ABSTRACT Blocked paper artifacts are historical papers that have become tightly bonded (sometimes partially mineralized) through combined chemical, physical, and biological degradation, making them a frequent problem in archaeological and archival holdings. To support conservation decision-making, this study aims to characterize the properties of degraded and blocked papers, and subsequently propose a mechanism for the blocking process. The Chinese Great Storage of Scriptures, dating to the Ming and Qing dynasties, is a significant Chinese Buddhist canon. A systematic approach, including microscopic observation (OM, SEM), phase composition (XRD, FTIR), and DNA sequencing of ITS amplicons, was used to analyze morphology, ageing characteristics, adhesive composition, and microbial influence on blocked paper-based objects. The results show that the blocked paper exhibits reduced cellulose crystallinity and severe acidification. The adhesive between the layers consists of inorganic deposits (quartz, muscovite, annite) and organic residues (lipid-based material, proteins). Fungal colonization contributes to the adhesion through the accumulation of hyphae and metabolic secretions within the fiber network. The dominant fungal species identified include Aspergillus sp., Cladorrhinum sp. and Acremonium sp., with Cladorrhinum sp. and Acremonium sp. being reported for the first time in ancient blocked papers. Overall, blocked scriptures result from the combined effects of inorganic, organic, and microbial agents, which form dense interlayer composites. These findings inform the development of integrated conservation strategies by addressing the specific synergies between inorganic, organic, and microbial components in blocked paper artifacts.

As a pivotal patriarch of the Pure Land school, Shandao 善導 (613–681) played a decisive role in shaping Pure Land Buddhism and the broader history of Chinese Buddhism. A direct disciple of Daochuo 道綽 (563–645), he championed the dual framework of Dingshan 定善 and Sanshan 散善 practices together with Nianfo 念佛 (Skt. buddhānusmṛti), especially Chiming nianfo 持名念佛 (vocal recitation of Amitābha’s name). Existing scholarship has already demonstrated that Shandao was not a master concerned exclusively with vocal recitation but also a systematic exegete of Guanfo 觀佛, visualisation, and samādhi. This article therefore does not present that recognition as its own innovation. Instead, it reconstructs the internal architecture by which Shandao’s Guanjing si tie shu 觀經四帖疏 (Commentary on the Contemplation Sūtra in Four Fascicles) integrates contemplative practice with three doctrinal commitments: the efficacy of ‘birth through ten recitations’ against the Yogācāra charge of Bieshi yi 別時意 (Skt. kālāntarābhiprāya, the identification of Amitābha’s land as a reward land, and the thesis that ordinary beings (Skt. pṛthagjana) may enter that land. Drawing also on the Guannian Amituo fo xianghai sanmei gongde famen 觀念阿彌陀佛相海三昧功德法門 (Method of Contemplating Amitābha Buddha’s Ocean-like Marks in Samādhi and Its Meritorious Virtues) and the Wangsheng lizan 往生禮讚 (Liturgy of Praise for Birth in the Pure Land), the article argues that Shandao’s originality lies less in any single doctrine than in the way these doctrines mutually support one another as a coherent programme of exegesis, practice, and Pure Land soteriology.

In modern China, the introduction of Science from the West posed a significant challenge to Chinese Buddhism, which was already in a state of decline. The intellectual currents of the New Culture Movement (1915–1923) and the subsequent anti-religious movement, which initially targeted Christianity but expanded to include all religions, subjected Buddhism to severe criticism and pressure for reform. In response, Buddhist intellectuals developed the idea of “Buddhism being scientific” as a defensive strategy. On the one hand, they direct parallels between Buddhist concepts, such as the microscopic world described in scriptures, and modern scientific discoveries like microbiology and the theory of relativity, aiming to demonstrate Buddhism’s empirical validity and superiority. On the other hand, they argued that Buddhism could supplement the shortcomings of science, particularly in addressing spiritual and moral needs, thus positioning it as a necessary complement to a purely materialistic worldview. Under the dominant influence of the scientific paradigm, Buddhism underwent a profound academic transformation. Its teachings were systematically integrated into modern disciplinary frameworks, such as Buddhist history, philosophy, and psychology, shifting from a primarily faith-based practice to an object of scholarly study. This scientization process stripped many traditional elements of their sacred character, reinterpreting them through a rational lens and ultimately redirecting the course of modern Chinese Buddhism.

Religious music is one of the most interesting elements of Buddhist culture, which clearly reflects the traces of previous cultural interactions, trends, and points of disagreement. This study aims to analyze the current trends in modern Buddhist choral music in China, focusing on recent sociopolitical changes that have occurred in this country. According to the results, the Chinese Buddhist community still demonstrates polarized opinions about borrowing foreign elements in Buddhist music. The study provides valuable material for further analysis of religious and cultural development in Chinese society. The findings can serve as a basis for identifying potential conflict points and finding solutions to them, as well as promoting interethnic and intercultural dialogue.

This paper examines the interactions between Chinese Buddhism and Christianity through the lens of Chinese modernity as a dialogical framework. It argues that these dialogues unfold across various platforms, primarily through the opposition to secularism and the promotion of social harmony. Spanning the period from 1949 to 2000, the study divides this interaction into four distinct phases: the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s–1980s, and 1990s. By analyzing the nature of Buddhist-Christian engagement in each period, this research reflects on the challenges and opportunities shaping their dialogue within the specific context of Chinese modernity.

Khenpo Sodargye is a key teacher and facilitator of the transmission of Nyingma, and in particular Dzogchen teachings, to Chinese lay and monastic practitioners, both at Larung Gar Buddhist Academy (Chinese: Wuming Foxueyuan ) and throughout China. While he has taught Chinese followers since 1987 using a range of methods, since 2019 in particular he has increasingly drawn from a repertoire of Chinese sources and traditions, including an array of Chan Buddhist texts. Among these texts used to teach Buddhism at the Academy are sūtras, which have been influential in East Asian Buddhism but less so in Tibetan Buddhism, including the Śūraṅgama Sūtra (Chinese: Shouleng’yan jing ). This article focuses on why and how Khenpo has deployed the Śūraṅgama Sūtra – given that it is a fundamentally Chan Chinese Buddhist text of allegedly spurious origins – within his lineage to give ultimate teachings on Dzogchen. Key to understanding his use of this sūtra is the philosophical backdrop of the Nyingma tradition against which he sets it, and to some degree the current political pressure to ‘sinicize’ Tibetan Buddhism and make it conform to socialist principles.

Translation of Chinese Buddhist Scriptures and Western Classical Literature

In 1934, D. T. Suzuki visited China and met the renowned Pure Land Buddhist Master Yinguang, who was then retreating at Baoguo Temple in Suzhou. They conversed in-depth on the practices of the Pure Land and Chan/Zen traditions in China and Japan. This conversation deepened their respective understandings on the diverse developments of Pure Land and Chan in both countries. In this article, we introduces the historical context of Suzuki’s visit to China and his encounter with Yinguang, and then describes Suzuki’s impressions of Chinese Chan Buddhism during his visit. what is more, we compares and contrasts Yinguang’s and Suzuki’s views on Chan and Pure Land in China as well as their views on Pure Land and True Pure Land in Japan. Finally, we critically examines Suzuki’s view on the “Other-Power” (他力, 彼の力) and speculates on the significance of this dialogue in the history of the exchange of Buddhism between China and Japan.

Until recently, our view of Chinese Buddhist history was overly influenced by sectarian categories inherited by Japanese Buddhism, which clearly distinguished Zen/Chan, Pure Land, and esoteric Buddhism (mostly Shingon 真言). Recently, scholars have begun to study syncretistic trends known as “esoteric Zen” and “esoteric nenbutsu.” However, the latter has so far been mostly examined within the framework of Shingon Buddhism. This paper will emphasize the importance of nenbutsu in the esoteric Tendai school (Taimitsu 台密), particularly in a secret ritual called “Genshi Kimyōdan” 玄旨帰命壇.

ABSTRACT This study explores the apologetic strategy adopted by Chinese Buddhist monastics who draw analogies between Buddhist teachings and the theory of time travel in theoretical physics. Confronted with the perception in contemporary China that Buddhism is unscientific or even superstitious, some Buddhist monastics seek to reinterpret Buddhist doctrines and distort physical theories to demonstrate that Buddhist texts had foreseen the time dilation in Einstein's theory of relativity, the future-directed time travel derived therefrom, and the wormholes. This study sheds light on an underexplored dimension in the existing scholarship on the interaction between Buddhism and physics.

This article contributes to rethinking the dichotomy between informal sociality and ritual formality by examining the occasional ritual encounters surrounding spirit‐tablet inscription in Chinese Buddhist temples. Rather than viewing rituals as enactments of established orders, it presents ritual engagement as a contingent process of relational formalization, through which individuals reconfigure their relational entanglements. Ethnographic attention to the selection and inscription of names on spirit‐tablets highlights the role of lay receptionists who facilitate, validate, and ritualize diverse affective ties, which process grants ritual autonomy to traditionally dependent actors, particularly women. Informed by yuanfen – a value‐neutral metapragmatic category of interconnectedness in Chinese popular culture, the paper introduces the concept of ‘serendipitous ritualization’ to describe how individuals navigate and negotiate contemporary identities through ritualized cultural forms. Overall, this paper shows how rituals mediate social‐religious transformations, portraying Chinese temple‐goers and other occasional ritual practitioners not merely as ‘performers’ but as proactive ‘knowers’ engaged in a dynamic journey of relational ritualization. By showing how individuals reinterpret and reshape their interpersonal relationships amid evolving social interactions and shifting relational expectations, the paper positions serendipitous ritualization as a vital practical‐epistemological process and advances the ritual analyses of social life.

This paper examines the Xiaoshi Jingang Keyi as a case of textual re-ritualization in the later history of Chinese Buddhism. Originally compiled by the Song dynasty monk Zongjing 宗鏡, the text transformed the exegetical reading of the Diamond Sūtra into a structured sequence of ritual acts centered on the notion of “entering the Diamond Dharma Assembly.” Its internal design—organized around the scripture’s “Thirty-two Sections” (三十二分) and the “Sevenfold Structure” (七種規模)—enabled successive generations to adapt the text to diverse ceremonial contexts. From the Ming and Qing dynasties onward, the Jingang Keyi circulated widely in ritual form across China, particularly within the Hokkien-speaking regions of Fujian and Guangdong, where the most active performance traditions emerged and later extended to Taiwan and Maritime Southeast Asia through migration. These vernacular enactments, often led by ritual specialists and supported by female lay associations (caigu 菜姑), illustrate how the Jingang Keyi was continually localized and revitalized while maintaining its canonical authority. The longevity of the Diamond Sūtra tradition depended not only on exegetical commentary but also on the text’s inherent capacity for re-ritualization—its ability to generate new performative meanings across changing historical and cultural settings. The Xiaoshi Jingang Keyi thus exemplifies how Buddhist scriptures have sustained ritual life through flexible structure, sound, and communal devotion.

ABSTRACT This paper investigates the concepts of generative cause (shengyin 生因) and revealing cause (liaoyin 了因) in the Mahāparinirvāṇa-mahāsūtra (MPNMS), particularly in fascicles 21–40, to reveal the text’s stratification. Through comparative analysis with Indian Buddhist texts such as the Laṅkāvatārasūtra and Piṅgala’s commentary on the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā, as well as examination of historical translation records, the research identifies two distinct patterns in the usage of these terms: Pattern A, which aligns with traditional Indian causal frameworks connecting conditioned and unconditioned phenomena, and Pattern B, which introduces novel interpretations by equating generative and revealing causes with primary and conditional causes, and emphasizing Buddha-nature as a fundamental cause. These patterns suggest that the MPNMS underwent multiple stages of compilation, reflecting Dharmakṣema’s intermittent translation work and the integration of different doctrinal perspectives. The findings provide insights into the text’s formation and the development of Chinese Buddhist theories of causation, while also demonstrating a new method of textual criticism through doctrinal analysis.

Several dozen Chinese scrolls from Dunhuang contain Khotanese writings on the verso. The contents of the Khotanese side are relatively diverse, including drafts letters and reports addressed to the Khotanese court, accounts and contracts, writing exercises, narrative works such as the Rāmāyaṇa and Sudhanāvadāna, lyrical poetry, medical treatises and Buddhist texts. By contrast, the Chinese side is significantly more uniform in content and appearance, comprising popular Mahāyāna scriptures copied in an even script, adhering to a regular layout. Although the Chinese sūtras were for the most part copied during the Sui-Tang era or the subsequent period of Tibetan rule over Dunhuang, the Khotanese writings seem to have been added significantly later, during the long tenth century. The reuse of Chinese Buddhist scrolls to write unrelated content—in Chinese and other languages—has typically been explained as the practice of recycling discarded manuscripts. Such explanations essentially see the Chinese sūtras on the recto as waste that was no longer wanted. This paper argues that the repurposing of Chinese scrolls could not have been exclusively motivated by paper shortage and the desire to cut costs. The paper situates this phenomenon within a broader range of reuse practices attested in Buddhist communities across Asia. The central argument advanced here is that reuse often involved a deliberate engagement with earlier textual layers, which retained aspects of their meaning even as new texts were added to the manuscript.

This article discusses the Tan Dun’s "Buddha Passion" through the prism of genre transformation. The purpose of the work is to identify the specifics of the interpretation of Passion in the composer's composition, through the analysis of the libretto, the features of drama and composition, as well as the presence of genre alloys. The composer, following the tradition of Passion, which allows for a free interpretation of primary sources, expands its textual and conceptual framework. Along with the libretto of the genre archetype, where the primary source is the text of the Gospel, in Buddha Passion the composer combines sutras, jatakas, mantras from the Indian and Chinese Buddhist canons, the Taoist treatise "Tao Te Ching", Chinese poetry by Wang Wei. Despite the genre basis of Passion, Tan Dun includes elements of Western European opera, Peking opera, and Buddhist religious chants, which significantly expands the boundaries of the genre. The methodology includes comparative historical, intertextual, and musical-dramatic analysis, which allows us to consider the work under study in the context of a synthesis of the Western European tradition of the Passion genre and Eastern culture. The novelty of the research lies in a comprehensive analysis of the libretto of the work, including consideration of the range of primary sources, their interpretation and the composer's methods of working with the text, as well as in identifying elements of other genres in the Buddha Passion, contributing to the emergence of an original genre fusion in the composition. The results of the work demonstrate that Buddha Passion is a quasi-passion in which the genre archetype is reinterpreted by replacing the traditional gospel plot with Buddhist parables, sutras and mantras, and its musical and dramatic features, along with reliance on archetypal features, combine elements of Western European opera, Buddhist ritual and Peking opera. Thus, in the work under study, Tan Dun presents an original interpretation of the European genre, combining the cultural traditions of the East and the West.

Music and religion have along and interwoven relationship, with music beinga tool for worshipa way for spiritual experiences, and a method to express faith. The role of music, especially the use of theviolin, in the context of religions, emotional, psychological and spiritual well-being in different cultures, israrely studied. This study examines the spiritual, emotional, and cultural aspects of the violin in religious platforms through varied colors of religious traditions Christianity, Jews, Hindu, Muslims, Chinese Buddhism, and indigenous practices people. Such studies are the testaments to the consistency of the music-violin in the cross-cultural endurance and appeal at the spiritual level. The qualitative, historic and ethnomusicological methodologies in research are used to examine the roles of the violin in the religious context using secondary literature and sources of musicological reports, ethnography, historical reports and performances in music that were recorded. The article considers the role of the instrument in connection with its ability to bring about transcendent feeling, mediation of emotional outpouring, spiritual well-being and correlation of representation of divine association within religious ritual processes and ceremonies. It establishes common and divergent uses of the violin through a comparative model across variouscultures. The subsequent discussion touches upon the history of the way the violin was used religiously and how globalization, modernization, and cultural hybridity changed its importance in religious music nowadays. The documented studies demonstrate how the instrument was adopted into Christian sacred concertos, Jewish Klezmer and synagogue traditions, Hindu traditions of bhajan performances, Islamic Sufi rituals and Chinese religious traditions of ensembles. The paper is able to show this through its analysis of these contexts, to present the violin as a special transcultural sacred instrument that serves to mark a line between individual and societal worshipping. Finally, the study gives credence to the continued usefulness and significance of the violin in thesoundscape of religious manifestations across the world.

This study explores the philosophical development of the Heart of Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra (心经) within Chinese Buddhism, focusing on its transmission during the Tang dynasty and its integration into Daoist and Confucian thought. Using both textual and historical-philosophical analysis, it compares Xuanzang’s accurate translation with earlier versions by Kumārajīva and interprets the key doctrine “form is emptiness, emptiness is form.” The study emphasizes how Chinese scholars like Sengzhao reinterpreted śūnyatā (emptiness) through Daoist wu (non-being) and Confucian ethics, turning it into an epistemic and moral framework. The findings indicate that Chinese Buddhism saw emptiness not as nihilism but as a dynamic relational ontology that influences cognition, ethics, and spiritual practice, thereby enhancing cross-cultural philosophical understanding.

The Zhenshimingjing 真實名經, a Chinese Buddhist scripture translated from the Tibetan Nāmasaṃgīti, is preserved in multiple Tripitaka editions and multilingual manuscripts. Previous studies either confined themselves to intra-Chinese collation without the Tibetan source, or to multilingual comparison based solely on the Taisho Tripitaka. This study integrates both approaches by analyzing Chinese Tripitaka editions alongside two multilingual versions of the Zhenshimingjing. It clarifies the interrelationships among the extant versions and evaluates their correspondence to the Tibetan source text, thereby determining their philological value. The results show that the earliest Tripitaka editions already contained numerous graphic and phonetic corruptions, which later recensions largely perpetuated. Although the Yonglebei Tripitaka represents the most extensively collated recension, it remained limited by the collators’ lack of Tibetan knowledge. By contrast, the multilingual manuscripts—especially the Vira edition—preserve readings closer to the Tibetan Nāmasaṃgīti and demonstrate the diachronic continuity of transmission independent of the Tripitaka. The study underscores the necessity of combining intra-Chinese collation with multilingual comparison to reconstruct a more reliable text and reassess long-standing issues in the philological study of Chinese Buddhist translations.

In the Chinese Buddhist tradition, copying and printing sacred texts is considered a form of merit-making, or virtuous activity. One reason for the printing and circulation of books in the Buddhist tradition is the belief that one can gain merits. From the introduction of Buddhism into China, devotees copied, printed and disseminated sūtras to generate merit, a kind of spiritual goodness, which accumulates with each positive act. The author has gathered a large amount of data from libraries, museums and temples around the world that demonstrates how the imperial family members, concubines, court ladies, eunuchs, Buddhist monks and lay devotees supported the construction of the Buddhist canon. They believed that the printing of the Buddhist scriptures would grant them all kinds of merit, such as those who seek happiness in life now and happiness in the next life, or those who encounter disasters and difficulties in the present world. As this paper deeply delves into the sources of the editions of the Chinese Buddhist canon, we may further analyze the practice of merit-making hierarchically and horizontally.

The digitization of the Chinese Buddhist Canon represents a transformative shift in Buddhist textual scholarship, enabling unprecedented access to and analysis of one of East Asia’s most extensive scriptural collections. This review examines the evolution of digital platforms, with a focus on the Chinese Buddhist Electronic Text Association (CBETA) and the SAT Daizōkyō Text Database, which have become foundational resources in the field. It evaluates their respective methodological paradigms—CBETA’s critical edition model and SAT’s interoperable, ecosystem-based approach—while highlighting their shared reliance on the Taishō Tripiṭaka as a base text. The study identifies a persistent “Taishō bottleneck,” wherein the dominance of a single edition obscures the rich textual diversity inherent in the canon’s three major lineages: Central, Southern, and Northern. By surveying newly accessible image databases of key editions such as the Zhaocheng Jin Canon 趙城金藏, Sixi Canon 思溪藏, and Qidan Canon 契丹藏, the paper argues for a paradigm shift toward a multi-lineage collation framework. The integration of artificial intelligence—particularly in OCR, text–image alignment, and semantic analysis—is presented as essential for realizing a “Hybrid Digital Canon.” This model would harmonize genealogical, media, and methodological pluralism, fostering a more nuanced and historically grounded digital philology.