Da Xing Shan Temple is located in Xi'an, China and has been considered a birthplace for Buddhism in the country.
The temple has a history that spans more than 1,600 years, dating back to its construction in the Western Jin Dynasty. Later, during the Tang Dynasty, many Buddhist texts from India were translated at the temple and then promulgated throughout the country.
Much of the temple was desecrated during the later Tang Dynasty when Buddhism was persecuted by the emperor Wuzong. But repairs and expansions have been made since then.
Many of the buildings currently on the site were constructed during the Qing Dynasty. There are numerous statues devoted to Buddhism on the site, with figures of giant elephants and Bodhisattvas scattered throughout. Believers can pay their respects at the various temple buildings.
In ancient India, we meet a young warrior named Tungar. He dreams of becoming a great general for King Asoka. Tungar is a selfish, arrogant boy who thinks he knows everything, and seeks his own personal glory and influence. To obtain this admiration, he will do anything, including lying and treating his friends badly. Tungar believes that by being a brave fighter, he will gain the favour of the King and become the envy of his friends, but his judgement proves otherwise.
The King’s Warrior is an introduction to the emperor of the Mauryan Empire, Asoka (Ashoka) the Great, who ruled most of the Indian sub-continent from 273BC to 323BC. The fictional story is told through Tungar's eyes, and it is set in 262 BC. The story deals specifically with Asoka’s military conquests and his conversion from Hinduism to Buddhism.
The sheer amount of information crammed into this book is mind-boggling, as is the timeframe it covers. Imperial China spanned 2,200 years, and the ‘Middle Kingdom’, as it was known by its people, survived some extraordinary challenges during those two millennia. These included domestic turmoil, environmental catastrophes, fluctuations in belief systems and a 100-year Mongol occupation. A combination of factors saw the centralised Imperial system crumble in the early 20th century.
Ann Paludan is the book’s Oxford-educated author, whose career has included time in the British Foreign Service, the BBC and Treasury. She presents a reign-by-reign account of the 157 emperors who ruled China. She describes them as an “unusual collection of individuals” ranging from the First Emperor, who was buried with his vast Terracotta Army, to the four-year-old Puyi, who was the empire’s last leader.
This all-day workshop uses materials from the British Museum, as well as gallery talks from several experts, to outline the salient beliefs and features of Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam and Christianity. It complements the Open University course A217, but is also open to the public.
