This third volume of Princeton Readings in Religions demonstrates that
the "three religions" of China--Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism (with
a fourth, folk religion, sometimes added)--are not mutually exclusive:
they overlap and interact with each other in a rich variety of ways. The
volume also illustrates some of the many interactions between Han
culture and the cultures designated by the current government as
"minorities." Selections from minority cultures here, for instance, are
the folktale of Ny Dan the Manchu Shamaness and a funeral chant of the
Yi nationality collected by local researchers in the early 1980s. Each
of the forty unusual selections, from ancient oracle bones to stirring
accounts of mystic visions, is preceded by a substantial introduction.
As with the other volumes, most of the selections here have never been
translated before.Stephen Teiser provides a general introduction in
which the major themes and categories of the religions of China are
analyzed. The book represents an attempt to move from one conception of
the "Chinese spirit" to a picture of many spirits, including a Laozi who
acquires magical powers and eventually ascends to heaven in broad
daylight; the white-robed Guanyin, one of the most beloved Buddhist
deities in China; and the burning-mouth hungry ghost. The book concludes
with a section on "earthly conduct."