Table of contents : Contents Acknowledgments Abbreviations and Conventions Introduction Chapter 1: “Mounting the Smoke with Glittering Colors”: Self-Immolation in Early Medieval China Chapter 2: The Lotus Sûtra, Auto-Cremation, and the Indestructible Tongue Chapter 3: Saṃgha and the State: The Power(s) of Self-Immolation Chapter 4: Is Self-Immolation a “Good Practice”? Yongming Yanshou on Relinquishing the Body Chapter 5: Local Heroes in a Fragmenting Empire: Self-Immolation in the Late Tang and Five Dynasties Chapter 6: One Thousand Years of Self-Immolation Conclusion Appendix 1 Major Collections of Biographies of Self-Immolators Appendix 2 Critical Evaluations of Huijiao, Daoxuan, and Zanning Notes Bibliography Index About the Author