Table of Contents
- NEW BOOK> The Administration of Buddhism in
China: A Study and Translation of Zanning and the Topical Compendium of
the Buddhist Clergy, by Albert Welter
- JOURNAL TOC> The Eastern Buddhist 47/2
NEW
BOOK> The Administration of Buddhism in China: A Study and Translation of
Zanning and the Topical Compendium of the Buddhist Clergy, by Albert Welter
by A. Charles Muller
The Administration of Buddhism in
China: A Study and Translation of Zanning and the Topical Compendium of the
Buddhist Clergy (Da Song Seng shilue) by Albert WelterCambria Press, 2019
http://www.cambriapress.com/cambriapress.cfm?template=4&bid=701
Description
The early Song dynasty (960–1278) was a time of immense intellectual fervor, as China rulers, after over a century of internecine warfare, embarked on a new course that promoted wen (literary or cultural arts) over wu (martial prowess). With the new literary based agenda came a discussion of how to constitute Song’s wen agenda, how to define wen values, what kinds of literature should be included and what excluded, and so on. Zanning (919–1001) was the leading Buddhist literatus at the Song court and his Topical Compendium of the Buddhist Clergy represents a major contribution to this debate, the understanding of which would be deficient without it. The new Song consensus which he helped forge became foundational for the future of China and formed the model for culture and civilization throughout East Asia.
The Topical Compendium of the Buddhist Clergy is a primary source of our knowledge of Chinese Buddhist institutional history. It details practices and policies regarding the administration of Buddhism that are otherwise difficult to access, and is the major work of its kind in the Chinese context. It establishes principles for the administration of Buddhism in China, many of which were customarily followed. Zanning’s work was compiled at the request of emperor Taizong (r. 976–997) for the purpose of educating the emperor and scholar-bureaucrats on matters pertaining to Buddhism, and thus serves the primary purpose of a guide book or primer on things Buddhist that Song administrators may need to know.
The relationship between religion and the state is a topic of major concern in the history of religions. While books, articles, and essays on this topic are common for other regions of the world, especially the West and increasingly for Islamic regions, there are few works discussing the dynamics of religion/state relations in China. Studies are beginning to appear that discuss the dynamics of religion/state relations in modern China, and while many studies of pre-modern Chinese religion touch on this topic, there is no study in English that addresses this topic head on. The relationship between religion and the state in China is a perennial problem that shows no sign of losing its significance in contemporary international affairs, and studies of the history of this relationship with a focus on Buddhism, the most articulate religious force in China during the past couple of millennia, cannot but have a real value to scholars and students.
Zanning’s Topical Compendium of the Buddhist Clergy engages the issue of the Buddhist presence in China directly, arguing for the clear and consistent contributions of Buddhism to Chinese culture and society in an unambiguous way. While ceding claims to independence, Zanning offers that Buddhism is an integral component of China’s culture, not an alien tradition anathema to Chinese values, but an important contributing factor to them. While other works argue in favor of Buddhism in the Chinese context in doctrinal and intellectual terms, only the Topical Compendium of the Buddhist Clergy asserts the necessity of Buddhist institutions and customs as assets in administrative affairs.
The Administration of Buddhism in China: A Study and Translation of Zanning and the Topical Compendium of the Buddhist Clergy is an important book for Asian studies, Buddhist studies, and history collections.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1. The Life and Times of Zanning: Reflections on the Dual Allegiances of a Faithful Buddhist at the Imperial Court
Chapter 2. The Topical Compendium of the Buddist Clergy
Translation: A Topical Compendium of the Buddhist Clergy in China
Fascicle I: The Propagation of the Buddhist Faith
Fascicle II: The Institutional History of Buddhism
Fascicle III: The Social History of Buddhism
Bibliography
Index
JOURNAL
TOC> The Eastern Buddhist 47/2
by John LoBreglio
Dear H-Buddhism Members,
We are happy to announce the publication of the latest issue of The
Eastern Buddhist, volume 47, number 2. It contains a special feature
commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the passing of Suzuki Daisetsu (D. T.
Suzuki). Please see the table of contents of this issue, and our other most
recent issues, below.
Subscription information can be found at http://web.otani.ac.jp/EBS/subscription.html.
Volumes of The Eastern Buddhist, New Series, may also be found on
JSTOR in the Arts & Sciences XV collection.
With our best wishes,
The Editorial Team of The Eastern Buddhist
John LoBreglio
Editor
PUBLISHED JANUARY 2019
Vol. 47, No. 2, New Series, 2016
ARTICLES
Feature: Commemorating the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Passing of Suzuki
Daisetsu
Reading D. T. Suzuki with a Focus on His Notion of “Person”
Sueki Fumihiko
Personal Reflections on Suzuki Daisetsu’s Nihonteki Reisei
Yasutomi Shin’ya
D. T. Suzuki and the Invention of Tradition
Victor Sōgen Hori
The Political Context of D. T. Suzuki’s Early Life
Stefan Grace
“Reflections on D. T. Suzuki: Commemorating the Fiftieth Anniversary of His
Death,” December 5–6, 2016, Nichibunken, Kyoto
John Breen
Soteriological Pragmatism and Psychotherapy: The Buddhist Concept of
“Means” in the Writings of the Modern Buddhist Philosopher Inoue Enryō
Rainer Schulzer
BOOK REVIEWS
James W. Heisig. Much Ado About Nothingness: Essays on Nishida and
Tanabe
(Romaric Jannel)
Jacqueline L. Stone. Right Thoughts at the Last Moment: Buddhism and
Deathbed Practices in Early Medieval Japan
(Robert F. Rhodes)
Maho Iuchi. An Early Text on the History of Rwa sgreng Monastery: The
rGyal ba’i dben gnas rwa sgreng gi bshad pa nyi ma’i ’od zer of ’Brom shes rab
me lce
(Alexander K. Smith)
Julia Linder. Entwicklungen des Buddhismus im Zwanzigsten Jahrhundert in
Indonesien: Strömungen, Verwerfungen und Aushandlungen der „Agama Buddha (di)
Indonesia“
(Michael Pye)
BOOKS RECEIVED
PUBLISHED JULY 2018
Vol. 47, No. 1, New Series, 2016
CONTENTS
ARTICLES
Shifting Contexts of Faith: The Cult of Maitreya in Middle and Late Silla
Richard D. McBride II and Insung Cho
The Moon Reflected in the Water: The Miraculous Response of Avalokiteśvara
in “Water-moon Avalokiteśvara Paintings” of the Goryeo Dynasty
Kang Soyon
A Reexamination of the Influence of Kumārajīva’s Thought on His Translation
of the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa
Fan Muyou
Zen and the “Hero’s March Spell” of the Shoulengyan jing
George A. Keyworth
BOOK REVIEWS
Jeffrey Samuels, Justin Thomas McDaniel, and Mark Michael Rowe, eds. Figures
of Buddhist Modernity in Asia
(Peggy Morgan)
Paul Trafford. Thursday’s Lotus: The Life and Work of Fuengsin Trafford
(Michael Pye)
Akiko Takenaka. Yasukuni Shrine: History, Memory, and Japan’s Unending
Postwar (Takashi Yoshida)
Ulrich Timme Kragh. Tibetan Yoga and Mysticism: A Textual Study of the
Yogas of Nāropa and Mahāmudrā Meditation in the Medieval Tradition of Dags po
(Alexander K. Smith)
OBITUARY
A Tribute to Professor Luis O. Gómez (1943–2017)
PUBLISHED JANUARY 2018
Vol. 46, No. 2, New Series, 2015
ARTICLES
The Huayan Philosophers: Fazang and Li Tongxuan on the “Six Marks” and the
“Sphere of Edification”
Seunghak Koh
On “Art in the Dark” and Meditation in Central Asian Buddhist Caves
Angela F. Howard
Redefining the “Dharma Characteristics School” in East Asian Yogācāra
Buddhism
Sumi Lee
The City of Nirvāṇa: Conceptions of Nirvāṇa with Special
Reference to the Central Asian Tradition
Hiromi Habata
VIEWS AND REVIEWS
A Plop! Heard “’Round the World”
James Austin
BOOK REVIEWS
John Kieschnick and Meir Shahar, eds. India in the Chinese Imagination:
Myth, Religion, and Thought
(Max Deeg)
Christoph Kleine. Der Buddhismus des Reinen Landes
(Thomas Siebert)
Ole Holten Pind and Esben Andreasen. Theravada-buddhismen:
Introduktion og tekster (Michael Pye)
Peter Schwieger. The Dalai Lama and the Emperor of China: A Political
History of the Tibetan Institution of Reincarnation
(Vladimir Uspensky)
OBITUARY
Yasutomi Shin’ya (1944–2017)
