This was an exceptional find in Brussels! It was a fantastic collection of Tang Taoists writing on what it commonly called internal alchemy. It had anThis was an exceptional find in Brussels! It was a fantastic collection of Tang Taoists writing on what it commonly called internal alchemy. It had an introduction about the practice which was over 100 pages long and really great to go back and read about this again so many years after my MA. The texts themselves were really interesting. It was good to read it in one go and definitely one to go back and use for deeper research in the future. One of the best parts of the medication I'm now on is being able to read books like this again after so long. ...more
This was a wonderful find in Paris. Utterly lovely book with textual information and background as well as the translation and original text. My classThis was a wonderful find in Paris. Utterly lovely book with textual information and background as well as the translation and original text. My classical chinese is very basic so definitely needed the translations. Some of the Taoists I was quite familiar with and some were new. If I was still at university I would love to do a whole paper from this source. Definitely one to keep and go back to many times in the future. ...more
I've read several books by Ter Haar before and he always has wonderful and interesting scholarship and this was no exception. It was a detailed chronoI've read several books by Ter Haar before and he always has wonderful and interesting scholarship and this was no exception. It was a detailed chronological look at Guan Yu and how his religion grew and changed over time. It was very interesting to see challenges to the assumptions about his popularity. Notably that he became a popular god because of the popularity of the Romance of the three kingdoms, when in fact it was oral traditions that were much more important than the literary ones. It was interesting to see how his domains changed over time, but how he stayed as a diety that was almost entirely worshipped by men alone. Which was also interesting, especially given his misogynistic stance in many stories. It was interesting to read how literacy, and spirit writing were incorporated into the religious practice. How his specialists areas changed as his primary group of worshipers changed. I also liked it as it was the first scholarly book on China I've read that referenced a scholarly article on slash fiction, which is going to be the next thing I read! I started this book back in March 2020, then took a LONG break as with everything going on I couldn't concentrate enough to finish it but now I have and I'm very glad I did. ...more
I forget where I came across Li Zhi, but having women students and challenging the Confucianism of his day he seemed very interesting. Unfortunately II forget where I came across Li Zhi, but having women students and challenging the Confucianism of his day he seemed very interesting. Unfortunately I didn't really get on with this book. As much as I love Chinese literature, history and religion, I find philosophy dull. And this was mostly philosophy. So not really my thing after all....more
This was completely and utterly perfect! I hadn't heard of the author before but I saw a friend review it on goodreads and it sounded like all my mostThis was completely and utterly perfect! I hadn't heard of the author before but I saw a friend review it on goodreads and it sounded like all my most favourite things. I love Chinese religion, and queer stories and this was both. It was done perfectly. An interesting main character, a well realised setting (being Hell!) with twists and turns that were unexpected. I now want to read everything Zen Cho has written. I can't recommend this highly enough....more
Fantastic scholarly history. I wrote a 9000 word essay on Empress Wu for my MA in Chinese history at SOAS and this reminded me why she is such a fasciFantastic scholarly history. I wrote a 9000 word essay on Empress Wu for my MA in Chinese history at SOAS and this reminded me why she is such a fascinating subject. It was handled in much more depth with great analysis of how she used religion to legitimise her power and position. It challenged the older ideas that she simply used Buddhism to secure her position in opposition to the use of Taoism by the Tang. The best history book I read this year....more
If you are interested in Taoism and can read French I definitely recommend this book. It is just wonderful. It goes through different illustrations ofIf you are interested in Taoism and can read French I definitely recommend this book. It is just wonderful. It goes through different illustrations of Taoism and how they relate to inner alchemy, and different Taoist beliefs. There are different diagrams representing the same things with the changes over time. There are translations and explanations of all the Chinese notes on the illustrations. And then how the work fits into the broader teachings on inner alchemy. It also comes with a cd-rom. It is a wonderful resource. Most books that focus on inner alchemy are almost all text based, so it was lovely to see the different illustrations for things thing I'd read about. I was expecting the French to be much harder than it was but it was actually a really straight forward read for me. I think I have gotten a good French vocabulary in this subject now, and having lots of Chinese characters also helped. ...more
I finished this a couple weeks ago but haven't been able to write a review yet. First this is the BEST book on Chinese religious history that I've reaI finished this a couple weeks ago but haven't been able to write a review yet. First this is the BEST book on Chinese religious history that I've read this year (in English). I borrowed a copy from SOAS but definitely need to get my own copy. The book looked at the religious traditions of Nanyue, the Southern Peak. It was interesting because it took a religious centre that was used in all three teachings, and therefore looked at the way the different religions interacted, instead of treating them as seperate things as most books do. Focusing on Taoism or Buddhism.
The mountain also had a centre of women Taoists in the Tang dynasty. I wrote my MA dissertation on women in Taoism during the Tang but I had never heard of this group and found them fascinating. The chapter focused more one the saints biographies rather than the practices of the community but it was still fascinating.
One thing that section, and others, highlighted was the way events were transferred from one location to another. How people became immortals at one spot, but later when their cults moved, the events were said to have taken place at the new location.
This is absolutely fascinating and very interesting and well researched scholarship. I would highly recommended it to anyone interested in this history of religion in China, Buddhism or Taoism....more
This was the hardest book in French I've read in awhile. For a lot of it I found I had to go back and read things twice before I could understand whatThis was the hardest book in French I've read in awhile. For a lot of it I found I had to go back and read things twice before I could understand what he was talking about. Ge Hong was a Chinese Taoist (sort of) who wrote about the xian/immortals/transcendents. He started with his own autobiography which I thought was fascinating, especially when he was talking about how his father lost his books in the war, and being in the military, as it's the opposite of what you'd expect an early alchemist to be like. I think I will end up trying to find this in English to pick up on the bits I missed, and then reading this again in a year or so. Though I was still pleased with what I was able to understand. ...more
This is probably the best book I've read all year! When I was at SOAS 9 years ago I found a copy of it in the library. I tried to read it then by my FThis is probably the best book I've read all year! When I was at SOAS 9 years ago I found a copy of it in the library. I tried to read it then by my French just wasn't good enough. I've really been working on improving my French this year and it has definitely paid off. I think I had about 95 percent comprehension with this and it was just wonderful!
The book gives a complete history of the book, as well as textual variants, Dunhuang copies and the copy from the Ming Taoist Canon. It challenges previous ideas that millenarian beliefs and apocalypses didn't happen in early Chinese religion. It talks about the influence of Buddhism on Taoism at this time and in the scripture. It also gives a complete translation of the book which was fascinating. The world was ending, and disasters were happening and there were lots of demons! (Much more interesting than revelation). It also had one of the things that I like best about this early Taoism in that in every case the text was addressed to men AND women, both practitioners of the religion. There was so much in here it's hard to do a complete write up. I can't recommend it highly enough and will read it many more times I'm sure....more
I found a discounted copy of this at waterstones. The Guodian texts were found just a couple decades ago and were very significant for the study of eaI found a discounted copy of this at waterstones. The Guodian texts were found just a couple decades ago and were very significant for the study of early Chinese religion and philosophy. The texts were from the Capital of Chu and showed original texts, some of which had not been passed down, and some of which had changed over time. This book looks in depth at one of those texts, the Xing zi mingchu.
The analysis wasn't quite what I was expecting. While I have studied early Chinese religion in depth, the philosophical ideas (if such a distinction can be made) are something I'm much less familiar with. As such when I saw this was an analysis of ecstatic feeling in ritual, particularly song and dance, from Chu, I automatically thought of Shamanism and how the text would be linked to ecstatic ritual in that sense. Unfortunately, this idea wasn't mentioned once, neither were any link between the text and the Songs of the South (or Songs of Chu). Instead the author focused on the link between the Confucian texts, of the Analects and later Neo-Confucian scholars, and Lao Zi. He looked at the way Qing could be used by an individual for self cultivation and the larger implications of this for a moral society. I found his arguments a bit cloudy at times, and without much clear logical progression, though this could just be because it was a type of scholarship I'm not used to reading and not a problem with the author's writing. I did find some interesting and useful parts. One bit I really liked was how he mentioned in the text that "higher and lower simply refers to what is best for that moment in time without prejudice" (p 33).
I'm glad I bought and read this even if it wasn't what I was hoping for and will definitely have to seek out more scholarship on the Guodian texts. ...more
If you can read French and are interested in Taoism I can't recommend this book highly enough. It is a collection of essays that Schipper has written If you can read French and are interested in Taoism I can't recommend this book highly enough. It is a collection of essays that Schipper has written on a variety of topics related to Chinese religion and Taoism in particular. He covers everything from the very early start of the movement through to modern day temples in Peiking. Schipper is different to most scholars in that he didn't just have an academic interest in Toaism but actually went to Taiwan and was initiated into the religion there. His modern day practices give him a unique insight into the historical side of things. This is a wonderful, interesting and informative book. ...more
This was the best non-fiction book I've read so far this year. It was lovely to be able to find something so scholarly that got me thinking again abouThis was the best non-fiction book I've read so far this year. It was lovely to be able to find something so scholarly that got me thinking again about all sorts of PHD topics and inspired me to study more Chinese. There was a lot in here about women in religion, particularly women shamans, and the role that they had in state religion throughout the period in different places.
James Lagerway's introductory essay is not just a good introduction to the book but an excellent summation of the transition in religion and it's influences during this period. It is definitely one I'd recommend to students of Chinese religion.
Chen Shuguo's essay looks at the importance of the five phases in relation to the mandate of heaven during the period of disunion as well as the state sacrifices, including the feng and shan sacrifices. He discusses the continutation or ritual from the Qin and pre-Qin times. The sacrifices are given in quite a lot of ritual detail as are the variations between the different times and the different dynasties. p. 91 mentions how in the Northern Wei (405-493) Shamanesses were involved in the ceremonies, beating drums. Women also led the sacrifices to earth (p. 97)He also mentions that the zhouli has a nuwu (woman shaman) chapter which I didn't realise before. Chen also covers offerings to ancestors and ghosts (or as he calls them, other dead humans).
Keith Knapp looked at ancestral sacrifices and how they had changed over time to conform to more "Confucian" standards. He mentions that in the past these rites included blood sacrifices and shamans.
State religious policy was the focus of Li Gang's essay. How the new religions were incorporated into state policy, how this varied by area.
Shamans and politcs by Fu-Shih Lin was one of the most interesting to me. It looked at the role male and female shamans played in state religion. How that even though during the Han they didn't have much of a role in state religon in the period of disunion there was a huge role, largely brought about by "barbarians" from the north and different religious beliefs from places like Chu. It was a fascinating atricle. It was interesting to see women having a predominate role in state religion, indeed one of the things that stopped it later was the argument that it made these women immoral cause they weren't in their proper place. One thing that I would like to know is how the Wu Shamans interacted with the populace, were they just for imperial sacrifices or were they part of the every day life as well? If they had been part of the practices then they must have been. There is mention of temples springing up and shamans curing people who were sick. This is an area I find most fascintating. I want to copy every page of this article. The only criticism of this I have was the repeated use of the phrase the Emperors "beliveing" in Shaman. There really wasn't anything to believe in or not, I think it would be better to have said their practices were allowed or encouraged.
Liu Shufen looked at Buddhist iconagraphy that was much more evident in the North than in the South. This was an area of study that has much less appeal to me so I skimmed the essay. Though he did mention a young girl aged 8 who wanted to become a nun who created scriptures, she would enter into a trance and speak out the scriptures (337) which was very interesting. She came from an aristocratic background and wasn't punished, her parents tried to marry her off but instead she became a nun.
Robert Ford Campany wrote about the community of transcednets. Transcendents are always pictured as the immortals living alone as hermits in the mountains and the essay was trying to look at how they actually interacted with the local community. It seemed that some of them acted as healers, selling medical ingredients, others were their to prove their authenticity.
Terry Kleeman looked at life in the early Daoist church. Unlike the Taoism book I just read this one focused almost entirely on the Celestial Master tradition. It showed the great equality of early Taoism in that men and women were ordained together, though deliberately didn't go into detail about the yellow and red ceremonies, which were likely sexual. But it reminded me why this phase of the religion appeals to me so much and I took lots of notes all about the different titles for women and about their responsibilities, and the non gender specific language in the scriptures and books of instruction.
On the other side of Taoism Zhang Xunliang wrote about Daoist stele inscriptions, like the Buddhist ones these were also much more common in the north. These included references to both male and female taoists, but also showed how mixed Taoism and Buddhism were.
John Kieschnick's essay on Buddhist monasticism should be required reading for all students of Chinese religion. It very clearly lays out the history and changes of monasticism in China for the period of disunion. It focuses much more on monks and nuns, but then so did Buddhism at the time.
The last essay by li Yuqun was another that I skim read. It was very good and very detailed, just about a topic I'm not as interested in. Li examined the layout of caves and monasteries being used by Buddhist monks in great detail, the different types of rooms in each and the little variations by area and time. Definitely of great interest to students of Buddhism.
All told this was a fantastic collecion of essays. I've already reserved the next volume at the SOAS library and will be taking many copies from this one. The book is onsale at amazon for £300 so I am so grateful to have an alumni membership to the library and be able to read this for free. ...more
Henri Maspero was one of the early French sinologists who studied Taoism in great depth. This is a huge collection of essays that he published in a vaHenri Maspero was one of the early French sinologists who studied Taoism in great depth. This is a huge collection of essays that he published in a variety of journals in the 20s, 30s and 40s. It is interesting from a historical point of view to see how the religion was presented in the early 20th century. Quite a lot of what he discusses is still relevant, but as it was the foundation of Taoist studies it is at a much more basic level than more recent work. Still it does make for very enjoyable, and detailed reading. The topics covered include the pantheon of Taoism, early rituals, the development of the religion, and inner alchemy practices. It is interesting that he focused on the yellow turbans so much, and the Celestial masters so little, which is quite different to Taoist studies today. Likewise his choice of texts to use as sources was quite different. However, this just added to my interest as it was fascinating to see the way the discipline has grown over the years. I'm not sure I would recommend this book to someone who is just starting out in Taoist studies or wanting to know more. I think it is a decent overview, but I also think it is good to approach the material with a modern understanding to get the most out of it. Still I think a new reader who approached it with an open mind would find it interesting as it does cover a lot of the basics and the background. I'm really glad I was able to find a relatively cheap 2nd hand copy of this on sale in Paris....more
I'm honestly a little torn on whether or not to give this three of four stars. There were some really great things about it and some really annoying tI'm honestly a little torn on whether or not to give this three of four stars. There were some really great things about it and some really annoying things. The great thing was that it had ALL the 16th century illustrations for the Classic of mountain and seas. It consisted of an introduction and discussion of the book, and then a translation of certain passages (the ones that had illustrations) and then a commentary on each. If you can't read Chinese this is probably a good way to access the book, as it is much less dry than the literal translation in the penguin and gives you context in the commentaries that you don't get otherwise. However, it doesn't really give you a sense of the book as a whole because it's only a piecemeal translation. The background that the author gives is very good, he talks about the history of the text, how it was received at different times, different commentaries on it, as well as explaining the different types of creatures and supernatural beings that you find in it. I found all the parts relating it to the Wu shamen and Chu religion to be very interesting. However, I really wanted to start throwing things as he kept referring to the book as "Guideways". Guideways is how he translated the Jing in the original Chinese title Shan Hai Jing. Shan is mountain, Hai is seas, and jing is scripture or classic or sacred book. Normally the English name of the book is the Classic of Mountain and Seas. So basically he was just calling it "jing" which makes no sense as jing is just the category of the book and there are many jings! It was like he was saying every time, "in classic...". Why he couldn't write out the full name in pinyin shanhaijing as most other scholars do I don't know. It would only have been a couple letters longer and would have come across so much better. I'm glad I read it though, especially as it had the same illustrations as my Chinese version. But I'm also glad I only borrowed it from the library, especially as it is a very expensive book. £50 new, and the Chinese is only £3....more
This book has one of my favourite paintings of all times as it's cover. The Song dynasty painting of a skeleton playing with a skeleton marionette tryThis book has one of my favourite paintings of all times as it's cover. The Song dynasty painting of a skeleton playing with a skeleton marionette trying to lure some children away. Wilt Idema is one of my favourite literary historians so I was very pleased to find this at SOAS library on a recent visit.
The book doesn't deal with skeletons in general in Chinese literature, rather it looks at different tellings of the story of Zhuangzi finding a skull (later skeleton) and bringing it back to life, using it as a way to talk about the futility of life. Most of the translations are quite late, 17th century and later versions of the story. Unfortunately most of the lessons learned I found quite distasteful. In the first story Zhuangzi meets the skeleton in the road and says all these horrendous things about is, asking if it committed this crime or this sin while it was alive. Never once does he assume that he could have been an innocent victim. Therefore it's kinda not that surprising when the resurrected corpse accuses him of robbery and drags him before the magistrate.
Also included with these stories is the one about Zhangzi tricking his wife into suicide. Basically the story goes that he met a woman who wasn't able to remarry till her husband's grave was dry so she was fanning it to help it dry faster. He told this story to his wife and she thought that was horrible, and said how she would never re-marry if he died. So he faked her death and came back in disguise so she'd accept him as a new husband and then revealed himself and she was so ashamed she committed suicide! So women were considered to be Very Bad if they got over their husband's death. Whereas the original story with Zhuangzi and his wife had him banging on a tub being happy when she died as he hadn't been in mourning before she was born so didn't need to be after, but it was just a different stage of existence. The double standard is just really horrific!
Despite the stories not quite being what I hoped for this was still a very interesting collection and gave a good example of how the stories changed over time. Definitely one I'd recommend....more
I bought this in Beijing on my birthday. It's the original Classical Chinese text, a modern Chinese version and an English translation. I'd come acrosI bought this in Beijing on my birthday. It's the original Classical Chinese text, a modern Chinese version and an English translation. I'd come across the Chu Ci (Elegies of the south) when I was doing my MA and it's a wonderful collection of poems all about the religion and politics of the state of Chu, one of the Chinese warring states before they were all unified by Chin. Their religion was shamanistic and had wonderful voyages to the heavens to see the gods and was a precursor to a lot of the ideas of Taoism. So I was very excited to be able to read this.
First off the English translations are DREADFUL! They are in rhyming couplets, something translators (thankfully) don't normally do for Chinese poetry. Not only were they rhymes terrible but the translation wasn't even close in many cases. I'd read the English then read the Chinese and it was totally different. If you can't read Chinese do NOT get this version, try David Hawkes translation instead. What made this extra annoying was the author at the beginning was slamming all the other translations that had been done, and quoting David's criticisms but his were even worse. I'm actually glad I didn't notice them before I bought the book as I probably wouldn't have bought it. But I'm so glad I did.
As terrible as the translations were they were an assistance for studying. The modern Chinese I enjoyed a lot as I was definitely able to get a much better feeling from reading those. The classical Chinese poems were MUCH harder and used a very different vocabulary than I'm used to. The exception to this were the last two poems which were about calling back the souls of a dead person. One by the wu shaman one to what seemed to be for the ruler. The pattern and the words were much easier to follow in these, partly because the poems had a much clearer structure and I'm fairly sure they were written later. (Though I will have to check that).
The poems were just amazing, they contained so much fascinating and wonderful material. Reading them was fantastic. I will definitely want to read them again and study them in much more depth. There was just so much to them, from the lonely isolation of an exile, to the heavenly palaces, to the gods being worn like clothes when the wu danced. I expect this will absorb me for many years to come. I already have several books at SOAS that I want to read about them....more
This was the first book I bought in China. It is gorgeous, it has lots of the traditional illustrations and is beautifully laid out with maps and tradThis was the first book I bought in China. It is gorgeous, it has lots of the traditional illustrations and is beautifully laid out with maps and traditional binding. It contains both the original Classical text, with modern vocabularly notes for the older obscure characters and then a modern translation underneath. It does this paragraph by paragraph. It was very useful, the first 2/3rds of the book are very formualic which made it much easier to understand. The later part was much more fantastical with many early myths woven in.
The book is sort of a Chinese bestiary, written in the Han dynasty (around 2000 years ago). It gives a description of both real and imaginary lands, the mountains, the rivers, the creatures (both real and mythical) and the gods for each area. It's fascinating full of many monsters and oddities. It's not the thing you can sit and read in huge chuncks but is nice to read for an hour or two at a time. It took me four months of studying to read the whole thing but I'm SO glad I did. I totally loved this! I'm looking forward to reading more of the classic books with the modern Chinese translations that I bought in China now....more
I was given a copy of this a few years ago and started reading it then but gave up. Just reading the English translation is difficult as it is so repiI was given a copy of this a few years ago and started reading it then but gave up. Just reading the English translation is difficult as it is so repitious and full of nonsense word and doesn't have all that pictures. However, if you read it alongside the Chinese version it is great as it explains all the complicated vocabulary you'd otherwise spend ages having to look up in a dictionary. As such it was a great resource and recommended for students of Chinese. ...more
This is an older book written in 76 and now hideously out of print, so I'm very glad to have found a copy at the SOAS library as otherwise I would nevThis is an older book written in 76 and now hideously out of print, so I'm very glad to have found a copy at the SOAS library as otherwise I would never have been able to read it. (My professor has a signed copy as it was written by the Dr. who supervised his PhD.) But the book focuses on how religion was used by Empress Wu to legitimise her becoming Emperor. Something I've been considering writing my dissertation on. So I found it very useful and interesting.
The book begins by looking at the Confucian historical sources about the events. According to which Empress Wu declared that an apocryaphal sutra be distributed among the monasteries declaring her as the Buddha Maitreya. The book goes on to disprove this and show what is more likely to have happened by closely examining the evidence, in particular a copy of the document that was found at Dunhuang. Forte carefully presents the evidence and arguments of scholars who weren't aware of the Dunhuang document, and then how the document was able to challenge the previous beliefs. He was able to show that what in fact was distributed was a commentary on the Tayun Ching which was not an apocryphal sutra.
He looked in great detail at the 9 monks who did the translation, showing that these were orthodox Buddhist monks who fully supported Wu. They all received great benefit from their contributions to the commentary. They portrayed Wu as the ruler of all, giving her the right to Kingship which would normally have been denied to a woman. It was interesting to see how they talked about having the body of a woman but not really being a woman. Wu was also portrayed as a Buddhivisita but not as the Buddha Maitreaya. The millennial cult of Matrieya was something that the monks were against, but seemed to be speaking against a popular idea of the time. I think there is a definite interesting connection between Wu Zeitian and the apocalyptic cults. I think it's very telling that two of her children were named Li Hong, and Taiping. I'm not sure how much work has been done on this issue yet, not much had been done when this book was published 30 years ago.
This was followed by a translation of the sutra's commentary. The appendices included brief descriptions/rough translations of the sutras discussed in the book. It was a very good book, well planned, exceptionally well thought out and a great source for nearly all the essays I plan to write this year!...more
