Papers by Yang Shen
Review of Religion and Chinese Society, 2023
The paper examines the idioms of dignity and respect in addressing elderly individuals within Bud... more The paper examines the idioms of dignity and respect in addressing elderly individuals within Buddhist monastic publics in reformed China. It analyzes the use of three common address terms—jushi, shixiong, and lao pusa—and other phrasings as observed during fieldwork in Buddhist temples in Eastern and Southern China in the 2010s. By introducing the concept of “Buddhist monastic publics,” the study illuminates the dynamic interplay between a resident monastic life and the casual encounters of temple-goers. Address patterns are contextualized within the historical tension between monastic and lay statuses in a state-centric, Han-majority society, revealing fluctuating boundaries of inclusivity and exclusivity in Han Buddhist temple interactions. Overall, this study offers anthropological insights into the evolving dynamics of respect and recognition within contemporary Chinese Buddhist sociality. It highlights the diversity of discursive forms that inform and shape this social fabric, contributing to an interactionist interpretation of Buddhist temple engagement.
尊言:当代中国佛教寺院空间中对于年长陌生人的称呼问题
本文探讨了当代中国的佛教寺院空间中,如何以尊重对方的方式来称呼较为年长的陌生人。文章分析了三个常用称谓——居士(jushi)、师兄(shixiong)和老菩萨(lao pusa)的实际使用方式——以及在2010年代中国东部和南部汉传佛教寺庙实地考察中观察到的其他相关措辞。通过引入“佛教寺院僧俗空间”(Buddhist monastic publics)的概念,本研究阐明了衔接着寺院僧人生活与各类拜访寺院的临时访客活动的动态互动的基本格局。在以国家为中心的、汉族多数的社会背景下,本文将社会实践中浮现的称谓模式放置于僧俗身份多重的历史紧张关系的脉络中,以此揭示汉传佛教寺庙中的互动类型。简言之,社会语用实践中的称谓问题反映了寺院僧俗空间中,包容性与排他性的界限乃是持续波动的。总体而言,本研究追踪了寺院互动空间中有关人际尊重与相互认可的展演动态,为当代中国的佛教社会性(Buddhist sociality)提供了人类学见解。本文还指出这种佛教社会性的质感乃是由多样的话语形式所塑造和影响的,这就进一步推进了解读大众参与佛教寺庙的互动论立场。
Open Access Available at: https://brill.com/view/journals/rrcs/10/1/article-p147_7.xml?rskey=HIJffb&result=1&ebody=full%20html-copy1
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Material Religion The Journal of Objects, Art and Belief, 2023
Among the most noteworthy practices in Buddhist temples in China today are yuan or wish-vow actio... more Among the most noteworthy practices in Buddhist temples in China today are yuan or wish-vow actions. Wish-vows encompass both wish-making (xuyuan 许愿) and vow-giving (fayuan 发愿), with both modalities embraced by average temple-goers from a general population. Chinese Buddhist liturgies encourage ritual performers to adopt a bodhisattva stance, wishing/vowing for the well-being of all beings. This introduces an ethical dimension to yuan performances. This paper analyzes the continuity in practice between wish-making and vow-giving, exploring how popular and Buddhist understandings of ritual entangle and how ritual generates meaningful narratives for practitioners. The article shows how the human pursuit of ritual effects and ethical self-transformation are not contradictory but rather complementary processes. Considering this Chinese ritual situation deepens our comprehension of votive practices in syncretic religious traditions. Additionally, it offers a new direction for considering religious potentialities in late socialist societies. Furthermore, it usefully challenges the use of the term “prayer” in Chinese contexts. In this way, the article bridges anthropology, Chinese studies, and religious studies and enhances our conceptual toolkit for studying ongoing human transformation.
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How do generations of Chinese remain connected across history? How do the anthropological studies... more How do generations of Chinese remain connected across history? How do the anthropological studies of religion help us to re-conceptualize the realm of sociality and historicity? This paper argues that reading the classics is a ritual to bring together many heterogeneous traditions in a subjunctive historical community. In the Chinese context, reading is first done aloud in the presence of other people, in what can be broadly envisioned as a teacher-student relationship. Reading as such is rhythmic, public, and historical , by which both the deceased and the yet-to-be-born are brought together by readers' embodied acceptance of " sages. " Thus " traditions " in China could be discussed more in terms of orthopraxy than orthodoxy. This perspective of reading suggests one is capable of understanding by " doing " rather than by " thinking " alone; and reading activities serve not only to regenerate but also to create new relationships among and between contemporaries and their historical relatives. For conversations that greatly benefited this paper. Suggestions made by the editors of JOCH are also appreciated. Many other colleagues have kindly read my manuscripts. I am grateful for their generosity and hope I can address their suggestions adequately in future papers.
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Book Reviews by Yang Shen
The China Journal, 2023
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The Journal of Asian Studies, 2022
The renewal of classical and imperial Chinese cultures in late socialist China has been conspicuo... more The renewal of classical and imperial Chinese cultures in late socialist China has been conspicuous.
Given the richness of the phenomenon, critical assessments of such comebacks are still underway. In
this new book, Belgian Chinese studies scholar Mieke Matthyssen claims that invoking discourses from
an earlier era has more than nostalgic or ideological significance. Instead, conventional wisdom devel-
oped in imperial China can continue to function as a survival strategy for our East Asian coevals in
navigating their current public and interpersonal relationships. The argument is built on recognizing
a “close link between ‘applied’ philosophy and Chinese indigenous and folk psychology” (p. 7).
Matthyssen’s emphasis on a culturally mediated sense of psychological agency or well-being, along
with her focus on the indigenous attitude to knowledge, helps fine-tune the parameters of discussion
on the politics of knowledge and traditions in China.
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Synopsis for The Second Workshop of Anthropology of Religion: Religion and Society in the View of... more Synopsis for The Second Workshop of Anthropology of Religion: Religion and Society in the View of an Anthropology of Cultivation/Xiuxing, Sept.24-25, Maoshan, Jiangsu, China [in Chinese]
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Presentations by Yang Shen
Aging people in China today are becoming a growing part of the society. Elderly people are often ... more Aging people in China today are becoming a growing part of the society. Elderly people are often left to live by themselves in more rural area of the country, though they are still relying on younger members of their family. This increasing population is reshaping the concrete reality of Chinese society today, and creating new social tensions. Taking care of these elderly people is becoming a national issue that the whole nation - government, civil society and religious bodies - has to deal with. From four different perspectives (Philosophy, Public health policy, Buddhist and Protestant contexts), we observe closely how different Chinese entities recast traditions of health and rituals, manipulating different strategies and tools to take care of the growing elderly population. We focus on concrete practices and rituals implemented within various social spheres, to compare how aging is reconsidered and integrated today within broader China.
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Criticism by Yang Shen
本文包含图片背景,需下载后才能正常打开。This document involves image backgrounds. It can only be viewed correctly aft... more 本文包含图片背景,需下载后才能正常打开。This document involves image backgrounds. It can only be viewed correctly after downloads.
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Papers by Yang Shen
尊言:当代中国佛教寺院空间中对于年长陌生人的称呼问题
本文探讨了当代中国的佛教寺院空间中,如何以尊重对方的方式来称呼较为年长的陌生人。文章分析了三个常用称谓——居士(jushi)、师兄(shixiong)和老菩萨(lao pusa)的实际使用方式——以及在2010年代中国东部和南部汉传佛教寺庙实地考察中观察到的其他相关措辞。通过引入“佛教寺院僧俗空间”(Buddhist monastic publics)的概念,本研究阐明了衔接着寺院僧人生活与各类拜访寺院的临时访客活动的动态互动的基本格局。在以国家为中心的、汉族多数的社会背景下,本文将社会实践中浮现的称谓模式放置于僧俗身份多重的历史紧张关系的脉络中,以此揭示汉传佛教寺庙中的互动类型。简言之,社会语用实践中的称谓问题反映了寺院僧俗空间中,包容性与排他性的界限乃是持续波动的。总体而言,本研究追踪了寺院互动空间中有关人际尊重与相互认可的展演动态,为当代中国的佛教社会性(Buddhist sociality)提供了人类学见解。本文还指出这种佛教社会性的质感乃是由多样的话语形式所塑造和影响的,这就进一步推进了解读大众参与佛教寺庙的互动论立场。
Open Access Available at: https://brill.com/view/journals/rrcs/10/1/article-p147_7.xml?rskey=HIJffb&result=1&ebody=full%20html-copy1
Book Reviews by Yang Shen
Given the richness of the phenomenon, critical assessments of such comebacks are still underway. In
this new book, Belgian Chinese studies scholar Mieke Matthyssen claims that invoking discourses from
an earlier era has more than nostalgic or ideological significance. Instead, conventional wisdom devel-
oped in imperial China can continue to function as a survival strategy for our East Asian coevals in
navigating their current public and interpersonal relationships. The argument is built on recognizing
a “close link between ‘applied’ philosophy and Chinese indigenous and folk psychology” (p. 7).
Matthyssen’s emphasis on a culturally mediated sense of psychological agency or well-being, along
with her focus on the indigenous attitude to knowledge, helps fine-tune the parameters of discussion
on the politics of knowledge and traditions in China.
Presentations by Yang Shen
Criticism by Yang Shen
尊言:当代中国佛教寺院空间中对于年长陌生人的称呼问题
本文探讨了当代中国的佛教寺院空间中,如何以尊重对方的方式来称呼较为年长的陌生人。文章分析了三个常用称谓——居士(jushi)、师兄(shixiong)和老菩萨(lao pusa)的实际使用方式——以及在2010年代中国东部和南部汉传佛教寺庙实地考察中观察到的其他相关措辞。通过引入“佛教寺院僧俗空间”(Buddhist monastic publics)的概念,本研究阐明了衔接着寺院僧人生活与各类拜访寺院的临时访客活动的动态互动的基本格局。在以国家为中心的、汉族多数的社会背景下,本文将社会实践中浮现的称谓模式放置于僧俗身份多重的历史紧张关系的脉络中,以此揭示汉传佛教寺庙中的互动类型。简言之,社会语用实践中的称谓问题反映了寺院僧俗空间中,包容性与排他性的界限乃是持续波动的。总体而言,本研究追踪了寺院互动空间中有关人际尊重与相互认可的展演动态,为当代中国的佛教社会性(Buddhist sociality)提供了人类学见解。本文还指出这种佛教社会性的质感乃是由多样的话语形式所塑造和影响的,这就进一步推进了解读大众参与佛教寺庙的互动论立场。
Open Access Available at: https://brill.com/view/journals/rrcs/10/1/article-p147_7.xml?rskey=HIJffb&result=1&ebody=full%20html-copy1
Given the richness of the phenomenon, critical assessments of such comebacks are still underway. In
this new book, Belgian Chinese studies scholar Mieke Matthyssen claims that invoking discourses from
an earlier era has more than nostalgic or ideological significance. Instead, conventional wisdom devel-
oped in imperial China can continue to function as a survival strategy for our East Asian coevals in
navigating their current public and interpersonal relationships. The argument is built on recognizing
a “close link between ‘applied’ philosophy and Chinese indigenous and folk psychology” (p. 7).
Matthyssen’s emphasis on a culturally mediated sense of psychological agency or well-being, along
with her focus on the indigenous attitude to knowledge, helps fine-tune the parameters of discussion
on the politics of knowledge and traditions in China.