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Creating Social Consensus: Karmic Storytelling, Karmic Reasoning, and Merit Transfer

Submitted to Program Units
1: Collective Karma and Karmic Collectives: Conversations without Borders Seminar

Gregory Snyder, Union Theological Seminary, Presiding

Abstract for Online Program Book (maximum 150 words)

This panel examines noncanonical and paracanonical genres to highlight the ways karmic thinking is embedded in three different social contexts. First, against the backdrop of the Yuan Mongol court’s demotion of Confucian literati and elevation of Buddhist monks, Confucian dramatists promoted Confucian family moral responsibility through the use ofBuddhist karma in both individual and collective terms as a transformative force for the entire family. Secondly, Ming literati argumentation on whether a monk could finish a blood-copy of the Huayan Sutra through three successive reincarnations reveals how late Ming literati conceived of karma and reincarnation. And finally, the third historical case examines sponsorship of the printing and distribution of the Yongle Northern Canon as a means to generate merit for one’s own future rebirths, consolidate power, and support Buddhist monastic institutions. Our discussant will juxtapose these noncanonical understandings with those of Buddhist canonical theories of karma, particularly Yogacara.

Papers

  • Qian Zhang, University of Calgary

    Confucian Literati and Karmic Plots: An Analysis of A Slave to Money Buys a Creditor as His Enemy

    Abstract

    Chinese Yuan dramas (zaju 雜劇) often employed notions of Buddhist karma in their plots and subplots. To highlight this dramatic aspect, I will analyze the karmic components of the play Kanqiannu mai yuanjia zhaizhu (A Slave to Money Buys a Creditor as His Enemy). The dramatic plot connects two unrelated families through karmic retribution and the transfer of blessings, a method akin to the transfer of merit. The text of the play shows how a family member’s good and bad deeds not only bring good and bad karma to oneself, but also alter the collective karma of the entire family, affecting its collective rise and fall. I argue that such plot features were a means for Confucian dramatists to promote family-oriented collective values within the unique context of the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368), at a time, when Confucian literati were disparaged and Buddhist monks were privileged.

  • Jennifer Eichman, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London

    Karmic Perplexities: Assessing an Intergenerational Blood-Copy of the Huayan Sutra

    Abstract

    This project focuses on the rhetorical modes of assessing reincarnation and karmic connections presented in prefaces and postfaces by Chinese literati from the Ming dynasty to the Republican Era who venerated the blood-copy of the Huayan Sutra by the Yuan dynasty monk Shanji善繼 (1286-1357). An intergenerational production, the progenitor of the project was thought to be the eminent monk Yongming Yanshou永明延壽 (904-975), who reincarnated as Shanji, and who completed the project through a second reincarnation as the great early Ming statesman Song Lian宋濂 (1310-1381).Literati argumentation often adopted a uniquely Buddhist method of historical proof premised on assessments of reincarnation, karmic connections, dream encounters, and personal realization. This work analyzes their assessments to better understand how these concepts functioned within the contexts of elite literati Buddhist belief and engagement with venerated artifacts like this very unique intergenerational blood-copy of the Huayan Sutra.

  • Darui Long, University of the West

    Merit-Making through Printing, Distributing and Reading Buddhist Scriptures

    Abstract

    In general, Buddhists believe that one can improve one’s karmic fortunes and generate merit through copying, printing, distributing, or reading Buddhist scriptures (John Kieschnick, 2003, chapter three). In my fifteen year study of the Ming dynasty Yongle Northern Canon, I have discovered that the colophons, inscriptions, notes and prefaces attached to this project indicate that emperors, empresses, officials, eunuchs, and many others believed that if they gave donations for the printing and distributing of the Buddhist canon, they could accumulate enough merit for a better rebirth or to be reborn in the Pure Land of Amitabha Buddha. This paper will analyze these paracanonical sources in order to highlight how members of the court understood karma and used their positions and financial resources to print and distribute this multi-volume set. I will focus on references to this merit-making in the writings of members of the royal family, eunuchs, and monks.

Responding
Joy Brennan, Kenyon College
Audiovisual Requirements

Resources

LCD Projector and Screen
Play Audio from Laptop Computer
Podium microphone

Comments

Our panel could possibly be co-sponsored by the Confucian Traditions Unit or the Chinese Religions Unit. Perhaps even the Buddhist Unit.

Full Papers Available

No
Program Unit Options

Session Length

90 Minutes
Schedule Info

Sunday, 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM

Session Identifier

A24-303