Handbook of the history of religions in China. I, From the beginnings until the period of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms / Zhongjian Mou and Jian Zhang ; translated by Chi Zhen.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mou, Zhongjian, 1939- author.

Series:

Chinesische perspektiven . Geschichte ; Band 2.

Chinesische Perspektiven: Geschichte ; Band 2

Language:

Chinese

English

Subjects (All):

Religion.

History.

China--Religion--History.

China.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

401 pages ; 25 cm.

Other Title:

From the beginnings until the period of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

Place of Publication:

Stuttgart : ibidem-Verlag [2020]

Summary:

In their influential book Handbook of the History of Religions in China, Zhongjian Mu and Jian Zhan present a panorama of the religions existing in China through time. In their fascinating History, they delineate the emergence and development of Daoism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Islam, and Christianity and explore the roles they played in Chinese society and the interrelations between them. In China, also due to the encompassing Confucian idea of living together harmoniously while maintaining differences, religions, including newly arrived ones, came closer together than anywhere else in the world and reached a unique level of peaceful societal coexistence. Despite many frictions and conflicts, communication and reconciliation were indisputably predominant in China throughout history. Buddhism was peacefully introduced into China and, later on, a harmonious, symbiotic syncretism of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism developed an exemplary process of how a diverse set of different religions can complement each other and contribute to a better life.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: Phases of History of Religions in China

1. Primitive society

2. Dynasties of Xia, Shang and Zhou

3. Qin and Han dynasties

4. Dynasties of Wei, Jin, Song and Yuan

5. Ming and Qing dynasties

6. Republican China (1912-1949)

Historical Characteristics of Religions in China

1. The persistent existence and growth of religions in their original forms

2. The everlasting dominance of sovereignty over "clericalism"

3. Diversity and inclusiveness

4. Humanism and secularization

5. Interconnection and disconnection of the tripartite structure

Roles Religions Played Throughout Chinese History

1. Religions and Chinese politics

2. Religions and the Chinese economy

3. Religions and Chinese philosophy

4. Religions and Chinese morality

ch. One Primitive Religions

Overview

The Cult of Nature (Naturism)

1. The birth of religious thinking and the formation of a cult of nature

2. The worship of Heaven, earth, mountains, rivers, animals and plants

3. Sacrificial ceremonies related to farming

4. The cult of nature and its impact on the material life of primitive people

The Cult of Spirits

1. Soul and the idea of spirits

2. Burial customs in matrilineal societies and their significance

3. Burial customs in patrilineal societies and their significance

4. Burial customs and primitive civilizations

Totemism

1. Totemism: A typical clan religion

2. Totemic materials in archaeology

3. Totemic materials in ancient texts

4. Totemic materials in folklore studies

5. The socio-cultural significance of Totemism

6. Totemism and the dragon and phoenix cultures

Ancestor worship

1. Fertility cults and the birth of ancestor worship

2. The worship of female ancestors and "gansheng myths

3. The cult of male ancestors and hero myths

4. Ancestor worship and traditional ethics

Primitive Rites of Offering Sacrifice, Magic and Performing Divination

1. Sacrificial altars and utensils

2. Magic

3. Divination

Historical Characteristics of Primitive Religions in China

ch. Two Religions in the Three Archaic Dynasties and the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Eras

An Overview

The formation of Chinese state religion in the Xia and Shang dynasties

1. The legends of Xia's religious life

2. Shangdi (the Lord Above) of the Shang people and the Lord's "Imperial Court"

3. Relationships between the ancient religions and patriarchal kinship

4. Professional shamans and their social roles

The Western Zhou Dynasty: The heyday of Archaic Religions

1. Changes in society and religion in the Shang-Zhou transition

2. Religious ethics "matched morally to Heaven" [yi de pei tian)

3. Western Zhou's system of offering sacrifices

The Eras of Spring and Autumn and Warring States: Instability and transformation of archaic religions

1. "Lost proprieties and ruined music": The collapsing edifice of archaic religions

2. The Confucian view of religion: "Respecting spiritual beings while keeping aloof from them."

3. The Mohist view of religion: "Percipient ghosts" and "universal love"

4. The Daoist view of religion: "Let the kingdom be governed according to the Tao, and the manes of the departed will not manifest their spiritual energy."

5. The Legalist view of religion

6. The worship of "Five Emperors" and the arts of necromancy and seeking immortality

ch. Three Religions in the Qin and Han Dynasties: The Codification and Early Growth of Buddhism and Daoism

Religions in Qin Dynasty

1. Religious offerings and sacrifices in Qin

2. The official religion in Qin dynasty

3. Qin Shi Huang's cult of immortals

The State Religion in Han Dynasties

1. The cults of Five Emperors and Great Unity

2. The codification of the state religion and religious theories in the Three Rites

3. The discourse of the relationship between Yin-Yang and calamities, and the growing popularity of "Chen-Wei

4. Baihu tong (Comprehensive discussions in White Tiger Pavilion) and the codification of the patriarchal religion

The Breeding and Birth of Daoism

1. The historical and cultural background of origin of Daoism

2. The Scripture of Great Peace and the Unity of the Three

3. The Way of Great Peace and Way of Five Pecks of Rice

The Introduction and Incipient Popularity of Buddhism in Han Dynasties

1. The introduction and popularity of Buddhism

2. The translation and dissemination of Buddhist sutras

3. Li huo lun (Disposal of errors) and the commencement of disputes between Confucianism, Buddhism and Daoism

ch. Four Religions in Wei, Jin, and Southern and Northern Dynasties: Vibrant Growth

The Reorganization of the State-Sanctioned Patriarchal Religion

1. The system of supernatural beings in patriarchal religion

2. The sacrificial system applied to the ancestral temple

3. The political and cultural functions of patriarchal religion

The Maturation of Daoism

1. The evolution of major Daoist denominations and proliferation of Daoist scriptures

2. The Scripture of Yellow Court and Daoist theories of inner cultivation

3. Discourses on immortality in Ge Hong's The Master Embracing Simplicity

4. Kou Qianzhi's efforts to rehabilitate the Way of Celestial Master in Northern Wei Dynasty

5. Lu Xiujing's renovation work on the Southern Way of Celestial Master

6. Tao Hongjing's great synthesization of various types of Daoism in the Southern and Northern Dynasties

The Rapid Dissemination and Growth of Buddhism

1. The socio-cultural background of the prosperity of Buddhism

2. Dao An and Six Schools and Seven Sects of the early teaching of Prajnaparamita (the Perfection of Wisdom)

3. The Madhyamaka (Middle-Way) doctrine preached by Kumarajiva and Sengzhao

4. Huiyuan: The undying soul and discourses on cause and effect

5. Daosheng and his discourses on the nirvanic nature of Buddha

6. Buddhism and traditional Chinese culture

Conflict and Reconciliation between the Three Great Teachings

Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism

1. Background

2. Major theoretical debates between the three great teachings

3. Political embodiments of conflicts between three great teachings: The restriction, annihilation and promotion of Buddhism

4. The interaction between Confucianism, Buddhism and Daoism: Theory and Practice

ch. Five Religions in Sui and Tang Dynasties and the Periods of Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms: Prosperity and Pluralism

Simultaneously Promoting and Exploring Confucianism, Buddhism and Daoism

1. The simultaneous promotion of three teachings

2. Conflicts between Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism

3. The interaction between and simultaneous exploration of the three teachings

The Consolidation of Sacrificial Ceremonies of the State Religion in the Service of the Patriarchal State

1. The standardization of religious rituals for offering sacrifices

2. Disputes over and revisions of ceremonies for sacrificing to Heaven

3. Revisions of the rules for sacrificing to ancestral spirits

4. Other sacrificial ceremonies

5. The state religion and culture in Tang

Buddhism: Decline in the Age of Prosperity

1. The monarchs' frantic worship of Buddhism and the anti-Buddhist movement in the Huichang reign

2. Translations of Buddhist sutras and Buddhist writings

3. The prevalence of the Lotus Sutra, Three Treatises and Three Levels Schools

4. Xuanzang's pilgrimage to India and Weishi zong mlifl, or the Consciousness[-only] School

5. The Huayan (Flower Ornament): An appetite for theoretical analysis

6. Zen: An entirely Sinicized Buddhist school

7. Vinaya School, Pure Land Sect, and Esoteric Buddhism

8. Making peace by marriage between Tang and Tibet and the Qianhong (First Diffusion) Period of Tibetan Buddhism

9. Buddhism and Chinese civilization in the Sui and Tang dynasties

Tang: Golden Days of Taoism

1. The adoration of Daoism by the royal families

2. The development of Daoist theories of tranquility and nonaction

3. The rise and fall of the External-Alchemy Way and the emergence of Zhong Liquan and Lii Dongbin's Way of Internal Alchemy

4. Daoism and culture in Sui and Tang dynasties

The Growing Popularity of Religions Introduced from the West to China

1. The prevalence of Nestorianism (a sect of ancient Christianity)

2. The early dissemination of Islam

3. The growth of Zoroastrianism

4. The popularity of Manichaeism.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

9783838212074

383821207X

OCLC:

1224586424

Publisher Number:

99987320537