Chinese gleams of Sufi light. Wang Tai-yü's Great learning of the pure and real and Liu Chih's Displaying the concealment of the real realm. With a new translation of Jāmī's Lawāʼiḥ from the Persian by William C. Chittick [EST: Qing-zhen-daxue <engl.

Chinese Gleams of Sufi Light investigates, for the first time in a Western language, the manner in which the Muslim scholars of China adapted the Chinese tradition to their own needs during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The book surveys the 1400-year history of Islam in China and explores why the four books translated from Islamic languages into Chinese before the twentieth century were all Persian Sufi texts. The author also looks carefully at the two most important Muslim authors of books in the Chinese language, Wang Tai-yu and Liu Chih. Murata shows how they assimilated Confucian social teachings and Neo-Confucian metaphysics, as well as Buddhism and Taoism, into Islamic thought. She presents full translations of Wang's Great Learning of the Pure and Real--a text on the principles of Islam--and Liu Chih's Displaying the Concealment of the Real Realm, which in turn is a translation from Persian of Lawa'ih', a famous Sufi text by Jami. A new translation of Jami's Lawa'ih' from the Persian by William C. Chittick is juxtaposed with Liu Chih's work, revealing the latter's techniques in adapting the text to the Chinese language and Chinese thought. Contents......Page 4 Foreword......Page 6 Acknowledgments......Page 12 Introduction......Page 14 1. Chinese-Language Islam......Page 26 The Essentials of Islam......Page 27 The Chinese Language......Page 30 Wang Tai-yii......Page 32 Liu Chih......Page 37 The Arabic Translation of Liu Chih' s Philosophy......Page 41 Translations into Chinese......Page 44 The Neo-Confucian Background......Page 48 2. The Works of Wang Tai-yii......Page 56 The True Answers......Page 57 The Real Commentary on the True Teaching......Page 61 Adam and Eve: From Chapter Two of the Real Commentary......Page 73 The Real Solicitude......Page 77 3. Wang Tai-yii' s Great Learning......Page 82 The Chinese Background......Page 83 The Islamic Concepts......Page 87 TheText......Page 91 Preface......Page 94 Introduction......Page 95 Synopsis: Comprehensive Statement......Page 97 The Real One......Page 102 The Numerical One......Page 106 The Embodied One......Page 109 General Discussion......Page 114 5. Liu Chih' s Translation of Lawa'ih......Page 126 The Oneness of Existence......Page 129 Liu Chih's Appropriation of Lawd'itl......Page 134 The Translations......Page 139 6. Gleams......Page 141 7. Displaying the Concealment of the Real Realm......Page 142 Notes......Page 224 Glossary of Chinese Words......Page 250 Bibliography......Page 254 Index of Chinese Names and Terms......Page 260 Index of Persian and Arabic Names and Terms......Page 264 General Index......Page 268 Murata (comparative studies, State U. of New York-Stony Brook) opens a window to an aspect of Chinese culture and history little known to westerners by examining how Muslim scholars there adapted the Chinese tradition to their own needs during the 17th and 18th centuries, surveying the 1400-year history of Islam in China, and exploring why the four books translated from Islamic languages into Chinese before the 20th century were all Persian Sufi texts. She looks especially at the two most important writers and how they assimilated various Chinese traditions into Islamic thought. Throughout her work she integrates a new translation of Jami's Lawa'ih by William C. Chittick to demonstrate the Chinese adaptations. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR