Conférence de la Professeure Wendi Adamek

Dans le cadre du programme « Vies des acteurs bouddhiques dans la sinosphère », Wendi L. Adamek, professeure au département des études classiques et religieuses de l’Université de Calgary et titulaire de la chaire Numata en études bouddhiques, donnera une conférence en anglais le mardi 28 avril, à 14h, dans la salle 2.63 du site de l’Institut des civilisations du Collège de France (52 rue du Cardinal Lemoine 75005 Paris), ainsi qu’en ligne. Sa présentation portera sur le Lidai fabao ji 歷代法寶記 (Recueil du Trésor du Dharma à travers les générations), une source importante pour l’histoire du bouddhisme médiéval dans la région du Sichuan.

Lien de visioconférence :

https://visio.numerique.gouv.fr/rjy-nfww-jrv

Merci de contacter Sylvie Hureau et Garance Chao Zhang si vous souhaitez assister à la conférence sur place.

Résumé de la conférence

The Lidai fabao ji 曆代法寶記 (Record of the Dharma-Treasure through the Generations) is an early Chan work that contributed to later genres like transmission histories (chuandeng lu 傳燈錄) and discourse records (yulu 語錄). The Lidai fabao ji was probably compiled near Chengdu sometime between 778 and the early 780s by unnamed disciples of the Bao Tang 保唐 school founder Wuzhu 無住 (714–774). Wuzhu and his group were known and criticized by other clerics for rejecting the norms of temple practice. In his Dharma-talks in the Lidai fabao ji, Wuzhu scorns worship of icons, liturgical devotions, and transactions of merit. Members of his community also seem to have practiced as monks and nuns without taking formal ordination. The Lidai fabao ji makes a significant contribution to the records of Chinese women’s practice, for it not only provides intriguing glimpses of Buddhist women in action, it is also the first text to feature encounter dialogues between a Chan Master and two nuns, the self-tonsured disciples Changjingjin 常精進 and Liaojianxing 了見性. In The Mystique of Transmission (2007), I argued that these two women are the likeliest candidates for authorship of the Lidai fabao ji.

In this talk I reconstruct possible family connections of Liaojianxing in the historical record. A candidate for Liaojianxing’s grandfather may be none other than the famous literatus Su Ting 蘇頲 (670–727), Duke of Wenxian 文憲 of Xu 許, who served in various important official posts from the reigns of Wu Zetian to Xuanzong. Another elite laywoman mentioned in the historical record also appears in a strong supporting role in the Lidai fabao ji. Ren 任, the wife of Cui Gan 崔旰 the Governor of Chengdu, is shown as one of Wuzhu’s patrons. In one passage, Cui Gan expresses admiration for Wuzhu for having his hermitage in the mountains in the middle of the war zone with the Tibetans. Wuzhu’s early military career is also praised. Ren is shown arranging the vegetarian feast in which Wuzhu’s enemies are humiliated and discredited. In the Jiu Tang shu Cui Gan is accused of rape, but his wife Ren is praised for having bravely fought rebels during an attack on Chengdu while Cui Gan was away at court. In this talk I will present various arguments about the relationships among these Chan devotees who were the military elite of Chengdu during a time of both internal and external threats to continued Tang rule in Jiannan.