Book Talk: ๐๐ญ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ด: ๐๐ฆ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ข๐ฏ ๐๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ข๐ญ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฏ ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ
Asia Center Author Book Talk Series
Nikolas Broy, Associate Professor in the Global Liberal Arts Program, Rikkyo University, Tokyo
Moderator: James Robson, James C. Kralik and Yunli Lou Professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations; Harvard College Professor; Director, Harvard-Yenching Institute
About the book: Flourishing Fasts is the first book in any language to explore the history of the Zhaijiao, commonly translated as โvegetarian sects,โ that originated in southeastern China during the Ming and Qing dynasties and are still active in contemporary Taiwan. Combining historical analysis and ethnographic fieldwork, Nikolas Broy reveals the entangled nature of the Zhaijiaoโand other Chinese sectarian groupsโwithin their socioreligious environment. Conventionally considered nonconformist dissenters or lay Buddhists, the Zhaijiao in fact embody one intersection of the โThree Teachingsโ of Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism and manifest aspects of local religious life and universal salvationist teachings. Not limited to everyday religious rites such as worshiping local gods, conducting initiation festivals, and performing ritual services for nonmembers, the Zhaijiao also serve as institutions around which social and political life are centeredโfor example through mobilizing local resources for public enterprises or articulating property rights vis-ร -vis the state.
In this wide-ranging discussion that covers practices, religious symbols and teachings, mythological narratives, moral values, architecture, and material culture over more than four hundred years, Broy situates the Zhaijiao at the very core of local societies and shows how they actively engage in political, economic, legal, and cultural affairs.
LOCATION:Online, via Zoom. STATUS:CONFIRMED DTSTART:20260325T230000Z DTEND:20260326T003000Z END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR