Here are some books I’m reviewing or have recently reviewed.
chinese history
In Review: “The Taming of the Demons,” Charles B. Jones’ “Pure Land”
Here are some books I’m reviewing or have recently reviewed.
Where the Lights of Chang’an Never Go Out: the Age of Confidence from Tang Mausoleum Murals
Exhibit curator Davis Leung with Dr. Isabelle Frank, consulting curator, outside the Indra and Harry Banga Gallery “A Glimpse of Tang Prosperity from Murals—The Exhibition Tour on Murals of the Tang Dynasty,” will be concluding soon. On display at the Indra and Harry Banga Gallery until 12 June, the exhibit showcases digitally restored mural art […]
A Mausoleum of Marvels: Murals of the High Tang in Hong Kong
There is a certain poetry in unearthing the vast world of an entire era of Chinese society, culture, politics, and power by using digitization technology on the murals of dead princes and nobles. The exhibit, “A Glimpse of Tang Prosperity from Murals—The Exhibition Tour on Murals of the Tang Dynasty,” features what I would call […]
The TLKY International Conference 2021 Interview Series – Prof. Albert Welter
Welcome to our series of conversations with participating speakers at this year’s Tung Lin Kok Yuen International Conference – Buddhist Canons: In Search of a Theoretical Foundation for a Wisdom-oriented Education (27–28 November 2021). In each blog post, I speak with keynote speakers and paper presenters about their subject at this conference. Register for this […]
Postcard from Raymond: The Phoenix and the Lion
Medieval China. The Tang dynasty has been toppled and from the chaos rises an incredible woman with a monastic courtier helping to pull the strings. The brilliant, tenacious, and fearless Wu Zetian (624-705) was China’s first and only empress and her alliance with one of the most powerful monks of the day, Huayan preceptor Fazang […]
Festival of Star Spirits: Or, a Visitation on Qixi Festival
Raymond Lam (Link to Water’s Moon, Mirror’s Flower) The stars were out tonight. The celestial partygoers were celebrating the seventh day of the seventh month, when the constellations of the Weaver Girl and the Cowherd would be together for one blissful night. One observer of their reunion had come out on the porch, downing a […]
Water’s Moon, Mirror’s Flower
Short Stories About the Dharma in China Invoking the timeless and poetic themes of illusions, heartache, and dreams, Water’s Moon, Mirror’s Flower is a series of tales about Chinese Buddhist landscapes, characters, and events with a dash of magic and eeriness. Featuring diverse themes from over two millennia of Chinese history, some of the stories feel historical, […]
Postcard from Raymond: Tianzi’s Dream
“We saw the most extraordinary sight,” a disheveled Emperor Ming would exclaim to his courtiers at daybreak. A vision of a radiant, golden… man? A deity? Something like that. He had no idea what it could compare to. It certainly looked like a human, with some unusual features like curled tufts of hair in the […]