Jennifer Eichman 艾靜文 | SOAS University of London (original) (raw)

Papers by Jennifer Eichman 艾靜文

華嚴專宗國際學術研討會論文集, 2023

This article takes as its subject one very famous intergenerational blood-written copy of the Hua... more This article takes as its subject one very famous intergenerational blood-written copy of the Huayan Sutra and the subsequent veneration of this text among the late Ming literati. This artifact was copied out by the late Yuan dynasty monk Shanji 善繼 (1286-1357) who was thought to be a reincarnation of Yongming Yanshou 永明延壽 (904-975), the purported progenitor of this project. However, the copy was believed to have been completed only after Yongming's second reincarnation as the great early Ming statesman Song Lian 宋濂 (1310-1381). The karmic connections between these three successive generations elevated the stature of this particular copy, which was revered for its provenance in a storied traceable 'Huayan lineage' comprised of two monks and a famous literatus. Yet despite this acceptance, the historical work of determining who was a reincarnation of whom became a topic of interest in literati prefaces and postfaces, many of which espoused a uniquely Buddhist method of historical proof premised on assessments of reincarnation, karmic connections, dream encounters, and personal realization. After presenting a detailed analysis of prefaces and postfaces written by Song Lian, the Huizhou scholar Xie Bi 謝陛 (1547-1615), and the famous literatus Qian Qianyi 錢謙益 (1582-1664), this article presents a brief history of how this text left Suzhou and was later returned. And finally, I will end with a brief discussion of how this copy is referenced in other late Ming and early Qing sources. The historical reconstruction of the provenance of the Shanji copy evinces a uniquely Buddhist method of historical proof, while the intricacies of this story further shed light on the devotional status of this Buddhist artifact and its reverberations within Buddhist culture during the late Ming to early Qing.

NAN NÜ: Men, Women and Gender in China , 2022

The primary focus of this article is the gendering of Buddhist karmic culpability presented in th... more The primary focus of this article is the gendering of Buddhist karmic culpability presented in the extra-canonical Buddhist essay, “Quan funü jiesha wen” (On exhorting women to refrain from killing). This mid-1650 work written by the Ming loyalist Chai Shaobing (1616-70) was subsequently reprinted in the Republican era Buddhist periodical press. “Quan funü jiesha wen” offers an extraordinary entry into a Buddhist moral universe in which women who kill animals are subject to various levels of karmic retribution. The bodily intimacy of such retributions is experienced in the form of complicated pregnancies, difficult childbirths, and a myriad of diseases unique to the female reproductive body. The first half of this study provides a full translation and detailed analysis of the Buddhist tropes and exemplary stories Chai employs as he sought to change women’s culinary choices. The second half of this study shifts attention to the essay’s historical context, first through a consideratio...

As a contribution to the history of reading, this article analyzes a selection of the 427 suibi-s... more As a contribution to the history of reading, this article analyzes a selection of the 427 suibi-style essays by the late-Ming monk-educator Lianchi Zhuhong 蓮池袾宏 (1535-1615). They were published between 1600-1615 under the title Jottings by a Bamboo Window (Zhuchuang suibi 竹窗隨筆). Zhuhong sought to improve religious literacy by establishing a baseline for interpreting Buddhist texts, and especially to point literati toward reading the tradition both literally and figuratively; thus a number of the essays concerned the act of reading. The essays analyzed in this article not only map out the differences in reading methods needed for the mastery of Pure Land scripture, Buddhist exegesis, and Chan discourse records, they also make copious references to contemporary literati reading culture. A consummate arbiter of all things Buddhist, Zhuhong sought to draw the broader reading elite toward an acceptance of his view of what constitutes a normative Buddhist tradition. Furthermore, the analyses here allow us to envision the actual and implied reader whom he was addressing.

This article presents a single detailed case study of communal life at a small private Buddhist n... more This article presents a single detailed case study of communal life at a small private Buddhist nunnery governed by strict rules and inhabited by religiously active nuns. The first half of this article focuses on why the nunnery was constructed, how it was funded, where it was built, its architectural design, and its residents. The second half examines the daily ritual activities of the nuns, their education, disciplinary procedures, fundrais-ing, and community relations. In bringing to life how the culture of monastic discipline shaped the daily rhythms of these nuns' lives, this article further sheds light not only on monastic culture in Hangzhou at the end of the Ming, but also demonstrates the contrast between that culture and other Buddhist and contemporary religious competitors in the surrounding religious landscape. In so doing, this article shifts our attention from the study of hagiography to the broader context of female monastic culture exhibited in the genres of communal rules (guiyue) and vinaya texts.

This article offers an historical repositioning of an unusually rich early seventeenth-century au... more This article offers an historical repositioning of an unusually rich early seventeenth-century autobiographical letter written by the Donglin 東林 partisan Wang Yuanhan 王元翰 (1565–1633). The letter is religiously complex, yet historians have pre- viously focused only on a single short excerpt listing the names of eighteen monks and officials to argue that Buddhist activity flourished in Beijing circa 1600. To the contrary, the greater historical value of this letter resides in its depictions of reli- gious desire, vision of self-cultivation, and critical judgments imparted by an impas- sioned Buddhist and unremitting Donglin remonstrator. Through examination of Wang’s political and spiritual biography and actual evidence that the network he conjures was more aspirational than real, this article concludes that we need to rethink earlier scholarly depictions of the Donglin as anti-Buddhist, distinguish between being critical and being anti-Buddhist, and reflect on the use of lists in an age of scholarly attention to networks.

This file contains the TOC for Li Zhi. A Book to Burn and a Book to Keep (Hidden): Selected Writi... more This file contains the TOC for Li Zhi. A Book to Burn and a Book to Keep (Hidden): Selected Writings. Edited and translated by Rivi Handler-Spitz, Pauline C. Lee, and Haun Saussy. New York: Columbia University Press, 2016.

I had the privilege of translating 10 essays on religious topics for this volume and these are contained in this file.

Through a detailed analysis of epistolary writing, A Late Sixteenth-Century Chinese Buddhist Fell... more Through a detailed analysis of epistolary writing, A Late Sixteenth-Century Chinese Buddhist Fellowship: Spiritual Ambitions, Intellectual Debates, and Epistolary Connections brings to life the Buddhist discourse of a network of lay disciples who debated the value of Chan versus Pure Land, sudden versus gradual enlightenment, adherence to Buddhist precepts, and animal welfare. By highlighting the differences between their mentor, the monk Zhuhong 袾宏 (1535-1615), and his nemesis, the Yangming Confucian Zhou Rudeng 周汝登 (1547-1629), this work confronts long-held scholarly views of Confucian dominance to conclude that many classically educated, elite men found Buddhist practices a far more attractive option. Their intellectual debates, self-cultivation practices, and interpersonal relations helped shape the contours of late sixteenth-century Buddhist culture. I uploaded the TOC. The book can be ordered here: http://www.brill.com/products/book/late-sixteenth-century-chinese-buddhist-fellowship

T’oung Pao 100 (2014): 1-44., 2014

This article argues for a reconsideration of how we categorize individual attempts at sanjiao hey... more This article argues for a reconsideration of how we categorize individual attempts at sanjiao heyi-style syntheses and characterize the broader late sixteenth-century milieu that nourished such attempts. In Zeng Zheng Kunyan bieyan 贈鄭昆嚴別言 (Parting Words for Zheng Kunyan), Huang Hui 黃輝 (1555-1612) synthesized a highly selective number of Chan Buddhist and Yangming Confucian ideas to create a path to self-cultivation rooted in the interstitial dialogue between the branch of third-generation Yangming Confucians headed by Zhou Rudeng 周汝登 (1547-1629) and the Buddhist teachings expounded by the monk Zhuhong 袾宏 (1535-1615). Unlike Confucian scholars who wrote polemical sanjiao heyi texts, Huang was an enthusiastic synthesizer intent on benefiting from both Buddhist and Confucian traditions. A close analysis of his work offers one illustration of how such syntheses were constructed while further revealing the broader philosophical discourse generated by Huang's circle.

Chung-Hwa Buddhist Journal 26 (2013): 153-185., Jan 1, 2013

This article contributes to the historiography of sixteenth-and seventeenth-

CrossCurrents 61.3 (2011): 345-373, Jan 1, 2011

Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Jan 1, 2009

Dangdai Ruxue yanjiu congkan 當代儒學研究叢刊 25 (2010): 36-68, 2010

UMI, ProQuest ® Dissertations &amp; Theses. The world&#x27;s most comprehensive c... more UMI, ProQuest ® Dissertations &amp; Theses. The world&#x27;s most comprehensive collection of dissertations and theses. Learn more... ProQuest, Spiritual seekers in a fluid landscape: A Chinese Buddhist network in the Wanli period (1573--1620). ...

Books by Jennifer Eichman 艾靜文

This volume comparatively explores how members of “monastic” communities, broadly understood, dev... more This volume comparatively explores how members of “monastic” communities, broadly understood, developed practical strategies for the construction of identity across a range of religious traditions in the greater regions of premodern Europe and Asia. In particular, it seeks to understand how the production, distribution, and reception of hagiographic material (written, visual, and performative) served as a tool for the implementation of “monastic” dynamics of legitimation. This is accomplished by pursuing and developing a two-fold approach. At an empirical level, the volume expands our scholarly understanding of the cross-cultural processes that characterize religious communities’ notions of identity. At a meta-level, it furthers a re-evaluation of our taxonomy as it challenges established notions of categories such as “monk/monastic” and “hagiography.”

About the series: Spirituality and Monasticism, East and West explores the everyday life of monastic individuals and the collective experience of religious communities and it focuses on the nature of asceticism and monasticism rather than monastic institutions, patronage, or property. The series is a home for research on both Western and Eastern Christian communities and also welcomes submissions exploring non-Christian traditions during the period 500-1500 CE.