Selected Product:
| Buddhism in Chinese History
Paperback
Edition: 1
Author: Arthur Wright
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Release Date: 1959-06-01
ISBN-10: 0804705488
ISBN-13: 9780804705486
List Price: $19.95
Average Customer Rating:
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just o.k.
| Customer Rating: | | I cannot see this book as a satisfactory survey of Buddhism in China. First off, it's very vague. Often the author makes sweeping comments about Chinese culture, the role of Buddhism, Confucianism etc. without adequately backing them up with information. Secondly, it's dated: the copyright of 1959 says it all. In fact, about half of the sources cited are French books and articles written on China in the '50s. The last chapter on Modern China is especially anachronistic, where the author posits the impossibility of a Buddhist revival in China (p. 122), something, I would think be proven wrong by today's developments, though he can't be blamed specifically for that. In conclusion, an o.k. general introduction, but not for in-depth study. |
prescient and relevant
| Customer Rating: | one might wonder what relevance a book written in the late fifties could possibly have to the China of today. then, communism was consolidating its grip on the country, today it seems to be losing it.
in fact, Wright points to similarities between the Buddhist and Marxist influence. he cites the Chinese willingness to give enthusiastic support to an idea which suggests that we look carefully at the ideology developing in China today. he debunks the notion that China merely absorbs outside influences by pointing to the incredible changes that Buddhism affected in China. perhaps most importantly, he reminds us that periods of disruption have been the time when the Chinese have seemed most responsive to alien ideas. Read Wright and stay tuned.
Lynn Hoffman, author of The New Short Course in Wine |
The importance of Buddhism in understanding Chinese culture
| Customer Rating: | | "Buddhism in Chinese History" is a collection of six lectures presented at the University of Chicago by Arthur F. Wright in the late 1950's. Wright offers up an attempt at reflective interpretation of the study of Chinese Buddhism, which explains how Buddhism played an important role in reducing the cultural and institutional differences that existed in China during the 6th century A.D. and laid the foundations for the unified, and eventually Confucian, society that would ultimately exist. Wright's analysis extends all the way from the Han China of 206 B.C. to the Modern Era, where Buddhism continues to have strong influences in China. Specifically, Wright looks at elements of thought, language and culture that have been so completely appropriated that their origins have been essentially forgotten. Indeed, you can imagine what position the Chinese Communist government would have on Wright's views, especially given Wright's claim that there is a self-conscious effort by the Chinese to identify, reinterpret and use elements of the country's Buddhist heritage to solve the problems China's traditional civilization faces when confronted with the dominating forces of the West. Whether you come to this volume because of an interest in the religion of Buddhism or the cultural history of China, you will certainly find Wright's arguments to be of interest. |
Great
| Customer Rating: | | Awesome overview of Buddhism's adaptation to Chinese civilization. |
hi
| Customer Rating: | | this is the greatest book, it has valuable information you wouldn't find anywhere else, get it now. |
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