East Asian Buddhism Research Articles

Spreading Buddha's Word in East Asia: The Formation and Transformation of the Chinese Buddhist Canon ed. by Jiang Wu and Lucille Chia

Reviewed by: Spreading Buddha's Word in East Asia: The Formation and Transformation of the Chinese Buddhist Canon ed. by Jiang Wu and Lucille Chia Elizabeth Morrison (bio) Jiang Wu and Lucille Chia, editors. Spreading Buddha's Word in East Asia: The Formation and Transformation of the Chinese Buddhist Canon, Sheng Yen Series in Chinese Buddhist Studies. New York: Columbia, 2015. xx, 405 pp. Hardcover $75.00, ISBN 978-0-231-17160-1. E-book $74.99, ISBN 978-0-231-54019-3. [End Page 413] Spreading Buddha's Word in East Asia is an ambitious treatment of a crucial subject. Although we often refer to the Chinese Buddhist canon in the singular, it exists in many editions and forms, from manuscript to stone to print. This volume takes on the full historical range of the Chinese Buddhist canon, from the first known translations of Buddhist texts into Chinese in the second century to the initial attempt a few centuries later to catalogue Buddhist texts to the contemporary electronic Tripitaka project of the Chinese Buddhist Electronic Text Association (CBETA) based in Taiwan. In addition to the canon's inherent importance as a major body of religious literature, the process of its emergence represents a major aspect of the process by which the Buddhist tradition took root in China. This volume on the Chinese Buddhist canon is, simply put, essential reading for anyone concerned with the study of East Asian Buddhism. It also has much to offer for others as well, especially those interested in canon formation, state–religion relations, and the history of printing. Depending on one's needs, it may serve as a reference work, a volume to be pored over from cover to cover, or both. For those of us who research and teach from the Chinese Buddhist canon, this volume offers the experience of walking into a library complex one often uses, only to encounter a number of specialized guides. These guides introduce the deep history of the complex (and precursors lost to war or neglect), point out architectural details never before noticed or understood, and lead the way into rooms never before glimpsed. They also tell stories of monastics, laypeople, emperors, officials, scholars, scribes, woodblock carvers, printers, and artists, bringing to life not only these people but also the intricate and varied political, social, cultural, economic, and religious motives and circumstances at work throughout the long history of the canon. Spreading Buddha's Word in East Asia represents the collaboration of two editors especially well prepared to take on the topic of the Chinese Buddhist canon. Jiang Wu is a leading scholar of Chinese Buddhism, and Lucille Chia is an expert in Chinese print history. The volume includes a preface by Lewis Lancaster, four sets of chapters organized by issue or period, an appendix by Li Fuhua and He Mei surveying printed editions of the canon, and an appendix by the late Aming Tu, translated by Xin Zi, describing the CBETA project. Notably, the contributors range from eminent senior scholars to junior scholars and reflect the strength of East Asian Buddhist studies in East Asia, Europe, and North America. Their contributions vary considerably in the ratio of broad intellectual questions to technical and historical details, but as a whole, the volume does a very good job of combining the large-scale questions of canon formation and the smaller-scale questions of particular editions. The first set of chapters, following a helpful introduction by the editors, consists of two excellent chapters by Jiang Wu. In the first, he addresses the issues at play in defining the Chinese Buddhist canon: Is it singular? Is it [End Page 414] Chinese? Is it a canon? He also takes up overarching concerns, including its relation to Indian Buddhist text collections and the common scholarly characterization of the Chinese Buddhist canon as "open," which he disputes. In the second, Wu describes a "cult of the canon," connected to the Mahäyäna "cult of the book." Included among these devotions are some fascinating innovations. Wu narrates, for example, the rise of the "revolving repository," a bookcase for the canon that could be rotated or circumambulated. He also describes the appearance of a...

<i>The Wiley Blackwell Companion to East and Inner Asian Buddhism</i>, edited by Mario Poceski, Wiley Blackwell (Wiley Blackwell companions to religion), 2014. xv + 552 pp. Hb. £120, ISBN: 978-1-118-61033-6

The Wiley Blackwell Companion to East and Inner Asian Buddhism, edited by Mario Poceski, Wiley Blackwell (Wiley Blackwell companions to religion), 2014. xv + 552pp. Hb. £120, ISBN-13: 9781118610336. Also available as an e-book.

The Ox-Herder and the Good Shepherd: Finding Christ on the Buddha’s Path by Addison Hodges Hart (review)

Reviewed by: The Ox-Herder and the Good Shepherd: Finding Christ on the Buddha’s Path by Addison Hodges Hart Ruben L. F. Habito THE OX-HERDER AND THE GOOD SHEPHERD: FINDING CHRIST ON THE BUDDHA’S PATH. By Addison Hodges Hart. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2013. Pp. 118. The Ten Ox-Herding Pictures is a set of iconic images handed down in Chan/Zen tradition as depicting the stages of the path of enlightenment. This small volume offers a Christian commentary on this series of ten pictures that is truly insightful and a delight to read. Juxtaposing East Asian Buddhist religious imagery with Christian themes, it highlights the mutual resonance and complementarity of the Zen Buddhist and Christian paths of awakening and transformation. The author, Addison Hodges Hart, is a retired pastor and university chaplain who has recently published other inspiring and thought-provoking works, including Strangers and Pilgrims Once More: Being Disciples of Jesus in a Post-Christendom World (2014) and Taking Jesus at His Word: What Jesus Really Said at the Sermon on the Mount (2012). Christian rereadings of sacred texts from other religious traditions have now come to be welcomed and valued as a practice that can further expand and deepen Christian theological understanding and spiritual insight on many different levels. In this vein, it is relevant here to mention the series of volumes of Christian Commentaries on Non-Christian Sacred Texts, under the general editorship of Catherine Cornille, also published by Wm. Eerdmans (European edition published by Peeters). It includes such titles such as C. Cornille’s Song Divine: Christian Commentaries on the Bhagavad Gita (2006), D. P. Sheridan’s Loving God: Krsna and Christ: Christian Commentaries on the Narada Sutras (2007), F. X. Clooney’s The Truth, The Way, and The Life: Christian Commentaries on the Three Holy Mantras of the Srivaisnava Hindus (2008), L. D. Lefebure and P. Feldmeier’s The Path of Wisdom: A Christian Commentary on the Dhammapada (2011), J. P. Keenan and L. K. Keenan’s I Am/No Self: A Christian Commentary on the Heart Sutra, and R. B. Locklin’s Liturgy of Liberation: A Christian Commentary on Shankara’s Upadesasahasri, with more forthcoming. The Ox-Herder and the Good Shepherd, issued by the same publisher, though not part of the above-named series, will find good company among these previously published volumes that explore and delve through the wisdom of other religious traditions as conveyed in their sacred texts, enriching and broadening Christian theological and spiritual horizons. The Ten Zen Ox-Herding Pictures, the sacred text being reread here as a guide to the spiritual path that Christians are also called to undertake, is neither a doctrinal exposition nor a set of moral guidelines but a set of images with a continuous narrative that lays out stages on the path of enlightenment in the Zen Buddhist tradition. The key message the author wishes to convey in this book, which is restated in different places throughout the volume, can be found in the fourth chapter, titled “The Ox-Herder and the Good Shepherd”: “Authentic spiritual life must begin with an [End Page 242] inner transformation of one’s self, and must lead to an outward life that is natural and loving” (p. 29, author’s own italics). This is a description of the kernel of spiritual life applicable to both the Christian path as well as the path of Zen. The choice of this particular version by twelfth-century (Song dynasty) Chan Master Kuoan Shiyuan (Jp.: Kakuan Shien) of the Linji (Jp.: Rinzai) school is significant. There are said to be at least five different versions handed down in Chan/Zen tradition, including a five-picture and an eight-picture version that both describe the Zen path as culminating in the disappearance of the practitioner into Emptiness (depicted by an empty circle). There is also six-picture version with the empty circle as the fifth, followed by a sixth, a stage beyond Emptiness into a life of playful freedom in the world of ordinary human beings. The ten-picture version of the Zen life by Kakuan (henceforth I will use the Japanese rendition of the names and...

The Significance of the Gwamun Tradition on the Development of the Exegetical Tradition in East Asian Buddhism

The Significance of the Gwamun Tradition on the Development of the Exegetical Tradition in East Asian Buddhism

Three Strands of Nothingness in Chinese Philosophy and the Kyoto School: A Summary and Evaluation

The concept of Nothingness—Japanese mu or Chinese wu 無—is central both to the Kyoto School (Kyōto gakuha 京都学派) and to important strands of Chinese philosophy. The Kyoto School, which has been active since the 1930s, is arguably modern Japan’s most philosophically sophisticated challenge to Western thought. Further, as contemporary East Asia continues to rise in importance, East Asians and Westerners alike are beginning to consider anew the contemporary philosophical relevance of Confucianism, Daoism, and East-Asian Buddhism. These originally Chinese traditions were certainly important influences directly and indirectly on Kyoto School philosophy itself. At the very least, Kyoto thought and Chinese thought share foundational structural resemblances, especially regarding the concept of Nothingness. This study summarizes the concept of Nothingness in the Kyoto School and in Chinese philosophy, and then offers an evaluation of the contemporary relevance and general coherence of this concept.

The State and Eminent Monks in Medieval Korea

The purpose of this paper was to examine the relationship between the state and eminent monks in medieval Korea (918–1392) on the basis of various primary sources and to highlight the need of the re-examination of the nature of Korean Buddhism, and by extension, that of East Asian Buddhism. To this end, this research examines the position of Buddhism, the state Buddhist policies, the roles of monks in response to the policies, and the identity of monks in medieval Korea. The conclusion is that medieval Korea took carrot-and-stick approach to Buddhism and in response, playing as political advisors, subjects to the ruler, thaumaturgies, entrepreneurs, and even warriors, power-oriented monks ingratiated themselves with the state Buddhist policies for their sustenance on practical considerations, often violating the basic teachings of the Buddha and creating issues regarding their identity as monks. This Korean tradition in a larger part appears to be a product of the Sinicized Buddhism, thus highlighting the need of further in-depth research on the nature of Korean Buddhism in particular and that of East Asian Buddhism in general.

The Vicissitudes of the Mahāsammata in East Asia

This article discusses Buddhism’s conflicting relation with kingship through an analysis of the figure of the Mahāsammata, the first mythical ruler according to Buddhist scriptures and canonical commentaries. The Mahāsammata, literally the ‘Great Elect’, was a human being elected by the people and entrusted with keeping order in a society that was gradually becoming more complex; as such, this myth expresses an idea of kingship that is very different from Indic and East Asian theories of divine sovereignty. The Mahāsammata has been studied within the South Asian context, but very little is known about its role in East Asian Buddhism. This article offers an analysis of this figure based on sutras translated into Chinese and subsequent literature in Chinese and Japanese. It aims to show some of the ways in which the Mahāsammata and the political ideas it represents were interpreted and transformed in East Asia, also in order to gain a better understanding of the varieties of Buddhist political thought, including those with the oppositional potential (if not actual oppositional praxis) to become conceptual bases for social and political resistance.

Pathways to unravelling the past: Conservation of silk borders of Buddhist paintings from China, Japan, Korea, and the Himalayas

Decorative elements of painting borders vary greatly throughout Asia. Different silks and mounting styles of East Asian Buddhist paintings provide important insights into artworks' history and mean...

중국 및 고구려와의 영향관계로 본 백제 1탑1금당 형식 불사 배치계획

Early development of East Asian Buddhist temples can be interpreted mainly through the analysis of the process of change of site design. The development of Korean ancient Buddhist temples during the period of Three Kingdoms had to be discussed as domestic development since no Chinese cases of archeological excavation were reported. Recently 5 temples sites of northern China were excavated and therefore, this paper attempt to compare the development of Chinese and Korean site design of temples. Particularly, this research focus on the identification of Paekje temples of single pagoda-image hall pattern in Puyo area based on the influential comparison between the cases of China and Koguryo. The development of Paekjy temples were influenced by both China and Koguryo, but during the <TEX>$6^{th}$</TEX> century, Koguryo seem to have influenced more strongly, and later on during the <TEX>$7^{th}$</TEX> century, Chinese temples influenced more than Koguryo. These can be proved mainly by the arrangement of corridor and connected buildings, as well as the way pagoda and image hall were placed within the rectangular corridor.

Buddhist Scriptures: An Overview

In this article I provide an overview of what scripture means and does in a Buddhist context. The article has three main parts. First, by way of introduction I explore the history of Buddhist scripture and a few of the different ways in which scripture was defined and classified in the early period. In the second section I use the common division into three ‘baskets’ of scripture (discourses, monastic discipline and higher teachings) to structure a closer look at some of the main genres of early Buddhist texts. Finally I examine the role of scripture in Buddhist life, as a source of teachings, a means of making karmic merit, and a vehicle of great power. In the interests of time and space I have chosen to focus largely on the earliest scriptures of Indian Buddhism. Later compositions and compilations, such as the many scriptures of Tibetan or East Asian Buddhism, are not considered here.1 Because my focus is on the early Indian scriptures I use mainly Sanskrit (Skt) terminology, with the Pāli (P.) equivalent noted where relevant.

From Central Asia to Southern China: The Formation of Identity and Network in the Meditative Traditions of the Fifth–Sixth Century Southern China (420–589)

Focusing on two specific areas in southern China, Jinling and Jingzhou, this paper examines the meditation traditions in southern China during the two-century period between 400 and 600. The activities of the main meditation practitioners based in Jinling and Jingzhou are traced, for which it will be shown that most of them were related, in one way or the other, to Buddhabhadra (359–429), an Indian missionary-cum-translator who arrived in Chang’an in 404 or 408 via Kashmir. Following Buddhabhadra, several of Buddhabhadra’s disciples and second-generation disciples, also arrived in Jinling. A review of the meditation tradition in Jinling reveals that the Kashmiri meditation tradition brought by Buddhabhadra and his group formed a dominant and decisive force for the formation and development of the meditation tradition in that area. Similarly, a survey of the meditation traditions of the Jingchu and Jingzhou area shows the same dominant influence of Buddhabhadra’s Kashmiri meditative tradition. Evidence further demonstrates that throughout the four southern dynasties (Song, Qi, Liang, and Chen), the two meditation traditions in Jinling and Jingzhou maintained very close and frequent contacts. An investigation into the meditation tradition based on the Jing-Chu area evolved around Huisi and his group. Huisi seems to be a key point of connections between the Jinling and the Jingzhou meditation traditions. His influence on the Jingzhou meditative tradition is demonstrated by the fact that almost all of his disciples known to us were connected to the meditation tradition at that area. We will moreover show that Huisi’s contact with the southern meditative traditions, centered around the areas of Jinling, Mount Lu and Jingzhou, had actually began much earlier than it has been assumed. Though already forgotten in this respect, the Kashmiri meditation tradition brought to China by Buddhabhadra, when viewed in a broader context, played a surprisingly significant role in the evolution of the meditation tradition in early medieval China. Identity might have been, and was indeed, carried on defying apparently insurmountable geographic and cultural barriers, while networks were created and maintained when and where they were least expected. Finally, by calling into question the general claim for the “Mahāyānist” nature of most Chinese (or even East Asian) Buddhist traditions, this essay has underscored the necessity of broadening the intellectual perspectives for evaluating the provenance, nature, and functions of quite a number of Buddhist traditions in East Asia that have been so far uncritically subjugated to the general rubric of “Mahāyāna.”

Le sūtra des contemplations du Buddha Vie-Infinie: essai d’interprétation textuelle et iconographique par Jérôme Ducor, Helen Loveday (review)

situated to the north rather than the west of the Chahar, whereas the most important Western Mongolian group, the Zunghars, are not mentioned despite their significance for Qing empire-building. The chronology of Japan’s k ominka 皇民化 policy in Korea (pp. 187–190) remains unclear to non-specialists—one could be led to believe that it took place much earlier than the 1930s. Marx never theorized about ‘‘a shift of real power from the crown to the dollar’’ (p. 197); in fact, he saw all political systems (including that of feudalism) as part of a superstructure determined by the relations of production. And finally, DuBois gives the impression that Tibet was an autonomous entity within China between 1912 and 1950, rather than a de facto independent state, even though it did not comprise all ethnic Tibetans and the diplomatic and legal foundations of Tibetan independence were disputed by China. Secondly, these problems spill over into the conceptual realm. The ‘‘Unity of the Three Teachings’’ (sanjiao heyi 三教合一) is taken at face value rather than as a propagandistic device (pp. 34–36); and even if one believes that most Chinese ways of ‘‘doing’’ religion can be subsumed under Daoism (as the discussion on pp. 25– 30 appears to indicate), the concept of ‘‘folk religion’’ or ‘‘popular religion’’ deserves at least a critical mention. In the discussion of the relationship between religion and politics in the twentieth century, the all-important distinction between ‘‘religion’’ and ‘‘superstition’’ does not feature at all, although it underlay the religious policies of both Nationalists and Communists. Thirdly, the book’s focus on exemplary cases and individual actors and organizations also has as its downside the occasional lack of systematic discussion. While DuBois does mention the ‘‘new religions’’ in post-1900 Japan, he fails to comprehensively discuss the Chinese ‘‘redemptive societies’’ (which are in some ways their counterpart) and even the ‘‘new-new religions,’’ despite their upsurge in post-war Japan being a consequence of the dismantling of state Shint o, which is described at some length. In a few instances, this also affects chapter organization. The chapter on Chinese Communist religious policy contains a lengthy description of the campaign against one particular organization, the Yiguandao, while we learn virtually nothing about the sea change in religious policy after 1978 and the ensuing ‘‘religion fever.’’ This is not to downplay the merits of the book: DuBois provides a fresh look at East Asian history that establishes religion’s rightful place therein for a broader audience. His study is highly informative and provides intriguing and insightful details for both specialists and non-specialists. On the other hand, it is far from comprehensive and must be read with a pinch of salt. THORALF KLEIN Loughborough University JÉRÔME DUCOR AND HELEN LOVEDAY, Le s utra des contemplations du Buddha VieInfinie : essai d’interprétation textuelle et iconographique. Turnhout (Belgium): Brepols, 2011. 466 pp. J69 (pb). ISBN 978-2-503-54116-7 This weighty volume, coauthored by two prolific scholars accomplished in different fields, really combines two books in one. The first portion, by Ducor, BOOK REVIEWS 119 provides a copiously annotated French translation of one of the central texts of East Asian Buddhism, The S utra on the Visualization of the Buddha of Infinite Life Preached by the Buddha (Foshuo guan wuliangshou Fo jing 佛說觀無量壽佛 經, T.12.365), whose translation from Sanskrit into Chinese is usually attributed to K alaya sas (Jiangliangyeshe 畺良耶舍) in 424. The text was extremely important in China from the sixth through the tenth centuries and was later canonized by H onen 法然 (1133–1212) of the Japanese Pure Land School (and its progeny, the True Pure Land School) as one of the ‘‘three s utras on the pure land’’ (j odo sanbu ky o 淨土三部經). The s utra is famous for its narrative of King Aj ata satru (Asheshi 阿闍世) nearly killing his father and imprisoning his mother, S akyamuni Buddha’s preaching of sixteen different objects of contemplation to help the mother make present the western pure land of Amit ayus Buddha, the exhortation to chant the name of Amit ayus, and the ranking of practices and their respective forms of rebirth into three major grades, each with...

Changing conceptions of “mandala” in tang china: ritual and the role of images

ABSTRACT“Changing Conceptions of ‘Mandala’ in Tang China: Ritual and the Role of Images” is concerned with the intersection of visionary experience with visual forms. The focus of the study is a Buddhist incantation, or Dhāranī, titled the Revered and Victorious Dhāranī of the Buddha's Usnīsa. This particular dhāranī was widely circulated in China during the Tang dynasty (618–907); for this reason, it may be approached as an important case study for studying the conceptualization of mandalas in China prior to their transmission to Japan in the early ninth century. Through a detailed examination of successive translations and ritual manuals associated with the Revered and Victorious Dhāranī of the Buddha's Usnīsa, different conceptions of mandalas and the roles that were played by images may be observed. This, in turn, responds to larger questions in East Asian Buddhism and studies of Buddhist art regarding the functions of painted mandalas during Buddhist rituals. Lastly, this article seeks to shed light on lesser-known aspects of esoteric Buddhist art in Asia, as the scholarship to date on Buddhist mandalas has primarily focused upon studies of Japanese and Himalayan works.

Signs from the Unseen Realm: Buddhist Miracle Tales from Early Medieval China by Robert Ford Campany (review)

ROBERT FORD CAMPANY, Signs from the Unseen Realm: Buddhist Miracle Tales from Early Medieval China. Kuroda Institute Classics in East Asian Buddhism. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2012. xix, 300 pp. US$65.00 (hbk). ISBN 978-0-8248-3602-3 This book is a comprehensive study and annotated translation with commentaries of Mingxiang ji 冥祥記, a collection of Buddhist miracle tales compiled at the end of the fifth century CE by Wang Yan 王琰. The largest compilation of its kind from early medieval China, Mingxiang ji is a treasure trove of written records of the Chinese Buddhist experience as lived and told by contemporary devotees from a broad social spectrum. Written and compiled in the long-standing Chinese narrative tradition of zhiguai 志怪 (accounts of anomalies) collections, Mingxiang ji offers a largely lay-oriented, communal perspective that is distinct from those of ‘‘elite’’ genres such as scriptures, hagiographies, and theological treatises. Campany’s groundbreaking study of Mingxiang ji as a zhiguai collection does an exemplary job of employing the genre of zhiguai as a rewarding source of research for medieval Chinese Buddhist history. Specifically, this book presents a fascinating case study of Buddhist zhiguai collections as a sinicized expression of the Buddhist worldview. In Campany’s words, ‘‘Miracle tales are, among other things, a means of sinicization via historiography’’ (p. 37). As such, this book is an important contribution to the fields of medieval Chinese religions, historiography, and literary history. Campany’s study features a substantial introduction that situates Mingxiang ji in the broader contexts of the history of Chinese Buddhism, the Chinese tradition of historiography, and the author’s life and times. Specifically, Campany points out the collective, communal, lay-oriented nature of the miracle tales as reflecting on widespread religious practices and attitudes of the society, which are distinctive from orthodox Mah ay ana teachings. The introductory chapter investigates the particulars of early medieval Chinese Buddhist culture by way of an analysis of the narrative discourse of the miracle tale, including its generic conventions, recurrent tropes and archetypes (such as the figure of the ‘‘spirit monk’’), common themes (such as rebirth and devotion to bodhisattvas), and Chinese adaptations of Buddhist practices (such as the abstinence ceremony and strict vegetarianism). According to Campany, the main thematic concerns of the tales in Mingxiang ji are not the fundamental Buddhist tenets such as enlightenment, non-duality, emptiness, or the Mahayanist pursuit of the bodhisattva path. Rather, the tales are preoccupied with avoiding karmic retributions (baoying 報應) in life and reaping rewards in the afterlife. Campany’s introductory section and story commentaries show that, far from being empty, the Chinese Buddhist universe as reflected in Mingxiang ji is full of spiritual forces miraculously responsive (ganying 感應) to human desires and deeds. Pervasive throughout the collection is a literal and materialist approach to Buddhist scriptures, icons, and ritual objects, which are regarded as sacred objects with magical efficacy. Monastic laxity is often the target of criticism in the tales. Competitions between Buddhism and other indigenous Chinese cultural practices—such as Confucian ancestor worship, the Daoist pursuit of immortality, and local sacrificial cults—are frequently the driving force of narrative in the collection. Some miracle tales reflect how traditional religious beliefs and practices are absorbed by the Buddhist discourse, such as in items 67, BOOK REVIEWS 65 71, 86, 99, and 124, where the power of the indigenous spirit-medium (wu 巫) is co-opted to validate the Buddhist worldview. In other stories, Buddhist miracles are themselves co-opted to serve a secular agenda. For example, item 63 features two Buddhist monks transmitting a divine decree to legitimize a dynasty. As Campany points out, that Buddhist miracles are presented in Mingxiang ji as ‘‘signs from the unseen realm’’ is ultimately in keeping with the traditional premise of zhiguai literature, where cosmic anomalies are regarded as heavenly portents. At the same time, Campany also observes that many Buddhist miracle tales display an anxious urge to claim the foreign religion as indigenous to China itself. Collectively, these Buddhist miracle tales as zhiguai stories dramatize in narrative form the dynamic assimilation of one religious culture by another. The translations that comprise the second part of the book are based on modern...

‘Treating Illness’: Translation of a Chapter from a Medieval Chinese Buddhist Meditation Manual by Zhiyi (538–597)

AbstractThis translation is an excerpt from a meditation treatise by one of the most important figures in East Asian Buddhist history, the Chinese scholar-monk Zhiyi (538–597). Zhiyi was notable as a systematizer and domesticator of Buddhist knowledge, and particularly for his writings onśamathaandvipaśyanāmeditation. The excerpt translated below is a complete chapter from the shorter of his meditation treatises. It focuses specifically on how various strands of Indian and Chinese medical and religious knowledge could be employed to diagnose and treat illness while the practitioner remained engaged in seated meditation. Incorporating both foreign and domestic knowledge into the framework ofśamathaandvipaśyanā, this chapter represents one of the earliest examples of systematic Indo- Sinitic medical syncretism, and one of the most important expressions of a unique medieval Chinese Buddhist perspective on healing.

Yongming Yanshou’s Conception of Chan in the Zongjing lu: A Special Transmission Within the Scriptures by Albert Welter (review)

Book Reviews 151 Yongming Yanshou's Conception of Chan in the Zongjing lu: A Special Transmission Within the Scriptures ALBERT WELTER. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011. vii, 381 pages. ISBN 978-0-19-976031-2. US$74.00, £45.00 hardcover. Albert Welter’s informative and well-researched book represents a welcome addition to the growing corpus of critical studies that address various aspects of the far-reaching transformations that Chinese Buddhism underwent during the Tang-Song transition. It is especially noteworthy for its focus on the crucial Five Dynasties period (907–960), which is usually skirted or casually passed over by most scholars in favor of the Tang or the Song eras. Following in the wake of the author’s two excellent books on Chan history and literature (also published by Oxford), The Linji Lu and the Creation of Chan Orthodoxy: The Development of Chan’s Records of Sayings Literature (2008) and Monks, Rulers, and Literati: The Political Ascendancy of Chan Buddhism (2006), this is arguably Welter’s best book so far. The historical person and the text that are at the center of Welter’s comprehensive, rigorous, and nuanced study—Yongming Yanshou 永明延壽 (904–975) and his seminal Zongjing lu 宗鏡錄—are fairly well-known within the pertinent scholarly circles. Among the relevant studies is the author’s first book (based on his dissertation), The Meaning of Myriad Good Deeds (Peter Lang 1993). Yet, he manages not only to provide a wealth of new information and unique perspectives on this important text and its illustrious author, but also to initiate a far-reaching reassessment of key elements of the religious and intellectual landscapes of Five Dynasties and early Song China. A prolific writer and leading cleric in the pro-Buddhist kingdom of Wuyue 吳越 (907– 978), Yanshou is a major figure in Chinese Buddhist history. Because of his ecumenical stance, wide-ranging interests, and multifaceted thought, in later East Asian Buddhism Yanshou came to be represented in a variety of guises: as a Chan/Zen master, a Pure Land patriarch, a proponent of devotional practice, a scholar of Buddhist doctrine (especially Tiantai 天台 and Huayan 華嚴), and even as a “promoter of blessings.” In addition to pointing to the socioreligious milieus, historical exigencies, and ideological agendas that shaped a series of retroactive reimaginings of Yanshou and his approach to Buddhism, the book goes a long way towards illuminating the life, identity, thought, and literary output of this fascinating figure, as well as the important changes in the Buddhist landscape that marked a fascinating epoch in Chinese history. That also serves as a springboard for considering larger issues in the scholarly study of Chinese Buddhism, including the relationship between Chan 禪 and the canonical tradition, as well as more broadly the study of Chinese religious and intellectual history. 152 Journal of Chinese Religions Besides the short Introduction, the main body of the book consists of six chapters (of varied length) and a translation of the Zongjing lu’s first fascicle. Chapter 1 tackles the complexities of Yanshou’s multifaceted religious persona and the varied identities that were ascribed to him, especially in reference to his complex relationship with Chan. By examining the main hagiographical records about his life, Welter shows how later generations of writers and practitioners created peculiar images of Yanshou in light of their own objectives, biases, and horizons of expectation. After examining the key images of him, including those of a Chan master and an advocate for Pure Land practice, he argues that Yanshou was a promoter of a comprehensive and non-sectarian vision of Buddhism, an “advocate of bodhisattva practice,” which was grounded in canonical formulations but also included Chan teachings and practices, as is to be expected given Yanshou’s self-identification as a “Chan master” (chanshi 禪師). The second chapter explores Yanshou’s conception of zong 宗 , which somewhat inelegantly is translated as “implicit truth.” Yanshou’s focus on this key concept underscores his central view about the essential harmony and complementarity between Chan and the broader Buddhist tradition, primarily represented by canonical or scholastic Buddhism (jiao 教). By postulating that zong—the essential meaning of which he equates with the underlying truth of the universal mind—is the core principle...

How Bisvaṃtara Got His Dharma Body: Story, Ritual, and the Domestic in the Composition of a Newar Jātaka

introduction The tale of the generous prince who renounces his right to the throne, his children, and, eventually, his wife, and who is finally rewarded for his generosity by receiving back all of the above in a triumphant homecoming, is one of the most popular stories of Buddhism and certainly the most widely known shared tale in Buddhist South and Southeast Asia. Recorded in Pāli, in the South and Southeast Asian vernaculars, and transmitted through texts, performances, and visual representations, the story has become an important part of those societies in the region that support a living Buddhist heritage. The prince is known as Vessantara in Pāli and Sinhala, Vessantar in Khmer, Wethandaya in Burmese, and Wetsandon in Thai versions. The story, which originated in South Asia, is also found in Sanskrit Buddhist literature and it has made its way into Central and East Asian Buddhist literatures as well. The plot is as follows. In his last birth as a human being before becoming the Buddha, the bodhisattva is born to a royal couple and from early on reveals his propensity towards practicing the virtue or perfection of generosity (Pā. dāna pāramī or Pā. and Skt. pāramitā). This becomes a major political issue once he gives away his father’s state elephant to the king of the neighboring realm. His acts of generosity are on such a scale that the ministers convince the king to have his son banished. The prince leaves the kingdom together with his wife, his daughter, and his son on a horse-drawn chariot. But he gives away first the horses and then the chariot to people they encounter on the way. Continuing on foot, they make it into the wilderness where the prince spends his time in meditation. He is approached by a wicked Brahman to whom the prince hands over his two children. They are led away pleading and crying. Intent on receiving compensation, the Brahman brings them back to their grandfather. When the prince’s wife discovers what her husband has done she is devastated. But she too is given away by the generous prince and, being the good wife that she is, acquiesces without complaint. However, this time the recipient is the king of the gods, who had

Fieldwork on East Asian Buddhism

Recent interest in the contemporary practice of Buddhism in East Asia has led scholars of religion to undertake firsthand fieldwork among religious professionals and lay practitioners. Using three recent studies as examples, this paper argues that scholars of religion and Buddhism sometimes fail to maximize the potential of ethnographic fieldwork due to their focus on updating genealogies of Buddhist institutions. Drawing from a field-based study of lay Buddhists in contemporary Beijing, this paper advocates a “person-centered approach” that examines lay practitioners less as participants within a connected, institutionally-recognized narrative of Buddhism’s evolution in China and more as persons who use the social space of temples to find their place within a rapidly changing world, often in very different ways

Practical Buddhist Thaumaturgy: The Great Dhāraṇī on Immaculately Pure Light in Medieval Sinitic Buddhism

The Great Dhāraṇī on Immaculately Pure Light ( Wugou jingguang da tuoluoni jing , T 1024) was used extensively in Korea during the middle and late periods of Silla (668-935) after its introduction in the early eighth century. Although some scholars maintain that it provides evidence of Tantric or Esoteric Buddhism or the synthesis of Pure Land and Tantrism in Silla, my research indicates instead that the dhāraṇī and ritual procedures contained in this sūtra were mainstream Mahāyāna practices more closely associated with repentance practices in medieval East Asian Buddhism. Tantric/Esoteric Buddhism should be defined as consisting of ritual procedures such as initiations or coronations, graduated systems of meditation, and procedures using dhāraṇī in the recreation of the body, speech, and mind of the Buddha. The language of the Great Dhāraṇī provides little internal evidence of such conclusively Tantric or Esoteric elements, especially because many of the procedures and spells it describes—like most medieval Sinitic Buddhist ritual literature—attempt to resolve practical religious concerns for individuals and to protect states from harm, both internal and external: eradicating sins and extending one's lifespan; recovering from serious illnesses; avoiding rebirth in the evil paths and achieving rebirth in heavens; receiving predictions of the attainment of buddhahood; acquiring the spiritual penetrations and not backsliding in spiritual progress; generating merit and wholesome roots; destroying all obstacles and unwholesome karma and enabling practitioners to fulfill all their vows; and acquiring a fullness of the six perfections in one's life.

Buddhist Image of the Mireuksa Temple of the Baekche Period Seen Through East-Asian Buddhist Sculptures

Buddhist Image of the Mireuksa Temple of the Baekche Period Seen Through East-Asian Buddhist Sculptures