232 pp. May 1997
paper, ISBN 978-0-8248-1841-8, $29.00
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Keywords: |
Asia
China
Buddhism
biography
history
religion
textbook |
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The Eminent Monk: Buddhist Ideals in Medieval Chinese Hagiography
by John Kieschnick
Studies in East Asian Buddhism, #10
Kuroda Institute
“One strength of this book is its consciousness of difference, the juggling of diverse voices and implied audiences.... Another strength, which quickly persuaded me to order this book for use in a lower-division class on East Asian religion, is the readability of the prose, light in its theoretical touch and interspersed with some great stories.” —Journal of Buddhist Ethics 5 (1998) (Read full review) “A very useful contribution. Because of its manageable length and engaging style it may be used in undergraduate courses, especially if students are encouraged to comment on the difficulties of pursuing the mentalities and actualities of Chinese hagiographical writing.” —China Review International, Spring 2004
In an attempt to reconstruct an elusive aspect of the medieval Chinese imagination, The Eminent Monk examines biographies of Chinese Buddhist monks, from the uncompromising ascetic to the unfathomable wonder-worker. While analyzing images of the monk in medieval China, the author addresses some questions encountered along the way: What are we to make of accounts in “eminent monk” collections of deviant monks who violate monastic precepts? Who wrote biographies of monks and who read them? How did different segments of Chinese society contend for the image of the monk and which image prevailed? By placing biographies of monks in the context of Chinese political and religious rhetoric, The Eminent Monk explores both the role of Buddhist literature in Chinese history and the monastic imagination that inspired this literature.
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