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Podcast: New Books in Medieval History
Episode: April D. Hughes, "Worldly Saviors and Imperial Authority in Medieval Chinese Buddhism" (U Hawaii Press, 2021)
Description: What is the relationship between Buddhism and politics? How might Buddhism be realized in this world? And how might Buddhist texts help legitimate new rulers? These questions are ably addressed in April Hughesâs Worldly Saviors and Imperial Authority in Medieval Chinese Buddhism (University of Hawaii Press, 2021). Students of Buddhism are familiar with Wu Zhao, or Wu Zetian, the only woman in Chinese history take the title of âemperor,â and her use of Buddhist ideas and imagery to support her claims to rule. Hughes sets Wu Zhao within a longer history of âworldly saviors,â figures who fuse political and religions aut...