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今天很好。我和我丈夫坐公共汽车去一家酒吧。我门约朋友。我们一起说到一本英文书·"Dreaming in smoke"。这本书很不好没有意思。但是我很高兴见我的朋友们，喝两杯啤酒和聊天儿。
I read Buddhism in China by Kenneth K.S. Chen last night. I did skim a little, I also skipped the last few sections as they talked about more recent Buddhism that I am really interested in. But it was still a very enjoyable read. It was written in the early 60's and was nice just to read a good old fashioned history book for a change. One that's just informative, telling you what happened when, rather than trying to cram all the latest ideas and methodologies in with the history. A few of Chen's idea did seem a little dated, particularly some of his views on Taoism and it's relationship with Buddhism. But I found them to be perfectly excusable.
The book went through how Buddhism was introduced to China, how and where it was a success, how it influenced the country from the lower levels up to the highest society. Chen also wrote what was believed and taught and the different scriptures and teachings. Very good reference material but still interesting enough to read for an introductory book.
The chapters that impressed me the most were written about the monasteries and popular Buddhism. The detail and insight was surprising. The thing that surprised me the most however was the figures for the monks and nuns, every where it talked about "monks and nuns" but it made me wonder how much women were really able to participate in Buddhism, particularly during this time. However when figures were given the women seemed to make up 2/5ths of the monastery population. While it's hard to say how representative these figures really were the fact that it was so much more than I was expecting I felt was fairly significant. However, most of the descriptions of life did seem to mainly deal with the men. But nonetheless enjoyable, and definitely adding to the pile of books to use for later essays/ dissertation. I am also reminded again of how much I need to read Ennin's diary and think I will to borrow that from the libary this week.
The book went through how Buddhism was introduced to China, how and where it was a success, how it influenced the country from the lower levels up to the highest society. Chen also wrote what was believed and taught and the different scriptures and teachings. Very good reference material but still interesting enough to read for an introductory book.
The chapters that impressed me the most were written about the monasteries and popular Buddhism. The detail and insight was surprising. The thing that surprised me the most however was the figures for the monks and nuns, every where it talked about "monks and nuns" but it made me wonder how much women were really able to participate in Buddhism, particularly during this time. However when figures were given the women seemed to make up 2/5ths of the monastery population. While it's hard to say how representative these figures really were the fact that it was so much more than I was expecting I felt was fairly significant. However, most of the descriptions of life did seem to mainly deal with the men. But nonetheless enjoyable, and definitely adding to the pile of books to use for later essays/ dissertation. I am also reminded again of how much I need to read Ennin's diary and think I will to borrow that from the libary this week.
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