Forms of teaching and preaching in modern Chinese Buddhism : Research Questions and Directions

Abstract: 

This lecture will point to research questions and directions for a topic I have just begun to explore, namely the forms of teaching and preaching in modern Chinese Buddhism. Not only do the various forms and genres of teaching and preaching in modern Buddhism constitute an important subject of study in their own right, but this type of sources, with their highly diverse content, also provides an ideal medium for analysing various aspects of the recent evolution of this religious tradition. I refer in particular to the shift in the language used by Chinese Buddhists towards a form closer to spoken language, and to the development or adaptation of a number of Buddhist discourses, concepts and practices to the new religious, social and political context of the first half of the 20th century.

Bio: 

Daniela Campo, Professor at the National Institute of Oriental Languages ​​and Civilizations (INALCO) in Paris, studies the evolution of institutions and practices of Chinese Buddhism, and especially of the Chan school, in the twentieth century. She is the author of La construction de la sainteté dans la Chine moderne: la vie du maître bouddhiste Xuyun (Les Belles Lettres, 2013) and the co-editor of “Take the Vinaya as Your Master”: Monastic Discipline and Practices in Modern Chinese Buddhism (Brill, 2023).