People/Tarocco, F.

Francesca Tarocco

Francesca Tarocco is Visiting Associate Professor of Buddhist Cultures at NYU Shanghai. Prior to joining NYU Shanghai she was Lecturer in Buddhist Studies and Leverhulme Trust Research Fellow in Chinese History at the University of Manchester, UK.

Tarocco’s research interests are in the cultural history of China, Chinese Buddhism, visual culture and urban Asia. Her books include The Cultural Practices of Modern Chinese Buddhism: Attuning the Dharma (Routledge, 2007 and 2011) and The Re-enchantment of Modernity: Buddhism, Photography and Chinese History (2018). Her scholarly articles include “The City and the Pagoda: Buddhist Spatial Tactics in Shanghai” (2015), “Terminology and Religious Identity: The Genealogy of the Term Zongjiao,” (2012) and “On the Market: Consumption and Material Culture in Modern Chinese Buddhism” (Religion, 2011).

Tarocco is the co-founder and director of the international research initiative Shanghai Studies Society and a fellow of the Critical Collaborations network at the Institute for Advanced Study (NYU). She is the recipient of awards from the Leverhulme Trust, the Sutasoma Foundation and the Chinese Ministry of Education, among many others. Tarocco is a regular contributor of the contemporary visual culture journals Parkett, Flash Art International and Frieze.

Research Interests

History of Religion in China
Shanghai Buddhism
Buddhist Visual Culture
Chinese Photography
Chinese Diasporic Art
Global Visual Culture

Education

PhD, Chinese History, University of London
MA, Chinese Studies, University of London
MA, Chinese and Buddhist Studies, Venice University
(Source Accessed Jan 10, 2020)

Library Items

Article

Lost in Translation? The Treatise on the Mahāyāna Awakening of Faith (Dasheng qixin lun) and Its Modern Readings

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The Treatise on the Mahāyāna Awakening of Faith, an indigenous Chinese composition written in the guise of an Indian Buddhist treatise, is one of the most influential texts in the history of East Asian Buddhism. Its outline of the doctrines of buddha nature (foxing), buddha bodies (foshen), and one mind (yixin), among others, served from the medieval period onwards as one of the main foundations of East Asian Buddhist thought and practice. The Treatise is putatively attributed to the Indian writer Aśvaghoṣa, and its current Chinese version was traditionally conceived of as a translation from an original Sanskrit text. In the course of the twentieth century, however, many important scholars of Buddhism have called into question the textual history of the Treatise. Even if the specific circumstances of its creation are still largely unknown, the view that the Treatise is an original Chinese composition (not necessarily written by a native Chinese) is now prevalent among scholars. Meanwhile, and for more than one hundred years, the text has also become a source of knowledge of Buddhism in the West thanks to a number of English translations. After examining the early textual history of the two existing versions of the text, this article will offer some examples of its modern appropriation by a novel group of readers and interpreters, an appropriation that took place during the first decades of the twentieth century amidst efforts to re-envision Chinese and East Asian Buddhist history and the place of Buddhism in modern society.

Tarocco, Francesca. "Lost in Translation? The Treatise on the Mahāyāna Awakening of Faith (Dasheng qixin lun) and Its Modern Readings." Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 71, no. 2 (2008): 323–43. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/622d/9645525a5977419cda965769f846f2324b0f.pdf?_ga=2.4629619.1346501928.1596826751-417447241.1584722923.

Tarocco, Francesca. "Lost in Translation? The Treatise on the Mahāyāna Awakening of Faith (Dasheng qixin lun) and Its Modern Readings." Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 71, no. 2 (2008): 323–43. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/622d/9645525a5977419cda965769f846f2324b0f.pdf?_ga=2.4629619.1346501928.1596826751-417447241.1584722923.;Lost in Translation? The Treatise on the Mahāyāna Awakening of Faith (Dasheng qixin lun) and Its Modern Readings;Dasheng qixin lun;Francesca Tarocco;&nbsp

Book

The Cultural Practices of Modern Chinese Buddhism

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Buddhism in China during the late Qing and Republican period remained a powerful cultural and religious force. Francesca Tarocco is a rising star in this field and offers an innovative high-quality piece of work that presents a new perspective on the influence of Buddhism on Chinese culture. Drawing on scarcely analyzed historical and archive sources, including photographs and musical scores, Tarocco adeptly argues that Chinese Buddhism played a more vital role in shaping Chinese culture than previously assumed. This enlightening study fills a significant gap in the field of Chinese Buddhist history. Focusing on the cultural side of Buddhism, it adds breadth and balance to studies in Buddhism as a whole, appealing to professionals and academics with an interest in Buddhism and Chinese Buddhist history. (Source: Routledge)

Tarocco, Francesca. The Cultural Practices of Modern Chinese Buddhism: Attuning the Dharma. London: Routledge, 2007.

Tarocco, Francesca. The Cultural Practices of Modern Chinese Buddhism: Attuning the Dharma. London: Routledge, 2007.;The Cultural Practices of Modern Chinese Buddhism;Dasheng qixin lun;Francesca Tarocco;The Cultural Practices of Modern Chinese Buddhism: Attuning the Dharma

Mentioned in

Article

On the Awakening of Faith in the Mahāyāna

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An introduction to the Awakening of Faith

Gardner, Alex. "On the Awakening of Faith in the Mahāyāna." Buddha-Nature: A Tsadra Foundation Initiative, October 9, 2019. https://buddhanature.tsadra.org/index.php/Articles/On_the_Awakening_of_Faith_in_the_Mah%C4%81y%C4%81na

Gardner, Alex. "On the Awakening of Faith in the Mahāyāna." Buddha-Nature: A Tsadra Foundation Initiative, October 9, 2019. https://buddhanature.tsadra.org/index.php/Articles/On_the_Awakening_of_Faith_in_the_Mah%C4%81y%C4%81na;On the Awakening of Faith in the Mahāyāna;The doctrine of buddha-nature in Chinese Buddhism;Original Enlightenment;Dasheng qixin lun;Alex Gardner

Affiliations & relations

• NYU Shanghai · workplace affiliation