Flourishing Fasts

Vegetarian Sects in Late Imperial and Modern Chinese Societies
Erscheinungsjahr 2025
ISBN: 978-0-674-30253-2
Verlag: Harvard University Press

Buch, Englisch, Band 148, 486 Seiten, Format (B × H): 163 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 826 g

Reihe: Harvard-Yenching Institute Monograph Series

Flourishing Fasts is the first book in any language to explore the history of the Zhaijiao, commonly translated as “vegetarian sects,” 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 Zhaijiao—and other Chinese sectarian groups—within their socioreligious environment. Conventionally considered nonconformist dissenters or lay Buddhists, the Zhaijiao in fact embody one intersection of the “Three Teachings” 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 centered—for example through mobilizing local resources for public enterprises or articulating property rights vis-à-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.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Broy, Nikolas

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Sonstige Religionen Östliche Religionen
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Sonstige Religionen Indigene Religionen
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Asiatische Geschichte
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Religionssoziologie

Über Autor(innen)

Broy, Nikolas
Nikolas Broy is a specially appointed associate professor in the Global Liberal Arts Program (GLAP) at Rikkyo University, Tokyo.