A photograph by Hedda Morrison (1908-1991) called “Monks at a table eating on Miaofeng Mountain” in the Harvard-Yenching collection.
Time: June 19, 6:00 am (Vancouver) | 9:00 am (New York) | 2:00 pm (London) | 9:00 pm (Beijing/Taipei)
Rooms 8 & 9, Faculty of Asian & Middle Eastern Studies (Sidgwick Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 9DA )
John Kieschnick’s lecture in English
John Kieschnick’s lecture in Chinese
Abstract:
This talk takes as its starting point five words—欲 (desire), 業 (karma), 慈 (compassion), 清 (purity) and 味 (flavor)—in an attempt to identify five major themes driving the history of Buddhist vegetarianism in China over the course of roughly 1600 years.
About the speaker: John Kieschnick (Stanford University)
John Kieschnick is The Robert H.N. Ho Family Foundation Professor of Buddhist Studies. He specializes in Chinese Buddhism, with particular emphasis on its cultural history. He is the author of the Eminent Monk: Buddhist Ideals in Medieval China, The Impact of Buddhism on Chinese Material Culture, and Buddhist Historiography in China. He is currently writing a history of Chinese vegetarianism.
Discussant: Roel Sterckx (University of Cambridge)
About the host: Noga Ganany (University of Cambridge)
Noga Ganany is an Associate Professor in the Study of Late Imperial China at the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. Her main research interests are Chinese cultural history, religious practice in China, premodern Chinese literature and book culture, travel and pilgrimage, and popular culture. She is currently writing a book titled Origin Narratives: Hagiographic Literature and Religious Practice in Late Ming China, which examines the role of commercial publishing in propagating cultic reverence of saints, gods, and immortals among lay readers. Her most recent publications include “Journeys Through the Netherworld in Late Ming Hagiographic Narratives” (Late Imperial China, 2021) and “Writing and Worship in Deng Zhimo’s Saints Trilogy” (Religions 2022). Before assuming her current position at Cambridge, Dr Ganany taught briefly at Boston University (2018-2019) after receiving her PhD from Columbia University in New York (2018). Dr Ganany is a board member of the Society for the Study of Chinese Religions (SSCR) and a board member of the Society for Ming Studies.
About the Yin-Cheng Distinguished Lecture Series: Launched in September, 2021, the Yin-Cheng Distinguished Lecture Series (印證佛學傑出學術系列講座) is a collaborative, multi-university partnership between Peking University, University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, Inalco (Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales), Princeton University, Harvard University, and the University of British Columbia. The Lecture Series is established in honour of Venerable Cheng-yen 證嚴, founder of Tzu Chi, and her mentor Yinshun 印順 (1906–2005), with the goal of promoting topics in Buddhist Studies.
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