Buddhist encounters and identities across East Asia

Abstract

Encounters, networks, identities and diversity are at the core of the history of Buddhism. They are also the focus of this book. While long-distance networks allowed Buddhist ideas to travel to all parts of East Asia, it was through local and trans-local networks and encounters, and a diversity of people and societies, that identities were made and negotiated. This book undertakes a detailed examination of discrete Buddhist identities rooted in unique cultural practices, beliefs and indigenous socio-political conditions. Moreover, it presents a fascinating picture of the intricacies of the regional and cross-regional networks that connected South and East Asia.

Contents

Introduction : networks and identities in the Buddhist world / Tansen Sen -- Bagan murals and the Sino-Tibetan world / Claudine Bautze-Picron -- Noise along the network : a set of Chinese Ming embroidered thangkas in the Indian Himalayas / Rob Linrothe -- Nation founder and universal saviour : Guanyin and Buddhist networks in the Nanzhao and Dali kingdoms / Megan Bryson -- A study on the combination of the deities Fudō and Aizen in medieval Shingon esoteric Buddhism / Steven Trenson -- The transmission of the Buddhadhanna from India to China : an examination of Kumārajīva's transliteration of the DhāraGīs of the SaddharmapuGarīkasūtra / Bryan Levman -- The journey of Zhao Xian and the exile of royal descendants in the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) / Kaiqi Hua -- Wailing for identity : topical and poetic expressions of cultural belonging in Chinese Buddhist literature / Max Deeg -- How the Dharma ended up in the "eastern country" : Korean monks in the Chinese Buddhist imaginaire during the Tang and early Song / Sem Vermeersch -- Buddhist pilgrimage and spiritual identity : Korean Son monks journeying to Tang China in search of the Dharma / Henrik H. Sørensen -- The rebirth legend of prince Shōtoku : Buddhist networks in ninth century China and Japan / Pei-ying Lin -- Because they entrusted to them a part of their Buddhist selves : imagined communities, layered identities, and networking / Bart Dessein -- Bodily care identity in Buddhist monastic life of ancient India and China : an advancing purity threshold / Ann Heirman.