Burning for the Buddha: Self-Immolation in Chinese BuddhismBurning for the Buddha is the first book-length study of the theory and practice of "abandoning the body"(self-immolation) in Chinese Buddhism. It examines the hagiographical accounts of all those who made offerings of their own bodies and places them in historical, social, cultural, and doctrinal context. Rather than privilege the doctrinal and exegetical interpretations of the tradition, which assume the central importance of the mind and its cultivation, James Benn focuses on the ways in which the heroic ideals of the bodhisattva present in scriptural materials such as the Lotus Sutra played out in the realm of religious practice on the ground. |
Contents
| 1 | |
SelfImmolation in Early Medieval China | 19 |
Chapter 2 The Lotus Sūtra AutoCremation and the Indestructible Tongues | 54 |
The Powers of SelfImmolation | 78 |
Yongming Yanshou on Relinquishing the Body | 104 |
SelfImmolation in the Late Tang and Five Dynasties | 132 |
Chapter 6 One Thousand Years of SelfImmolation | 164 |
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Common terms and phrases
Account Appended auto-cremation bene¤t biography bodhisattva Buddha burn his body century Chan master chanting Chapter Chen Jinhua Chinese Buddhist collection compiled cremation dāna Daodu Daoxuan death dharma disciples donation dynasty Eminent Monks emperor example Fayuan zhulin gaoseng zhuan 40 Hangzhou Huayan jing Huijiao Huiyi immolation incense jātaka Jinhua later Liang Liang Wudi Liuxue seng zhuan Lotus Sūtra Mahāyāna Medicine King medieval China Ming miracles monastery monastic monk mountain ngers nianfo ŒŒŒ of¤cials offering one’s pagoda precepts present-day prince Pure Land recited relics rewood sacri¤ce saœgha saœsāra šarīra scripture self-immolation Sengyai SGSZ 23 shan Shanxi Sichuan signi¤cant Song gaoseng zhuan sources speci¤c šrama’a Shi story stūpa Tang Taoist Tiantai tion Tonggui ji translated Vinaya Wang Wang Shichong Wu-Yue Wutai shan XGSZ 27 Xin xu gaoseng xu gaoseng zhuan Yanshou Zanning Zanning’s Zhejiang Zhou zhuan 9 Zhuangzi zhuzi suoyin Zizhi tongjian