四世班禅生平及与四世达赖、五世达赖之关系

四世班禅精通佛学和传统文化知识,他担任扎什伦布寺住持,使该寺成为班禅活佛系统执掌的主寺;同时,他对四世达赖倾囊相授,担任拉萨祈愿大法会首座,维修大昭寺和甘丹寺灵塔殿金顶,成为格鲁派的领袖人物。此外,他还是五世达赖的上师,协助五世达赖的政教事业,并首倡与关外的清政权建立联系,参与觉囊派改宗等事。四世班禅为格鲁派的发展做出了重大贡献,由此确立了班禅活佛系统在格鲁派中的崇高地位。     

On the origin and presentation of images of traveling Buddhist monks on pilgrimage for sutras with tame tigers in the Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes

Abstract

The creation of the “images of traveling Buddhist monks on pilgrimage for sutras with tame tigers” preserved in the Mogao Grottoes resulted from a syncretic cultural and religious development in the Tang and Song dynasties. It was not drawn on the events of the pilgrimage of Xuanzang 玄奘, as is generally believed in academic circles. The intrinsic principles contained within the images transcend their external features: the development of Esoteric Buddhism and the phenomenon of traveling monks in the periods and their fusion with Central Plains folk culture imbued the images with the influence of both exoteric and esoteric schools of Buddhism, together with folk beliefs; on the other hand, the creation of the “images of traveling Buddhist monks on pilgrimage for sutras with tame tigers” reflected “Ratnasambhava tathāgata beliefs,” which were prevalent in the Dunhuang region in the Tang and Song dynasties. Via metaphorical presentations of iconized monks, these images provided the expression of multiple religious beliefs.     

新疆和田达玛沟佛寺遗址出土壁画颜料分析

达玛沟佛寺是新疆和田地区重要的佛教遗址,具有极高的佛教及艺术价值,对我国乃至东亚的佛教艺术都有着重要的影响。为研究新疆达玛沟佛寺遗址出土壁画颜料成分及工艺,以壁画文物残块为研究对象,利用体视显微镜、X荧光光谱仪、X射线衍射仪、拉曼光谱仪、偏光显微镜等多种仪器对其进行了分析鉴定。结果表明,达玛沟佛寺所使用的颜料全部为矿物颜料,其中蓝色颜料为青金石,绿色颜料为氯铜矿,白色颜料为石膏,红色颜料为朱砂,褐色颜料为铁红,赭黄色颜料为铁黄。该研究为探索中国西域佛教史、美术工艺史及后期修复保护材料、工艺选择提供科学依据。     

六世班禅与达天通理会晤新考——以藏文版《六世班禅传》与《三世章嘉传》为中心

六世班禅在京朝觐期间与汉传佛教贤首宗代表人物达天通理进行了会晤,此为清代藏传佛教与汉传佛教交流史上的标志性事件。作者以藏文版《六世班禅传》与《三世章嘉传》为中心,结合新发现的汉文史料考证认为,二者会晤缘起于六世班禅为深入了解汉传佛教而临时起意,时间是乾隆四十五年(1780)九月初六日,地点是觉生寺,内容为二者在章嘉国师翻译辅助下就佛事科仪等进行的简单交流,直接成果为九月二十七日达天通理获赐"阐教禅师"尊号。     

Ritual Appropriation and Appropriate Ritual: Christian Healing and Adaptations of Asian Religions

This article analyzes the uses of the past for liberal Christians who borrow from Asian healing‐related practices such as yoga, Buddhist meditation and Reiki. It focuses on questions of historicity, both in the ways liberal Christians validate their syncretism by drawing connections to the Christian past, and in the way that longer histories of orientalism and colonialism shape current Christian interactions with Asian religions. Centred on the narratives of three North American Anglicans, and informed by attendance at their various healing services, meditation groups, yoga classes and Reiki sessions, this article is evidence of a wider liberal Christian embrace of difference via ritual. The article argues that these liberal Christians use “ritual proximity” to bring together symbols, acts and memories from various times and cultures, thus constructing new lineages of religious inheritance within webs of Christian ritual.     

甘肃拉卜楞寺壁画表面涂层材质分析

西藏壁画表面大多刷有保护涂层。据记载,其材质主要是桐油、牛胶或清漆等。但目前,对该涂层材质科学的研究却较少,不利于后期保护修复。为配合拉卜楞寺壁画保护修复项目,本研究以衰减全反射红外光谱法(ATR-FTIR)、核磁共振氢谱法(~1H-NMR)、热裂解-气相色谱-质谱联用(Py-GC-MS)技术等分析手段,对甘肃夏河拉卜楞寺弥勒佛殿、时轮学院主殿壁画的涂层进行了分析。结果表明,两处佛殿壁画涂层可确定是一种干性油,种类与桐油较接近。但由于西藏壁画在材料和工艺上的独特性,材料老化等因素,拉卜楞寺壁画涂层在组成和结构上,与现代桐油有一定差别,表现出一定的丰富性和复杂性。后期修复,可采用性质与西藏传统涂层材料接近的干性油,例如桐油,作为新的壁画表面涂层材料。     

The Changing Vernacular: archaeological excavations at Temple End,High Wycombe,Buckinghamshire

Abstract

Excavations beneath and around the late Georgian Glinester House at Temple End, in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, revealed the presence of at least three major phases of building. Dating from the 16th century these structures appear to be a succession of farmhouses lying at the centre of wider farm complexes. While these buildings are located within the former lands of Temple Manor, from which the area and farm name derives, no evidence of a medieval manor complex was located within the excavation area. Rather the pattern of development is more indicative of wider transformations in vernacular housing and domestic life between the 16th and 19th centuries.     

Du temple and Mozhaiskii: Was either of them the first to flight test an aeroplane?

The article investigates works of the first European aeroplane designers F. du Temple and A. F. Mozhaiskii. They followed all the aeroplane creation stages: bird flight observations, model tests, technical calculations and design of the full‐sized apparatus. The author proves that, despite of common opinion of aviation historians, the aeroplanes could not perform even a short flight because of insufficient durability and shortage of power. Nevertheless the names of du Temple and Mozhsaiskii deserve a place in the history of aviation. They were the first who made a difficult step from speculation on problems of flying and experiments with small models to creation of real aircraft.     

民间信仰空间建构与认同边界:广东惠州巽寮湾案例

基于广东惠州巽寮天后宫("大妈")与凤池岛妈祖庙("小妈")案例比较,借助田野调查、半结构式访谈以及非参与式观察法,探讨在资本主导的滨海旅游开发背景下,妈祖信仰空间建构与认同边界重构过程。研究发现,"大妈"与"小妈"妈祖信仰空间建构的逻辑路径和过程不同。"大妈"按照资本塑造、权力的集中化与合法化以及宗教话语标准化的逻辑路径,建构为多元认同的开放性空间。"小妈"由于资本的"缺场",主要通过空间权力的自我赋予与妈祖崇拜话语的地方化来凸显与强化"我者"信仰空间的认同,从而建构为"我者"闭合性空间。在民间信仰空间建构和认同边界重构过程中,资本起到了重要作用。     

Memory,ghosts and the good life: Sati in Theravada cultural contexts

Mindfulness in its English rendering brings together a mix of historical influences, from Zen to Romanticism to yoga. Still, the most central concept from which it draws is sati, a Theravada Buddhist Pali term first translated as mindfulness over 100 years ago. This article reports on the findings of an ethnographic investigation of sati in the Theravada-majority countries of Thailand, Myanmar and Sri Lanka, where the concept is widely used for a range of religious, therapeutic and colloquial ends. Based on interviews and questionnaires involving over 600 monks, psychiatrists and lay Buddhist practitioners, the article explores aspects of sati that are not often recognized (or recognized as much) in Western, secular mindfulness contexts. These qualities include attention to memory in present-moment awareness, the potency of supernatural engagements and a social-ethical orientation towards living well. Highlighting these qualities allows for a greater appreciation of cultural diversity within contemporary global mindfulness practices and suggests possibilities for further developing the global therapeutic potential of mindfulness.     

A Religious Response Veiled in a Presidential Address: A Theological Study of Bush's Speech on 20 september 2001

Abstract

The speech met the moment. The moment was like none experienced before. The speech transformed a presidency and rallied a nation. But what was this pivotal response to a critical moment in American history? Was it a call to a just and holy war? Is God really on the president's ‘side’? This article analyzes the speech delivered by President George W. Bush on 20 September 2001, to a joint session of Congress and to a troubled nation. It was a speech that depended on intimations of righteous indignation, a clear demarcation of good and evil, and a God who is not neutral. The article looks at the religious themes overtly and subtly stated in this speech, to discern what was actually a religious response to a global crisis that took the form of a presidential address.     

The Nature and History of the Birkat Isra'il and its Relation to the Pool 'With the Expanse of the Sea' (Sir 50: 3): Rereading Charles Warren

Abstract

The Birkat Isra'il was the largest pool in Jerusalem when it was constructed. Yet when it is studied, it is often done in connection with the extent of the Temple Platform rather than for its own sake. Charles Warren studied the pool in considerable detail yet several aspects of it remain unexplained, particularly its location within the es-Sahireh valley. Data provided by Warren suggest that the Herodian form of the pool is a secondary construction and that a previous pool had been situated directly over the lowest point of the valley and that this is the pool 'with the expanse of the sea' (Sir 50: 3) built by Simon II.     

Between Religion and Superstition: Buddhism and Daoism in Guangzhou,China, 1900–1937

This paper illustrates how Buddhist and Daoist monasteries in Guangzhou, with their legal religious status, situated themselves within the new concept of the modern nation‐state, and how the distinction between religion and superstition affected ordinary people's religious lives. There were inherent tensions between religion and the modern nation‐state, and the survival of Buddhism and Daoism was determined by their subordination to the state ideology and to political authorities’ regulation. However, the government did not regulate the form of worship in government‐approved religious sites. Due to the syncretic nature of Chinese religion, the select few of the Buddhist and Daoist monasteries in Guangzhou, with government recognition as symbols of “true religions,” paradoxically served as a protective umbrella for the people to carry on with their “superstitious” practices. At the level of praxis, the line between religion and superstition was not as distinguishable as the government had envisioned.     

Muslim Theologies of Solidarity and Disavowal and the Challenge of Religious Pluralism

ABSTRACT

Rawls' conception of political liberalism does not reckon exclusivist salvation religions to be, for that reason alone, unreasonable. He posits, however, that exclusivist doctrines of salvation are likely to become more generous in their views of the religious other with the experience of toleration. While the religious welcome toleration by the majority, relaxation of doctrines of salvation dilutes the urgency of religious truth, and so reduces a religion's ability to justify its existence. Paradoxically, political toleration creates a countervailing demand within a religious community to articulate more precisely what is intolerable in the religious other. This paper explores the dialectic between toleration and nontoleration in the history of Muslim sects and suggests that this history offers lessons on the kinds of strategies that can be successful in promoting religious tolerance in a Muslim society, as well as the limits that might reasonably be expected in those societies.     

Mystical theology,ecumenism and church-state relations: Francesco Bellisomi (1663–1741) at the limits of confessionalism in early eighteenth-century Europe

ABSTRACT

This article reconstructs the biography of a little-known Italian priest, Francesco Bellisomi (1663–1741), in order to trace the intellectual and political dimensions of religious reformism in early eighteenth-century Europe. Its primary objective is to demonstrate the causal relationships between three trends: firstly, pietistic spiritual reform influenced by mystical theology; secondly, ecumenical dialogue among Protestants and between Protestants, Catholics and Orthodox Christians; and thirdly, the political articulation of the non-confessional state. By following a persecuted Bellisomi from Pavia to Rome, and then on to Venice, Vienna, Halle, Berlin and London, it depicts the strands connecting the political, intellectual and religious environment on the Italian Peninsula, within the Holy Roman Empire and in the British Isles. From the latter seventeenth century, the equation of confessionalism – the alliance of a confessionalising church and a centralising state – was being undermined across Europe. One factor in this process was enthusiasm for a supra-confessional ecclesia universalis, the nature of which was highly contested. Bellisomi’s life offers a unique window onto this networked and inter-confessional intellectual culture.     

山东青州龙兴寺部分北齐佛造像石材及朱砂颜料分析研究

山东青州龙兴寺窖藏佛教造像出土于1996年,造像雕刻技艺精湛,数量多,贴金彩绘丰富,展现出一种特殊的佛教造像艺术特征。一些佛像由于长期掩埋和历史上遭到破坏,彩绘发生了褪色、变薄、起翘等现象。为了弄清佛造像彩绘颜料和结构,本研究采用三维视频显微镜、显微拉曼光谱分析、扫描电镜-能谱、偏光显微镜等仪器分析颜料的结构和化学组成。分析结果表明,龙兴寺佛造像红色颜料为辰砂(Hg S)与铅白(2PbCO_3Pb(OH)_2)混用;地子主要为铅白,经过对该批出土佛造像残碎的石块做薄片处理做偏光显微分析,得到造像石材的主要矿相为含菱铁矿、生物碎屑、白云石的泥晶灰岩(灰岩即石灰石)。     

Beyond Ideological Conflict: Political Incorporation of Buddhist Youth in the Early PRC

This essay explores the impact of governance on the Chinese religious landscape during the early years of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) through a case study of the Young Buddhist Association (YBA) of Shanghai. Despite the official atheist ideology of the Chinese Communist Party, during this era of New Democracy the YBA experienced Communist governance in practice as a process of political incorporation rather than coercive eradication. As its Buddhist youth movement not only survived the Communist takeover in 1949 but gained momentum well into the 1950s, the YBA was propelled to the forefront of the Buddhist community in Shanghai and became the most active and influential grassroots Buddhist organization in the early PRC. The case of the YBA demonstrates that incorporation into the new political order of the 1950s had transformative effects on the spatial construction, identity formation, and social dynamics of religious communities that cannot be reduced to steps toward their eventual elimination during the Cultural Revolution.     

The Big Buddha of Hong Kong: an accidental Buddhist theme park

ABSTRACT

The Tian Tan Buddha is the core of a tourism site on Lantau Island, Hong Kong, around which a cable car ride, the Po-Lin monastery and its museum, and the village of Ngong Ping have come to comprise an eclectic set of tourism nuclei that ‘accidentally’ became the ‘Buddhist theme park’ of Hong Kong due to the spatial juxtaposition in an isolated site of these disconnected and even dissonant components built at different times by different jurisdictions. The first objective of this article is to explore the developmental process of a religious site into a theme park of sort through a lengthy process filled with contestation and manipulations. The history-dependent and erratic nature of this process validates the notion of ‘accidental’ theme park used here. It is shown that over time, the Big Buddha went from being a Buddhism-themed leisure site to being generally perceived and promoted as essentially a theme park through a process of partial Disneyization. The second objective is to examine how the ‘theme park’ is perceived by its visitors, more precisely how they see it after their visit and what first-time visitors expect from it beforehand. The first enquiry, performed through the analysis of TripAdvisor reviews, indicates that ex-post, the visitors typically describe having experienced a visit to a theme park. The second enquiry, performed by interviewing first-time visitors about to access the site, suggests that while many first-time visitors expect to visit a theme park as well, others, mainly Western tourists, are expecting a more cultural experience. The findings of the two inquiries are compared to each other and to the image of the site promoted by the local tourism authorities. The subdued political message of the Big Buddha and the degree to which it is discerned by visitors are also discussed.     

Community Participation and the Enhancement of the Roman Thermae of St Thomas,Mesolongi

Abstract

This paper examines the process of enhancing an archaeological site and rendering it accessible to the wider public within a very tight time schedule, and will contemplate the role of the local community in this process. Focusing on the case study of the Roman Thermae of St Thomas (Agios Thomas) near Mesolongi, Western Greece, the various challenges and problems encountered during the excavation, partial restoration, and enhancement of the site (funded by the INTERREG II cross-border program of the 2nd Community Support Framework) will be addressed. Issues of community participation will be highlighted through the crucial involvement of the local people in the project and with a reflective outlook on the way heritage management is operating in Greece.