Gender, Power, and Talent : : The Journey of Daoist Priestesses in Tang China / / Jinhua Jia.

During the Tang dynasty (618-907), changes in political policies, the religious landscape, and gender relations opened the possibility for Daoist women to play an unprecedented role in religious and public life. Women, from imperial princesses to the daughters of commoner families, could be ordained...

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Superior document:Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Asian Studies Contemporary Collection eBook Package
VerfasserIn:
Place / Publishing House:New York, NY : : Columbia University Press, , [2018]
©2018
Año de Publicación:2018
Lenguaje:English
Acceso en línea:
Descripción Física:1 online resource :; 8 b&w illustrations
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Other title:Frontmatter --
Contents --
List of Figures and Tables --
Acknowledgments --
List of Abbreviations --
Introduction --
I. The Rise of Daoist Priestesses as a Gendered Religio-Social Group --
II. Destiny and Power of the Ordained Royal Women --
III. Religious Leadership, Practice, and Ritual Function --
IV. Liu Moran and the Daoist Theory of Inner Cultivation --
V. Longevity Techniques and Medical Theory: The Legacy of Hu Yin --
VI. The Yaochi ji and Three Daoist Priestess-Poets --
VII. Unsold Peony: The Life and Poetry of the Priestess-Poet Yu Xuanji --
Conclusion --
Appendix: Du Guangting and the Hagiographies of Tang Daoist Women --
Notes --
Bibliography --
Index
Sumario:During the Tang dynasty (618-907), changes in political policies, the religious landscape, and gender relations opened the possibility for Daoist women to play an unprecedented role in religious and public life. Women, from imperial princesses to the daughters of commoner families, could be ordained as Daoist priestesses and become religious leaders, teachers, and practitioners in their own right. Some achieved remarkable accomplishments: one wrote and transmitted texts on meditation and inner cultivation; another, a physician, authored a treatise on therapeutic methods, medical theory, and longevity techniques. Priestess-poets composed major works, and talented priestess-artists produced stunning calligraphy.In Gender, Power, and Talent, Jinhua Jia draws on a wealth of previously untapped sources to explain how Daoist priestesses distinguished themselves as a distinct gendered religious and social group. She describes the life journey of priestesses from palace women to abbesses and ordinary practitioners, touching on their varied reasons for entering the Daoist orders, the role of social and religious institutions, forms of spiritual experience, and the relationships between gendered identities and cultural representations. Jia takes the reader inside convents and cloisters, demonstrating how they functioned both as a female space for self-determination and as a public platform for both religious and social spheres. The first comprehensive study of the lives and roles of Daoist priestesses in Tang China, Gender, Power, and Talent restores women to the landscape of Chinese religion and literature and proposes new methodologies for the growing field of gender and religion.
Formato:Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
ISBN:9780231545495
9783110649826
9783110606607
9783110604252
9783110603255
9783110604030
9783110603149
DOI:10.7312/jia-18444
Acceso:restricted access
Hierarchical level:Monograph
Statement of Responsibility: Jinhua Jia.