Description
In the early twentieth century, Chinese Buddhists sought to strengthen their tradition through publications, institution building, and initiatives aimed at raising the educational level of the monastic community. In The Huayan University Network, Erik J. Hammerstrom examines how Huayan Buddhism was imagined, taught, and practiced during this time of profound political and social change and, in so doing, recasts the history of twentieth-century Chinese Buddhism.
Hammerstrom traces the influence of Huayan University, the first Buddhist monastic school founded after the fall of the imperial system in China. Although the university lasted only a few years, its graduates went on to establish a number of Huayan-centered educational programs throughout China. While they did not create a new sectarian Huayan movement, they did form a network unified by a common educational heritage that persists to the present day. Drawing on an extensive range of Buddhist texts and periodicals, Hammerstrom shows that Huayan had a significant impact on Chinese Buddhist thought and practice and that the history of Huayan complicates narratives of twentieth-century Buddhist modernization and revival. Offering a wide range of insights into the teaching and practice of Huayan in Republican China, this book sheds new light on an essential but often overlooked element of the East Asian Buddhist tradition.
About the Author
Erik J. Hammerstrom is associate professor of East Asian and comparative religions at Pacific Lutheran University. He is the author of The Science of Chinese Buddhism: Early Twentieth-Century Engagements (Columbia, 2015).
Reviews
[This book] is a rich and rewarding exploration of a crucially important aspect of modern East Asian Buddhism. -- Gregory Adam Scott * Journal of Buddhist Ethics *
Meticulously researched and analytically sophisticated...the book will therefore be of great interest to scholars and students interested in East Asian Buddhism in general, as well as those interested in the history of monastic education. * H-Buddhism *
This volume would prove invaluable to those with an interest in Republican- era as well as modern- day Buddhism in China. More broadly, those with an interest in monastic education as well as the general field of Buddhism and education have much to gain from this volume. -- Joseph Chadwin, University of Vienna * Religious Studies Review *
Hammerstrom carves a new trail through twentieth-century Chinese Buddhist worlds and reveals a clear and fresh view of this complex terrain. His pioneering study draws from a broad range of primary sources to provide a richly detailed, multidimensional portrait of interconnected individuals, institutions and academies, texts, concepts, and meditative practices. A fundamentally important and much appreciated exploration. -- Raoul Birnbaum, University of California, Santa Cruz
Huayan Buddhism offers a unique view into the realm of mutually interrelated worldly and transcendental phenomena, which was realized by Buddha in his enlightenment according to one of the most voluminous Mahayana sutra, the Buddhavatamsaka-sutra, and was taught by the Huayan school in China during the Tang dynasty (618-907). Hammerstrom's valuable book sheds light on the importance of Huayan tradition in modern Chinese Buddhism through the establishment of Huayan Universities to provide nonsectarian, traditional, and modern education for monastics. -- Imre Hamar, Eoetvoes Lorand University, Budapest
Huayan Buddhism is one of the most distinctively East Asian forms of Buddhism, and recent Buddhist scholarship in English has not paid it deserved attention. Erik Hammerstrom's book remedies the gap, offering a detailed discussion of its evolution in modern times in mainland China and Taiwan. Clearly written and well-researched, this book presents the reader with a pleasant and enlightening surprise regarding the liveliness of the tradition in our time. -- Jin Y. Park, author of Women and Buddhist Philosophy: Engaging Zen Master Kim Iryop
The Huayan University Network is not just the history of a lineage; Erik Hammerstrom presents a remarkable, comprehensive narrative that analyzes people, places, reception history of doctrines and texts, education curricula for monks, financial sponsorship, and political background. This excellent monograph highlights how the Huayan school expanded from Republican China into East Asia, Taiwan, and the West and defines a model for future scholarship. -- Stefania Travagnin, editor of Religion and Media in China: Insights and Case Studies from the Mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong
Book Information
ISBN 9780231194303
Author Erik J. Hammerstrom
Format Hardback
Page Count 288
Imprint Columbia University Press
Publisher Columbia University Press
Hammerstrom traces the influence of Huayan University, the first Buddhist monastic school founded after the fall of the imperial system in China. Although the university lasted only a few years, its graduates went on to establish a number of Huayan-centered educational programs throughout China. While they did not create a new sectarian Huayan movement, they did form a network unified by a common educational heritage that persists to the present day. Drawing on an extensive range of Buddhist texts and periodicals, Hammerstrom shows that Huayan had a significant impact on Chinese Buddhist thought and practice and that the history of Huayan complicates narratives of twentieth-century Buddhist modernization and revival. Offering a wide range of insights into the teaching and practice of Huayan in Republican China, this book sheds new light on an essential but often overlooked element of the East Asian Buddhist tradition.
About the Author
Erik J. Hammerstrom is associate professor of East Asian and comparative religions at Pacific Lutheran University. He is the author of The Science of Chinese Buddhism: Early Twentieth-Century Engagements (Columbia, 2015).
Reviews
[This book] is a rich and rewarding exploration of a crucially important aspect of modern East Asian Buddhism. -- Gregory Adam Scott * Journal of Buddhist Ethics *
Meticulously researched and analytically sophisticated...the book will therefore be of great interest to scholars and students interested in East Asian Buddhism in general, as well as those interested in the history of monastic education. * H-Buddhism *
This volume would prove invaluable to those with an interest in Republican- era as well as modern- day Buddhism in China. More broadly, those with an interest in monastic education as well as the general field of Buddhism and education have much to gain from this volume. -- Joseph Chadwin, University of Vienna * Religious Studies Review *
Hammerstrom carves a new trail through twentieth-century Chinese Buddhist worlds and reveals a clear and fresh view of this complex terrain. His pioneering study draws from a broad range of primary sources to provide a richly detailed, multidimensional portrait of interconnected individuals, institutions and academies, texts, concepts, and meditative practices. A fundamentally important and much appreciated exploration. -- Raoul Birnbaum, University of California, Santa Cruz
Huayan Buddhism offers a unique view into the realm of mutually interrelated worldly and transcendental phenomena, which was realized by Buddha in his enlightenment according to one of the most voluminous Mahayana sutra, the Buddhavatamsaka-sutra, and was taught by the Huayan school in China during the Tang dynasty (618-907). Hammerstrom's valuable book sheds light on the importance of Huayan tradition in modern Chinese Buddhism through the establishment of Huayan Universities to provide nonsectarian, traditional, and modern education for monastics. -- Imre Hamar, Eoetvoes Lorand University, Budapest
Huayan Buddhism is one of the most distinctively East Asian forms of Buddhism, and recent Buddhist scholarship in English has not paid it deserved attention. Erik Hammerstrom's book remedies the gap, offering a detailed discussion of its evolution in modern times in mainland China and Taiwan. Clearly written and well-researched, this book presents the reader with a pleasant and enlightening surprise regarding the liveliness of the tradition in our time. -- Jin Y. Park, author of Women and Buddhist Philosophy: Engaging Zen Master Kim Iryop
The Huayan University Network is not just the history of a lineage; Erik Hammerstrom presents a remarkable, comprehensive narrative that analyzes people, places, reception history of doctrines and texts, education curricula for monks, financial sponsorship, and political background. This excellent monograph highlights how the Huayan school expanded from Republican China into East Asia, Taiwan, and the West and defines a model for future scholarship. -- Stefania Travagnin, editor of Religion and Media in China: Insights and Case Studies from the Mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong
Book Information
ISBN 9780231194303
Author Erik J. Hammerstrom
Format Hardback
Page Count 288
Imprint Columbia University Press
Publisher Columbia University Press
