Humor under the Guise of Chan: Stories of Su Shi and Encounter Dialogues
- UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- Xiao Rao, Assistant Professor (Creator)
- Institution
- The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
- Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
Abstract: This article examines a group of Song-dynasty biji (miscellaneous jottings) anecdotes featuring the Northern Song literary giant Su Shi (style name Dongpo, 1037–1101) playfully engaging with Buddhist encounter dialogues. These religious accounts are well known for their riddle-like language and the baffling effect they create among their readers, prompting the question of whether they were read for humor. Previous scholarship on encounter dialogues focuses on the religious perspective, demonstrating that their perplexing language and rhetoric serve pedagogical and monastic functions. By contrast, this article explores Chan Buddhist humor from the perspective of the literati and vernacular culture by examining how encounter dialogues were incorporated in Song-dynasty vernacular plays and literati storytelling. Focusing on stories that depict Su Shi’s playful engagement with encounter dialogues as a case study, this article reveals that an important part of Su Shi’s humorous image is inspired and shaped by Buddhism. It also shows that humor in these biji stories is contingent on the readers’ knowledge of Chan literature such as “recorded dialogues” (yulu) and “transmission records” (denglu), which were popular among literati during the Song. The anecdotal materials preserved in biji suggests a mutual influence between Chan literature and vernacular entertainment during the Song. I argue that, in addition to religious functions, literary factors of performance and aesthetics played significant roles in conditioning the entertaining effect of encounter dialogues, particularly when they were received outside of monastic circles.
Humor under the Guise of Chan: Stories of Su Shi and Encounter Dialogues
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Created on 7/11/2022
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Additional Information
- Publication
- Journal of the American Oriental Society 142.2 (2022), 311-333
- Language: English
- Date: 2022
- Keywords
- biji, Su Shi, humor, Song dynasty literature