Buddhism and Daoism on the Holy Mountains of China

This volume sheds new light on the matter of religious mountain culture in China - a theme of great relevance to the Chinese civilization. Already during the Chinese antiquity, mountains had specific ritual functions. This may be seen as a precursor to the importance mountains gained when in medieval China Buddhism and Daoism emerged as dominant religions. Adepts of both religions often went into retreat on mountains to practice spirituality, and as a result monastic communities often formed on mountains. In the further course, certain mountains began to attract pilgrims, since they were associated with famous practitioners who had lived there, or since they were seen as the seat of particular Buddhist or Daoist deities. As it would be impossible to cover this wide field in total, the present volume is designed to offer specialized studies of selected segments. Contributing scholars include Bart Dessein, Susan Andrews, Huang Chi-chiang, Timothy Wai Keung Chan, Thomas Julch, Stephen Eskildsen, Jan de Meyer, and Louis Komjathy.