Religions and Local Society

Historical, Comparative, and Theoretical Perspectives: A Festschrift in Honour of Timothy Brook, edited by Jinhua Chen 陳金華 and Dewei Zhang 張德偉, 2023.

 

To commemorate Professor Timothy J. Brook’s retirement from the University of British Columbia (UBC), we organized an international Buddhist conference in August 2022, using the same title as the current proceedings. The conference theme, ‘Religion and Local Society’, was chosen to mirror Professor Brook’s essential contributions to the examination of Buddhism in the later period of imperial China, a domain that has experienced substantial growth and advancement since Professor Brook began his career.

 

Our research highlights the necessity of taking a multidimensional perspective to underscore the importance of studying religion in specific local contexts. However, we also recognize that this approach may have. The historical perspective highlights the crucial importance of time, urging us to place historical events in their proper context and understand their relevance over extended periods.

The expectations that we set have been successfully accomplished thanks to the strong support that the invited scholars provided. The sixteen remarkable essays included in these proceedings were written by renowned academics from a variety of countries. The intellectual energy of these authors is reflected in the diversity, distinctiveness, and richness of their themes, all of which are in line with Professor Brook’s academic goals throughout his career. This collection may hopefully act as a valuable reminder to prioritize specific areas of concentration in future research.

Hualin Series on Buddhist Studies: A General Preface (Ru Zhan)

 

List of Publications by Professor Timothy Brook

 

A Recent Photo of Timothy Brook

 

Imagination, Originality, and Diversity: A Free Mind and his Academic Pursuits (Dewei ZHANG)

 

1. The Local vs the Cosmopolitan, The Central vs the Marginal

1.1.    Timothy BROOK: What is Local Buddhism?

1.2.    Xiangjun FENG: From the Local to the Diasporic: The Publication of the ‘Sacred Scripture’ of the Taigu School in the Philippines, 1927

1.3.    Ekaterina S. SKRYPNIK: Buddhist Text Prefaces Attributed to Wu Zetian 武則天 (624– 705) and Some Features of Female Emperor Image Construction in Medieval Chinese Society

1.4.    Marcus BINGENHEIMER: Strangers in Paradise: Foreigners on Mount Putuo in the Late Qing

 

2. ‘Conspiracies’ between the Elite & Grassroots

2.1.     Yuh-neu CHEN 陳玉女, translated by Joseph C. WILLIAMS: The Social Backgrounds, Dharma Lineages, and Achievements of Women Chan Monastics, 1572–1722

2.2.     Barend J. TER HAAR: Religion as a Binding Force in Urban Society: The 1313–1314 Restoration of the Travelling Palace of the Eastern Marchmount in Changxing Prefecture (Zhejiang)

2.3.     Noga GANANY: Popular Reverence and Commercial Publishing in Late Ming Hagiographic Literature

2.4.     Johanna LIDÉN: The Pedagogical Philosophy of a Village Schoolteacher in Nineteenth-Century Sichuan

 

3. Temples as Fields of Power

3.1.    Bin WEI 魏斌, translated by Matthew A. HALE: Monastic and Political Culture in the Late Period of the Northern Dynasties: ‘National’ Monasteries, Political Districts, and Battle Sites

3.2.    Anna SOKOLOVA: The Establishment of the Dharmaguptakavinaya Tradition at Kuaiji 會稽 in the Early Eighth Century China

3.3.    Mónika KISS: Facing the Decline of Buddhist Believers in Japan: Some Examples of Community-Building in the Nichirenshū Sect

3.4.    Mariia LEPNEVA: Refreshed Revival of Chinese Buddhism: The Vinaya Tradition of Baohua Mountain in the Eighteenth Century

 

4. Religious Battling and Blending (1): Interactions between the Indigenous & Imported

4.1.    Lianbin DAI 戴聯斌: Forging the Chineseness of Kaifeng Jewry: The Ming State and Neo-Confucian Elite behind 1489/1512 Inscriptions

4.2.    Thierry MEYNARD 梅謙立: Buddhist-Christian Encounter in Late Ming Dynasty: New Insights from the Chengdu Conflict of 1643–1644

4.3.   Rostislav BEREZKIN: The Mystery of the Miaoshan Legend Origins in the Perspective of World Folklore Motifs

4.4.   Keping WU 吳科萍: ‘Buddhification’ and ‘Daoification’ of Local Religions in Contemporary Suzhou

 

Contributor Biographies