The Interaction of Daoist, Buddhist and Confucian Thinkers in the Sui and Early Tang Dynasty

Dear Colleagues,

The focus of this Special Issue, “The Interaction of Daoist, Buddhist and Confucian Thinkers in the Sui and Early Tang Dynasty”, is on the interactions, ideas, and discourses that cross the divides between the three teachings of Buddhism, Confucianism (or Ruism), and Daoism. The 7th century was a period of vibrant intellectual life; the capital Chang’an attracted brilliant thinkers from all over China and abroad. The Chinese empire had been reunified after a long period of almost 400 years of division, during which Buddhism had entered and spread in China, and Daoism had developed from relatively marginal sectarian movements to a religion claiming precedence at court. Early Tang intellectuals made great efforts to systematize the disparate intellectual and religious heritage that had come down in all three teachings from the period of division.

Scholarly studies of philosophy and religion[1] of the period tend to compartmentalize developments within Daoism, Confucianism, or Buddhism, focusing on the diachronic perspective, with emphasis on interaction within single “teachings” (interpreted either as schools of thought, or as religions) and attention to how thinkers integrated the disparate heritage from the time of division within their respective teachings. Emphasis on the authority of ancient classics and sacred scriptures, as well as the importance of commentarial literature as a genre for developing philosophical ideas supports this approach.

However, the coexistence of three teachings in medieval China entailed complex co-option, demarcation, and integration processes. Thinkers redefined ideas, concepts, and even texts and persons repeatedly, making the fault lines between the teachings fluid and rarely corresponding to our neat textbook versions. Even though lineages of teaching and interpretation of classic or sacred scriptures were important in the formation of ideas, exchange and interaction with “colleagues” adhering to competing teachings arguably also contributed to the development and the systematization of all three teachings.

Interactions were lively and diverse. The early Tang rulers encouraged interaction of representatives of the three teachings, organizing large public debates of representatives of the three teachings at court. They also sponsored academic projects, such as the compilation of the Orthodox Commentaries for the Five Confucian Classics (Wujing Zhengyi), or the massive translation project of Buddhist scriptures headed by the monk Xuanzang, or the project of translating the Daoist Daode jing into Sanskrit in a collaboration of Daoists and Buddhists under the guidance of the Buddhist monk Xuanzang. Thinkers involved in such projects worked in the environment of the court, where Buddhist and Daoist monks would collaborate with officials and Confucian scholars, with ample opportunity to discuss common or controversial interests and learn from each other.  

This Special Issue on “The Interactions of Buddhist, Confucian, and Daoist thinkers in Early Tang Dynasty” is dedicated to an exploration of these traces of dialogue, debate, common discourse, or polemic exchange with other teachings or religions in the writings of early Tang authors. It proposes to draw together work from scholars who usually follow separate tracks of Buddhist studies, Daoist studies or Confucian studies, with the aim to highlight discourses and interactions that cross the divides of the three teachings, and become visible in intertextual relations, shared terminologies, and also direct references and exchanges.

The scope of the Special Issue is to present ideas and discourses that emerge in the engagement with the respective other teachings, their scriptures, texts, and concepts.

The papers should aim to overcome the “walls” that scholarship usually sets between disciplines (Buddhism and Daoism as religions, and Confucianism as philosophy) and between the three schools of thought. Subjects can range from individual thinkers and aspects of their interaction with other teachings, to concepts, practices, ideals, etc., which are discussed by representatives of all three teachings, to texts, which are cited, adduced as proof, or co-opted by members of different teachings. The focus on the “in between,” the engagement with the respective other teachings and religions offers a new and comprehensive approach to early Tang dynasty thought. It should further our understanding of the complex interaction of the three teachings in early medieval China at the crucial time of reunification of the empire, and of the role of this interaction in the development of Chinese philosophy and religion. 

We request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 400–600 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send it to the Guest Editor ([email protected]) or to the Religions editorial office ([email protected]). Abstracts will be reviewed by the Guest Editor for the purposes of ensuring proper fit within the scope of the special issue. Full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer-review.

[1] From an emic perspective, the medieval Chinese teachings (jiao 教), such as Daoism (daojiao 道教), Buddhism (fojiao佛教) and Confucianism (rujiao儒教), encompass both of our etic conventional academic disciplinary categories of religious studies and philosophy.  

Dr. Friederike Assandri
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• Tang dynasty philosophy
• Tang dynasty religions
• inter-religious discourses
• three teachings
• Tang dynasty Buddhism
• Tang dynasty Daoism
• Tang dynasty Confucianism