Museums, Idols and ritual Parafernalia: Nineteenth-Century British Perceptions of Japanese Buddhism

Lecture on Wednesday, January 13, 2010, 6 pm

Lucia Dolce, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London University

Museums, Idols and ritual Parafernalia: Nineteenth-Century British Perceptions of Japanese Buddhism

 

AbstractTendai Mandala
The early study of Japanese Buddhism in Europe reflected a broader concern for a pan-Asian religion, Buddhism. Appreciation of Japanese Buddhism was thus affected by a specific understanding of the nature and function of Buddhism, and by the religious and historical background of the European scholars, travellers and religionists who witnessed Buddhist practices in Japan. Interest in religion also gave origin to collections of Buddhist artifacts by individuals and public institutions.

This lecture will explore the complex context in which the dynamics of the ‘British encounter‘ with Japanese Buddhism unfolded. It will look at some of the late nineteenth-century narratives in English on Japanese Buddhism, and will then focus on the objects of Buddhist devotional and ritual culture that were exhibited at the British Museum at the same time.

 

Dr. Lucia Dolce
is Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in the Department of the Study of Religions at SOAS, University of London, where she also directs the Centre for the Study of Japanese Religions. She is currently working on two research projects addressing rituals in pre-modern and contemporary Japanese religion.

 

This special lecture is funded by the Cluster of Excellence, “Asia and Europe in a Global Context”, and organized by the Institute of East Asian Art History, both Heidelberg University.

Verantwortlich: SH
Letzte Änderung: 28.02.2012
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