Power of place : the religious landscape of the Southern Sacred Peak (Nanyue) in medieval China / James Robson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Robson, James, 1965 December 1- author.

Series:

Harvard East Asian monographs ; 316.

Harvard East Asian monographs ; 316

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Mountains--Religious aspects--Buddhism.

Mountains.

Mountains--Religious aspects--Taoism.

Taoism--China--History.

Taoism.

Buddhism--China--History.

Buddhism.

Taoism--Relations--Buddhism.

Buddhism--Relations--Taoism.

Heng Mountain (Hunan Sheng, China)--History.

Heng Mountain (Hunan Sheng, China).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xx, 506 p. :) ill., maps ;

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Massachusetts ; London : Harvard University Asia Center, [2009]

Summary:

Throughout Chinese history mountains have been integral components of the religious landscape. They have been considered divine or numinous sites, the abodes of deities, the preferred locations for temples and monasteries, and destinations for pilgrims. Early in Chinese history a set of five mountains were co-opted into the imperial cult and declared sacred peaks, yue, demarcating and protecting the boundaries of the Chinese imperium.The Southern Sacred Peak, or Nanyue, is of interest to scholars not the least because the title has been awarded to several different mountains over the years. The dynamic nature of Nanyue raises a significant theoretical issue of the mobility of sacred space and the nature of the struggles involved in such moves. Another facet of Nanyue is the multiple meanings assigned to this place: political, religious, and cultural. Of particular interest is the negotiation of this space by Daoists and Buddhists. The history of their interaction leads to questions about the nature of the divisions between these two religious traditions. James Robson's analysis of these topics demonstrates the value of local studies and the emerging field of Buddho-Daoist studies in research on Chinese religion.

Contents:

Preliminary Material

Introduction

Religion and the Sacred Peaks of China

Moving Mountains

Imagining Nanyue

Rising Up to Paradise

Nanyue in the Tang

Lady Wei and the Female Daoists of Nanyue

Local Histories, Lost Monks

Regional Buddhism During the Tang

On the Boundaries of Chinese Religions

Notes

Works Cited

Index

Harvard East Asian Monographs.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

1-68417-489-9

OCLC:

1132228182

Publisher Number:

10.1163/9781684174898 DOI