The Impact of Buddhism on Chinese Material Culture

354 Pages·2003·26.782 MB·English

by  John Kieschnick

THE IMPACT OF BUDDHISM ON
CHINESE MATERIAL CULTURE
BUDDHISMS:
A PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS SERIES
Edited by Stephen F. Teiser
A list of titles in this series appears at the back of the book
THE IMPACT OF BUDDHISM ON
CHINESE MATERIAL CULTURE
John Kieschmck
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY P R E S S • P R I N C E T O N AND OXFORD
3HKTHAM COLLEGE UB8AK&
Copyright © 2003 by Princeton University Press
Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540 ■
In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, 3 Market Place, Woodstock,
Oxfordshire 0X20 1SY
All Rights Reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Kieschnick, John, 1964-
The impact of Buddhism on Chinese material culture
p. cm. — (Buddhisms)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-691-09675-9 (alk. paper) — ISBN 0-691-09676-7 (pbk.: alk. paper)
1. Buddhism—China. 2. Material culture—China. I. Title. II. Series.
BQ626 .K54 2003
294.3 '0951—dc21 2002072258
British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available
This book has been composed in Sabon and Caslon Open Face
Printed on acid-free paper. 0
www.pupress.princeton.edu
Printed in the United States of America
3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4
ISBN-13: 978-0-691-09676-6 (pbk.)
ISBN-10: 0-691-09676-7 (pbk.)
For Regina
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
The Buddhist Critique of the Material World 2
Objects in Service to the Dharma 5
Attitudes toward Buddhist Objects in China 9
On the Term Material Culture 15
Scholarship on Material Culture 16
Objects and the History of Religion 19
Chapter One: Sacred Power 24
Relics 29
Icons 52
Conclusion 80
Chapter Two: Symbolism 83
The Monastic Uniform 86
The Rosary 116
The Ruyi Scepter 138
Conclusion 153
Chapter Three: Merit 157
Books 164
Monasteries 185
Bridges 199
Conclusion 215
Chapter Four: Accidents and Incidentals 220
The Chair 222
Sugar 249
Tea 262
Conclusion 275
Conclusion 281
The Role of Monks 284
Beyond Monks 289
The Illusion of Impact 292
Viii CONTENTS
Character List for Chinese, Japanese, and Korean Terms 295
Abbreviations 301
Works Cited 303
Index 335
A CKNO WLED GMENTS
fu ll list of all who have helped
in the writing of this book would tax the patience of my publisher and of
all but my most sympathetic readers. Suffice it to say that the book would
have been much weaker, contained more inaccuracies, and been much
duller had it not been for the generous assistance of friends and colleagues,
as well as specialists whom I know only through correspondence, but who
have without exception replied to my queries with information, sugges­
tions, and encouragement.
I have published earlier versions of three sections of what follows.
Namely, “Buddhism and the History of the Chinese Bridge” in Economic
History, Urban Culture and Material Culture. Papers from the Third In­
ternational Conference on Sinology, History Section (Taipei: Academia
Sinica, Institute of History and Philology, 2002), pp. 1-25; “The Sym­
bolism of the Monk’s Robe in China” in Asia Major, Third Series, vol. 12,
part 1 (1999), pp. 9-32; and a Chinese version of my discussion of Bud­
dhism and the history of the chair as “Yizi yu fojiao liuchuan de guanxi”
in The Bulletin of the Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica,
vol. 69, part 4 (1998), pp. 727-61.1 am grateful to the editorial boards
of these journals for permission to print revised versions of these articles
here.
THE IMPACT OF BUDDHISM ON
CHINESE MATERIAL CULTURE