| DATE: | Saturday, April 19, 2008, 9:00 am - 4:00 pm |
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| PLACE: | IEAS Conference Room, 2223 Fulton Street, 6th Floor |
| SPONSORS: | Center for Buddhist Studies Center for Chinese Studies Institute of East Asian Studies Townsend Center for the Humanities |
This symposium on "Literati Buddhism in Middle-Period China" will explore the intersection between elite culture and Buddhism in the Tang, Song, and Yuan dynasties (7th through 14th c.). Our hope is to contribute to the understanding of Buddhism's place within Chinese history, as well as bring different scholarly approaches into greater conversation. The topic of the symposium will be of interest to scholars of Chinese culture and history, and well as to those interested in the interaction of religion and society.
The relationship between Buddhist clergy and lay followers has several dimensions: literati who pursued Buddhism as a complement or alternative to state-sanctioned studies; engagement with "Confucian" learning by Buddhist monks; the role of Buddhist sites in literary and artistic imaginations; the use of poetry and calligraphy by Buddhist monks; the role of Buddhist monasteries, temples, and cloisters in local society; and the material instantiations of the relations between monks and literati. Elite lay practitioners of Buddhism had multiple identities, acting as government officials, local leaders, and cultural figures as well. Their devotion to Buddhism entailed both intellectual navigations through divergent ideologies, as well as social action, manifested through economic and personal patronage. Monks, on the other hand, needed to be able to elicit support from local and national figures; this happened on both the level of discourse and through material culture. Monks and literati shared philosophical interests, ethical concerns, and cultural pursuits. By examining their contact in these various spheres, the symposium will address the creation of communities of scholars both through discourse and institutions.
