Monica Esposito

Monica Esposito

Monica Esposito (born August 7, 1962 in Genoa , † March 10, 2011 in Kyoto ) was an Italian Daoist researcher.

Life

When Esposito was four years old, her family (father Carlo Esposito, mother Iris Barzaghi and older sister Adriana Esposito) moved to Padua . After high school (Greek, Latin), she studied Chinese language, culture and philosophy at Ca'Foscari University in Venice , Fudan University in Shanghai and Ghent University in Belgium. After receiving her Sinology diploma with a dissertation on Qigong in 1987, she continued her studies under the direction of Professor Isabelle Robinet at the Département des études d'Extrême-Orient of the University of Paris VII . Her work Présentation d'une partie des textes du Daozang xubian led to the Diplôme d'Études Approfondies (DEA) and marks the beginning of her research on Daoist texts (15th to 20th centuries). This research took her back to Shanghai (Academy of Social Sciences, Prof. Chen Yaoting) and again to Paris, where she completed her doctoral thesis in 1993 on La Porte du Dragon – l'école Longmen du Mont Jin'gai et ses pratiques alchimiques d'après le Daozang xubian (Suite au canon taoïste) under the direction of Isabelle Robinet and received the doctoral degree summa cum laude.

During several longer stays in China and Tibet, Dr. Esposito also practices related to her research topic such as Qigong , Tai-chi and Daoist and Buddhist meditation techniques. She also did research as a post-doctoral student at the University of Venice (1994–1995), the Sorbonne in Paris (1995–1997) and the Kansai University in ( Osaka ), Japan. In 1998 she settled in Kyoto and married Urs App .

From 1998 to 2003 she conducted field studies on the religions of Taiwan, Hong Kong and China and, with her husband, produced a number of documentaries on the religions of the Far East. Your film Dangki. Les chamanes de la Chine (Dangki: China's Shamans) was broadcast on France 2 in 2001.

Since her appointment in 2003 as associate professor at the University of Kyoto ( Jinbun Kagaku kenkūjo [Research Institute for Human Sciences]), Dr. Esposito excellent for studying Daoist texts from the Ming and Qing periods. She founded and directed an international research project with over sixty employees on the most important Daoist text collection of modern times, the Daozang Jiyao (essence of the Daoist canon). Parts of this major project were funded by the Chiang Ching-Kuo Foundation (2006–2009 et 2010–2013,) and the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS; 2008–2011). The following academic institutions are collaborating in this project:

• Research Institute for Human Sciences at Kyoto University (Jinbun Kagaku kenkûjo)
• Academia Sinica: Institute for Chinese Literature and Philosophers; Institute for Philology and History
• The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Department of Culture and Religious Studies; Study Center for Taoist Culture
• École française d'Extrême-Orient
• Sichuan Academy of Social Science, Philosophy Faculty
• Université de Sichuan, Institute for Religious Studies

The focus of the scientific research of Monica Esposito was the Daoism of the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing times (1644–1912), inner alchemy (neidan), the interactions between Daoism, Tantrik and Buddhism, and Tibetan Buddhism (rDzogs chen). On March 10, 2011, Dr. Esposito suddenly had a pulmonary embolism at the age of 48.

Functions and memberships

• Director, Daozang Jiyao Project
• Member, Society for the Study of Chinese Religions
• Member, Dōkyō gakkai (Japanese Society for Taoism Studies)
• Member, American Association of Asian Studies
• Associate Editor, Routledge Studies in Taoism (Routledge, London)
• Member of the editorial committee for the journal Daoism: Religion, History and Society (Chinese University of Hong Kong, Center for the Studies of Daoist Culture)

Fonts (selection)

Monographs

• La Porte du Dragon. L'école Longmen du Mont Jingai et ses pratiques alchimiques d'après le Daozang xubian (Suite au Canon Taoïste) (The Dragon Gate . The Longmen School of the Jingai Mountain and its alchemical practices according to the Daozang xubian (continuation of the Taoist canon)) . Ph. D. Doctoral thesis, Paris VII, 1993 (under the direction of Prof. Isabelle Robinet) ( universitymedia.org )
• Il Qigong, la nuova scuola taoista delle cinque respirazioni [Qigong, the new Taoist five-breath school]. Padua: Muzzio, 1995.
• L'alchimia del soffio [The alchemy of the breath]. Rome: Ubaldini, 1997.
• The Zen of Tantra. Wil (Switzerland) / UniversityMedia, Paris 2013, ISBN 978-3-906000-25-1 .
• Creative Daoism. Wil (Switzerland) / UniversityMedia, Paris 2013, ISBN 978-3-906000-04-6 .
• Facets of Qing Daoism. Wil (Switzerland): UniversityMedia, 2014, ISBN 978-3-906000-06-0 .

Editorships

• Special Issue: In Memoriam of Isabelle Robinet (in collaboration with Hubert Durt), Cahiers d 'Extrême-Asie No. 14, 2004.
• Images of Tibet in the 19th and 20th Centuries (= Tibet pictures of the 19th and 20th centuries ) In: Etudes thématiques 22 (2 volumes). École française d'Extrême-Orient, Paris 2008.

Documentaries

• Journey to the Temple of the Celestial-Eye Mountains. Documentation, Rolex Awards for Enterprise, Selected Projects, 1993.
• Viaggio nel Khams e l'Amdo meridionale. Documentation, CNRS progetto europeo, 1995.
• The tea whisk. Documentary for the bamboo exhibition in the Ethnographic Museum of the University of Zurich (2003) and in the Völkerkundemuseum Munich (2006) (in collaboration with Urs App).
• On the Way to Tōhaku's Pine Forest. Documentary for the Hasegawa Tōhaku art exhibition (2002) in the Museum Rietberg, Zurich (in collaboration with Urs App).
• Dangki . Documentary broadcast on France 2 channel in 2001 (in collaboration with Urs App).
• Oracles in China. Documentary for the oracle exhibition of the year 2000 in the Museum Rietberg, Zurich (in collaboration with Urs App).
• Oracles in Japan. Documentary for the oracle exhibition of the year 2000 in the Museum Rietberg, Zurich (in collaboration with Urs App).
• Chinese Oracle Kids. Documentary for the oracle exhibition of the year 2000 in the Museum Rietberg, Zurich (in collaboration with Urs App).

Web links

• Daozang jiyao project website

Remarks

1. ↑ daozangjiyao.org ( Memento of the original from December 16, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
2. ↑ project CCKF RG006-P-09; Director Monica Esposito, Vice Director Christian Wittern
3. ↑ Director: Monica Esposito; Organizer Prof. Kunio Mugitani (Jinbun Kagaku kenkûjo [Research Institute for Human Sciences] of the University of Kyoto); Vice Director Prof. Christian Wittern (Jinbun Kagaku kenkûjo [Research Institute for Human Sciences] of the University of Kyoto)
4. ↑ daozangjiyao.org ( Memento of the original from December 23, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
5. ↑ For a bibliography of all publications see universitymedia.org (PDF).
6. ↑ webster.it ( Memento of the original from June 29, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
7. ↑ universitymedia.org
8. ↑ ( Page no longer available , search in web archives: daozangjiyao.org ) (PDF).
9. ^ Ethnographic Museum of the University of Zürich ( Memento from May 31, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
10. ↑ See UniJournal - Die Zeitung der Universität Zürich, No. 2/03, March 31, 2003, p. 16.