towards a multidimensional dynamic history, from an earlier research model based on a one-track static history. It is also trending towards an explanatory model of social history focused on the actual needs of common people and their lifestyles, which is a change from past explanatory models of intellectual and political history which were focused on ideology and politics while related to great issues such as the relationships between the three teachings, and religion and politics. This paper in the end explains that local chronicles, which contain extremely rich and valuable historical information on Buddhism and Daoism in the regional societies of China throughout the ages, reveal historical data on Chinese religions which is truer and more vivid and concrete than the Buddhist and Daoist canons as well as various types of ‘official histories.’