Il sacro della carne. Riscrivere il Buddhismo Chan in Bu’er di Feng Tang The Sacred of the Flesh. Rewriting Chan Buddhism in Feng Tang’s Bu’er

This article examines Feng Tang’s novel Bu’er (2011) as a radical rereading of Chan Buddhist hagiographical tradition. Rather than approaching the text as parody or mere desacralization, the study situates it within the longer literary genealogy of Ming-Qing vernacular fiction and the recurring figure of the “licentious monk.” Through the grotesque degradation of Chan patriarchs and the parallel elevation of Xuanji as an alternative locus of the sacred, Bu’er relocates spiritual authority from patriarchal lineage to the body, desire, and lived experience. Ultimately, the article argues that Feng Tang does not dismantle the sacred so much as reimagine it through materiality, eroticism, and irony. Seen in this light, Bu’er stands as a radical but coherent expression of a deeper and longer pattern: the constant reinvention of tradition in Chinese literature.