Buddhist and Christian Responses to the Kowtow Problem in China

af Eric (Emory University Reinders

The most common Buddhist practice in Asia is bowing, yet Buddhist and Christian Responses to the Kowtow Problem is the first study of Buddhist obeisance in China. In Confucian ritual, everyone is supposed to kowtow, or bow, to the Chinese emperor. But Buddhists claimed exemption from bowing to any layperson, even to their own parents or the emperor. This tension erupted in an imperial debate in 662.This study first asks how and why Buddhists should bow (to the Buddha, and to monks), and then exp... (Læs mere)