Title

Login

Join

Book's by Beverley Foulks McGuire

Covers

List

Living Karma

The Religious Practices of Ouyi Zhixu

By: Beverley Foulks McGuire

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Living Karma

The Religious Practices of Ouyi Zhixu

By: Beverley Foulks McGuire

Ouyi Zhixu (1599Ð1655) was an eminent Chinese Buddhist monk who, contrary to his contemporaries, believed karma could be changed. Through vows, divination, repentance rituals, and ascetic acts such as burning and blood writing, he sought to alter what others understood as inevitable and inescapable. Drawing attention to OuyiÕs unique reshaping of religious practice, Living Karma reasserts the significance of an overlooked individual in the modern development of Chinese Buddhism. While Buddhist studies scholarship tends to privilege textual analysis, Living Karma promotes a balanced study of ritual practice and writing, treating OuyiÕs texts as ritual objects and his reading and writing as religious acts. Each chapter addresses a specific religious practiceÑwriting, divination, repentance, vows, and bodily ritualsÑoffering first a diachronic overview of each practice within the history of Chinese Buddhism and then a synchronic analysis of each phenomenon through close readings of OuyiÕs work. The book sheds much-needed light on this little-known figure and his representation of karma, which proved to be a seminal innovation in the religious thought of late imperial China.

Average ratings

N/A

5

0%

4

0%

3

0%

2

0%

1

0%

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

242

Publisher

Columbia University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0231168020

ISBN 13

9780231168021

Living Karma

The Religious Practices of Ouyi Zhixu

By: Beverley Foulks McGuire

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Living Karma

The Religious Practices of Ouyi Zhixu

By: Beverley Foulks McGuire

Ouyi Zhixu (1599Ð1655) was an eminent Chinese Buddhist monk who, contrary to his contemporaries, believed karma could be changed. Through vows, divination, repentance rituals, and ascetic acts such as burning and blood writing, he sought to alter what others understood as inevitable and inescapable. Drawing attention to OuyiÕs unique reshaping of religious practice, Living Karma reasserts the significance of an overlooked individual in the modern development of Chinese Buddhism. While Buddhist studies scholarship tends to privilege textual analysis, Living Karma promotes a balanced study of ritual practice and writing, treating OuyiÕs texts as ritual objects and his reading and writing as religious acts. Each chapter addresses a specific religious practiceÑwriting, divination, repentance, vows, and bodily ritualsÑoffering first a diachronic overview of each practice within the history of Chinese Buddhism and then a synchronic analysis of each phenomenon through close readings of OuyiÕs work. The book sheds much-needed light on this little-known figure and his representation of karma, which proved to be a seminal innovation in the religious thought of late imperial China.

Average ratings

N/A

5

0%

4

0%

3

0%

2

0%

1

0%

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

242

Publisher

Columbia University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0231168020

ISBN 13

9780231168021