{"title":"Series: The Sheng Yen Series in Chinese Buddhist Studies","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Sheng Yen Series in Chinese Buddhist Studies\u003c\/strong\u003e offers profound insights into the philosophy and practice of Chinese Buddhism, blending ancient wisdom with contemporary understanding. Readers will explore themes of mindfulness, ethics, and spiritual growth through thoughtful analysis and accessible scholarship.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIdeal for those interested in \u003cem\u003ePhilosophy \u0026amp; Psychology\u003c\/em\u003e, this series enriches one’s appreciation of Buddhist thought within Chinese culture, inviting reflection on the nature of mind and existence. It is a valuable resource for both students and contemplative readers alike.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"buddhist-historiography-in-china-by-john-kieschnick-9780231205634","title":"Buddhist Historiography in China","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSince the early days of Buddhism in China, monastics and laity alike have expressed a profound concern with the past. In voluminous historical works, they attempted to determine as precisely as possible the dates of events in the Buddha's life, seeking to iron out discrepancies in varying accounts and pinpoint when he delivered which sermons.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBuddhist writers chronicled the history of the Dharma in China as well, compiling biographies of eminent monks and nuns and detailing the rise and decline in the religion's fortunes under various rulers. They searched for evidence of karma in the historical record and drew on prophecy to explain the past.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eBuddhist Historiography in China\u003c\/em\u003e by John Kieschnick provides an innovative, expansive account of how Chinese Buddhists have sought to understand their history through a Buddhist lens. Exploring a series of themes in mainstream Buddhist historiographical works from the fifth to the twentieth century, he looks not so much for what they reveal about the people and events they describe as for what they tell us about their compilers' understanding of history.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eKieschnick examines how Buddhist doctrines influenced the search for the underlying principles driving history, the significance of genealogy in Buddhist writing, and the transformation of Buddhist historiography in the twentieth century. This book casts new light on the intellectual history of Chinese Buddhism and on Buddhists' understanding of the past.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47430199443692,"sku":"9780231205634","price":66.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9780231205634.jpg?v=1774559418"},{"product_id":"in-the-land-of-tigers-and-snakes-by-huaiyu-chen-9780231202602","title":"In the Land of Tigers and Snakes","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnimals play crucial roles in Buddhist thought and practice. However, many symbolically or culturally significant animals found in India, where Buddhism originated, do not inhabit China, to which Buddhism spread in the medieval period. In order to adapt Buddhist ideas and imagery to the Chinese context, writers reinterpreted and modified the meanings different creatures possessed. Medieval sources tell stories of monks taming wild tigers, detail rituals for killing snakes, and even address the question of whether a parrot could achieve enlightenment.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHuaiyu Chen examines how Buddhist ideas about animals changed and were changed by medieval Chinese culture. He explores the entangled relations among animals, religions, the state, and local communities, considering both the multivalent meanings associated with animals and the daily experience of living with the natural world. Chen illustrates how Buddhism influenced Chinese knowledge and experience of animals as well as how Chinese state ideology, Daoism, and local cultic practices reshaped Buddhism. He shows how Buddhism, Confucianism, and Daoism developed doctrines, rituals, discourses, and practices to manage power relations between animals and humans.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eDrawing on a wide range of sources, including traditional texts, stone inscriptions, manuscripts, and visual culture, this interdisciplinary book bridges history, religious studies, animal studies, and environmental studies. In examining how Buddhist depictions of the natural world and Chinese taxonomies of animals mutually enriched each other, \u003cem\u003eIn the Land of Tigers and Snakes\u003c\/em\u003e offers a new perspective on how Buddhism took root in Chinese society.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47431028474092,"sku":"9780231202602","price":266.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9780231202602.jpg?v=1774558078"},{"product_id":"in-the-land-of-tigers-and-snakes-by-huaiyu-chen-9780231202619","title":"In the Land of Tigers and Snakes","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnimals play crucial roles in Buddhist thought and practice. However, many symbolically or culturally significant animals found in India, where Buddhism originated, do not inhabit China, to which Buddhism spread in the medieval period. In order to adapt Buddhist ideas and imagery to the Chinese context, writers reinterpreted and modified the meanings different creatures possessed. Medieval sources tell stories of monks taming wild tigers, detail rituals for killing snakes, and even address the question of whether a parrot could achieve enlightenment.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHuaiyu Chen examines how Buddhist ideas about animals changed and were changed by medieval Chinese culture. He explores the entangled relations among animals, religions, the state, and local communities, considering both the multivalent meanings associated with animals and the daily experience of living with the natural world. Chen illustrates how Buddhism influenced Chinese knowledge and experience of animals as well as how Chinese state ideology, Daoism, and local cultic practices reshaped Buddhism. He shows how Buddhism, Confucianism, and Daoism developed doctrines, rituals, discourses, and practices to manage power relations between animals and humans.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eDrawing on a wide range of sources, including traditional texts, stone inscriptions, manuscripts, and visual culture, this interdisciplinary book bridges history, religious studies, animal studies, and environmental studies. In examining how Buddhist depictions of the natural world and Chinese taxonomies of animals mutually enriched each other, \u003cem\u003eIn the Land of Tigers and Snakes\u003c\/em\u003e offers a new perspective on how Buddhism took root in Chinese society.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47431028769004,"sku":"9780231202619","price":66.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9780231202619.jpg?v=1774558078"},{"product_id":"the-space-of-religion-by-yoshiko-ashiwa-9780231197359","title":"The Space of Religion","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Nanputuo Temple in the southeastern Chinese city of Xiamen has been a cherished site for the worship of the bodhisattva Guanyin for centuries. It was a centre of modernising Buddhism in the early twentieth century and a flagship for the revival of Buddhism after state suppression during the Cultural Revolution. \u003cem\u003eThe Space of Religion\u003c\/em\u003e takes readers inside the Nanputuo Temple in order to explore the practice of Buddhism in modern China and the complex relationship between Buddhism and the Chinese state.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBased on three decades of ethnographic research, Yoshiko Ashiwa and David L. Wank tell the story of Nanputuo against the backdrop of a dramatic stretch of Chinese history. They vividly depict episodes such as renovating the halls, re-establishing ties with overseas Chinese donors, conflicts with local government, revival of ritual life, reopening of its Buddhist academy, and the passion of the Guanyin birthday festival. To understand Nanputuo, Buddhist communities, and other temples in Xiamen, Ashiwa and Wank develop the concept of religion as a space constituted by physical, semiotic, and institutional dimensions. They also show how the Chinese state and Buddhism have each adapted to the other, as the temple has adjusted to government policy while the state has deployed Buddhism in its promotion of Chinese culture.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis interdisciplinary book is both a theoretically generative analysis of religious spaces and an empirically rich account of the recovery of Buddhism in China after the Mao era.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47433046917356,"sku":"9780231197359","price":66.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9780231197359.jpg?v=1774765691"},{"product_id":"the-body-incantatory-by-paul-copp-9780231162715","title":"The Body Incantatory","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhether chanted as devotional prayers, intoned against the dangers of the wilds, or invoked to heal the sick and bring ease to the dead, incantations were pervasive features of Buddhist practice in late medieval China (600–1000 C.E.). Material incantations, in forms such as spell-inscribed amulets and stone pillars, were also central to the spiritual lives of both monks and laypeople. In centering its analysis on the Chinese material culture of these deeply embodied forms of Buddhist ritual, \u003cem\u003eThe Body Incantatory\u003c\/em\u003e reveals histories of practice—and logics of practice—that have until now remained hidden.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ePaul Copp examines inscribed stones, urns, and other objects unearthed from anonymous tombs; spells carved into pillars near mountain temples; and manuscripts and prints from both tombs and the Dunhuang cache. Focusing on two major Buddhist spells, or dhāraṇī, and their embodiment of the incantatory logics of adornment and unction, he makes breakthrough claims about the significance of Buddhist incantation practice not only in medieval China but also in Central Asia and India. Copp's work vividly captures the diversity of Buddhist practice among medieval monks, ritual healers, and other individuals lost to history, offering a corrective to accounts that have overemphasised elite, canonical materials.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47471730524396,"sku":"9780231162715","price":60.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/4f68f256e2039520c4da9e71dcda1fec.jpg?v=1775792096"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.co.nz\/collections\/series-the-sheng-yen-series-in-chinese-buddhist-studies.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}