Return to main conference page.
| 1 |
Katherine Alexander, University of Colorado in Boulder Late Qing circulation and sponsorship networks of Quanjie lu (Record of exhortations and admonitions) |
Quanjie lu 勸戒錄 (Record of exhortations and admonitions) is a biji collection that was originally produced during the crisis decades of the mid-to-late nineteenth century. The collection then experienced a resurgence in interest during the chaotic decades of the early twentieth century. This paper is concerned with the first period of its florescence. Liang Gongchen 梁恭辰 (1814-1887) compiled and distributed the first installment in 1843, featuring a glowing preface by his father, the eminent statesman and prolific biji writer Liang Zhangju 梁章鉅 (1775-1849). By the time its tenth installment was posthumously published in 1888, Liang had collected over 1300 anecdotes and tales with the stated aim of moralizing society. Thanks to Liang’s enthusiastic supporters, long before the tenth collection was published, republication efforts involving both single installments and combined editions were underway. In this paper, I will present the results of analyzing twenty Qing prefaces and postfaces to Quanjie lu, as well as a detailed donor list from an 1888 edition, in order to track how this morality text was transmitted and how its sponsors framed their involvement in furthering its spread. These prefaces also reveal both how Liang justified his work and how his early supporters responded to his moralizing intentions. |
| 2 |
Marcus Bingenheimer, Temple University “Progressives” vs. “Conservatives” and their Intermediaries in the Epistolary Network of Republican-era Chinese Buddhism |
Our paper describes and analyzes an epistolary network of Chinese Buddhists in the Republican period (1911-1949) based on letters published in Buddhist periodicals. The representative, openly available dataset contains more than 1100 actors and 2900 links. Exploratory visualization highlights two communities: One centered on the reformist monk Taixu (1890-1947) and his journal Haichaoyin, the other on the influential Pure Land monk Yinguang (1862-1940). Between and around these two network regions one finds a number of intermediary figures. Whereas Taixu is known as a figurehead of Buddhist Modernism, Yinguang championed more traditional, devotional forms of Buddhism. In what way is the structure of the letter network reflective of their different attitudes towards Buddhism and modernity? What is the role of the second tier actors? Are they simply intermediaries between a “progressive” and a “conservative” camp? Or do these actors offer alternative approaches beyond the visions of Taixu and Yinguang?
Our findings are that the actors’ position in the structure of the network is indeed to a degree tied to their views on Buddhist modernism. This also reflects the impact of the medium – the reformist camp is better networked in Buddhist journals because many of its members were actively engaged with Haichaoyin and the Buddhist Association of China. The members of Taixu’s circle, although in general sympathetic to Taixu’s reformism, were often intellectually independent and not avoiding Yinguang and his Pure Land traditionalism. Next to Yinguang, network analysis has revealed another traditionalist group of scholars who promoted a Tiantai inflected, conservative Buddhist education. |
| 3 |
Daniela Campo, Université de Strasbourg Instructions for meditation as mediums for autobiographical expression in the Chan Buddhist tradition |
This presentation will explore the special connection that seems to exist since the twelfth century between autobiographical writing and the Chan school of Buddhism. More specifically, it will highlight the function of Chan instructions for meditation as an important autobiographical form next to other recognized and established Chinese, and Chinese Buddhist, autobiographical genres. After providing a brief overview of Chan autobiographical literature from the Song dynasty to present times and introducing long-established formats and new genres of Chan autobiographical sermons, including, in the twentieth century, religious instructions styled kaishi 開示, I will formulate hypothesis to explain the close relationship between Chan and autobiography in Chinese Buddhism, and point to questions and directions for future research on this topic. |
| 4 |
Cao Xinyu, Renmin University of China The Writing of a Seventeenth-century Prophecy Book of Descending Stars: Revelation from outside China |
Among the popular religious scriptures recently uncovered both in antiquity book shops and in field studies, a pamphlet called Puming yiliu kaojia wenbu 普明遺留考甲文簿, or, the book of veritable calendar passed down from [Patriarch] Pu-ming, is an awesome text of scholarly significance. Still circulating in the popular religious network in rural North China, a seemingly Yellow Heaven Way scripture, this pamphlet actually belongs to the seditious sectarian tradition collectively known as the White Lotus movement. By examining existing manuscripts of the pamphlet, this paper discusses the writing and the circulation of the scripture, the author, the scribes, concealed terminology, and, particularly, the Chinese transcription of Mongolian words in the text. This paper suggests that this pamphlet was originally produced in early seventeenth century by White Lotus sectarians in the multi-ethic Mongolian vassal state under the heirs of the Altan-qaghan, well-known in history for his patronizing Han-Chinese agricultural settlers.
明中葉以降，土默特一代漢人聚居的板升當中，一直以白蓮教活動所著稱。但近三十年學界對於白蓮教的經卷調查，並未發現相關線索；亦有學者因之懷疑，白蓮教是否真實存在于明朝境外的漢人移民聚落。然而，梳理黃天道經卷《普明遺留考甲文簿》等新發現十七世紀預言書，筆者注意到，這些經卷涉及一系列使用蒙古名字的漢人活動，顯示出白蓮教徒在俺答汗及其後人控制的土默特地區的真實存在，並可能預示明代白蓮教經卷另一個值得重視的來源。 |
| 5 |
Yingjin Chen, Beijing Language and Culture University 羯磨文本在中國早期的翻譯與製作 |
“羯磨”（kammavācā）是佛教儀軌，用來規範、約束比丘、比丘尼的行為。從種類上來說有儀式性的羯磨與懲罰羯磨兩種。戒律傳入中國之初就伴隨有單獨“羯磨本”的流傳，可以說沒有“羯磨”，比丘如何受戒、說戒的宗教活動，分配衣物、臥坐具的日常活動，以及如何在觸犯戒條時接受懲罰等維持集體生活的規範，便無法實施。目前大正藏T.1432《曇無德律部雜羯磨》、T.1433《羯磨》、T.1434《四分比丘尼羯磨法》經日本學者平川彰、土橋秀高等人論證為抄出本；同時在敦煌、吐魯番寫經中還有一系列被認定為屬於南北朝時期的“雜羯磨”抄本，這些道宣以前的羯磨抄本，從內容上來說融合了多部廣律，且比丘、比丘尼、在家居士儀式活動適用規則混雜。那麼最早傳來的羯磨本情況如何？是否還有現存的羯磨譯本未被我們發現？本文擬從這些問題出發，探究中國最早羯磨抄本的基本形態，以及佛教傳入中國後羯磨的實施情況。因此考察這些羯磨抄本的意義，一方面在於可以闡明中國佛教早期羯磨本形成的特點，另一方面對解明中國佛教僧團早期的生活也大有裨益。 Karmavācā (Jiemo) are Buddhist liturgical formulas designed to regulate and constrain the behavior of monks and nuns. Broadly speaking, there are two types of karmavācā: ritualistic and disciplinary. From the earliest transmission of the Vinaya to China, independent texts of karmavācā circulated alongside it. Without karmavācā, essential aspects of monastic life—such as ordination ceremonies, the recitation of precepts, the distribution of robes and bedding, and the imposition of disciplinary measures for violations of monastic rules—would not have been practicable. In Taishō, texts such as T.1432 Miscellaneous Karmavācā of the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya (Tanwude Lvbu ZaJiemo), T.1433 Karmavācā（Jiemo）, and T.1434 The Karma Procedure for Bhikṣuṇīs According to the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya（Sifen Biqiuni Zajiemofa）have been identified by Japanese scholars such as Hirakawa Akira and Tsuchihashi Hidekō as transcription-based editions. Additionally, a series of manuscripts identified as Miscellaneous Karmavācā from the Northern and Southern Dynasties period have been discovered among the manuscripts from Dunhuang and Turfan. These pre-Dao Xuan karmavācā texts often incorporate material from multiple expanded Vinayas and intermingle rules for monks, nuns, and lay practitioners in ritual activities.This raises several questions: What were the characteristics of the earliest karmavācā texts introduced to China? Could there be extant translated karmavācā texts that have yet to be discovered? This study aims to explore the fundamental features of the earliest karmavācā manuscripts in China and the implementation of karmavācā after Buddhism was introduced. Examining these karmavācā texts is significant for two reasons: first, to clarify the formation and characteristics of early karmavācā texts in Chinese Buddhism; and second, to shed light on the early practices and collective life of Buddhist monastic communities in China. |
| 6 |
Philip Clart, Leipzig University Spirit-Mediums and Digital Media: Field Notes Among Taiwanese Phoenix Halls |
Text production in Taiwanese spirit-writing cults (luantang 鸞堂, “phoenix halls”) is strongly linked to their religious self-understanding as having received a mission from Heaven (“to proclaim moral transformation on behalf of Heaven,” daitian xuanhua 代天宣化), as a key tool for the creation of salvific merit (gongde 功德), and at the same time is the economic mainstay of the temple organizations in the form of the merit money donated by the faithful for the printing and distribution of morality books. What then happens when the technology of text production switches to a digital format, in which it is no longer possible to quantify the merit earned by numbers of print copies? As the sacred texts lose their physicality and countability, what happens to the quantitative dimension of the merit economy? And how do any major shifts in this regard affect the religious identity of the text-producing cult communities? Do we see changes in the identity constructions of spiritwritten texts that indicate significant changes in the underlying belief system? While many morality books and magazines are now freely available in digital editions, these questions can ultimately only be answered with ethnographic data derived from observation and interviews at a representative selection of Taiwanese spiritwriting cults. The present paper presents preliminary results from field research conducted by the author from April to June of 2024. |
| 7 |
Deng Shengtao, Tsinghua University 從《觀音普門品》到《耳根圓通章》：中古中國觀音信仰的經典轉移與精神轉折 |
魏晉南北朝時期，隨著《妙法蓮華經》的譯出與傳播，《觀世音菩薩普門品》逐漸脫離原經獨立流通，並以其“聞聲救苦”的靈驗特質，成為中土觀音信仰的核心經典。基於《普門品》的聞聲救難敘事，漢地佛教徒進一步創製《十句觀世音經》《高王觀世音經》《白衣觀音大士靈感神咒》等本土靈驗經典以及《觀音應驗記》，鞏固並豐富了觀世音菩薩“有感必應”的宗教形象，使其成為庶民信仰的主要依歸。中唐以降，《楞嚴經》的傳譯使《觀世音菩薩耳根圓通章》漸受重視，觀音形象遂由外在的救濟者轉向內在的覺悟者，“反聞聞自性”的禪觀法門取代了早期的感應崇拜，成為唐宋佛教思想的新典範。佛門僧侶與儒家士人透過此一法門，重新詮釋觀世音菩薩的精神內涵，使觀音信仰從“他力救度”過渡至“自性覺悟”。這一演變不僅標誌著中古中國觀音信仰的經典轉移——從《普門品》到《耳根圓通章》的權威更替，更折射出從魏晉南北朝到唐宋時期中國佛教信仰內在精神的轉折，即從功利性的現世救濟，邁向心性論的終極關懷。
During the Wei-Jin and Northern-Southern dynasties, with the translation and dissemination of the Lotus Sūtra (Saddharmapuṇḍarīka-sūtra), the Guanyin Universal Gate Chapter gradually circulated independently from the main scripture. Its emphasis on Guanyin’s miraculous responsiveness to cries for help established this text as the core scripture of Chinese Guanyin belief. Building upon this narrative of salvific responsiveness, Chinese Buddhists composed indigenous apocryphal texts such as the Ten-Phrase Guanyin Sūtra, the High King Guanyin Sūtra, the White-Robed Guanyin’s Miraculous Dhāraṇī, and miracle tales like Records of Guanyin’s Responses. These works reinforced the cult of Guanyin as a “divinely responsive” savior, making the bodhisattva a central figure in popular religious practice. From the mid-Tang dynasty onward, the translation of the Śūraṅgama Sūtra brought prominence to the Perfect Penetration of the Ear Faculty chapter, which transformed Guanyin’s image from an external savior to an embodiment of inner awakening. The contemplative method of “turning hearing inward to perceive self-nature” (fanwen wen zixing) replaced earlier paradigms of miraculous efficacy, becoming a new doctrinal paradigm in Tang-Song Buddhism. Monastic elites and Confucian literati reinterpreted Guanyin’s spiritual essence through this approach, shifting devotion from “other-power salvation” to “self-nature enlightenment.” This evolution not only marks a textual transition in medieval Chinese Guanyin worship—from the dominance of the Universal Gate chapter to the ascendancy of the Perfect Penetration of the Ear Faculty—but also reflects a profound spiritual transformation in Chinese Buddhism between the Six Dynasties and Tang-Song periods: a movement from utilitarian worldly salvation toward the ultimate concern of mind-nature (xinxing) philosophy. |
| 8 |
Ryan Dunch, University of Alberta The Production, Circulation, and Impact of Protestant Print Culture in Qing China: Questions and some answers |
Much of the scholarship in China and abroad related to Christian publishing in Chinese has come under the rubric of its place in Chinese/western cultural contact and global history of ideas – 西學東漸 as a dominant framework (including work on science and medicine, and on key moments such as the 1898 reform movement). Mission publishing as a vector of technological innovation in movable type printing has been another focus. These approaches are valid and important. The Chinese/western cultural contact paradigm is particularly significant within China, where it provides a relatively “acceptable” framing for scholarly work on Chinese Christianity during a challenging period for the academic study of religion. However, the religious content and imagery of Christian publications also demands attention, and this conference will provide a great opportunity to think together across disciplinary/religious boundaries. In particular, I would like to pose questions and learn from colleagues about illustrations in printed religious works, pricing and funding, language choice in relation to particular religious communities and subsets of readers (e.g. “dialect” works, publications in romanized or other scripts, works for female readers, etc.), orality in print materials (liturgical books, hymnbooks), and the role of print culture in stimulating and spreading readership as a shared social experience. |
| 9 |
Noga Ganany, University of Cambridge Reimagining the Buddhist Tradition in Ming Print Culture |
During the first two centuries of the Ming dynasty, Buddhist historiography and hagiography found new expressions in printed publications targeting a wide audience. Produced by both clerical and lay authors-editors, these new printed projects sought to present Buddhist ideas, figures, and rituals in formats that would be appealing and accessible to diverse readerships. In this talk, I explore the drive to reimagine the Buddhist tradition in Ming print culture by focusing on two case studies, namely, the fifteenth-century illustrated compilation Origins of Buddhism (lit. “Origins of the Śākyas,” Shishi yuanliu 釋氏源流), and the sixteenth-century compilation Twenty-Four Arhats Attaining the Way (Ershisi zun dedao luohan zhuan 二十四尊得道羅漢傳). The former, Origins of Buddhism, couples the Life of the Buddha with a pseudo-historical survey of Chinese Buddhism from antiquity to the Yuan dynasty. Spanning four-hundred episodes in the “picture-above-text” format, Origins of Buddhism presents a grand vision of the Buddhist tradition that draws on the realms of genealogy, hagiography, and historiography to appeal to the cultural and religious interests of Ming audiences. The latter, Twenty-Four Arhats Attaining the Way, likewise assuming the “picture-above-text” printing format, is a compilation of short hagiographies of twenty-four revered Buddhist figures. In its alternative lineup of Arhats and entertaining “vernacular” accounts, this collection highlights the conflation between “popular literature” and religious practice in Ming print culture. The vision of Chinese Buddhism presented in both works should be understood, I argue, vis-à-vis the growing interest in accounts of “origins” (yuanliu 源流 and chushen 出身), as well as part of a broader attempt to communicate religious knowledge to a wide audience. |
| 10 |
Vincent Goossaert, École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE) Quantitative analyses of the religious book market in Qing China based on CRTA data |
The CRTA database has, per early February 2025, descriptions of nearly 5,000 editions of religious texts, mostly for the 1550-1940 period and this corpus, which will keep expanding continuously, already allows for pilot surveys of quantitative approach to this literature. This paper will introduce some of the ways mapping this corpus can give us new insights about late imperial religious print culture. It will look, among other things, as genres, types of publishing institutions, geographical and temporal distribution, genres, and authorship. |
| 11 |
Lan Yangyang, École pratique des hautes études [EPHE] Imperial Power in the Making of Classics: A Case Study of the Taishang ganyingpian 太上感應篇 (The Supreme Lord’s tract on action and retribution) |
The Taishang ganyingpian 太上感應篇 (The Supreme Lord’s tract on action and retribution, hereafter Ganyingpian) with only 1277 characters, has been the most revered morality book in the Chinese world for many centuries. This paper finds that imperial authority played a crucial and indispensable role in the canonization of the Ganyingpian. Using the canonization of the Taishang Ganying Pian as a case study, this paper explores the involvement of imperial power in the printing and dissemination of moral texts. In particular, it focuses on the emperors’ personal engagement in producing, printing, and promoting such texts. First, the paper outlines the transmission of the Ganyingpian prior to its formal endorsement by Emperor Lizong 理宗 (r.1224-1264) of the Song dynasty (960-1279). Second, it examines several instances, beginning in the Song dynasty, down to the Qing dynasty (1644-1911), in which emperors directly promoted the text: Emperor Lizong actively promoted it, Emperor Shizong 世宗 (r.1521-1567) of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) wrote a preface for it, and Emperor Shunzhi 順治 (r.1643-1661) of the Qing dynasty made commentary to the text and let it to be translated into Manchu. After the Ganyingpian was introduced to Korea, King Gojong of Joseon (r.1907-1910) also personally ordered it to be printed. In this process, the responses of local officials and scholars also greatly contributed to the further legitimization and canonization of the text. Finally, this paper seeks to investigate the role of emperors in the production and dissemination of moral texts, explore their underlying motivations, and how their involvement influenced the shaping of such works into classics.
《太上感應篇》全文僅1277字，卻在中文世界流傳數百年，被奉為最具影響力的善書之一。本文認為，皇權在《感應篇》的經典化過程中發揮了關鍵且不可或缺的作用。以《太上感應篇》的經典化為個案，本文旨在探討皇權在善書刊印與傳播中的參與，特別聚焦於歷代皇帝親自參與善書的編撰、刊刻與推廣的情形。 首先，本文梳理了《感應篇》在宋理宗（1224–1264年在位）正式推介之前的流傳情況。其次，本文探討自宋代至清代（1644–1911年）期間，數位皇帝對《感應篇》的直接推動：宋理宗積極推廣此書；明世宗（1521–1567年在位）為之撰寫序言；清順治帝（1643–1661年在位）對其加以評註，並下令翻譯為滿文。《感應篇》傳入朝鮮後，朝鮮高宗（1907–1910年在位）亦親自下令刊印。在這一歷程中，地方官員與文人的回應與參與也進一步促進了此書的正統化與經典化。最後，本文希望藉由此一案例，探究皇帝在善書製作與傳播過程中所扮演的角色、其背後的動機，以及他們的參與如何影響善書最終成為經典。 |
| 12 |
Can Li, Beijing Foreign Studies University 中觀學東漸的一段湮滅的歷史——新比定《阿那婆達多龍王所問經》譯本的生成與印度中觀派的閱讀視域 |
本文考察了兩件出土自吐魯番地區、現藏於中村不折藏品的佛教寫本殘卷。經與現存平行文本對勘發現這兩件殘片原屬同一卷寫本，所抄寫的是一部現已失傳的《阿那婆達多龍王所問經》（Anavataptanāgarājaparipṛcchā-sūtra）的古代漢譯本。那麼如何解釋這部歷史上“失聲”的譯本的命運——該譯本在中國這一目標語文化中是在什麼樣的歷史語境下生成的？又爲何如此快地湮滅在歷史中？寫本的古文書學證據以及譯本的語詞、文體與書寫特徵顯示，該譯本極可能產生於五世紀上半葉，恰處於中觀思想傳入中國的歷史時期。本文通過語文學分析與歷史語境的重構，推測此譯本的生成可能是對印度中觀學派內部的經典閱讀譜系的映射。具體而言，該譯本的生成可能反映出印度中觀派學者對某些核心經論的長期持續閱讀、引用與詮釋的傳統。本文藉此揭示了中觀學早期傳入中國過程中的一段被湮滅的思想史篇章，即理解中觀學傳入中國的歷史不應僅侷限於羅什所譯的中觀派論典，還需要同時關注同時期傳入的中觀派經典閱讀譜系中的大乘經。 This paper examines two fragmentary Buddhist manuscripts from the Turfan region, currently preserved in the Nakamura Fusetsu collection. Through philological comparison with extant parallel versions, it demonstrates that the two manuscript pieces originally formed part of the same scroll, which contained an ancient Chinese translation of the Anavataptanāgarājaparipṛcchā-sūtra (hereafter ANPS), a version now otherwise lost. By recovering this forgotten witness, the study explores questions concerning the socio-cultural context in which the translation was produced in China, and the reasons for its rapid disappearance from historical memory. Based on orthographic, lexical, and stylistic features, this paper proposes that the translation may be dated to the first half of the fifth century—a period that coincides with the earliest phase of Mādhyamika transmission to China. It situates the production of this translation within the broader intellectual milieu of Indian Mādhyamika scholasticism and argues that the text reflects a particular reading horizon operative within that tradition. In particular, the production of this translation may reflect a long-standing living tradition of sustained reading, citation, and interpretation of core Mahāyāna scriptures among Indian Mādhyamika scholars. By recovering this fragmentary witness, the study uncovers a neglected chapter in the history of Mādhyamika reception in China. This transmission history should not be viewed as limited to Kumārajīva’s translations of Mādhyamika treatises but is better understood as also including Mahāyāna sūtras aligned with the reading horizons of Indian Mādhyamika intellectual tradition that entered China during the same period. |
| 13 |
Wei Li, Suzhou University 敦煌文獻中的律抄與中國古代律學的發展——《三部律抄》初探 |
隨著佛教的本土化進程加深，律學研究逐漸從對印度原典的直接依賴轉向對戒律實踐的具體指導，律抄應運而生。敦煌文獻中的律抄相關文獻包括雜抄、略抄、小抄等，作為中國佛教律學的重要文獻形式，其產生和發展與僧團的戒律實踐密切相關。本文整理敦煌文獻中律抄的文本情況，在此基礎上梳理律抄文本的發展脈絡，最後通過對比《行事鈔》等律宗文獻，探討律抄在中國佛教律學體系中的地位與意義。
With the deepening of the localization process of Buddhism, the focus of Vinaya studies gradually shifted from direct reliance on Indian canonical texts to the practical guidance of monastic discipline. In this context, lǜchāo (Vinaya excerpts) emerged. The Dunhuang manuscripts contain various types of lǜchāo-related texts, including zá chāo (miscellaneous excerpts), lüè chāo (abridged excerpts), and xiǎo chāo (short excerpts). As an important textual form in the study of Chinese Buddhist Vinaya, the emergence and development of lǜ chāo were closely linked to the practical observance of monastic precepts within the sangha. This paper organizes and examines the textual characteristics of lǜ chāo in the Dunhuang manuscripts, traces the developmental trajectory of these texts, and, through a comparative analysis with Vinaya school texts such as the Xíngshì chāo (Essentials for Practice), explores the position and significance of lǜ chāo within the framework of Chinese Buddhist Vinaya studies. |
| 14 |
Ching Hsuan Mei, Dharma Drum Institute of Liberal Arts The Publication of Thiền Lamp Histories in Early Modern Vietnam: Canon Formation, Sectarian Identity, and Print Culture |
This paper explores the publication and editorial logic of Vietnamese Thiền (Chan) lamp histories during the early modern period, with a focus on the Truyền Đăng Tập Lục (傳燈輯錄 A Compiled Record of the Transmission of the Lamp) and its companion texts, Kế Đăng Lục 繼燈錄 and Kế Đăng Lược Lục 繼燈略錄. It investigates how Vietnamese monastics in the 18th and 19th centuries engaged with the genre of Chan lamp histories—not merely as repositories of historical memory, but as vehicles for sectarian legitimacy, cultural identity, and institutional resilience. Through a close analysis of editorial prefaces, lineage constructions, and the socio-political context of Buddhist print culture, this study demonstrates that these works participated in both the Sinicized literary tradition and the local project of Vietnamese Buddhist historiography. The figure of the monk An Thiền Phúc Điền (安禪福田) emerges as central to this process, reflecting the intersection of personal religious aspiration, state patronage, and the intellectual challenges of preserving a transregional Buddhist lineage within a Confucian imperial order. By situating Vietnamese lamp histories within the broader East Asian context of Chan textual transmission, this paper seeks to contribute to a rethinking of Vietnamese Buddhism as both local and cosmopolitan—at once inherited and contested, remembered and reimagined. |
| 15 |
Mori Yuria, Waseda University Jingai xindeng 金蓋心燈 and the Creation of the “Orthodox Longmen Lineage 龍門正宗” by Min Yide 閔一得 (1748-1836) |
Min Yide (1748–1836) is well known as a Daoist of the Longmen lineage within the Quanzhen tradition, who was active on Mount Jingai in Huzhou during the Qianlong to Daoguang reigns of the Qing dynasty. Especially, it is his edited and authored work, Jingai xindeng (The Heart Lamp of Jingai), that has made his name enduringly prominent. This text is a “lamp history” (dengshi) that narrates the genealogy of the Quanzhen Longmen lineage, portraying the patriarch Qiu Chuji (Changchun, 1148–1227) as the founder of the “Three Great Precepts” (san dajie), and presenting the lineage that has transmitted these precepts from Qiu onward as the “Orthodox Lineage of Longmen” (Longmen zhengzong). The fictional nature of this concept of the “Orthodox Longmen Lineage” was pointed out by Monica Esposito. Although recent scholarship on Min Yide has grown increasingly rich, there has yet to be a study that, based on Esposito’s insight, investigates what kind of position Min Yide held as a Daoist practitioner. This paper aims to fill that gap. Specifically, through a comparison between the content of Jingai xindeng and Jingugu dongzhi—a gazetteer of the Daoist temple at Jingu Cave in Hangzhou, which predates Jingai xindeng and was also referenced by Min himself, this paper examines Min Yide’s original relationship with the Longmen lineage and how he transformed that relationship through his rich capacity for narrative invention. |
| 16 |
Gregory Scott, University of Manchester The Role and Distribution of Chinese Buddhist Periodicals, 1912-1967 |
Between 1912 and 1967 over 220 Buddhist periodicals circulated in China, examples of a new textual genre that offered exciting new possibilities for Chinese Buddhists during a modern age of rapid development and change. These publications sought to bring Buddhist news, images, essays, poems, advertisements, and more to a mass reading public spread out across China and in Chinese communities abroad. Each involved a number of publishers, editors, authors, distributors, and, we assume, readers. Most were distributed to at least a few major cities, and either given away for free or sold by local temples, lay associations, bookstores, and other Buddhist institutions. This presentation will outline some initial investigations into how persons, content, and places were interlinked in networks of collaboration and distribution for these periodicals. It will examine how periodicals allowed readers to access the broader network of Buddhist print culture, and will survey how major periodicals were able to reach readers across vast distances through local distributors. In doing so, I aim to reveal how periodicals functioned as a key medium of communication and influence for a mass Buddhist readership, shaping their understanding of Buddhist thought and practice.
|
| 17 |
Anna Shields, Princeton University A Preliminary Discussion of Buddhist and Daoist Topoi in the Northern Song Literary Compilation Wenyuan yinghua 文苑英華 |
This paper examines the role of writing on religious topics in the great early Northern Song compilations projects, focusing on the Wenyuan yinghua 文苑英華 (comp. 987) and its representation of Buddhist and Daoist topoi in Tang literature, and poetry in particular. Understanding Wenyuan yinghua as a leishu (a compendium of knowledge organized on the levels of genre and phenomenal category, lei 類) rather than merely an “anthology” of literature, and as a leishu rooted in tenth-century cultural concerns, allows us to reexamine the prominence and hierarchies of value in its representation of Tang literary culture. Because Wenyuan yinghua was not printed until the Southern Song and did not circulate widely before that time, it failed to shape Northern Song views of the Tang, and when it was printed, its mapping of the Tang provoked questions and criticism over its selections, organization, and underlying aesthetic commitments. But the participating scholars of the Wenyuan yinghua were elites from tenth-century kingdoms that had energetically patronized Buddhist and Daoist traditions, a historical context that scholars have often studied in the compilation of the better-known Taiping guangji. The Wenyuan yinghua selections among Tang texts dedicated to religious sites, figures, and practices are often overlooked in scholarship on the compilation’s structure and selections, in part because later Song tastes in Tang literature often excluded such writing. Reexamining these texts and their prominence in the collection connects Wenyuan yinghua more closely to the other two major compilations of Song Taizong’s reign, especially to Taiping guangji; reveals the value that early Northern Song scholars found in writing on religious topoi beyond the confines of designated Buddhist or Daoist collections; and reorients our view of Tang literary history, recreating a more capacious Tang definition of wenzhang 文章. |
| 18 |
Shiga Ichiko, Ibaraki Christian University The Production and Distribution of Spirit-written Texts by Female Deities from the Late Qing to the Republican Period: A Focus on the Lingnan Region |
The religious culture of spirit-writing (fuji) in China, which serves as a medium between male and female as well as between written and oral traditions, is a crucial topic for studying Chinese religion from a gender perspective. However, previous research on spirit-writing has primarily focused on Daoist scriptures, ritual manuals, and morality books produced by religions specialists and literati, resulting in an inevitable male- and text-centric bias. Consequently, other important aspects of spirit-writing—particularly those related to women and oral traditions—have not received sufficient attention.
This study explores the production and distribution of spirit-written texts by goddesses and female immortals (xiangu), with a particular focus on popular female deity cults in Guangdong from the late Qing to the Republican period. Spirit-writing and related shamanic practices were widespread in local societies across Guangdong, where numerous female deities frequently manifested during séances. These manifestations often took verbal forms, some of which resembled the practices of spirit mediums (jitong). In the late Qing, as spirit-writing altars (jitans) became increasingly prevalent, local deities more frequently appeared at these altars. The deities manifested through spirit-writing were not exclusively male; female immortals also often descended on jitans, imparting their knowledge to followers—primarily women—through spirit-written texts. The process of textualizing these revelations significantly shaped the representation and worship of female deities. This study examines records of female deities’ revelations found in local gazetteers, folk literature, spirit-written texts, and inscriptions from late imperial Guangdong. I will analyze the circumstances under which these divine revelations occurred, their modes of presence (spoken or written), what they said, and how they were recorded and transmitted in textualized form. Special attention will be given to the case of the Holy Mother of Green Peak Rock (Cuifengyan Shengmu Niangniang) in Chaoyang, Guangdong. In 1884, the Holy Mother manifested through spirit-writing, coinciding with an unusual rise of water in the spring near her temple—an event documented and inscribed by local elites. From that point on, she regularly appeared at spirit-writing altars, and her revelations gradually became textualized. During the Republican period, the Holy Mother frequently manifested at spirit-writing altars associated with the Xiantiandao, a sectarian group that spread throughout Guangdong from the late Qing to the Republican period. The Xiantiandao played a significant role in the publication of morality books both within and beyond Guangdong, and attracted a large number of female followers. This study also considers the influence of sectarian groups such as Xiantiandao on the dissemination of the image of female deities shaped by Confucian moral value. |
| 19 |
Chuah Meng (Esmond) Soh, University of Cambridge Latent Canon, Living Ritual: Moral Possibilities and Textual Presence in the Cijiao |
The Religion of Compassion (Cijiao 慈教), also known as the Ritual Teachings of Huanglao Xianshi 黃老仙師法門, is a Chinese sectarian movement that emerged in British Malaya during the Malayan Emergency (1948–1960) and later spread across Malaysia and Singapore. Unlike traditions grounded in doctrinal canons or liturgical texts, the Cijiao centres on spirit-mediumship and the transmission of fa 法 (ritual power) through embodied initiation and performance. Yet alongside this ritual-oriented infrastructure, one text circulates widely: the Huanglao Xianshi Daoli Shu 黃老仙師道理書 (Book of Ethical Principles of Immortal Master Huang-Lao). This study introduces the concept of a latent canon to describe a form of textual authority that is neither doctrinally enforced nor functionally central, yet remains symbolically potent—serving as an emblem of ethical aspiration and institutional identity. Drawing on textual sources and fieldwork across Singapore and Malaysia, I examine the text’s emergence, contents, and circulation. I argue that the Daoli Shu reinforces institutional coherence by foregrounding a shared moral idiom—circulating independently of ritual activity while shaping the movement’s ethical imagination. Its power lies not in prescription but in potential—activated to assert legitimacy, foster cohesion, or frame moral conduct. As a symbolic resource drawn upon rather than followed prescriptively, the Daoli Shu complicates typologies of sectarian textuality, organisation, and authority—nuancing models of textual transmission, religious leadership, and group formation by showing how moral texts can stabilise heterarchical fields through presence rather than active use. |
| 20 |
Jie Wang, University of Cambridge Texts by Road and Rail: Arabic-Language Schools and Post-1978 Faith Cultivation of Hui Communities |
Responding to the two-decades-long break from Islamic learning and transmission – from the 1950s to mid-1970s – as well as to the external environment of economic reform and cultural decentralisation unleashed across mainland China from 1978, Arabic-language schools (or, Islamic faith schools) founded and operated by Hui Muslims assumed responsibility to produce and disseminate Islamic knowledge within Hui communities, locally, from afar, and beyond the mainland. This was achieved through their own Islamic periodicals operated under the aegis of Muslim charity. Not being constrained behind the physical walls of schools, these periodicals were meant to reach a wider Hui readership.
This presentation values Arabic-language schools as an institutional archetype as the producer and disseminator of Islamic knowledge, and a type of a discrete sociocultural unit that constitutes one of the most foundational components of, and features in, the landscape of Sino-Islamic faith education since 1978. Specifically, discussion here presents a story of how the Hui Muslims attached to these schools employed printing press technology and the postal service infrastructure, on their own terms, to cultivate the Hui population’s faith. Their activities of various kinds constituted an experience and process of Hui self-education and the self-making of Muslims, as well as of their remote socialisation and networking with Hui readers. |
| 21 |
Lina Wang, National Library of China 居士徐森玉與中國佛道教文獻出版研究鉤沉 |
作爲文博領域泰斗的徐森玉，亦是一位頗具影響力的知識分子居士。其重要貢獻體現在鑑定和推動佛道教文獻的影印、出版等，如明《道藏》影印出版得益於他持續不斷地多方積極溝通。作爲資深的居士，他代表三時學會參與《趙成金藏》的鑑定工作，組織募捐助刊《卍字續藏》《天請問經（附疏）》，籌劃出版三時學會創辦人韓清淨等點校的佛道教文獻。此外，他還直接參與創辦法相唯識學的重要研究機構三時學會，負責三時學會《宋藏遺珍》影印等重要工作。徐森玉在中日交流中也扮演了不容忽視的角色，如他參加東亞佛教大會以及負責中日交流的聯絡活動。作爲居士佛教的代表性人物，徐森玉的工作推動了佛道教文獻的現代學術交流，爲近現代佛教的復興做出了不容忽視的重要貢獻。
Xu Senyu, a towering figure in the field of cultural relics and museology, was also an influential intellectual lay Buddhist. His significant contributions lie in the authentication and promotion of the facsimile publication of Buddhist and Taoist literature. For instance, the facsimile publication of the Ming Dynasty Taoist Scriptures was made possible through his persistent and multifaceted efforts in communication. He participated in the authentication of the Zhaocheng Jinzang as a representative of the Three Times Study Society. Furthermore, he spearheaded fundraising campaigns to support the publication of significant Buddhist and Taoist texts, including the卍Xuzangjing, the Tianqing Wenjing (Fushu), and the works of Han Qingjing, the founder of the Three Times Study Society. Moreover, he played a direct role in founding the Three Times Study Society, a pivotal institution for the study of Yogācāra-Vijñaptimātratā philosophy, and oversaw critical projects such as the facsimile reproduction of Songzang Yizhen for the Society. Xu Senyu also played a significant role in Sino-Japanese cultural exchanges, notably through his participation in the East Asian Buddhist Conference and his coordination of liaison activities between Chinese and Japanese Buddhist communities. As a prominent representative of lay Buddhism, Xu Senyu’s pioneering work significantly advanced modern academic exchanges of Buddhist and Taoist scriptures, making indispensable contributions to the revival of Buddhism in modern China. |
| 22 |
Peng Wang, École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE) The Textual Pantheon in Daozang Jiyao: With a Focus on Immortal Tan and His Book of Transformations |
As Stephen Bokenkamp observed in Early Chinese Religion, the concept of the pantheon was once central to the study of religion but has received less attention in recent years. Lennert Gesterkamp’s analysis of Daoist deities from an iconographic perspective could also be interpreted as an exploration of the Daoist pantheon. However, significant gaps remain in this area. My research addresses an overlooked aspect: the textual pantheon of Daoism, constructed and presented through texts rather than visual or architectural forms. This study focuses on the Daozang Jiyao (Essentials of the Daoist Canon), the last authoritative Daoist collection of late imperial China.
Authoritative religious collections are vital not only for preserving texts that might otherwise have been lost but also for reflecting the compilers’ and publishers’ religious intentions and inclinations. These collections provide invaluable insights into the broader religious context and the practices of their creators. Following the Ming dynasty’s Daoist Canonand its Supplement, no further state-sanctioned Daoist collections were produced. The Daozang Jiyao, which has recently garnered scholarly attention, was compiled and printed by the Jueyuan Altar, a prominent Daoist spirit-writing group. This group, centering its faith on Lü Dongbin as patriarch, prioritized internal alchemy as its core practice. After publishing a comprehensive collection of texts related to Lü Dongbin, the group compiled the Daozang Jiyao. While scholars such as Monica Esposito and Lai Chi Tim have emphasized the centrality of Lü Dongbin and related texts within this collection, the structure and implications of the parts of the collection remain underexplored. Divided into 28 sections corresponding to the traditional Chinese system of the 28 lunar mansions, each section contains multiple texts. Lai Chi Tim and others have identified Lü Dongbin-related texts as occupying the central 13th and 14th sections. However, the significance of the surrounding texts has yet to be thoroughly analyzed. My research argues that the arrangement of texts surrounding the 13th and 14th sections was deliberate, reflecting the historical development and transmission of internal alchemy. This structure underscores the roles of specific deities, immortals, and patriarchs, along with their representative texts, in the history of internal alchemy. Additionally, the arrangement aligns with the symbolic meaning of the 28 lunar mansions. Using the Book of Transformations (Huashu), a key text from the 12th section, as a case study, I will demonstrate how specific figures and their texts constitute this unique textual pantheon. Unlike Gesterkamp’s focus on iconopraxis, my study highlights the role of textual practice in shaping religious belief and constructing a pantheon through textual means. |
| 23 |
Jiuhong Yang, Nankai University 民國時期佛教願文的時代價值與宗教表達：以上海佛學書局《佛教文類·願文》為例 |
《佛教文類》是民國時期上海佛學書局出版的一套重要佛教文獻類書，其第一緝便是《佛教願文》。佛教願文廣泛應用於佛教儀式中，儀式性是願文的核心特性。然而《佛教文類·願文》對願文的分類主要依據發願的內容，而忽略其儀式應用，這一分類方式引發了筆者的關注。因此筆者將從成書背景、存錄內容、編輯理念等方面對該書進行深入分析，探討民國時期上海佛學書局對佛教文化的理解與傳播策略，並且結合時代背景與出版實際，進一步分析上海佛學書局在民國佛教復興中的作用，尤其是在面對現代化挑戰時對佛教調適轉型的推動。 Buddhist Literature is an important collection of Buddhist literature published by the Shanghai Buddhist Publishing House during the Periode of Republic in China, whose first volume was Buddhist Vow Texts. Buddhist vow texts are widely used in Buddhist rituals, and ritualistic nature is their core characteristic. However, the classification of vow texts in Buddhist Literature: Vow Texts is primarily based on the content of the vows, neglecting their ritual application, which has drawn our attention. Therefore, we will conduct an in-depth analysis of Buddhist Literature: Vow Texts from the perspectives of its background, recorded contents, and editorial philosophy, exploring the Shanghai Buddhist Publishing House’s understanding of and strategy for the dissemination of Buddhist culture during the Periode of Republic in China. Furthermore, we will analyze the role of the Shanghai Buddhist Publishing House in the revival of Buddhism in the Republican period, particularly focusing on its role in promoting the adjustment and transformation of Buddhism in the face of modern challenges. |
| 24 |
Valentina (Lingyan) Yang, Catholic University of Leuven Intercultural Morality Books: Exploring Chinese-Christian Interactions in the Religious Publishing World of 17th Century China |
This research examines the production and uses of religious texts, specifically morality books shanshu 善書, in the context of Chinese-Christian cultural interaction in 17th-century China. Morality books have greatly attracted scholarly attention for their value in studying various aspects of Chinese society and history, offering insights into the deep entanglements of the diverse religious institutions and traditions within the vibrant religious and moral publishing landscape of early modern China. However, it is much less common to discuss morality books in relation to Christianity and Chinese Christian communities that emerged in this period. Did Chinese Christian literati participate in this cultural practice, widely embraced by the contemporary literate population? Indeed, they did. Unlike the moral publications by later missionary presses, these early Chinese Christian morality books were actively written and circulated by Christian converts as part of their own self-cultivation and religious pursuits. This research will explore how morality books were produced and used within such exchanges. First, by intermingling textual material and concepts of morality and religiosity from both Christian and Chinese traditions, these morality books represent a truly “intercultural” form of textual production. Examining this genre through the lens of cultural interaction will show its pivotal role as a meeting ground where external and Buddhist and other local religious traditions, engaged in dialogue through book production. It also highlights the genre’s versatility in addressing the diverse moral, religious, publishing, and social needs of the newly formed Christian groups. Second, the resulting molarity books became part of an intercultural book circuit spanning Europe and China, in which they acquired new modalities of use and practice derived from different cultural spaces. Within these texts, European Christian writings and theological concepts came to operate within broader early modern Chinese religious frameworks, such as the quest for sagehood, karmic retribution, or merit accumulation. Additionally, the existing repertory of Chinese morality books and the practice of ledgers of merit and demerit gongguoge 功過格 were integrated in these texts as means for cultivating Christian piety. The result was the emergence of a new, in-between form of morality books, neither entirely local nor entirely Christian, that reshaped how Chinese Christian produced and engaged with this genre itself. 這項研究以17世紀中國基督教與文化互動為背景，探討了善書的生產與使用。善書因其在研究中國社會與歷史中的獨特價值而備受學術界關注，尤其是它們為理解明代中國宗教實踐與出版領域提供了重要視角。然而，關於善書與基督教及這一時期興起的中國基督教社群之間的聯繫，卻鮮有深入探討。本研究將深入分析善書在跨文化交流中的創作與使用方式。這些善書融合了基督教與中國傳統中的文本材料與道德宗教觀念，形成了一種真正的“跨文化”文本創作形式。通過文化互動的視角審視這一體裁，我們可以發現它不僅是基督教與本土宗教（如佛教）對話的重要交匯點，同時也展現了其在滿足新興基督教群體多樣化道德、宗教、出版和社會需求方面的獨特靈活性。此外，這些跨文化善書還成為連接歐洲與中國書籍流通的重要紐帶，並在不同文化空間中衍生出新的使用方式與實踐。例如，歐洲基督教的著作與神學概念被融入明末中國的道德宗教實踐框架，用於因果報應、功德積累等。最終，這些善書形成了一種“之間”的新形式，既不完全本土化，也不完全基督教化，而是開創了一種獨特的文本體裁，重塑了中國基督教群體創作與參與這一文化實踐的方式。 |
| 25 |
Zhongya Yi, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences 民國時期佛教學術報刊與知識生產——出版文化視域下的《微妙聲》研究 |
學術報刊作爲20世紀初產生的新型學術媒介，不僅是推動知識生產與學術發展的重要力量，更爲我們引進了一種新的知識形態與學術模式。本文以民國時期北方地區最重要的佛教學術刊物《微妙聲》爲中心，探討了佛教學術報刊的產生、運作以及知識共同體的形成等問題，並試圖籍此管窺民國時期北方佛教研究的取向。 The rise of book history and publishing culture studies in recent years has provided a new perspective of and approach to the modern Buddhist studies, i.e., from the inquiry into the causes of the modern transformation of Buddhism to the exploration of the media and mechanisms of disseminating modern concepts and structures. This paper attempts to focus on Weimiaosheng 《微妙聲》, the only pure academic Buddhist journal in the north during the Republic of China, and take the publishing cycle of Weimiaosheng as a clue to explore the following questions: the gathering and dispersion of Buddhist intellectual groups and the formation of a new type of Buddhist intellectual community in Beijing, the transformation of the old Buddhist knowledge into the new and its contribution to the construction of the image of Buddhism, and the integration of resources and the expansion of the social space by the Buddhist dissemination network. These explorations aim to shed light on the process of socialization of Buddhist knowledge in modern times and the cultural role and fate of Buddhist academic media in the modernization of Buddhism in China. |
| 26 |
Qijun Zheng, École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE) Towels, Texts, and Temples: Three Friends Industrial Company (三友實業社) in the Nexus of Commerce and Religious Publishing in 1930s Shanghai |
This paper examines the often-overlooked yet important role of non-traditional presses in shaping modern religious print culture in Republican China. Focusing on Three Friends Industrial Company (三友實業社, hereafter SYS)—a Shanghai-based towel manufacturer—this study demonstrates how a seemingly secular factory produced andcirculated a variety of religious and morality texts during the 1930s. Whereas existing scholarship on Chinese religiouspublishing has largely centered on presses affiliated with religious institutions or missionary bodies, SYS, a secular industrial enterprise, broadens the scope of inquiry by illustrating how merchants and industrialists alsoparticipated in and influenced Republican-era religious discourse. Its founder, Chen Wanyun 陳萬運 (1885–1950), mobilized both industrial and personal networks to support philanthropic ventures and print religious materials. This analysis draws on three main categories of sources. First, SYS’s 1930s publications, ranging from illustrated morality tracts of filial piety, vernacular commentaries of Confucian classics, chronicles of the reconstruction of aDaoist temple, to translated Western medical treatises (with appended “divine prescriptions”), reveal the breadth of the company’s publishing endeavors. Second, this study situates Chen’s merchant ethics within a longstandingtradition of merchant ethics2 by engaging the extensive corpus of morality books (shanshu 善書), which served as central vehicles of moral discourse in both premodern and modern China. These texts’ detailed explorations of traditional merchant values illustrate how moral ideals transcended narrowly defined Confucian elites since Imperial Chinaand continued to shape Republican-era merchant values. Third, archival materials, such as advertisements, posters,marketing brochures, internal correspondence, corporate ledgers, and court records preserved in the Shanghai Municipal Archive—provide insights into how Chen’s philanthropic ambitions intersected with the logistics and economics of industrial publishing. This research advances the study of Chinese religious print culture in Republican China in three ways. First, it expands the scope of religious publishing to encompass industrial presses unaffiliated with religious institutions. Second, it illustrates how patriotic and philanthropic imperatives enabled religious texts to reach broader, non-sectarian audiences in urban centers such as Shanghai. Finally, by positioning figures like Chen Wanyun within broader debates on modern Chinese religiosity, the paper advocates for a more inclusive conception of religious publishing that integrates commerce with ethical imperatives. By highlighting the fluid, interconnected nature of commerce, religiosity, and print culture, this work contributes to ongoing discussions of religious publishing in modern China and how merchant classes sustained, reshaped, and embodied religious and ethical visions in 1930s Shanghai. |
| 27 |
Peter Zieme, Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities Tārānamastāraikaviṃśati stotra and the Uyghur printing culture |
In the Yuan time, official and private prints were produced in great numbers in a variety of languages. Beside Chinese, in several printing houses blockprinted books were edited in Sanskrit, Tibetan, Tangut, Mongol and Uyghur. In the presentation some questions of the production of Uyghur illustrated prints will be discussed. The well-known Tārā-Ekaviṃśatistotra prints of Yuan and Ming periods deserve special attention, but also several Uyghur fragments of printed Jātaka collections with illustrations. |
