China & Inner Asia: Table of Contents
Organizer and Chair: Paul J. Smith, Haverford College
Keith Nathaniel Knapp, The Citadel
One of the most common motifs of Eastern Han and Six Dynasties filial piety tales is that of a son who mourns his parents in a manner that surpasses what is required by the Confucian ritual codes, i.e., he "exceeds the rites" (guoli). However, anecdotes about filial piety from the preceding period, the Western Han, advocated mourning "according to the rites" (ruli) and castigated those who exceeded them. Why, then, do the early medieval stories emphasize "exceeding the rites"?
The answer is related to the extent to and the way in which the Confucian mourning rites, particularly the three-year mourning rituals, were practiced in China. In the Western Han and before, the Confucian mourning rites were rarely performed. Hence, the filial piety anecdotes of this period champion those who successfully complete the rites and mourn into the third year. However, by the second half of the Eastern Han, the educated elite commonly practiced the Confucian mourning rites. Thus, early medieval stories of filial sons stress exceeding the rites because the task at hand now was not coaxing people into performing the rites, but rather encouraging them to practice the rites with sincerity and feeling. In other words, the emphasis on "exceeding the rites" was meant to combat the apathy that came in the wake of the overwhelming acceptance of the mourning rituals.
Eileen Hsiang-ling Hsü, Columbia University
The cave chapels constructed during the Northern Qi dynasty (550–577) have yielded many visual and textual documents for Buddhologists and art historians to study the transmission and transformation of Buddhism in China. In the Xiaonanhai cave, thus far little known to Western scholars, relief carvings representing the splendid world of the cosmic Buddha Vairocana, Buddhist paradises and narratives from the Nirvana sutra reflect the highly personal interpretations of scriptures formulated by the monk Sengchou (480–560), who supervised the completion of this site in 555.
An erudite chan teacher highly esteemed at the court of emperor Wenxuan (r. 550–559), Sengchou was granted funds to complete the Xiaonanhai cave, located near Anyang in Henan Province, as a site for his private meditation. There is also evidence suggesting that he had hoped to be buried inside it. The reliefs on its interior walls display the same high level of technical achievement seen in other imperially sponsored monuments near the Northern Qi capital of Ye. Their iconographic program differs, however, from that of any other monument of the period and can be best understood as a manifestation of Sengchou’s conception of salvation through the cultivation of a mahasattva’s compassion.
Laura Smith, Columbia University
This paper reevaluates the Madhyamaka system of the 14th-century scholar Tsong Khapa in light of recent advances in the knowledge of early Madhyamaka schools in Tibet.
From the time of the Second Dissemination of the Doctrine (11th century), two major traditions of Madhyamaka developed. The first, the "meditative school" (sgom lugs) including the Jo nang pa, the Great Perfection, and the Great Seal traditions, focused on the tathagatagarbha doctrine and taught a method of realizing the absolute which was non-conceptual and based in tantric practice. In contrast, the second, the "analytical school" (thos bsam gyi lugs) founded by rNgog lo tsa ba, maintained the necessity of the conceptual faculty in realizing the absolute, following the epistemological tradition of Dharmakirti.
At the root of the difference between these two traditions was the question of the proper textual authorities for determining the Madhyamaka view. Whereas the analytic school regarded the commentarial works of Nagarjuna as definitive, the meditation school also regarded as authoritative certain texts associated with tantric practices, such as works of Maitreya, especially the Uttaratantra. These texts have deep implications for the nature of the ultimate and the method for its realization, particularly in regard to the role of the discriminative faculty.
Tsong Khapa responded to these issues in his doctrinal formulations, in terms of the role he gave conceptual consciousness in realizing the absolute, and in the amount of authority he accorded the Maitreya texts, views which set the standard for later scholarship in Tibet.
Yuan-lin Tsai, Nanhua College
I will provide a textual and contextual analysis of Song historiographic literature regarding Muslims, their homeland, and their religion. These texts were examined in the following three contexts: the tradition of Chinese historical writing; religious culture in post-Tang China; and the international connection between China and the Muslim world in Song.
A post-colonialist approach is used to illuminate my topic. This approach is well developed by Said and applied in his critical reading of the European and American scholarship in Islamic studies. I have adopted Said’s method to examine the Song texts and to see the knowledge reproduction of Chinese "selfhood" vs. the Muslim "other." The ideological differences between Islam and Chinese religions are enormous, but the Song writers have their own way of transforming the Muslim "strange other" into a "familiar" one and to make their religion apprehensible and acceptable. Buddhism, serving as a cultural median, allowed the Chinese scholar-gentry to see and interpret strange religious customs in a familiar (but still exotic) form. This transformation reflects a Chinese type of ethnocentrism, hidden in a universalist claim.
However, I expect my analysis will draw attention to those who are working in areas of Chinese and Islamic studies and are concerned to bring the post-colonial discourse into their areas.
Jacqueline Armijo-Hussein, Harvard University
In 1274, after conquering Yunnan in order to set up a military base from which to launch a surprise attack at the belly of the Song, Qubilai dispatched Sayyid ‘Ajall Shams al-Din to administer the region. A Muslim originally from Bukhara, Sayyid ‘Ajall immediately set about establishing Confucian schools, Islamic mosques, and Daoist and Buddhist temples. His efforts to win the support of the local peoples were successful and it was under his administration that Yunnan was finally fully incorporated into China proper. How did a Muslim from Bukhara successfully and peacefully introduce traditional Confucian and Han Chinese values and customs to a region known for its fierce independence? A close examination of local texts reveals a statesman of great open-mindedness, humanity and foresight. He realized that in order for the peoples of Yunnan to survive and prosper they must have a say in their own governance, and for that to happen they must be educated. Schools were opened up throughout the region and teachers were invited from the "heartland" to help administer them. There was also a very strict policy that the education be fully subsidized and communities were not to bear any of the costs. At the same time Islamic schools were set up in the mosques, a tradition that has continued on down to today and is known as "jingtang jiaoyu." As a result Yunnan is still one of the most important centers of Islamic learning in China attracting students from every part of the country.
A close examination of Sayyid ‘Ajall’s governance in Yunnan sheds light on the spread of Confucian values and education into frontier regions, the history of the indigenous peoples of Yunnan and the early history of Islam in China.