Religions and Local Society – Abstracts

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Rostislav BEREZKIN 白若思 (FudanU 復旦): The Mystery of the Miaoshan Legend Origins in the Perspective of World Folklore Motifs

The legend of Princess Miaoshan who is considered to be an earthly reincarnation of Guanyin, Bodhisattva of Mercy, has been widely used in Chinese vernacular literature of the late imperial period. The earliest known written version of this story dates back to the early twelfth century, when it was written down by the scholar-official Jiang Zhiqi 蔣之奇 (1031-1104) after a visit to the Xiangshan Temple in Ruzhou 汝州in 1101. The claimed association with the earlier Buddhist figures is not very credible. Still, in the later period this story became a popular subject in Buddhist proselytizing, as embodied in the Precious Scroll of Incense Mountain (Baojuan of Xiangshan, 香山寶卷), the earliest version of which can be dated to ca. thirteenth – fifteenth centuries. The scholars of Chinese Buddhism and literature in several countries have searched for the origins of this story, but not very successfully. The present research suggests a new perspective on looking for the origins of the Miaoshan story, namely the comparative approach of international folklore studies. While contextualizing it in the world folklore sphere, one can discover its similarity with several popular tales spread across Eurasia since comparatively early period. The anatomy of the story in its developed form leads to the hypothesis of its formation in combination of several popular folklore motifs.
Marcus BINGENHEIMER 馬德偉 (TempleU 天普大學): Distinguishing two stages in the Late Ming Buddhist revival: a social network approach

The revival of Buddhist activity as seen in the number of monastics, textual production, temple building and repair, and literati interaction with monks, has been the subject of several brilliant studies by Professor Brook. In his magisterial “Praying for Power” he wrote about the late Ming as “a period of revival for institutional religion.” (1993:3) and traced the role of gentry patronage in the revival. In “The Politics of Religion: Late-Imperial Origins of the Regulatory State” (2009) Brook discusses the reasons for the decline that preceded the revival. This talk will use methods from the Digital Humanities to take a closer look at the Buddhist networks of the late Ming. The revival of monastic Buddhism is clearly visible in the network after its equally obvious decline during the Mid-Ming. Moreover, the network perspective reveals a marked difference between the community surrounding the main protagonists of the Wanli revival (Hanshan Deqing, Yunqi Zhuhong, and Zibo Zhenke), and a slightly later group around Miyun Yuanwu and his students. It is this latter group and their form of Chan Buddhism that came to dominate 17th century Buddhism.
Laura BOYER (EHESS 法國社會科學高等研究院): Regulating Fangsheng 放生 Activities in Jiangnan, between Local Particularities and Historical Divergences

Under the influence of Zhuhong 祩宏 (1535-1615) and his disciples, a number of charitable associations emerged in the Jiangnan region from the 16th century onwards. Some of these charitable associations were dedicated exclusively to the practice of the fangsheng ritual, which involved releasing animals after they had been redeemed, in an attempt to save them. Despite the good intentions of those who practiced fangsheng, it was obvious, already in the eyes of the historical actors, that the ritual generated undesirable consequences of an ecological and moral nature. Aware of these drawbacks, local actors took matters into their own hands and wrote rules to regulate both the ritual and the workings of “releasing-life associations” (fangshenghui). In this paper, I will analyze the rules written in several places (Hangzhou, Suzhou and Wuxi mainly) and I will compare them to try to see if they were particular to localities or if, on the contrary, a kind of conformity prevailed. This comparison will also provide an opportunity to appreciate the zoological and organizational knowledge within the associations and to evaluate their members’ skills at self-regulating without any state intervention.
Timothy BROOK 卜正民 (UBC): Locals and Tourists: Whose Buddhism? | 當地人與旅者：誰人之佛教？

My research on Buddhism has largely been concerned with the localization of Buddhist institutions, that is, their situatedness within the immediate society, economy, and culture of where they existed. To pursue that research, I drew on the evidence of local texts (such as gazetteers) as well as pilgrimage texts. I now wonder whether my use of sources was too promiscuous in overriding the differences between local worshippers organized their lives around one particular religious institution, and pilgrims who toured a site only once. Did the difference in their experience of place entail a different understanding of Buddhism, and if so, was it simply the difference between popular and elite religion, or was it something else? To explore this problem, which I will call tourist Buddhism, I propose to examine sections of two routes in the standard Qing Buddhist pilgrimage handbook, Canxue zhijin (Knowing the fords on the way to knowledge): route 9 to Wudang Mountain in northern Hubei, and route 35 to the Wolf Hills outside Tongzhou on the Yangzi estuary, comparing these accounts with locally-based documentation.
CAO Jian 曹堅 (Sun Yat-sen U 中山大學)：多維視野中聖經世界的苦難問題探析：基於古代近東社群經驗的比較

本文通過對比考察古代近東文明中蘇美爾、巴比倫、埃及、亞述、以色列和希臘等不同社會對於人生苦難及其來源和意義的追問和思索，呈現希伯來聖經倫理一神教信仰所受的影響與對相關思想的進一步發展。最終，本文試圖通過不同社群的經驗比較，體現宗教、社會和人生三者之間的緊密聯繫。
CHEN Yuh-Neu 陳玉女 (Cheng Kung U 成功大學): 晚明清初女禪師的出身、法脈及其成就

本次的發表乃承拙稿〈晚明清初東南沿海港口佛寺的比丘尼身影〉的持續性討論。在探討港口佛寺的空間及其城市環境，對於比丘尼僧團或比丘尼自身在修行生活及其個人成就所產生的助力和阻力的同時，亦察知比丘尼的家世及其與地方士紳名流的往來，的確有助於其名望的提升，像明末清初幾位身處港口佛寺的女禪師，其語錄的出版、入藏流通等特殊的表現，可以說是明清佛教發展史上值得稱許的一大突破。為了進一步深入梳理有助於提攜女禪師的資源結構，含血緣、法緣、地緣之間互為交融的多元面向，因此本文欲特別就女禪師的出身、法脈及其活動區域與終生成就，思考其如何在無數比丘尼中脫穎而出，如何使其事蹟能夠被紀錄而顯名於後世。出家女眾在現實生活中相當眾多，但能留名於世，卻是寥寥可數。但不管今昔，即使是男性要能擁有發聲及被社會看見的可能，沒有相關的支持系統亦不易達成。譬如自身學養、家族名望、法脈勢力、人脈網絡的強弱與城鄉社會資源的差距等，在在響及個人的成就表現，更何況女性，尤其在男女比例懸殊的禪宗典籍，女禪師如何被納入禪燈系譜、出版語錄，在佛教叢林或說在禪宗法脈擁有其一席地位，值得更多的討論和探究。
CHIEN Kai-ting 簡凱廷 (Taiwan U 臺灣大學): 江戶曹洞宗僧全苗月湛「異國贈答」一事論略

陳繼東教授曾發表〈清末日本傳來佛書典籍考〉一文，討論清末南條文雄送書給楊文會的始末。該文引用了一條材料，其中提到「有越中光嚴寺隱居洞水等，年來校索，相謀送渡唐土。……去年洞水和尚與我曾有通訊，今也無恙吧」云云。筆者據此線索進行文獻考索，發現「洞水和尚」具體指的是江戶中後期曹洞宗僧全苗月湛；並且他欲贈書回中國一事與早前閱讀《嘉興藏》的經歷有關。本文討論月湛贈書一事之始末，嘗試將明清佛教拉進東亞的視域進行觀看。
DAI Lianbin 戴聯斌 (U Victoria 維多利亞大學): Forging the Chineseness of Kaifeng Jewry: The Ming State and Neo-Confucian Elite Behind the 1489/1512 Inscriptions

Until the revelation of their presence by the Jesuits in the seventeenth century, the Kaifeng Jews had been Sinicized and Confucianized. Based on a fresh reading of the 1489 and 1512 Kaifeng stelae, this paper contextualizes the Kaifeng Jews’ acculturation in the political agendas and intellectual climate in fifteenth- and sixteenth-century China. It argues that the Ming court, Confucian discourses of cultural and ethnic identity, and administration of religions and ethnic minorities drove the Kaifeng Jews towards biculturalism – adopting the Confucian cultural norms while maintaining their sectarian identity. With the religious toleration by Confucian orthodoxy, the Ming state administered Judaists, Muslims, and other religious practitioners not as religious groups but as “ethnic” groups who needed to settle down in a highly secular and centralized sociopolitical order dominated by the Confucian elite..
DENG Qingping 鄧慶平 (China University of Political Science and Law 中國政法大學/UBC): 民間宗教的地理研究：賀登崧神父的中國北方鄉村調研

20世紀30-40年代，聖母聖心會的比利時籍神父賀登崧（Willem A. Grootaers，C.I.C.M.，1911－1999）將西方語言地理學的理論與方法引入中國，運用到漢語方言學與民俗學的研究中，開創了漢語方言地理學與民俗地理學的研究方法。在傳教之余，賀登崧神父在中國北方（山西大同與河北張家口、宣化、萬全等地）的300多個鄉村進行了大量的漢語方言和民俗文化的調查和研究，先後以法文、英文、拉丁文、日文撰寫了數十篇研究論著和田野調查報告。賀登崧在進行方言、民俗調查時，深感宗教生活對於鄉土社會的重要意義，因此將調查研究的重點逐漸集中到中國的民間宗教上來。他深入鄉村社會，仔細記錄每一座鄉村寺廟的建築、神像、壁畫、碑銘，鄉民的神靈傳說、祭祀組織、崇拜儀式以及華北的秘密宗教流傳情況，保存了非常珍貴的民間文獻和宗教文化遺產。學界向來關注賀登崧在漢語方言地理學上的開創之功，卻對其在中國民間宗教研究上的貢獻較少留意。賀登崧將漢語方言地理學與民俗地理學的研究方法運用到鄉村宗教的調查研究上，筆者以為，或可稱為“民間宗教的地理學研究”。這一研究方法主要體現為兩個特點：一是始終強調中國民間宗教研究中“田野調查法”（the method of field-work）相比“文獻學方法”（the “book” method）的重要性，要求研究者應該深入中國的鄉村社會，在一定的地理範圍內進行小社區的實地考察和研究，強調中國民間信仰文化的地方性傳統；二是通過在地圖上標示特定區域內諸多民間信仰文化現象的不同特徵，劃分出由不同要素確定的文化區域，與方言地圖進行比對，同時將其形成過程置於區域社會的歷史文化情境中加以解釋。賀登崧對中國北方鄉村的龍王廟、五道廟、胡都神信仰和真武廟等個案研究，充分體現了上述兩個特點，這一研究方法與當下流行的區域社會史及歷史人類學研究路徑相通，具有重要的學術價值和啟發性。.
FENG Guodong 馮國棟 (Zhejiang U 浙江大學): 宋代佛教藏經記再探

佛教藏經記是指記述佛教藏經抄寫、印造、庋藏；佛教藏經殿、閣、輪藏等庋藏設施募緣、修造過程的文章。佛教藏經記肇始於梁、陳，在唐五代漸趨多樣。降及宋代，佛教藏經與藏經記皆呈現出不同的特點與樣貌。隨著開寶藏的刊刻，宋代佛教藏經進入刊本與寫本並行的時代，藏經的形態較宋以前更為豐富；隨著輪藏的大規模流行，與原來的壁藏形成大藏經的兩種庋藏形態，特別是輪藏在南宋取得統治地位，促進藏經功能與閱讀方式的轉變。在宋代儒學復興的語境中，佛教與儒家語言觀、經典觀的異同，成為宋代藏經記討論的一個重要話題；而教與禪的進一步分化，經藏製作與禪宗“不立文字”之間的張力進一步彰顯。輪藏的流行與對輪藏的批評同時並起，形成一個非常有趣的現象。
FENG Xiangjun 馮相郡 (Sean) (UBC): The “Lost Scroll” and the Changing “Local”: “Taigu School” and Its Secret Scriptures in China’s China’s Twentieth Century

“Taigu School” 太谷學派 is a label invented in 1927 describing a semi-academic and semireligious teaching, variously known as “Taigu Teaching” 太谷教, “Taizhou Sect” 泰州教, “Yellow Cliff Teaching” 黃崖教, “The Great Learning Sect” 大學教, among many other nomenclatures, which is alleged to have been founded by Zhou Taigu 周太谷 (c. 1762–c. 1832) in Yangzhou and continued an esoteric genealogy down to the mid twentieth century. Today, it is commonly accepted as the “last Confucian school” in premodern China, with a strong syncretic characteristic incorporating Buddhist, Daoist, and popular religious beliefs and practices. In Chinese language academia, the study of “Taigu School” has experienced something of a boom since the last decade of the twentieth century, whilst in the English language scholarship it is barely touched upon. This article, based on a chapter of my dissertation “Secret Scroll: The Production of Occult Knowledge in China’s Age of Print” (UC Berkeley, 2021), does not simply fill the gap by contributing an English introduction to the “Taigu School” and its religious claims. Following Professor Timothy Brook’s approach in his Praying for Power, I explore how this esoteric teaching sheds new light on our understanding of the relationship between religious practices and local societies in China’s modern transition. More specifically, I focus on the socalled “Lost Scrolls of the Taigu School” 太谷學派遺書, a corpus of secret scriptures ranging from Zhou Taigu’s analects to the later masters’ treatises, which were canonized in the early twentieth century in Suzhou but remained obscured until the end of the century. First of all, these texts allow us to observe how the “Taigu School” as a “heresy” negotiated survival with different local societies in different historical contexts: Zhou Taigu and his persecution in Yangzhou in the early nineteenth century, the “Northern Master” Zhang Jizhong 張積中 (c. 1805–1866) and his Yellow Cliff community in Shandong province in the mid nineteenth century, the “Southern Master” Li Guangxin 李光炘 (1808–1885) and his continuous vagrancy in Jiangnan in the late nineteenth century, and finally, the “Reunification of the North and the South” in Suzhou in the early twentieth century. Second, and more profoundly, the history of the making of the “Lost Scrolls of the Taigu School” is itself an illuminating case for our understanding of the changing meanings of the “local” in modern China. The Suzhou-based members of the school collected these scriptures and canonized them in the 1930s, yet they also kept them in strict local and esoteric transmission. On the other hand, it was the famous novelist Liu E 劉鶚 (1857–1909, he was a secret member of the teaching) and his descendants who continuously argued with the Suzhou group, advocated for publicizing these texts to the bigger public, and finally made possible the survival of these “lost scrolls” and all accounts about the “Taigu School.”
Noga GANANY 高諾佳 (Cambridge 劍橋): Popular Reverence and Commercial Publishing in Late Ming Hagiographic Literature

The turn of the seventeenth century saw a surge in the publication of illustrated hagiographic narratives (chushen zhuan 出身傳) in the book meccas of Jiangnan and Fujian. These commercially-published books, which I term “origin narratives,” recount the miraculous lives of widely-worshiped cult figures, from Buddhist deities and Daoist immortals to Confucian sages and local heroes. Highly-entertaining yet encyclopaedic in scope, origin narratives repackaged the life and lore of their revered protagonists into “vernacular” narratives (xiaoshuo 小說) that seem to have targeted a wide readership. The cultic worship and sacred geographies of the protagonists of origin narratives take center stage in their main narratives and feature prominently in the paratexts of these books (such as prefaces, postfaces, and appendices). While the main texts of these origin narratives provide the hagiographical rationale for the protagonists’ associations with specific ritual traditions and sacred loci, the paratexts of these works offered practical, current information on the reverence of the protagonists. This information included worship manuals and calendars, copies of temple inscriptions, news about temples, and dedications to donors for their patronage of local temples. The inclusion of these “religious” materials in the main texts and paratexts of origin narratives sheds light on the multiple roles that commercial publishers played in late Ming society as cultural agents and producers of knowledge. Origin narratives, I argue, provided commercial publishers with a particularly profitable platform to engage with local cults while promoting their own intellectual and worldly interests.
HE Jianming 何建明 (RenminU of China 中國人民大學): 現代中國宗派傳承與認定的弔詭

中國大陸道教宗派自明清時期起就存在著全真派的在家與出家兩個系統和正一派的在家與出家兩個系統。可是，近幾十年來，中國大陸道教的宗派傳承與認定，出現了一個奇異的現象，就是許多傳承於明清時期的全真派在家系統被迫接受正一派認定，官方和教會普遍將出家看作是全真派、在家看作是正一派，以此確定道士的宗派身份和宗教身份，他們也因此獲得開展宗教活動的合法性。但是，這並沒有改變具有全真派傳承的在家道士在傳道（宗派傳承）和度人（科儀）上的變化，因為民間社會需要的仍然是與民間社會習俗相對應的道教傳統，這就形成了一個歷史與現實、政治與社會之間的吊詭。

This paper points out that three examples are given to illustrate that Quanzhen Taoist family system, which has been handed down since the Ming and Qing dynasties, is facing the dilemma of identity Crisis, but it has to be in the form of acceptance to gain the legitimacy of the identity. But if the situation persists for long, it will fundamentally alter Quanzhen Taoist established tradition in the family system, leaving the Taoist form in the Either/Or of man-made paradoxes, thus lost the real significance of Taoist cultural heritage.
KAN Cheng-Tsung 闞正宗 (Fo-kuangU 佛光大學)：殖民時期朴子官紳與齋教佛教化

清代從中國大陸傳入的羅教分支三派：龍華、先天、金幢，發展十分順利，幾乎未曾遭到清政府之取締，其所建立齋堂之數量，約佛寺之三倍。建於清光緒18年（1892）前身為正心堂的嘉義朴子高明寺，為晚清嘉義地區最後一座齋堂。是北港商人謝乞（1859-1909）藉陳順記（1864-1934）公館設立。齋堂內收容許多失婚、喪偶的婦女茹素、學佛，但1922年，在地方仕紳陳添貴（1885-1959）偶詣正心堂禮佛，心生啟建蘭若之心，同時與日本淨土宗取得聯繫，在臺日官紳介入下，正心堂成為日本淨土宗布教所，日後更成為漢傳佛教寺院高明寺。本文旨在探討正心齋堂在官紳的力導下，從齋教轉為佛教之過程。
Mónika KISS (Eötvös Loránd University [ELTE] 羅蘭大學): Buddhist Responses to the Problems of Society: The Case of the Nichirenshū

Demographic changes and depopulation in rural areas are two of the gravest problems that Japanese society faces today. It affects all and every aspect of the Buddhist sects, from their monks (sōryo) to their believers (shinja). Japan is one of the fastest aging countries around the world and although Buddhism was and still is a major religion with more than 40 million registered believers, the statistics show that this number is the result of a sharp decline. Also, these statistics include all new religious organizations which are connected to certain Buddhist teachings but not recognized as the “established” Buddhist sects, such as the Shingon, Tendai, or Shin denominations.

The temple-parishioner system, established in the Edo Period (1600-1868) connected all Japanese families to Buddhist temples and brought about the hegemony of Buddhist funeral rites, and this connection and hegemony still stand, however, changes are cracking that system too. Questionable reactions to government policies at the end of the 19^th century and a new family hereditary system in the 20^th century reshaped the “established” Buddhist sects. Also, the new religions (shin shūkyō) have the advantage of new and fresh modes of recruiting believers, a more liberal attitude to practice, and looser regulations. In my presentation, I am examining through various examples how the temples of “established” Buddhist sects are responding to the ongoing struggle, e. g. how to secure heirs, get more believers, and therefore keep their temples from closing. The common feature is community-building which is crucial for such temples to invite new people into their halls.
LE Jing 樂晶 (Shanxi Normal U 山西師範大學): 「金銀」的隱喻：信仰與信用的互動媒介 ——以溫州「拜經」儀式為例 | The Metaphor of “Gold and Silver”: An Interactive Medium of Faith and Credit——Take the “Sutra Worship” ceremony in Wenzhou as an example

民間信仰是民眾生活的重要組成部分，為其解決實際問題提供了方案。溫州錢庫鎮「拜經」儀式是融合了佛教與道教等多種宗教形式的地方化信仰實踐。在「拜經」習俗中，民眾通過誦經「生產」的金銀紙不僅供自己使用，也通過交易或饋贈等形式轉讓給他人。在這個過程中，「金銀」成為透視信仰經濟、人神關係和社會交往的重要窗口，將信仰儀式與信用機制耦合在一起，形成村落社會整體的規則秩序和觀念形式。

Folk beliefs are an important part of people’s lives and provide solutions to their practical problems. The “Sutra Worship” ritual in Qianku Town, Wenzhou, is a localized religious practice that combines various religious forms such as Buddhism and Taoism. In the “Sutra Worship” ritual, the gold and silver paper “produced” by the people through chanting is not only for their own use, but also transferred to others in the form of trade or gift. In this process, “gold and silver” become an important window into the religious economy, human-god relations and social interactions, coupling rituals with credit mechanisms and forming an overall rule order and conceptual form of village society.
LEE Kuei-Min 李貴民 (Cheng KungU 成功大學)：越南僧人燈錄體系的建構與禪派的形塑

目前越南流通的《繼燈錄》，歷經至少三次編輯、增補，由釋如山、釋福田、未知者等建構出越南的臨濟禪派與曹洞系譜。期間出現兩次接法傳承異常現象，釋明良接法來自中國的拙公和尚，師徒關係不明。另外，第五祖釋性泉，並不是直接由第六祖釋海炯接法，而是先轉移到釋海炯的師父釋性爚，此傳承體系銜接到蓮宗寺，其僧人以念佛修行法門為重。近世越南佛教所建構出的臨濟、曹洞，以及淨土思想譜系，反映出不同時代的挑戰與回應，同時也呈現出越南佛教本土化的特色！由此，在越南竹林禪派三祖玄光（1254-1334）之後，相隔四百多年，出現了吳時壬（1746-1803）被稱為竹林禪派四祖的奇特現象。
Mariia LEPNEVA (Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences 俄羅斯科學院東方研究所 ): Refreshed Revival: Success of Baohua Mountain in the Eighteenth Century China

Baohua Mountain 寶華山 is known as a center of vinaya studies and monk ordinations of a nationwide significance. It attracted the attention of such prominent scholars as Johannes Prip-Møller and Holmes Welch, who regarded it as one of the large-scale model monasteries of the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This paper argues that the history of Baohua Mountain in the seventeenth and eighteenth century also deserves academic attention, as it was then that it had earned its fame as a seat of the revived vinaya school (Lüzong 律宗). In particular, Baohua abbot Wenhai Fuju 文海福聚 (1686–1765, abbot in 1722–1765) was a leading figure of the school who compiled its first genealogy as well as a local gazetteer, and through the patronage of Yongzheng Emperor 雍正 (1678–1735; reigned 1722–1735) incorporated the works of earlier Baohua patriarchs into the Buddhist canon and gained control of Fayuan Monastery 法源寺 in Beijing. Apart from that, Wenhai Fuju and his disciples secured support of scholar-officials both with regard to lofty literary compositions and mundane matters of construction and taxation. This array of achievements of Baohua lineage in the eighteenth century clearly resembles the pattern revealed by Dewei Zhang regarding the first stage of Late Ming Buddhist revival, when, spurred by imperial support, a certain monastery would attract further lay patronage and rise to prominence. Thus, this piece of research shows that, under certain conditions, a particular lineage could smoothly continue into the eighteenth century, maintaining and even magnifying the momentum of earlier revival.
LI Tiangang 李天綱 (FudanU 復旦): 韋伯與漢學——《儒教與道教》的宗教學方法論研讀

韋伯《儒教與道教》（1915）是為了驗證《新教倫理與資本主義精神》（1906）而作，是關於中國宗教研究的精心之作。一百多年來，他對中國社會、文化、宗教的一貫論述，潛移默化地影響了國內外學者對於中國哲學的基本判斷，比如「市民社會」、「宗法制度」等。但是，韋伯的基本判斷來自漢學（sinology），如高延、理雅各、沙畹等，這些漢學家在社會、政治、法律、倫理上的論述得到應用，而韋伯與他們的中國宗教論述之關係還有待研讀。韋伯對幾種「世界宗教」（儒教、印度教、佛教、基督教、伊斯蘭教，後來又加上猶太教）的宗教倫理與資本主義興起的關係加以研究，他希望解決一個問題，即「究竟什麼是一種宗教的‘經濟倫理’。我們要研究的並非僅僅是作為一種認識手段的神學大綱式的倫理理論，而是扎根與各種宗教的心理與實際聯繫中的行動的實際動力。」（王譯本，第5頁）本文試圖從宗教學的角度，討論韋伯對於中國宗教本質的論述，及其對中國學術研究的影響。
Johanna LIDÉN 李珊娜 (StockholmU 斯德哥爾摩大學/HamburgU 漢堡大學): Writings on pedagogy by a village schoolteacher from the 19th century Sichuan

In 1864, a village schoolteacher from Sichuan, wrote a text about his ideas on didactics. His name was Liu Hengdian 劉恆典 (1809-1884), and he belonged to the Liumen tradition. Although its followers called themselves Confucians, they were yet another example of the porous demarcation lines between the three teachings. Earlier texts on village schools reflect the ambitions of rulers and administrators. How those were implemented at the local level is not clear. The text by Liu Hengdian is a unique testimony of ‘school reality’ from the viewpoint of a poor teacher. We can hear the voice of someone with personal experience of teaching unruly boys, adapting his teaching to heterogeneous groups of pupils, and finding the right balance between harshness and kindness. However, the vision of Liu Hengdian was not to create a manual for successful pedagogy. His ambitions were higher and deeper. To respect and examine oneself is the Alfa and Omega of his message. From this we can draw the conclusion that, in the 19^th century Confucian self-cultivation was not the exclusive practice of scholar officials, but also for teachers at the lowest level in the educational system.
LIU Cuilan 劉翠蘭 (U. of Pittsburgh 匹茲堡大學): From Murderers to “Monks”: The Dual Life of Criminals in Rural China

The Flowery Monk Lu Zhishen’s legendary story in the 16^thcentury classical Chinese novel Water Margin has nourished a lasting fantasy: that a person who has committed a serious crime can enter the Buddhist monasteries or nunneries to become a monk or nun to avoid punishment. This fantasy is still alive in contemporary China. Within the past twenty years, numerous murders in China have tried to use fake identities to become ordained monks to avoid arrest and punishments. Unfortunately, these attempts eventually all failed. One example is Xu Xinlian, a murderer who has spent 15 years living as a Buddhist monk and later became the abbot of Jingci Monastery in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. After his arrest, Xu also received a public trial in the Intermediate People’s Court in Jiujiang, Jiangxi Province on April 20, 2012. In this paper, I will discuss the historical development and contemporary reception of this Chinese fantasy over religious institution’s ability to function as sanctuaries for fugitives facing criminal charges.
MA Xu 馬旭 (Lafayette College): Printing for Power: The Textualization of Popular Religions in the Ming Encyclopedias

With a title alluding to Prof. Timothy Brook’s seminal monograph Praying for Power, this paper resonantly aims to explore people’s “power” and “autonomy” as activated by religious engagement in the second half of the Ming dynasty (16th -17th centuries). However, if the foci of Prof. Brook’s book are on the “gentry society” and the monasteries, this paper instead, examines religious spaces (and/or rituals) that were textualized and transmitted on book pages and their consumption by an emerging reading public (spanning a much wider social swath) during the same historical period. As will be shown, the booming economy and commercial publishing industry in the 16th and 17th centuries drastically transformed the production and dissemination of knowledge. Under this circumstance, the proliferating religious compendia and encyclopedias (leishu) rose to a key mediator between gods and individuals, forcefully wresting previously exclusive authority from religious priests and state functionaries. I, therefore, call for a creative hermeneutics of texts/books as an active agent and mediating spaces between ideological norms and people’s individual interpretation and implementation in daily life. In other words, as religious spaces and rituals were comprehensively transformed into printed words and images, the hitherto esoteric religious knowledge became increasingly decomposed and popularized, allowing its audience to evoke a personalized pilgrimage or self-directed rituals every time they consumed the printed texts. This “decomposed” and “democratized” religious expertise leads to a paradox of simultaneous consolidation and dilution of religious power. On the one hand, the proliferating religious texts standardized the protocols of the sacred world among an increasingly commercialized earthly society, helping to enact religious homogeneity at the local level. On the other hand, the democratization of the ritual epitome contributed to cultural diversity by allowing lay readers to variously interpret, execute, and appropriate religious symbolism and rituals at will. Fusing the actual and the textual, communal and personal, edifying and entertaining, the Ming religious encyclopedias afford us a glance at the unprecedented power partaken of by the rising reading public in producing and reproducing a nuanced boisterous religious life in the Ming.
Thierry MEYNARD 梅謙立 (Sun Yat-senU 中山大學): Christian – Buddhist conflicts in Late Ming dynasty: New light from the Chengdu conflict of 1643

In Late Ming, the small but fast-growing Christian communities faced some local persecutions, but the one of Nanjing in 1616 became nationwide. The Italian Alfonso Vagnone and other Jesuits attributed this persecution to the Buddhists, but historical research tends to discard Buddhism as an important force behind the anti-christian campaign of the local magistrate Shen Que 沈㴶. In 1623, Xu Dashou 許大受, a disciple of Zhuhong 祩宏, started an anti-Christian campaign in Zhejiang, but the Buddhist monks were not directly involved into this campaign which was finally aborted. In the years 1632-1639, Buddhism became the main force behind the persecution in Zhejiang and Fujian, as attested by the writings of influential Buddhist monks like Miyun Yuanwu 密雲圓悟 and Feiyin Tongrong 費隱通容 included in the Poxieji 破邪集 [Collection for the eradication of the heresy] in 1639.

We investigate here a very-little known Buddhist-Christian conflict which happened far-away from the Jiangnan area, in Chengdu in 1643, just before the entrance of the rebel leader Zhang Xianzhong in August 1644. The Italian Jesuit Lodovico Buglio and the Portuguese Jesuit Gabriel de Magalhães had arrived Chengdu respectively in 1640 and 1642, and in their printed writings, they mentioned very briefly the conflict of 1643, which was overshadowed by the massacre by Zhang Xianzhong of the whole population of Chengdu in 1644. The French Jesuit historian Aloysius Pfister in the nineteenth century had access to ancient documents and he has a half-page length description of this conflict, which he attributes mostly to the bonzes of Chengdu. The French MEP François-Marie-Joseph Gourdon had also access to historical documents preserved in Shanghai, and he gave a 6-page account of the conflict in his Shengjiao ruchuan ji 聖教入川記 [Records of the entry of the Holy Teaching in Sichuan], though he understood that the bonzes were in fact Daoist!

In this paper, we investigate a lengthy report (48 pages) written in Portuguese in 1644 by Magalhães which was probably the basis for Pfister and Gordon. We shall analyze the unfolding of the conflict up to its peaceful resolution, and present also the few Chinese documents provided in translation. This preliminary investigation allows us to show that the conflict was indeed launched by the Buddhist monks of Chengdu and also connected with the Buddhists in the Jiangnan area, especially Miyun Yuanwu.
RAO Xiao 饒驍 (U. of N. Carolina in Greensboro 北卡大學格林斯伯勒分校): Contesting Frivolity: Amorous Poetry, Courtesans, and Buddhist Monks in Song Dynasty Storytelling

Frivolity has been regarded as a problematic trend in Buddhism since the Song. This article considers the issue of frivolity in the interplay between Buddhism and Chinese local society during the Song by situating it in two special contexts. One is the burgeoning culture of courtesanship and the other is the rising popularity of anecdotal writing. It focuses on the amorous poems (yanshi 艷詩 and yanci 艷詞) that are said to be produced in scenarios pertaining to Buddhist monks’ direct or implicit involvement in the culture of courtesanship. The anecdotal materials reveal subtle but important differences between stories circulated among elites and tales preserved in vernacular storytellers’ sourcebooks. Whereas literati anecdotes reveal an ambivalent attitude to the moral messages conveyed in stories of monks-courtesan interactions, vernacular storytellers tend to be more vigilant and vocal about monks’ association with courtesans.
SHAO Jaide 邵佳德 (NanjingU 南京大學): 中央與地方權力之間的宗教：以國民政府對南京佛教的改革為例

南京是民國時期中國政治權力和佛教發展的雙重中心，國民政府在將南京從地方城市建設為首都的過程中也嘗試對當地的佛教進行改革，以建立一個模範性的佛教社群。通過考察1927至1949年間各級政、警、軍、學界改造、利用南京佛教的案例，可以看出佛教的寺僧、廟產是不同政治力量間相互博弈的場域和砝碼，故佛教本身就深植於國家權力之中，其發展雖會受政治影響，卻很少被徹底改造或全部消滅。政府對於宗教採取的政策或進行的侵奪通常也隱含著中央和地方、政府和黨部等不同政治集團間的路線或利益爭奪。正因如此，對於宗教所進行的改革，不僅改變了宗教的面貌，也使得區域內的政治版圖有所變動，即現代宗教的改造和現代國家政權的形成是雙向作用，而非單向影響。在分析南京的佛教改革時本文將避免把「國家」視作一種並不真實存在的統一的政治集團，而是充分挖掘其內部的複雜性以及與地方的矛盾性。在論述政治與佛教關係時本文也試圖擺脫一方壓制另一方的二元模式，既看到國家權威對於佛教的強製作用，也注意佛教寺僧對政治博弈的間接作用。
SHENG Kai 聖凱 (TsinghuaU 清華大學): 初期禪宗的禪律共住與「別院」別住

隨著唐代一寺多院落的寺院規制形成，「禪院」成為律寺或大寺的院落——別院，與「三階院」等共住於一寺。初期禪宗的僧禪居住在律寺或大寺的「別院」，呈現出禪律共住與「禪院」別住的現象。同時，禪院與律院共處一寺，禪僧與律僧因修道觀念與寺院生活的不同而難免發生矛盾，因此解決禪與戒律的矛盾是南宗禪獨立的內在動力。
Ekaterina SKRYPNIK (Russian Academy of Sciences): Buddhist Text Prefaces Attributed to Wu Zetian 武則天 (624–705) and Some Features of Female Emperor Image Construction in Medieval Chinese Society

Empress Wu Zhao 武曌 (better known in historiography as Wu Zetian) was the first and only woman in Chinese history who obtained the male title of Emperor (huangdi 皇帝) and founded a new dynasty (the Great Zhou 大周 [690–705]). One of the most notable subjects connected with the reign of Wu Zetian was her patronage of Buddhism. According to traditional Chinese notions of power, a state could not be ruled by a woman. This left Wu Zetian few opportunities to justify her claim to the title of Emperor. Hence, Buddhist teaching became one of the main aspects (if not the basis) of a new concept of state power created by the Empress. In this study, I will examine some features of Wu Zetian’s use of Buddhist concepts as reflected in a number of Buddhist sutras’ prefaces attributed to the Empress.
Anna SOKOLOVA (GhentU 根特大學): The Formation of the Local Dharmaguptakavinaya Centres in Tang China: The Case of Kuaiji 會稽

According to the sectarian narratives of the history of vinaya school (lü zong 律宗) in China, by the time of the establishment of the Tang Dynasty in 618, the Shisong lü 十誦律 (Daśādhyāya-vinaya) vinaya tradition had been firmly established on the territories of the former Chen and Sui dynasties. A group of authoritative monks at Tang court advocated for the supremacy of the Sifen lü 四分律 (Dharmaguptaka-vinaya) tradition over the Shisong lü. Due to their efforts, the Sifen lü gradually prevailed as an official vinaya throughout the network of state-supported monasteries in the territorial center of the Tang Empire. Disciples of Daoxuan 道宣 (596–667), a chief promoter of Sifen lü at Tang imperial court, faced a challenging task of unifying the vinaya tradition in the North and in the South.

This paper traces the establishment of the Sifen lü tradition at Kuaiji 會稽 (present-day Shaoxing 紹興, Zhejiang Province) as part of a larger process of the tradition’s transmission from the North to the South by the first and the second generations of Daoxuan’s disciples. The paper argues that Kuaiji emerged as the first southern major centre where mass ordinations were officiated according to Sifen lü with close reference to Daoxuan’s commentaries, and as a headquarter for the numerous Sifen lü centres that branched off in the regions of Zhejiang, Hunan, Jiangsu and Jiangxi during mid-eighth century. Based on a wide range of sources, such as stelae inscriptions, mountain records and local gazetteers, this paper 1) demonstrates that vinaya authorities, including masters Wen’gang 文綱 (636–727) and Daoan 道岸 (654-717), Daoxuan’s lineal disciples, were key members of the local monastic-secular network at Kuaiji; 2) reveals that a group of powerful officials in the central government hailed from Kuaiji and they facilitated careers of their fellow monastics and officials from their homeland; 3) identifies local monks at Kuaiji who emerged as vinaya leaders in the south. Above all, this study reveals the key role that the Kuaiji monastic-secular community played in the wholesale dissemination of the Dharamaguptakavinaya tradition in southern China during the eighth century.
Kirill SOLONIN 索羅寧 (RenminU of China 中國人民大學): Tangut Platform Sūtra and Chan Biographical literature

The purpose of the study is to locate Tangut Buddhist texts within a more general framework of Sinitic Buddhism in Northern China during 11-13th centuries. This means that we envisage Tangut Buddhist texts, both translations and locally composed works as the sources not only for the study of Tangut Buddhism but also for the better understanding of the Sinitic Buddhism in the adjacent areas. For the Platform Sutra we have established two independent traditions, and tried to compare these with the Dunhuang version by Fahai, and also with the surviving fragments of the Tangut Chan biographical literature. Philological conventions which discovered thereby indicate on the multiplicity of sources for the Tangut Chan, reflexive of the multifaceted situation in circulation of these texts in Northern China during 11-13th centuries.
Sun Qi 孫齊 (ShandongU 山東大學): 一座消失的石窟：河北宣務山石窟研究（A Ruined Grotto Revisited: Study of Xuanwushan Grottoes in Hebei）

宣務山石窟位於今河北省邢臺市隆堯縣西北，是唐代規模較大的石窟之一，但不幸已全部湮滅。結合晚清民國以來的調查記錄和拓片著錄，可以輯得宣務山唐代造像題記近300種，藉此能夠大體復原宣務山石窟的開鑿史。宣務山自漢以來為祭祀帝堯之所。隋代高僧彥琮瘗葬於此。宣務山石窟由象城人李惠寬於武德六年（623）發願營修，得到了地方官守和趙郡李氏的大力支持。造像活動以唐高宗和武則天時期最爲活躍，開元末年後明顯沉寂。造像者主要來自周邊地區和太行山東麓驛道沿線。造像題材以淨土信仰爲主。隨著唐帝國的衰落和藩鎮時代的到來，宣務山的造像活動也逐漸消歇。宣務山石窟的興造與衰落，與唐王朝的開國和開天盛世的結束隨行，是盛唐時代的一個縮影
Barend TER HAAR 田海 (HamburgU 漢堡大學): Buddhism in Local Society: The 1313-1314 Restoration of the Travelling Palace of the Eastern Marchmount in Changxing | 佛教在地方社會：1313－1314年《長興州修建東嶽行宮記》

Since Tim Brook’s Praying for Power (1993) we have come to appreciate the ongoing power of Buddhist religious tradition on all social levels, with the late Ming revival of a remarkably strong link between socio-educational elites and Lower Yangzi region Buddhist monasteries as one particularly clear example. Nonetheless, there are also differences or what we might call roads not taken. While elites connected to local monasteries in more ways than one, these monasteries did not organize society in the same way as local temple networks did. While we might not expect this in the first place, epigraphical evidence and colophons to Buddhist sutras for instance demonstrate that in various places in Song-Jin-Yuan China Buddhist traditions were an important social force that far transcended doctrinal boundaries. In this contribution I analyse an inscription from the year 1314 as an example of the role of some Buddhist monasteries in structuring local society, from local officials, local militia to local guilds and traders. Apparently, something did get lost between the late Yuan and late Ming periods, even if the power of Buddhist ritual and devotional practices certainly continued to exert a strong appeal, whether connected to monasteries or new religious groups or otherwise.
Eugene WANG 汪悅進 (Harvard 哈佛): Mental Photography and the formation of the global brain in China

1897 was a year that largely goes under our radar screen. In hindsight, it turned out to be a year of uncanny coincidence. Stars were aligned. In that year, Nikola Tesla (1856-1943) published “On Electricity”; China had its first native-owned power station in Shanghai; and Tan Sitong (1865-1898), a starry-eyed young reformist, wrote extensively on electricity, ether, and global psychic connectivity. Tan was executed at the age of 33 by the Qing government the next year as the Hundred Days’ Reform he had participated in failed. However, the electricity-ether-globalism meme lived on. It resurfaced a century later, in the 2012 Shanghai Biennale, on the site of the power station that was founded in 1897. Coincidentally–or perhaps not–Tesla’s avatar also showed up in the form of the Tesla Tower on the Biennale curator’s map. Stars were once again re-aligned. In-between 1897 and 2012 is thus an untold story of the exploration of the mental photography, aerial medium, and formation of the global brain, borne by a charged medium, an aggregate of electricity, ether, and global consciousness, that repeatedly electrified art, and vice versa.
WANG Qiyuan 王啓元 (FudanU 復旦): 晚明佛教居士法名考——以紫柏真可大師居士圈為例 | A Study of the Dharma Names of Lay Buddhists during Late Ming Dynasty: With a Focus on the Lay Followers of Zibo Zhenke

筆者梳理晚明高僧紫柏真可等高僧著述時，發現其中所作法語、尺牘、字說等文體的對象，看似皆為僧人法名，但不甚知名，經場被忽略。待仔細梳理後發現，此類法名的主人可能是高僧身邊俗家弟子，有些還是當時知名的居士士大夫；而此種獨特的法名，在其他文獻中並不常見，而僅見於方外話語體系之中，且尚未被學界留意。本文依據僧俗互動密切的晚明高僧紫柏真可所存文集，輔以同時期相關文獻，略考集中多處法名的實際指代對象。其中，除了馮夢禎號「真實居士」、湯顯祖有「寸虛」「廣虛」之名外，仍尚有諸多法名主人，猶待揭示。藉此考證，略論居士圈中法名風氣，以及晚明佛教僧團與士大夫的身份與信仰的認同。

When collating the works of eminent monks such as Zibai Zhenke in the late Ming Dynasty, we found that the objects of Dharma quotations, letters, words and other styles, seem to be Dharma names, but they are not very well-known. After dealing with these objects, it is found that the masters of these names may be secular disciples around eminent monks, and some of them were well-known lay celebrities at that time; This unique Dharma name, which is not common in other literature, is only found in the external discourse system and has not been paid attention to by the academic circles. Based on the collected works of Zibai Zhenke, an eminent monk in the late Ming Dynasty with close interaction between monks and customs, supplemented by relevant documents in the same period, this paper briefly examines the actual meaning of many Dharma names in the collection; In addition to Feng Mengzhen’s “Zhen Shi” and Tang Xianzu’s “Cun Xu” and “Guang Xu”, there are still many masters of Dharma names, which need to be revealed. Based on this, this paper briefly discusses the atmosphere of Dharma names in the resident circle and the identity and belief of Buddhist monks and scholar bureaucrats in the late Ming Dynasty.
WEI Bing 魏斌 (WuhanU 武漢大學): 北朝晚期的寺院與政治文化——“國”寺、政區与戰場

中古時期，中國歷史上出現了一種由朝廷統一寺額、分設於天下諸州的官寺體系，最典型的是武則天時期的大雲寺、唐中宗時期的中（龍）興寺和唐玄宗時期的開元寺。這種制度性的寺院景觀，建立在王朝地方政區系統之上，兼具宗教場所和地方行政設施兩種功能，成為一個新的文化現象，也深刻影響朝鮮半島和日本。至於其起源，學界往往將其追溯到隋文帝即位後在「龍潛所經四十五州」設立的大興國寺體系。但包括大興國寺在內，隋文帝時期的諸多體系性敕建寺院舉措，大都可以看到東魏北齊、西魏北周的制度和文化影響。這也正是本文打算探討的問題：這種兼具宗教場所和地方行政設施兩種性質的寺院景觀，究竟是如何出現的？是否有著更早的政治文化和制度文化淵源？又體現了怎樣的宗教與國家關係？
WU Keping 吳科萍 (Duke Kunshan University 昆山杜克大學): “Buddhification” and “Daoification” of Local Religions in Contemporary Suzhou

ATimothy Brook’s seminal study of local gentry in Ming Dynasty and their use of Buddhist temples as gateway to power and status poignantly proves that religion is closely knit with local society. Recent scholarship in history and folklore have revealed the existence of a “pantheon” of local religions in Suzhou, resulting from fascinating interactions among the boat people and farming population in their economic and ritual exchanges, aided by waves of political movements. However, very little has been done to examine the interactions between such popular religious practices with local Buddhist and Daoist worlds. Building on ethnographic fieldwork between 2014-2019, this paper analyzes what I call “Buddhification” and “Daoification” processes that accompany the large-scale urbanization and destruction of small village temples in contemporary Suzhou. First, it uncovers how state-led urbanization and construction of large official Buddhist and Daoist temples in urbanizing areas have created new religious spaces that have replaced the village temples as the center of ritual life in contemporary Suzhou. Second, state-led anti-superstition campaigns have successfully created bottom-up legitimacy-seeking religious practitioners who actively embrace Buddhism and Daoism as the sanctioned religious affiliations. Similar to the Ming Dynasty gentry, the growing educated public often seek spiritual guidance and social status through Buddhist and/or Daoist practices and indoctrination. Lastly, the “Pantheon”, made up of various earth gods and other local deities including recently deceased members of the community, though sidelined and often forced into crowded backrooms, still occupy a space in the newly constructed Daoist and Buddhist temples and constantly erupts to the surface through channels of spirit mediumship. This paper argues that the influences are mutual by exploring the possibilities of how the local popular religious “pantheon” in turns exerts influence on local Buddhist and Daoist landscapes of Suzhou.
XU Wei 許蔚 (FudanU 復旦): 明儒都督萬鹿園的佛教行腳與道教修煉

明儒萬表，出身寧波衛世襲指揮僉事，因功積至大帥。他自幼習舉業，並注意醫藥、養生。其所編、撰除理學、經濟文章外，也涉及方書、道書等。其理學成就既融會丹道與禪悟，其日常生活也與釋、道關係甚密。除與僧、道交往外，他曾因病而避居佛寺，又為寧波、嘉興、杭州等地佛寺募化及外護。此外，憑藉自己與僧人的交往，他在倭亂中首倡僧兵。本文將以萬表本人的詩文及相關編、著，結合其子、其友及後輩所作傳、狀、銘等文字，對其個人生命史中的佛教行腳、道教修煉，以及四明萬氏家族信仰的養成、延續與變化予以揭示。
YANG Xiao 楊筱 (Chinese Academy of Social Science): Move to the Land of Abundance: Buddhist Sites in Northern Sichuan in the Early Seventh Century

In the early 7th century, a group of relatively uniform Buddhist statues with niches of similar shapes and styles were excavated in cliff faces in Guangyuan, Mianyang and Bazhong in the mountains to the north of the Sichuan Basin. This is the beginning of the large-scale construction of Buddhist grottoes in Sichuan and Chongqing. It is of great significance for discussing the regional transmission of Buddhist grottoes from the north to the south and the formation of southwestern grotto traditions. Through the investigation of the form of the niches, the content of the statues and the collective associations, it is herein argued that the construction system of Buddhist sites is a hybrid of Buddhist practice and artistic traditions that were separated from the south and the north during the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Its emergence shows the continuous renewal of the regional tradition of Buddhist statues since the Southern Dynasties in Sichuan and reflects the social and religious changes brought by a large number of officials and monks from the north entering Sichuan at the end of the Sui Dynasty and the beginning of the Tang Dynasty. It also provides excellent material for discussing the social integration of the early Tang Dynasty in northern Sichuan and the complex tension between Buddhism and Daoism.

摘要：7世紀初叶，四川盆地北部的廣元、綿陽、巴中等地開鑿了一批龕窟形制相近、造像風格相仿的佛教摩崖造像。这批摩崖造像是川渝地區佛教石窟大規模營建的開端，也是中國石窟由北向南傳播的關鍵節點，對討論西南石窟傳統的形成都具有重要意義。通過對龕窟形制、造像內容及結社組織三方面的深入考察，可知這批摩崖造像的營造系統，是南北朝時期南、北方分立的佛教實踐與藝術傳統交融的產物。此種區域性石窟建造模式的出現，展現了四川南朝以來佛教造像地域傳統所具有的持續更新的生命力，反映了隋末唐初北方官員、僧人大量入蜀所帶來的社會、宗教變化，為討論川北地區唐代初期的社會整合及佛、道之間的複雜張力提供了絕佳材料。
YANG Xiaojun 楊效俊 (Shaanxi Museum of History 陝西歷史博物館): 法隆寺玉蟲廚子與隋仁壽舍利崇拜的關係

本文在七世紀初東亞各國政治、宗教、文化交流互動的背景下研究法隆寺玉蟲廚子。隋文帝開皇二十年（600）倭國使者到達隋大興城，從此隋、倭互派使團交往，建立正式外交關係。通過入隋學問僧的熱心學習，隋朝佛教文化傳入推古朝，促進了倭國國家佛教的建立。在以聖德太子為代表的皇室貴族崇佛的背景下，佛教興盛，飛鳥京興建佛寺、製作佛像和佛莊嚴具，推古天皇禮佛用的玉蟲廚子為其中代表性的佛具。玉蟲廚子造型為高須彌台座上的單層佛殿，與隋仁壽舍利塔相似。圖像主題為舍利崇拜，台座正面描繪二僧供養舍利，背面描繪佛教世界圖像須彌山，右側繪薩埵太子捨身飼虎、左側繪雪山童子施身聞偈寓意捨身求法，表達了涅槃經典所述「寂滅為樂」的佛舍利崇拜宗教內涵。佛殿正面門扉繪二天王、兩側門扉繪二菩薩以守護佛法，背面圖像主題為寶塔供養。玉蟲廚子繪畫風格精細、華麗，似《歷代名畫記》所述鄭法士、展子虔代表的「細密精緻而臻麗」的隋代主流畫風。通過與隋仁壽舍利崇拜京畿風格代表作——神德寺舍利石函圖像與風格的對比，本文認為玉蟲廚子是倭國受到隋仁壽舍利崇拜主題、圖像的直接影響而製作的佛具，是七世紀初期東亞地區佛教藝術交流、融合而產生的珍品。
YIN Shoufu 殷守甫 (UBC): How Should the Dragon King Memorialize the Jade Emperor?Margins of Political Thought in Late Ming China

What is the narrative significance of the long and formulaic bureaucratic document as featured in the xiaoshuo novels of early modern China? What are the documentary formularies governing the bureaucratic communications in the imagined worlds of these Chinese novels? How did creators, publishers, editors, commentators, and readers of these novels imagine the documentary qua political relationship among different regimes, real or imagined, human or superhuman? This paper proposes that these questions, while pointing to the areas where bureaucracy, literature, and religion meet each other, have the potential to reveal a whole ocean of political theories and imaginations, which would be otherwise invisible to us. Put differently, from the margins of documents in the margins of novels recreated on the margins of block-print pages, we hear the voices of the editors and typesetters. They were putting different regimes in order—that of Heaven, of Death, of “China,” conceptualizing their jurisdictional boundaries, and theorizing the sovereign power of the human, subhuman, and superhuman realms.
YOU Ziyong 游自勇 (Capital Normal U首都師範大學/UBC): 10-13世紀的宜興善權寺與地方社會

江蘇宜興善權寺，相傳始建於公元480年，在唐代會昌法難中遭到廢棄、轉賣。九世紀後期，李蠙重建善權寺並制定新規，善權寺成爲一座禪院。南唐末，善權寺僧與當地縣令及道觀進行了一場長達數年的訴訟，最終獲得了對九斗壇洞的管理權。宋徽宗時期，善權寺成爲傅楫家族的功德院，期間曾短暫改爲崇道觀，趙氏南渡後即復爲廣教禪院，由李綱出資重建。儘管如此，善權寺名義上依舊是傅氏功德院。十二世紀下半葉，叶塘陳氏大量捨田給善權寺，並出資修繕廟宇，爲日後介入到善權寺內部管理創造契機。十三世紀中葉，善權寺轉爲大學士李曾伯的家族墳寺，李氏延請名僧主持，並花費巨資整葺寺院。從五代到宋末，作爲東南名剎的善權寺一直是文人遊玩的名勝，它掌控了九斗壇祈雨儀式的主持權，累代之下積聚了豐厚的寺產，這使得善權寺不僅僅是一道文化景觀，更是一個權力的結合體。
ZHANG Dewei 張德偉 (Ji’nanU 暨南大學): Embedded to Keep Alive: Receiving the Buddhist canon in the Local Society

Once arriving at a locality often as the result of strong competition among aspirants, the Buddhist canon opened a new page in its life. Surprisingly, however, we know little about its reception in the destination, the ultimate purpose of what the canon was created for, and thus can easily raise some important questions. For example, how did a canon function after being distributed? How did the canon establish a meaningful relationship with the local society? What factors affected its reception, how and to what extent? How could the distributed canon be significant, both for Buddhism itself and for the local society involved?

Based on cases primarily collected from the Ming and Qing period, this paper seeks to better understand how the Buddhist canon was received in the local society by answering the abovementioned questions. It examines the interplay of those canons with different groups of people who had different backgrounds and social status, including resident monks, local gentry, and ordinary people, and highlights how diverse their agendas could be. It also challenges an assumption we may have, that is, reading was the only important way to use the canon. With a special attention paid to poorly educated people, it reveals how they managed to establish a certain relationship with a canon by getting themselves involved in canon-related events. Finally, this paper argues that being used was the best way for a canon in a local society to exert influence, and that how well the canon was received depends on how well local residents were mobilized to take advantage of it.
ZHANG Xuesong 張雪松 (Renmin U. of China 中國人民大學): 晚清民国时期北京社会中佛寺道观的庙户与铺保 | Temple Households (Miaohu) and Shop Guarantors (Pubao) of Buddhist and Taoist Temples in Beijing during the Late Qing Dynasty and Republican Period

北京长期作为中国的首都，其地方社会的构成，受到官方政策影响往往更为直接和明显。本文选择官方制度化色彩比较高的“庙户”和“铺保”两种制度及其实践，探讨晚清民国佛道教与北京地方社会的关系。最初少数官庙特有的世袭庙户，在晚清民国与一般民人差别逐渐缩小，特别是民国时期庙户自主择业，庙户制度急剧衰落。而铺保制度与近代商业担保相互融合，使得寺观铺保制度在民国时期普遍化。庙户和铺保制度的消长，说明了佛寺道观与一般的“民庙”差异越来越小，佛寺道观与北京地方社会的关系，呈现出越来越密切的趋势，同时也反映出北京寺庙的会社并不完全以地缘即街坊会社的形式出现，而是较多依靠行业、阶层身份等业缘特征进行整合。

Beijing has long been the capital of China, and the composition of its local society is often more directly and obviously influenced by official policies. This paper discusses the relationship among Buddhism, Taoism and the local society in Beijing during the late Qing Dynasty and the Republican Period, by examining two systems and their practices, the “temple household” (miaohu, 廟戶) and the “shop guarantors” (pubao, 鋪保), which were highly institutionalized by the government. Initially there were a few hereditary temple households in Beijing, which were unique in official temples. However, during the late Qing Dynasty, the differences between this kind of privileged temple households and the ordinary civil households were gradually reduced. Especially during the Republican Period, the temple households could choose their own jobs, which led the sharp decline of the Temple Household System. While the Shop Guarantee System became popular during the Republican Period, as a result of its excellent integration with the modern commercial guarantee system. The totally different trends of the Temple Household System and the Shop Guarantee System illustrated the smaller gap among Buddhist, Taoist temples and general “civil temple” (minmiao, 民廟), also the closer relationship among Buddhist, Taoist temples and local society. In addition, the religious communities in Beijing did not rely exclusively on geopolitical or neighborhood basis, but more on the basis of professions and social status.