THEOLOGY AND RELIGIOUS STUDIES
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About the Department
Research
John Kieschnick
Reader in Buddhist Studies
PhD (Stanford)
Phone: 0117 928 8170
Fax: 0117 331 7933
E-mail: John.Kieschnick@bristol.ac.uk
Biography
I was born in Hong Kong, but grew up in the United States, mostly in California. I received my PhD from Stanford University, studying as well in Xian, Beijing and Taipei. After a year's postdoc at the University of California at Berkeley, I worked for eight years in Taiwan as a research fellow at the Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica, before coming to Bristol in 2005.
Research
My research focuses on the history of Chinese Buddhism, particularly as it relates to other aspects of Chinese culture. I've written a book on medieval biographies of Chinese monks, and another on the impact of Buddhism on Chinese material culture, including the history of icons, relics, the Buddhist rosary, sugar and the Chinese chair. I'm now working on a book on Buddhist historiography in China, that is, how monastic historians used Buddhist beliefs and doctrines to interpret the past.
Courses Taught
5000 Years of Chinese Religion, Topics in Chinese Buddhism, Zen Buddhism, Daoism, Buddhist Art and Material Culture, Buddhist Chinese.
Publications
Books
- The Impact of Buddhism on Chinese Material Culture (Princeton University Press, 2003).
- The Eminent Monk: Buddhist Ideals in Medieval Chinese Hagiography (University of Hawaii Press, 1997).
Journal Articles
- 'Blood Writing in Chinese Buddhism,' Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, (2000) 23.2, pp.177-194.
- 'Yizi yu fojiao liuchuan de guanxi' (Buddhism and the History of the Chair) in Chinese, The Bulletin of the Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica vol.69, part 4 (1998), pp.727-761.
- 'Analects 12.1 and the Commentarial Tradition,' Journal of the American Oriental Society vol.112, no.4 (1992), pp.567-576.
Invited Essays
- “Buddhist Monasticism” in John Lagerwey ed., Early Chinese Religion. Part Two (Leiden: Brill, 2009).
- "Material Culture," chapter in John Corrigan ed., The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Emotion (Oxford University Press, 2007), pp. 223-237.
- "Celibacy in Chinese and Japanese Buddhism," chapter in Carl Olson ed., Celibacy and Religious Traditions (Cambridge University Press, 2007), pp. 225-240.
- "A History of Buddhist Vegetarianism in China," chapter in Roel Sterckx ed. Of Tripod and Palate: Food, Politics and Religion in Traditional China (New York: Palgrave-Macmillan Press, 2005), pp.186-212..
Brief Essays and Translations
- "Lives of Eminent Monks and Nuns," in Donald S. Lopez ed., Buddhist Scriptures (Middlesex: Penguin Books, 2004), pp.285-296.
- Entries for "Biographies of Eminent Monks," "Daoxuan," "Monks," and "Miracles" in Robert E. Buswell ed., The Encyclopedia of Buddhism (New York: Macmillan, 2004).
- Translation (from the Chinese) of Li Yuqun, “Buddhist Monasteries: Classification, Layout and Iconography” and of Hou Xudong “The Buddhist Pantheon in the Six Dynasties” in John Lagerwey ed., Early Chinese Religion, Part Two (Brill, in press).
- Entries for “Gaoseng zhuan,” “Biqiuni zhuan” and “Xu gaoseng zhuan” for the Six Dynasties Handbook, edited by Albert E. Dien (in press).
- “Buddhism: Biographies of Eminent Monks,” chapter in the Oxford History of Historical Writing, edited by Grant Hardy (Oxford University Press, in press).
Book Reviews
- Review of Christine Mollier, Buddhism and Taoism Face to Face. Scripture, Ritual, and Iconographic Exchange in Medieval China, in Études Chinoises, vol.00, no.00 (2009).
- Review of Fabio Rambelli, Buddhist Materiality. A Cultural History of Objects in Japanese Buddhism in History of Religions vol.49, no.2 (2009), pp.000-000.
- Review of Stephen F. Teiser, Reinventing the Wheel: Paintings of Rebirth in Medieval Buddhist Temples in Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies vol.69, no.1 (2009), pp.234-39.
- Review of Imre Hamar ed., Reflecting Mirrors. Perspectives on Huayan Buddhism in Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae vol.62, no.1 (2009), pp.119-121.
- Review of T.H. Barrett, The Woman Who Discovered Printing in Journal of Chinese Religions vol. 00 (2008).
- Review of Steven Heine and Dale S. Wright eds, Zen Classics. Formative Texts in the History of Zen Buddhism in Buddhist Studies Review 24.2, pp. 256-257.
- Review of Amy McNair, Donors of Longmen in Buddhist Studies Review 24.2, pp. 247-250.
- Review of John Jorgensen, Inventing Hui-neng, the Sixth Patriarch. Hagiography and Biography in Early Ch’an in T’oung Pao 93 (2007), pp. 214-17.
- Review of John Strong, Relics of the Buddha in The Historian, 67.4 (2005), pp. 782-83.
- Review of Dorothy Wong, Chinese Steles. Pre-Buddhist and Buddhist Use of a Symbolic Form in Journal of Chinese Religions (forthcoming).
- Review of Xue Yu, Buddhism, War, and Nationalism. Chinese Monks in the Struggle against Japanese Aggressions, 1931-1945 in Buddhist Studies Review (forthcoming).
- Review of Chen Jinhua, Monks and Monarchs, Kinship and Kingship in Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 67.1 (2004), pp. 109-112.
- Review of Stanley K. Abe, Ordinary Images Journal of Chinese Religions 31 (2003), pp. 185-186.
- Review of Marsha Weidner ed., Cultural Intersections in Later Chinese Buddhism, Journal of Chinese Religions 31 (2003), pp. 305-308.
- Review of Chun-fang Yu, Kuan-yin. The Chinese Transformation of Avalokitesvara in Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 62.1 (2002), pp. 205-210.
- Review of Jeffrey Broughton, The Bodhidharma Anthology: The Earliest Records of Zen in Journal of the American Oriental Society, 121.2, pp. 152-153.
- Review of Hao Chunwen, Tang houqi Songchu Dunhuang sengni de shehui shenghuo in Journal of the American Oriental Society vol.120, no.3, pp. 477-78.
- Review of Peter Burke, The Art of Conversation (in Chinese), in Xin shi xue?vol.11, no.1 (2000), pp. 209-213.
- Review of Jacques Gernet, Buddhism in Chinese Society in China Review International vol.3, no.2 (1996), pp. 418-422.
- Review of Kathryn Ann Tsai, Lives of the Nuns: Biographies of Chinese Buddhist Nuns from the Fourth to Sixth Centuries in China Review International vol.1, no.2 (1994), pp. 273-275.