Department of Religious Studies

Charles D. Orzech, Professor

Ph.D., University of Chicago. Medieval Chinese Buddhism and Daoism; critical theory in the study of religion

cdorzech@uncg.edu

Brief Biography

His articles and translations have appeared in History of Religions, Journal of the American Oriental Society, Cahiers d'Extreme-Asie, Journal of the International Buddhist Studies Association, Journal of Chinese Religions, and elsewhere. He is author of Politics and Transcendent Wisdom: The Scripture for Humane Kings in the Creation of Chinese Buddhism (Pennsylvania State University Press, Hermeneutics Series, 1998).

Areas of Academic Interest

My primary interests are in cultural contact and interaction and in the fundamental hybridity of human cultural activity. I explore those interests primarily through research on the appropriation and transformation of late Mahāyāna Buddhism in eighth- through thirteenth- century China. I teach a variety of courses, from introductory Buddhism and Chinese religion to seminars on theories of myth and on semiotics.

 

 

Recent Books

 

 

Esoteric Buddhism and the Tantras in East Asia. In all likelihood, it was the form of Buddhism labeled “Esoteric Buddhism” that had the greatest geographical spread of any form of Buddhism. It left its imprint not only on its native India, but far beyond, on Southeast Asia, Central Asia, including Tibet and Mongolia, as well as the East Asian countries China, Korea and Japan. Not only has Esoteric Buddhism contributed substantially to the development of Buddhism in many cultures, but it also facilitated the transmission of religious art and material culture, science and technology. This volume, the result of an international collaboration of forty scholars who contributed eighty-eight essays totaling 1200 pages, provides a comprehensive resource on Esoteric Buddhism and the Tantras in their Chinese, Korean, and Japanese contexts from the first few centuries of the common era right up to the present. I am the general editor and the China area editor, and I contribute nine articles.

Politics and Transcendent Wisdom: The Scripture for Humane Kings in the Creation of National Protection Buddhism. Hermeneutics Series. State College, Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania State University Press, August 1998. 351 pp. (includes 80 page translation of the 仁王經).

Guest editor and contributor to a special issue of Pacific World honoring James H. Sanford for his contributions to the study of Chinese and Japanese religions (Third Series, number 8, Fall 2006; appeared May 2009) The volume includes fourteen articles.

Recent Articles:

“The ‘Great Teaching of Yoga,’ the Chinese Appropriation of the Tantras, and the Question of Esoteric Buddhism.” Journal of Chinese Religions 34 (2006): 29-78.
“Metaphor, Translation, and the Construction of Kingship in the Sūtra for Humane Kings and the Mahāmāyūrīvidyārājñī Sūtra.” Cahiers d'Extrême-Asie 13 (2002-2003, app. 2004): 101-129.
"Tantra." In Encyclopedia of Buddhism. 2 vols. New York: Macmillan and The Free Press, 2003.  2: 823a-826b. (co-authored with Ronald Davidson).  
"Fang yankou and pudu: Translation, Metaphor, and Religious Identity.” Chapter 10 in Daoist Identity: History, Lineage, and Ritual. Edited by Livia Kohn and Harold Roth. Honolulu: Univ. of Hawaii Press: 2002: 213-34.

Selected Awards

Henry Luce Fellow, National Humanities Center, 2009-2010

National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, 2005-2006

Winner of American Academy Best First Book in the History of Religion (Politics and Transcendent Wisdom).

Recent Conference Papers and Invited Lectures:

"Dimensions of Esoteric Buddhism in the Song," School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, London, December, 2008.
"The Trouble with Tantra in China," Conference on the Transformations and Transfer of Tantra in Asia and Beyond, Berlin, December, 2008.
“What Jōjin Saw: Glimpses of Esoteric Buddhism in the Song Capital circa 1073 C.E.,” for panel on Esoteric Buddhism and the Tantras in East Asia, International Association of Buddhist Studies, Atlanta, June, 2008.
Panel / Workshop on Esoteric Buddhism and the Tantras in East Asia, American Academy of Religion, San Diego, November, 2007.
“Esoteric Buddhism during the Song Dynasty,” Numata Lecture, Institute For Buddhist Studies, Berkeley, April 26, 2007.
“Tantras and Translation in the Tang and Song,” panel on Tantric Buddhism through the Chinese Looking Glass, Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion, Washington,  D.C. November, 2006.

Upcoming Publications

"The Trouble with Tantra in China: Reflection on Method and History," in Transformations and Transfer of Tantra in Asia and Beyond,
Walter de Gruyter, Berlin and New York. .

The Secrets of Three Mountains: Esoteric Buddhism in Continental East Asia, 755-1279