Stephen R. Bokenkamp's Books

Ancestors and Anxiety

Daoism and the Birth of Rebirth in China

By: Stephen R. Bokenkamp

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Ancestors and Anxiety

Daoism and the Birth of Rebirth in China

By: Stephen R. Bokenkamp

This innovative work on Chinese concepts of the afterlife is the result of Stephen Bokenkamp's groundbreaking study of Chinese scripture and the incorporation of Indic concepts into the Chinese worldview. Here, he explores how Chinese authors, including Daoists and non-Buddhists, received and deployed ideas about rebirth from the third to the sixth centuries C.E. In tracing the antecedents of these scriptures, Bokenkamp uncovers a stunning array of non-Buddhist accounts that provide detail on the realms of the dead, their denizens, and human interactions with them. Bokenkamp demonstrates that the motive for the Daoist acceptance of Buddhist notions of rebirth lay not so much in the power of these ideas as in the work they could be made to do.

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Page Count

238

Publisher

Univ of California Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0520933346

ISBN 13

9780520933347

A Fourth-Century Daoist Family

The Zhen'gao, or Declarations of the Perfected, Volume 1

By: Stephen R. Bokenkamp

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A Fourth-Century Daoist Family

The Zhen'gao, or Declarations of the Perfected, Volume 1

By: Stephen R. Bokenkamp

This volume is the first in a series of full-length English translations from one of the foremost classics in Daoist religious literature, the Zhen gao or Declarations of the Perfected. The Declarations is a collection of poems, accounts of the dead, instructions, and meditation methods received by the Daoist Yang Xi (330–ca. 386 BCE) from celestial beings and shared by him with his patrons and students. These fragments of revealed material were collected and annotated by the eminent scholar and Daoist Tao Hongjing (456–536), allowing us access to these distant worlds and unfamiliar strategies of self-perfection. Bokenkamp's full translation highlights the literary nature of Daoist revelation and the place of the Declarations in the development of Chinese letters. It further details interactions with the Chinese throne and the aristocracy and demonstrates ways that Buddhist borrowings helped shape Daoism much earlier than has been assumed. This first volume also contains heretofore unrecognized reconfigurations of Buddhist myth and practice that Yang Xi introduced to his Daoist audience.

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Page Count

215

Publisher

Univ of California Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0520976037

ISBN 13

9780520976030

Early Daoist Scriptures

By: Stephen R. Bokenkamp

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Early Daoist Scriptures

By: Stephen R. Bokenkamp

For centuries Daoism (Taoism) has played a central role in the development of Chinese thought and civilization, yet to this day only a few of its sacred texts have been translated into English. Now Stephen R. Bokenkamp introduces the reader to ancient scriptures never before published in the West, providing a systematic and easily accessible introduction to early Daoism (c. 2nd-6th C.E.). Representative works from each of the principal Daoist traditions comprise the basic structure of the book, with each chapter accompanied by an introduction that places the material within a historical and cultural context. Included are translations of the earliest Daoist commentary to Laozi's Daode jing (Tao Te Ching); historical documents relating the history of the early Daoist church; a petitioning ritual used to free believers from complaints brought against them by the dead; and two complete scriptures, one on individual meditation practice and another designed to rescue humanity from the terrors of hell through recitation of its powerful charms. In addition, Bokenkamp elucidates the connections Daoism holds with other schools of thought, particularly Confucianism and Buddhism. This book provides a much-needed introduction to Daoism for students of religion and is a welcome addition for scholars wishing to explore Daoist sacred literature. It serves as an overview to every aspect of early Daoist tradition and all the seminal practices which have helped shape the religion as it exists today.

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Page Count

520

Publisher

Univ of California Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

052092312X

ISBN 13

9780520923126

Early Daoist Scriptures

By: Stephen R. Bokenkamp

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Early Daoist Scriptures

By: Stephen R. Bokenkamp

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Page Count

524

Publisher

Univ of California Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

052092312X

ISBN 13

9780520923126

Ancestors and Anxiety

Daoism and the Birth of Rebirth in China

By: Stephen R. Bokenkamp

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Ancestors and Anxiety

Daoism and the Birth of Rebirth in China

By: Stephen R. Bokenkamp

A work on Chinese concepts of the afterlife. It explores how Chinese authors, including Daoists and non-Buddhists, received and deployed ideas about rebirth from the third to the sixth centuries CE. In tracing the antecedents of these scriptures, it presents non-Buddhist accounts that provide detail on the realms of the dead.

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Age

Page Count

233

Publisher

Univ of California Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0520249488

ISBN 13

9780520249486

Book's by Stephen R. Bokenkamp

Ancestors and Anxiety

Ancestors and Anxiety

A Fourth-Century Daoist Family

A Fourth-Century Daoist Family

Early Daoist Scriptures

Early Daoist Scriptures

Early Daoist Scriptures

Early Daoist Scriptures

Ancestors and Anxiety

Ancestors and Anxiety

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