Introduction to the Use of Buddhist Temple Gazetteers: An Interactive Workshop with Marcus Bingenheimer

The University of Pittsburgh will hold a workshop.

Assistant Professor of Religion, Temple University, and Project Director,“A Critical Digital Edition of the Song gaoseng zhuan” and “Digital Archive of Chinese Buddhist Temple Gazetteers”

Chinese gazetteers are local histories that contain information about a site or a region. Gazetteers generally collect previous works concerning a place, often in a variety of genres (essays, poems, inscriptions, biographies etc.). They are typically difficult to use even for native readers. Even locating the relevant texts can prove challenging. This workshop will introduce participants to work with two large collections of Buddhist temple gazetteers published in Taiwan and China over the last 30 years. In the morning, we will look at traditional editions, catalogues as well as modern databases and platforms and demonstrate the use of the Digital Archive of Chinese Buddhist Temple Gazetteers. In the afternoon session, we will focus on the gazetteer series of Mt. Putuo, a site associated with the Bodhisattva Guanyin, and practice the use of a diachronic gazetteer series for historical research.

Attendance is free and open to the public. A reading knowledge of Chinese is recommended.Seating is limited. RSVP to mmh47@pitt.edu by Wednesday, November 7, 2012.

Program
8:00-8:20 a.m.: Continental Breakfast

Morning Session
8:30-8:45: Welcome and Introduction
8:45-9:15: Gazetteer literature, reference tools, and print editions of Buddhist Temple Gazetteers
9:15-10:00: Practice session 1
10:00-10:30: Coffee Break
10:30-11:00: The Digital Archive of Chinese Buddhist Temple Gazetteers at DDBC
10:30-noon: Practice session 2

Afternoon Session
2:00-2:30: The Digital Archive of Chinese Buddhist Temple Gazetteers at DDBC (online interface)
2:30-3:30: Practice Session 3
3:30-4:00: Coffee Break
4:00-4:30: The Gazetteers of Mt. Putuo–Chinese whispers or reliable text witness?
4:30-5:30: Practice session 4

5:30-6:30: Reception

Dr. Bingenheimer taught at Dharma Drum Buddhist College in Taiwan (2005-2011), where he supervised various projects concerning the digitization of Buddhist culture. See http://mbingenheimer.net.

For more information please contact
penkower@pitt.edi

Cosponsored by the Department of Religious Studies, Asian Studies Center, China Council, Humanities Center, and Graduate Studies Office of the University of Pittsburgh.