Download or read book The Cavern Mystery Transmission written by Charles D. Benn and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 2019-03-31 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Very little scholarly research has been done on the institutional structure of Taoism in medieval times. With this study of investiture, Benn attempts to fill that void. He describes the mechanism by which the Taoist priesthood ordered and perpetuated itself, as revealed in a rare account of an ordination rite for two T'ang princesses. He examines the lives of the participants, the hierarchy of the clergy, the liturgy, and the significance of the altar and its furnishings, and discusses other works of Chang Wan-fu, who authored this account.
Download or read book The Cavern mystery Transmission written by Charles D. Benn and published by . This book was released on 1991 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Th e Empress and the Heavenly Masters written by Luk Yuping and published by The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press. This book was released on 2016-02-16 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over twentyseven meters long, the Ordination Scroll of Empress Zhang (1493) is an important Ming Dynasty Daoist artifact from the San Diego Museum of Art's collection that records the imperial ordination of Empress Zhang (1470–1541), consort of the Ming Dynasty Hongzhi emperor (r. 1488–1505), by Zhang Xuanqing (d. 1509), the fortyseventh Heavenly Master of the Zhengyi institution. This book uncovers the history of imperial ordinations through a detailed examination of the scroll's transcriptions and the meticulouslypainted images of celestial beings, as well as the influences of the Daoist leaders known as the Zhengyi Heavenly Masters.
Download or read book Gendering Chinese Religion written by Jinhua Jia and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on 2014-07-31 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A gender-critical consideration of women and religion in Chinese traditions from medieval to modern times. Gendering Chinese Religion marks the emergence of a subfield on women, gender, and religion in China studies. Ranging from the medieval period to the present day, this volume departs from the conventional and often male-centered categorization of Chinese religions into Confucianism, Buddhism, Daoism, and popular religion. It makes two compelling arguments. First, Chinese women have deployed specific religious ideas and rituals to empower themselves in various social contexts. Second, gendered perceptions and representations of Chinese religions have been indispensable to the historical and contemporary construction of social and political power. The contributors use innovative ways of discovering and applying a rich variety of sources, many previously ignored by scholars. While each of the chapters in this interdisciplinary work represents a distinct perspective, together they form a coherent dialogue about the historical importance, intellectual possibilities, and methodological protocols of this new subfield.
Download or read book Rituals of Initiation and Consecration in Premodern Japan written by Fabio Rambelli and published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. This book was released on 2022-01-19 with total page 613 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In premodern Japan, legitimization of power and knowledge in various contexts was sanctioned by consecration rituals (kanjō) of Buddhist origin. This is the first book to address in a comprehensive way the multiple forms and aspects of these rituals also in relation to other Asian contexts. The multidisciplinary chapters in the book address the origins of these rituals in ancient Persia and India and their developments in China and Tibet, before discussing in depth their transformations in medieval Japan. In particular, kanjō rituals are examined from various perspectives: imperial ceremonies, Buddhist monastic rituals, vernacular religious forms (Shugendō mountain cults, Shinto lineages), rituals of bodily transformation involving sexual practice, and the performing arts: a history of these developments, descriptions of actual rituals, and reference to religious and intellectual arguments based on under-examined primary sources. No other book presents so many cases of kanjō in such depth and breadth. This book is relevant to readers interested in Buddhist studies, Japanese religions, the history of Japanese culture, and in the intersections between religious doctrines, rituals, legitimization, and performance.
Download or read book Early Chinese Religion Part Two The Period of Division 220 589 AD 2 vols written by John Lagerwey and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2009-11-23 with total page 1584 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After the Warring States, treated in Part One of this set, there is no more fecund era in Chinese religious and cultural history than the period of division (220-589 AD). During it, Buddhism conquered China, Daoism grew into a mature religion with independent institutions, and, together with Confucianism, these three teachings, having each won its share of state recognition and support, formed a united front against shamanism. While all four religions are covered, Buddhism and Daoism receive special attention in a series of parallel chapters on their pantheons, rituals, sacred geography, community organization, canon formation, impact on literature, and recent archaeological discoveries. This multi-disciplinary approach, without ignoring philosophical and theological issues, brings into sharp focus the social and historical matrices of Chinese religion.
Download or read book Gender Power and Talent written by Jinhua Jia and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2018-03-13 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the Tang dynasty (618–907), changes in political policies, the religious landscape, and gender relations opened the possibility for Daoist women to play an unprecedented role in religious and public life. Women, from imperial princesses to the daughters of commoner families, could be ordained as Daoist priestesses and become religious leaders, teachers, and practitioners in their own right. Some achieved remarkable accomplishments: one wrote and transmitted texts on meditation and inner cultivation; another, a physician, authored a treatise on therapeutic methods, medical theory, and longevity techniques. Priestess-poets composed major works, and talented priestess-artists produced stunning calligraphy. In Gender, Power, and Talent, Jinhua Jia draws on a wealth of previously untapped sources to explain how Daoist priestesses distinguished themselves as a distinct gendered religious and social group. She describes the life journey of priestesses from palace women to abbesses and ordinary practitioners, touching on their varied reasons for entering the Daoist orders, the role of social and religious institutions, forms of spiritual experience, and the relationships between gendered identities and cultural representations. Jia takes the reader inside convents and cloisters, demonstrating how they functioned both as a female space for self-determination and as a public platform for both religious and social spheres. The first comprehensive study of the lives and roles of Daoist priestesses in Tang China, Gender, Power, and Talent restores women to the landscape of Chinese religion and literature and proposes new methodologies for the growing field of gender and religion.
Download or read book Wu Yun s Way written by Jan de Meyer and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2006-02-15 with total page 520 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Here is the first booklength study of the life and works of Wu Yun, one of the most remarkable figures of eighth-century Daoism. Blending literary criticism with religious and cultural history, this book assesses the importance of Wu Yun the Daoist priest, the poet, the anti-Buddhist, the defender of reclusion and the philosopher of immortality, and in doing so, sheds new light on the very nature of Tang dynasty Daoism. The book, which should be of special interest to students of Tang literature and Medieval Daoism alike, alternates narrative and analysis with annotated translations of two thirds of Wu Yun’s remaining writings, including two stela inscriptions, three prose treatises, four rhapsodies and several dozens of poems.
Download or read book The Writ of the Three Sovereigns written by Dominic Steavu and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 2019-09-30 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 648 CE, Tang imperial authorities collected every copy of the Writ of the Three Sovereigns (Sanhuang wen) from the four corners of the empire and burned them. The formidable talismans at its core were said not only to extend their owners’ lifespan and protect against misfortune, but also propel them to stratospheric heights of power, elevating them to the rank of high minister or even emperor. Only two or three centuries earlier, this controversial text was unknown in most of China with the exception of Jiangnan in the south, where it was regarded as essential local lore. In the span of a few generations, the Writ of the Three Sovereigns would become the cornerstone of one of the three basic corpora of the Daoist Canon, a pillar of Daoism—and a perceived threat to the state. This study, the only book-length treatment of the Writ of the Three Sovereigns in any language, traces the text’s transition from local tradition to empire-wide institutional religion. The volume begins by painting the social and historical backdrop against which the scripture emerged in early fourth-century Jiangnan before turning to its textual history. It reflects on the work’s centerpiece artifacts, the potent talismans in celestial script, as well as other elements of its heritage, namely alchemical elixirs and “true form” diagrams. During the fifth and sixth centuries, with Daoism coalescing into a formal organized religion, the Writ of the Three Sovereigns took on a symbolic role as a liturgical token of initiation while retaining its straightforward language of sovereignty and strong political overtones, which eventually led to its prohibition. The writ endured, however, and later experienced a revival as its influence spread as far as Japan. Despite its central role in the development of institutional Daoism, the Writ of the Three Sovereigns has remained an understudied topic in Chinese history. Its fragmentary textual record combined with the esoteric nature of its content have shrouded it in speculation. This volume provides a lucid reconstruction of the text’s hidden history and enigmatic practices while shedding light on its contributions to the religious landscape of medieval China.
Download or read book The Taoist Canon written by Kristofer Schipper and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2019-09-01 with total page 1683 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Taoism remains the only major religion whose canonical texts have not been systematically arranged and made available for study. This long-awaited work, a milestone in Chinese studies, catalogs and describes all existing texts within the Taoist canon. The result will not only make the entire range of existing Taoist texts accessible to scholars of religion, it will open up a crucial resource in the study of the history of China. The vast literature of the Taoist canon, or Daozang, survives in a Ming Dynasty edition of some fifteen hundred different texts. Compiled under imperial auspices and completed in 1445—with a supplement added in 1607—many of the books in the Daozang concern the history, organization, and liturgy of China's indigenous religion. A large number of works deal with medicine, alchemy, and divination. If scholars have long neglected this unique storehouse of China's religious traditions, it is largely because it was so difficult to find one's way within it. Not only was the rationale of its medieval classification system inoperable for the many new texts that later entered the Daozang, but the system itself was no longer understood by the Ming editors; hence the haphazard arrangement of the canon as it has come down to us. This new work sets out the contents of the Daozang chronologically, allowing the reader to follow the long evolution of Taoist literature. Lavishly illustrated, the first volume ranges from antiquity through the Middle Ages, while the second spans the modern period. Within this frame, texts are grouped by theme and subject. Each one is the subject of a historical abstract that identifies the text's contents, date of origin, and author. Throughout the first two volumes, introductions outline the evolution of Taoism and its spiritual heritage. A third volume offering biographical sketches of frequently mentioned Taoists, multiple indexes, and an extensive bibliography provides critical tools for navigating this guide to one of the fundamental aspects of Chinese culture.
Download or read book Lineages Embedded in Temple Networks written by Richard G. Wang and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2023-11-20 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Lineages Embedded in Temple Networks explores the key role played by elite Daoists in social and cultural life in Ming China, notably by mediating between local networks—biological lineages, territorial communities, temples, and festivals—and the state. They did this through their organization in clerical lineages—their own empire-wide networks for channeling knowledge, patronage, and resources—and by controlling central temples that were nodes of local social structures. In this book, the only comprehensive social history of local Daoism during the Ming largely based on literary sources and fieldwork, Richard G. Wang delineates the interface between local organizations (such as lineages and temple networks) and central state institutions. The first part provides the framework for viewing Daoism as a social institution in regard to both its religious lineages and its service to the state in the bureaucratic apparatus to implement state orthodoxy. The second part follows four cases to reveal the connections between clerical lineages and local networks. Wang illustrates how Daoism claimed a universal ideology and civilizing force that mediated between local organizations and central state institutions, which in turn brought meaning and legitimacy to both local society and the state.
Download or read book The Three Sovereigns Tradition written by Dominic Emanuel Steavu-Balint and published by Stanford University. This book was released on 2010 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This dissertation attempts to elucidate the origins and nature of the lost Sanhuang wen (Writ of the Three Sovereigns), and identify its surviving fragments in the Daoist Canon. Through a close examination of these fragments, this study reconstructs various stages in scripture's transmission and traces its development from a single text to a fourteen-scroll corpus replete with mantic methods, cosmological speculations, and elaborate liturgies. The present study pushes beyond conventional views of the Sanhuang by underscoring the pivotal role of alchemy and meditation alongside talismans as defining components of the tradition. It analyzes key notions, such as "true form" (zhenxing), in the sophisticated conceptual apparatus that governs Sanhuang talismanic, alchemical, and meditative practices. In so doing, this dissertation reveals the profound impact of the Sanhuang wen on the religious landscape of Six Dynasties Jiangnan, and in a larger framework, on the development of Daoism.
Download or read book Handbook of Divination and Prognostication in China written by Michael Lackner and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2022-05-20 with total page 570 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first book that systematically explores the manifold aspects of divination and prognostication in traditional and modern China.
Download or read book China s Cosmopolitan Empire written by Mark Edward Lewis and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2009-06-30 with total page 367 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Tang dynasty is often called China’s “golden age,” a period of commercial, religious, and cultural connections from Korea and Japan to the Persian Gulf, and a time of unsurpassed literary creativity. Mark Lewis captures a dynamic era in which the empire reached its greatest geographical extent under Chinese rule, painting and ceramic arts flourished, women played a major role both as rulers and in the economy, and China produced its finest lyric poets in Wang Wei, Li Bo, and Du Fu. The Chinese engaged in extensive trade on sea and land. Merchants from Inner Asia settled in the capital, while Chinese entrepreneurs set off for the wider world, the beginning of a global diaspora. The emergence of an economically and culturally dominant south that was controlled from a northern capital set a pattern for the rest of Chinese imperial history. Poems celebrated the glories of the capital, meditated on individual loneliness in its midst, and described heroic young men and beautiful women who filled city streets and bars. Despite the romantic aura attached to the Tang, it was not a time of unending peace. In 756, General An Lushan led a revolt that shook the country to its core, weakening the government to such a degree that by the early tenth century, regional warlordism gripped many areas, heralding the decline of the Great Tang.
Download or read book The Daode Jing written by Livia Kohn and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2019-09-25 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Daode jing ("Book of the Dao and Its Virtue") is an essential work in both traditional Chinese culture and world philosophy. The oldest text of philosophical Daoism, and widely venerated among religious Daoist practitioners, it was composed around the middle of the 4th century BCE. Ascribed to a thinker named Laozi, a contemporary of Confucius, the work is based on a set of aphorisms designed to help local lords improve their techniques of government. The most translated book after the Bible, the Daode jing appears in numerous variants and remains highly relevant in the modern world. This guide provides an overview of the text, presenting its historical unfolding, its major concepts, and its contemporary use. It also gives some indication of its essence by citing relevant passages and linking them to the religious practices of traditional Daoism.
Download or read book Li Bo Unkempt written by Kidder Smith and published by punctum books. This book was released on 2021-03-25 with total page 501 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Early Medieval China written by Wendy Swartz and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2013-05-21 with total page 746 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Capturing the unusual cultural character of a formative period and its intellectual ferment across multiple disciplines.
