Professor Robson specializes in the history of Medieval Chinese Buddhism and Daoism and is particularly interested in issues of sacred geography, local religious history, talismans, religious art, and the historical development of Chan/Zen Buddhism. He is the author of Power of Place: The Religious Landscape of the Southern Sacred Peak (Nanyue 南嶽) in Medieval China (Harvard University Asia Center, East Asia Monograph Series [Harvard University Press] 2009), which received the Stanislas Julien Prize for 2010 by the French Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres [Prix Stanislas Julien by the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres (Institut de France)]. He is also the co-editor of Buddhist Monasticism in East Asia: Places of Practice (London: Routledge, 2010). His publications include: "Signs of Power: Talismanic Writing in Chinese Buddhism" (in History of Religions 2008), "Buddhism and the Chinese Marchmount System [Wuyue]: A Case Study of the Southern Marchmount (Mt. Nanyue)," "A Tang Dynasty Chan Mummy [roushen] and a Modern Case of Furta Sacra? Investigating the Contested Bones of Shitou Xiqian," "Faith in Museums: On the Confluence of Museums and Religious Sites in Asia" (PMLA, 2010), and "Buddhist Sacred Geography in China". He is presently engaged in a long-term collaborative research project with the École Française d’Extrême-Orient studying a large collection of local religious statuary from Hunan province.

PUBLICATIONS

POWER OF PLACE
The Religious Landscape of the Southern Sacred Peak (Nanyue 南嶽)
in Medieval China

Throughout Chinese history mountains have been integral components of the religious landscape. They have been considered divine or numinous sites, the abodes of deities, the preferred locations for temples and monasteries, and destinations for pilgrims. Early in Chinese history a set of five mountains were co-opted into the imperial cult and declared sacred peaks, yue, demarcating and protecting the boundaries of the Chinese imperium.

The Southern Sacred Peak, or Nanyue, is of interest to scholars not the least because the title has been awarded to several different mountains over the years. The dynamic nature of Nanyue raises a significant theoretical issue of the mobility of sacred space and the nature of the struggles involved in such moves. Another facet of Nanyue is the multiple meanings assigned to this place: political, religious, and cultural. Of particular interest is the negotiation of this space by Daoists and Buddhists. The history of their interaction leads to questions about the nature of the divisions between these two religious traditions. James Robson’s analysis of these topics demonstrates the value of local studies and the emerging field of Buddho-Daoist studies in research on Chinese religion.

GENERAL EXAMINATION FIELDS

Medieval Chinese Buddhism and Daoism (first to tenth centuries)
Candidates are expected to have a general knowledge of the main contours of Chinese Buddhist and Daoist history. They should have knowledge of the main historical, doctrinal, and philosophical developments and demonstrate a command of the main primary sources available for the study of religion in this period. Candidates are also expected to engage with the major secondary sources on the study of Chinese religions in Western languages, Chinese, and Japanese. Candidates should also become conversant with different methodological approaches to the study of religion.

Primary Research Languages
All candidates are expected to have proficiency in Classical Chinese.

SPRING COURSES

East Asian Studies 191. Zen: History, Culture, and Critique
East Asian Buddhist Studies 256. Chinese Buddhist Texts: The Canon, Tools, and Early Translations