Buddhism Under Mao

Buddhism Under Mao
Author :
Publisher : Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press
Total Pages : 696
Release :
ISBN-10 : UOM:39015040123096
ISBN-13 :
Rating : 4/5 (96 Downloads)

Synopsis Buddhism Under Mao by : Holmes Welch

Buddhism under Mao shows what kind of a problem Buddhism presented to the Chinese Communists and how they solved it. Relying largely on materials from the Mainland press, Holmes Welch has made what is probably the most detailed study so far available of the fate of a world religion in a Communist country. He describes how Buddhist institutions were controlled, protected, utilized, and suppressed; and explains why the larger needs of foreign and domestic policy dictated the Communists' approach to the institutions. Over eighty photographs illustrate the activities of monks, laymen, and foreign visitors. Welch worked for over a decade on the trilogy here completed. The preceding volumes, The Practice of Chinese Buddhism, 1900-1950 and The Buddhist Revival in China, dealt with Buddhism in the years before the Communist victory. Buddhism under Mao ends with a discussion of the possibility of the survival of certain elements of Buddhism in new forms.

The Buddhist Revival in China

The Buddhist Revival in China
Author :
Publisher : Cambridge : Harvard University Press
Total Pages : 426
Release :
ISBN-10 : 0674085701
ISBN-13 : 9780674085701
Rating : 4/5 (01 Downloads)

Synopsis The Buddhist Revival in China by : Holmes Welch

Of all the world's major religions, Chinese Buddhism has probably experienced the most traumatic modernization. Less than forty years have separated the self-contained Manchu Empire from the establishment of a Communist state. The consequences are described in this book. Holmes Welch offers the first detailed account of the careers of recent Buddhist leaders and of the diverse organization they started. Eighteen Chinese Buddhist associations are identified as the author traces the struggle for national leadership. The role of T'ai-hsii, the leader best known to Western readers but not, it is shown, among Buddhists, is given a controversial reassessment. After examining the main features of the revival, Welch puts them into a larger political framework. In the process, he offers copious evidence that our picture of Chinese Buddhism has been distorted. What has been termed a "revival" was actually a secular reorientation. The author's conclusion is that this secularization, vigorous as it was, in reality foreshadowed the decline of Chinese Buddhism as a living religion.

The Practice of Chinese Buddhism, 1900-1950

The Practice of Chinese Buddhism, 1900-1950
Author :
Publisher : Harvard University Press
Total Pages : 600
Release :
ISBN-10 : 0674697006
ISBN-13 : 9780674697003
Rating : 4/5 (06 Downloads)

Synopsis The Practice of Chinese Buddhism, 1900-1950 by : Holmes Welch

Based partly on unpublished documents and oral information obtained from monks who headed major monasteries on mainland China, Holmes Welch presents a detailed description of the modern practice of Chinese Buddhism. Focusing on the actual rather than the theoretical observances of the religion, he gives an exhaustive account of the monastic system and the style of life of both monk and layman. His study makes new information available for the Western reader and calls into question the whole concept of the moribund state of Chinese Buddhism.

Illusory Abiding

Illusory Abiding
Author :
Publisher : BRILL
Total Pages : 496
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781684175437
ISBN-13 : 1684175437
Rating : 4/5 (37 Downloads)

Synopsis Illusory Abiding by : Natasha Heller

A groundbreaking monograph on Yuan dynasty Buddhism, Illusory Abiding offers a cultural history of Buddhism through a case study of the eminent Chan master Zhongfeng Mingben. Natasha Heller demonstrates that Mingben, and other monks of his stature, developed a range of cultural competencies through which they navigated social and intellectual relationships. They mastered repertoires internal to their tradition—for example, guidelines for monastic life—as well as those that allowed them to interact with broader elite audiences, such as the ability to compose verses on plum blossoms. These cultural exchanges took place within local, religious, and social networks—and at the same time, they comprised some of the very forces that formed these networks in the first place. This monograph contributes to a more robust account of Chinese Buddhism in late imperial China, and demonstrates the importance of situating monks as actors within broader sociocultural fields of practice and exchange.

The Souls of China

The Souls of China
Author :
Publisher : Pantheon
Total Pages : 480
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781101870051
ISBN-13 : 1101870052
Rating : 4/5 (51 Downloads)

Synopsis The Souls of China by : Ian Johnson

From the Pulitzer Prize winning journalist: a revelatory portrait of religion in China today, its history, the spiritual traditions of its Eastern and Western faiths, and the ways in which it is influencing China's future. Following a century of violent antireligious campaigns, China is now awash with new temples, churches, and mosques as well as cults, sects, and politicians trying to harness religion for their own ends. Driving this explosion of faith is uncertainty over what it means to be Chinese, and how to live an ethical life in a country that discarded traditional morality a century ago and is still searching for new guideposts. Ian Johnson lived for extended periods with underground church members, rural Daoists, and Buddhist pilgrims. He has distilled these experiences into a cycle of festivals, births, deaths, detentions, and struggle a great awakening of faith that is shaping the soul of the world s newest superpower. (With black-and-white illustrations throughout).

The Battle for China's Spirit

The Battle for China's Spirit
Author :
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages : 140
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781538106112
ISBN-13 : 1538106116
Rating : 4/5 (12 Downloads)

Synopsis The Battle for China's Spirit by : Sarah Cook

The Battle for China’s Spirit is the first comprehensive analysis of its kind, focusing on seven major religious groups in China that together account for over 350 million believers: Chinese Buddhism, Taoism, Catholicism, Protestantism, Islam, Tibetan Buddhism, and Falun Gong. The study examines the evolution of the Communist Party’s policies of religious control, how they are applied differently to diverse faith communities, and how citizens are responding to these policies. The study—which draws on hundreds of official documents and interviews with religious leaders, lay believers, and scholars—finds that Chinese government controls over religion have intensified since November 2012, seeping into new areas of daily life. Yet millions of religious believers defy official restrictions or engage in some form of direct protest, at times scoring significant victories. The report explores how these dynamics affect China’s overall social, political, and economic environment, while offering recommendations to both the Chinese government and international actors for how to increase the space for peaceful religious practice in a country where spirituality has been deeply embedded in its culture for millennia.

Conflicting Memories

Conflicting Memories
Author :
Publisher : BRILL
Total Pages : 711
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9789004433243
ISBN-13 : 9004433244
Rating : 4/5 (43 Downloads)

Synopsis Conflicting Memories by :

Conflicting Memories is a study of historical rewriting about Tibetans' encounter with the Chinese state during the Maoist era. Combining case studies with translated documents, it traces how that experience has been reimagined by Chinese and Tibetan authors and artists since the late 1970s.

The Power of the Buddhas

The Power of the Buddhas
Author :
Publisher : Harvard University Press
Total Pages : 536
Release :
ISBN-10 : UCSC:32106019811493
ISBN-13 :
Rating : 4/5 (93 Downloads)

Synopsis The Power of the Buddhas by : Sem Vermeersch

Buddhism in medieval Korea is characterized as "State Protection Buddhism," a religion whose primary purpose was to rally support (supernatural and popular) for and legitimate the state. This study is an attempt to specify Buddhism's place in Koryo and to ascertain to what extent and in what areas Buddhism functioned as a state religion.

Recovering Buddhism in Modern China

Recovering Buddhism in Modern China
Author :
Publisher : Columbia University Press
Total Pages : 452
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780231541107
ISBN-13 : 0231541104
Rating : 4/5 (07 Downloads)

Synopsis Recovering Buddhism in Modern China by : Jan Kiely

Modern Chinese history told from a Buddhist perspective restores the vibrant, creative role of religion in postimperial China. It shows how urban Buddhist elites jockeyed for cultural dominance in the early Republican era, how Buddhist intellectuals reckoned with science, and how Buddhist media contributed to modern print cultures. It recognizes the political importance of sacred Buddhist relics and the complex processes through which Buddhists both participated in and experienced religious suppression under Communist rule. Today, urban and rural communities alike engage with Buddhist practices to renegotiate class, gender, and kinship relations in post-Mao China. This volume vividly portrays these events and more, recasting Buddhism as a critical factor in China's twentieth-century development. Each chapter connects a moment in Buddhist history to a significant theme in Chinese history, creating new narratives of Buddhism's involvement in the emergence of urban modernity, the practice of international diplomacy, the mobilization for total war, and other transformations of state, society, and culture. Working across an extraordinary thematic range, this book reincorporates Buddhism into the formative processes and distinctive character of Chinese history.

Chinese Buddhism

Chinese Buddhism
Author :
Publisher : University of Hawaii Press
Total Pages : 300
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780824881580
ISBN-13 : 0824881583
Rating : 4/5 (80 Downloads)

Synopsis Chinese Buddhism by : Chün-fang Yü

What are the foundational scriptures and major schools for Chinese Buddhists? What divinities do they worship? What festivals do they celebrate? These are some of the basic questions addressed in this book, the first introduction to Chinese Buddhism written expressly for students and those interested in an accessible yet authoritative overview of the subject based on current scholarship. After presenting the basic tenets of the Buddha’s teachings and the Chinese religious traditions, the book focuses on topics essential for understanding Chinese Buddhism: major scriptures, worship of buddhas and bodhisattvas, rituals and festivals, the monastic order, Buddhist schools such as Tiantai and Chan, Buddhism and gender, and current trends—notably humanistic Buddhism in Taiwan and the resurgence of Buddhism in post-Mao China. Each chapter ends with discussion questions and suggestions for further reading. A convenient glossary of common terms, titles, and names is included.