Worldly Saviors And Imperial Authority In Medieval Chinese Buddhism
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Worldly Saviors And Imperial Authority In Medieval Chinese Buddhism
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Author : April D. Hughes
language : en
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
Release Date : 2021-05-31
Worldly Saviors And Imperial Authority In Medieval Chinese Buddhism written by April D. Hughes and has been published by University of Hawaii Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2021-05-31 with History categories.
Although scholars have long assumed that early Chinese political authority was rooted in Confucianism, rulership in the medieval period was not bound by a single dominant tradition. To acquire power, emperors deployed objects and figures derived from a range of traditions imbued with religious and political significance. Author April D. Hughes demonstrates how dynastic founders like Wu Zhao (Wu Zetian, r. 690–705), the only woman to rule China under her own name, and Yang Jian (Emperor Wen, r. 581–604), the first ruler of the Sui dynasty, closely identified with Buddhist worldly saviors and Wheel-Turning Kings to legitimate their rule. During periods of upheaval caused by the decline of the Dharma, worldly saviors arrived on earth to quell chaos and to rule and liberate their subjects simultaneously. By incorporating these figures into the imperial system, sovereigns were able to depict themselves both as monarchs and as buddhas or bodhisattvas in uncertain times. In this inventive and original work, Hughes traces worldly saviors—in particular Maitreya Buddha and Prince Moonlight—as they appeared in apocalyptic scriptures from Dunhuang, claims to the throne made by various rebel leaders, and textual interpretations and assertions by Yang Jian and Wu Zhao. Yang Jian associated himself with Prince Moonlight and took on the persona of a Wheel-Turning King whose offerings to the Buddha were not flowers and incense but weapons of war to reunite a long-fragmented empire and revitalize the Dharma. Wu Zhao was associated with several different worldly savior figures. In addition, she saw herself as the incarnation of a Wheel-Turning King for whom it was said the Seven Treasures manifested as material representations of his right to rule. Wu Zhao duly had the Seven Treasures created and put on display whenever she held audiences at court. The worldly savior figure allowed rulers to inhabit the highest role in the religious realm along with the supreme role in the political sphere. This incorporation transformed notions of Chinese imperial sovereignty, and associating rulers with a buddha or bodhisattva continued long after the close of the medieval period.
Worldly Saviors And Imperial Authority In Medieval Chinese Buddhism
DOWNLOAD eBooks
Author : April D. Hughes
language : en
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
Release Date : 2021-05-31
Worldly Saviors And Imperial Authority In Medieval Chinese Buddhism written by April D. Hughes and has been published by University of Hawaii Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2021-05-31 with History categories.
Although scholars have long assumed that early Chinese political authority was rooted in Confucianism, rulership in the medieval period was not bound by a single dominant tradition. To acquire power, emperors deployed objects and figures derived from a range of traditions imbued with religious and political significance. Author April D. Hughes demonstrates how dynastic founders like Wu Zhao (Wu Zetian, r. 690–705), the only woman to rule China under her own name, and Yang Jian (Emperor Wen, r. 581–604), the first ruler of the Sui dynasty, closely identified with Buddhist worldly saviors and Wheel-Turning Kings to legitimate their rule. During periods of upheaval caused by the decline of the Dharma, worldly saviors arrived on earth to quell chaos and to rule and liberate their subjects simultaneously. By incorporating these figures into the imperial system, sovereigns were able to depict themselves both as monarchs and as buddhas or bodhisattvas in uncertain times. In this inventive and original work, Hughes traces worldly saviors—in particular Maitreya Buddha and Prince Moonlight—as they appeared in apocalyptic scriptures from Dunhuang, claims to the throne made by various rebel leaders, and textual interpretations and assertions by Yang Jian and Wu Zhao. Yang Jian associated himself with Prince Moonlight and took on the persona of a Wheel-Turning King whose offerings to the Buddha were not flowers and incense but weapons of war to reunite a long-fragmented empire and revitalize the Dharma. Wu Zhao was associated with several different worldly savior figures. In addition, she saw herself as the incarnation of a Wheel-Turning King for whom it was said the Seven Treasures manifested as material representations of his right to rule. Wu Zhao duly had the Seven Treasures created and put on display whenever she held audiences at court. The worldly savior figure allowed rulers to inhabit the highest role in the religious realm along with the supreme role in the political sphere. This incorporation transformed notions of Chinese imperial sovereignty, and associating rulers with a buddha or bodhisattva continued long after the close of the medieval period.
The Scripture On The Ten Kings And The Making Of Purgatory In Medieval Chinese Buddhism
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Author : Stephen F. Teiser
language : en
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
Release Date : 2003-04-30
The Scripture On The Ten Kings And The Making Of Purgatory In Medieval Chinese Buddhism written by Stephen F. Teiser and has been published by University of Hawaii Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2003-04-30 with Religion categories.
An examination of medieval Chinese Buddhist thanatonic practices. Bridging area studies and the history of religions, Teiser explores the concerns, practices and beliefs of 9th- and 10th-century Chinese Buddhists.
The Power Of Patriarchs
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Author : Elizabeth Morrison
language : en
Publisher: BRILL
Release Date : 2010-03-25
The Power Of Patriarchs written by Elizabeth Morrison and has been published by BRILL this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2010-03-25 with Religion categories.
A study of the Northern Song Chan monk Qisong and his writings on Chan lineage, this book offers new arguments about Buddhist patriarchs, challenges assumptions about Chan masters, and provides insight into the interactions of Buddhists and the imperial court.
A History Of Uyghur Buddhism
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Author : Johan Elverskog
language : en
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Release Date : 2024-06-18
A History Of Uyghur Buddhism written by Johan Elverskog and has been published by Columbia University Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2024-06-18 with Religion categories.
Today, most Uyghurs are Muslims. For centuries, however, Uyghurs were Buddhists. By around 1000 CE, they, like many of their neighbors, had decisively turned toward the Dharma, and a golden age of Uyghur Buddhism flourished under the Mongol empire. Dwelling along the Silk Road in what is now northwestern China, they stood at the center of Buddhist Eurasia, linking far-flung regions and traditions. But as Muslim power grew, Uyghur Buddhists converted to Islam, rewriting their past and erasing their Buddhist history. This book presents the first comprehensive history of Buddhism among the Uyghurs from the ninth to the seventeenth century. Johan Elverskog traces how the Uyghurs forged their distinctive tradition, considering a variety of social, political, cultural, and religious contexts. He argues that the religious history of the Uyghurs challenges conventional narratives of the meeting of Buddhism and Islam, showing that conversion took place gradually and was driven by factors such as geopolitics, climate change, and technological innovation. Elverskog also provides a nuanced understanding of lived Buddhism, focusing on ritual practices and materiality as well as the religion’s entanglements with economics, politics, and violence. A groundbreaking history of Uyghur Buddhism, this book makes a compelling case for the importance of the Uyghurs in shaping the course of both Buddhist and Asian history.
The Buddhist Conquest Of China
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Author : Erik Zürcher
language : en
Publisher: BRILL
Release Date : 2007-03-30
The Buddhist Conquest Of China written by Erik Zürcher and has been published by BRILL this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2007-03-30 with History categories.
At the repeated request of many scholars and students here is a new edition of E. Zürcher's groundbreaking The Buddhist Conquest of China. In his extensive introduction Stephen F. Teiser (D.T. Suzuki Professor in Buddhist Studies, Princeton University) explains why the book is still the standard in the field of early Chinese Buddhism.
The Women Who Ruled China
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Author : Stephanie Balkwill
language : en
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Release Date : 2024-08-06
The Women Who Ruled China written by Stephanie Balkwill and has been published by Univ of California Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2024-08-06 with History categories.
The Making Of A Savior Bodhisattva
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Author : Shi Zhiru
language : en
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
Release Date : 2007-08-14
The Making Of A Savior Bodhisattva written by Shi Zhiru and has been published by University of Hawaii Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2007-08-14 with Religion categories.
In modern Chinese Buddhism, Dizang is especially popular as the sovereign of the underworld. Often represented as a monk wearing a royal crown, Dizang helps the deceased faithful navigate the complex underworld bureaucracy, avert the punitive terrors of hell, and arrive at the happy realm of rebirth. The author is concerned with the formative period of this important Buddhist deity, before his underworldly aspect eclipses his connections to other religious expressions and at a time when the art, mythology, practices, and texts of his cult were still replete with possibilities. She begins by problematizing the reigning model of Dizang, one that proposes an evolution of gradual sinicization and increasing vulgarization of a relatively unknown Indian bodhisattva, Ksitigarbha, into a Chinese deity of the underworld. Such a model, the author argues, obscures the many-faceted personality and iconography of Dizang. Rejecting it, she deploys a broad array of materials (art, epigraphy, ritual texts, scripture, and narrative literature) to recomplexify Dizang and restore (as much as possible from the fragmented historical sources) what this figure meant to Chinese Buddhists from the sixth to tenth centuries. Rather than privilege any one genre of evidence, the author treats both material artifacts and literary works, canonical and noncanonical sources. Adopting an archaeological approach, she excavates motifs from and finds resonances across disparate genres to paint a vibrant, detailed picture of the medieval Dizang cult. Through her analysis, the cult, far from being an isolated phenomenon, is revealed as integrally woven into the entire fabric of Chinese Buddhism, functioning as a kaleidoscopic lens encompassing a multivalent religio-cultural assimilation that resists the usual bifurcation of doctrine and practice or "elite" and "popular" religion. The Making of a Savior Bodhisattva presents a fascinating wealth of material on the personality, iconography, and lore associated with the medieval Dizang. It elucidates the complex cultural, religious, and social forces shaping the florescence of this savior cult in Tang China while simultaneously addressing several broader theoretical issues that have preoccupied the field. Zhiru not only questions the use of sinicization as a lens through which to view Chinese Buddhist history, she also brings both canonical and noncanonical literature into dialogue with a body of archaeological remains that has been ignored in the study of East Asian Buddhism.
Buddhism And Tales Of The Supernatural In Early Medieval China
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Author : Zhenjun Zhang
language : en
Publisher: BRILL
Release Date : 2014-08-21
Buddhism And Tales Of The Supernatural In Early Medieval China written by Zhenjun Zhang and has been published by BRILL this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2014-08-21 with Literary Criticism categories.
This book examines the literary thematic changes, Buddhist imagery, and new motifs in the fantastic dreamworld as seen in the tales of the supernatural in early medieval China.
The Revival Of Buddhist Monasticism In Medieval China
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Author : Huaiyu Chen
language : en
Publisher: Peter Lang
Release Date : 2007
The Revival Of Buddhist Monasticism In Medieval China written by Huaiyu Chen and has been published by Peter Lang this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2007 with Buddhism categories.
Original Scholarly Monograph