The Beef Taboo in China explains how and why, around the turn of the second millennium, the Chinese determined that cattle should not be slaughtered or eaten. This taboo remained prevalent until the beginning of the twentieth century and is still observed by some today. Goossaert situates this prohibition within evolving Chinese attitudes toward animals and meat and juxtaposes the taboo with vegetarianism and other forms of meat ethics. He argues that the emergence of this specific practice must be understood in several contexts, notably a new agricultural economy and ecology in early modern times that protected plow cattle and marginalized pastures; a sacrificial reform that eliminated beef as the standard offering to gods and spirits; and the development of Daoist rituals, cults, and moral theology that tabooed beef and made this observance a linchpin of Chinese civilization. Literature for Little Bodhisattvas argues that picture books are a new genre of religious writing that reframes Buddhism and offer fresh perspectives on its teachings for both children and adults. Surveying Taiwanese Buddhism from the ground up, Heller explores the changing family dynamics that have made children into a crucial audience for Buddhist education and the home a key site for Buddhist cultivation. By taking picturebooks seriously as part of the Buddhist textual tradition, Heller demonstrates their engagement with canonical sources alongside innovations for modern audiences. Close readings analyzing both text and image trace narrative themes about Buddhist figures, and connect representations of buddhas and bodhisattvas to a visual culture where new values such as cuteness are articulated. Heller shows that picture books equip children with strategies to interpret everyday life in Buddhist ways and provide religious models for action in the modern world.
Speakers
Vincent Goossaert is a historian of Chinese religions, with special focues on Taoism. He works mainly with texts (canonical sources, local histories, archives, inscriptions, vernacular literature), but always leaves room for fieldwork, using a historical anthropological approach. He has long focused on institutions and regulations, and is now giving greater attention to practices (spiritual exercises) and ideas (the history of eschatologies). After publishing works on the 20th century, he now focuses on the religious formation of early modern China (10th-14th centuries) and on literate spirituality at the end of the empire. Have a look at his monography “Making the Gods Speak” (Harvard University Press 2022).
Barbara Ambros is a professor in East Asian Religions in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her research on Japanese Religions has focused on gender studies, human-animal relationships, and place and space. She has published in journals such as the Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, Religions, Monumenta Nipponica, Asian Ethnology, Material Religion, and Asian Cultural Studies. Her book publications include Le donne nell’ordine monastico buddhista (Myo Edizioni, 2019), Women in Japanese Religions (New York University Press, 2015), Bones of Contention: Animals and Religion in Contemporary Japan (University of Hawai‘i Press, 2012), and Emplacing a Pilgrimage: The Early Modern Ōyama Cult and Regional Religion (Harvard University Asia Center, 2008).
Natasha Heller is a cultural historian of Chinese Buddhism with research interests spanning the premodern period (primarily 10th through 14th c.) and the contemporary era. Her work seeks to find unexplored perspectives through which to understand religious history. Illusory Abiding: The Cultural Construction of the Chan Monk Zhongfeng Mingben, her first book, is a study of an eminent monk of the Yuan dynasty using poetry, calligraphy, and gong’an commentary to explore the social and cultural dimensions of Chan Buddhism. She continue to write frequently on Song and Yuan dynasty Buddhism and have authored or co-authored many book chapters and journal articles, including for Brill’s Encyclopedia of Buddhism. The relationship between religion and literature is an ongoing concern in her research.
Moderator
Jonathan Pettit, Associate Professor, Department of Religions & Ancient Civilizations, University of Hawai’i at Mānoa
The Beef Taboo in China explains how and why, around the turn of the second millennium, the Chinese determined that cattle should not be slaughtered or eaten. This taboo remained prevalent until the beginning of the twentieth century and is still observed by some today. Goossaert situates this prohibition within evolving Chinese attitudes toward animals and meat and juxtaposes the taboo with vegetarianism and other forms of meat ethics. He argues that the emergence of this specific practice must be understood in several contexts, notably a new agricultural economy and ecology in early modern times that protected plow cattle and marginalized pastures; a sacrificial reform that eliminated beef as the standard offering to gods and spirits; and the development of Daoist rituals, cults, and moral theology that tabooed beef and made this observance a linchpin of Chinese civilization. Literature for Little Bodhisattvas argues that picture books are a new genre of religious writing that reframes Buddhism and offer fresh perspectives on its teachings for both children and adults. Surveying Taiwanese Buddhism from the ground up, Heller explores the changing family dynamics that have made children into a crucial audience for Buddhist education and the home a key site for Buddhist cultivation. By taking picturebooks seriously as part of the Buddhist textual tradition, Heller demonstrates their engagement with canonical sources alongside innovations for modern audiences. Close readings analyzing both text and image trace narrative themes about Buddhist figures, and connect representations of buddhas and bodhisattvas to a visual culture where new values such as cuteness are articulated. Heller shows that picture books equip children with strategies to interpret everyday life in Buddhist ways and provide religious models for action in the modern world.
Speakers
Vincent Goossaert is a historian of Chinese religions, with special focues on Taoism. He works mainly with texts (canonical sources, local histories, archives, inscriptions, vernacular literature), but always leaves room for fieldwork, using a historical anthropological approach. He has long focused on institutions and regulations, and is now giving greater attention to practices (spiritual exercises) and ideas (the history of eschatologies). After publishing works on the 20th century, he now focuses on the religious formation of early modern China (10th-14th centuries) and on literate spirituality at the end of the empire. Have a look at his monography “Making the Gods Speak” (Harvard University Press 2022).
Barbara Ambros is a professor in East Asian Religions in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her research on Japanese Religions has focused on gender studies, human-animal relationships, and place and space. She has published in journals such as the Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, Religions, Monumenta Nipponica, Asian Ethnology, Material Religion, and Asian Cultural Studies. Her book publications include Le donne nell’ordine monastico buddhista (Myo Edizioni, 2019), Women in Japanese Religions (New York University Press, 2015), Bones of Contention: Animals and Religion in Contemporary Japan (University of Hawai‘i Press, 2012), and Emplacing a Pilgrimage: The Early Modern Ōyama Cult and Regional Religion (Harvard University Asia Center, 2008).
Natasha Heller is a cultural historian of Chinese Buddhism with research interests spanning the premodern period (primarily 10th through 14th c.) and the contemporary era. Her work seeks to find unexplored perspectives through which to understand religious history. Illusory Abiding: The Cultural Construction of the Chan Monk Zhongfeng Mingben, her first book, is a study of an eminent monk of the Yuan dynasty using poetry, calligraphy, and gong’an commentary to explore the social and cultural dimensions of Chan Buddhism. She continue to write frequently on Song and Yuan dynasty Buddhism and have authored or co-authored many book chapters and journal articles, including for Brill’s Encyclopedia of Buddhism. The relationship between religion and literature is an ongoing concern in her research.
Moderator
Jonathan Pettit, Associate Professor, Department of Religions & Ancient Civilizations, University of Hawai’i at Mānoa
