Professor Thomas Mazanec’s Academic Talk at the University of Macau Successfully Held
美國加州大學Thomas Mazanec教授的學術對談在澳大順利舉行
2024年9月11日晚上9點，澳門大學人文學院中國語言文學系開展題為“詩僧：唐末五代佛詩之發明”的學術講座，講座嘉賓是美國加州大學聖塔芭芭拉分校的Thomas Mazanec（余泰明）教授。澳門大學中文系張月教授主持，校內外諸多師生在現場、綫上參與講座，氛圍熱烈。
余泰明教授的研究方向是中國古代文學和比較文學。他發表了多篇經同行評審的優秀文章，主題涉及中古詩歌、宗教、翻譯和數字人文。代表著作有Poet-Monks: The Invention of Buddhist Poetry in Late Medieval China《詩僧：唐末五代佛詩之發明》，合編Journal of Chinese Literature and Culture 的特刊“Digital Methods and Traditional Chinese Literary Studies”（數位人文與中國古代文學研究）。 余教授目前正在將幾部唐詩集翻譯成英文，其中包括為牛津大學出版社的《中國古典文學徐唐文庫系列》新譯的附有選注和評論性導言的英文版《唐詩三百首》。
本講座介紹余教授的新書《詩僧》(Poet-Monks), 該書關注唐代中國佛教詩僧的文學和宗教實踐， 提出了中國中古詩歌的另外一種歷史軌跡。 書中將大規模的定量分析與對重要文學文本的細讀相結合， 闡述了最早出現在中國唐代後半期的佛教詩僧如何主張大膽的詩歌新理念， 並將古典詩歌與佛教的重復、 朗誦經咒、 坐禪等實踐相結合。 書中追溯了詩僧作為中國文壇獨特角色的歷史發展過程， 論證了宗教實踐在中古如何被僧侶運用到對其傳統的重構中， 建立了文人風格的佛教詩歌。 《詩僧》展示了在唐宋轉型時期， 佛教僧侶站在詩歌創新的最前沿。講座的最後，余教授耐心細緻地回答了在場觀眾提出的問題。講座反響熱烈，並在學術交流的友好氛圍中結束。
On the evening of September 11, 2024, at 9:00 PM, the Department of Chinese Language and Literature at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, University of Macau, hosted an academic lecture titled “Poet-Monks: The Invention of Buddhist Poetry in the Late Tang and Five Dynasties.” The guest speaker was Professor Thomas Mazanec from the University of California, Santa Barbara. The lecture was moderated by Professor Zhang Yue from the Department of Chinese Language and Literature at UM. Many faculty members and postgraduate students attended the lecture both in-person and online, creating a lively atmosphere.
Professor Mazanec’s research focuses on classical Chinese literature and comparative literature. He has published numerous peer-reviewed articles on topics such as medieval Chinese poetry, religion, translation, and digital humanities. His representative work includes Poet-Monks: The Invention of Buddhist Poetry in Late Medieval China. He also co-edited a special issue of Journal of Chinese Literature and Culture (5.2) titled “Digital Methods and Traditional Chinese Literary Studies.” Currently, Professor Mazanec is translating several collections of Tang poetry into English, including a new annotated and critically introduced version of Three Hundred Tang Poems for The Hsu-Tang Library of Classical Chinese Literature series, to be published by Oxford University Press.
This lecture discusses Professor Mazanec’s new book, Poet-Monks, which focuses on the literary and religious practices of Buddhist poet-monks in Tang dynasty China. The book presents an alternative historical trajectory for medieval Chinese poetry. It combines large-scale quantitative analysis with close readings of significant literary texts, illustrating how Buddhist poet-monks, emerging in the latter half of the Tang dynasty, advocated for bold new ideas in poetry, blending classical Chinese poetry with Buddhist practices such as repetition, mantra chanting, and meditation. The book traces the historical development of poet-monks as a distinctive group within the Chinese literary world and argues that religious practices played a crucial role in reconnecting the fragmented traditions they inherited. Through this process, they established an elite style of Buddhist poetry. Poet-Monks demonstrates that during the Tang-Song transition, Buddhist monks were at the forefront of poetic innovation. At the end of the lecture, Professor Mazanec patiently and thoroughly answered questions from the audience. The lecture was warmly received and concluded in an atmosphere of friendly academic exchange.