Research Projects

My dissertation examines the tension between iconoclasm and supernaturalism, addressing the question of why a Chan master produced a vast corpus of Buddhist miracle stories during the early modern period (ca. 1500-1800 CE), a phenomenon without precedent in Chinese Buddhism. The primary source is a rarely examined and first of miracle tale collections authored by a Chan monk, entitled Record of Present-Life Karmic Retribution (Xianguo suilu 現果隨錄, abbreviated as Miracle Record), written by Huishan Jiexian 晦山戒顯 (1610-1672) in 1671. Jiexian’s practice of miracle writing seems to be at odds with the iconoclastic and antinomian ethos ascribed to medieval Chan monks, many of whom were opposed to formalized practice and believed that the pursuit of supernatural experiences did not directly contribute to enlightenment. In fact, the medieval Chan was also accommodating towards the supernatural, as can be seen in the miracle stories documented in Chan lamp records. Jiexian’s Miracle Record thus indicates continuity between medieval Chan Buddhism and its early modern counterpart, but with a notable shift—from a heightened emphasis on Chan monks’ superpowers to karma’s miraculous effects. The Miracle Record represents a Chan master’s innovation in religious propagation, as well as responsive actions of monks to the challenges of both domestic and international competitors in early modern China. Despite undergoing a late Ming renewal, Chinese Buddhism still experienced pressure from religious competitors, including Confucianism, Daoism, lay religious movements, and Western missionaries. Driven by the imperative to respond to the challenges, the late Ming period saw a surge in Buddhist miracle stories written by monks, although the stories had been compiled primarily by Buddhist laymen or literati during the medieval period. Employing a multidisciplinary methodology, this dissertation incorporates religious, socio-historical, literary, regional analyses, utilizing Geographic Information Systems (GIS) as a key digital humanities tool. This study will illuminate the diverse religiosity of the Miracle Record, and through spatial analysis, explores the complex dynamics between the narrative community, Jiexian, and regional religious culture in the Jiangnan 江南 area. This dissertation contends that the Miracle Record narratives were molded by a rich texture of popular religion in Jiangnan that nourished the formation of Jiexian’s ideology and the narrative community in which these remarkable tales were circulated and a collective consciousness of supernatural intervention was omnipresent.