Empreintes du tantrisme en Chine et en Asie orientale: Imaginaires, rituels, influences by Vincent Durand-Dastès

Abstract

Reviewed by: Empreintes du tantrisme en Chine et en Asie orientale: Imaginaires, rituels, influences by Vincent Durand-Dastès Martin Lehnert Vincent Durand-Dastès, ed., Empreintes du tantrisme en Chine et en Asie orientale: Imaginaires, rituels, influences. Institut Belge de Hautes Études Chinoises, Mélanges Chinois et Bouddhiques, vol. 32. Leuven, Paris, and Bristol, CT: Peeters, 2016. vi, 380 pp. €80 (pb). ISBN 978-90-429-3034-6 As a follow up to a symposium held at the Centre d’études chinoises of INALCO, Paris, on May 15, 2009, this volume traces Tantric practices and beliefs in China and East Asia by focusing on the related imaginations, rituals, and influences in the wider religious contexts both in pre-modern and (to a lesser extent) modern society. The variety of contexts requires a heuristic, subject-related approach that would allow one not to get lost in the diversity of particular phenomena. In his “Introduction,” Vincent Durand-Dastès defines a set of criteria that help to delimit the subject: (1) the importance of sophisticated rituals, in particular rituals of consecration and for the evocation of deities; (2) a particular pantheon related to such rituals; (3) the importance of thaumaturgical practices; (4) the purported immediate “magical” efficacy of ritual actions and objects; (5) affirmation of “passions” and practices in soteriological terms which Buddhist doctrine would not [End Page 73] otherwise consider; (6) implementation of such means for individual as well as governmental ends, the latter often based on notions of sacral kingship. As none of these criteria exclusively apply to Buddhist formations, the editor and authors prefer the concept of “Tantrism” (instead of, e.g., esoteric Buddhism, although this terminological decision is not adhered to in a strictly programmatic manner), which also allows for more flexibility in tracing the variety of relations to Daoism, Shintō, and vernacular religion. Such an approach, on the one hand, keeps up the tradition of Michel Strickmann’s groundbreaking studies (to the memory of whom the volume is also dedicated), and, on the other hand, further differentiates scholarly conceptions of “Tantrism” in the context of East Asian religion. The volume is divided into three sections. The first section, “Imaginaires,” comprises three chapters dealing with Tantric influences on the iconography, literature, and mythology of pre-modern China: Caroline Gyss examines liturgical furnishings and paintings (largely from Baoningsi 寶寧寺) pertaining to the “purificatory ritual of water and land” (shuiluzhai 水陸齋) and highlights local dynamics that helped to define the status of Tantric and/or Daoist deities during the Ming period. Vincent Durand-Dastès gives a detailed analysis of the perceived moral ambiguity of Tantric practices as they are described in sixteenth and seventeenth-century Chinese novels. Finally, Meir Shahar maps out the background, sources, and developments which nourished the Chinese imagination about the Nezha 那吒 deity with particular regard to Kṛṣṇa and Indian mythology. The second section, “Rituels,” deals with the socio-historical aspects of ritual practice: With special focus on the “Records of Yijian” (Yijian zhi 夷堅志), a famous collection of stories about things divine and supernatural compiled around 1198, Liu Hong examines lay Buddhist uses of the still popular “Dhāraṇī of Great Compassion” (Dabei zhou 大悲咒) and highlights its therapeutic and apotropaic significance in the context of medical practice vis-à-vis shamanism. In the only chapter written in English, Ester Bianchi discusses pre-modern as well as modern Chinese versions of the “Chanting of the Names of Mañjuśrī” (Mañjuśrī-nāma-saṃgīti) and their reception in twentieth-century China, which was also motivated by the growing interest in Tibetan Buddhism. Addressing contemporary Daoist ritual and the influence of Tantric mūdra-practice, Brigitte Baptandier gives an account of the various thaumaturgic and therapeutic competences maintained by the ritual experts of the Lüshan pai 閭山派 tradition located in Fujian and Taiwan. The third section, “Contrepoints: Japon et Corée,” comprises two chapters addressing Tantric practices in Japan and Korea, respectively: François Macé outlines certain synthetic aspects of Tantric Buddhism in Japan which reflect the ambiguity of tutelary deities venerated for their protective as well as transgressive assistance to the clergy and the lay people. With a length of 86...