Images, Relics and Legends: the Formation and Transformation of Buddhist Sacred Sites. Essays in Honour of Professor Koichi Shinohara
Edited by James A. Benn, Jinhua Chen, and James Robson
Mosaic Press, 2012. ISBN: 9780889629097
A major collection of important essays by many of the leading scholars in the field of Buddhism, including Phyllis Granoff from Yale University, T.H.Barrett from the University of London, Raoul Birnbaum from University of California, Toru Funayama from Kyoto University, Eugene Wang from Harvard University and others.
The spread of Buddhism in Asia may be viewed from one perspective as a protracted and complex process in which numerous sacred sites were continually created and recreated in different parts of Asia. The story of Buddhism increasinly penetrating into all levels of society in Asia is mirrored by another narrative in which some of the most sacred sites in India
were reproduced in other parts of the world. This reproduction or doubling was, however, never a simple matter of transplantation; rather it involved complex cultural adjustments and inventions. The study of Buddhist sacred sites in South and East Asia, therefore, yields some revealing new perspectives on the cross-cultural issues created by the “Buddhist conquest
of Asia.”
The volume sheds new light on issues such as pilgrimage; the development of Buddhist monasticism; the remembrance of Buddhist saints and patriarchs; Buddhist sacred sites and more, and deepens our understanding of the Buddhist tradition.
Professor Koichi Shinohara, A Biographical Sketch and Bibliography of his
Published Work
Jinhua Chen
Introduction
James Robson
Chapter One
Bewitching Beauty: Some Jain Reflections on Art
Phyllis Granoff
Chapter Two
Manifestation of the Buddha’s Land in the Here and Now:
Relic Installation and Territorial Transformation in Medieval Korea
Eun-su Cho
Chapter Three
On The Road to China: The Continental Relocation of Sacred Space and its
Consequences
T. H. Barrett
Chapter Four
Gunavarman and Some of the Earliest Examples of Ordination Platforms
(jietan) in China
Toru Funayama
Chapter Five
Yuantong’s Visit to the Zhulin Monastery in Gushan: A Sociology of a
Visionary Sacred Place
Koichi Shinohara
Chapter Six
Jiang Zhiqi (1031-1104) and the Miaoshan Legend: Creation of a New Home for Avalokitesvara
Jinhua Chen
Chapter Seven
One Mountain, Two Traditions: Buddhist and Taoist Claims on Zhongnan shan
in Medieval Times
James Benn
Chapter Eight
Changing Places: The Conversions of Religious Sites in China
James Robson
Chapter Nine
Where Did the Picture of the Auspicious Omen from Shanzhou Come From?
Manufacture of Sites and Sights in Seventh-Century China
Eugene Wang
Chapter Ten
Human Traces and the Experience of Powerful Places: A Note on Memory,
History, and Practice in Buddhist China
Raoul Birnbaum
Chapter Eleven
Designating the Sacred by the Secular: Honors and Posthumous Titles for
Chan Monks in the Zutang ji and Jingde Chuandeng lu
Albert Welter
Chapter Twelve
Ryouou Doukaku (1630-1707), Ascetic, Philanthropist, Bibliophile, and
Entrepreneur:
The Creation of Japan’s First Public Library, Part 1
Paul Groner
Chapter Thirteen
Locating the Immovable One on the Ground: The Meguro Fudou Cult in Early
Modern Japan
Kevin Bond
What can I do with a B.A. in Japanese Studies? 