Keith Knapp has compiled a very helpful list of AAR panels of interest to scholars of Confucianism, which I share here. The AAR Annual Meeting takes place in San Antonio, Texas starting on Nov. 19.
AAR Panels of Interest to Students of Confucianism
A19-121
Chinese Religions Group
Theme: Envisioning Salvation: Eschatology and Utopias in Medieval China
Natasha Heller, University of California, Los Angeles, Presiding
Saturday – 9:00 AM-11:30 AM
Convention Center-214D (2nd Level – West)
This panel investigates a range of understandings of eschatology and utopias in medieval China. While it is well known that Chinese eschatology is an amalgam of Indic Buddhist concepts with indigenous Chinese understandings, the papers in the panel will focus on the manifestation of these themes in a variety of indigenous texts and practices. The papers will demonstrate some of the ways in which the perceived decline of both religious doctrine and human morality prompted a reframing of practices and textual understandings in Chinese religious traditions in terms of eschatology as well as utopian models.
Max Brandstadt, University of California, Berkeley
Reading Scripture as the Dharma Declines: The Exegetical Strategies of Tang China’s Three Levels Movement
Zhaohua Yang, Columbia University
From Scatology to Eschatology: The Refashioning of Ucchusma in Two Dharani-Sutras in the Early Eighth Century
April Hughes, Gonzaga University
Imagining Utopia in the Canonical and Apocryphal Maitreya Scriptures
Dominic Steavu-Balint, University of California, Santa Barbara
Cosmic Time and its Reversion in Taoist Utopias
Responding:
James A. Benn, McMaster University
Business Meeting:
Anna Sun, Kenyon College
Megan Bryson, University of Tennessee
A19-133
Religions in Chinese and Indian Cultures: A Comparative Perspective Group
Theme: Expressing Indian Ideas in Chinese Ways: Translation, Magic, and Poetry
Michael Allen, University of Virginia, Presiding
Saturday – 9:00 AM-11:30 AM
Grand Hyatt-Crockett B (4th Level)
For over two millennia Indian ideas and practices arriving in China were transformed and adopted. This panel stretches the third century to the twentieth, and starts with Fotudeng (232-348 CE), an early Buddhist missionary whose magical powers epitomized the intersection of Chinese and Indian ideas about the spiritual person as a superhuman embodiment of cosmic powers. Then there is an exploration of the hagiographies of monks from India, Central Asia and various parts of China who practiced divination as recorded in ‘Biographies of Thaumaturge Monks’ (Shenseng Zhuan 神僧傳, T. 2064). Then a study of Chinese translations of dhāraṇī texts made during the Liang period (502-557 CE) focusses on a distinctive moment in the development of Indian rituals, adding elements not found in the received Sanskrit versions. While the Silk Road is famous for disseminating ideas along a trade route, historical circumstances brought a very different, maritime route that is much less well known: the South Indian Chola Dynasty’s maritime interactions with Song (7th-13th c. CE). This is presented in the following paper. Finally, from the 20th c, a look at Rabindranath Tagore’s influence on China’s May Fourth New Poetry offers an indication of cultural interactions in the modern world.
John M. Thompson, Christopher Newport University
The Buddhist Perfect Man (Zhiren): Fotudeng and the Thaumaturgical Imperative
Esther-Maria Guggenmos, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg
Divining Monks across Asia: Exploring the Biographies of Thaumaturge Monks (T.2064)
Ronald M. Davidson, Fairfield University
Cooking with Texts: Dhāraṇī Translations in Liáng China
Travis Travis, Temple University
The Flood of Kaveripattinam: Providing a Narrative for the Chola Dynasty’s Political and Economic Role in the Maritime Silk Road
Gal Gvili, Columbia University
Pan-Asian Poetics: Tagore and the Interpersonal in May 4th New Poetry
Responding:
Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad, Lancaster University
Business Meeting:
Dan Lusthaus, Harvard University
Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad, Lancaster University
A19-217
Daoist Studies Group
Theme: Copying the Heavens: The Production of Handwritten Manuscripts in Religious Daoism
Stephen R. Bokenkamp, Arizona State University, Presiding
Saturday – 1:00 PM-3:30 PM
Grand Hyatt-Bonham B (3rd Level)
Daoist scriptures remain one of the world’s most understudied bodies of sacred texts, and this panel proposes that the ongoing alteration of texts in Daoism is perhaps one of its most distinctive features among world religions. One reason for this is that there are few “monumental scriptures” of Daoism: besides the Daodejing, few Daoist scriptures remained in circulation over many centuries. Unlike other sacred books like the Bible or the Quran, Daoist scriptures were always a state of flux. These scriptures were (and still are) continuously remade and refashioned by Daoist priests and nuns. Texts are something that accrete overtime since Daoist adepts copy passages from their master’s library. The panelists argue that we can understand the ways Daoist manuscripts are written, received, and distributed by analyzing the ritual contexts that inform and are informed by hand-copied manuscripts.
Jonathan Pettit, Purdue University
A New Approach to the Production and Circulation of Early Daoist Manuscripts
Tyler Feezell, Arizona State University
The Real Numinous Officer: An Analysis of Non-Canonical Jiao Liturgical Manuscripts in Religious Daoism
Shu-wei Hsieh, National Cheng-chi University
Daoist Manuscript and Ritual: A Study on the Dipper Ritual in Local Daoism
David Mozina, Boston College
Living Redactions: The Practice of Textual Change in Today’s Thunder Ritual
Responding:
Kim Haines-Eitzen, Cornell University
Business Meeting:
Elena Valussi, Loyola University, Chicago
David Mozina, Boston College
A19-238
[if !supportLists]· [endif]Full Papers Available
Holmes Welch and the Study of Buddhism in Twentieth-Century China Seminar
Theme: Monastic Models and Lineages in Modern Chinese Buddhism
Erik Hammerstrom, Pacific Lutheran University, Presiding
Saturday – 1:00 PM-3:30 PM
Convention Center-223 (2nd Level – East)
Full papers for this session will be available online beginning November 1 at https://www.aarweb.org/aar-full-paper-submission-program#a19-238. This five-year seminar celebrates the significant scholarly contributions made by Holmes Welch (1924-1981) to the study of twentieth-century Chinese Buddhism, and explores how we might advance the field beyond the boundaries and scope of his original ideas through the use of new sources and methodologies. In this, its third year, the seminar will focus on papers dealing with different aspects of Chinese Buddhist monasticism. Two papers discuss early twentieth-century monastic ideals: Theravāda as an ideal type of monastic practice, and Yuanying as an ideal monk. The other papers focus on monastic lineages: in one small nunnery within China, and in transnational networks. Full papers will be made available prior to the Annual Meeting via AAR’s PAPERS system, and all attendees are encouraged to read these papers in advance of the meeting.
Ester Bianchi, University of Perugia
The Theravāda Model in the Chinese Conception and Reconfiguration of Monastic Discipline in Holmes Welch’s Scholarship and Subsequent Buddhist Studies
Stefania Travagnin, University of Groningen
A Small Nunnery but a Big Story: Buddhist Women and the Hidden History of Modern Chinese Buddhism
Rongdao Lai, University of Southern California
Lineage Networks and the Transnational Transmission of Modern Chinese Buddhism
Gregory Adam Scott, University of Edinburgh
Holmes Welch and Chinese Buddhism in a Cold War Context
Business Meeting:
Gregory Adam Scott, University of Edinburgh
A19-334
[if !supportLists]· [endif]Focus on Sustainability
Space, Place, and Religion Group
Theme: Mountaineering Religion in Asia and Beyond
Brian J. Nichols, Mount Royal University, Presiding
Saturday – 4:00 PM-6:30 PM
Convention Center-304C (3rd Level)
This panel offers innovative theories and cross-cultural insights into the role that mountains play in constructing religious idea(l)s. The first paper on an 8th century Chinese Daoist stele inscription at Mt. Lu proposes a new definition of “religion” that includes place as collective memory, cosmology, and lifeway. The second paper on the 13th century Japanese Zen monastery Eiheiji uncovers ideological and poetic layers of meaning deep in the “dharma-body” of the mountains. The third paper on American deep ecologist Dolores LaChapelle locates her Asian-inflected “religion” in the Rockies, where her integrated worldview and sense of embodied authenticity first awakened. The fourth paper examines how literature informs Muslim and non-Muslim pilgrimage to a sacred Mountain and Sufi shrine in Indonesia, and the fifth paper on the Hindu-Buddhist-Muslim footprint at Adam’s Peak in India, further explores the construction of religion at multi-use sites. Together, these papers interrogate the possibility of “mountains-as-religion.”
Timothy Swanger, Arizona State University
Memory, Place, and Religion in an Early Medieval Chinese Stele
Pamela D. Winfield, Elon University
The Situated Body at Eiheiji Zen Mountain Monastery, Japan
Sarah King, Grand Valley State University
“A Blaze of Reality”: The Ecstasy of Mountains in Dolores LaChappelle’s Deep Ecology
David Damrel, University of South Carolina Upstate
Visiting Magic Mountain: Contemporary Religious Travel Guides at a Sufi Shrine in East Java, Indonesia
Blayne Harcey, Iliff School of Theology
Relics, Traces, and Indexes: The Politics of Territory and the Construction of Memory in Encounter at Śri Pāda
Responding:
Matthew Mitchell, Duke University
Business Meeting:
David Bains, Samford University
Brian J. Nichols, Mount Royal University
A20-262
[if !supportLists]· [endif]Books under Discussion
[if !supportLists]· [endif]Professional Practices and Institutional Location
Teaching Religion Section and Chinese Religions Group
Theme: Teaching Religions of China in Practice (Princeton University Press, 1996)
Natasha Heller, University of California, Los Angeles, Presiding
Sunday – 3:00 PM-4:30 PM
Grand Hyatt-Bonham E (3rd Level)
This year marks the twentieth anniversary of the publication of Religions of China in Practice, a volume the fundamentally changed how Chinese religions was understood as a field and how it was taught at the undergraduate level. This roundtable will bring together both original contributors and scholars who “grew up” with Religions of China in Practice to discuss its impact on the teaching of Chinese religions. The roundtable will engage three key areas: the use of primary sources in teaching about Chinese religions; how Chinese religions are categorized and thematized; and how the field of Chinese religions has changed over the past twenty years. This roundtable also represents an opportunity to discuss the intersection of research and pedagogy.
Panelists:
Stephen R. Bokenkamp, Arizona State University
Courtney Bruntz, Doane University
Erik Hammerstrom, Pacific Lutheran University
Daniel B. Stevenson, University of Kansas
Angela Zito, New York University
A20-271
[if !supportLists]· [endif]Books under Discussion
Korean Religions Group
Theme: How Did Korean Religions Treat Each Other Politically? A Roundtable Discussion of Korean Religions in Relation: Buddhism, Confucianism, Christianity(SUNY Press, 2016)
Anselm Min, Claremont Graduate University, Presiding
Sunday – 3:00 PM-4:30 PM
Marriott Rivercenter-Conference Room 8 (3rd Level)
This is a proposal for a roundtable discussion of a book, Anselm Min (ed.), Korean Religions in Relation: Buddhism, Confucianism, Christianity (SUNY Press, 2016). The book proposes a new approach to the study of religion, focusing on the reciprocal relation among major religions: How did Buddhism and Confucianism, Confucianism and Catholicism, Protestantism and Korean religions, and Protestantism and Confucianism respectively treat each other, especially when it was in power? How did Confucianism and Christianity treat each other in the context of feminist and democratic politics? The contributors are some of the major scholars in the field: Kim Jongmyung, Charles Muller, Donald Baker, Song Youngbae, Sung-deuk Oak, Namsoon Kang, Chun Youngho, Young-chan Ro, and Anselm Min. The discussants are: Edward Shultz (U. of Hawaii),
Halla Kim (U. of Nebraska), Timothy Lee (Brite Divinity School), and Franklin Rausch (Lander U.).
Panelists:
Halla Kim, University of Nebraska, Omaha
Timothy S. Lee, Brite Divinity School
Franklin Rausch, Lander University
Edward J. Shultz, University of Hawaii
Business Meeting:
Deberniere Torrey, University of Utah
Richard D. McBride, Brigham Young University, Hawaii
A20-309
- Books under Discussion
- Religion and Politics Section and Confucian Traditions Group
- Theme: Democracy, Meritocracy, and Confucianism: A Roundtable Discussion of Daniel Bell’s China Model: Political Meritocracy and the Limits of Democracy(Princeton University Press, 2015)
- Anna Sun, Kenyon College, Presiding
- Sunday – 5:00 PM-6:30 PM
- Marriott Rivercenter-Conference Room 8 (3rd Level)
- Daniel A. Bell, Chair Professor at both Tsinghua University in Beijing and Jiaotong University in Shanghai and director of the Berggruen Institute of Philosophy and Culture, has emerged as one of the most vocal speakers for and most influential scholars of Confucianism and its place in contemporary Chinese politics and beyond through both his scholarly works and popular pieces. His works have been translated into Chinese and twenty-two other languages. This proposed roundtable session is a dialogue between three commentators, Chenyang Li of Nanyang Technological University of Singapore, Yong Huang of Chinese University of Hong Kong, and Binfan Wang of University of Toronto, and the author Daniel Bell on the issue of democracy, meritocracy, and Confucianism as raised in his most recent book, China Model: Political Meritocracy and the Limits of Democracy (Princeton, 2015)
- Panelists:
- Chenyang Li, Nanyang Technological University
- Binfan Wang, University of Toronto
- Yong Huang, Chinese University of Hong Kong
- Responding:
- Daniel A. Bell, Tsinghua University
- A20-315
- Chinese Religions Group and Daoist Studies Group
- Theme: Submerged Readings of the Zhuangzi Rewind: Receptions of the Early Modern and Republican Period
- David Mozina, Boston College, Presiding
- Sunday – 5:00 PM-6:30 PM
- Convention Center-212B (2nd Level – West)
- Since the 1980’s, scholars in the West have demonstrated a heightened interest in the Daoist classic Zhuangzi. Based on a problematic division of early Chinese history into a glorious time of philosophy and a religious period of intellectual decline separated by the rise and fall of the Han (206 BCE – 220 CE) dynasty, scholars tended to prematurely categorize the Zhuangzi as a philosophical text while bearing largely on Guo Xiang’s (d. 312 CE) influential commentary. Although such treatments have yielded excellent contributions to our philosophical understanding of this eminent scripture, they have also limited our engagement with it. By presenting rather disregarded commentaries from Hanshan Deqing (1546 – 1623), Zhang Taiyan (1868-1936) and Su Jiarong (1895 – 1946) that read the Zhuangzi as a dhāraṇī, as a psychological treatise of language, and as a work compatible with science and capitalism, this panel sheds further light on the Daoist classic’s multifarious reception history.
- Tobias Zuern, University of Wisconsin
- Hanshan Deqing’s Buddhist Reading of the Qiwulun as a Dhāraṇī
- Jesse Chapman, Stanford University
- In Defense of the Zhuangzi: Su Jiarong’s Philosophy of Zhuangzi
- Dennis Schilling, Renmin University of China, Beijing
- The Psychology of Language and Its Political Implications: An Interpretation of the Explanations of the Discourse on Equating Things (Qi Wu Lun Shi) by Zhang Taiyan
- Responding:
- Mark Csikszentmihalyi, University of California, Berkeley
- M20-400
- Receptions/Breakfasts/Luncheons
- Korean Religions Group
- Theme: Journal of Korean Religions Reception
- Sunday – 7:00 PM-8:30 PM
- Marriott Riverwalk-Bowie (2nd Level)
- The reception is open to anyone who has an interest in Korean religions. There will be a short program in which Korean Religions Group’s activities will be recalled and celebrated, and the Journal of Korean Religions will be introduced.
- A21-104
- Korean Religions Group
- Theme: The Uses and Abuses of Religion in Contemporary Korea
- Richard D. McBride, Brigham Young University, Hawaii, Presiding
- Monday – 9:00 AM-11:00 AM
- Grand Hyatt-Bonham E (3rd Level)
- From the use of Buddhist philosophy to justify a wide range of political positions, to the obstruction of dialogue between North and South Koreans due to the biases of specific religious cultures, religion has played and continues to play a part in shaping, both positively and negatively, public life in contemporary South Korea. The papers on this panel address applications of religious history, teachings, and culture to themes of totalitarianism vs. democracy, feminism, and prejudice as they impact various spaces of the public arena in modern-day Korea.
- Hyekyung Jee, Yonsei University
- Two Faces of Wŏnhyo (617-686): How Korean Political Situation Influenced to Understand Wŏnhyo and His Teaching
- Haewon Yang, Claremont Graduate University
- Confronting Confucianism: Feminist Public Sphere and Narratives of Women’s Experiences in the Works of Park Wansuh (1931-2011) and Gong Jiyoung (1963- )
- Won Chul Shin, Emory University
- State Violence, Inverted Totalitarianism, and Church: A Critical Reflection on the Recent Comfort Women Agreement between South Korea and Japan
- I Sil Yoon, Graduate Theological Union
- Toward Reconciliation: The Need for North Korean Refugees and the South Korean Church to Understand Systemic Distortions that Shape Prejudice against Each Other
- Responding:
- So-Yi Chung, Sogang University
- A21-111
- Buddhism Section and Buddhist Philosophy Group
- Theme: Paradox in Buddhist Philosophy
- C. W. Huntington Jr., Hartwick College, Presiding
- Monday – 9:00 AM-11:30 AM
- Convention Center-301C (3rd Level)
- Paradox has a bad name in philosophy. Literally ‘beyond belief’, it can be classified neither as one’s own ‘right belief’ (orthodoxy) nor as false ‘other belief’ (heterodoxy) – at least not by philosophers bound to binary (op)positions. Yet the Buddhist philosophical traditions exhibit paradoxes in myriad formulations, even when these are claimed to be the result of logically unproblematic arguments. Though the majority of scholars remain dismissive of the philosophical worth of paradoxes, some recent scholarship has ceased treating Buddhist exemplars as evidence of inveterately illogical/mystical/oriental aspects of Buddhist thought to propose instead that Buddhist expressions of paradox (however variously formulated) are vehicles of philosophically significant Buddhist (pro)positions, and therefore valuable to philosophical thought broadly speaking. This panel builds on such work by investigating the reasons for, conclusions of, and generally the formal characteristics of paradoxical arguments in Buddhist philosophy, on the understanding that “Logic is metaphysical to the core” (Murti).
- Joseph O’Leary, Tokyo, Japan
- Paradox in the Vimalakīrti-nirdeś
- Huifeng Shi, Fo Guang University
- Chiasmus and Apophasis in the Prajñāpāramitā and Vimalakīrti-nirdeśa
- Catherine Prueitt, Emory University
- Unsaying through Negation, Unsaying through Affirmation: Modes of Apophasis in the Works of Dharmakīrti and Abhinavagupta
- Christopher Byrne, Queen’s University
- Wordless Teachings: The Poetics of Hongzhi Zhengjue’s Yulu Dialogues
- Steven Heine, Florida International University
- Uncertainty and Paradoxical Expression in the Blue Cliff Record
- Responding:
- Unregistered Participant
- A21-121
- Chinese Religions Group
- Theme: Buddhist Art, Law, and Manuscript Culture in Dunhuang
- Robin Yates, McGill University, Presiding
- Monday – 9:00 AM-11:30 AM
- Convention Center-302B (3rd Level)
- This panel brings together art historians and scholars working with manuscripts to shed light on the visual and textual representations of religious experiences in Dunhuang. By analyzing textual and visual materials from the Dunhuang cave temples, presenters in this panel will discuss various aspects of religious practices in Dunhuang ranging from dialogues between Buddhism and other religious traditions to issues and challenges within the Buddhist community in Dunhuang. Specific topics to be discussed include the appearance of Brahman ascetic figures and artistic shift in the portrait of Buddhas in Dunhuang caves spanning from Northern Wei to the transition between the late Sui and the early Tang, legal disputes within Dunhuang nunnery that shed light on the implementation of legal theories outlining procedures to handle conflicts between religious and secular law in Tang China, and institutions and their staff associated with the production of Buddhist manuscript in Dunhuang and beyond.
- Fletcher Coleman, Harvard University
- The Buddha and the Brahman: Deciphering Ascetic Imagery in Early Medieval China
- Kate Lingley, University of Hawai’i
- Naming the Buddha: Sui Caves at Dunhuang and Changing Modes of Devotion
- Cuilan Liu, McGill University
- Buddhist in Court in Dunhuang: The Handling of Clerical Legal Cases in Tang China
- Bryan Lowe, Vanderbilt University
- From Dunhuang to Nara and Nara to Dunhuang: Manuscripts Sources and Shared East Asian Buddhist Cultures
- Responding:
- Huaiyu Chen, Arizona State University
- A21-212
- Buddhism Section and Religions in Chinese and Indian Cultures: A Comparative Perspective Group
- Theme: Trans-Regional Dynamics in Buddhist Cultures
- Amy P. Langenberg, Eckerd College, Presiding
- Monday – 1:00 PM-3:30 PM
- Convention Center-301B (3rd Level)
- This omnibus session includes top-rated papers submitted to the Buddhism Section and Religions in Chinese and Indian Cultures Group. Each paper examines particular and complex manifestations of Buddhism as the tradition moved through time, space, and culture.
- Daniel Tuzzeo, Stanford University
- Mapping Indic Time and Space in Chinese Buddhist Historiography
- Joseph Marino, University of Washington
- What Happens in Hell: The Gāndhārī Great Conflagration Sūtra and the Development of Buddhist Infernal Imagery
- Yi Ding, Stanford University
- Was there Chinese Esoteric Buddhism in Dunhuang? The Compendium of Maṇḍala Liturgies (Tanfa Yize) and the Attempts to Systematize Dunhuang Buddhism
- Amanda Goodman, University of Toronto
- Vajragarbha Bodhisattva’s Three-Syllable Contemplation: A Chinese Guanxiang 觀想 Text from Late Medieval Dunhuang
- Brandon Dotson, Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich
- Coincidence, Contingency, and Tendrel: Buddhism and Divination in Early Tibet
- Christina A. Kilby, James Madison University
- Humanizing the Divine Childhood: Child Tulku Mentorship through Letter Writing in Tibetan Buddhism
- Benjamin Wood, St. Francis College
- Searching for the Right Buddha: Contesting Tulku Candidates in the Ocean Annals of Amdo
- A21-224
- Chinese Religions Group
- Theme: Local Knowledge of “Chinese Religions”
- Megan Bryson, University of Tennessee, Presiding
- Monday – 1:00 PM-3:30 PM
- Convention Center-213B (2nd Level – West)
- Chinese religions are often compartmentalized into specific religious traditions (e.g., Buddhism, Daoism, Christianity) that are often imagined as ideological entities that reinterpret and reform vastly distinct peoples. Our panel adds to the ways in which insights from local perspectives of religious groups respond to or challenge larger institutional frameworks. Bringing perspectives from 1) the streets of Hong Kong with the notion of “Canto-theologies” as produced by the Occupy Central Movement and local hero-deities; 2) the production of Daoist texts, healing techniques and Buddhist mantras in Sichuan; 3) memories of being Muslims in late imperial China and how that contributes to the deconstruction of contemporary ethnic categorizations; 4) an Anglican family in Republican Shanghai and their “Christian cosmopolitanism”; and 5) contemporary Chinese temple-goers’ religiosity in response to modern religious categories, the panelists analyze the influence of localized developments, in order to develop a more nuanced understanding of the ways in which people express themselves and construct modes of belonging that define religions.
- Ting Guo, Purdue University
- Christian “Cosmopolitanism” in Republican Shanghai and Its Contemporary Implications
- Justin Tse, University of Washington
- Canto-Theologies in the Umbrella Movement: Christians and Cantonese Heroes in Protest
- Elena Valussi, Loyola University, Chicago
- The Localization of Daoist Beliefs and Practices in Nineteenth Century Sichuan
- Shaodan Zhang, University of Illinois
- Chinese Muslims in the Qing Empire: Associations, Law, and Identities, 1644-1911
- Gareth Fisher, Syracuse University
- A Buddhism of Their Own: The Category of Buddhism and Popular Religious Identity in Contemporary China
- A21-306
- Confucian Traditions Group
- Theme: If and When Did the Word Ru Come to Mean Confucian?
- Thomas A. Wilson, Hamilton College, Presiding
- Monday – 4:00 PM-6:00 PM
- Convention Center-215 (2nd Level – West)
- In the past twenty years, Western scholars have problematized the word “Confucianism.” They have argued that the Chinese word Ru often cannot be equated with the English word Confucian. Our simple question, then, is if and when did the word Ru come to mean Confucian? Based on an examination of early texts, our first paper concludes that Ru came to mean Confucian at the end of the Warring States period (475-221 BCE). The next paper argues that Sima Qian (145 – ? BCE), China’s premier historian, recast Ru as Confucians. The third paper indicates that, by early medieval times (100-600), Confucianism’s existence is plainly evident. By looking at the relationship between “Confucian monks” and “Buddhist literati” during the Song dynasty (960-1279), our last paper concludes that Ru is better translated as “literati,” rather than Confucian.
- Diane B. Obenchain, Calvin College
- When Did a Ru Become a Confucian? Answers from Texts of the Warring States Period
- Liang Cai, University of Arkansas
- Transforming Ru into Followers of Confucius: A Close Reading of The Collective Biographies of Confucians by Sima Qian
- Keith Knapp, The Citadel
- The Existence of the C-word in Early Medieval China
- Albert Welter, University of Arizona
- Did Ru become Confucian? Buddhist Literati Monks and Confucian Literati Buddhists in the Song Dynasty
- A21-307
- Daoist Studies Group
- Theme: Morphing and Crisscrossing Hagiographies: Daoism, Chan, and Sectarian Societies
- Louis Komjathy, University of San Diego, Presiding
- Monday – 4:00 PM-6:00 PM
- Grand Hyatt-Bowie C (2nd Level)
- China has long had various types of religious practitioners, who have affiliated themselves with various transmission lineages or voluntary organizations. Frequently, religious practitioners revere and connect themselves to certain semi-legendary figures. By conceiving and portraying the lives and legacies of these figures in various ways, religious practitioners make claims regarding the identity, legitimacy or primacy of their own teachings and practices, as well as those of others. In these processes the semi-legendary figures and/or their devotees are variously lauded or attacked, and their hagiographies are appropriated and adapted. Depending on the approach and agenda, the semi-legendary figure’s life story can get rewritten, and the teachings and practices ascribed to them can change. In this paper session we present in chronological order four cases relating to such processes, variously involving Daoism, Chan Buddhism and sectarian societies.
- Stephen Eskildsen, University of Tennessee, Chattanooga
- Bodhidharma in the Daoist Canon, Neidan Literature, and Sectarian Hagiography
- Joshua Capitanio, University of the West
- Daoist Responses to the Buddhist Lü Dongbin
- Paul Crowe, Simon Fraser University
- Three Contemporary Spirit Writing Congregations and Adoption of Inner Alchemy Lineages within Their Narratives of Continuity
- Adrien Stoloff, Brown University
- The Daoist Transformation of the Bedchamber Arts: From Health to Transcendence
- Responding:
- Mario Poceski, University of Florida
- A22-114
- Confucian Traditions Group
- Theme: The Master Was Humble: Confucian Authority and Its Complexities
- Pauline Lee, Saint Louis University, Presiding
- Tuesday – 9:00 AM-11:00 AM
- Grand Hyatt-Bonham C (3rd Level)
- Confucians have long been concerned with the proper exercise and limitation of power, in personal, political, and intellectual contexts. This panel seeks to contribute to this discourse, both perennial and contemporary, by exploring the concept of authority in Confucianism from several different perspectives. It engages questions such as: what are the components of genuine authority? What makes for justifiable intellectual authority? How practical and realistic is it to aim at government by merit? What might Confucian understandings of power have to offer to contemporary religious discourse? These issues are addressed from within the context of early Confucianism. Taken together the papers in this panel demonstrate the richness and the relevance of Confucian theories of authority.
- Brian Loh, Boston University
- Yielding Joy: Charismatic Authority in Classical Confucianism
- Mathew Foust, Central Connecticut State University
- Authoritarian or Authoritative? Confucius as Authoritative Inquirer in the Analects
- Aaron Stalnaker, Indiana University
- Dreaming of a Meritocracy
- Catherine Hudak Klancer, Boston University
- Flexible Yet Firm: Confucian Authority in an Era of Religious Pluralism
- Business Meeting:
- Yong Huang, Chinese University of Hong Kong
- Pauline Lee, Saint Louis University
