Philosopher, practitioner, politician : the many lives of Fazang (643-712)
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Philosopher, practitioner, politician : the many lives of Fazang (643-712)
(Sinica Leidensia, v. 75)
Brill, 2007
Available at 7 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
  Akita
  Yamagata
  Fukushima
  Ibaraki
  Tochigi
  Gunma
  Saitama
  Chiba
  Tokyo
  Kanagawa
  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
  China
  Thailand
  United Kingdom
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  France
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Note
Includes bibliographical references (p. [459]-486) and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
The Buddhist monk Fazang (643-712), regarded today mainly as a scholastic monk, was in fact one of the greatest metaphysicians in Asia. This biographical - and hagiographical - study of Fazang seeks to explore his other contributions and in so doing to correct some major mis-presentations and misinterpretations existing in modern scholarship. It highlights and uncovers aspects of Fazang's complicated life which have been neglected or ignored until now.
By experimenting with some methodological innovations in reading medieval Chinese monastic hagio-biography, this study reveals general features, structures and overall governing laws of medieval East Asian monastic hagio-biographic literature. In doing so it is a major contribution to the ongoing discussion among scholars of hagiography in other contexts as well.
Table of Contents
CONTENTS
Introduction
Part One A Biographical Reconstruction
Chapter One Primary Sources and Secondary Studies
1 Epigraphic Sources
2 Textual Sources
3 Modern Studies: Contributions and Limitations
4 Concluding Remarks: The Nature and Structure of the Primary Sources, and the Problems of Modern Studies
Chapter Two Ch'oe Ch'iwon's Biography of Fazang: A Textual Study
1 Format and Contents
2 Sources of Popjang Hwasang Chon
3 Values and Limitations
4 Concluding Remarks
Chapter Three Fazang's Basic Biographical Data: Names, Native Land, Familial and Dharma Backgrounds
1 Names
2 Places of Origin and Birth
3 Family Background
4 "Dharma Family"
5 Concluding Remarks
Chapter Four The Eminent Monk Who Wasn't?: Stories about Fazang's Full Ordination
1 From Yan Chaoyin to Zuxiu: Why Fazang's Ordination Became an Issue
2 The Fictional Nature of the "Ordination Episode"
3 Fazang and Sakyamitra: Further Evidence
4 Concluding Remarks
Chapter Five A Man of Many Faces: Fazang's Life Reconstructed, I
1 Becoming a Buddhist Monk: 643-670
2 Emergence of a Buddhist Master: 670-690
3 Fazang under Empress Wu's Reign up to 699 Chapter Six A Man of Many Faces: Fazang's Life Reconstructed, II
1 Fazang under the Last Five Years of Empress Wu's Reign (700-705)
2 Under the Reign of Zhongzong: 705-710
3 Under the Reign of Ruizong: 710-712
4 Concluding Remarks
Part Two: Thematic and Hagiographical Studies Chapter Seven Fazang the Philosopher
1 Legends Regarding the Composition of the "Treatise on the Golden Lion"
2 The Mirror Hall
3 Concluding Remarks
Chapter Eight Fazang the Technical Innovator
1 A Great Secret Wrapped in a Small Package
2 The Provenance of the Printed Dharani Text: Korea or China?
3 The Promise of Health and Long Life in the Dharani Text
4 Empress Wu and Daoist Immortality
5 Fazang's Role in Printing and Spreading Wugou Jingguang Da Tuoluoni Jing
6 Fazang's Knowledge of Mulberry Paper
7 Concluding Remarks
Chapter Nine Fazang the Translator
1 Collaboration with Divakara and Devendraprajna
2 Collaboration with Siksananda and Mitrasena
3 Collaboration with Yijing and Bodhiruci
4 Concluding Remarks
Chapter Ten Fazang the Court Politician
1 Fazang and Empress Wu: 670-690
2 Fazang and Empress Wu: 690-705
3 Fazang's Role in the Transition of Power: 700-705
4 Fazang under the Reigns of Zhongzong (705-710) and Ruizong (710-712)
5 Concluding Remarks
Chapter Eleven Fazang's Religious Life
1 Esoteric Practices
2 Daoist Practices
3 Self-immolation and Relic-veneration
4 Concluding Remarks
Chapter Twelve Fazang the Wonderworker
1 Miracle Stories about Fazang's Mastery of the Avatamsaka Teachings
2 Fazang the Rain-maker and Disciplinarian
3 The Magician as Warrior?: Fazang and the Suppression of a Khitan Rebellion (696-697)
4 Concluding Remarks
Conclusion
Part Three: Appendixes
Bibliography
Index
by "Nielsen BookData"