AAR 1999 Panel Report

By James Robson, Stanford University

Panelists:
Fabio Rambelli, Williams College
Michael J. Walsh, University of California, Santa Barbara
James Robson, Stanford University
Dorothy Wong, University of Virginia
Eric Reinders, Emory University

Respondent: Gil Anidjar, Williams College
Presiding: Gary Laderman, Emory University

        This panel focused on a variety of material objects crucial to East Asian Buddhism: land, mummified bodies, ritual implements, images, etc.
        Buddhism is an enormous "system of objects": monumental mountain complexes, land holdings, temples, statues, paintings, ritual implements, talismans, amulets, rosaries, clothes, texts, diplomas and certificates of initiation, and so forth. Certain objects in particular have a special status in Buddhist doctrine and soteriology: temples, texts, ritual implements, and images. A primary theme of the panel was an exploration of the complex relations between materiality and the sacred in East Asian Buddhism. How did material objects come to embody the sacred? What kinds of cultural meanings were given to such objects? The presenters looked at the various exchange mechanisms accumulation processes, practical uses, and discourses built up around these objects. We worked with these shared questions: 1. How were the material objects made relevant to the doctrinal, philosophical, or spiritual dimensions of Buddhism? For example, what was the doctrinal status of objects? How was the donation of land articulated as a salvific event, and how was an economy of exchange delineated? What kind of discourse was produced regarding mummies or Buddha images as objects? What are the implications of turning a sacred icon into an art piece? What socioeconomic effects resulted from this? 2. How can we as scholars relate the material culture to the realm of Buddhist ideas? What is gained (in our overall understanding of "Buddhism") by focusing our attention on the materiality of Buddhism?
        The first paper, by Fabio Rambelli, focused on Buddhist doctrines concerning the nature of inanimate beings (usually known under the rubric "plants and trees become buddhas") as one of the philosophical bases for the treatment of objects. These doctrines show a remarkable continuity between statues and other icons, on the one hand, and ritual implements and everyday objects on the other. After presenting some examples of Buddhist exegesis concerning the salvific power of objects (vajra club, rosary, priest's robe, professional tools, everyday objects), the paper concluded with some remarks on the economic cycle (material-symbolic-material) and the cultural life of Buddhist objects.
        The second paper, by Michael Walsh, focused on the following question: what is the relationship between land donations, the salvation of laity who donated to Buddhist monasteries, and the social survival of Buddhist monasteries? Walsh's paper looked at how through the practice of land donations and the concept of merit, an economy of exchange was instituted, arguing that this exchange process came to be a defining economic characteristic of Chinese Buddhism. This paper attempted to understand this process by looking at an ideological exchange in Buddhism grounded within symbolic structure: a material level (a discourse of land as an economic necessity) and an ideological level (donating land as practicing Buddhism). Walsh drew analogies between Buddhist monasteries and the structure of traditional Chinese families, suggesting that both social institutions sought to ensure their long-term survival primarily by accumulating land (economic capital) and 'converting' this capital to cultural capital.
        The third paper, by James Robson, analyzed a case of a "sacred theft" of the alleged mummy of the Chan master Shitou Xiqian (700-790) by a Japanese traveler to China in the early 20th century. Through a careful analysis of reports of this theft in Chinese and Japanese archives it was shown that while a mummy was indeed brought back to Japan in 1911, it was that of a relatively unknown mummy from Fujian. Once in Japan, however, this mummy took on a new life as Shitou and is still housed today in Sojiji, one of the head Soto Zen temples. After discussing some of the recent developments regarding this mummy, including the birth of a new cult in Fujian, the paper briefly addressed how the production and movement of mummies operated within the two realms of "symbolic economy" and "material economy." The paper further investigated what it meant for the Chan tradition to produce and venerate the mummified bodies of their eminent monks, by articulating the socioeconomic effects of this phenomenon through the creation of new sacred sites and pilgrimage centers.
        The fourth paper, by Dorothy Wong, explored the origins, developments, and promotion of Xuanzang, the celebrated traveller and translator of seventh-century China, as a cult figure. The paper examined the four traditions in which Xuanzang was honored as a saint: the orthodox, literary tradition, the patriarch tradition, the tradition of the itinerant monk, and the folk tradition. Through an analysis of the visual representations of Xuanzang in each of these traditions, the paper investigated the various roles Xuanzang assumed, the motivations and processes of constructing these images, the images' functions as well as the intended audience.
        The fifth paper, by Eric Reinders, compared the display of Buddha images in Chinese Buddhist temples and in American museums, galleries, and art history journals. The removal of an image from its architectural and ritual context, and its placement in the secular space of a museum or art gallery preserves the material artifact while radically redefining it. The paper asks how the shift in context, from a temple altar to a museum display, effects a Buddha image. It argues that changes in the modes of public display do not present to the unchanged self simply more new objects to look at, but can serve as an index of the changed subject position vis-a-vis Buddha, and of Buddhas new "public."