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Wed 12 April
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Thu 13 April
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Fri 14 April
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Thursday 13 April 2023 08.30 - 10.30
H-5 REL02 Religious Manoeuvrability in Mediaeval Chinese Society
B33
Networks: Asia , Middle Ages , Religion Chair: Natalia Núñez Bargueño
Organizer: Qingfeng Nie Discussants: -
Chao Ling : Poetic Construction of Multiple Times in Li Shen’s “Twenty Poems on the New Tower”
This paper studies Li Shen’s (772–846) ?? series of twenty poems about the New Tower ?? to show how a poetic strategy of spatialization and objectification of time had been eloquently employed to cope with and take advantage of the grammatically tenseless and aspect-less Chinese language. In addition to the ... (Show more)
This paper studies Li Shen’s (772–846) ?? series of twenty poems about the New Tower ?? to show how a poetic strategy of spatialization and objectification of time had been eloquently employed to cope with and take advantage of the grammatically tenseless and aspect-less Chinese language. In addition to the linguistic and poetic grounds, I also argue that Buddhist understanding of representation and truth provides crucial philosophical aid to such poetics, at least in Li Shen’s case. (Show less)

Qingfeng Nie : Statesmen's Religious Dilemma in Late Tang
This paper examines the thorny situation in which the eminent chief minister Li Deyu (787–850) found himself in the nationwide persecution of Buddhism in the late Tang. A pious follower of Buddhism and Daoism, Li was forced to take sides between his religious devotion and the responsibility of a respected ... (Show more)
This paper examines the thorny situation in which the eminent chief minister Li Deyu (787–850) found himself in the nationwide persecution of Buddhism in the late Tang. A pious follower of Buddhism and Daoism, Li was forced to take sides between his religious devotion and the responsibility of a respected statesman. By comparing his attitude with the stances taken by his contemporaries such as Bai Juyi (772–846), I argue that the religious prosperity and sophisticated manoeuvrability among high officials qualified Buddhism as a cornerstone in mediaeval Chinese society. (Show less)

Yu Wen : The Perfidious Poems: Buddhism in Han Yu’s Poetry Writing
This article aims to explore the ambiguous attitude of Han Yu ?? (768-824), a prestigious politician, essayist, and poet, when coping with the issue of Buddhism booming in mid and late Tang China. While scholars well-accepted that Han Yu, with his most famous admonishment to the emperor “Memorial on the ... (Show more)
This article aims to explore the ambiguous attitude of Han Yu ?? (768-824), a prestigious politician, essayist, and poet, when coping with the issue of Buddhism booming in mid and late Tang China. While scholars well-accepted that Han Yu, with his most famous admonishment to the emperor “Memorial on the Buddha’s Relics” ????? (819), is one of the most radical anti-Buddhist officials in Tang, this article, on the other hand, examines how his poetry writing divulges his flexibility with Buddhism. I argue that though Han Yu politically stands firmly against Buddhism, his poetic creation consciously or unconsciously concedes the fluidity of his sympathetic attitude towards Buddhism. In terms of socially engaging with Buddhist monks, employing Buddhist thoughts in poetic creation, and aesthetically borrowing Buddhist mural images, especially the Esoteric Mantra’s (Vajrayana) demonic images, Han Yu weaves the Buddhist ideas into his influential poetic value of eccentricity, which becomes as a reforming writing style in Chinese poetry history. (Show less)

Bo Xie : The Ambivalence of Yin: the Conflicting Images of Women in Early Daoist Rituals
This article aims to give an account of the multiple uses of the female figure in early Daoist rituals, through case studies ranging from the priestesses of the Celestial Master Daoism (Tianshi Dao???) to the goddesses imagined by the Highest Purity School (Shangqing pai???) which appeared in male spiritual media. ... (Show more)
This article aims to give an account of the multiple uses of the female figure in early Daoist rituals, through case studies ranging from the priestesses of the Celestial Master Daoism (Tianshi Dao???) to the goddesses imagined by the Highest Purity School (Shangqing pai???) which appeared in male spiritual media. These case studies aim to reveal that in early Daoist rituals, the attitude towards women were complex and often conflicting. On the one hand, the women in these rituals were respected as the representation of yin. On the other hand, in real practical Daoist practices and rituals women were marginalized. This inconsistency in the image of women in early Daoist rituals, I argue, reflects the ambivalence of yin in this ritual tradition. (Show less)



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