Chinese Religion Research Articles

Gendering Chinese Religion: Subject, Identity, and Body ed. by Jinhua Jia, Xiaofei Kang, Ping Yao (review)

the Goossaert’s preface, are lectures in colloquial language (often in dialects), based on the written texts, which allowed even illiterate people to comprehend the basic meaning of didactic texts.17 This book of translations may be recommended to everybody interested in the history, religion, and culture of China. The facing-page bilingual format for the texts and their translations—combined with the general simplicity of the classical Chinese used in morality books—also makes it good study material for Francophone students learning classical Chinese. ROSTISLAV BEREZKIN Fudan University JINHUA JIA, XIAOFEI KANG, and PING YAO, eds., Gendering Chinese Religion: Subject, Identity, and Body. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2014. x, 300 pp. US$30 (hb). ISBN 978-1-4384-5307-1 This book is a collection of essays that grew out of the papers presented at the First International Conference on Women and Gender in Chinese Religion, which took place at the University of Macao in 2011. The editors attempt to tackle the “double blindness” in the study of religion and gender and to promote the “gendercritical turn” first proposed by Ursula King in 2004. They identify a double blindness specific to the China field, namely, that gender has received little attention in the scholarship on Chinese religion, while religion has rarely been included in scholarly discussions on gender in China. Such blindness renders the gender dimensions of Chinese religiosity invisible. The editors propose to remedy this by “facilitating multidisciplinary and comparative dialogues, integrating the studies of women, gender, and religion in the China field and thoroughly investigating their scope, methodologies , sources, and perspectives” (p. 2). The result is a welcome collection that delivers what it advertises. The nine essays in this volume are grouped around three themes: restoring female religiosity and subjectivity, redefining identity and tradition, and recovering bodily differences. Each theme is discussed in a set of three essays written by scholars with very different disciplinary training. Within each set the essays are arranged chronologically. Thus, the editors optimize the chronological, disciplinary, and thematic coverage of the volume while highlighting the particular strengths of the field. The three essays in part 1, by Yao Ping, Beata Grant, and Zhange Ni, aim to reconstruct women’s religiosity and subjectivity. They do so by examining previously neglected texts or rereading familiar texts that portray or are written by women on their religious beliefs and experiences. Yao Ping focuses on understudied medieval epigraphical materials, drawing attention to the ways mothers and daughters helped shape and promote Chinese manifestations of Buddhist filiality in the Tang era. Beata Grant and Zhange Ni both focus on women’s own narrations of 17 On this, see Yau Chi-on (You Zi’an) 游子安, “Cong xuanjiang shengyu dao shuo shanshu: jindai quanshan fangshi zhi chuancheng 從宣講聖諭到說善書：近代勸善方式之傳承,” Wenhua yichan 文化遺產 2008, no. 2 (cumulative no. 3): 49–58. 206 REVIEWS their religious experiences. Examining the autobiographical sermon of female Chan master Jizong Xingche 繼總行徹 (1606–?), Grant argues that Jizong gained authority and legitimacy by adopting the self-narratives of early male Chan masters when relating her own enlightenment experience. Zhange re-reads the autobiographical novel Jixin (棘心, Thorny Heart) by the well-known woman author Su Xuelin 蘇雪林 (1897–1999), delineating the blind spots that obscure the richness of the novel. In particular, Su’s nationalist and revolutionary audience ignored her Catholic conservatism while her Catholic audience failed to appreciate the inherent radicalism of a woman intellectual converting to Catholicism. Neither group acknowledged the unique challenges faced by women Catholics and their genderspecific religious experience in the early twentieth century. Part 2 consists of three essays by Jinhua Jia, Xiaofei Kang, and Wai Ching Angela Wong. The stated aim is to “analyze the gender lenses and discourses through which religious women have been commented upon and judged” (p. 9). The three essays illuminate the nature and significance of religious women’s interaction with men and their religious activities in the public sphere. Jia, drawing from both transmitted and excavated sources, effectively dispels the long-standing misimpression that Daoist priestesses of the Tang dynasty were courtesans. Kang follows the evolution of the story of The White-Haired Girl from a narrative condemning the oppression of poor peasants by wealthy landowners to...

The Journal of Wu Yubi: The Path to Sagehood (review)

province. She argues that this is a life-cycle ritual that transforms a woman from the status of procreator into that of a non-procreator while also glorifying marriage. Although it seemingly supports traditional patriarchal values, it also enhances a woman’s bond with her female kin, especially that between mother and daughter. This volume aims to represent the current state of the subfield of women, gender, and religion in China studies. It is successful in drawing scholarly attention to the ways in which women and gender centered research could lead to a more thorough understanding of Chinese religion. One of its main contributions is the variety of materials and methodologies that the authors of this anthology utilized. Many of the primary sources, such as newly discovered inscriptions and turn-of-the-nineteenth-century manuals on female alchemy, reveal aspects of women’s religious practices and influences rarely captured in other materials. While striving to bring about the gender-critical turn, the editors are keenly aware that the volume remains focused mostly on women rather than gender. Less than half of the essays directly explore the differences between men and women in their religious notions and practices. Nonetheless, this volume will continue to inspire future studies that seek to reconceptualize and reimagine Chinese religions from a gender perspective, which might be the greatest of all its contributions. JESSEY J. C. CHOO Rutgers University The Journal of Wu Yubi: The Path to Sagehood. Translated, with Introduction and Commentary, by M. THERESA KELLEHER. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc., 2013. xliii, 187 pp. US$13, £9.95 (pb). ISBN 978-1-62466-042-9 Philosophical disquisitions on the existential pursuit of self-cultivation and the soteriological goal of sagehood abound in the scholarly literature on Confucian thought, especially that on the Song-Ming period, during which the so-called Learning of the Way (daoxue 道學) prevailed. But there are scant descriptions of how the devotees actually practiced such cultivation; nor is there vivid limning of the ways in which their lived experiences were animated and governed by these diurnal preoccupations and lofty purposes. Theresa Kelleher’s translation and commentary of Wu Yubi’s 吳與弼 (1392–1469) “Journal” (rilu 日錄), which literally means “daily record,” partially fills this gaping lacuna. Interestingly, an earlier name of the text was “Record of Daily Renewal” (rixin lu 日新錄), which is a direct reference to the Great Learning’s injunction of ceaselessly renewing oneself as a quotidian commitment. Wu Yubi, the author of the “Journal,” founded no great intellectual or academic lineage, having early on in his youth abandoned formal academic studies and withdrawn to a life of farming and teaching in order to focus on the quest for sagehood. Nevertheless, in the end, he did achieve great fame as a scholar and teacher, was invited by the court to serve as a tutor, and garnered high praise from Huang Zongxi 黄宗羲 (1610–1695), whose canonical Mingru xue’an 明儒學案 (Case Studies of Ming Scholars) credited him as a wellspring of Ming thought. Some of his students, most notably, Hu Juren 胡居仁 (1434–1484) and Chen Xianzhang 陳獻章 (1428–1500), rose to great prominence as intellectual giants of the Ming. Kelleher’s translation and study of Wu’s journal shed light on how a Confucian 208 REVIEWS scholar dedicated to the existential cause of apprehending the Way and Heaven lived, as evidenced and revealed in Wu’s devotional and confessional recordings of what he did and how he felt. Instead of getting to know this Ming scholar’s ideas as abstract philosophical thought, we get clear glimpses of his psychological strivings and struggles, not to mention the debilitating material scarcity that characterized the life of an indigent scholar-farmer. The book has a tripartite structure. The first part is an introduction wherein we get a brief biography of Wu, and a terse overview of the intellectual and political contexts in which he lived and thought. What seems to be missing here in the introduction is a concerted effort to provide at least a laconic picture of Wu’s thinking. Just what are the lineaments and distinctive arguments of his Confucian learning? How do they square with or diverge from Ming thought? Since so little has been...

Reconstructing the Confucian Dao: Zhu Xi’s Appropriation of Zhou Dunyi by Joseph A. Adler (review)

BOOK REVIEWS JOSEPH A. ADLER, Reconstructing the Confucian Dao: Zhu Xi’s Appropriation of Zhou Dunyi. SUNY Series in Chinese Philosophy and Culture. Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 2014. x, 331 pp. US$95 (hb). ISBN 978-1-4384-5157-2 Joseph A. Adler’s contribution to Confucian studies aims to clarify the problematic relationship that unites Zhu Xi 朱熹 (1130–1200) with Zhou Dunyi 周敦頤 (1017– 1073). Indeed, why did Zhu Xi choose a minor figure with Daoist connections as the founder of “Neo-Confucianism”? In order to clarify this “appropriation” from one thinker to another, Adler proposes an answer in two parts (argumentation and translations ), divided into eight chapters. The introduction, especially useful to non-specialist readers, recounts the emergence of Song Confucianism and its masters. Unsatisfied with the conventional philosophical explanation for Zhu Xi’s choice of Zhou Dunyi, Adler argues that one must inquire into Zhu Xi’s life and religious practice to understand his thought. Through a well-justified explanation of Confucianism as a religious tradition, Adler asserts that Zhu Xi’s articulation of the difference between belief and action is fundamental to explain “the peculiar shape taken by the Cheng-Zhu school” (p. 7) and, therefore, to analyze the issue of the succession of the Way or daotong 道統. Through the exposition of biographical, historical, and political elements (chapter 1), Adler shows that Zhu Xi’s vision of the Dao 道 is grounded in the differentiation between Buddhist (Chan) and Confucian metaphysical interpretations, as well as in their concrete applications within society. Zhu Xi aims to find the way to cultivate oneself and to practice the Confucian Dao at a governmental level. Regarding the transmission of the Dao, Adler examines its discontinuous structure through the figures of Confucius, Mencius, Han Yu 韓愈, and the Cheng brothers 二程. He then turns to Zhou Dunyi’s life, and to Hu Hong’s 胡宏 (1105–1155) first assertion that Zhou was the one who carried on the Confucian lineage (see Zhu Xi’s Preface to Master Zhou’s Tongshu, translated by Adler on pp. 32–34). For his part, Zhu Xi discovered Zhou Dunyi’s writings in 1152, but only developed a true interest for his thought under the leadership of his teacher, Li Tong 李侗 (1093–1163), beginning in the 1160s. In chapter 2, Adler pertinently considers Zhu Xi’s discursive strategy and campaign with Zhang Shi 張栻 (1133–1180), through pilgrimages and commemorations (some of which are translated by Adler), to establish Zhou Dunyi’s legitimacy. For Zhu Xi, the parallels between the figures of Fuxi 伏羲 and Zhou Dunyi as well as their expressive styles (trigrams and diagram) prove that Confucianism is the sole authentic Dao, and that only these two sages received it directly from Heaven. Thanks to Zhu Xi’s disciples, the idea of Zhou Dunyi being the first sage of the Song dynasty had become orthodox by the Yuan dynasty (1259–1368). Journal of Chinese Religions, 43. 2, 194–219, November 2015© Society for the Study of Chinese Religions 2015 DOI 10.1179/0737769X15Z.00000000024 But Adler points out that this “scenario” has weaknesses, since Zhu Xi’s 1190 prefaces to the Daxue 大學 and to the Zhongyong 中庸 clearly omit Zhou Dunyi in the transmission of the Way to the benefit of Cheng Hao 程顥 (1032–1085). To solve this contradiction, Adler argues that, in this case, Zhu Xi does not consider the transmission of the Way in general, but only the transmission of these two texts in particular that are further linked to the Cheng brothers’ concerns. One may reply that the issue of authenticity or cheng 誠 is nevertheless fundamental to these two texts and to Zhou Dunyi’s Penetrating the Scripture of Change (Tongshu 通書). For Adler, Zhu Xi’s choice in favor of Zhou Dunyi is a reevaluation of his opinion, and he detects three types of issues—sectarian, philosophical, and historical —that would explain the difficulty of including Zhou Dunyi within the Learning of the Way or daoxue 道學. In chapter 3, Adler considers a central issue of Zhu Xi’s thought, that of unexpressed (weifa 未發) and expressed (yifa 已發) heart-mind (xin 心). He shows that Zhou Dunyi’s concept of “interpenetration of activity and stillness” (jing 靜 dong 動) is the key to the...

Ithamar Theodor, and Zhihua Yao, eds. Brahman and Dao: Comparative Studies of Indian and Chinese Philosophy and Religion (edited by Ethan Mills)

Ithamar Theodor, and Zhihua Yao, eds. Brahman and Dao: Comparative Studies of Indian and Chinese Philosophy and Religion (edited by Ethan Mills)

Religious, Cultural Implications of Hanzu Temple in Chinese Popular Religion

Religious, Cultural Implications of Hanzu Temple in Chinese Popular Religion

Excavating the afterlife: the archaeology of early Chinese religion

AcknowledgmentsChronology of Early Chinese Dynasties Introduction1. The Dead Who Would Not Be Ancestors2. The Transformation of Burial Space3. The Presence of the Invisible4. Letters to the Underworld5. Journey to the Northwest ConclusionNotesGlossary of Chinese CharactersBibliographyIndex

Max Weber and patterns of Chinese history

Max Weber’s The Religion of China: Confucianism and Taoism (1951) has been regarded as a book containing many distortions, wrong characterizations, and politically incorrect arguments by the contemporary Western social scientists. This article, however, argues that while Weber has made his analyses based on very limited information, his arguments about the nature of Chinese cities and Chinese religions, and his explanation of China’s impossibility to achieve industrial capitalism before the advent of Western imperialism, are largely correct. This article further argues that the current attack on Max Weber, particularly by the so-called California school scholars, represents not a genuine intellectual advancement but fads and fashions of today’s Western scholarship.

Interpretation and Literature in Early Medieval China ed. by Alan K. L. Chan, Yuet-Keung Lo, and: Philosophy and Religion in Early Medieval China ed. by Alan K. L. Chan, Yuet-Keung Lo (review)

BOOK REVIEWS ALAN K. L. CHAN and YUET-KEUNG LO, eds., Interpretation and Literature in Early Medieval China. Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 2010. vi, 288 pp. US$80 (hb). ISBN 978-1-4384-3217-5 ALAN K. L. CHAN and YUET-KEUNG LO, eds., Philosophy and Religion in Early Medieval China. Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 2010. v, 375 pp. US$80 (hb). ISBN 978-1-4384-3187-1 With the publication of these two volumes, Chan and Lo have deeply enriched our understanding of early medieval China (220–589 CE). This is the first attempt to assemble an English language conference volume that focuses on both the intellectual and religious history of early medieval China—an incredibly significant era in which Confucianism lost its ideological monopoly, Daoism emerged as an organized religion, and Buddhism became a permanent fixture on China’s cultural landscape. Besides redirecting our focus to this neglected but momentous period, these volumes include a number of outstanding contributions that recast how we should envision early medieval assumptions and values. The good news is both volumes contain insightful articles on Chinese religion. Negatives include the existence of two volumes rather than one, a weak thematic coherence, and their neglect of Confucianism. On the whole, however, these volumes will considerably benefit specialists in pre-modern Chinese culture. These volumes emerge from two conferences, one in Singapore and the other in Shanghai, sponsored by the National University of Singapore. The Philosophy and Religion volume has eleven chapters: five of which concern Xuanxue 玄學, two on Daoism, two on Buddhism, one on reclusion, and the final essay addresses fate. The Interpretation and Literature volume contains nine chapters. The first four treat literary culture. Chapters 5, 6, and 7 discuss literary aspects of Daoism and Buddhism. Chapters 8 and 9 discuss motifs in popular narratives. Since over half of the essays in Interpretation and Literature are about religion, one wonders why two volumes are necessary. The editors explain that, The project was conceived as a multidisciplinary venture. Scholarship does not grow well in insularity; our plan was to bring together in a single book fresh studies on early medieval Chinese philosophy, religion, literature and interpretation, not only to deepen our understanding of these topics but also to open up a view of the interconnections of the early medieval Chinese intellectual enterprise. However, a single volume proved unworkable, given the constraints that publishers face. Still, some of the essays may fit just as nicely in this or in the companion volume. (Interpretation and Literature, pp. 1–2). # Society for the Study of Chinese Religions 2015 DOI: 10.1179/0737769X15Z.00000000021 Journal of Chinese Religions, 43. 1, 89–118, May 2015 Thus, the decision to make two volumes was based on the overabundance of essays, resulting in a somewhat arbitrary thematic division. The quoted text above also indicates that these volumes should be judged based on their success in deepening our understanding of the connections between early medieval philosophy, religion, and literature. A striking contribution made by the Philosophy and Religion volume is that it recasts how we view the philosophical ruminations of the Xuanxue (Learning of the Mysterious Dao 道) movement. Four out of the five essays on this philosophy demonstrate that, rather than being theorists who were solely concerned with metaphysical questions, He Yan 何晏, Wang Bi 王弼, and Xi Kang 嵇康 were also intensely concerned with political and ethical issues. In fact, their discussions of ontology informed their vision of how political order should be instituted. In the volume’s opening essay, “Sage Nature and the Logic of Namelessness,” Alan Chan demonstrates that He Yan perceived wu 無 (nothing, non-being) as a nameless, complete, and harmonious energy source that produces all phenomena in a balanced and ordered manner. The sage embodies wu; thus, he is also harmonious, unbiased, and complete. If he becomes ruler, then all things will be well-ordered because he will choose the right people to administrate. For He Yan, sages are born, not made. In the absence of a sage, the best one can do is to select excellent men as officials. In a much more opaque essay, “Tracing the Dao: Wang Bi’s Theory of Names,” Jude Soo-Meng Chua notes...

The Daoist Tradition: An Introduction by Louis Komjathy (review)

“Nature” is not the only word that might leave readers perplexed. In view of the contributors’ free and frequent use of the terms “religion” and “religious,” it seems necessary, at the risk of banality, to point out that “religion” is not Chinese; in fact, as readers of the Journal of Chinese Religions are surely aware, there is no native Chinese word for it. (The modern word zongjiao 宗教 was borrowed from Japanese precisely when translators of Western texts needed a word for “religion.”)15 Thus the book aims to show how Xunzi can shed light on a concept for which there was no word in his own language. Are we dealing, then, with a pseudo-problem? Perhaps not, but the editors should have addressed this question explicitly; readers should not be left to wonder. I think the contributors’ view is essentially that religion is a universal human phenomenon that we happen to call “religion” in English, but maybe I am misconstruing them. Or it might be a disciplinary marker: the editors state that Ritual and Religion in the Xunzi is intended as a plea for including Xunzi in a Religious Studies curriculum (p. 16). This goal has my wholehearted support, even with the pang that it makes Xunzi (and religion) seem a bit academic. PAUL R. GOLDIN University of Pennsylvania LOUIS KOMJATHY, The Daoist Tradition: An Introduction. London: Bloomsbury, 2013. xxiii, 375 pp. £22.99, US$39.95 (pb). ISBN 978-1-4411-6873-3 Following the tradition of English-language introductions to the Daoist religion published in the first decade of the twenty-first century,16 Louis Komjathy has composed a comprehensive description of Daoism which combines an abundance of factual information with fresh insights and innovative concepts. While acknowledging the significance of a historical framework and remaining attentive throughout the book to the multifarious forms of Daoist religious life during all periods of Chinese (and world) history, Komjathy models the organizing pattern of his work after central conceptions and practices of the Daoist tradition—past and present. This book is addressed to an academic as well as general audience and is especially designed for classroom use, in combination with online resources accessible through the publisher’s companion website. It should be noted that Komjathy, drawing not only on his academic training but also on his experiences as “participant-observer” (p. xi), strives to provide a new vision of Daoism “as a transnational religious tradition characterized 15 Cf. Yong Chen, Confucianism as Religion: Controversies and Consequences (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2013), 14ff. Zongjiao is attested in Chinese sources long before this, but with a meaning that I would describe as “the doctrines of a particular sect,” certainly not “religion” in its modern sense. Tim H. Barrett and Francesca Tarocco, “Terminology and Religious Identity: Buddhism and the Genealogy of the Term zongjiao,” in Dynamics in the History of Religions between Asia and Europe: Encounters, Notions, and Comparative Perspectives, ed. Volkhard Krech and Marion Steinicke (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2012), 307–319, provide further notes on nineteenth-century usages of zongjiao. 16 These include Taoism: The Enduring Tradition (London and New York: Routledge, 2004) by Russell Kirkland; Daoism and Chinese Culture (Cambridge, MA: Three Pines Press, 2001, rev. edition 2004); and Introducing Daoism (London and New York: Routledge, 2009) by Livia Kohn; as well as Daoism: A Short Introduction (Oxford: Oneworld, 2003, republished as Daoism: A Beginner’s Guide in 2008) by James Miller. 104 BOOK REVIEWS bycultural, ethnic, and linguistic diversity” (p. x), thatis, a traditionalChinese religion which has begun to make inroads into non-Chinese cultural environments to become “global Daoism.” Thus, the intended audience of the present book includes “Daoist adherents and sympathizers” (p. xii). On a formal note, The Daoist Tradition is very well organized and clearly arranged. Each chapter begins with a chapter outline and ends with suggestions for further reading. Numerous passages from representative Daoist texts, either in Komjathy’s own translation or adapted from earlier renderings, appear in text boxes. Illustrations, charts, a timeline of Daoist history, and a basic glossary complement the main text. All Daoist titles and terms are translated, but their Chinese characters are, regrettably, not provided (with the exception of very...

Are the Chinese Collectivistss? Critical Reflections on a Conundrum in Understanding Chinese Culture

A widely used commonplace about Chinese culture characterizes it as ‘collectivistic’. Based on recent psychological research, I show that the ‘individualism vs. collectivism’ dichotomy is highly misleading. I propose a three-dimensional analytical framework that adds the dimensions of ‘categorial vs. relational embeddedness’ and ‘verticality vs. horizontality’. In this space, China obtains the position of ‘individualism’ combined with ‘relational embeddedness’ and ‘verticality’. I argue that this location grounds in more fundamental cognitive structures of field dependence, and I propose the hypothesis that field dependence reflects the aesthetic pattern of ‘modularization’ in Chinese writing. I provide support for this psychological reasoning by reference to three approaches in Chinese studies: Fei Xiaotong’s indigenous comparison between Western and Chinese society, confirming the three-dimensional framework, the study of ‘guanxi’ as an individualistic means of building social capital, and the case of polytropy in traditional Chinese religion, which supports my argument on modularization.

Traditional Chinese Religion trusts in Hong Kong

Traditional Chinese Religion trusts in Hong Kong

Gendering Chinese Religion: Subject, Identity, and Body, edited by Jinhua Jia, Xiaofei Kang, and Ping Yao, 2014

Gendering Chinese Religion: Subject, Identity, and Body, edited by Jinhua Jia, Xiaofei Kang, and Ping Yao, 2014

Intergenerational Religious Mobility in Contemporary China

This study illustrates intergenerational religious mobility with the case of Chinese society. Using the quasi-symmetric log-linear model to separate structure mobility from exchange mobility, we examine the variation in religious identities between the reform era generation and their parents. Structure mobility results suggest that the encompassing social reform over the past decades in China has encouraged the structural growth of Islam and Christianity across generations, but traditional Chinese religions bear remarkable intergenerational disadvantages. Moreover, religious nones are growing across generations, at least relative to traditional Chinese religions. Exchange mobility findings indicate that individuals whose parents follow traditional Chinese religions are very likely to “convert” to Christianity. However, children of religious nones do not necessarily remain irreligious, possibly undermining the structural advantages of religious nones in the future. Finally, a comparison between cohort and period effects drives us to conclude that the major social force underpinning the revival of Chinese religion in the reform era is generational replacement instead of an increasingly religious transition of “old” generations.

Sanctity and Self‐Inflicted Violence in Chinese Religions, 1500–1700. By JimmyYu. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012. Pp. xiv + 272. Cloth, £64; paper, £19.99.

Religious Studies ReviewVolume 41, Issue 1 p. 36-36 East Asia Sanctity and Self-Inflicted Violence in Chinese Religions, 1500–1700. By Yu, Jimmy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012. Pp. xiv + 272. Cloth, £64; paper, £19.99. Peter Ditmanson, Peter Ditmanson Oriental Institute, University of OxfordSearch for more papers by this author Peter Ditmanson, Peter Ditmanson Oriental Institute, University of OxfordSearch for more papers by this author First published: 06 March 2015 https://doi.org/10.1111/rsr.12203_5Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume41, Issue1March 2015Pages 36-36 RelatedInformation

Competing Imperatives: Conflicts and Convergences in State and Islam in Pluralist Malaysia

This article examines the evolution of state–religion relations in Malaysia from a secularconstitutional democracy with Islamic symbols to one where Islam as the religion of the federation is becoming a public doctrine, influencing norm-creation and norm-critique. It identifies a normative convergence between the Syariah and the secular courts on the content of religious freedom and the imperative to maintain a closed community. In this regard, this paper locates this development within a wider movement to reverse the priority of secular norms over Islamic ones. It analyses the attendant social, legal, and political factors influencing these developments and considers their implications for the equal rights of non-Muslim citizens and the ideal of a democratic Malaysian state. 1. I NTRODUCTION Malaysia has a pluralistic legal system, what is sometimes termed weak legal pluralism. 1 It has a general system of courts that accommodates a system of state Islamic or Syariah courts. These Syariah courts have jurisdiction over persons professing Islam with respect to a limited range of personal laws. Muslims make up 61.3% of the population in Malaysia. The remaining 40% of the population profess Buddhism (about 20%), Christianity (about 9%), Hinduism (about 6%), Confucianism/ Taoism/other traditional Chinese religions (about 1.3%), and Sikhism and other beliefs (about 2.1%). 2 It has been observed that there is a significant overlap between ethnicity and religion in Malaysia, such that most persons of Chinese origins profess Buddhism, while persons of Indian origins tend also to profess Hinduism. This overlap is most marked with respect to Islam and Malay ethnicity, with almost all persons

Chinese popular religion and Hong Kong identity

Hong Kong Chinese follow traditional Daoist or folk religion, along with Buddhist practices and ancestor worship. But most urban areas do not have neighborhood temples, and modern postindustrial life does not fit well with traditional religion. It is difficult to identify religion in Hong Kong because many people do not recognize their practices as religious. Many traditional practices and rituals, from neighborhood processions to “superstitions” like “beating the petty person” and fengshui, have been presented as heritage representing Hong Kong culture. Religion is thus overlooked in Hong Kong, and at the same time, diversity and tolerance are the characteristics that most mark the Hong Kong religious landscape.

The Cult of Spirit-Writing in the Qing: The Daoist Dimension

In Chinese religions, “spirit-writing” is an oracular technique that channels communication between the realm of deities and groups of devotees. Popular in 19th-century China, there is little evidence that it was particularly Daoist and that spirit-written scriptures contained in the Ming Daozang emerged directly from traditional Daoist doctrine. However, its adoption in the Qing greatly influenced the development of the religion, sparking the growth of lay practice. Beginning in the early 17th century, literati-led spirit-writing altars flourished, devoted to the immortal Lu Dongbin. Small but widespread groups centering on altars since then have represented a third facet of the religion, besides monastic and fire-dwelling Daoism. Not founded by monks or priests, these groups are lay congregations centering on spirit-writing cults to Patriarch Lu. They place strong emphasis on the personal aspect of devotion and self-cultivation through internal alchemy and other methods, commonly revealed through spirit-writing. Central to their belief structure is a shift from institutionalized to local and personal religion, opening a different path to salvation and exploring new forms of meditative processes. The compilation, production, and circulation of different editions of their texts, such as the spirit-written Luzu quanshu , shows an association network devoted to lay Daoist spirit-writing cults not only in the main centers of Wuchang, Changzhou, Hangzhou, Chengdu, Beijing, Guangdong, and elsewhere.

Ge Hong’s Xian: Private Hermits and Public Alchemists

This article addresses the position of Ge Hong (283–343) in early medieval Daoism by provoking a reconsideration of earlier forms of Chinese religion. The article argues that Ge Hong’s greatest innovation was his bringing together two separate traditions of early Chinese religion, namely that of the xian (often translated as “immortal”) that I identify with early Daoism, and that of alchemy that somehow was related to the fangshi movement. The article examines the historical trajectory of these two traditions as Ge Hong received them by exploring two of his major works, the Baopuzi neipian and the Shenxian zhuan, and examines the ways in which he relates these two early traditions to each other. He does this by portraying and describing two kinds of xian, which I call “private” and “public.” The article shows that Ge Hong’s accomplishment had a deep and lasting impact of the future traditions of medieval Daoism.

Sanctity and Self-Inflicted Violence in Chinese Religions, 1500–1700. By Jimmy Yu

Sanctity and Self-Inflicted Violence in Chinese Religions, 1500–1700. By Jimmy Yu

The Religiousness of “Confucianism”, and the Revival of Confucian Religion in China Today / 关于“儒”的宗教性与儒教在当代中国的复兴

AbstractThe English term “Confucianism” may refer to three different concepts in the Chinese language: the school of Confucianism, scholastic tradition of Confucianism, and the religious tradition of Confucianism. From a sociological perspective, Confucianism as an official political orthodoxy no longer exists. However, Confucianism as a cultural tradition remains, and it is expressed in various aspects of the Chinese social life, which echoes the diffused characteristics of a typical Chinese religion. In this research, we try to demonstrate that the religiousness of Confucianism fulfills the cultural and ethical needs of the on-going new religious movement in China. Also, it helps modern people in their search for a life of meaning in times of cultural crisis and socialanomie.