E-Books →The Impact of Buddhism on Chinese Material Culture

John Kieschnick, "The Impact of Buddhism on Chinese Material Culture"
English | 2003 | pages: 355 | ISBN: 0691096767, 0691096759 | PDF | 33,2 mb
From the first century, when Buddhism entered China, the foreign religion shaped Chinese philosophy, beliefs, and ritual. At the same time, Buddhism had a profound effect on the material world of the Chinese. This wide-ranging study shows that Buddhism brought with it a vast array of objects big and small-relics treasured as parts of the body of the Buddha, prayer beads, and monastic clothing-as well as new ideas about what objects could do and how they should be treated. Kieschnick argues that even some everyday objects not ordinarily associated with Buddhism-bridges, tea, and the chair-on closer inspection turn out to have been intimately tied to Buddhist ideas and practices. Long after Buddhism ceased to be a major force in India, it continued to influence the development of material culture in China, as it does to the present day.