Jōmon period

Halperin’s Out of the Cloister Literati Perspectives on Buddhism in Sung China has a nice classification and analysis of literati’s opinions on Buddhism. It shows us how the Song dynasty’s highly educated viewed Buddhism and Buddhist institutions such as temples, and how the opinions and critiques of Buddhism went far beyond the “Buddhist cloister”. In fact, he argues that different people have different ideas of Buddhism during the Tang-Song transition and illustrates a community of inscription…

The songs I chose match the criteria in many ways. The 1st song is dark and more terrifying, much like I imagine discovering a tomb filled with thousands of clay men would feel. The 2nd song is about hard work and long days, which it would have taken to uncover such a large tomb. The 3rd song is about preparing for something big, and I think that this would be a big event. Best emperor criteria: educations, improvements for farmers, empathy, treatment of civilians, infrastructure Shi Huangdi: ⅖…