A Powerful Term: Ling 靈– Between ‘Efficacy’ and ‘Spirituality
The conference has been funded by the Fritz Thyssen Stiftung and the Center for Research Strategy of the FU Berlin.
Conference Schedule
Thursday, 3 October Arrival at Hotel Seminaris, Berlin-Dahlem
Friday, 4 October
8:30-9:00 Registration
9:00-9:15 a.m. Welcome address
9:15-10:00 a.m. Introduction (Christian Meyer)
10:00-11:30 a.m. Session 1: Ancient Uses from Shamanism to Confucian contexts of mourning the deceased soul (Chair: Barend ter Haar, Hamburg)
- Joachim Gentz (Univ. of Edinburgh): “How ling is ling? Ling 靈 as an exanimate classifier relating to a conceptual religious realm”
- Michael Puett (Harvard University): “The What’s and Why’s of Efficacy: The Semantics of ling in Early China”
(Short) coffee break 11.30-11.45
11:45 a.m.-1:15 p.m. Session 2: Premodern Daoist, Buddhist and Confucian usages and Literature (Chair: Yang Zhiyi, Frankfurt/Berlin)
- Friederike Assandri (Universität Leipzig): “Ling in Early Medieval Daoism”
- Vincent Goossaert (Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Paris): “Ling as divine presence in Daoist narrative and ritual“
1:15-2:15 p.m. Lunch break
2:15-5:00 p.m. Session 2 (cont.): Premodern (and modern) Daoist and Buddhist and Confucian usages and Literature (Chair: Henning Klöter, HU Berlin)
- Esther-Maria Guggenmos (Univ. of Erlangen-Nuremberg): “The Buddhist genius envisions his karmic duties - ling-related concepts in Early Medieval Buddhism”
- Philip Clart (University of Leipzig): “The Semantic Field of ling 靈 in Du Guangting's 杜光庭 Daojiao lingyan ji 道教靈驗記”
Coffee break 3:45-4:15 p.m.
- Cheng Chung-yi (Chinese University of Hong Kong): “On the concept ling (靈) in the Confucian heart/mind school: from Wang Yangming (1472-1529) to Tang Junyi (1909-1978)”
5:00-6:00 p.m. Intermediate Discussion
6:30 p.m. Conference Dinner
Saturday, 5 October
9:15-12:45 a.m. Session 3: New usages in modern times in Japan and China: Christian translations, national debates and new concepts of the soul and spirituality (Chair: Hubert Seiwert, Leipzig)
- Chen Yanrong (Ricci Institute, University of San Francisco): “What is ‘ling’ in Chinese Christian Texts”
- Chu Ping-yi (Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica): “Rational Spirit vs. Spiritual Efficacy: The Confrontation between the concept of Christian Soul (靈魂) and Chinese ling (靈)”
Coffee break 10:45-11:15 a.m.
- Hans Martin Krämer (University of Heidelberg): “Between ‘Soul’ and ‘Spiritualism’: Strategic Uses of rei 霊 in Modern Japanese Buddhism”
- Matthias Zachmann (FU Berlin): “Taishō Spirituality: Why Western Spiritualism became Popular and what this Says about the Spiritual Ecology of 1920s Japan“
12:45-2:00 p.m. Lunch break
2:00-6:15 p.m. Session 3 continued (Chair: André Laliberte Ottawa/Leipzig):
- Stefania Travagnin (University of Groningen): “Ling in Buddhist Discourses in the Republican Period”
- Eugenia Werzner (FU Berlin, Sinology): “A Search for Spiritual Entity: Ling in the Late Qing and Early Republican Discourse on “Primitive Religion” (yuanshi zongjiao)”
Coffee break 3:30-4:00 p.m.
- Matthias Schumann (Univ. of Erlangen-Nuremberg): “The Powers of the Psyche: Hypnotism, Psychical Research, and the Secularization of ling 靈 in Republican China”
- Nikolas Broy (Univ. of Leipzig): “‘This Numinous Light’: Concepts of the Spiritual in Late Imperial and Contemporary Chinese Popular Sects”
- Melissa Wei-Tsing Inouye (University. of Auckland): “The Use of ling in the Early Charismatic Chinese Movement” (by Skype)
6:15-6.30 p.m. Intermediate Discussion
7:00 p.m. Conference Dinner
Sunday, 6 October
9:15-11:45 a.m. Session 4: Contemporary uses in special and everyday language discourses in Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong (and overseas) (Chair: Carsten Krause, Hamburg)
- Adam Yuet Chau (Univ. of Cambridge): “Storied Spirits: Constructing Efficacy (Lingying 靈應) and the Strange (Lingyi 靈異) Through Telling Tales”
- Huang Weishan (Chinese University of Hong Kong): “Guanyin adoring – the study of devotion to statues crafting and worshiping”
Coffee break: 10:45-11:00a.m.
11:00-12:30 p.m. Concluding discussion
12:30-2:00 p.m. Lunch
2:00 p.m. End of conference/departure
Time and conference venue
04.10.2019 - 06.10.2019
Fabeckstr. 23-25 (new building, so-called“Holzlaube”),
Room: 2.2051 (2nd floor, elevator or stairs)
