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    Creating Amitabha: The Deification of Yongming Yanshou From the Wuyue to the Ming

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    Author
    Baldry, T. Adam
    Issue Date
    2018
    Keywords
    Amitabha
    Chan Buddhism
    Deification
    Pure Land Buddhism
    Yongming daoji
    Yongming Yanshou
    Advisor
    Welter, Albert
    
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Publisher
    The University of Arizona.
    Rights
    Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction, presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author.
    Abstract
    Yongming Yanshou (904-975) was an influential Buddhist figure during the Wuyue Period (907-978) known for his writings, teachings, and tenure as abbot at Lingyin Temple 靈隱寺 and Yongming Temple 永明寺 (later known as Jingci Temple 淨慈寺). A look at his early biographies, such as his biography included in the Song gaoseng zhuan 宋高僧傳 [Song Biographies of Eminent Monks] (988), indicates that he was an eminent monk worthy of veneration. Yet, by the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) the narrative surrounding his life had changed significantly. He was being claimed as an incarnation of Amitabha Buddha and was worshiped as such. This study attempts to discover how this drastic change to Yanshou’s narrative developed. By tracing through Yanshou’s biographies it is evident his narrative was manipulated, growing his spiritual powers and abilities, slowly deifying him in the process. By the time of the Ming Dynasty these changes to Yanshou’s narrative had been fossilized. Three individuals named Yuanjin Dahuo (1576-1627), Yu Chunxi (jinshi 1583), and Huang Ruheng (1558-1626) were deeply influenced by the Yanshou they knew in the Ming. After rediscovering Yanshou’s relics, these three individuals produced a new biography of Yanshou, the Yongming daoji 永明道蹟 [Traces of Yongming’s Path] (1607), as an effort to raise funds to build a new stupa for Yanshou at Jingci Temple. Within the Yongming daoji, and in later records surrounding the building of Yanshou’s stupa that are collected in the Chijian jingci sizhi 勅建淨慈寺志 [Officially Built Jingci Temple Monastic Gazetteer] (1805), Dahuo, Yu, and Huang claimed Yanshou was an incarnation of Amitabha Buddha, Dahuo being the first to do so. Yu and Huang later interpolated Yanshou’s narrative by including four known figures as other incarnations of Yanshou and Amitabha (two having lived before Yanshou’s birth and two living after his death). By placing Yanshou within a series of incarnations Yu and Huang were able to solidify their claim of Yanshou as an incarnation of Amitabha. Yanshou was thereby fully deified into Amitabha during the Ming Dynasty.
    Type
    text
    Electronic Thesis
    Degree Name
    M.A.
    Degree Level
    masters
    Degree Program
    Graduate College
    East Asian Studies
    Degree Grantor
    University of Arizona
    Collections
    Master's Theses

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