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Inner Worlds: Individuals and Interiority in Chinese Religious Life
Series: - Studies on East Asian Religions, Volume: 14
How do the inner convictions of individuals clash and sometimes cohere with the ideologies of their times? This volume investigates the interior lives of Chinese religious practitioners from the tenth century to the present to explore their dreams, visions, and personal struggles.
The reader will encounter an eminent Buddhist master’s Confucian dreams, a Qing court lama’s visions of China, and a modern Chan master’s memories of his own awakening. The contributors draw on a vast array of sources—poetry, dream records, confessions, instructional talks, and previously unpublished archival documents—to offer a new perspective on the interplay between personal belief and political ideology, between the otherworldly and the mundane.
Contributors are: James A. Benn, Ester Bianchi, Raoul Birnbaum, Benjamin Brose, Daniela Campo, Wen-shing Chou, Vincent Goossaert, Ji Zhe, Paul R. Katz, Beverley McGuire, Gray Tuttle, and Wang Jia.
The reader will encounter an eminent Buddhist master’s Confucian dreams, a Qing court lama’s visions of China, and a modern Chan master’s memories of his own awakening. The contributors draw on a vast array of sources—poetry, dream records, confessions, instructional talks, and previously unpublished archival documents—to offer a new perspective on the interplay between personal belief and political ideology, between the otherworldly and the mundane.
Contributors are: James A. Benn, Ester Bianchi, Raoul Birnbaum, Benjamin Brose, Daniela Campo, Wen-shing Chou, Vincent Goossaert, Ji Zhe, Paul R. Katz, Beverley McGuire, Gray Tuttle, and Wang Jia.
James A. Benn is Professor of Buddhism and East Asian Religions at McMaster University. He is the author of Burning for the Buddha: Self-immolation in Chinese Buddhism (University of Hawai‘i Press, 2007) and Tea in China: A Religious and Cultural History (University of Hawai‘i Press, 2015).
Benjamin Brose is Professor of Buddhist and Chinese studies and Chair of the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of Michigan. His most recent monograph is Embodying Xuanzang: The Postmortem Travels of a Buddhist Pilgrim (2023). He is also the editor of Buddhist Masters of Modern China: The Live and Legacies of Eight Eminent Teachers (2025).
Benjamin Brose is Professor of Buddhist and Chinese studies and Chair of the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of Michigan. His most recent monograph is Embodying Xuanzang: The Postmortem Travels of a Buddhist Pilgrim (2023). He is also the editor of Buddhist Masters of Modern China: The Live and Legacies of Eight Eminent Teachers (2025).
Advanced students and researchers in the fields of Buddhist Studies, Chinese History, East Asian Religions, and Religious Studies. Also of interest to practitioners in East Asian religious communities.