Unit CHINESE LITERATURE III

Course
Foreign languages and cultures
Study-unit Code
GP004931
Curriculum
In all curricula
Teacher
Ester Bianchi
Teachers
  • Ester Bianchi
Hours
  • 54 ore - Ester Bianchi
CFU
6
Course Regulation
Coorte 2017
Offered
2019/20
Learning activities
Affine/integrativa
Area
Attività formative affini o integrative
Academic discipline
L-OR/21
Type of study-unit
Opzionale (Optional)
Type of learning activities
Attività formativa monodisciplinare
Language of instruction
Italian and/or English
Contents
The main purpose of this course is to give an overview on the spread and consolidation of Buddhism in China, giving ample space to Chinese Buddhism in modern and contemporary times.
** Students of Chinese Literature 3, if interested, can chose to prepare the program on Chinese Literature from the Three Kingdoms to contemporary times.
Reference texts
1) Textbook:
- Rossi, Donatella (a cura di) e AA VV, Fili di Seta. Introduzione al Pensiero Filosofico e Religioso dell'Asia, Ubaldini Editore, Roma, 2017: IL BUDDHISMO (Bruno Lo Turco) e IL BUDDHISMO CINESE (E. Bianchi).

2) Monographic text:
Bianchi, Ester, Faxian: un pellegrino cinese nell’India del V secolo. Con traduzione del diario di viaggio Gaoseng Faxian zhuan. Nuova edizione, Morlacchi, Perugia, 2013.

3) One of the following texts on Buddhism in Imperial China:
- Bianchi, Ester “«Gli scandali di casa non si mostrano». Uno studio sul lessico familiare nel Buddhismo cinese tra fratellanza, pietà filiale e culto degli antenati”, in F. Sbardella, M. Giorda (a cura di), Famiglia monastica. Prassi aggregative di isolamento, Bologna, Pàtron, 2012, pp. 93-127.
- Dumoulin, Heinrich. 1994. Zen Buddhism: A History. Vol. 1: India and China, New York: Macmillian, pp. 88-136.
- Gregory, Peter N. 1999. “The Vitality of Buddhism in the Sung.” In Buddhism in the Sung, 1-20. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press.
- Heirman, Ann. 2007. “Vinaya: From India to China.” In The Spread of Buddhism, 167–202. Leiden: Brill.
- Jones, Charles B. 2003. “Foundations of Ethics and Practice in Chinese Pure Land Buddhism.” Journal of Buddhist Ethics, 10.
- Mair, Victor H. 2010. “What is Geyi, After All?”, in Philosophy and Religion in Early Medieval China, edited by Alan K. L. Chan and Yuet-Keung Lo, 227-264. New York: State University of New York Press. (reprinted in China Report 48: 29-59, 2012).
- Orzech, Charles D. 2006. “The ‘Great Teaching of Yoga,’ the Chinese Appropriation of the Tantras, and the Question of Esoteric Buddhism.” Journal of Chinese Religions 34, pp. 29-78.
- Sen, Tansen, 2012. “The Spread of Buddhism to China: A Re-examination of the Buddhist Interactions between Ancient India and China.” China Report 48: 11-27.
- Sharf, Robert H. 2002. “On Esoteric Buddhism in China.” In Coming to Terms with Chinese Buddhism: A reading of the Treasure store treatise. Studies in East Asian Buddhism, No. 14. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, pp. 263-278.
- Sharf, Robert H. 2003. "On Pure Land Buddhism and Ch'an/Pure Land Syncretism in Medieval China," T'oung Pao 88, no. 4-5 (June, 2003), pp. 282-331.
- Yifa. 2005. “From the Chinese Vinaya Tradition to Chan Regulations: Continuity and Adaptation.” In Going Forth. Visions of Buddhist Vinaya. Essays Presented in Honor of Professor Stanley Weinstein, edited by William M. Bodiford, 124-135. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press.
- Wu Jiang. 2015. “The Chinese Buddhist Canon Through the Ages: Essential Categories and Critical Issues in the Study of a Textual Tradition.” In Spreading Buddha's Word in East Asia. The Formation and Transformation of the Chinese Buddhist Canon, edited by Jiang Wu and Lucille Chia, 15-45. New York: Columbia University Press.
- Zürcher E. 1990, “Han Buddhism and the Western Regions”, in: Wilt L. Idema and Erik Zürcher (eds.). Thought and Law in Qin and Han China, Studies Dedicated to Anthony Hulsewe on the Occasion of His Eightieth Birthday (Sinica Leidensia), Leiden: Brill, 158-182.

4) One of the following texts on Buddhism in modern and contemporary China:
- Ashiwa, Yoshiko and David L. Wank. 2006. “The Globalization of Chinese Buddhism: Clergy and Devotee Networks in the Twentieth Century.” International Journal of Asian Studies 65, no. 2 (May 2006): 337-359.
- Bianchi, Ester, “Subtle Erudition and Compassionate Devotion: Longlian (1909-2006), the ‘Most Outstanding Bhik¿u¿i’ in Modern China”, in D. Ownby, V. Goossaert, Ji Zhe (eds.), Making Saints in Modern China, New York: Oxford University Press, 2017, pp. 272-311.
- Bianchi, Ester, “A Religion-Oriented ‘Tibet Fever’. Tibetan Buddhist Practices Among the Han Chinese in Contemporary PRC”, in Dramdul, F. Sferra (a cura di), From Mediterranean to Himalaya. A Festschrift to Commemorate the 120th Birthday of the Italian Tibetologist Giuseppe Tucci -¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿: ¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿·¿¿¿¿120¿¿¿¿¿¿, Beijing, China Tibetology Publishing House, 2014, pp. 347-374.
- Bianchi, Ester, “Xizang re (‘febbre per il Tibet’): il buddhismo tibetano tra i cinesi di oggi”, in E. Lo Bue (a cura di), Il Tibet fra mito e realtà / Tibet between Myth and Reality, Firenze, Leo S. Olschki, 2014, pp. 81-90 e 151-154.
- Bianchi, Ester, “Le monache buddhiste agli albori del XXI secolo”, in Mondo cinese (“Femminile Plurale”), 136, 2011, pp. 188-201.
- Birnbaum, Raoul. 2003. “Buddhist China at the Century’s turn.” China Quarterly, 174, pp. 451-467.
- Birnbaum, Raul. 2003. “Master Hongyi looks back: A ‘Modern Man’ becomes a Monk in Twentieth-Century China.” In Buddhism in the Modern World: Adaptations of an Ancient Tradition, edited by Steven Heine, and Charles S. Prebish, 75-124. Oxford-New York: Oxford University Press.
- Campo, Daniela. 2017. “Chan Master Xuyun: The Embodiment of an Ideal, the Transmission of a Model.” In Ownby, David, Goossaert, Vincent, Ji Zhe (eds.). Making Saints in Modern China, New York: Oxford University Press.
- De Vido, Elise A. 2015. “Networks and Bridges: Nuns in the Making of Modern Chinese Buddhism.” The Chinese Historical Review, 22/1: 72-93.
- Ji Zhe. 2012. “Chinese Buddhism as a Social Force. Reality and Potential of Thirty Years of Revival.” Chinese Sociological Review, 45, 2, pp. 8-26.
- Kang Xiaofei. 2016, “Women and the Religion Question in Modern China.” In Modern Chinese Religion II, 1850-2015, edited by Vincent Goossaert, Jan Kiely, and John Lagerwey, 492-559. Leiden: E.J. Brill.
- Kiely, Jan. 2017. “The Charismatic Monk and the Chanting Masses: Master Yinguang and his Pure Land Revival Movement.” In Ownby, David, Goossaert, Vincent, Ji Zhe (eds.). Making Saints in Modern China, New York: Oxford University Press.
- Laliberté, André. 2011. “Buddhist Revival under State Watch.” Journal of Current Affairs, 40, 2, pp. 107-134.
- Ritzinger, Justin R. 2016. “Original Buddhism and its Discontents: The Chinese Buddhist Exchange Monks and the Search for the Pure Dharma in Ceylon.” Journal of Chinese Religions, 44.2: 149-173.

5) Textbook on Chinese History
Mario Sabattini e Paolo Santangelo, Storia della Cina, Bari, Laterza, 2008.

TESTI IN INGLESE (IN SOSTITUZIONE DEI PRECEDENTI):
1) Ch’en K.S., Buddhism in China: A Historical Survey, Prince-ton (N.J.), Princeton University Press, 1964.
2) Uno dei saggi in inglese alla voce “saggi sul Buddhismo di epoca imperiale”.
3) Uno dei saggi in inglese alla voce: “saggi sul Buddhismo moderno e/o contemporaneo”.
4) Roberts J. A. G., A Concise History of China, Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1999.

**
Students of Chinese Literature 3 can chose to prepare the following program on Chinese Literature trom the 3rd to the 21st century:
** Gli studenti di Letteratura cinese 3 possono scegliere di preparare il seguente programma da non frequentanti incentrato sulla Letteratura cinese dal III al XI secolo:
1) Mario Sabattini - Paolo Santangelo, Storia della Cina, Bari, Laterza, 2008 (capp. IV-VIII) > Testo obbligatorio solo per gli studenti che non hanno sostenuto l'esame di Storia e Cultura dell'Asia Orientale;
2) One of the following textbooks (chapters from the Three Kingdoms to the 20th century):
- Wilt Idema - Lloyd Haft, Letteratura Cinese, Venezia, Cafoscarina, 2000;
- Lionello Lanciotti, Letteratura cinese, Roma, ISIAO, 2007.
3) Pesaro, Nicoletta, “Letteratura cinese moderna e contemporanea”, in Samarani, Guido e Scarpari Maurizio, Cina: Verso la modernità, Torino Einaudi, 2009, pp. 693-746;
4) One of the following texts:
- Giulia Baccini, I sette savi del bosco di bambù. Personalità eccentriche nella Cina medievale. Testo cinese a fronte, Marsilio, 2016.
- Barbara Bisetto, Il laccio scarlatto, Venezia, Marsilio, 2010.
- Luca Stirpe, Echi d'amore. La Sanyan di Feng Menglong e le fonti in cinese classico, Aracne, 2013;
- Luca Stirpe, Il canzoniere di Li Yu (937-978). Ediz. multilingue, Libreria Editrice Orientalia, 2015;
- Pu Songling, I racconti fantastici di Liao. Traduzione di Ludovico Antonio Di Giura, Milano, Mondadori, 1997;
- Wu Cheng'en, Lo scimiotto. Traduzione di Adriana Motti, Torino, Einaudi, 1960;
- Chin P'ing Mei. Romanzo erotico cinese del secolo XVI. Traduzione di Piero Jahier e Maj-Lis Rissler Stoneman, Milano, Feltrinelli, 1980;
- Ts'ao Hsueh-ch'in, Il sogno della camera rossa. Traduzione di Edoarda Masi, Torino, U.T.E.T., 1981;
- Ts'ao Hsüeh-ch'in, Il sogno della camera rossa. Romanzo cinese del secolo XVIII, Torino, Einaudi, 1994.
Educational objectives
- Knowledge of the fundamentals of Buddhist thought, cosmology and orthopraxis.
- Knowledge of the history, doctrines and practices of Chinese Buddhism;
- Ability to provide cultural mediation with East and South-East Asian migrants in a religious context.
Prerequisites
Chinese language (highly recommended but not compulsory).
To attend this class students shall have acquired a basic knowledge of Chinese Imperial and modern history. Those that did not study Chinese history before, are kindly requested to read the book “History of China”.
Teaching methods
The course is organized as follows:
- standard classes on the main topics of the program;
- special lessons and conferences given by invited professors;
- further studies (students will further be presented with workshops and with documentaries and movies);
- educational visits (museums, exhibitions etc.).
UNISTUDIUM e-learning platform will be broadly used both to share information and materials and to communicate with students.
Other information
The course is targeted at MA students in Chinese Society and Culture (MA in Philosophy and Ethic of Relations and MA in Socioanthropological Studies); it is also addressed to students in Chinese Literature III (BA in Foreign Languages and Civilizations), who can also chose an alternative program on late imperial and modern Chinese literature (see program).
Learning verification modality
The final oral exam (half an hour) is to test the students’ understanding of a certain topic of Chinese Buddhism within its historical, socio-cultural, philosophical and religious context.
During the course students will be given the opportunity to prepare a paper on a specific topic, which will be presented to the class during the workshop classes, and which will serve as part of the exam (1/3 of the final exam score).
Extended program
This course is to give an overview on the spread and consolidation of Buddhism in China, giving ample space to Chinese Buddhism in modern and contemporary times and taking into account new perspectives developed in modern Buddhist Studies. The first part of the course will provide an introduction of the historical developments and the doctrinal fundamentals of Indian Buddhism. The following lessons will focus on the history, doctrines, practices and peculiarities of Chinese Buddhism, covering their evolution up to present day Mainland China and Taiwan. A number of thematic lessons will explore some specific aspects of Chinese Buddhism, such as Chinese pilgrimages to India and the role of women in Chinese Buddhism. Students will also be encourage to present papers to the class (workshops).
** Students of Chinese Literature 3 can chose to prepare a program focused on the study of Chinese literature, thought, culture and society from the 3rd century to the end of the Empire, and on the history and transformations of China in the 20th century, also taking into consideration developments in literature and thought. Optionally, students can prepare a paper on modern Chinese literature, which will be worth 1/3 of the final grade.
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