Description
Book SynopsisBased on three decades of ethnographic research,
The Space of Religion takes readers inside the Nanputuo Temple in order to explore the practice of Buddhism in modern China and the complex relationship between Buddhism and the Chinese state.
Trade ReviewBased on extraordinarily rich ethnography, deep historical research, and a subtle theoretical framework,
The Space of Religion shows how one of China’s most important temples reemerged, changed, and caused transformations of its political and cultural contexts over the past several decades. It makes a major advance toward understanding the surprising and consequential rise of a dynamic space for religion in China. -- Richard Madsen, coeditor of
The Sinicization of Chinese Religions: From Above and BelowThe Space of Religion provides a detailed description through extended fieldwork of the functioning of an important Buddhist monastery in China and how the temple 'space' became recomposed on three levels—physical, institutional, and semiotic—after the Cultural Revolution. In doing so, Ashiwa and Wank produce an analysis of the transformation of state policies and related public perception of religion in China. -- Ji Zhe, coeditor of
Making Saints in Modern ChinaThe Space of Religion is far more than just a very valuable account of institutional change in a Buddhist context. It also outlines a fresh and important critical analysis, grounded in historical detail and exemplary ethnography, of how the concepts ‘religion,’ ‘superstition,’ and ‘culture’ emerged and were enacted (and contested) between the state, clerics, and the people over the last hundred years of Chinese history. -- David N. Gellner, coauthor of
Rebuilding Buddhism: The Theravada Movement in Twentieth-Century NepalAshiwa and Wank have written a superb account, both historical and ethnographic, of Nanputuo, one of the most important Buddhist temples in southern China. Based on decades of intensive study, this immensely readable book offers insights into the developments that have shaped the political environment in which the temple's clerics operate. It also gives a theoretically astute interpretation of the semiotics of space in the temple that allows the reader to get a feeling for the ways in which the teachings of the Buddha take material and ritual shape in the temple's space. For anyone interested in Buddhism or contemporary Chinese society this book is invaluable and a must-read. -- Peter van der Veer, author of
The Modern Spirit of Asia: The Spiritual and the Secular in China and IndiaTable of ContentsAcknowledgments
Conventions
Glossary of Temple Names in Xiamen City
Introduction
Part I: Concept, Spaces, History1. Themes and Concepts of the Study
2. Physical and Semiotic Spaces of Nanputuo Temple
3. Institutional Space and Nanputuo Temple’s Historical Capital
Part II: Recovery and Development of Nanputuo Temple4. Revival of Buddhist Practice and Education, 1982–1989
5. Expansion and Conflict in the Space of Religion, 1989–1995
6. Aligning with the Central State, 1996–2004
Part III: Nanputuo Temple and Local Buddhist Communities7. Dynamism of Local Temples
8. Devotees and Lay Nuns
9. The Guanyin Festival: Being Buddhist the Chinese Way
Conclusion
Appendix 1: Leaders of Nanputuo Temple, 1684–
Appendix 2: Nanputuo Temple, a Millennium of Construction and Renewal
Appendix 3: Buddhist College of Minnan Curriculum, 1989
Appendix 4: Ordination Ceremony Schedule, October 13–29, 1989, Guanghua Temple
Notes
References
Index
