Burning for the Buddha: Self-Immolation in Chinese Buddhism 9780824861735
Burning for the Buddha is the first book-length study of the theory and practice of "abandoning the body"(self
176 15 2MB
English Pages 376 Year 2007
Table of contents :
Contents
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations and Conventions
Introduction
Chapter 1: “Mounting the Smoke with Glittering Colors”: Self-Immolation in Early Medieval China
Chapter 2: The Lotus Sûtra, Auto-Cremation, and the Indestructible Tongue
Chapter 3: Saṃgha and the State: The Power(s) of Self-Immolation
Chapter 4: Is Self-Immolation a “Good Practice”? Yongming Yanshou on Relinquishing the Body
Chapter 5: Local Heroes in a Fragmenting Empire: Self-Immolation in the Late Tang and Five Dynasties
Chapter 6: One Thousand Years of Self-Immolation
Conclusion
Appendix 1 Major Collections of Biographies of Self-Immolators
Appendix 2 Critical Evaluations of Huijiao, Daoxuan, and Zanning
Notes
Bibliography
Index
About the Author
