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Chapitre D'ouvrage Année : 2023

“Buddhist Monastic Regulations in Contemporary China: Adapting the Rules to a Changing Social and Political Context”

Résumé

Starting from the fourth century, Chinese clergy have composed regulations specifically suited to indigenous monastic life and intended to supplement Vinaya prātimokṣa rules and Bodhisattva precepts. Thanks to their relative flexibility, Chinese monastic codes represent a fundamental resource for understanding the evolution of Chinese Buddhism, as they conveniently reflect modifications in monasteries’ internal functioning and relationship with the outside world. Based on both textual evidence and fieldwork, this chapter provides an overview of Buddhist monastic regulations (guiyue 規約 or zhidu 制度) that are presently in use in public monasteries in the People’s Republic of China and considers them against the backdrop of a long Buddhist regulatory tradition. I first consider the place of monastic regulations within the Chinese Vinaya tradition and introduce the conventional contexts in which they were and are composed and learned. I then highlight major new typologies, new features, and new contents of Buddhist monastic regulations that have been composed since the post-Mao religious reconstruction as compared to late imperial Rules of Purity and Republican codes. Finally, rules related to the selection of abbots in public monasteries provides an example of the ways in which monastic regulations can be circumvented in order to allow for important institutional changes. This analysis especially shows how a plurality of old and new actors interact and elaborate a range of strategies in order to meet both new socio-political demands and internal needs—a process that actively participates in a redefinition of Buddhism that serves to promote its continual institutionalization and embedment in society. It will also appear that, while representing the device by which Chinese Vinaya quickly responds to social, political, and economic changes, monastic codes also remain strongly anchored in the received tradition. A full translation of the Communal rules (gongzhu guiyue 共住規約) of Bailin Chansi, a large Chan public monastery in Hebei province, is provided in the appendix.
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Dates et versions

hal-04007970 , version 1 (28-02-2023)

Identifiants

  • HAL Id : hal-04007970 , version 1

Citer

Daniela Campo. “Buddhist Monastic Regulations in Contemporary China: Adapting the Rules to a Changing Social and Political Context”. Ester Bianchi and Daniela Campo. “Take Vinaya as Your Master”: Monastic Discipline and Practices in Modern Chinese Buddhism, Brill, pp.255-293, 2023. ⟨hal-04007970⟩
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