Stuart H. Young – författare

Aśvaghoṣa, Nāgārjuna, and Āryadeva are among the most celebrated Indian patriarchs in Asian Buddhist traditions and modern Buddhist studies scholarship. Scholars agree that all three lived in first- to third-century C.E. India, so most studies have focused on locating them in ancient Indian history, religion, or society. To this end, they have used all available accounts of the Indian patriarchs' lives—in Sanskrit, Tibetan, various Central Asian languages, and Chinese, produced over more than a millennium—and viewed them as bearing exclusively on ancient India. Of these sources, medieval Chinese hagiographies are by far the earliest and most abundant.Conceiving the Indian Buddhist Patriarchs in China is the first attempt to situate the medieval Chinese hagiographies of Aśvaghoṣa, Nāgārjuna, and Āryadeva in the context of Chinese religion, culture, and society of the time. It examines these sources not as windows into ancient Indian history but as valuable records of medieval Chinese efforts to define models of Buddhist sanctity. It explores broader questions concerning Chinese conceptions of ancient Indian Buddhism and concerns about being Buddhist in latter-day China. By propagating the tales and texts of Aśvaghoṣa, Nāgārjuna, and Āryadeva, leaders of the Chinese sangha sought to demonstrate that the means and media of Indian Buddhist enlightenment were readily available in China and that local Chinese adepts could thereby rise to the ranks of the most exalted Buddhist saints across the Sino-Indian divide. Chinese authors also aimed to merge their own kingdom with the Buddhist heartland by demonstrating congruency between Indian and Chinese ideals of spiritual attainment. This volume shows, for the first time, how Chinese Buddhists adduced the patriarchs as evidence that Buddhist masters from ancient India had instantiated the same ideals, practices, and powers expected of all Chinese holy beings and that the expressly foreign religion of Buddhism was thus the best means to sainthood and salvation for latter-day China.Rich in information and details about the inner world of medieval Chinese Buddhists, Conceiving the Indian Buddhist Patriarchs in China will be welcomed by scholars and students in the fields of Buddhist studies, religious studies, and China studies.

Remembering the Dead in Modern China is a groundbreaking interdisciplinary volume that brings together diverse scholarly perspectives to examine the complex and evolving practices of death, dying, and remembrance in modern China. Studying the ideals and practices of caring for the dead is essential to understanding social and cultural change in modern China. The chapters in this volume elucidate the many ways in which remembrance of the dead challenges established norms.The contributors show how acts of remembrance provide opportunities to find meaning in the untimely loss of loved ones; to challenge cultural conventions by generating significance from absence in burial rituals; to refashion mourning rites in response to modern political demands; and to forge bonds between urban and rural mortuary communities. The chapters trace transformations in how the dead are remembered across a broad social spectrum, from the Imperial Court to factory workers in Maoist China to contemporary Christian converts. Taken together, they offer valuable insight into how political, economic, and religious changes have influenced people's interactions with the dead and how those interactions, in turn, reshape the political, economic, and religious landscape.Featuring original research and thoughtful analysis, this volume makes a significant contribution to death studies, Chinese studies, religious studies, history of religion, anthropology, and sociology. This book will appeal to scholars and students interested in the intersection of tradition and modernity in Chinese cultural practices surrounding mortality.

Remembering the Dead in Modern China is a groundbreaking interdisciplinary volume that brings together diverse scholarly perspectives to examine the complex and evolving practices of death, dying, and remembrance in modern China. Studying the ideals and practices of caring for the dead is essential to understanding social and cultural change in modern China. The chapters in this volume elucidate the many ways in which remembrance of the dead challenges established norms.The contributors show how acts of remembrance provide opportunities to find meaning in the untimely loss of loved ones; to challenge cultural conventions by generating significance from absence in burial rituals; to refashion mourning rites in response to modern political demands; and to forge bonds between urban and rural mortuary communities. The chapters trace transformations in how the dead are remembered across a broad social spectrum, from the Imperial Court to factory workers in Maoist China to contemporary Christian converts. Taken together, they offer valuable insight into how political, economic, and religious changes have influenced people's interactions with the dead and how those interactions, in turn, reshape the political, economic, and religious landscape.Featuring original research and thoughtful analysis, this volume makes a significant contribution to death studies, Chinese studies, religious studies, history of religion, anthropology, and sociology. This book will appeal to scholars and students interested in the intersection of tradition and modernity in Chinese cultural practices surrounding mortality.