Chinese Religion between Traditions

This paper aims to establish a preliminary connection between the practical principles and theoretical background of fengshui using the Southern Song literati Zheng Sixiao’s (鄭思肖, 1241-1318) interpretation from a Daoism perspective. Zheng, a Daoist scholar active during the Southern Song and early Yuan, offered a crucial theoretical background for the prevailing writing which focused mainly on documenting the practical principles of fengshui. After a summary of Zheng’s idiosyncratic take on fengshui, a few key terms frequently used by him will be highlighted and scrutinized. The use of these terms will also be compared and contrasted to their use in the official manual books and other types of literati accounts (epitaphs, eulogies, and private letters). By this, the article intend to enhance our understanding of fengshui through a Daoist perspective. It start from the theoretical background and moves to the practical principle, and culminate in the final outcome where a connection between the two aspects is established.

Drawing on the case of the Temple of the Central Great One (zhong Taiyi gong 中太一宮), this paper investigates a topic that has been inadequately studied—the Wang Anshi 王安石 administration’s religious policies. Surveying primary sources about the temple construction, my research suggests that this temple’s theological framework derived from Confucian and Daoist traditions, in which the Han weft-text tradition and the Daoist Lingbao tradition played significant roles. Confronted with censures from the opponents of the Wang administration and its New Policies, Wang Anshi, who is often regarded as a Confucian scholar-official, collaborated with Emperor Shenzong (r.1067–1085) to make the temple construction possible. Although Wang Anshi’s primary aide Lü Huiqing 呂惠卿 (1032–1111) utilized the Rites of Zhou (Zhouli 周禮) as the ground for the temple construction, both Wang and Lü tolerated the Daoist components of the temple. In addition, Wang befriended the temple’s director Chen Jingyuan 陳景元 (1035–1094), who was a renowned Daoist priest. I argue that the Wang Anshi administration’s eclectic attitude toward religious traditions enabled Wang and his colleagues to serve as technocratic device for the emperor to establish an imperial religion.

In recognition of the late John Berthrong’s singular contributions to Confucian-Christian comparison, this paper will assess his work on the question of "dual religious citizenship" and then propose a further direction for exploration: the study of “Confucian-Christian” traditions in East Asian history. As will be argued, recognizing the existence and development of Confucian-Christian traditions affords a distinct hermeneutic by which to complexify studies of Confucianism more broadly. Indeed, this raises important questions: What is at stake in recognizing Confucian-Christian traditions as not simply expressions of Christianity in Confucian-inspired idiom, but also as developments within Confucian traditions? How might Confucian-Christian traditions shed complexifying light on phenomena otherwise labeled “Confucian” without hesitation? What are the boundaries of Confucianism itself? By temporarily bracketing the contemporary questions around dual religious citizenship Berthrong rightly considers, and first attending to the realities of historical Confucian-Christian traditions, how might we build on Berthrong’s insights in new ways?

The paper explores Han Chinese Buddhists’ learning of Tibetan Buddhism in the first decades of the twentieth century, particularly the lay Buddhists’ translation of Tibetan texts. It examines the translation and interpretation of The Tibetan Book of the Dead, which became popular among some Chinese esoteric practitioners as a guide to assist their practice. The paper also discusses the influence of Western interest in Tibetan Buddhism on Chinese knowledge of the tradition. This influence can be seen in the translation and interpretation of The Tibetan Book of the Dead by Walter Evans-Wentz and its subsequent translation into Chinese in the 1930s and 1940s. Furthermore, the paper highlights the political and social context of Han Buddhists' interest in the Tibetan teaching of “intermediate state (bardo) liberation,” which they considered as providing practical techniques for preparing for death during a time of political instability and war.