Book Talk: 𝘍𝘭𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘍𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘴: 𝘝𝘦𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘚𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘓𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘐𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘔𝘰𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘯 𝘊𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘦

Nikolas Broy, Associate Professor in the Global Liberal Arts Program, Rikkyo University, Tokyo

About the book: Flourishing Fasts is the first book in any language to explore the history of the Zhaijiao, commonly translated as “vegetarian sects,” that originated in southeastern China during the Ming and Qing dynasties and are still active in contemporary Taiwan. Combining historical analysis and ethnographic fieldwork, Nikolas Broy reveals the entangled nature of the Zhaijiao—and other Chinese sectarian groups—within their socioreligious environment. Conventionally considered nonconformist dissenters or lay Buddhists, the Zhaijiao in fact embody one intersection of the “Three Teachings” of Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism and manifest aspects of local religious life and universal salvationist teachings. Not limited to everyday religious rites such as worshiping local gods, conducting initiation festivals, and performing ritual services for nonmembers, the Zhaijiao also serve as institutions around which social and political life are centered—for example through mobilizing local resources for public enterprises or articulating property rights vis-à-vis the state.

In this wide-ranging discussion that covers practices, religious symbols and teachings, mythological narratives, moral values, architecture, and material culture over more than four hundred years, Broy situates the Zhaijiao at the very core of local societies and shows how they actively engage in political, economic, legal, and cultural affairs.