The cult of ancestors and Buddhism in modern China: the issue of the body and corporality

The article explores the cult of ancestors in China, which is transforming under the influence of Buddhism. These two religious practices are compared based on their relation to the body and the physical, through which communication with the deceased is possible. Also considered here is the reality as it is perceived in both systems - subjectified in the Buddhist tradition and objectified the Confucian-Taoist one. Special attention is paid to posthumous corporality in funeral rites and forms of burial. Some statistical data on the increasing influence of Buddhism in China are given in the concluding part of the article, along with a number of legal provisions indicating the trend towards replacing the ideas of the body and corpo-rality characteristic of the cult of ancestors, which directly affects the current transformation of this practice in the country.

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