Performing Enlightenment : Buddhism and theater in early modern China / Mengxiao Wang.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wang, Mengxiao, 1989- Author.

Series:

Harvard-Yenching Institute monograph series ; http://id.loc.gov/resources/hubs/50264cd9-5596-9bce-c3fa-fb3ccea41c84 149.

Harvard-Yenching institute monograph series ; 149

Language:

Chinese

English

Subjects (All):

Chinese drama--Ming dynasty, 1368-1644--History and criticism.

Chinese drama.

Buddhist drama--History and criticism.

Buddhist drama.

Chinese drama--Qing dynasty, 1644-1912--History and criticism.

Theater--China--Religious aspects--History.

Theater.

Theater and society--China--History.

Theater and society.

Chinese drama--History and criticism.

Theater--Religious aspects--History.

Theater and society--History.

China.

Physical Description:

[xxi], 322 pages : illustrations (chiefly color) ; 24 cm

Distribution:

Cambridge ; London : Harvard University Press, 2026.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Harvard University Asia Center, 2026.

Language Note:

English with excerpts in Chinese.

Summary:

"In early modern China, a major revival of Buddhism coincided with a surging fascination with theater. Buddhist monastics and laypeople increasingly participated in viewing, discussing, and writing plays. Far from merely serving as a medium for conveying religious teachings and practices, drama became a source of deep concern for Buddhists due to the perceived tension between spiritual discipline and worldly entertainment. In Performing Enlightenment, Mengxiao Wang examines how Buddhist clerics and laypeople engaged with and drove innovations in theater during the late Ming and early Qing dynasties in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Drawing on an extensive range of sources-including clerical sermons, scriptural commentaries, temple gazetteers, morality books, literati prose, and dramatic texts and paratexts-Wang argues that Ming-Qing Buddhists resolved the conflict between religion and entertainment by transforming theater into a creative mode of devotional practice. Consequently, playwriting, stage performance, and theatergoing all emerged as legitimate pathways to spiritual enlightenment. This interdisciplinary work provides fresh insights into Chinese studies, Buddhist studies, and theater studies while offering a comparative perspective on the complex interplay between religion, literature, and performance across cultures"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Introduction

Forbidding theater

Philosophizing theater

Playwright as Buddha

Drama as scripture

Staging as ritual

Coda.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Online version Wang, Mengxiao, 1989- Performing enlightenment

ebook version :

ISBN:

9780674303423

0674303423

OCLC:

1523846312

Publisher Number:

CIPO000355590