Editorial Reviews

Review

“Strickmann unearths the history, literature, and fundamental assumptions of Buddhist and Taoist religious rituals and offers a wealth of astute social and literary commentary. He combines the highest standards of philological and historical scholarship with an eye for the spiritually bizarre, the socially telling, and the psychologically gripping detail—all in a style that is elegant, entertaining, well-organized, and always accessible.”—Stephen F. Teiser, Princeton University

“Strickmann’s love for his subject shines through in his sprightly and witty writing; his work also demonstrates impeccable scholarly authority.”—J.W. Dippmann, Central Washington University

“This fascinating book, amassing a wealth of scholarship on Daoism and Tantric Buddhism, expands our vision and draws attention to numerous important topics in the study of East Asian religions.”—Daoist Studies

Product Description

This book argues that the most profound and far-reaching effects of Buddhism on Chinese culture occurred at the level of practice, specifically in religious rituals designed to cure people of disease, demonic possession, and bad luck. This practice would leave its most lasting imprint on the liturgical tradition of Taoism. In focusing on religious practice, it provides a corrective to traditional studies of Chinese religion, which overemphasize metaphysics and spirituality.

A basic concern with healing characterizes the entire gamut of religious expression in East Asia. By concentrating on the medieval development of Chinese therapeutic ritual, the author discovers the germinal core of many still-current rituals across the social and doctrinal frontiers of Buddhism and Taoism, as well as outside the Buddhist or Taoist fold.

The book is based on close readings of liturgies written in classical Chinese. The author describes and translates many of them, analyzes their structure, and seeks out nonliturgical sources to shed further light on the politics involved in specific performances. Unlike the few previous studies of related rituals, this book combines a scholar’s understanding of the structure and goals of these rites with a healthy suspicion of the practitioners’ claims to uniqueness.

Michel Strickman is from Germany and has studied in France for many years, and he is proficient in German, French, English, and Chinese. He once worked as a professor of Department of Oriental and Asian Studies in Berkeley College of California University. His Daoist study has focused on the Six-dynasty period and published a series of works.

The Mao Shan Revelations: Daoism and the Aristocracy

Tao Hongjing's Alchemy

Daoism

The Daoist History

The Daoist Literature

A Daoist Confirmation of Liang Wu Di's Suppression of Daoism

The Longest Daoist Scripture ----- the Book of Salvation 14

Chinese Religion, History and Anthropology

The Revelation of the Highest Clarity Tradition: the Mao Shan Sect

The Therapy Ritual as the Therapy and the Ideas of Evils in Early Daoism

In the early 1990s, Strickman left Berkeley of California University for France to teach and do his research in a university in the south of France. Unfortunately he died young like Anna Seidel.