The Body Incantatory

Copp has earned a reputation as the leading expert on Chinese Buddhist dharani (incantation), and this book is likely to remain the definitive study on this topic for some time to come.

Richard D. McBride II:
An important contribution to the scholarly understanding of religious ritual and material culture.

Josh Capitanio:
An important and thought-provoking contribution.... Eschewing the method of broad philological [survey] in favor of close readings of selected texts and—more importantly—material objects, Copp successfully illuminates several oft-overlooked aspects of medieval Chinese dhara?i, and in the process brings to light new insights on the permutations of both Buddhist and Chinese religious cultures.

Youn-mi Kim:
Groundbreaking.... I believe this book will become a classic as well as pioneering work for the study of Buddhist spells.

Robert Sharf, University of California, Berkeley:
Buddhist dharani—verbal but often unintelligible incantations that took on an astonishing array of material forms—exist at the intersection of the domain of meanings and the domain of things, making them particularly 'good to think with.' And in The Body Incantatory Paul Copp does some wonderful thinking. His comprehensive and erudite study is a major contribution not only to the study of medieval Chinese Buddhism but also to our understanding of religious ritual and material culture writ large.

Wu Hung, University of Chicago:
This exhilarating book profoundly revises our understanding of Buddhist spells in medieval China. Both provocative and persuasive, it provides the first in-depth analysis of such spells manifested across a wide range of written, verbal, and material forms and compels us to reevaluate their fundamental importance in Buddhist practices.

James Robson, Harvard University:
This book engages a wide range of new materials, primarily unstudied texts and new archaeological evidence. It advances some key discussions that have recently been occupying the field of the study of Chinese religions and is filled with some real gems of scholarship that will excite the reader and inspire reflection.

Daniel B. Stevenson, University of Kansas:
The Body Incantatory rightly calls into question the commonplace assumption that high esoteric Buddhism 'erased' an older 'proto-esoteric' incantation culture or relegated it to obsolescence. In doubting this assumption and studying the discourses and uses of dharani 'incantations' in medieval Chinese Buddhist culture, this book significantly contributes to our understanding of Buddhism in China in several significant ways.