In the land of tigers and snakes : living with animals in medieval Chinese religions /
Huaiyu Chen
Bok · Engelsk · 2023
| Omfang | x, 271 sider : illustrasjoner
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| Opplysninger | 1. Buddhist Categorizing Animals: Medieval Chinese Classification -- 2. Confucian Civilizing Unruly Beasts: Tigers and Pheasants -- 3. Buddhist Taming Feline: The Companionship of the Tiger -- 4. Daoist Transforming Ferocious Tiger: From Durga to Alliance -- 5. Buddhist Killing Reptiles: Snakes in Religious Competition -- 6. Buddhist Enlightening Virtuous Bird: The Parrot as a Religious Agent -- Epilogue -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index.. - "Animals played crucial roles in Buddhism from its earliest days. When Buddhism spread into China, however, many of the animals that featured in early Buddhist narratives did not exist in the natural environment of China. The way that medieval Chinese Buddhist writers interpreted and modified (and occasionally replaced) the religious and cultural implications of these animals provides a fascinating lens for examining various dimensions of cultural, political, and religious life. Stories about parrots, tigers, snakes, and many other animals possessing or embodying spiritual qualities, both positive and negative, appear frequently in the Chinese literature of the time. Many of these portrayals, even those from decidedly nonreligious texts, are based on Buddhist understandings of what animals are and how they should be treated. In In the Land of Tigers and Snakes, Huaiyu Chen delves into how animals were used as symbols and as cultural capital as a way to better understand how Buddhism was adopted in medieval China and adapted to become Chinese Buddhism. In examining how Buddhist depictions of the natural world and native Chinese taxonomies of animals mutually enriched each other, he offers a new perspective for understanding how Buddhism as a religious culture took root in Chinese society"--
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| ISBN | 9780231202602. - 9780231202619
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