This third volume of Princeton Readings in Religions demonstrates that the "three religions" of China--Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism (with a fourth, folk religion, sometimes added)--are not mutually exclusive: they overlap and interact with each other in a rich variety of ways. The volume also illustrates some of the many interactions between Han culture and the cultures designated by the current government as "minorities." Selections from minority cultures here, for instance, are the folktale of Ny Dan the Manchu Shamaness and a funeral chant of the Yi nationality collected by local researchers in the early 1980s. Each of the forty unusual selections, from ancient oracle bones to stirring accounts of mystic visions, is preceded by a substantial introduction. As with the other volumes, most of the selections here have never been translated before. Stephen Teiser provides a general introduction in which the major themes and categories of the religions of China are analyzed.
The book represents an attempt to move from one conception of the "Chinese spirit" to a picture of many spirits, including a Laozi who acquires magical powers and eventually ascends to heaven in broad daylight; the white-robed Guanyin, one of the most beloved Buddhist deities in China; and the burning-mouth hungry ghost. The book concludes with a section on "earthly conduct."
Princeton Readings in ReligionsNote on TransliterationContents by TraditionContents by ChronologyContributorsIntroduction31Deities and Ancestors in Early Oracle Inscriptions412Laozi: Ancient Philosopher, Master of Immortality, and God523The Lives and Teachings of the Divine Lord of Zitong644City Gods and Their Magistrates725The Earliest Tales of the Bodhisattva Guanshiyin826A Sutra Promoting the White-robed Guanyin as Giver of Sons977Zhu Xi on Spirit Beings1068The Inner Cultivation Tradition of Early Daoism1239Body Gods and Inner Vision: The Scripture of the Yellow Court14910An Early Poem of Mystical Excursion15611Declarations of the Perfected16612Seduction Songs of One of the Perfected18013Answering a Summons18814Visions of Manjusri on Mount Wutai20315Ny Dan the Manchu Shamaness22316Teachings of a Spirit Medium22917Spellbinding24118Record of the Feng and Shan Sacrifices25119The Scripture on the Production of Buddha Images26120The Purification Ritual of the Luminous Perfected26821Saving the Burning-Mouth Hungry Ghost27822The Law of the Spirits28423Shrines to Local Former Worthies29324Daoist Ritual in Contemporary Southeast China30625Calling on Souls and Dealing with Spirits: Three Lahu Ritual Texts32726A Funeral Chant of the Yi Nationality33727Abridged Codes of Master Lu for the Daoist Community34728The Scripture in Forty-two Sections36029The Scripture on Perfect Wisdom for Humane Kings Who Wish to Protect Their States37230The Buddhism of the Cultured Elite38131Buddhist Ritual and the State39032Biography of a Buddhist Layman39733The Book of Good Deeds: A Scripture of the Ne People40534Supernatural Retribution and Human Destiny42335Stories from an Illustrated Explanation of the Tract of the Most Exalted on Action and Response43736Record of Occultists44637Imperial Guest Ritual471Index489
