Michel Strickmann; Bernard Faure Rituals sku-24600048

Chinese Magical Medicine, by Michel Strickmann; Bernard Faure (sku-24600048), is a hardcover book in Religion & Religious Studies Books. It argues that Buddhism's far-reaching effects on Chinese culture took shape in practices such as rituals intended to cure disease, demonic possession and bad luck. These practices left a lasting imprint on Taoist liturgy.

The book focuses on medieval Chinese therapeutic rituals and traces their influence across Buddhist, Taoist and other traditions in East Asia. Through close readings of liturgies written in classical Chinese, it describes and translates rites, analyzes their structure and uses other sources to examine the politics of particular performances.

Its focus on practice offers a corrective to studies that emphasize metaphysics and spirituality, while questioning practitioners' claims that their rites were unique.