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Kuan-yin - Chün-fang Yü

Kuan-yin

The Chinese Transformation of Avalokitesvara

(Autor)

Buch | Softcover
688 Seiten
2001
Columbia University Press (Verlag)
978-0-231-12029-6 (ISBN)
CHF 72,90 inkl. MwSt
This work examines the dramatic transformation of one of the most important objects of worship in the Buddhist tradition - the Indian (male) bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, or the embodiment of compassion - into the (female) Chinese Kuan-yin, or the "Goddess of Mercy"
By far one of the most important objects of worship in the Buddhist traditions, the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara is regarded as the embodiment of compassion. He has been widely revered throughout the Buddhist countries of Asia since the early centuries of the Common Era. While he was closely identified with the royalty in South and Southeast Asia, and the Tibetans continue to this day to view the Dalai Lamas as his incarnations, in China he became a she-Kuan-yin, the "Goddess of Mercy"-and has a very different history. The causes and processes of this metamorphosis have perplexed Buddhist scholars for centuries. In this groundbreaking, comprehensive study, Chun-fang Yu discusses this dramatic transformation of the (male) Indian bodhisattva Avalokitesvara into the (female) Chinese Kuan-yin-from a relatively minor figure in the Buddha's retinue to a universal savior and one of the most popular deities in Chinese religion.
Focusing on the various media through which the feminine Kuan-yin became constructed and domesticated in China, Yu thoroughly examines Buddhist scriptures, miracle stories, pilgrimages, popular literature, and monastic and local gazetteers-as well as the changing iconography reflected in Kuan-yin's images and artistic representations-to determine the role this material played in this amazing transformation. The book eloquently depicts the domestication of Kuan-yin as a case study of the indigenization of Buddhism in China and illuminates the ways this beloved deity has affected the lives of all Chinese people down the ages.

Chun-fang Yu is professor and chair of the Department of Religion at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. She is the author of The Renewal of Buddhism in China: Chu-hung and the Late Ming Synthesis (Columbia) and coeditor of Pilgrims and Sacred Sites in China.

Preface Appendixes A. Stele Text of the "Life of the Great Compassionate One" B. Chinese Women Pilgrims' Songs Glorifying Kuan-yin Notes Glossary and Index 1. Introduction 2. Scriptural Sources for the Cult of Kuan-yin 3. Indigenous Scriptures and the Cult of Kuan-yin 4.Miracle Tales and the Domestication of Kuan-yin 5. Divine Monks and the Domestication of Kuan-yin 6. Indigenous Iconographies and the Domestication of Kuan-yin 7. The Ritual of Great Compassion Repentance and the Domestication of the Thousand-handed and the Thousand-eyed Kuan-yin in the Sung 8. Princess Miao-shan and the Feminization of Kuan-yin 9. P'ut'o Shan: Pilgrimage and the Creation of the Chinese Potalaka 10. Feminine Forms of Kuan-yin in Late Imperial China 11. Venerable Mother: Kuan-yin and Sectarian Religions in Late Imperial China 12. Conclusion

Erscheint lt. Verlag 22.3.2001
Zusatzinfo 48 halftones, 2 maps
Verlagsort New York
Sprache englisch
Maße 229 x 155 mm
Themenwelt Geisteswissenschaften Religion / Theologie Buddhismus
ISBN-10 0-231-12029-X / 023112029X
ISBN-13 978-0-231-12029-6 / 9780231120296
Zustand Neuware
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