This panel explores the dynamic interplay between doctrine and practice across religious and philosophical traditions. While doctrine is often perceived as prescriptive, this panel argues that it functions as a fluid resource, subject to reinterpretation and instrumentalization by its practitioners. Rather than being passively enacted, doctrine both shapes and is shaped by practice. Through four case studies spanning Buddhism, Daoism, folk beliefs (fengshui), and Confucianism, this panel examines how doctrinal ideals were negotiated in specific historical contexts. The first paper reconstructs Tang Buddhist burial practices, revealing the mediation between canonical principles and local customs. The second investigates Jiaobei divination, demonstrating how collective ritual participation constructs “orthodox” traditions. The third analyzes Northern Song Fengshui, illustrating how elite families selectively applied geomantic principles for strategic ends. The fourth explores the legitimization of Wang Yangming’s legacy, highlighting the role of biographical narratives in doctrinal reconfiguration. Together, these studies offer a framework for understanding doctrine as a lived and contested practice.
Building on recent archaeological discoveries of Buddhist burial sites, including stupas and burial caves from the Luoyang area during the Tang dynasty, this study aims to reconstruct their original contexts and associated rituals while uncovering the intricate and uneven process of adopting Buddhist teachings on death and body into funerary practices in Tang society.
This study is structured in three stages: First, by analyzing data collected from the archaeological excavations and utilizing advanced digital technologies, it will restore the initial conditions of two selected examples, illustrating the dynamic process of their constructions. Second, through an examination of relevant Buddhist scriptures and epigraphic sources, it will reconstruct the burial rituals performed at these sites and clarify the functions of different spaces. Finally, it will explore the Buddhist beliefs upheld by practitioners and their role in mediating and negotiating discrepancies between Buddhist doctrines and actual funerary practices.
Jiaobei (筊杯, monoblocks), a divinatory implement composed of two symmetrical halves—the convex yin (陰) side and the planar yang (陽) side—is extensively utilized across southern China. It functions as a medium through which divine responses are ascertained: a combination of one yin and one yang side typically denotes an affirmative response, whereas two yang or two yin sides indicate either a negative or indeterminate outcome. This study, drawing upon ethnographic fieldwork conducted in an ordination ritual in Guizhou Province (貴州省) and Daoist ritual contexts in central Hunan Province (湖南省), contends that Jiaobei serves as an instrument of ritual mediation, fostering connections among diverse actors and integrating individual and collective religious experiences. Furthermore, it posits that orthopraxy, or the notion of correct practice, emerges through iterative negotiations among multiple participants rather than as an inflexible paradigm unilaterally imposed by a singular authority.
This study examines the discrepancies between the theoretical framework of Northern Song fengshui principles and their actual application in burial practices, using archaeological evidence and historical texts. While previous research has primarily attempted to interpret burial layouts through fengshui guidelines, few tombs strictly adhered to these normative principles, and the reasons for such deviations remain underexplored. Focusing on the Chao family of Chan County, a politically and culturally influential lineage, this paper investigates how family members selectively applied fengshui to serve their own strategic interests. By analyzing cemetery planning and written records, it reveals how elite families manipulated theoretical frameworks to secure burial sites and maintain lineage dominance. The study further categorizes common deviations in Northern Song burial practices, attributing them to local geomorphological constraints and kinship structures. Ultimately, it provides new insights into the interaction between ideology, social organization, and spatial planning in medieval China.
Wang Yangming’s (1472–1529) early hagiographical reception sought to reconcile his philosophical teachings with the expectations of a Confucian sage. Following his death, his disciples worked to position him within the official Confucian lineage amid political struggles, balancing historical facts with ideological construction. One such effort was Geng Dingxiang’s (1524–1596) Hereditary House of Earl Xinjian, Master Wang Wencheng 新建侯文成王先生世家, a quasi-Shiji 史記 biography that imitated the Shiji narrative. By modeling Wang’s biography after that of Confucius, Geng granted him comparable historical significance. This work not only defended Wang’s intellectual legacy but also integrated his earlier chronicles, recorded sayings, and essays into a cohesive narrative. In doing so, Geng leveraged Wang’s newly conferred official title to legitimize him further, elevating his status and solidifying his place within the orthodox tradition, ultimately shaping Wang’s posthumous image as a Confucian sage.