All Stories

  1. The Inner World of a Self-Immolator?

    Article • July 2025, De Gruyter

    James Benn

  2. Lengyan jing: Chinese Buddhist Apocryphon, or Late Mahāyāna Sūtra?

    Article • International Journal of Buddhist Thought and Culture, December 2024, International Association for Buddhist Thought and Culture

    James Benn

  3. A Global History of Buddhism and Medicine By C. Pierce Salguero. Columbia University Press, 2022, p. 272. Hardcover, $140.00 USD, ISBN: 9780231185264. Paperback, $35.00, ISBN: 9780231185271. Ebook, $34.99, ISBN: 9780231546072

    Article • International Journal of Asian Studies, July 2023, Cambridge University Press

    James Benn

  4. IS BUDDHIST SELF-IMMOLATION A FORM OF ASCETICISM?

    Article • November 2022, JSTOR

    James Benn

  5. Bokenkamp, Stephen R. A Fourth-Century Daoist Family: The “Zhen’gao,” or Declarations of the Perfected. Volume 1. Oakland: University of California Press, 2021. xi+201 pp. $85.00 (cloth).

    Article • The Journal of Religion, July 2022, University of Chicago Press

    James Benn

  6. Buddhist Statecraft in East Asia

    Article • March 2022, Brill

    James Benn

  7. Buddhism and Medicine: An Anthology of Premodern Sources. Edited by C. Pierce Salguero

    Article • Journal of the American Academy of Religion, February 2018, Oxford University Press (OUP)

    James Benn

  8. 1. Tea as a Religious and Cultural Commodity in Traditional China

    Article • December 2017, De Gruyter

    James Benn

  9. 4. Tea Poetry in Tang China

    Article • December 2017, De Gruyter

    James Benn

  10. 8. Religion and Culture in the Tea Economy of Late Imperial China

    Article • December 2017, De Gruyter

    James Benn

  11. Acknowledgments

    Article • December 2017, De Gruyter

    James Benn

  12. Appendix 1 Major Collections of Biographies of Self-Immolators

    Article • December 2017, De Gruyter

    James Benn

  13. Appendix 2 Critical Evaluations of Huijiao, Daoxuan, and Zanning

    Article • December 2017, De Gruyter

    James Benn

  14. Bibliography

    Article • December 2017, De Gruyter

    James Benn

  15. Chapter 1: “Mounting the Smoke with Glittering Colors”: Self-Immolation in Early Medieval China

    Article • December 2017, De Gruyter

    James Benn

  16. Chapter 3: Saṃgha and the State: The Power(s) of Self-Immolation

    Article • December 2017, De Gruyter

    James Benn

  17. Chapter 4: Is Self-Immolation a “Good Practice”? Yongming Yanshou on Relinquishing the Body

    Article • December 2017, De Gruyter

    James Benn

  18. Chapter 6: One Thousand Years of Self-Immolation

    Article • December 2017, De Gruyter

    James Benn

  19. Conclusion

    Article • December 2017, De Gruyter

    James Benn

  20. Contents

    Article • December 2017, De Gruyter

    James Benn

  21. Index

    Article • December 2017, De Gruyter

    James Benn

  22. Introduction

    Article • December 2017, De Gruyter

    James Benn

  23. Burning for the Buddha

    Article • December 2017, De Gruyter

    James Benn

  24. Buddhism, Bodies, Medicine, and Spellcraft

    Article • Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, January 2016, Project Muse

    James Benn

  25. Religion and Culture in the Tea Economy of Late Imperial China

    Article • February 2015, University of Hawaii Press

    James Benn

  26. Tea

    Article • February 2015, University of Hawaii Press

    James Benn

  27. Tea Poetry in Tang China

    Article • February 2015, University of Hawaii Press

    James Benn

  28. Self-immolation, Resistance and Millenarianism in Medieval Chinese Buddhism

    Article • The Medieval History Journal, October 2014, SAGE Publications

    James Benn

  29. Book Review: The Teachings of Master Wuzhu: Zen and Religion of No-Religion

    Article • Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses, December 2013, SAGE Publications

    James Benn

  30. Picturing Heaven in Early China, by Lillian Lan-ying Tseng

    Article • Journal of History, September 2013, University of Toronto Press (UTPress)

    James Benn

  31. Domesticating the Dharma: Buddhist Cults and the Hwaôm Synthesis in Silla Korea. By Richard D. McBride II . Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2008. Pp.xiii+228.

    Article • History of Religions, May 2012, University of Chicago Press

    James Benn

  32. The Śūraṅgama Sūtra: A New Translation, with Excerpts from the Commentary - By Ven. Master Hsüan Hua

    Article • Journal of Chinese Philosophy, November 2011, De Gruyter

    James Benn

  33. How Zen Became Zen: The Dispute over Enlightenment and the Formation of Chan Buddhism in Song-Dynasty China. By Morten Schlütter. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 2008. x, 289 pp. $48.00 (cloth).

    Article • The Journal of Asian Studies, November 2009, Duke University Press

    James Benn

  34. Reinventing the Wheel: Paintings of Rebirth in Medieval Buddhist TemplesBy Stephen F. Teiser. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2006. Pp. xv+319, 14 plates. $60.00 (cloth).

    Article • History of Religions, August 2009, University of Chicago Press

    James Benn

  35. An Anthology of Chinese Discourse on Translation. Volume 1: From Earliest Times to the Buddhist Project. Edited with Annotations and Commentary by Martha P. Y. Cheung. pp. xxix, 268. Manchester, St Jerome Publishing, 2006.

    Article • Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland, January 2009, Cambridge University Press

    James Benn

  36. Daoism in History: Essays in Honour of Liu Ts'un-yan. Routledge Studies in Taoism. Edited by Benjamin Penny. pp. xiii, 290. Routledge, London and New York, 2006.

    Article • Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, October 2008, Cambridge University Press

    James Benn

  37. The Hongzhou School of Chan Buddhism in Eighth- through Tenth-Century China. By Jinhua Jia. pp. xv, 220. Albany New York, State University of New York Press, 2006.

    Article • Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, October 2008, Cambridge University Press

    James Benn

  38. The Teachings and Practices of the Early Quanzhen Taoist Masters. By Stephen Eskildsen. pp. vii, 274. Albany, State University of New York Press, 2004.

    Article • Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, October 2008, Cambridge University Press

    James Benn

  39. Sanjiao wenxian Materiaux pour l'etude de la religion chinoise, (Revue Annuelle, NO. 4). Edited by Vincent Goossaert. pp. 182 École Practique des Hautes Études, Paris and Research School, CNWS, Leiden, 2005.

    Article • Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, June 2007, Cambridge University Press

    James Benn

  40. Shaping the Lotus Sutra: Buddhist Visual Culture in Medieval China. By Eugene Y. Wang. pp. xxiv, 487, bibliography, index. Seattle, University of Washington Press, 2005.

    Article • Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, June 2007, Cambridge University Press

    James Benn

  41. Comptes rendus / Reviews of books: The Buddhist Tradition Volume Five of Human Rights and the World's Major Religions

    Article • Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses, March 2007, SAGE Publications

    James Benn

  42. Text As Father: Paternal Seductions in Early Mahāyāna Buddhist Literature. By Alan Cole. pp. xiii, 356, bibliography, index. Berkeley, Los Angeles and London, University of California Press, 2005

    Article • Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland, January 2007, Cambridge University Press

    James Benn

  43. T'ang China: The Rise of the East in World History. By S. A. M. Adshead. pp. xvii, 233 Basingstoke and New York, Palgrave McMillan, 2004.

    Article • Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, November 2006, Cambridge University Press

    James Benn

  44. Written in Flames: Self-Immolation in Sixth-Century Sichuan

    Article • T oung Pao, January 2006, De Gruyter

    James Benn

  45. Gedenkschrift J. W. de Jong, Studia Philologica Buddhica Monograph Series XVII. Edited by H. W. Bodewitz and Minoru Hara, pp. xx, 257. Tokyo, The International Institute for Buddhist Studies, 2004.

    Article • Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, November 2005, Cambridge University Press

    James Benn

  46. Philosophes Taoïstes II: Huainan zi. Texte Traduit, Présenté et Annoté Sous la Direction de Charles le Blanc et de Rémi Mathieu. pp. lxxxiii, 1182, Paris, Gallimard, 2003.

    Article • Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland, March 2005, Cambridge University Press

    James Benn

  47. TANSEN SEN: Buddhism, diplomacy and trade: The Realignment of Sino-Indian Relations, 600–1400. xvi, 388 pp. Honolulu: Association for Asian Studies and University of Hawai'i Press, 2003. $55.

    Article • Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, February 2005, Cambridge University Press

    James Benn

  48. Chinese Magical Medicine. By Strickmann Michel. Edited by Faure Bernard. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 2002. xii, 418 pp. $24.95 (paper).

    Article • The Journal of Asian Studies, November 2004, Duke University Press

    James Benn

  49. A Life Journey to the East: Sinological Studies in Memory of Giuliano Bertuccioli (1923–2001). Italian School of East Asian Studies Essays: Volume 2. Edited by Antonio Forte and Frederico Masini. pp. xxxv, 280. Kyoto, Scuola Italiana di Studi sull’ Asi...

    Article • Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, November 2003, Cambridge University Press

    James Benn

  50. A Patterned Past: Form and Thought in Early Chinese Historiography. By David Schaberg. pp. xvi, 503, appendix, bibliography, glossary, index. Cambridge, Mass, Harvard University Press, 2001.

    Article • Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, November 2003, Cambridge University Press

    James Benn

  51. A Religious Leader in the Tang: Chengguan's Biography. By Imre Hamar. pp. 209. Tokyo, The International Institute for Buddhist Studies, 2002.

    Article • Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, November 2003, Cambridge University Press

    James Benn

  52. Evil and/or/as the Good: Omnicentrism, Intersubjectivity, and Value Paradox in Tiantai Buddhist Thought. By Brook Ziporyn. pp. viii, 482, bibliography, glossary, index. Cambridge, Mass., and London, Harvard University Press, 2000.

    Article • Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland, March 2002, Cambridge University Press

    James Benn

  53. Reading the Chuang-tzu in the T'ang Dynasty: the Commentary of Ch'eng Hsüan-ying (fl. 631–52). By Shiyu Yu. pp. xiv, 209, bibliography, index. Bern, Peter Lang, 2000.

    Article • Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain & Ireland, March 2002, Cambridge University Press

    James Benn

  54. Politics and Transcendent Wisdom: The Scripture for Humane Kings in the Creation of Chinese Buddhism. By Charles D. Orzech. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1998. xv, 351 pp. $55.00.

    Article • The Journal of Asian Studies, November 1999, Duke University Press

    James Benn

  55. Immortals, Festivals and Poetry in Medieval China. By Donald Holzman. pp. xi, 344, addenda and corrigenda, index. Aldershot, Ashgate, 1998.

    Article • Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, November 1999, Cambridge University Press

    James Benn

  56. Writing Against The State: Political Rhetorics in Third and Fourth Century China. By Dominik Declercq. pp. vii, 436, appendix, bibliography, index. Leiden, E. J. Brill, 1998.

    Article • Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, November 1999, Cambridge University Press

    James Benn

  57. Joseph Needham, Science and Civilisation in China, volume 6, Biology and Biological Technology; Part iii Agro-Industries: Sugarcane Technology and Forestry, by Christian Daniels and Nicholas K. Menzies. pp. xxvii, 740. Cambridge, Cambridge University P...

    Article • Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, July 1999, Cambridge University Press

    James Benn

  58. Le Sūtra d'Amida prêché par le Buddha. By Jérôme Ducor. (Schweizer Asiatische Studien Monographien, Band 29/Etudes asiatiques suisses monographies, Volume 29). pp. 215. Bern, Peter Lang, 1998.

    Article • Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, July 1999, Cambridge University Press

    James Benn

  59. East Asia - Livia Kohn and Michael Lafargue (ed.): Lao-tzu and the Tao-te-ching. xii, 330 pp. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1998. $20.95.

    Article • Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, June 1999, Cambridge University Press

    James Benn

  60. Early Daoist Scriptures. By Stephen Bokenkamp, with a contribution by Peter Nickerson. pp. xvii, 502, glossary. Berkeley and Los Angeles, University of California Press, 1997.

    Article • Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, April 1999, Cambridge University Press

    James Benn

  61. Laughing at the Tao: Debates among Buddhists and Taoists in Medieval China. By Livia Kohn. pp. xiii, 281, appendices, glossary, bibliography, index. Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press, 1995. $45.00.

    Article • Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, November 1998, Cambridge University Press

    James Benn

  62. The Eminent Monk: Buddhist Ideals in Medieval Chinese Hagiography. By John Kieschnick. pp. vii, 218, glossary, bibliography, index. Honolulu, University of Hawaii Press, 1997. U.S. $27.00 (paperback).

    Article • Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, November 1998, Cambridge University Press

    James Benn

  63. The Propensity of Things: Toward a History of Efficacy in China. By François Jullien, translated by Janet Lloyd, pp. 318, glossary. New York, Zone Books, 1995.

    Article • Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, November 1998, Cambridge University Press

    James Benn

  64. Taoism: growth of a religion. By Isabelle Robinet, translated by Phyllis Brooks, pp. xx, 296, index. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1997.

    Article • Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, July 1998, Cambridge University Press

    James Benn

  65. The Buddhist Forum vol. iv. Edited by Tadeusz Skorupski. pp. 291. London, School of Oriental and African Studies. 1996. £18.00.

    Article • Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, July 1998, Cambridge University Press

    James Benn

  66. Where Text Meets Flesh: Burning the Body as an Apocryphal Practice in Chinese Buddhism

    Article • History of Religions, May 1998, University of Chicago Press

    James Benn

  67. Article • Unmaintained records

    James Benn