DATE: Saturday, April 19, 2008
TIME: 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM
This conference seeks to examine the intersection between elite culture and Buddhism in the Tang, Song, and Yuan dynasties. This relationship has several dimensions: literati who pursued Buddhism as a complement or alternative to state-sanctioned studies; engagement with "Confucian" learning by Buddhist monks; the role of Buddhist sites in literary and artistic imaginations; the use of poetry and calligraphy by Buddhist monks; the role of Buddhist monasteries, temples, and cloisters in local society; and the material instantiations of the relations between monks and the literati.