Living karma : the religious practices of Ouyi Zhixu / Beverley Foulks McGuire.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

McGuire, Beverley Foulks, author.

Series:

Sheng Yen series in Chinese Buddhist studies.

Sheng Yen Series in Chinese Buddhism Studies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Zhixu, 1599-1655.

Zhixu.

Karma.

Spiritual life--Buddhism.

Spiritual life.

Buddhist literature, Chinese--History and criticism.

Buddhist literature, Chinese.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (241 p.)

Place of Publication:

New York : Columbia University Press, 2014.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Ouyi Zhixu (1599-1655) was an eminent Chinese Buddhist monk who, contrary to his contemporaries, believed karma could be changed. Through vows, divination, repentance rituals, and ascetic acts such as burning and blood writing, he sought to alter what others understood as inevitable and inescapable. Drawing attention to Ouyi's unique reshaping of religious practice, Living Karma reasserts the significance of an overlooked individual in the modern development of Chinese Buddhism. While Buddhist studies scholarship tends to privilege textual analysis, Living Karma promotes a balanced study of ritual practice and writing, treating Ouyi's texts as ritual objects and his reading and writing as religious acts. Each chapter addresses a specific religious practice-writing, divination, repentance, vows, and bodily rituals-offering first a diachronic overview of each practice within the history of Chinese Buddhism and then a synchronic analysis of each phenomenon through close readings of Ouyi's work. This book sheds much-needed light on a little-known figure and his representation of karma, which proved to be a seminal innovation in the religious thought of late imperial China.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Illustrations

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. Karma as a Narrative Device in Ouyi's Autobiography

2. Divination as a Karmic Diagnostic

3. Repentance Rituals for Eliminating Karma

4. Vowing to Assume the Karma of Others

5. Slicing, Burning, and Blood Writing

Conclusion

Appendix 1. A Translation of Ouyi's Autobiography

Appendix 2. A Map of Ouyi's Life

Glossary of Terms, People, Places, and Titles of Texts

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780231537773

0231537778

OCLC:

890982198