This article examines the level of religious mobilization of Buddhism in post-Mao China and explores the potential of Buddhism for reconfiguring the relationships between religion, state, and society. in the first part, with existing... more
This article examines the level of religious mobilization of Buddhism in post-Mao China and explores the potential of Buddhism for reconfiguring the relationships between religion, state, and society. in the first part, with existing data, three aspects of the ongoing Buddhist revival are measured: the number of lay Buddhists, the size and composition of sangha (Buddhist clergy), and the number and geographical repartition of monasteries. in the second part, the author analyzes three possible roles that Buddhism may play in Chinese public life, which are, respectively, a spiritual reference for political protest, a source of civil religion, and an element of the state’s soft power. The author argues that although Buddhism has become a basic system of symbolic reference for 10 to 20 percent of the Chinese adult population, it is politically conservative and contributes little to changing the existing social structure and power relations Since the beginning of the twenty-first century...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Cet ouvrage de Sebastien Billioud et Joel Thoraval, recemment traduit en anglais, formule un nouveau paradigme des etudes sur le confucianisme. A la difference des recherches existantes, qui malgre leur bonne qualite sont enclines a... more
Cet ouvrage de Sebastien Billioud et Joel Thoraval, recemment traduit en anglais, formule un nouveau paradigme des etudes sur le confucianisme. A la difference des recherches existantes, qui malgre leur bonne qualite sont enclines a reduire la complexite du phenomene « confuceen » – une etiquette trop commode pour ne pas etre ambigue – a divers aspects partiels (la philosophie, l’ethique, l’ideologie officielle, les pratiques cultuelles…), cet ouvrage se distingue par son souci d’aborder le p...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
通过对礼物交换的研究，莫斯不仅超越了涂尔干理论中神圣-社会与凡俗-个体的二元对立，而且说明了道德行为兼具的可求性与强制性，揭示了社会纽带建构与存续的逻辑，从而进一步回答了涂尔干的宗教社会学所关注的“人性/社会如何可能”的问题。与此同时，当代的研究还表明，礼物范式有助于我们更深入地理解宗教之不可化约的独特属性，即涂尔干所说的宗教所具有的“自成一类的力”。在一定意义上，莫斯的《礼物》是对涂尔干的《宗教生活的基本形式》的答复或重写，而礼物交换就是宗教生活的一种基本形式。
Founded in Taiwan in 1989, the Modern Chan Society was a community of lay Buddhists that challenged monks’ religious privileges and put forward the idea of equality between monks and lay believers. It asserted an independent authority... more
Founded in Taiwan in 1989, the Modern Chan Society was a community of lay Buddhists that challenged monks’ religious privileges and put forward the idea of equality between monks and lay believers. It asserted an independent authority from that of the monasteries in managing “salvation goods” and accordingly recruited its own clergy. In tracing the history of the Modern Chan Society, this article assesses modern Chinese Buddhism: the role of the prophet in symbolic power, the conditions governing the emergence of a prophet, the legitimisation of religious reforms in modern practice and the paradox of institutionalisation.
Research Interests:
本文评论了三种超越经典世俗化理论的思路：以理性选择理论为基础的宗教经济模式、以多维度分析和去制度化为中心的新世俗化理论，以及旨在比较不同社会在现代化过程中的宗教—政治—文化互动关系的多元宗教现代性研究。作者指出，对经典世俗化理论的真正超越，不在于简单地否定宗教衰落的命题本身，而在于更好地回答经典俗化理论所提出的问题，即通过重新追问现代性与宗教变迁的动态关系，将研究的焦点从对现代性的确证转换成对现代性的批判。
In the early 1980s, Buddhism in China entered a period of revival and prosperity, yet it retained a sense of public disgrace inherited from nearly three decades of persecution. In order to survive and to conform to the ethical system... more
In the early 1980s, Buddhism in China entered a period of revival and prosperity, yet it retained a sense of public disgrace inherited from nearly three decades of persecution. In order to survive and to conform to the ethical system imposed by the government, the monks were forced to engage in “productive labour”. However, Buddhism’s growing influence among lay people, and the increasing number of exchanges between monasteries and believers promoted a steady growth in the value of Buddhism’s cultural and religious capital. From the 1990s onwards, local authorities sought to co-operate with Buddhism, hoping to profit by its cultural capital through attracting investors and promoting tourism. The state did not cease to control and to oppress the Buddhists although, guided by economic interests, it contributed in some cases to promoting and reconstructing Buddhism: the monasteries thus found new legitimacy and new space for development.
Research Interests:
通过对社会史与思想史素材的整理与分析，本文指出， 世俗主义在早期现代中国的实践历程， 就是由“教” 所统摄的信仰、知识与权力三位一体的传统秩序发生分裂与重组的过程。十九世纪中叶以降， 中国所面临的现代危机引发了教育改革， 进而又导致了宗教与教育相分离、宗教与政治相分离以及国家对合法教育的垄断等连串后果。传统的“教”分化为在社会表达形式上各自独立、但在实践和观念上又彼此纠结的现代意义上的宗教、教育与政治。这一系列运动奠定了现代中国的世俗主义制度安排的基础。直到今天，... more
通过对社会史与思想史素材的整理与分析，本文指出， 世俗主义在早期现代中国的实践历程， 就是由“教” 所统摄的信仰、知识与权力三位一体的传统秩序发生分裂与重组的过程。十九世纪中叶以降， 中国所面临的现代危机引发了教育改革， 进而又导致了宗教与教育相分离、宗教与政治相分离以及国家对合法教育的垄断等连串后果。传统的“教”分化为在社会表达形式上各自独立、但在实践和观念上又彼此纠结的现代意义上的宗教、教育与政治。这一系列运动奠定了现代中国的世俗主义制度安排的基础。直到今天， 宗教、教育与政治这三者关系的变化， 仍然是中国社会变迁的一种结构性动力。
La politique et l’éducation sont indissociables dans les tentatives de promouvoir le confucianisme en Chine contemporaine. L’union alors célébrée du sacré, du pouvoir et du savoir s’inscrit en tension avec une modernité d’abord... more
La politique et l’éducation sont indissociables dans les tentatives de promouvoir le confucianisme en Chine contemporaine. L’union alors célébrée du sacré, du pouvoir et du savoir s’inscrit en tension avec une modernité d’abord caractérisée par la différenciation des institutions et des valeurs. Partant de ce constat, l’article étudie le cas particulier d’une société engagée depuis 2000 dans l’initiation des enfants à la musique classique et dans la promotion de la « culture de soi » chez les étudiants. On découvre alors comment cette entreprise remplace l’axe éthico-politique de l’éducation traditionnelle par une orientation éthico-esthétique remettant à l’honneur un confucianisme repensé comme art apolitique.
Confucian discourse in contemporary China simultaneously permeates the intertwined fields of politics and education. The current Confucian revival associates the “sacred”, power and knowledge whereas modernity is characterized by a... more
Confucian discourse in contemporary China simultaneously permeates the intertwined fields of politics and education. The current Confucian revival associates the “sacred”, power and knowledge whereas modernity is characterized by a differentiation between institutions and values. The paradoxical situation of Confucianism in modern society constitutes the background of the present article that explores the case of a private company involved in promoting classical Chinese music to children and “self-cultivation” to students. Its original conception of “education through music” paves the way for a new “ethical and aesthetic” teaching method that leaves aside the traditional associations of ethics with politics. By the same token, it opens the possibility for a non-political Confucianism to provide a relevant contribution in the field of education today.
Research Interests:
The article argues that the axial breakthrough in China consists not only in Confucian moral criticism of politics and the related ethical universalism, but also in a Taoist criticism of the historical and cultural limitations of morals... more
The article argues that the axial breakthrough in China consists not only in Confucian moral criticism of politics and the related ethical universalism, but also in a Taoist criticism of the historical and cultural limitations of morals and ethics, which is represented by Zhuangzi. With the notion of «beyond the realm», Zhuangzi coined the first Chinese concept of other-worldliness, thereby extending the Chinese thinkers’ imaginary space for self-exile. He denied any consecration of this-worldly order by universe order, and proposed to reveal, disturb, and neutralize the actions taken by power by individual nonaction. As a self-relexive product of the Chinese axial breakthrough, the thought of Zhuangzi constitutes both a paradigm of intellectual life and a source of civil disobedience.
ABSTRACT Based on fieldwork conducted in the Île-de-France, this article distinguishes three patterns in the organization of Buddhist-themed collective practices in the Chinese diaspora in France. Each of these patterns prioritizes a... more
ABSTRACT Based on fieldwork conducted in the Île-de-France, this article distinguishes three patterns in the organization of Buddhist-themed collective practices in the Chinese diaspora in France. Each of these patterns prioritizes a particular globalization linkage, which are respectively an ethnolinguistic immigrant group, a transnational organizational system, and information technology. The author argues that religious globalization is a multilayered trans-boundary process through which communities, organizations, and individuals reconstitute relations between religious practice and sociogeographic space. In this process, various clergy-laity relationships and diverse manners of authority legitimization are integrated into a complex topology, which is at the same time shaped by global, national, and local factors.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
ABSTRACT This article examines the level of religious mobilization of Buddhism in post-Mao China and explores the potential of Buddhism for reconfiguring the relationships between religion, state, and society. In the first part, with... more
ABSTRACT This article examines the level of religious mobilization of Buddhism in post-Mao China and explores the potential of Buddhism for reconfiguring the relationships between religion, state, and society. In the first part, with existing data, three aspects of the ongoing Buddhist revival are measured: the number of lay Buddhists, the size and composition of sangha (Buddhist clergy), and the number and geographical repartition of monasteries. In the second part, the author analyzes three possible roles that Buddhism may play in Chinese public life, which are, respectively, a spiritual reference for political protest, a source of civil religion, and an element of the state's soft power. The author argues that although Buddhism has become a basic system of symbolic reference for 10 to 20 percent of the Chinese adult population, it is politically conservative and contributes little to changing the existing social structure and power relations
Research Interests:
English The author seeks answers to the perplexing phenomenon: the increasing widespread youth religiosity in contemporary China. How is it possible for young people to acquire such religiosity in a society where the State vigorously... more
English The author seeks answers to the perplexing phenomenon: the increasing widespread youth religiosity in contemporary China. How is it possible for young people to acquire such religiosity in a society where the State vigorously opposes religion through its policy and practice? Using data from my own and others’ field observation and investigations, I show that in the past two decades, religious representations and practices have filtered to the Chinese through a variety of secular and non-institutional forms in the widening social and cultural space. These new reformulations of the religious traditions in turn have provided the youth with a wealth of symbolic references from which they can select according to their personal needs. To some extent, the strict state control of the religious institutions contributes ironically to the thriving growth of the individual, non-institutional and sectarian forms of the religiosity among the youth in contemporary China. French L'auteu...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests: Art and Multidisciplinary
Research Interests: Art and Multidisciplinary
This article explores how charismatic building and grouping are made possible, and how charisma, as a specific type of social relational structure, determines collective religious actions. Through a case study of a lay Buddhist... more
This article explores how charismatic building and grouping are made possible, and how charisma, as a specific type of social relational structure, determines collective religious actions. Through a case study of a lay Buddhist charismatic leader, Li Yuansong, and his reformist group, Modern Chan Society, in contemporary Taiwan, the author argues that charisma stems from social interactions focusing on the extraordinary and taking place between a leader and followers, during which three decisive socio-psychological dispositions——expectation, affection and responsibility——call for and reinforce each other. Forming and moving around these three axes, charisma paradoxically links reality and utopia, submission and autonomy, domination and sacrifice. It implies a continual circle, in which hope, care and trust circulate as gifts and counter-gifts.