The Dynamic Spread of Buddhist Print Culture: Mapping Buddhist Book Roads in China and Its Neighbors (Crossroads - History of Interactions Across the Silk Routes, 7)

This book examines a vast selection of Buddhist printed images and texts, not merely as static cultural relics, but holistically within multicultural contexts, and as objects on the move, transmitted across a sprawling web of transnational networks, "Buddhist Book Roads". This comprehensive study explores the dynamic spread of Buddhist print culture in China and its Asian neighbors. It examines a vast selection of Buddhist printed images and texts, not merely as static cultural relics, but holistically within multicultural contexts related to other cultural products, and as objects on the move, transmitted across a sprawling web of transnational networks, “Buddhist Book Roads”. The author applies interdisciplinary and network approaches developed in art history, religious studies, digital humanities, and the history of the print and book culture to shed new light on Buddhist print culture from visual, textual, social, and religious perspectives. Half Title Series Information Title Page Copyright Page Contents Acknowledgements Illustrations Chronology Introduction 1 Primary Sources 2 Formative Years: 850–1450 3 Printing for Merit 4 The Network Approach 5 Visual Dimensions 6 About This Book Part 1 Connecting Print Culture with Other Media Chapter 1 Reproducing Images across Media 1 Seals and Stamps 2 Molded Religious and Daily Objects 3 Textiles with Printed Designs 4 Embossed Decorative Paper 5 Rubbings Chapter 2 From Painting to Woodblock Printing and Back Again 1 Textual Documentations 2 Single-Sheet Prints 3 The Secret Treasures Woodcuts 4 The Woodcut Effect Chapter 3 Book Art of the Lotus Sutra 1 Lotus Sutra Experiences 2 Frontispieces in Northern Song Hangzhou 3 Publishers and Bookshops in Southern Song Hangzhou 4 Three Southern Song Versions 5 New Trends in the Yuan Part 2 Buddhist Printing in North and Northwest China Chapter 4 Mapping Buddhist Printing under Khitan Liao Rule 1 Khitan Liao Imperial Patronage 2 Texts in Pagodas 3 Liao Yanjing as Printing Center Chapter 5 Southern Shanxi as the New Printing Center under Jin Rule 1 Reprinting Northern Song Illustrated Books 2 Exhibiting Popular Culture in Pingyang Prints 3 The Jin Canon 4 The New Orleans Finds Chapter 6 Tangut Royal Patronage and Xi Xia Buddhist Printing 1 The Xi Xia Network 2 Transmediated Designs 3 Visual Syncretism of the Maitreya Frontispieces 4 Workshop Practice and Modular Designs Part 3 The Mongol Era Chapter 7 Imperial and Elite Patronage in Dadu 1 Temples in and Around Dadu 2 The Postal Relay System 3 Tibetan Printed Specimens Discovered in Central Tibet 4 Uighur Printed Specimens Discovered in Eastern Central Asia 5 Emperor Renzong’s Patronage 6 Empress Dowager Budashiri and the Yuan Official Canon Chapter 8 Adorning the Buddhist Canon in Yuan Hangzhou 1 The Puning Canon 2 The Qisha Canon Chapter 9 Tibetan and Tangut Monks 1 The Tibetan Master Danba 2 Three Tangut Monks Chapter 10 Elite Uighurs 1 Buddhist Art and People from the Uighur Homeland 2 The “Mengsusu Woodcuts” Discovered in Turfan 3 Yiheimishi and his Buddhist Network Part 4 Printing Buddhism on the Ground Chapter 11 Illustrating Efficacy in Diamond Sutra Woodcuts 1 Making Copies of the Diamond Sutra 2 Buddho-Daoist Texts That Prolong One’s Lifespan 3 Illustrations of Miracles in Song-to-Ming Woodcuts 4 Women in the Diamond Sutra Woodcuts 5 Donors and Publishers Chapter 12 The Most Popular Book 1 The Tripartite Dharani Sutra 2 Esoteric Script Seals 3 An Illustrated Tradition 4 Fully Illustrated Versions Conclusion Bibliography Index