East Asian Buddhist Worldmaking: Abstracts

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  1. Michael CAVAYERO 柯偉業 (PekingU): Examination of the Term Miaowu Ziran 妙悟自然 (Wonderous Enlightenment and Its Awakened State of Natural Being) and Its Appearance in Lidai Minghua Ji 歷代名畫記 [Records of Famous Paintings of Successive Dynasties]——The Influence of Buddhism and Daoism on Early Painting Theory in China 《歷代名畫記》中的「妙悟自然」——佛教與道教對畫論的影響

The term Miaowu ziran (wonderous enlightenment, as in the destruction of all duality-based illusions; subuddhi, suśikṣita, and its awakened state of natural being), coined as a neologism by Eastern Jin monk Seng Zhao (384-414) in his commentary of Weimojie jing (Vimalakīrti- nirdeśa-sūtra), epitomizes Seng’s understanding of Mahāyāna Buddhist doctrine and showcases the distinct “Buddhist-Hybrid Chinese” form of the Six Dynasties period.

Following the Eastern Jin period, the Tiantai, Sanlun, Huyan, and Chan schools’ discourses all expounded on Miaowu ziran. The term eventually trickled into Tang dynasty painting theory, first appearing in Lidai minghua ji (Records of Famous Paintings of Successive Dynasties, c.847) as a new expression used to describe the paintings of Gu Kaizhi (c. 344-405). This process marks Miaowu ziran’s evolution from a purely Buddhist idea to a new artistic theory expression. In the Song dynasty, Miaowu ziran continued to be used as a key term of aesthetic theory, gradually subduing its Buddhist connotations.

Despite the importance of this term in medieval period Buddhist doctrine and art theory, there remains little research examining Miaowu ziran’s textual evolution beginning with its emergence in Seng Zhao’s commentary and culminating with its later use in Tang and Song dynasty artistic theory texts. Thus, this paper studies Miaowu ziran’s evolution and eventual shift from a Buddhist term to a term used in aesthetic theory.

  1. CHEN Huaiyu 陳懷宇 (Arizona State): Creating Four Mandalas and Making Four Buddhist Worlds: A Reading of Dunhuang Liturgical Manuscripts 敦煌結壇願文所見四種曼陀羅及其反映的四維世界

This paper examines a group of liturgical manuscripts from Dunhuang, including P. 2058, P. 2915, P. 3149, S. 663, S. 1137, S. 3914, and S. 4537, for understanding Buddhist rituals of creating four mandalas. These rituals consist of a series of programs such as consecrating the ritual space, invoking deities, honoring the Bodhisattvas, feeding the beings in the underworld, and praying for the sentient beings. By analyzing these procedures and programs, this paper aims to reveal four worlds that these rituals manifested. The first one is the Buddhist cosmological world in the ritual, constructed by the consecration and invocation of Buddhist clergies. How was this cosmological world in these liturgical manuscripts locally produced in Dunhuang different from the version in Buddhist canonical sources? The second one is the textual world. The Buddhist community was often viewed as a textual community. In this textual community, texts were materially and verbally produced, introduced, and interpreted. They provided doctrinal foundations and sometimes prescriptions for the ritual programs. The third one is the political and social world in which political agents from both central and peripheral regions played different roles. This paper will discuss who sponsored the rituals and how they and others benefited in different ways from the rituals. The four one is the Buddhist material world. This paper will look into what objects constructed the material foundation for these rituals and how these objects appeared in the Dunhuang area.

敦煌文獻中有一組寫本包括P. 2058, P. 2915, P. 3149, S. 663, S. 1137, S. 3914, S. 4537等等均為圍繞佛頂、隨求、觀音、金光明四種曼陀羅儀式為中心的願文樣板，這些寫本提示了結四種曼陀羅壇的基本程式和發願內容，比如莊嚴道場、啟請神祇入場、莊嚴菩薩、散食施捨、為眾生祈福等等。通過對這一組寫本的細讀和分析，可以揭示其中一系列儀式所反映的四維世界。首先是佛教的宇宙觀，這種宇宙觀來自曼陀羅的基本結構和啟請的諸神。其次是文本世界，儀式中出現了一系列文本的名稱，這些文本是如何進入這些儀式的，又有何影響，值得探討。有些或許只是為了祈福，有些文本的內容或與結壇儀式直接關聯。其三是政治與社會的世界，儀式的舉行雖然局限於特定人群，其祈福對象卻體現了祈福人對於當時政治秩序的家、國、天下的理解和想像。最後一個維度是儀式中所體現的物質世界，結合寫本和敦煌出土的曼陀羅圖像，可以理解儀式中所體現的物品及其象徵意義。

  1. HAMADA Tamami 濱田瑞美 (Yokohama University of Art and Design 橫浜美術大學): Shakyamuni Buddha World Depicted in Vimalakīrti Scenes in Dunhuang Mogao Caves: The Expansion of Buddha-land to China

Many Vimalakīrti Sūtra scenes are featured in the murals of the Dunhuang Mogao Caves. The majority of the scenes from Sui to early Tang dynasties are painted inside and outside the niche on the front-facing wall (the western wall). Stucco figure of the Śākyamuni Buddha is placed inside the niche as the principal icon, and the Vimalakīrti Sūtra scene provides supplementary information that the sahā world in which the Buddha exists is in fact an immaculate Buddha-land. On the other hand, after Tang, the placement of the Vimalakīrti Sūtra moves to the eastern and the northern walls. At the same time, the iconography becomes more complex with multiple Buddha-lands of present Buddhas such as Wudong Fo 無動佛 (unperturbed Buddha: Akṣobhya), Dengwang Fo 燈王佛 (Light King Buddha), and Xiangji Fo 香積佛 (fragrance Accumulated Buddha). This paper will consider how Śākyamuni’s Buddha-land was perceived in Tang China by examining the differences between the depiction of the Buddha-lands of the three present Buddhas and that of Śākyamuni Buddha. In addition, the paper will bring attention to the placement of the Vimalakīrti Sūtra scene on the northern wall, explaining how “north” in the Mogao Caves would actually be perceived as the “east,” and that the placement of the Vimalakīrti Sūtra scene towards the “east” connotes the notion that China––located to the east of India––inherits India’s status as Śākyamuni’s Buddha-land.

  1. HE Liqun 何利群 (Chinese academy of Social Sciences 中國社會科學院): 北朝晚期的末法思想與西方淨土圖像的構建 The Doctrines of Mofa (The End of the Dharma) during the Late Northern Dynasties and the Construction of the Pictorial Representation of the Western Pure Land

佛法住世可分為正法、像法及末法三個階段。中國末法觀念始興於公元四世紀的東晉十六國時期。北涼石塔上的相關經文的發現，顯示末法觀念已在河西地區流傳較廣，並影響到了普通信徒的行為。六世紀以後末法思想極其流行，眾多經籍詳細記述正、像、末三時劃分及末法時代的種種惡行。在此背景下，中原北方地區出現了大量的佛教刻經，形成了以鄴城為中心的河北地區和以泰山為中心的山東地區兩大刻經密集分布區域。北齊的刻經在形式和功能上不僅繼承了早前彰顯、誦讀、禪觀乃至修積功德等目的，更賦予其以護持佛法、保存經像、以備法滅的重要內涵。

阿彌陀信仰可上溯到貴霜王朝時期，公元三世紀後，彌陀信仰的重要經典《無量壽經》、《觀無量壽佛經》和《阿彌陀經》先後譯出，作為西方淨土主尊的阿彌陀佛常以無量壽的名號出現在5世紀的石窟及造像中。公元529年，菩提流支於洛陽譯出《無量壽經優波提捨願生偈》，阿彌陀信仰之「三經一論」至此具備，淨土立教本義初顯雛形，淨土思想開始在官方和民間流行。北朝晚期鄴下義學繁盛，各種佛學思想在此融匯，以阿彌陀和彌勒為代表的大乘淨土信仰上承洛陽北魏傳統，在中原北方地區廣為流傳。作為東魏北齊的都城，鄴城及其周邊地區現存一定數量的北朝晚期石窟，規模較大的有河北邯鄲峰峰礦區南、北響堂山及水浴寺石窟，涉縣媧皇宮石窟，河南安陽靈泉寺、小南海石窟，林州市洪谷寺石窟。近年鄴城還先後出土了大量佛教造像，其中有造像題記者數以百計。值得注意的是，這些石窟、造像及題記中保留有不少與淨土信仰相關的雕刻及圖像內容，對於探討北朝晚期彌陀崇拜及淨土圖像的發展演變具有重要意義。而北朝晚期極為盛行的末法思想對這一時期鄴下流行的多種佛學思想烙下了深深的印痕，隋唐淨土宗師道綽、善導即依《大集月藏經》之末法思想宣揚淨土教法，對後世影響至深。早期佛教術語中的「此岸」與「彼岸」，原指迷界的此方之岸和開悟或涅槃的彼方之岸，逐步發展成為末法之現世與西方極樂世界的概念，這在北朝晚期至隋唐日益完善的淨土圖像中也有一定的反映。

本文通過梳理相關文獻記載，結合鄴城及周邊地區與淨土信仰有關的石窟、刻經、造像及題記等，探討中國末法思想與淨土信仰的內在聯繫及其在佛教史上的意義。

The Dharma in the human world can be divided into three stages: the period of the true dharma（正法）, the semblance dharma（像法）and the latter dharma（末法）. The concept of Chinese latter dharma was initially developed during the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Sixteen Kingdoms Period in the 4th century. The discovery of related inscriptions on the stone stupa of the Northern Liang indicates that the concept of the Latter Dharma has spread widely in the Hexi Corridor and has affected the behavior of the common disciples. After the 6thcentury, the ideology of the Latter Dharma was extremely popular. Many sutras described in detail the division of the three stages about the true dharma, the semblance dharma and the latter dharma, and all kinds of evils in the era of the Latter Dharma. Under this background, a large number of Buddhist Stone-Caved Scriptures appeared in the north china, forming two densely-distributed regions in the Hebei（河北）area centered on Yecheng鄴城and Shandong山東area centered on Mount Tai泰山. In the form and function, the Stone-Caved Scriptures not only inherited the early purposes of display, chanting, meditation and even accumulated merit, but also gave it an important connotation to protect the Dharma, preserve the image, and guard against the extinction of Dharma.

The Amitabha faith could be traced back to the period of the Kushan Empire. After the 3rd century, the important classics of Amitabha belief, “Aparimitāyur-sūtra“（《無量壽經》）, “Amitāyur-dhyāna-sūtra“（《觀無量壽經》）, and “Sukhāvati-vyūha-sūtra “（《阿彌陀經》）were translated successively. In the meantime, as the Lord of the Western Pure Land, Amitabha used to appear in the grottoes and statues of the 5thcentury. In 529, Bodhiruci（菩提流支）translated the “Sukhāvatī-vyūhopadeśa “（《無量壽經優波提捨願生偈》）in Luoyang. Since then, the “Three Sutra and One Abhidharma”（三經一論）of Amitabha belief was hereby completed, and the Western Pure Land ideology began to prevail in the official and folk. In the late Northern Dynasties, various Buddhist thoughts gathered together and flourished in Yecheng. The Mahayana Pure Land belief represented by Amitabha and Maitreya was based on the tradition of the Northern Wei Dynasty and spread widely in North China. As the capital of the Eastern Wei and Northern Qi Dynasties, there are a large number of Buddhist grottoes in Yecheng and surrounding areas, including the South and North Xiangtangshan grottoes南北響堂山石窟, Shuiyusi grottoes水浴寺石窟, Wahuanggong grottoes（媧皇宮石窟）in Hebei Province, and Lingquansi grottoes靈泉寺石窟, Xiaonanhai grottoes小南海石窟and Honggusi grottoes（洪谷寺石窟）in Henan Province. In recent years, thousands of Buddhist statues have been discovered and excavated in Yecheng site, including hundreds of inscribed statues. It is worth noting that these grottoes, statues and inscriptions retain some engraving and image content related to the Pure Land belief, which provide important data for exploring the evolution of the Amitabha worship and the Pure Land image in the late Northern Dynasties. On the other hand, the Latter Dharma thought prevailing in the late Northern Dynasties was imprinted deeply on the various Buddhist schools in this period. Daochuo道綽and Shandao善導, the famous masters of the Pure Land in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, preached the Pure Land Teaching according to the Latter Dharma thought of the “Candragarbha-sūtra“（《大集月藏經》）, which produced far-reaching influence on later Buddhism. In the early Buddhist terminology, “this shore” and “other shore” originally referred to the shore of the delusion and the other shore of enlightenment or Nirvana, and gradually developed into the concept of the present world of the Latter Dharma and the Paradise of the West. This trend is also reflected in the image material of the West Pure Land which was perfected increasinglyfrom the late Northern Dynasties to the Sui and Tang Dynasties.

By collating relevant literatures, and combining the grottoes, Stone-Caved Scriptures, statues and inscriptions related to the Pure Land belief in Yecheng and surrounding areas, this paper explores the intrinsic connection between Chinese Latter Dharma ideology and Pure Land belief and its significance in Buddhist history.

  1. HUANG Bing 黃冰 (Providence College): The Famensi Xiangnang 香囊 and Buddhist Worldmaking

This paper will focus on the gilded silver xiangnang (sachet) from Famensi, a Buddhist temple in the Famen town of the Tang Dynasty. This is one of the largest xiangnang found in the Tang dynasty. The style of its metalwork and its technique originated from beizhong xianglu (incense burner inside the quilt) mentioned in Xijing Zaji (Miscellaneous Records of the Western Capital) as early as the Han dynasty. The openwork floral design on the outside of the xiangnang influenced many later design media in Chinese art. Furthermore, the gyroscope-like stabilizer inside the xiangnang looks like Kepler’s drawing of the “Polyhedral Model of the Planetary Intervals” from Mysterium cosmographicum. The stabilizer inside the xiangnang also predates the invention of the gyroscope for maritime navigation in Europe. This paper will discuss the xiangnang’s relation to the ritual of incense burning (as a way to reach another world); to the polyhedron (and the Keplerian universe); to the gyroscope (to facilitate seafaring); and ultimately to worldmaking.

  1. George A. KEYWORTH (Saskatchewan): On Bonshakuji as the Penultimate Buddhist Temple to Protect the State in Early Japanese History

During the 740s, Japanese emperor Shōmu 聖武 (701-756, r. 724-749) endorsed a plan to establish Buddhist temples in nearly all the provinces (kokubunji 国分寺) where three Mahāyāna scriptures were ritually chanted to marshal apotropaic powers and avert natural disasters including pestilence, draughts, and earthquakes. The Great East temple (Tōdaiji 東大寺) in the recently constructed Heijō capital 平城京 (Nara) was the head temple of this state sanctioned network. The formal name for these temples where monks resided is Temples of Bright Golden Light and Four Heavenly Kings to Protect the State (Konkōmyō shitennō gokoku no tera 金光明四天王護国之寺). As the formal name suggests, the principal Mahāyāna Buddhist scripture followed in these temples was the Golden Light Sūtra (Jinguangming zuishengwang jing 金光明最勝王經, Suvarṇabhāsottama-sūtra), translated from Sanskrit into Chinese by Yijing 義淨 (635-713) and his translation team in Tang (618-907) China at the beginning of the 8th century, and its particular chapters about how rulers can be protected by the Four Heavenly Kings. The political and religious worldmaking enterprise entrusted to these temples by the nascent Japanese government in Nara has been well-known since M.W. de Visser’s Ancient Buddhism in Japan was published in 1935. But the fate of state protection temples and particularly the surprisingly small one overlooking the once-capital (667-672) of Ōtsu 大津 called Bonshakuji 梵釈寺, which was renovated following orders by emperor Kanmu 桓武 (735-806, r. 781-806) in 786, during and after the introduction of novel rituals to protect the state from China through the 9th century has received little attention, even by scholars in Japan. This paper investigates the early history of Bonshakuji as a Temple of Bright Golden Light and Four Heavenly Kings to Protect the State, and especially the library kept there, which came to rival only that of Tōdaiji through the 12th century. I also examine how and why scholar officials and powerful monastics, particularly associated with the so-called esoteric (mikkyō 密教) Tendai 天台宗 and Shingon temples of Enryakuji 延暦寺 and Miidera 三井寺 (Onjōji 園城寺) and Tōji 東寺 and Daigoji 醍醐寺, respectively, utilized the library of Bonshakuji and older and novel texts state protection kept there to preserve early Japanese state-supported Buddhist worldmaking efforts long after that state had become virtually bankrupt. A key comparative question raised in this paper concerns how medieval East Asian states—Tang China, Silla Korea (668-935), and Nara- and Heian-era (ca. 710-1185) Japan—used the cosmology specifically outlined in Yijing’s translation of the Golden Light Sūtra to construct and maintain both Buddhist and so-called Confucian-styled political, economic, and religious stability during seemingly-unmanageable circumstances.

  1. Jeffrey KOTYK (UBC): The Moon as a Celestial Body and God in the Chinese Buddhist Worldview

The Moon appears in the early Buddhist canon as a celestial body orbiting around Mt. Meru while at the same time being a god (Candra or Soma). The Moon later appears in Abhidharma literature, in which it is described as a mobile residence for the lunar deities. Following the introduction of Mantrayāna practices into China, the Moon appears in maṇḍalas and other illustrated forms, yet these representations are not uniform. For instance, we see Candra as a driver of a chariot pulled by geese in one instance, and then the Moon as an elegantly attired goddess elsewhere. At the same time, esoteric interpretations apply symbolic and metaphorical meanings to the Moon, while astrology and the seven-day week understood the Moon in a whole other way. To complicate matters further, traditional Chinese metaphysics held its own interpretation of the Moon as the Great Yin (Taiyin 太陰). As a result of these diverse views, the Moon in the East Asian Buddhist worldview became a multifaceted figure simultaneously embodying different concepts from various time periods. The proposed study will chronologically survey the Moon as a celestial body and god/goddess in the Chinese Buddhist worldview and attempt to document its evolution over the centuries.

  1. LI Ling 李翎 (University of Sichuan 四川大學): 樂神演法音：以執樂神般遮翼為中心

佛教三十三天也稱忉利天（Trayastrimsatdeva），屬於欲界六天之第二天，位於須彌山頂。忉利天天主為帝釋，居住於中央宮殿之善見城內。城內有天主的樂師和舞女，他們就是娛樂天神的乾達婆們。乾達婆王之婿是「帝釋窟請問」中著名的「執樂神」般遮翼。由此展開討論，討論內容涉及天國之諸樂神：乾達婆、緊那羅、持明等的形象與特徵。這些半人半獸（鳥）樂舞師形象，大多起源於北部喜馬拉雅山和南部叢林，更早的源頭或可追溯到古埃及的「巴」（Ba）。最後，圖像分析的結論回歸到「帝釋窟請問」這一流行於貴霜帝國時代的題材，之所以以樂神般遮翼為先行出場的佛學意義。

  1. LI Xiaorong 李小榮 (Fujian Normal University 福建師範大學): 佛教放生會社與古代詩詞創作略論

從佛教社會生活的角度觀察，中國古代佛教放生會社的發展史可以分成三個階段：即晉唐五代之萌芽期，此際雖有個別護生社邑的存在，但社會的總體影響不大，世俗文士的創作多是自發的個別行為，還沒有出現群體性的結社唱和；宋元之奠基期，此際特色在於地方性會社，尤其以西湖放生會社的影響最大。期間，除了唱和詩之外，已有少量的放生詞作；明清是為繁榮期，雖然西湖放生會社仍為典範，但全國已形成放生會社的林立之勢，其作品形式多樣，詩詞數量超過前代之總和。若歸納明清兩朝的放生之作，其主要特色有三：即思想方面的儒佛合流與禪淨合一、顯密合一的儀式和佛教放生生活的藝術化呈現。

  1. LI Yicong 李怡淙 (Tsinghua): The Gandhāran Four-Pointed Cape Along the Silk Road: From Northwest India to the East and West | 絲路沿線的犍陀羅式四角披肩：從西北印度至東西方

This article traces the transformation and spread of the four-pointed cape, a unique costume of ancient Gandhāra, from a trans-disciplinary perspective. It interprets this cape, which first appeared on sculptures of Kushan nobility by the third-fourth century and then became an item of idealized clothing symbolizing Buddha’s authority from the fifth century onward, as a visual clue to the interactions between the secular and the Buddhist world. This article also categorizes specimens of the cape from eastern Afghanistan and Greater Kashmir, the sixth century onward, and points out the formal features of the capes from different typology catalogs that reveal Gandhāran, Iranian, or Indian influences and the zonal styles burgeoning in post-Gandhāran northwest India. It finally proposes that this kind of costume, as an iconographic element, was exported along the Silk Road to Central Asia, China, and probably the Byzantine Empire: a dynamic process that demonstrates the vitality of the Gandhāran material culture and the transculturality of Asian Buddhist worldmaking.

本文意在從跨學科視角出發，追溯四角披肩，即古代犍陀羅一種不尋常服飾的演化、傳播過程。此種披肩最早見於3、4世紀犍陀羅晚期貴霜貴族雕像，在5世紀左右成為象征佛陀統治屬性的理想化服裝，為世俗與佛教世界的互動提供視覺證據。本文還對6世紀以來阿富汗東部及大克什米爾的披肩實例進行歸類，並指出各類型組中，反映犍陀羅、伊朗或印度影響，以及繁榮於後犍陀羅期西北印度的區域性風格的形式特征。本文最後指出，此種衣著作為獨立圖像元素，沿絲路傳播至中國、中亞，乃至拜占庭帝國：這一動態過程證實了犍陀羅物質文化的生命力，及亞洲佛教造世的跨文化性。

  1. LIN Weiyu 林威宇 (UBC): Vairocana of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra as Interpreted by Fazang 法藏 (643-712): A Comparative Reflection on “Creator” and “Creation” 法藏（643-712）筆下《華嚴經》中的盧舍那：談佛教中的創世者和創世

The non-theistic worldview of Buddhism has no place for a Creator God, and yet the representations of certain Buddhist deities make tantalizing comparisons, among whom Vairocana stands out as the closest counterpart. In East Asian Buddhism, Vairocana is closely associated with the Avataṃsaka Sūtra [Huayan jing 華嚴經; Flower Garland Sūtra] and is interpreted by the Avataṃsaka exegetes as omnipresent, omnipotent and identical to the universe itself. Does such interpretation reveal an accidental point in common across religious traditions? Or does it offer only a surface semblance disguising a deeper chasm?

Starting with this comparative questioning, I then reverted my attention to the Chinese Buddhist tradition itself, and specifically to Huayan Buddhism, a tradition developed around the exegesis of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra. I retraced the evolution in the way Huayan exegetes interpreted Vairocana before arriving at a point in time when such interpretation acquired a mature metaphysical framework. That is, the time of the Chinese Buddhist metaphysician Fazang 法藏 (643-712) who crystallized an entire metaphysical system inspired by the Avataṃsaka Sūtra, with Vairocana and its Ten Bodies embodying the core tenets of this metaphysical paradigm. By laying bare how Fazang expresses his worldview through Vairocana and its Ten Bodies, I wish to achieve dual aims: first, to find a new way to express Fazang’s metaphysics through exploring Fazang’s interpretation on an exegetical theme; and second, to extract a metaphysical paradigm surrounding Vairocana that could serve as the basis for an inter-religious dialogue.

In returning to my comparative reflection, I acknowledge the elements of reification that are indeed observable in Fazang’s interpretation of Vairocana — elements that approach Vairocana to the monotheistic God, and yet, I situate such reified elements within Fazang’s overall metaphysics which constantly seeks a “round”, “fluid” causality between “being” and “emptiness”, between the phenomenal and the noumenal. In this Huayan universe marked by a radical sense of fluidity, of interpenetration, Vairocana is thus safe to be expediently reified, for its solidity is tempered as soon as we consider its Ten Bodies which involves themselves in an incessant interplay with Vairocana — the kind of dynamics that forestalls any conception of a reified creator.

  1. MI Defang 米德昉 (Academy of Dazu Rock Carvings 大足石刻研究院): 宋代川東社會中的柳本尊佛教及其圖像表達——柳本尊與毘盧佛的交涉 [Buddhist Teachings by Liu Benzun and His Image Presentation in the society of Eastern Shichuan in Song Dynasty: The Interaction between Liu Benzun and Vairocana-buddha]

12世紀末在川東地區興起的柳本尊佛教，以其獨創的圖像體系開闢了民間宗教傳播與發展的獨特模式。在對柳本尊的尊格定義上，民間以「瑜伽本尊教居士」顯其「人格」，以毗盧遮那佛揚其「神格」，將人性與神性完美融合於一體。基於這種雙重性格，在信仰實踐中形成體現居士身份的「凡夫相」和彰顯法身性格的「毗盧相」兩種圖像系統以及與之對應的祠祀形態。

  1. PENG Chunhui (San Jose State University): Agency and Alterity: Mediating Hybridity in The Journey to Find Previous Lives

This paper focuses on The Journey to Find Previous Lives to explore the configuration of power in the transcultural imagination: How does it perform China/East Asia and the Other? Whose interest/agency is the hybridization advancing? How does the hybridization address existing cultural hegemony?  How does it respond to both global and regional cultural trends?

My paper contends that this novel employs Buddhist concepts to resolve the conflicts between the local and the global, the dominant and the subordinate in cross-cultural encounters. By doing so, it recodifies self and others and reveals the interconnectedness in our very existence. Thus, the novel unites people across national/ cultural boundaries and time periods via a universality that is rooted in Buddhist philosophy.

  1. Sha Wutian 沙武田 (Shaaxi Normal University 陝西師範大學) and Li Zhijun 李志軍 (Shaaxi Normal University 陝西師範大學) : 從化生童子和海會菩薩看莫高窟西夏經變畫的簡化

與唐宋相比，西夏時期經變畫的內容被大量縮減，許多具有極高辨識度的建築、人物和故事畫被省略。僅從這一時期經變畫中的人物身份來看，化生童子和聽法菩薩眾成為畫面中的主要部分。這一現象反映了西夏時期流行的淨土思想與華嚴思想對經變畫簡化帶來的影響。一方面，化生童子作為與西方淨土信仰緊密捆綁的圖像被符號化，在此基礎上被廣泛應用於這一時期各類題材的造像中。另一方面，由於華嚴宗在西夏官方佛教中的地位，以「萬菩薩」為人員構成特徵的華嚴法會成為經變畫簡化的基本模式。從這點考慮，環伺主尊周圍的菩薩眾命名為「海會菩薩」似比以往學界稱呼的「聽法菩薩」更符合其本身特色。

  1. Francesca TAROCCO 樂羽音 (Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia): “Non-human Personhood across Buddhist Imaginaries: On Vegetarianism and Feng Zikai’s Paintings on the Preservation of Life”

This paper looks at the representation of multispecies ecojustice that emerges out of the work of the Buddhist artist Feng Zikai 豐子愷(1898–1975). In 1929, Feng published the first volume of Paintings on the Preservation of Life (Husheng huaji 護生畫集), an impassioned and visually compelling exploration of the concept of husheng that started off as a collaboration with his mentor Li Shutong 李叔同 (1880–1942), the famous artist and intellectual who became a Buddhist monk. The work on the Paintings spanned several decades of Feng’s life — the last volume was completed in 1973 and published posthumously — and comprises of some four hundred and fifty paintings. These texts, I argue, aim to subvert the separation between “human” and “animal” and between “nature” and “culture”. While several other Chinese intellectuals investigated the idea of “being human” under the changed historical conditions of modernity, Feng Zikai’s Buddhist-inspired approach to non-human personhood creatively probes some of the basic rationalist premises of humanism.

  1. Barend TER HAAR (Hamburg): Lay imagination of the Pure Land in traditional China

In their inscriptions for the halls of the White Lotus movement in the Southern Song and Yuan period, literati criticized the adherents for imagining the Pure Land as something concrete and tangible. They saw it more as an inner goal or state. Nonetheless, for many the Pure Land was a very concrete place that could be reached in a variety of ways. In this paper I will investigate how the Pure Land was imagined, both in miracle stories, ritual practices and the writings of new religious groups.

  1. Erika VOROS (Eötvös Loránd University / SNU Kyujanggak International Center for Korean Studies, Seoul): Searching for a Bodhisattva Land on Earth: Potalaka Faith in East Asia

Several sites in East Asia have been identified as Potalaka originally thought to be located near the southern seas of India. The belief in the abode of Avalokiteśvara bodhisattva on Earth connects various places throughout East Asia and incorporates them into a Buddhist world transcending borders. The most well-known among these sites are Putuoshan in China, Naksan-temple in Korea and Nachi in the Kumano region of Japan.

The fact that a mythological place is connected to several geographical locations indicates that Potalaka is not only regarded as an actual place but also bears a symbolical meaning. The belief in manifestation of divine places on Earth is closely related to the relationship between myth and reality or sacred and profane, suggesting a holistic worldview based on unity rather than duality.

The basis of this phenomenon is built upon the nature of Avalokiteśvara as a mediator between sentient beings and Buddhas, the characteristics of Potalaka as a boundary between their worlds, and Buddhist philosophy. The mahāyāna idea of the non-duality of saṃsāra and nirvāṇa, the thought of mutual interrelatedness in Tiantai and Huayan Buddhism and indigenous Chinese philosophical concepts like correlative resonance (ganying) all contributed to the formation of Avalokiteśvara bodhimaṇḍas.

In this presentation I would like to examine Potalaka faith in China, Korea and Japan, addressing the similarities and differences between them based on the historical and religious background of these countries. Despite the obvious resemblance, there are significant differences between these sites in terms of why and how they were formed, and in what way did they change due to local beliefs.

The research of Potalaka faith can help us to rethink the relationship between human and nature and find a healthier balance between them in a modern society dominated by materialistic worldview. At the same time, we can get a glimpse on international cultural exchanges and the relationship between Buddhism and local religions in the East Asian region.

  1. WANG Beier 王蓓兒 (Munich): Conceptualization and “World-Making” From the Yogācāra Perspective 瑜伽行派所闡釋的概念化過程如何「塑造世界」

The ontological reality of the world has been a controversial topic among different Buddhist schools. Specifically, the Yogācāra school provides the answer to the world-making issues from an epistemological perspective. In the view of Yogācāra, the so-called world is not a substantial entity, but rather a mental construct of the perceiver and the perceived. Among a number of different accounts of cognitive process, the process of “conceptualization” clearly plays an important role. The term “prapañca”, usually translated as “conceptual proliferation” by scholars, refers to a proliferating process that constructs the perceptual world through discrimination and verbalization. The term has been extensively studied based on the Early Buddhism doctrines, but scholars have paid much less attention to its connotations, usages, and extensions in the Yogācāra context. This paper begins with a compilation on the accounts of the cognitive process in the Yogācāra doctrines as well as in those earlier teachings which has a profound impact on the establishment of the Yogācāra school. The research then analyses and discusses the process of conceptualization in those accounts, examining its significant role in shaping the perceptual world.

世界的本體問題即使是在不同的佛教宗派之間都有極大的爭議，而瑜伽行派則具體地從認識論的角度對世界的塑造問題提供了答案。在瑜伽行派看來，所謂世界並非一個實體，而是感知者與被感知物在互動中的心理構建。在眾多對於認知過程的描述中，「概念化」過程顯然起著重要的作用。 “prapañca”一詞，通常被學者譯為「概念增殖(conceptual proliferation)」，是指通過不斷分化和產生語言來構建感知世界的增殖過程。這個詞在早期佛教教義中的意涵得到了廣泛的研究，但它在瑜伽行派語境中的含義、用法和外延得到的關注卻較少。本文首先對瑜珈行派、及對瑜珈行派產生深遠影響的早期教義中所記載的認知過程進行了整理匯總；然後，通過分析和討論這些過程中對概念化的闡述，探究其在形塑感知世界中所起到的重要作用。

  1. WANG Jun 王珺 (China Jiliang University): Research on the Possible Buddhist School Attribution of the Jamalgarhi Monastery in Mardan 馬爾丹地區傑馬爾堡佛寺部派歸屬再探

In the 19th century, British archaeologist Sir Alexander Cunningham successively discovered the remains of the Dharmaguptakas school in Gandhara, namely a Buddhist monastery in Jamalgarhi. Further, when the Indian Archaeological Survey continued to excavate this monastery’s site in 1920-1921, they discovered a corner stele with an inscription that stated: “Jamalgarhi, inscribed in 359”. Prof. Lüders attributed the content of this inscription to the Dharmaguptakas. In 2012, with the funding of the Japanese government and UNESCO, archaeologists continued to excavate the ruins of this Buddhist monastery. They discovered new cultural relics, including numismatic evidence from the King Huvisha period, providing further information for the dating of this Buddhist monastery. In addition, the discovery of the inscriptions and ruins of the monastery’s old site has confirmed the inference that the Dharmaguptakas were active in ancient northwest India. Based on the above studies, this article attempts to conduct an in-depth analysis of the layout of the above-mentioned Buddhist monastery by comparing its site and archaeological evidence with textual sources from the Chinese translation of the “Dharmagupta-vinaya” to argue that this monastery can be identified as belonging to the Dharmaguptakas tradition.

19世紀，英國考古學家亞歷山大坎寧安爵士在犍陀羅發現了法藏部的遺跡，即在杰馬爾堡的一座佛教寺院。此外，當印度考古調查局在1920-1921年繼續挖掘這座佛寺的遺址時，發現了一塊刻有“杰馬爾堡359年”字樣的角碑。呂德斯教授將此碑上銘文的內容翻譯為“法藏部所有”。2012年，在日本政府和聯合國教科文組織的資助下，考古學家繼續挖掘這座佛教寺院的廢墟。他們發現了新的文物，包括胡維沙王時期的錢幣，為這座佛教寺院的斷代提供了進一步的信息。基於以上研究，本文試圖通過對上述佛教寺院的遺址、考古材料與《四分律》漢譯本相關內容進行比較，對其佈局進行深入分析，對這座寺院可能的部派歸屬問題做進一步的釐清和論證。

  1. WANG Xiang 王翔 ( Beijing Normal University-Hong Kong Baptist University & United International College): From Samarkand to Dunhuang: Buddhist Manuscript Libraries along the Central Asian Silk Road 從撒馬爾罕到敦煌：絲路中亞段的佛教寫本圖書館

本文將重點考索10世紀以前絲路中亞段的佛教圖書館（經藏）。中央歐亞的絲路可分為東中亞（Eastern Central Asia）和西中亞（Western Central Asia，西域）兩個部分，這片區域橫貫了”一帶一路”沿線的中亞五國，大中亞視野中的阿富汗東北部、巴基斯坦北部地區以及中國的新疆和甘肅西北。根據佛教從天竺傳往漢唐西域的路線，從扼守中亞的大犍陀羅（Greater Gandhara）地區開始，沿著中央歐亞的數條絲路商道，筆者將分別探尋中亞的哈達（Hadda）、賈拉拉巴德（Jalalabad）、巴米揚（Bamiyan）、吉爾吉特（Gilgit）、卡拉切配（Kara Tepe）、布哈拉（Bukhara）、以及西域絲路的要衝疏勒（喀什 Kashgar）、龜茲（庫車 Kucha）、焉耆（Karashahr）、高昌（吐魯番 Turfan）、于闐（和田 Khotan）、精絕（尼雅 Niya）、樓蘭（Kroraina）以及敦煌等地的佛教寫本經藏的蹤跡。在此基礎之上，本文將嘗試探討絲路中亞段的佛教圖書館和絲路支線的塔克西拉（Taxila）、迦濕彌羅（Kasmira）以及其他印度佛教圖書館之間的聯繫。

  1. WANG Xuemei 王雪梅 (Northwest University 西北大學): 兜率內院——一個東亞佛教的想象性空間營造

兜率天宮是一生補處菩薩的住處,也是彌勒菩薩的處所，彌勒信仰者的歸依處。唐以前的佛經及相關文獻顯示，兜率天宮並沒有內外院之分。唐代，經玄奘窺基師徒等人的努力，兜率天宮才出現「內院」「外院」之分，並強化了「內院」之殊勝處。唐以後信眾生兜率天宮的願望其實質變為是願生兜率「內院（因兜率天宮為彌勒之處所，而彌勒又作慈氏，故「兜率內院」又謂「彌勒內院」、「慈氏內院」、「慈氏內宮」、「彌勒內宮」等）。本文對「兜率內院」這一東亞佛教「想象空間」的營造擬從「空間」層次的三個方面進行討論：一是「兜率內院」建築空間的營造與拓展。通過經論註疏文獻以及相關圖像，探究「兜率天宮」及「內院」的空間佈局、功能劃分等物理性、空間性格局以及在印中文化中的不同表達。二是關於「兜率內院」的敘事空間及其意義。通過中印包括玄奘等高僧大德及普通彌勒信眾上生兜率的相關記敘，闡釋兜率天宮「內」「外」眾的意義與價值，「兜率內院」的出現並強化其殊勝，實際承載了新的思想文化的表達。三是「兜率內院」想象空間的構築。通過《觀彌勒上生兜率陀》及相關禪觀思惟文獻，討論在「建築空間」「敘事空間」基礎上呈現的想象空間，它是禪定修行深入的彌勒行者構築的精神性空間，而這種構築行為不僅被更多的彌勒信眾接受，並且從一般的對上生兜率的嚮往加入到對往生「內院」的希求，最終共同營造了彌勒信仰中最為殊勝莊嚴的「兜率內院」，甚至超勝彌陀的淨土世界。

  1. WANG Yingxue 王映雪 (Harvard): Killing Beetles for the Buddha?: Reconsidering the Tamamushi Shrine in Seventh-Century East Asia 從“玉蟲”看玉蟲廚子與七世紀東亞佛教

Despite the prohibition on killing sentient beings in Buddhism, biological materials are not unusual on early Japanese Buddhist icons and ritual artifacts. The seventh-century Tamamushi Shrine, one of the most important artifacts of early East Asian Buddhism, offers a particularly spectacular example, as its exterior is covered by the elytra of over two thousand tamamushi beetles (“jewled beetles,” Chrysochroa fulgidissima). While previous scholarship treats the beetle wings as mere decorative elements, this paper argues that they destabilize and complicate our very understanding of early Buddhist material culture in Japan. My analysis will situate the shrine in the larger context of the transmission of Buddhism from the continent to Japan so as to explore the rationale behind the repeated acts of violence entailed in decorating the Tamamushi Shrine with thousands of beetle wings. I will establish the link between the artifact and socio-political, technological, and ecological changes in seventh-century East Asia facilitated by the introduction and localization of Buddhism. Anchored in this transformative historical period, the Tamamushi Shrine constitutes a complex worldmaking device that actively shapes animal-human relationships, models of ideal kingship, as well as religious and social responses to natural disasters such as droughts and epidemics.

  1. Sara WILSON (University of Oklahoma): Buddhist Worldmaking in the American Midcentury: Japanese American Hybridizations and the Anglo American ‘Maker Ethos’

In the American midcentury, Anglo American cultural producers grew interested in Buddhism because it offered tools useful for the building of a new poetics and for the building of counterculture. Yet because of their specific uses for Buddhism, they misread the world-building actions of their Japanese American Buddhist friends and allies. Mistakenly seeing Japanese American Buddhist modifications, translations, and adaptations as too “Protestantized” and therefore “uninteresting,” white cultural producers like Alan Watts disqualified Asian American Buddhist individuals and communities from being a part of the building of counterculture–indeed, from helping to construct the future of Buddhism in the United States. This paper valorizes the world-building actions of midcentury Japanese American Buddhist communities and argues that these actions should be seen both as a transformation of the sangha and as strategies for survival in a white supremacist society. The paper further shows how the Anglo American “disqualification” arose out of a certain “Maker ethos,” which involved the false assumption that all East Asian cultural materials were equally available for appropriation and extraction. By underscoring the unique world-building actions of Asian American individuals and communities, we can expand our understanding of this pivotal moment of Buddhist world-building beyond the work of white cultural producers.

  1. XIE Yifeng 謝一峰 (Hunan University 湖南大學): The Increasing and Decline of Buddhist Factors in the Sacred Axis of Capitals in Medieval China 中古都城神聖軸線中佛教因素的變遷與進退

In the capitals in Medieval China, the spatial presentation and interaction of political authority and religious force has always been a significant topic. In Chinese political tradition, political status is not only related to bureaucratic hierarchy but also related to the spatial distance from the center of absolute power.

On the politically spatial distribution of capitals, the multi-palace system in the capitals of Qin and Han (BCE.221-CE.220) still relied more on the huge palaces on the base of high platform to present their magnificence, although some localized axes had already appeared; until to the capitals, Yecheng and Luoyang in Wei Dynasty(220-266), the single-palace system and the central axis through the capital connected the most important political and ritual spaces into a whole. The Heaven Alter and the Taiji Palace which symbolized the highest imperial power occupied the north and south ends of this power axis. However, from the limited historical records, Buddhist monasteries from Eastern Han to West Jin Dynasties (25-317), such as White Horse Monastery (Baima Si), etc., are mostly far away from this power axis, even located outside the core area of the capital. In Northern Wei (386-534), the locations of Buddhist monasteries, especially the imperial monasteries, such as Yongning Monastery, Jingming Monastery and double monasteries of Qintaishanggong in Luoyang, were considerably close to the central axis of capital, distributed on both sides of Bronze Camels (Tongtuo) Avenue. The Zhaopengcheng Buddhist Monastery and the Dazhuangyan Monastery in Yecheng of Northern Qi (550-577) and the Changgan Monastery in Jiankang ,the capital of Liang (502-557) are also located on the east side of the central axis of the capital city, similar to the location of Jingming Monastery. In short, the important Buddhist monasteries and pagodas in the capital during the Northern and Southern Dynasties had already been considerably planned to approach the power axis of the capital, and became important religious and political landscapes. In the parade of Buddhist statues (Buddhist Carnival) on the eighth of the fourth lunar month (the birthday of Buddha), Buddhist factors even temporarily occupied the political axis of Luoyang in Northern Wei to reveal the deep integration of Buddhism and imperial power.

As for the capital planning of Chang’an and Luoyang in the Sui and Tang Dynasties (581-907), there were still many large imperial Buddhist monasteries close to the central axis (such as the Daxingshan Monastery and Jianfu Monastery, etc.) in Chang’an of the Tang Dynasty (618-907). However, there was no further breakthrough in Buddhist architecture, to occupy the political axis of the capital for a long time. A remarkable turning point happened during the reign of Empress Wu (690-705), the Bright Hall (Wanxiangshengong), a Confucian ritual building including obvious Buddhist factors and the Heaven Axis (Tianshu), which was closely related to the Ashoka Pillar, were located in the geometric center of the palace city and the island between the Tianjin Bridge and Duan Gate, to occupy the most prominent position in the political axis of Luoyang as the sacred capital, symbolizing the center of the world. The Heaven Hall (Tiantang) mainly built by Xue Huaiyi (662-695), accommodating a huge Maitreya Buddha statue in it, was located to the northwest of the Bright Hall, corresponding to the “qian” position symbolizing heaven in the Posterior Eight Diagrams. More importantly, if the political axis of Luoyang, the sacred capital of Empress Wu (624-705, r. 690-705), was extended to the south. Its southern endpoint was the Longmen Grottoes on the west bank of Yi River. In other words, in the capital of Empress Wu, the Buddhist space and buildings including Buddhist factors were no longer limited to “giving up the main axis and occupying the two compartments”, to locate on both sides of the political axis, or temporarily occupied this pollical axis at the certain specific time closely related to Buddhism, but composed this political axis itself by the way to construct some permanent memorial and ritual buildings, as a significant part of political expression in the capital. The most symbolic and representative so-called “Seven Heaven Architectures” on the political axis of Luoyang during the reign of Empress Wu, including Tiantang (Heaven Hall), Tiangong (Bright Hall), Tianmen (Yingtian Gate), Tianshu (Heaven Axis), Tianjin (Tianjin bridge), Tianjie (Heaven avenue), and Tianque (Longmen Grottoes in Yique Valley), the buildings (or grottoes) with clear Buddhist factors had taken four in these seven. The seven precious of Chakravartin displayed impressively in the Bright Hall of Empress Wu also symbolized the deep involvement of Buddhist political culture in the power core with the most political symbolic meaning.

However, the fires that happened in the Bright Hall and the Heaven Hall considerably presented the decline of Buddhist factors in this political axis. After Emperor Xuanzong (685-762, r. 712-756) got absolute power, he took a series of actions to rebuild the Bright Hall and destroy the Heaven Axis. They marked the fundamental reshaping of the landscape of the political axis in Luoyang, to remove the Buddhist factors from it as much as possible. Marked by this dramatic and fundamental transition, the positions of Buddhist architecture in Chang’an and Luoyang had once again returned to the situation of being on the side (especially on the east side) of the central axis during the Northern and Southern Dynasties; the imperial monasteries in Kaifeng, the capital of Northern Song (960-1127), such as Daxiangguo Monastery, also continued this tradition, located in a similar place. To sum up, the Buddhist factors in the sacred axis of the capital in Medieval China experienced a procedure of increasing and decline. It began in the late Southern and Northern Dynasties, reached its peak in the Empress Wu’s period, and changed dramatically after the reign of Emperor Xuanzong, to return the situation in the late Southern and Northern Dynasties and early Tang, to show the tortuous process of the interaction between Buddhism and political space in Medieval China.

在中國中古時期的都城之中，政治權威和宗教勢力的空間呈現和互動一直是一個重要命題。在中國的政治傳統中，政治地位不僅與科層式的等級高低相系，亦與同絕對權力中心空間距離的遠近相關。在都城的政治空間格局方面，秦漢都城中的多宮制雖已出現某些局部性的軸線，更多仍是依靠高臺基的單體宮殿建築以壯威；直至曹魏鄴城和洛陽，單一宮制和貫穿全城的中軸線將都市中最為重要的政治和禮儀空間串聯為一體——用以祭天的圜丘和象徵最高皇權的太極宮構成了這一權力軸線的南北端點。然從目前有限的資料來看，漢晉時代的佛寺（如白馬寺等）多遠離此權力軸線，甚至位於都城的核心範圍之外。及至北魏時期，佛寺，尤其是皇家大寺（如洛陽永寧寺、景明寺、秦太上宮二寺）的位置已接近都城的權力中軸線——布列於銅駝大街兩側。北齊鄴城的趙彭城佛寺、大莊嚴寺與南朝蕭梁都城建康的長干寺等，也位於都城中軸線的東側，與景明寺的位置相類。概言之，南北朝時期都城中的重要佛寺和佛塔已具有了相當的規劃性，逼近都城的權力軸線，成為重要的宗教和政治景觀。在四月初八佛誕日的行像巡行儀式中，佛教因素甚至暫時性地佔據了北魏洛陽的政治軸線，體現出佛教與皇權的深度結合。及至隋唐長安與洛陽的都城規劃中，大型皇家佛寺中仍多有靠近中軸線者（如唐長安大興善寺、薦福寺等），但佛教建築也未有進一步地突破——長時間地占居都城的政治軸線。真正意義上的重大轉折發生在武周時期，具有明顯佛教因素的儒家禮制建築——明堂（萬象神宮）和與阿育王柱密切相關的天樞分別位於宮城的幾何中心和天津橋以北、端門以南的河心小島之上，占居了神都洛陽政治軸線中最為顯赫的位置，象徵著天下的中樞。由薛懷義主持興建，供奉有巨型彌勒造像的天堂，則位於明堂的西北方向，與後天八卦中象徵天的“乾”位相應。更為重要的是，如果將武周時期神都洛陽的政治軸線向南延伸，其南部端點正是位於伊水河谷西岸的龍門石窟。換言之，在武周時期洛陽都城之中，佛教空間和佛教因素已經不再局限于“讓出大路，佔領兩廂”式地分據於政治軸線兩側，抑或在某些與佛教密切相關的特定時間節點短暫地佔據這一政治軸線，而是直接以永久性紀念和禮儀建築的形式融入這一軸線本身，成為都城政治表達式的重要一環。在武周時期洛陽政治軸線上最具有象徵意味和代表性的所謂“七天建築”（由北至南依次為天堂、天宮[明堂]、天門[應天門]、天樞、天津、天街和天闕[伊闕]）中，具有明確佛教因素的建築（或石窟）已經七居其四。武周明堂中赫然陳列的轉輪王七寶，也象徵著佛教政治文化對於這一最具有政治象徵意味的權力核心的深度介入。然物極必反，武周統治後期的明堂、天堂大火，在相當程度上預示著都城政治軸線中佛教因素的衰減；玄宗登基之後改建明堂、熔毀天樞的一系列舉措，則標誌著其對於洛陽政治軸線景觀的根本性重塑，以期盡可能地將佛教因素從洛陽的政治軸線中移除。以這一具有戲劇性的根本性轉折為標誌，長安、洛陽中佛教建築的位置再次回到了南北朝時期位於中軸線旁側（尤其是東側）的狀態；北宋東京城中的皇家大寺——大相國寺，也延續了這一做法——位於相似的位置。綜上所述，中古時期都城神聖軸線中的佛教因素，經歷了從無到有、由進而退的過程，由南北朝後期發軔，在武周時期達到頂峰，又在唐玄宗之後發生激變——回歸到南北朝後期和唐初的形態，展現出中古時期佛教與政治空間互動的曲折進程。

  1. XU Caiyang 徐采揚 (Columbia): Mahayana Distinction: Mapping the Buddhist World in 20th-Century China 大乘的區別：20世紀中國分類佛教世界的圖譜

While the extant scholarship on 20th-century Chinese Buddhism has focused on how Buddhist modernizers revolutionized (Mahayana) Buddhism, this paper rejects such characterization of Buddhism as a timeless fixture subject to changes brought by modernity. By disrupting the conventional distinction between “Mahayana” and “Theravada,” it locates the making of Mahayana distinction as a critical site of modern Chinese state-building campaigns and Cold War politics. With previously untapped Buddhist journals and governmental documents, I argue that the Mahayana distinction was strategically employed in numerous Chinese world-making enterprises from the World War II to the early Cold War. In this process, “Mahayana” shifted from being the hallmark of Japanese Buddhism to a reference to communism (via the Soviet Union), thus pitting Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Laos, Thailand, and Burma into opposite camps of “Mahayana” or “Theravada.” Nevertheless, the label of Mahayana gradually lost in circulation in China since the late 1950s, becoming subjugated to the novel concept of pan-Asianism. By the same token, with the decolonization of Southeast Asia in the 1960s, Buddhist scholars around the world argued for the unification of Mahayana and Theravada and championed a universal Buddhist teaching. Whereas the Mahayana distinction gained currency in the ideological clash between capitalism and communism, it was supplanted by a more radical reimagination of Buddhism in a global decolonial moment with China as a key participant. By excavating the hitherto unknown history of “Mahayana” and “Theravada,” this paper places Buddhism at the heart of a series of Chinese world-making projects that profoundly shaped China’s position in the postwar Asian religious landscape.

  1. YANG Xiaojun 楊效俊（Shaanxi Museum of History 陝西曆史博物館）: 武周時期的佛教神聖空間——從長安到敦煌、奈良

武周時期完成了佛教的第二次中國化，標誌之一是形成了中國化的佛教神聖空間。本文以七世紀末至八世紀初的長安光宅寺七寶台、敦煌莫高窟第332窟、奈良法隆寺金堂、五重塔為例探討武周時期長安、洛陽形成的佛教神聖空間的主題、圖像和象徵意義的傳播和影響。武周時期佛教神聖空間的顯著特色是時空一體性、向心性，表現佛教信仰的獨尊、至高。佛殿、塔、石窟建築內部構造呈現向心性，以中心原點形成對稱的建築面。佛教建築、雕塑、繪畫各種門類的藝術融為一體的作法可看出印度阿聃陀主義的影響，但形成了武周時期佛教建築與圖像的規定性：四佛與中國傳統四方觀念整合形成四方四佛、雜密的變化觀音、大佛、彌勒佛、涅槃變相等圖像裝飾在相應的建築空間表達特定的信仰，佛殿空間表現佛國淨土；佛塔、中心柱石窟表現舍利崇拜：佛舍利代表佛祖、佛法在時空永恆存在。佛教建築內部不僅是信者和佛教偶像間禮拜關係的雙向性的空間，還是更複雜的佛教儀式演習的空間，這些禮儀圍繞中央的佛殿內陣、中心柱進行，作為媒介把信者、偶像與信仰關聯起來，建立佛教空間內的神聖秩序並生成神聖意涵。

  1. ZHAN Ru 湛如 (PekingU): 西明寺的形制及其對日本寺院的影響

本文討論西明寺的建築與形制特點，及其對日本佛教的影響。西明寺與隋前中國寺院多為單院落結構不同，它有十個獨立的僧院與四千多間僧房，是個結構巨大的多院落佛教建築群。隨著上世紀中葉開始的考古發掘，若干書面記載所不具備的建築水寨特徵也漸漸浮出水面，比如其實際結構特點與建築參數，以及在西明寺中出土的佛像與生活用品等，雖然數量不多，但仍然可以讓我們從中勾勒出這座唐代長安首屈一指皇家大寺的規模與形制特點。西明寺為典型的唐代復合式多院落結構，目前可考的西明寺中獨立院落至少包括塔院、僧院、僧廚院、戒壇院、藏經院、菩提院、禪院、 講堂、永忠法師古院、道宣律師堂等，並且還有一座大塔。

除了這座我們通過傳世文獻與出土資料相對應所能呈現出來的西明寺圖景之外，還有屬於宗教範疇的想象中的西明寺。在這幅圖景之中，西明寺中的僧人，尤其是道宣就想要將這座寺院與印度的中天竺捨衛國祇洹寺建立直接的聯繫。這雖然是一座道宣夢境中出現的理想化的寺院，但卻依然是以唐長安城中現實中的寺院為本。故而從中，我們就可以發現西明寺的若干形制特點。比如它採用有中軸線的左右對稱佈局，有巨大的中間的佛院為核心，左右兩邊是對稱的功能性院落。院牆與最外層的圍牆因地制宜地設計成了坊牆與橫廊。

如果說道宣夢境之中出現的寺院是他心目中理想的聖地幻寺，那麼這種情況到了日本又有了一個新的複製品。即公元8世紀初，也即在西明寺建立不到一世紀之後，日本僧人有了模仿此寺的衝動，而這也正是因為當時日本教界精英正在以一種類似道宣希望能夠通過模仿天竺捨衛國祇洹寺，而與印度直接構建宗教法脈傳承聯繫的行為模式一樣，以西明寺為代表的初盛唐高宗-武周朝佛教對於日本佛教知識精英也具有同樣的宗教感召力與影響力。通過這種未必完全符合歷史事實的建築仿制，由印度到中國，再到日本的佛教合法性就最終得以確立。

西明寺的影響是超越物質層面並且也會擺脫時空的束縛。它一方面向西傳遞，將長安城中的都市義理佛教推展到西陲邊地；另一方面，它又像預言者所預言的那樣，在整個佛教重心南傾之前，就已經與整個華南東部的佛教建立了聯繫。在禪宗建立真正清晰的自多宗派意識之初，西明僧人就已經廣泛涉入了禪學津奧，在此後又將禪學與律學一同向東南沿海地區傳遞，並在富庶的杭州地區扎下根來。西明寺所具有的國際性影響在日本佛教史中最為明顯，不但開創具有日本特色佛教的祖師大德往往曾出入於長安僧院，也包括西明寺；這些祖師在回國之後，也會念茲在茲，在唐帝國落寞的夕陽暮景下，依然不斷派遣弟子前往長安訪學問道、決疑解惑。這種在長安佛教中尋求宗教合法性的衝動是如此強烈，以至於最終會有人想要以西明寺為藍本在日本複製這座長安的神聖空間。我們姑且不提他們所繪制的圖景是否符合西明寺的真實形制，但至少可以確定一點，即這座寺院是他們心中理想的「西方之明」 (即「源於印度的文明」)，也是可以用來繼承宗教合法性與潛在宗教權力的神聖象徵。如果要論證西明寺對日本古代佛教的影響，那就實在找不到比這更好的例證了。

  1. ZHANG Ming 張銘 (Dunhuang Academy 敦煌研究院 & PekingU): 墓窟結合、善惡有報——麥積山第127窟淨土世界的空間營造

麥積山石窟第127窟，是麥積山西崖三大窟之一，存有中國目前最早的大型西方淨土變壁畫，在中國石窟史中佔有一席之地。該窟壁畫內容豐富，繪制技藝高超，是西魏時期長安佛教藝術的最直接體現，代表了西魏皇家水平。作為一個系統性的營建工程，該窟將西方淨土變、七佛、睒子本生、薩埵那太子本生、維摩詰經變、涅槃變、地獄變、出行圖等等諸多題材繁雜、內容豐富的大型壁畫，緊密結合紀念對象生平事跡以及功德主身份等關鍵信息，在一個完整的立體空間內予以有序組合排列，構建出了以佛教善惡有報為主要表達思想的淨土世界，主旨明確，具有強烈的情感表達和訴求，作為結合了墓葬與石窟的特殊建築空間，麥積山石窟中的原創性洞窟。

  1. ZHANG Xuesong 張雪松 (Renmin U of China 中國人民大學佛教與宗教學理論研究所): 他方淨土與隱逸地仙——中國文學對佛教淨土的想象與構建

漢代以來中國的天庭觀念已經高度官僚化。中國的修行者不願意受到天界官僚體制的束縛管轄，那死（或修成正果）後又該身處何方呢？漢魏以來，佛教淨土信仰的傳入，無疑為解決這一難題創造了條件：中國人以「地仙」模式來營造死後的理想狀態，並與往生他方淨土結構起來。西晉著名道士葛洪感慨：「天上多至尊，相奉事更苦於人間。」而東晉名僧支道林則盛贊阿彌陀佛淨土「國無王制班爵之序」。道教逍遙自在的地仙信仰與佛教的十方淨土觀念相互影響，逐漸在死後世界「體制外」建立起一塊「飛地」——西方極樂世界，為中國人死後的「去向」提供了更多的選擇。而大量文學作品中佛教的「竹林寺」也成為一種類似道教「遊仙窟」式的母題。

  1. ZHAO Xiaoxing 趙曉星 (Dunhuang Academy 敦煌研究院): 敦煌石窟對佛教宇宙的呈現

如何在一個洞窟中表現佛國世界，是每個洞窟營建時不可回避的問題。敦煌石窟的營建前後經歷一千六百多年，按其對佛教宇宙的呈現方式大體可以分成四個時期：第一個時期為北涼至北周時期，主要以象形而簡樸的方式表現，出現了以闕形龕為代表的天宮和模擬須彌山的中心塔柱；第二個時期為隋至唐前期，這一時期逐漸在人間世界的基礎上添加想像來表現佛國世界；第三個時期為中唐至北宋，這一時期重點表達“一窟之內宛然三界”的空間結構，在一窟之內容納不同的佛教宇宙；第四個時期為西夏至元代，對佛國世界的表現更注重其在世間的功能性，並以功能性對佛教宇宙進行組織。

  1. ZHENG Jiajia 鄭佳佳 (Zhejiang U of Finance & Economics 浙江財經大學): 神僧萬回與唐代內道場的構建

萬回（632年-712年）為初唐著名的神僧，歷高宗、武后、中宗、睿宗四朝而聖眷不衰。他憑藉其內道場神僧的特殊宗教身份，慣以預讖必驗的方式維護李唐皇室的正統、斥責篡奪和擾亂李唐皇權者，卻又總能置身事外，不受政治株連之迫害。本文通過考證萬回的家庭背景、宗教和社會角色及宗教關係，構建出萬回作為內道場神僧的宗教與政治形象，進而討論萬回於內道場的神聖空間內外對唐代皇室的微妙影響力，以窺見唐代政教關係之新特點。