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Abstract
This paper explores the historicity of state and Buddhist accounts of the monk Xuanzang 玄奘 (602-664), arguing that in the reconstruction of Xuanzang’s life and career we ought to utilize the former to help adjudicate the latter. It is specifically argued that the Daci’en si sanzang fashi zhuan 大慈恩寺三藏法師傳 (T. no. 2053), a biography of Xuanzang sometimes cited by modern scholars, was produced as Buddhist propaganda to advance the standing of certain monks under the reign of Wu Zetian 武則天 (r. 690-705). It is further argued that the objectivity of the Buddhist account that describes Emperor Taizong 太宗 (r. 626-649) embracing Buddhism in his twilight years under the influence of Xuanzang ought to be reconsidered.
Martin Gansten,
Abstract
This study documents the introduction and implementation of foreign astrological medicine—specifically, prognosis on the basis of horoscopy—between the eighth and sixteenth centuries in China. It is argued that materials derived from Hellenistic, Indian, Iranian, and Islamicate sources were utilized by Chinese astrologers during the medieval period to predict illness. This study furthermore argues that remedies for negative astral influence were religious in nature and therefore constituted a type of faith healing that was practiced among Buddhists and Daoists.
Abstract
This study compares the astrological doctrines of the Twelve Houses and Lot of Fortune as they are explained in Xingxue dacheng 星學大成 of Wan Minying 萬民英 (1521–1603) and Christian Astrology by William Lilly (1602–1681). These two astrologers, who were near contemporaries, lived on opposite sides of Eurasia, yet both were heir to traditions of astrology that together reached back to identical origins in the Near East. The use of largely similar doctrines between both authors testifies to the enduring integrity of astrology throughout centuries of transmission westward and eastward through multiple cultures and languages.
Michio Yano.