Ouyi Zhixu=蕅益智旭; Chinese Buddhist monk; karma; divination; repentance; ascetic acts; burning; blood writing; Chinese Buddhism
摘要
Ouyi Zhixu (1599–1655) was an eminent Chinese Buddhist monk who, contrary to his contemporaries, believed karma could be changed. Through vows, divination, repentance rituals, and ascetic acts such as burning and blood writing, he sought to alter what others understood as inevitable and inescapable. Drawing attention to Ouyi's unique reshaping of religious practice, this text reasserts the significance of an overlooked individual in the modern development of Chinese Buddhism. While Buddhist studies scholarship tends to privilege textual analysis, Living Karma promotes a balanced study of ritual practice and writing, treating Ouyi's texts as ritual objects and his reading and writing as religious acts. Each chapter addresses a specific religious practice—writing, divination, repentance, vows, and bodily rituals—offering first a diachronic overview of each practice within the history of Chinese Buddhism and then a synchronic analysis of each phenomenon through close readings of Ouyi's work. This book sheds much-needed light on a little-known figure and his representation of karma, which proved to be a seminal innovation in the religious thought of late imperial China.
目次
Front Matter Copyright Page Illustrations Acknowledgements Introduction One Karma as a Narrative Device in Ouyi’s Autobiography Two Divination as a Karmic Diagnostic Three Repentance Rituals for Eliminating Karma Four Vowing to Assume the Karma of Others Five Slicing, Burning, and Blood Writing: Karmic Transformations of Bodies Conclusion End Matter Appendix 1 A Translation of Ouyi’s Autobiography Appendix 2 A Map of Ouyi’s Life Notes Glossary of Terms, People, Places, and Titles of Texts Bibliography Index
