Buddhism and Taoism face to face
Subtitle: scripture, ritual, and iconographic exchange in medieval China
By: Christine Mollier.
Publisher: University of Hawai'i Press
Published: 2008
Place of publication: Honolulu
Language: eng
Number of pages: 241
ISBN-13: 9780824831691
Subjects: Buddhism -- Relations -- Taoism; Taoism -- Relations -- Buddhism; China -- Religion
Description: "This book reveals previously unexplored dimensions of the interaction between Buddhism and Taoism in medieval China. While scholars of Chinese religions have long recognized the mutual influences linking the two traditions, Mollier here brings to light their intense contest for hegemony in the domains of scripture and ritual. Drawing on a far-reaching investigation of canonical texts, together with manuscript sources from Dunhuang and the monastic libraries of Japan - many of them studied here for the first time - she demonstrates the competition and complementarity of the two great Chinese religions in their quest to address personal and collective fears of diverse ills, including sorcery, famine, and untimely death." "This book is abundantly illustrated with drawings and diagrams from canonical and manuscript sources, together with art and artifacts photographed by the author in the course of her field research in China. Sophisticated in its analysis, broad in its synthesis of a variety of difficult material, and original in its interpretations, it will be required reading for those interested in East Asian religions and in the history of the medieval Chinese sciences, including astrology, medicine, and divination."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [213]-229) and index.
Table of contents: title: The heavenly kitchens; title: In pursuit of the sorcerers; title: Augmenting the life account; title: Under stellar protection; title: Guanyin in a Taoist guise.