Wong, Poh Yee See all items with this value

2012

Doctor of Philosophy in Religious Studies

Long, Darui

Lancaster, Lewis R.

Guruge, Ananda W. P.

The genesis of world religions necessitates an integration process with contemporary local society, political enterprises, and cultural institutions. Through the study of a foreign religious festival in a historical period, this study reveals the circumstances of such a society. By tracing the evolution of the integration process in this dissertation, I discuss how people assimilate a foreign religion and make the religion part of their culture. The phenomenon studied is an image procession of over a thousand carriages celebrating Buddha's birthday in Northern Wei Luoyang. When Emperor Xuanwu (r. 500 - 515) ascended the Northern Wei (386 - 534) throne, he inherited a prosperous nation and several crises threatening his authority. One menace came from pro-Xianbei forces and border garrison troops dissatisfied with the previous emperor's sinification program and capital relocation. Under such circumstances, the grand Buddha's birthday parade became a clever scheme to legitimize royal authority, confirm the wisdom of Emperor Xiaowen's (r. 471 - 499) decision through a vibrant display in the new capital, and pacify pro-Xianbei forces by having foreign icons take center stage. This transdisciplinary and holistic study of cultural, political, religious, social, literary, artistic, and archaeological evidence underscores the importance of Buddha's birthday celebration to Buddhism taking root in medieval China.

Religion See all items with this value

Assimilation See all items with this value

Hybridization See all items with this value

Image procession See all items with this value

Legitimacy to rule See all items with this value

Medieval China See all items with this value

Merit See all items with this value

University of the West

9781267371140