Going on Pilgrimage in 19th Century China: The itinerary network in the Canxue zhijin 參學知津

Friday, December 18th, 18:00h  
Speaker: Marcus Bingenheimer
This lecture will be held at the Institute for Research in Humanities (IRH),
Kyoto University (seminar room 1, 1st floor)
 
Around 1826 the monk Ruhai Xiancheng 如海顯承 wrote a route book of China's most
popular pilgrimage routes for his fellow monks: "Knowing the Paths of
Pilgrimage" (Canxue zhijin). This is a rare source for the
travel routes of Buddhists in late imperial times as it describes, station
by station, 56 pilgrimage itineraries all over China, many converging on
famous mountains and urban centres. Its prefaces and essays
complement this practical information by explaining why and how 19th
century monks went on pilgrimage. Although the text was published without
maps, the main stations for each route have now been geo-referenced so
that maps of the pilgrimage network can be produced.  The talk
will present preliminary results of the ongoing project, discuss the
history of the book and the overall characteristics of the pilgrimage
network. Notably, though the majority of the destinations are Buddhist
sites such as Mt. Wutai, Mt. Emei or Mt. Putuo, Xiancheng also described routes
to the traditional five sacred mountains, popular Daoist sites such as Mt.
Wudang, or Mt. Luofu, and even famous Confucian localities, such as
Qufu. He also visited sites of scenic, historical or literary
interest, such as the grave of Zhu Geliang, or locations associated with
the novel Xiyouji in northern Jiangsu. In other words, the
routes in "Knowing the Paths of Pilgrimage" traverse not only
the country's geography, but also the full spectrum of sacred places in
China.
 
 
Marcus Bingenheimer 馬德偉 obtained an MA (Sinology) and a
Dr.phil (History of Religions) degree from Würzburg University and an MA (Communication Studies) from Nagoya University. He teaches in the Department of Religion at
Temple University (Philadelphia) and is currently visiting research fellow at
Nagoya University. From 2005 to 2011 he taught Buddhism and Digital Humanities
in Taiwan, where he also supervised various projects concerning the
digitization of Buddhist culture. His main research interests are the history
of Buddhism in East Asia and early Buddhist sutra literature. Next to
that, Marcus Bingenheimer is interested in the Digital Humanities and how to do
research in the age of digital information.
  
 
For detailed directions:
http://www.zinbun.kyoto-u.ac.jp/e/institute/access-institute/access_e.htm  
 
École Francaise d’Extrême-Orient (EFEO) 
Italian School of East Asian Studies (ISEAS) 
 
EFEO 
Phone: 075-701-0882 
Fax: 075-701-0883
e-mail: efeo.kyoto@gmail.com  
ISEAS
Phone: 075-751-8132 
Fax: 075-751-8221 
e-mail: iseas@iseas-kyoto.org
co-hosted
by Institute for Research in Humanities, Kyoto University


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