Report on Tian Kong Buddhist Temple (original) (raw)
Related papers
Butterfingers: Resculpting Religion at a Tibetan Buddhist Monastery
Provincial China, 2010
'moment' at the so-called Ta'er Temple. The event which I witnessed as the major annual Tibetan Buddhist 2 occasion of Monlam Chenmo in 1993 but which the Qinghai Daily cites in the Chinese time-and-cultural frame of the Lantern Festival in 2003 has a long history as the former. Its redefinition, or apparent makeover, in the past ten years raises questions of state and local agency, readings of the past, and particularly the political uses of space and occasion. As state agency politicises religious space and practice here, I suggest that at this politicised cultural moment, not only butter is being sculpted into new forms at this particular Tibetan Buddhist monastery. While I hope to leaven the inevitable subjectivity of personal encounters with wider analysis, based primarily in history, I also offer an individual's perspective in the tradition of witness, contingent of course on the witness's own informational, cultural, psychological and many other filters . Although moments take place in places, diverse participants, commentators and interpreters may not all conceptualise the site of action in similar terms. To start with names, the site in question -the Tibetan Buddhist monastery of this paper's title -has two prime locally-used names, 'Kubum' in Tibetan and 'Ta'ersi' in Chinese. Tibetan Buddhist and contemporary Chinese texts agree that the monastery is the most important of its kind in the region, and one of the six great Gelugpa monastic establishments of the Tibetan world. It lies 26 kilometres southwest from the provincial capital Xining in the town of Lushar, seat of Huangzhong (Tib: Kubum) County, which used to form part of Haidong Prefecture but since December 1999 has been moved under the administration of Xining Municipality. Haidong has been both a cultural-ecological frontier and a geopolitical frontier for centuries, whose population has experienced cultural and to some extent political integration into both the Tibetan and Chinese worlds at different times. The area lies at multiple crossroads of culture, religion and civilizational influences. Since the rise of the Tibetan Empire in the 7th century, Tibetan and Chinese civilizations have pressed the region of Haidong -east of the lake 3 -from the west and east respectively. Islam's centuries-old presence links it in culture and religion to Central Asia, while Mongol hegemonies, before and after the Mongol adoption of Tibetan Buddhism, left demographic and cultural footprints into the present. Ecologically Haidong forms the sole naturally arable segment of Qinghai Province, thereby attracting the only significant Chinese settlement in the region before 1949. Beyond Haidong lie the vast grasslands and mountains of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau where, prior to PRC development projects, Tibetan and Mongol mobile pastoralism provided the only livelihood for human inhabitants. 3 Qinghai (Ch.), Kokonor (Mong.), Tsongon (Tib.), the vast inland saltwater lake west of Xining. Huangzhong became a Chinese county at the same time Qinghai became a Chinese province, in 1928, as the Nationalist Government sought to consolidate its tenuous hold over Republican China's northwestern territorial claims. Lushar was then a small shabby trading town inhabited by a variety of people, only loosely connected to the administration in Xining, more appended to Kubum Monastery about a kilometre up a hillside at the south end of town. (Rock, 1956, 6, 23) Today this pattern still echoes in the topography and atmospheric dynamic of Lushar. Kubum still in a way defines Lushar, if not culturally or demographically in a county 77 per cent Han Chinese and 15 per cent Hui (Chinese Muslims), 4 then touristically, as Kubum is methodically reconstructed as the major drawcard in Qinghai's tourist industry. The wording of the article in the Qinghai Daily struck me so forcibly when I first saw it because it presented an event in terms that seemed anomalous with what I had seen take place ten years earlier. At that time, I and most of those who were at Kubum construed proceedings as the occasion of Monlam Chenmo, the Tibetan Buddhist year's most significant celebration, which at Kubum is distinguished by a butter sculpture exhibition that marks Monlam's end. This interpretation was conveyed to me by representatives of various nationalities, including Han Chinese, at least in the sense that the main event was the Buddhist festival, highlighted by the butter sculpture exhibition. Even a Han deputy-director of Qinghai's CITS had presented it to me in these terms, not even mentioning the coincidence of the Lantern Festival which I found out later in situ. Monlam Chenmo, or the Great Prayer, is held at the beginning of the Tibetan New Year which sometimes, and in the Amdo region usually, 5 falls at the same time as the Chinese New Year. As is well known, New Year is the most significant festival period of the Chinese lunar calendar year, and in Qinghai Province's Xining districts, where Chinese have been settled for centuries, it is celebrated in distinctive local rituals throughout the countryside as well as a mass parade in the capital city a couple of weeks after New Year's Day. The Lantern Festival (灯节Dengjie, 元宵节Yuanxiaojie), held throughout the hemisphere of Chinese civilisation, forms part of the series of celebrations during the Lunar New Year, or Spring Festival. Falling on the night (宵xiao) of the 15th day of the first (元yuan) month of the lunar calendar, when the first full moon of the new year appears, it marks the end of the Chinese New Year period. While its origins probably lie in multiple religious and cosmological sources, 6 in its recognisable form as Yuanxiaojie it dates at least from the Tang Dynasty (618-906AD). Basic celebratory practices include eating a special food, tangyuan 汤圆 (or 元 宵 yuanxiao), symbolising family unity, and carrying lanterns around in the evening. The Lantern Festival, and the main finalities of Monlam Chenmo, thus take place on the same date: the night of the full moon two weeks into the new year.
Religion as Non-religion: The Place of Chinese Temples in Phuket, Southern Thailand
This paper, based on a case study of Chinese temples in Phuket, aims to demonstrate the importance of religious activities lying outside " religion " in the so-called " Buddhist " societies in Thailand, as well as to question the category of " religion " itself. In Thailand, most of the Chinese temples (called sanchao in Thai) are not recognized as " religious places " by the religious administration (namely the Department of Religious Affairs), since they come under the supervision of the Ministry of the Interior. In Phuket, Chinese temples as " non-religious " places (of worship?) outnumber officially recognized Buddhist temples and they offer occasions for the worship of Buddhist deities. One of the unique features of the " Buddhist " activities of the Chinese temples in Phuket is that they are conducted without monks. Because the Chinese temples are placed outside the state protection of " religion, " they are not institutionalized as belonging to any state-approved religion. This is beneficial to the Chinese temples as they do not have to compete with " state Buddhism " ; in such temples indiscriminate syncretic worship is also latently sanctioned. In Phuket the functions of Chinese associations and charity foundations overlap with those of the Chinese temples, challenging the definition of religion in yet another way. Our discussion leads us to conclude that all these activities lying outside of " religion " actually occupy an important part of " Buddhism " in Thailand. Thus a reconsideration of the framework of " Buddhism " and " religion " in Thailand is necessary.
Buddhism in a Secular City: A View from Chiang Mai
Visakha Puja B.E. 2518, Bangkok: The Buddhist Association of Thailand, Annual Publication, 1975
In 1972-74 I supervised students studying sociology or anthropology in the faculty of social science at Chiang Mai university in carrying out survey and ethnographic research on a sample of Buddhist temple-monasteries (wats) in Chiang Mai city in northern Thailand. The research included structured interviews carried out with the abbots of 21 wats in the munici¬pality of Chiang Mai. In addition, some students from Chiang Mai University working under my direction made observations of Buddhist Sabbath-day observances at 11 wats (8 within the municipality). Final¬ly, unstructured observations and interviews were made at 19 of the wats included within the survey and at an additional 10 wats not included in the survey, 4 of the latter being in the suburbs. In sum, interviews, both structured and unstructured, and observations were made at 32 wats within the mu¬nicipality of Chiang Mai and at another 6 wats in the suburbs of the city. In this paper, I shall attempt, through the presentation of some of the findings from my research, to show how secular and religious changes have manifested themselves within the religious life of Chiang Mai. It is my thesis that such changes do not foreshadow the ultimate decease of Buddhism in Chiang Mai; rather, religion in Chiang Mai is acquiring new meanings as the populace of the city, both lay and clerical alike, adapt to their altered conditions of life.
H-Buddhism, 2022
Commissioned by Jessica Zu (USC Dornsife, School of Religion) Gregory Adam Scott's Building the Buddhist Revival is a remarkable study documenting the material, religious, and social reconstruction of Buddhist monasteries in China from the end of the Taiping war in 1866 to the beginning of the Cultural Revolution in 1966. It is based on a large typology of historical sources, including local and temple gazetteers, stele transcriptions, and Buddhist periodicals-a diversity itself attesting to the major historical changes that occurred in the one hundred years considered in the study-and it also makes use of digital tools to collect historical data. Focusing on a selection of religious sites
2013
I appreciatively acknowledge the efforts of many individuals who supported this dissertation. My utmost gratitude goes to my supervisor, Dr. Elizabeth Guthrie for her compassionate guidance, cherished comments, and hard work. Without her wonderful support, this dissertation would not have been completed. I am also deeply thankful to Dr. Erica Baffelli, my primary supervisor. Without her determination, focus and intuition, this dissertation would never have taken shape. I would also like to express my appreciation to Dr. Will Sweetman and the entire department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Otago. I also wish to thank Dr. Venerable Yifa of the Woodenfish Program for her friendship, advice and kind support during my fieldtrips to China in 2011 and 2012. I extend my gratitude to those who have been so kind to befriend and aid me during my research journey. Firstly to Dr. James Hargett who introduced me resources and contacts at the Mt Emei Museum, and was so kind to always reply to my email queries. I also wish to thanks Justin O'Jack who introduced me to some of the staff of the Mt Emei Museum, and extended his hand in friendship by discussing various approaches to my topic of study. I would also like to thank Mr. Xiong Feng, chief historian of the Mt Emei Museum for finding the time to unearth his collection of literature on the history of Baoguo Si, and for meeting with me on short notice. Venerable Manlin also offered his help, which provided me with full access to the library at Dafo Chanyuan. I also extend my gratitude to the Baoguo Si monks, the lay Buddhists who visited the temple to conduct ritual, and the other visitors who took the time to speak with me and allowed me to observe and photograph them. My sincerest thanks also go to all my neglected friends and colleagues-Heath Te
2018 - NNThơ - Buddhist factor in Tian Hou cult in the Mekong River Delta
International Communication on Chinese Culture, 2018
Abstract The cult of Tianhou (Vietnamese: Thiên Hậu) originated in Putian, Fujian Province in Southern China, was officially entitled Furen, Tainfei and Tianhou by Song, Ming and Qing dynasties, finally become the popular sea goddess in Southeast China coastlines. At around the late seventeenth century, Southern Chinese immigrated to Southern Vietnam, including the Mekong River Delta, hence the cult was introduced into the region. The whole region has got a total of 74 Tianhou temples (of which the Chinese built 57, the Vietnamese built 17 and around 100 temples of gods in which Tianhou is co-worshipped. After over three hundred years of cultural integration and social development, Tianhou has changed from the main functions of a sea protector to powerful multi-functional Mother Goddess of both ethnic Chinese (also called “ethnic Hoa”) and a great number of Vietnamese people. This paper is to explore the structure and connotation of the cult of Tianhou in the Mekong River Delta from the perspective of cultural studies, and applies Western theories of hierarchy of need, superscription and standardization in popular religion and rituals as well as concept of distinction between acculturation and assimilation to analyze the transformation and adaptation of a symbolic faith under the specific background of the Mekong River Delta in Vietnam. The research also aims to investigate the principles of reshaping and constructing contemporary cultural identity of the ethnic Chinese people in Vietnam as well as the activeness and flexibility of local Vietnamese in dealing with the external cultural practices. This case study plays an important role in shaping a systematic look of cultural exchanges and multicultural harmonization in Vietnam nowadays.
Really Need a Temple? — The Lue as Flexible Buddhists
One cannot imagine that an anthropologist or a tourist who visits any Buddhist Tai world such as Thailand, Laos Shan State of Myanmar, Xishuangbanna (Sipsong Panna) and Dehong, Yunnan, China unconsciously neglects religious attention during the exciting journey. In other words, almost al academicians under long-term participant observation and visitors by their leisure or adventure purpose must pay strong interest to Buddhist things in contacting with Tai peoples. Except for some Tai-speaking animistically-oriented groups, e.g., the Zhuang, the Shui, the Buyi, and the Li in southern China, and Tai Dam and Tai Daeng in northern Laos, the majority of Tai peoples have been defined or well-stereotyped as a complete Buddhist world. A common sense indicates that the Tai People are devout Buddhist. Tour books emphasize such a point, and a valuable work entitled Religious Tradition among Tai Ethnic Groups edited by well-known anthropologist Shigeharu Tanabe in 1991 again reminds us abundant academic contributions on Theravada Buddhism having been in existence.
Buddhist factors in the cult of Tianhou in the Mekong River Delta, Vietnam
International Communication of Chinese Culture, Springer, 2018
The cult of Tianhou (Vietnamese: Thien Hau) originated in Putian, Fujian Province in Southern China, was officially entitled Furen, Tainfei and Tianhou by Song, Ming and Qing dynasties, finally become the popular sea goddess in Southeast China coastlines. At around the late seventeenth century, Southern Chinese immigrated to Southern Vietnam, including the Mekong River Delta, hence the cult was introduced into the region. The whole region has got a total of 74 Tianhou temples (of which the Chinese built 57, the Vietnamese built 17 and around 100 temples of gods in which Tianhou is co-worshipped. After over three hundred years of cultural integration and social development, Tianhou has changed from the main functions of a sea protector to powerful multi-functional Mother Goddess of both ethnic Chinese (also called “ethnic Hoa”) and a great number of Vietnamese people. This paper is to explore the structure and connotation of the cult of Tianhou in the Mekong River Delta from the perspective of cultural studies, and applies Western theories of hierarchy of need, superscription and standardization in popular religion and rituals as well as concept of distinction between acculturation and assimilation to analyze the transformation and adaptation of a symbolic faith under the specific background of the Mekong River Delta in Vietnam. The research also aims to investigate the principles of reshaping and constructing contemporary cultural identity of the ethnic Chinese people in Vietnam as well as the activeness and flexibility of local Vietnamese in dealing with the external cultural practices. This case study plays an important role in shaping a systematic look of cultural exchanges and multicultural harmonization in Vietnam nowadays