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HAR V ARD UNIVERSITY THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
THESIS ACCEPTANCE CERTIFICATE (To be placed in Original Copy)
The undersigned, appointed by the
Division
Department East Asian Languages & Civilizations
Committee
have examined a thesis entitled
Zibo Zhenke: A Buddhist Leader of
Late Ming China
presented by Jonathan Christopher Cleary
candidate for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and hereby certify that it is wo~ of acceptan~e. 17
Signature ....... ~~.~Z~: ....... ~~~t--.~ Typed name ..... ~~~.~.~.~.?~~.~ .... ~~.t2.~~.?~.~ ...... p'.............. .
Signature .......... = .. l.l.1../. ... f1,t5.2z~4/. Typed name ........ ~~ ... ::~.~.~:::!?~.~~ ............................ y ......... . Signature ........................................................................................... .
Typed name ..................................................................................... .
5-(-~r;' Date ........................................... .
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Zibo Zhenke: A Buddhist Leader in Late Ming China
A thesis presented
by
Jonathan Christopher Cleary
to
The Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
in the subject of
East Asian Languages and Civilizations
Harvard University
Cambridge, Massachusetts
May, 1984
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Zibo Zhenke: A Buddhist Leader in Late Ming China
c 1984 by Jonathan Christopher Cleary All rights reserved.
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Zibo Zhenke: Buddhist Leader in Late Ming China
ABSTRACT
Zibo Zhenke (1543-1604) was an influential figure in the
reinvigoration of Buddhism in late sixteenth century China.
Coming forth from within the Chan tradition, Zibo travelled
and taught widely, and had contacts with members of the
social elite as well as with the commoners. He organized
patronage for the restoration of many Buddhist temples,
and for the printing of the Buddhist Canon in book form
that could circulate more widely. Zibo emphasized the
practical and theoretical unity of Chan and the Scriptural
Teachings. Besides the Chan classics, his teaching drew on
such scriptures as the Surangama and Avatamsaka, and made
use of the study systems and analyses of the Tiantai and
Consciousness Only traditions. Zibo also accepted the
reciting of dhara~r and Pure Land buddha-namf' invocation
as legitimate approaches when carried on in the proper frame
of mind. Teaching in a time when notions derived from Bud-
dhist ideas were very widely diffused throughout Chinese
society, Zibo worked to clarify the true Buddhist essence
to be found within a variety of current religious forms. He
criticized certain misguided derivatives from Buddhism then
prevalent, such as repudiating the Buddhist scriptures in
the name of Chan, or accepting conditioned subjective
awareness as the mind of enlightenment. Zibo knew
Confucianism and Taoism, and was not averse to making use
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of their terminology to advance Buddhist ideas or to point
out commonalities among the three teachings. The guiding
framework of Zibo's teaching was thoroughly Buddhist, and
he thought that Buddhism went beyond the other two by far as
a practical method for transcendence and compassionate
return. Nevertheless, Buddhism in its many forms, Confucian-
ism, or Taoism could all be effective, in Zibo's view,
depending on the true sincerity of the learner and contact
with true teachers. From Zibo's teaching words, showing
the state of the art of Chinese Buddhism circa 1600, no
"qualitative decline" or "loss of intellectual vigor" is
obvious in comparison with earlier greats in the tradition.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgement
Abbreviations
PART ONE: BACKGROUND . Chapter One: Introduction.
Chapter Two: Overview of Ming
Chapter Three: Zibo's Life
Chapter Four: Zibo's Buddhism
PART TWO: ZIBO'S TEACHING WORDS
Bibliography .
Buddhism
i
ii
1
2
18
101
137
171
414
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i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Thanks are due to my thesis advisor Masatoshi Nagatomi,
and to Tu Wei-ming for serving on the readers' committee.
While preparing to undertake this study, I was fortunate
enough to receive the instruction of many teachers at
Harvard: J. R. Hightower, Benjamin Schwartz, J. R. Rosenfield,
Edwin Cranston, Patrick Hanan, Rulan C. Pian, Yori Oda,
Takai Tsuneyoshi, Ronald Egan, Joshua Fogel, Peter Bol, and
Sakamoto Tadashi. Special thanks to Loh Wai-fong and
Robin Yates for doing most to acquaint me with Chinese culture.
This study has also benefitted from the expertise in
Indian and Tibetan Madhyamika and Yogacara of my fellow
student Nguyn Tu CUdng, and from the researches of the
translator Thomas Cleary.
I would like to thank the staff of the Harvard-Yenching
Library for their kind help.
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BCR
CDL
HSNP
JPM
MSJL
MYQL
ABBREVIATIONS
Blue Cliff Record
Chuan Deng Lu [The Transmission of the Lamp]
Hanshan Dashi Nianpu [Autobiography of Hanshan]
Jin Ping Mei, translated by Egerton as The Golden
Lotus
Huang Ming Ming Seng Ji Lue [Outline Studies of
Eminent Monks of the Ming by Yunqi Zhuhong]
Meng You Quan Zi 'Dream Wanderings' [Hanshan's
Complete Works]
ii
Ryuchi (1940) refers to his article on Yoga monks in the
Ming, Toyogakuho, Vol. 11, No. 1
SY Shiyong Foxue Cidian [Practical Use Buddhist Studies
Dictionary]
T
WDHY
XYJ
YQFH
ZBBJ
ZBJ
ZG
ZJL
ZW
ZZ
Taisho Canon
Wu Deng Hui Yuan [Five Lamps Meeting at the Source]
Xi You Ji, translated by Anthony Yu as Journey to the
West
Yunqi Fa Hui [Complete Works of Zhuhong]
Zibo Zunzhe Bie Ji [Separate Record of Zibo]
Zibo Zunzhe Quan Ji [Complete Works of Zibo]
Zengaku Daijiten [Great Zen Studies Dictionary]
Zong Jing Lu [The Source Mirror]
Zhongwen Da Cidian [Great Dictionary of Chinese]
Dainihon Zokuzokyo [Continuation of the Canon]
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PART ONE:
BACKGROUND
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CHAPTER ONE:
INTRODUCTION
This study has grown out of curiosity concerning the
later history of Buddhism in China. This study focuses on
Ming period Buddhism in general, and in particular on the
life and work of one ot its leading proponents, Zibo Zhenke
(1543-1604). The aim is to provide data to contribute to
attempts to estimate the trajectory of Buddhist concepts
and practices over time through the multiple dimensions of
Chinese social, cultural, and.religious history.
Just to set out such data, and to relate the data to
the broad scope of Chinese Buddhist history, raises certain
theoretical issues in the study of religion. First is the
question of how information on Buddhism should be presented
to preserve intact the semantics of the Buddhist teachings.
Second is the question of how the qualitative level of the
religion at different periods in history can be seen and
judged.
*
The issue of fidelity to their semantic richness and
subtlety when presenting Buddhist materials involves combined
consideration of the structural characteristics of the
materials and also of the intent behind them. Fortunately
the Buddhist tradition itself is not entirely reticent on
these crucial matters.
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2
In Buddhism it has been a truism that there is no fixed
doctrine, and indeed the religion has existed in a profuse
variety of forms. There is no fixed doctrine because the
teaching of enlightenment must adapt to the potentials of
the listeners, their place and time and cultural
predispositions. The Chan Teacher Long Ya pointed out:
When we speak of 'cultivating the Path,'
these are words to encourage and instruct
people, these are words to receive them
and lead them onward. There has never
been any doctrine to give to people. It's
just that we have taken up all sorts of
expedient means in order to express cur
message and let people recognize their
own inherent mind. l
Thus the view that a religion can be characterized by a
doctrinal core of defined truths to which allegiance is owed
is foreign to Buddhism. It is wrong to interpret Buddhist
materials as if they were meant to present dogmatic definitions
of philosophical tenets. There is a danger of reductionism
in grouping complex, multivalent Buddhist teaching devices
under the rubrics of their supposed philosophical positions.
The intent was not to establish a fixed verbal definition
of truth--a deluded enterprise, in Buddhist eyes--but to
make contact with the mentalities of the audience, in order
to communicate truth to them by degrees, and open the way for
them to realize it. What Buddhist texts show us is not
primarily the intellectual history of rival doctrines, but
rather a history of past method used by Buddhist teachers.
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In what is said, the intent is prior to the
words. The fundamental intent of the
buddhas and ancestral teachers has been to
let people illuminate Mind and consummate
the Path. They make temporary use of
verbal meanings, directly pointing to the
mind-source. How can you cling to the
explanation and miss the message?2
3
Characterizations of Buddhist teachings from within as
'turning words' and 'living words' suggest that the messages
in these teachings are conveyed by the dynamic use of
structure. It becomes crucial that Buddhist materials are
presented in a way that does not fragment, distort, or lose
sight of the structural dynamics inherent in them. For this,
whole units of the teachings must be presented, so that
structure and message are preserved. Since all formulations
of the Buddhist teaching were intended as provisional tools
for specific purposes, it is clear that a static summary of
their "philosophical tenets" cannot be true to their meaning.
In translating Buddhist teaching words, I accept the
insights of transformational grammar. Since sentence meaning
resides at the level(s) of deep structure, and transformational
rules specific to each language shape the surface form of the
sentence, literal translation does not entail mimicking the
grammar of the original. Obviously, eloquent Chinese is not
adequately rendered by stilted or artificial English. On the
lexical side, I follow the precedent of the classic Buddhist
translators: "technical terms" are fitted with longer and
shorter alternative semantic translations, employed according
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4
to the rhythm of the discourse, and at times kept as trans-
literated versions of their foreign names. The translations
that are the heart of this study adhere strictly to the
meaning of the originals. I also attempt to follow the
style and tone of the teachers' language: sometimes
earthy and blunt, sometimes refined and ornate, sometimes
direct and challenging, sometimes aloof and timeless.
By respecting the semantic integrity of the teaching
materials and the intent behind them, I aim to make
available accurate information on how the Buddhist teaching
was actually being carried on in Ming China, which can become
data for researchers in the fields of Buddhist history and
Chinese religion.
* The issue of the quality of Buddhism in any given time
and place is by no means a straightforward question that can
be answered simply and unequivocally. Part of the problem
in making qualitative judgments is inherent in the
multiplicity of levels at which Buddhism operated. Part
of the problem comes from the limitations on the information
at our disposal concerning the full range of Buddhist
activities. Nevertheless, historians of Chinese cultural
and religious history desire to form some broad notion of
the ups and downs of Buddhism in China, and the issue should
be addressed.
Buddhists in China did many different kinds of things.
At times they consorted with rulers and sought political
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5
influence. At times they worked in the sphere of high
culture, composing philosophical treatises to rationalize
Buddhism to the intelligentsia, or spreading Buddhist
influence through literary and artistic forms. Working
among the social elite, they arranged patronage for various
Buddhist projects and institutions. Among high and low
they preached appropriate forms of morality and good
conduct, for both social and transcendental goals. They
devised popular forms or worship and meditation and
implanted them widely throughout the country. They
communicated Buddhist ideas at the popular level by means
of story telling, drama, colorful imagery, and ceremonies.
They formed groups of religious seekers, and created
practical techniques and conceptual tools and forms of
companionship suitable for advanced adepts. Whether in the
palaces of the mighty or in peasant villages, in market towns
or mountain retreats, they upheld the Buddha Dharma in a
variety of forms. Any assessment of the "rise and fall"
of Chinese Buddhism would have to take into account all
these aspects of the Buddhist enterprise: it would entail
judging the level of Buddhist activities in all these
fields, and somehow summing they up to arrive at an estimate
of the qualitative level of Buddhism for the time and place
in question.
A broad view of Buddhist history calls for a wide and
deep acquaintance with Buddhist writings over many
centuries. Even then, study of leading teachers and classic
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6
texts does not tell the full story of Buddhism, because its
impact occurred at many levels of social and cultural life,
not all of them equally well documented. In general, the
closer the inquirer would like to come to the sociology
and social psychology of Chinese Buddhism "on the ground,"
the more fragmentary the available information becomes.
Obvious criteria by which to judge the relative
standing of Buddhism at different periods of Chinese
history would be: the scope of its influence in popular
religion and culture, the extent of its acceptance among the
social elite and in the ruling circles, or again, its own
inner creativity as demonstrated in the production of
religious and social forms. In practice, it remains
problematical how to measure the qualitative and quantita-
tive standing of Buddhism in Chinese history in terms of
any of these criteria.
The nature and scope of Buddhist influence in popular
religion is hard to measure reliably over time. Throughout
much of Chinese history, little was recorded of the manners
and mores of the people below the social elite. Beyond what
can be inferred from the Buddhist teachings themselves,
little can be known concerning the psychological climate or
religious needs of those to whom the teachings were addressed.
From the Ming period, with the rise of vernacular written
literature, more information does come to light on the
attitudes and mentalities of the common people, but the
dearth of comparable data from earlier periods makes
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7
qualitative comparisons over time very speculative.
Even for readily quantifiable indicators of the
position of Buddhism in China, such as the numbers of monks
and nuns, or the number of temples and monasteries and the
extent of their wealth, available information varies in
reliability and is scattered unevenly across place and time.
And it is traditionally taught within Buddhism that material
affluence of Buddhist institutions is not automatically to
be equated with qualitative flourishing of the religion. 3
Relations between Buddhism and the state of Chinese
history are comparatively well documented, and it is possible
to discern perennial issues as well as trends of historical
change in the standing of Buddhism on the field of Chinese
ideology and politics. But once again, if we move toward
the level of concrete local practice, there is an ever
imponderable gap between government policy pronouncements
and the realities of the local scenes. Likewise, there is
much evidence concerning the attitudes of the elite towards
Buddhism at different periods, but the religious quality of
elite Buddhism and its practical influence on their conduct
are not always so apparent. The historian must beware of
simply equating official acceptance and elite patronage of
Buddhism with the overall standing and role of the religion
in society, and its qualitative level.
Faced with the partiality of the record when it comes
to information for a full social history of Buddhism, many
scholars have found it easier to discuss the "rise and fall"
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8
of Buddhism in China in terms of the level of doctrinal
creativity and sophistication revealed by the religion in
different periods. Here there is no lack of "data." In
fact researchers are faced with an embarrassment of riches,
so much so that it is a great challenge to enter into the
material deeply enough at enough points to acquire any
comparative perspective or firm sense of developmental trends.
For this project of evaluating the history of religious
reativity within Chinese Buddhism, certain caveats are in
order.
Obviously we must ask: what criteria are to be used to
judge quality in this dimension? From the Buddhist point of
view, all varieties of the correct Teaching are in principle
equal, as appropriate responses to differing needs. Since
the potentials of those to be saved are infinitely variable,
the methods by which to save them are limitless. 4 Chinese
Buddhist thinkers accounted for the multiplicity of
Buddhist teachings by saying that they had been given at
different periods of the Buddha's teaching career to serve
different teaching purposes.
Within this perspective on quality, there is no room
for the old notion that religion exists in its purer form
in its abstract, refined, and rationalistic philosophical
expression among the social elite, but is constantly
threatened with corruption by the downward pull of the
superstitious mentality of the masses. 5 According to this
view, philosophy is the highest form of religion, by
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9
which its intellectual creativity and quality can be judged.
This shows up as the idea that Chinese Buddhism was on the
wane after the ninth century, when the elite turned back
to Confucianism, the great days of Chinese Buddhist
philosophy were over, and only Chan and Pure Land remained,
supposedly indicative of antirationalism and gross
emotionalism. 6
The Buddhist objection to this theory of a Tang peak
for Chinese Buddhism is that popularization per se does not
equal qualitative decline, once it is recognized that the
Buddhist teachings were meant as skillful means, and aimed
at people in many walks of life, with practices and goals
varying according to the circumstances. From this viewpoint,
the work of the great Chinese Buddhist philosophers answered
the needs of a time. If it was necessary work, this does
not imply that it should be mechanically imitated, repeated,
or made th~ standard for all time. Other types of Buddhist
teachings in other environments that were equally effective
must be rated equal in quality. There is no saying that
buddha-name invocation must be a debased form because
uneducated people can do it as well as intellectuals.
The social historical objection to the theory of the
Tang peak for Chinese Buddhism is that it is wedded to the
invalid "two-tier'! conception of religious sociology. The
Sui-Tang period is made the peak because it marked the
maximum extent of the acceptance of Buddhism among the
social elite, and the production of many masterpieces of
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10
Chinese philosophical treatments of Buddhism. After that,
persecution and official ideological opposition,
popularization, and hence decline. The two-tier theory of
the sociology of religion may indeed have accorded well with
the social experience and the self-conception of the
eighteenth century European Enlightenment thinkers who
devised it, but it should not determine our conclusions
on Chinese Buddhist history. Above all, the two-tier theory
is open to the simple factual objection that the supposed
superior rationality and immunity to "vulgar" superstition
cannot be demonstrated for the average members of the social
elite of Europe or China from late antiquity (3rd century
C.E.) up past the sixteenth century at least. Ritual
mechanically repeated in hope of gain, charms for luck, ways
to tell the future--these things flourished up and down the
social scale. Not every well-born son becomes a Thomas
Aquinas or Zhu Xi.
The factual objection to the assertion that Chinese
Buddhism lost its intellectual vigor after the Tang is the
production in later years of Buddhist writings that show
an "intellectual level" plainly equal to earlier greats
like Zhiyi or Xuanzang: namely, the Source Mirror Collection
Zong Jing Lu in the tenth century, the Blue Cliff Record
Bi Yan Lu in the twelfth, and the Book of Equap.imity
Cong Rong Lu in the thirteenth, to give obvious examples.
Therefore it follows that the interpretation of Chinese
Buddhist history which sees a Sui-Tang peak followed by a
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11
long qualitative decline, cannot be regarded as firmly
established. Rather judgments of the history of the
qualitative level of Chinese Buddhism should be left open,
pending more detailed work on later periods. We should
also pause to reconsider by what criteria the quality of
religion in society is to be searched out and judged.
* Qualitative criteria are suggested within the
tradition itself, as part of a comprehensive paradigm for
comprehending the diversity and unity of the Buddhist
teachings. This paradigm is found in explanations of the
role of teachers and the characteristic debilitating ten-
dencies running through worldly life into the religious
quest, both by the great Buddhist teachers of China,
including Zibo himself, and in authoritative Sufi sources.7
According to this paradigm, truth is formless: the
forms of the teaching devised by those with experience of
the truth naturally vary to suit the needs of particular
people in particular places and times. All forms of
religious teaching--scriptures, philosophical concepts,
symbols, images, methods of practice--can become objects
of attachment, mechanical repetition, and emotional
allegiance, to the point where their efficacy is vitiated,
and then remain in society as fossilized forms.
Therefore for the teaching to operate effectively it
requires timely renewal of teaching forms by those who are
in touch with the source and with the potentials of the
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12
current situation. Guided by knowledge of things as they
are, by true cause and effect, the teachings work at many
levels of social life and mental activity, often in indirect
ways untraceable to the outsider. The teaching may serve
many goals: to promote morality and social harmony, to
counsel the mighty in justice and clemency, to feed the
starving, to direct meditation practice, to open the way for
vows of universal compassion and service. In Buddhist terms,
compassion linked to wisdom leads to action in the world.
This paradigm suggests a "core & periphery" model of
religious history. The core is comprised of adepts with
experience of the truth, who renew and propagate the teaching
as needed. Influences from the core radiate through various
froms with varying degrees of clarity and power, reaching
into the various departments of social life and cultural
belief. The periphery, comprised of many 'regions,'
consists of those inspired in varying degrees by the
messages emanating from the core. The various 'regions' of
the periphery represent the different outcomes of religious
and worldly (that is, cultural, social, and psychological)
impacts working throughout the social structure. The
periphery includes all the degrees from sincere but blocked
followers to misguided imitators to all those in society at
all influenced by the "cultural impact" of Buddhism.
The characteristics of religion, and the qualitative
standards that are expected, vary from the core to the
periphery. At the core the standard is direct communication
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13
with the source, and ability to project the teaching.
Teachings are employed with great flexibility to suit
circumstances. The workers of the core are "on the out-
side looking in" vis-a-vis "their own" culture, the better
to enter society freely to achieve a wide range of exoteric
and esoteric aims.
On the periphery, religion is characterized by
allegiance and belief in particular symbols and concepts,
and imbued with group feeling. Many forces in social and
cultural history impinge on the particular history of the
forms. Often names escape their original sense and lose
their intended usefulness: the medicine becomes a disease.
On the periphery religion is made to serve in the quest for
social status, and becomes a matter of fashion and taste.
Certain ideas may be fetishized as absolute verities.
Often there is a strong sense of dogmatism, partisanship,
and rivalry with other groupings.
The core and periphery distinction also shows at the
structural level. Those at the core use structures
consciously to devise the forms of the teachings. Often
they bring out the latent tension within conceptual
structures, or reveal structures by taking them to their
limits. The semantic structures lodged in the teachings
are meant to make contact with a latent potential in the
hearers and exercise a transformative influence.
In contrast, those toward the periphery normally
experience mind from within the semantic structures in which
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they have been trained and to which they give their
allegiance. The religious discourses they create are
unwittingly guided by these structures; generally the
cognitive project is to reconcile contradictions and to
mediate tensions within the structure. Concepts and
formulations are seen as representing real entities.
Apologetic answers a felt need to reconcile divergent
doctrinal allegiances.
14
This kind of core & periphery view of religion has
implications for what criteria should be used to judge the
qualitative level of religion through history. To arrive at
a comprehensive view of the social history of religion, we
would like to be able to reach qualitative and quantitative
judgments of the various phenomena of the religious
periphery through time. Obviously the sources upon which to
base such judgments are fragmentary and at best only sug-
gestive. If we must judge the extent of Buddhist influence
in Chinese popular religion and culture, we can note that
the vernacular literature of the Ming period shows the
pervasiveness of concepts and beliefs drawn from Buddhism.
At this level, neither quantitative nor qualitative decline
compared to earlier periods is in evidence.
The qualitative level at the core, strictly speaking,
requires the enlightened eye to judge. Provisionally we may
use the criteria implied by the paradigm for the core: the
'living' quality, the ever-fresh flavor, the clear-eyed
adaptability. Decline at the core would show up as rote
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15
repetition, as dogmatism and inflexibility. Twisted
doctrines, misapplied practices, false intellectualism,
emotional partisanship--in every period these have been
castigated as true signs of the decline of the Dharma, and
barriers to the correct teaching. The fundamental criterion
of quality in religious teachings was ~ogently expressed by
the Chan Master Baizhang:
All verbal teachings just cure disease.
Because the diseases are not the same, the
medicines are also not the same. That is
why sometimes it is said that there is
Buddha, and sometimes it is said that there
is no Buddha. True words cure sickness.
If the cure manages to heal, then all are
true words. If they cannot effectively
cure sickness, all are false words. True
words are false words insofar as they give
rise to views. False words are true words
insofar as they cut off the delusions of
sentient beings. 8
*
By adhering to the foregoing considerations, the present
study aims to present some sound data on Chinese Buddhism
in the Ming period, focusing on the Buddhism of an
infuential religious leader of the time, Zibo Zhenke. We
can find a fine record of the teachings of Zibo in the book
Zibo Laoren Ji (preface 1621), a collection assembled in the
years after his death by those who had come in contact with
him, and fortunately edited by Zibo's friend and contemporary,
the great Buddhist teacher Hanshan Deqing. In this
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collection are preserved many intimate views of the
situation within Chinese Buddhism in the late sixteenth
century. We are also shown the teaching style of one of
its great exponents, Zibo himself.
16
Zibo's teaching words are presented here as a kind of
landmark in later Chinese Buddhist history. They are
introduced by a general background view of Ming dynasty
Buddhism leading up to Zibo's time, and a treatment of
Zibo's life story. There is also a section to point out
certain obvious themes in Zibo's teachings, and their
bearing on the religious scene of his times and Zibo's
affiliations within Buddhism. With this much orientation,
the reader can proceed to the rich source of "data" in
Zibo's teaching words.
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17
Notes
1 ZJL, p. 1489.
2 ZJL, p. 125-126.
3 For example, Bodhidharma telling Emperor Wu that
there was no merit in his building temples and ordaining
monks. See BCR Case 1. The sixth century masterpiece
Record of the Temples of Loyan~ contains the story of a
monk who while temporarily dead encounters the patrons of
Buddhist magnificence mired in hell. See Luoyang Jialan
Ji, p. 79-81.
4 ZJL, p. 165.
5 So ably refuted by Peter Brown, The Cult of the
Saints, pp. 12-22.
6 For example, Kenneth Ch'en, Buddhism in China, pp.
325-26, 389-403.
7 Idries Shah, The Way of the Sufi, pp. 156-57, and
~earning How to Learn, pp. 145-46.
8 Thomas Cleary, translator, Sayings and Doings of
Pai-chang, p. 71.
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CHAPTER TWO:
OVERVIEW OF MING BUDDHISM
This chapter presents a brief overview of the situation
of Chinese Buddhism during the fourteenth, fifteenth, and
sixteenth centuries, in order to provide the historical back-
ground for the career of Zibo Zhenke. This presentation
proceeds from the 'periphery' in towards the 'core.' First
we consider the government's policy toward Buddhism, its
motivations and effects. Next we consider Buddhism at the
popular level in this period, the 'lowest common denominator'
of Buddhist doctrines and practices, and the religion's image
in the public eye. Finally we briefly survey the Buddhism of
some of the leading teachers of these centuries, arriving in
the end at the period of Buddhist revival in the later
sixteenth century when Zibo himself was active.
* The Ming regime emerged out of the nearly twenty years of
political fragmentation and warfare that marked the downfall
of Mongol rule in China. Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of the
Ming dynasty, built his original power base within the ranks
of the armed forces of a millenarian religious movement that
was part of the broad trend in Chinese popular religion called
---the White Lotus Religion.1
As a destitute orphan faced with starvation, the young
man Zhu Yuan zhang had sought refuge in a Buddhist monastery,
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19
but before long he was driven out. 2 Wandering the Western
Huai region in the guise of a monk, Zhu must have had ample
opportunity to witness the venality and desperation on the
underside of the religious life of the times, where religious
pretensions were chiefly a means for seeking material gain
and community influence for some, brute survival for others. 3
Zhu Yuan zhang found a place among the supports of Peng
Yingyu, a religious leader who in the 1340's was spreading the
message of the impending birth of Maitreya and the fall of the
ruling Yuan dynasty.4 In the waning years of the Yuan regime,
such millenarian beliefs and secret communities organized
around them were prevalent in various parts of China. 5 As
Wu Han observes:
Ever since Tang and Song, whenever the
current political situation caused the
people to lose hope, there appeared
spontaneously propaganda about the coming
into the world of a 'King of Light' or of
Maitreya, and on its heels rebellions of
ill-armed peasant armies. Though all of
them were suppressed and slaughtered by
the regular army, even to the point of
being wiped out, nevertheless, the
peasants would never submit: having
fallen, they would lick clean their
bloody wounds, crawl back up and
resist anew. 6
Peng Yingyu himself had fled into the Western Huai region after
the failure of a revolt at Yuanzhou in Jiangxi in 1338--a
revolt in which the rebels wrote the word 'Buddha' on their
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20
backs for protection. 7
By 1351 various groups of White Lotus believers were
in open revolt all across central China, revolt prepared by
years of clandestine organization and propaganda, and
inspired by millenarian religious notions. Under the White
Lotus chief Han Shantong, the rebels set up the Song state
in the upper Huai region. In the central Yangzi valley,
White Lotus partisans proclaimed the Tian Wan state under
their leader Xu Shouhui. The shifting fortunes of the
various leaders of these uprisings is beyond our concern
here. S Zhu Yuanzhang rose to prominence as the lieutenant
of Guo Zixing, who was entrenched around Haozhou (near
Fenyang, Anhui) and was nominally the subordinate of Han
Shantong's son, Han Liner. Chen Youliang and Ming Yuzhen,
who were later to be among Zhu Yuanzhang's major rivals,
established their power as lieutenants of Xu Shouhui. It is
worth noting that by origin none of these leaders were from
the land-owing class that made up traditional China's social
and political elite.
By 1360 there was a series of regional rebel regimes
established across central China in which the White Lotus
Religion played a prominent role in politics. On the other
hand, Zhu Yuanzhang already showed a basically pragmatic
orientation toward the mechanics of power and organization
through the 1350's as he rose to independent command under
Guo Zixing's Song regime in Anhui. 9 By the time he crossed
the Yangzi with an armed nucleus to set up his base at
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21
Nanking in 1355, the army he led was no longer a loosely
organized White Lotus / Red Army type force. lO He began to
accept the tutelage of local Confucian scholars: as he
added territory to his domain he courted the local educated
elite both for their political expertise and for the local
political influence among the people. ll Bidding for the
support of locally influential great families, who had
everything to lose from mass uprisings and who had often
organized local resistance against the millenarian rebels,
Zhu Yuanzhang increasingly found his White Lotus / Red Army
connections to be a political liability.12
Zhu gradually consolidated his regional base politically
and economically, following the strategy suggested by the
Huizhou Confucion Zhu Sheng: "Build your ramparts high,
store up a lot of grain, and take your time proclaiming
yourself king.,,13 By 1364 Zhu Yuanzhang had defeated his
major rival to the west, Chen Youliang, and had extended his
control into the central Yangzi valley. The rebel Song state
in the Huai valley had been smashed by Yuan forces, and Han
Liner, the 'Little King of Light,' nominal leader of the
northern White Lotus groups, was a puppet in Zhu Yuanzhang's
hands. As Zhu turned in 1365-66 to attack his rival to the
east, Zhang Shizheng, in his proclamations he vehemently
denounced the White Lotus type sectarians, their religious
practices, and their belief in the coming of Maitreya. 14
"Once heterodox slogans (yao yan) are circulating, evil
plots arise--they burn cities and suburbs and slaughter
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22
learned gentlemen (shi fu).,,15 Zhu guaranteed the security
of the property and possessions of those who would accept
h . d . d t t . 16 1S reg1me, an prom1se no 0 1ncrease taxes. He accused
the sectarian rebels of using "heterodox words to confuse
the masses," and maintained that they could not please
Heaven above or the people below, and so could only produce
chaos and destruction. 17 Before launching his campaigners
into North China in 1368, Zhu issued similar disavowals of
heterodoxy to allay the fears of the landholding elite. 18
Zhu Yuanzhang had completed his evolution from a leader of a
movement challenging the social order to a self-proclaimed
protector of that order. 19
Nearly twenty years of tortuous political and military
struggle had brought Zhu Yuanzhang and his supporters mastery
of China. Having repudiated its sectarian beginnings, the
new regime nevertheless harked back to them in its choice of
'Great Ming' as its dynastic name--perhaps this was meant to
coopt remaining millenarian loyalties to the new order. At
the same time, the new regime soon moved to prohibit heterodox
religious sects, which still commanded widespread allegiance
across China. 20
From his own personal experience, Zhu Yuanzhang knew
well the explosive potential for political subversion of
popular millenarian religious groupings like the White Lotus.
The policy he adopted toward them once in power reflects
this concern. The section of the Ming Code 'Prohibiting
Sorcery and Heterodoxy,21 forbids the typical practices of
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23
such popular religious groupings--talismans, charmed waters,
charts and images, assemblies for burning incense, "gathering
at night and dispersing at dawn." The White Lotus Society,
the Religion of the Mani Light Buddha, the White Cloud
societies, as well as various groups with Buddhist-derived
names, along with those falsely invoking Mid treya, are
uniformly condemned as the 'Left Path,' as means of disorder.
The seemingly benign community functions of such groups are
banned as means to incite and mislead the people. The
leaders are to be killed, the followers beaten and exiled.
The subversive potential of such groups is condemned as
ranging from making people forget their families and kin to
forming political groups (dang) and organizing rebellion. 22
Decentralized, with deep local roots and long histories
of clandestine activity, such heterodox religious groups
could not be eradicated by government fiat, even by the
redoubtable Zhu Yuanzhang. Throughout the 1370's, 80's
and 90's 'Left Path' popular religious uprisings were noted
in Hubei, Fuhian, Jiangxi, Sichuan, and Shaanxi. 23 In the
nineteenth year of his reign, Zhu Yuanzhang admonished the
people of the dangers of such groups: "This type I have
seen with my own eyes." He regrets the persistence of
Jiangxi of 'ignorant people' (yu min) who continue to
invoke Maitreya, and urges the 'good people' (liang min) for
th . f t t . th t h th found. 24 elr own sa e y 0 wlpe em ou w erever ey are
*
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24
With this background of religious groups' participation
in political turmoil in mind, the basic motivations behind
early Ming policy towards Buddhism can be readily appre-
ciated. This policy aimed to concentrate Buddhist monks
and nuns in officially recognized centers where they could be
registered and supervised. The intention was to minimize
contacts between Buddhist monks and nuns and lay society
outside the sphere of ritual performances, to sanitize
Buddhism and give it a defined and delimited place in the
newly consolidated social and political order.
Thus in its own way the Ming regime attempted to address
the perennial dilemma of Chinese governments faced with the
presence of Buddhist believers and Buddhist institutions
within their borders. In the eyes of Confucian critics,
Buddhism had always been the object of suspicion, not only
as an economic drain on the resources of the country, but
preeminently as a rival ideological center within Chinese
society. Too deeply entrenched to be simply eradicated,
Buddhism had to be tolerated and somehow controlled. For
the orthodox, Buddhism presented a double threat. On the
elite level, it could seduce the 'good people' away from
their proper vocation of 'managing the world' (jing shi).
On the popular level, it could supply the masses of the
'ignorant people' with a rival cosmology pointing the way
toward rebellion; the history of the fourteenth century
indeed posed this issue in stark and urgent form. No amount
of apologetic writings by Buddhist avowing the fundamental
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25
harmony of Buddhism with Confucian values could allay this
chronic suspicion.
However much 'orthodox' Buddhists might repudicate them,
the repeated outbreaks by sectarian rebels in the name of
Amida, Maitreya, or the Unborn Mother and the Home of
Emptiness, gave concrete testimony of the subversive
potential of Buddhist-derived popular beliefs (the 'Left
Path') and seditious arts (yao shu). In the Ming period,
the strict prohibitions against such groups and tendencies
in force from 1370 onwards did not prevent a long series of
sectarian revolts:
-1409 in Shaanxi, by the followers of the 'Diamond
Slave,' who "deceived the masses using the Buddha
Dharma. ,,25
e1416 in Shanxi, under the 'heterodox rebel' (yao
zei) Liu Zijin. 26
e1420 in Shandong, under the 'heterodox priestess'
(yao fu) Tang Sailer. Despite the fall of her
fortress and the death or capture of some eight
thousand of her followers, she was never
apprehended. 27
e1455 in the Huai Nan region, under the White Lotus
leader Zhao Yushan. 28
e1465 in Shandong: a revolt by garrison troops led
on by leaders using 'heterodox slogans' (yao yan).29
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e1505 in Henan, led by the White Lotus rebel Zhao
Jing. 30
e1520 in Shanxi, led by Li Fuda, who proclaimed
himself to be Maitreya. 31
ern the 1550's, White Lotus groups in the northwest
were in contact with the Mongols under Altan Khan. 32
e1557 in Zhejiang, led by 'Patriarch' Ma, a White
Lotus leader with connections reaching back to
Li Fuda. 33
-1566 in Sichuan, led by the 'heterodox rebel' (yao
zei) Cai Boguan, a White Lotus leader who was
captured along with some seven hundred followers. 34
e1577 in Guangdong, led by Bao Shixiu using
'subversive religious arts' (yao shu).35
e1585 in Guangxi, a revolt led by (non-Han) native
chiefs, aided by 'heterodox monks' (yao seng).36
e1600 at Xuzhou in northern Jiangsu along the Grand
Canal, led by one Zhao Yiping, who rallied seven
26
thousand troops in revolt using 'subversive religious
arts' (yao shu).37
.A memorial from around 1600 reported that the
potential for disorde~ was great, due to the
widespread formation of White Lotus societies. 38
e1622 in Shandong: a major White Lotus uprising led
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by Xu Hongru, prepared for by more than twenty years
of proselytizing in North China by Wang Sen and
others. Xu and some forty-seven thousand of his
supporters were captured after a three-month siege
of their stronghold at Zou. The remaining
partisans of the White Lotus in Shandong continued
to cause the government trouble until the end of
the dynasty. 39
.1630's and 40's across North China White Lotus-
type groups eventually tended to merge into the
large-scale peasant rebellion that engulfed the
Ming regime in the north in those years. 40
This partial list of political incidents involving
members of heterodox popular religious groups shows that
the Mind regime's suspicion of unregulated monks in
unregulated contact with the populace was not unfounded.
27
The word yao (as in yaoyan, yao shu, yao seng, yao zei)
combines the sense of weird and condemnable heterodox
religion with overtones of political subversion: it reflects
the close link that was perceived between the two. The
administrative regula.tions that were developed in the early
Ming period to control Buddhism can be seen as attempts to
forestall this threat. In a wider sense the early Ming
restrictions on Buddhism are of course consonant with the
overall policy ideal of the early Ming, a newly
reconstructed social order in which all elements had been
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28
properly classified and fixed in their places. 41
Zhu Yuanzhang himself was not inimical to Buddhism per
se. He participated in Buddhist rites and convened
gatherings of leading Buddhist monks; monks were honored
and received within the palace to lecture on the Dharma. 42
Some officials who ventured to express criticism of the
favorable treatment accorded to certain Buddhist monks were
executed for their temerity.43 In the fifth year of his
reign as Emperor, Zhu Yuanzhang called a conclave of leading
Buddhist monks at Jiang Shan Temple in the capital to edit
the canon: subsequently an edition came out in over six
thousand juan. 44
On the other hand, measures were instituted to bring
Buddhist monks and nuns and Buddhist establishments under
closer government supervision. In 1368, the first year of
Zhu Yuanzhang's reign, a kind of supervisory office (then
called the Shan Shi Yuan) was established at Tian Jie Temple
in the capital, to which all Buddhist monasteries and
temples were officially subordinated. 45 This institutional
arrangement was continued throughout the early Ming,
although the name of the office was changed several times. 46
In 1372 ordination certificates (du die) were issued at the
capital to over fifty-seven thousand Buddhist and Taoist
monks and nuns, "in order to prevent an overabundance of
false ones.,,47 The previous practice of government sale of
ordination certificates for grain or money 'payments in
lieu of corvee' was ordered ended. 48 In theory the new
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29
criterion for receiving an ordination certificate was being
able to pass an examination on the scriptures. 49
Furthermore, the central office overseeing Buddhism was to
issue 'Comprehensive Supervision Booklets' (zhou zhi ce)
to all the temples in the country, in which all monks were
to be registered, along with the locality of registration
of their fathers and the date they were ordained.
Unregistered monks were declared false and illegitimate. 50
Gradually the controls on Buddhism were made more
stringent, at least in theory. In 1372 the ordination of
women as nuns was formally prohibited. 5l "At the time the
Emperor thought that in recent times respect for the two
religions Buddhism and Taoism had become excessive, and
the number of their disciples was increasing day by day,
sitting idly by yet consuming food--there is nothing worse
than this for wasting wealth and draining the people.
Thus he ordered that for the Buddhists and Taoists in each
fu, zhou, and xian, only one great temple be allowed to
remain. ,,52 As usual with such official pronouncements, the
actual extent to which it was carried out is doubtful.
Noting that the gazeteer of Taipingfu lists nine temples
rebuilt during Zhu Yuanzhang's reign for this one fu close
to the heart of the realm, Ryuchi Kiyoshi concluded that
any such limitations on the number of temples allowed per
administrative unit must have been at best temporary and
partial. 53
Further controls on Buddhist institutions were imposed
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30
in 1382. 'Buddhist-Taoist Offices' (seng dao yamen) were
set up in each fu, zhou, .and xian, under the overall
control of the central office at the capital, now known
as the 'Monk Registry' (seng lu si). They were ordered to
report in writing when and by whom each officially
sanctioned temple was established and by whom it was
endowed. 54
The same year all Buddhist temples were classified
into three types. Chan temples contained monks concentrating
on the meditation practices of Chan. Jiang temples,
'lecturing' temples, were for those specializing in
expounding the scriptures. The third category, called
jiao or yuga or fuying, 'teaching' or 'yoga' or 'going in
response' temples, was for monks specializing in performing
rituals. All monks had to belong to one of the three
categories: distinctively colored garb was mandated for
each type. 55 The majority of temples and monks belonged to
the third category, specializing in ritual, and they alone
were allowed free contact with the populace. 56 A training
center was established at the capital at Neng Ren Temple,
to which all abbots and monk-officials were summoned for
" t t" 57 lns ruc lon.
In 1391, the twenty-fourth year of Zhu Yuanzhang's Hong
Wu era, Buddhism was ordered purged. The goals were to
reduce the number of Buddhist temples, to prohibit private
ordination and private religious building, and to enforce
the separation of Buddhist monks from the people, except in
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connection with rituals. According to the placards
announcing the purge: 58
The proper style for Buddhists has as
its starting point austerities, emptiness,
and solitude. Yet today throughout the
country monks are often mingled with the
lay people. There are many who are not
as good as the lay people--they corrupt
their teaching and ruin their practice.
31
Since the chaotic period at the end of the Yuan dynasty, when
many temples had been destroyed in the fighting, many
Buddhist monks had lived scattered among the populace--
often their discipline was lax, and the respect they
commanded "low. 59
Let the office in charge of monks
investigate the monks in their own
district and determine the true
number of those who dwell mixed among
the people. They should not live
in towns or dwell mixed among the
laiety. 60
The government tried to end this situation by ordering
that all monks gather together into officially approved
institutions.
For the Buddhists and the Taoists in each
each fu, zhou, and xian, only one temple
shall be kept, a large and capacious one
that can hold the whole congregation
of monks, who should all live together
there. It is not permitted for monks
to live outside such temples mixed with
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the people. Violators will be severely
punished. Relatives who knowingly
conceal them will be exiled. Those who
wish to return to lay life are allowed
to do so. Furthermore, it is ordered that
throughout the country any Buddhist or
Taoist retreat or hall or temple built
without an old placque granting official
recognition shall be destroyed. 6l
The Ming Code prohibits any further private building for
Buddhist or Taoist purposes: violators are to be beaten
32
and laicized, the monks sent to.border garrisons and the nuns
condemned to be government slaves. 62 The Code also forbids
private ordination of people without ordination certificates:
the family head of the one ordained, together with the abbot
of the temple involved and the teacher who performed the
ordination, are all to be punished with eighty blows of the
whipping club. 63
The limited effectiveness of these ordinances can be
inferred by the fact that they were repeated in detail three
years later. 64 Monks dwelling in towns were ordered to
group themselves into larger units. Practitioners "hidden
in the mountains" were only permitted in small groups:
they could not build any but the simplest shelters, nor
could they build in clusters or farm. As for the officially
sanctioned temples that the law allowed to remain, lay
people were not permitted to enter them, nor were their
monks (except for ritual purposes) allowed to go among the
people and preach, or to make contact with officials. Chan
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33
monks and Lecturing monks were commanded to stay put and
stick to their own proper forms of the religion: they were
not permitted to diversify into ritual, to live scattered
among the people, or to enter towns and villages. Only
Yoga monks were permitted to go abroad freely to cater to
the needs of donors by performing rituals: these must be at
the behest of th~ patrons themselves, rather than
commissions sought out by monks needing the business. The
Ming Code adds that if there are officials or army men or
commoners who let their womenfolk frequent Buddhist or Taoist
temples, they are to be whipped forty strokes with the cane,
with the same punishment applying to the abbot and gate-
keeper of the temple involved. 65 Monks were not permitted
to have contacts with officials, to solicit contributions,
or to distribute literature. Monks travelling were not
permitted to beg, but had to supply their own travel
expenses. 66
If Buddhist or Taoist monks have wives
and concubines, the people are
permitted to drive them out. Those
who conceal them will be punished.
Those wishing to return to lay life
are allowed to do so. It is not
permitted to take young boys from
among the people and make them monks.
In case of violations, the boy's father
and mother will be held liable for
punishment. 67
The process of becomming an officially sanctioned monk
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was made more elaborate:
Those under twenty who wish to become monks
must have their parents make a full report
to the authorities and the local
authorities make a full report to their
superiors. Only then will it be permitted.
Three years later they must report to the
capital to be examined. Those who have
thorough knowledge of the scriptures will
be given ordination certificates. Those
who do not will be beaten and be made
commoners. 68
In 1395 the government approved a suggestion that all
34
Buddhist and Taoist monks in the country be ordered to the
capital to be examined in the scriptures of their respective
religions: those who cannot demonstrate thorough knowledge
of the scriptures were to be laicized. 69
As part of the strict policy announced in 1394, officials
known as zhan ji dao (or zhan ji dao ren or zhan ji seng dao)
were appointed to the sanctioned temples to take charge
of corvee and taxation, and to handle all contacts between
the temples and officialdom and lay society at large.70
As for the matter of taxation and service obligations on
temple property, the normal state of affairs under the Ming
regime would be a welter of local practices and variations,
with no uniformity.71 An announcement from 1394 states
that "Imperially bestowed lands are entirely exempt from
land tax. The other permanent endowment lands are liable
for land tax but are exempt from the various service
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35
obligat ions. ,,72
Whatever the actual extent to which the policies
mentioned above were carried out in practice, they at least
express a policy ideal of Buddhism pressed into a prescribed
role within society at large. The Ming founder's policy
set the pattern for Chinese government policy toward
Buddhism throughout the Ming period.
Zhu Yuanzhang's fourth son and successor, Zhu Di,
continued the main outlines of his father's policy toward
Buddhism. The Veritable Record of the fifth year of his
official reign, 1407, tells of his anger when informed of
the large numbers of military men and commoners in the
Southeast who were being privately ordained and who came
to the capital illegally seeking ordination certificates.
He ordered such men to be remanded to the Bureau of Military
Affairs to be registered as soldiers and dispatched for
garrison duty to far off Liaodong and Gansu. 73 In 1416
quotas were set for the number of monks who were allowed
per administrative unit: forty per fu, thirty per zhou,
and twenty per xian. 74 The same year the government
required that young men under twenty have their parents'
permission before they could be ordained. Those who had
left home previously without such permission were ordered
returned to lay life. 75 Monks and nuns were prohibited
from building unauthorized hermitages and halls on their
own. 76
The government's concerns were well expressed in the
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Bureau of Rites in 1412 as follows: 77
There are many Buddhist and Taoist
monks in the country who do not keep
discipline. 'I'hey go among the people
dOing religious exercises and reciting
scriptures, but their actions are
based on considerations of gain--they
are not sincere at all. Some go so far
as to drink wine, eat meat, and live
debauched and dissolute lives without
any restraint. What's more, some
ignorant people falsely acclaim them
as 'men of the Path.' Generally they
corrupt and mislead men and women and
bring them together without any
distinctions. Thus they destroy proper
social norms.
Despite the control measures promulgated by the early
Ming government, in practice the situation was beyond the
power of the regime to dictate. There remained many monks
without ordination certificates and many monks with little
or no knowledge of the scriptures. Limitations on the
number of ordinations and age limits on monks were only
36
sporadically enforced. Ordination certificates could be
counterfeited; the certificates of dead monks could be re-
used with the names altered; stolen ordination certificates
were for sale. After Zhu Di's reign the quota system
collapsed and the system of registry booklets could not
hold back the rising number of monks. 78 The repetition
of the prohibition of private ordination in 143679
and the
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37
prohibition of private religious building in 144180 indicate
that such regulations had little effect. An edict bf 1441
noted the persistence of the very things the government
was out to stop: potentially disruptive monks untrue to
their own proper tradition living mixed with the laiety to
the detriment of social mores. 81 Buddhist and Taoist centers
were criticized as refuges for unregistered desperadoes
and miscreants, people who had abandoned their proper
statuses and social roles to become monks and nuns. 82
During the 1440's, during the youth of the Emperor Zhu
Qizhen and the ascendancy of the eunuch Wang Zhen the
restrictions on Buddhism were eased. Wang Zhen himself
patronized expensive building projects at the capital, and
various major temples were refurbished. Another grand
edition of the Buddhist canon was printed and distributed
83 to temples throughout the realm. Even after the capture
of Zhu Qizhen by the Oirats under Esen and the downfall
of Wang Zhen, the new emperor Zhu Qiyu continued the
patronage of Buddhist building projects. 84
The requirement nominally in force in 1449 that would-
be monks be examined in the scriptures before being issued
ordination certificates85 gave way to the open large-scale
sale of the certificates in the 1450's as the government
tried to raise revenue and gather supplies to meet
emergency military needs. 86 People flocked to the
capital, where ordination certificates werB being sold by
the tens of thousands in these years. 87 This large-scale
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sale of ordination certificates was temporarily halted
during the years when Zhu Qizhen was restored to the
throne (1457-1464), but resumed again in the succeeding
reign (1465-1487).88
38
We can surmise that the sale of ordination certificates
(which gave exemption from corvee requirements) promoted
a great influx of people without religius motives into
the ranks of those officially recognized as monks. Critics
like the Han Lin Academy official Ni Yue urged the
government to stop the sale of ordination certificates,
and return to the system of examining would-be monks for
their knowledge of the scriptures. 89 In 1487 the censor
Jiang Hong memorialized that the government should stop
issuing the certificates for ten or twenty years and not
permit the repair of temples, so that the number of
Buddhist monks and temples might decline by natural
attrition. The Emperor's comment was that measures such . 90
as those recommended had already been implemented. In
1486 the Bureau of Rites asked for a province by province
quota for the numbe-r of monks allowed, with a national total
around sixty thousand. 91 Officials in the Bureau of
Population memorialized in 1486 concerning the
unprecedented number of Buddhist buildings around the
capital, and recommended tightening the controls on the
granting of the name-placques that gave official sanction
92 to temples.
The censor Chen Ding reported that from 1466 to 1476
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39
over. one hundred forty-five thousand Buddhists and Taoists
had received official ordination certificates: "as for
those privately forged certificates, their number is
unknown." He castigated wandering beggar monks as an
economic drain and as a false and treacherous lot who
would stop at nothing, with the potential to mislead the
masses and threat~n the social order. 93 Yet in those same
years the government was exchanging ordination certificates
for grain supplies delivered to the Northwest for famine
relief. 94 At the accession to the throne in 1506 of Zhu
Houzhou, who was favorably inclined toward Buddhism, forty
thousand ordination certificates were given out. 95
From the late fifteenth into the sixteenth century,
the Ming government reiterated policies based on the
supervision and control principles of the Ming founder.
To its critics, Buddhism always seemed to pose a latent
threat to the social order: "Curb Buddhism in order to
keep customs correct," in the words of a 1495 memorialist;
otherwise illicit Buddhist groups may "incite and mislead
the people's minds, ruining moral norms and damaging
o 01 0 to ,,96 C1Vl lza lon.
The authorities continued to enunciate control
measures along familiar lines. By an ordinance of 1487
monks whose parents had no means of support were ordered
to return to lay life to take care of them. 97 In 1500 it
was stated that:
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Any Buddhist or Taoist monk who wrongly
on his own authority accepts disciples,
is to be arrested for interrogation
and exiled beyond the passes to be a
commoner. The abbot (of the place
involved) is to be returned to lay
status. If the officials supervising
Buddhist and Taoist monks do not
report such cases, they are to be
dismissed from their posts. 98
Around the same time an official in Hubei ordered that
40
privately built retreats for Buddhist and Taoist monks were
to be dismantled; those with ordination certificates were
to be sent back to the temples where they originally
became monks; those without certificates were to be
arrested, interrogated, punished, and returned to lay
status; wandering beggar monks without travel permits were
not to be admitted to sanctioned temples. 99 Complaints
continued of Buddhist and Taoist centers as refuges for
the unregistered and the uprooted, who used them as lairs
for plun~er and sedition. lOO In 1521 the prohibition
against private religious building and private ordination
was again repeated. lOl Yet government sale of ordination
certificates continued during the sixteenth century: the
price was quoted at ten taels of silver in 1540 and at
five taels in 1572. 102
Looking back over the course of the Ming dynasty, both
the general nature of the government's policy toward
Buddhism and its characteristic weaknesses are quite
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apparent. The Ming regime attempted to reintegrate and
stabilize Chinese society through its system of social
categories to which people were assigned, which defined
41
for them their obligations and social standing. This
classificatory approach was extended to apply to Buddhist
and Taoist monks and nuns. The government sought to control
the numbers and quality of the clergy, and to curb private
initiative in religious building and in ordaining monks
and nuns. By forbidding monks to come in contact with
the people except in the role of ritual specialists, the
government aimed to prevent possible social and political
subversion by unauthorized monks living among the populace
spreading White Lotus-type heterodoxy.103 The threefold
classification of Buddhist monks and temples, and the ban
on Chan and Lecturing monks going among the people, were
means to this end.
Nevertheless, the Ming regime did not have the power
to see to it that its legal restrictions on Buddhism were
enforced uniformly throughout the country. Local patterns
of practice could not easily be uprooted, nor patterns
of popular allegiance altered by fiat. Even in the crucial
area of collecting taxes, the Ming government" found its
authority and initiative severely circumscribed. 104 Thus
it is no surprise that many of the government's enactments
meant to curb Buddhist monks and nuns and temples seem to
have had little or no lasting impact. Moreover, with the
widespread sale of ordination certificates from the middle
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42
of the fifteenth century onwards, the government undercut
its own attempts to limit the number of monks and control
their quality. By the sixteenth century Buddhism in China
had moved beyond the categories and restrictions within
which the government had attempted to confine it, and like
Chinese society and culture at large, was in a very
fluid situation. I05
* The great sixteenth century vernacular novels Jin Ping
Mei and Xi You Ji afford us revealing glimpses of Buddhism
in practice as it was perceived at the popular level in
those days. Buddhism is shown deeply embedded in a
matrix of popular beliefs, which it has helped shaped,
and by which it has itself been influenced. While
Buddhist "doctrines" appear for the most part as mere
slogans and typical phraseology, much attention is paid to
the actual character of the monks and nuns who are the
living representatives of the religion. The Buddhist-
derived notions of karmic retribution and rebirth appear
to have become all-pervasive and taken for granted in the
popular culture of the time, though in a shen bu mie ~; ~ ~~ interpretation which traces karmic connections through the
family line.
The predominance of the ritual element in popular
Buddhism stands out clearly. Buddhist ceremonies were used
to allay the enmity of the dead and to lay their spirits
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43
to rest--Zhu Yuanzhang participated in such rites in the
1 f h " " 106 Th"t " ear y years 0 1S re1gn. ese r1 es appear 1n
chapters 39 and 100 of Xi You Ji. l07 In Jin Ping Mei an
elaborate funeral for the protagonist's dead baby son and
wife incorporates both Buddhist and Taoist observances. l08
In the same novel we are shown one of the ladies donating
money to a nun so that after her death there will be
sutra-recitations on her behalf. l09 The idea behind such
rites was to enable the dead to improve their karmic
rewards. 110 Even the great teacher Zhuhong performed the
rite of 'feeding the flaming mouths' (of the ghosts of the
dead) and had an altar at his place for the 'water and
land' rite for the souls of the dead. III In the climactic
hundredth chapter of Jin Ping Mei the true monk Rujing
demonstrates his occult powers by summoning forth the ghosts
of those characters who had died in the course of the novel,
and explaining their deaths and rebirths in terms of
karmic retribution for their deeds. 112
Both novels give abundant evidence that the fee-for-
service attitude toward religion was widespread in Ming
times among both monks and nuns and lay believers. In
Xi You Ji even Ananda and K~syapa expect suitably rich
presents from the pilgrims in return for the scriptures
they seek. 113 In chapter 36 we see an arrogant abbot who
will only see rich donors--he is angered by the poor men-
dicants' request for lodging. 114 Throughout Jin Ping Mei
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44
we are shown the cash nexus enveloping religion and indeed
all forms of social life. Nuns are shown quarreling over
how the fees they have received should be split. 115 Those
who give donations for Buddhist purposes expect to benefit
in this life and the next. A monk soliciting a contribution
from the wealthy Ximen Qing promises that in return for
his support of Buddhism he will enjoy a long and prosperous
life and worldly blessings for himself and his descendants. 116
One of his wives advises Ximen that he had better give
generously to Buddhism to make up for his past misdeeds and
to insure a good future for his new son. 117 Another of his
wives, the cynical and self-seeking Golden Lotus, thinks
that Buddhist nuns would be fools not to make money off
the rich ladies for whom they read sutras, tell edifying
stories, and provide counsel. lIS In the early Ming the
government even issued a schedule of permissible per diem
charges for monks performing rituals. 119
We also find expressions of skepticism towards the
belief in the mechanical efficacy of rituals. Matteo Ricci
found that many educated Chinese openly admitted to having
no religion at all. 120 Certainly Xi You Ji often expresses
a mocking satirical attitude toward religious pretensions.
At the funeral of her first' husband, Golden Lotus goes
through the motions of the purification ceremony burning
incense in front of an image of the Buddha, but she never
dreamed of abstaining from wine and meat for this holy
occasion, and she retires after the ceremony to make love
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45
t h X Q' 121 o er paramour lmen lng. Jade, another of Ximen's
wives, rejects the idea that pious donations for the
printing of Buddhist scriptures will be effective in saving
the life of the donor's sick child: to Jade, the matter is
in the hands of fate, and it is foolish to trust in the
nuns. 122 Ximen Qing maintains that no one really knows ,vhat
happens to people after they die; though he does not
believe in evil spirits, he hires a Taoist exorcist
nevertheless. 123
We are also shown how arguments based on the notion of
karmic retribution could be twisted this way and that to
suit the selfish needs of the occasion. When a sick baby
dies, despite the mother's donations to a Buddhist cause
given in hopes of saving the child, the nun who accepted the
donation explains that the baby was the reincarnation of an
enemy from a previous life; once the mother acquired
sanctity by giving money to Buddhism, the malignant reborn
124 enemy could not but depart. Ximen Qing argues that he
is not to blame for his present debauchery, because all his
misdeeds have been predetermined in former lives; at the
same time he hopes that his almsgiving will buy him
protection from any evil consequences of his present
conduct. 125
Clearly, in the popular religion of Ming China, as in
many other times and places, a principal focus was on
invoking supernatural aid to accomplish worldly aims.
People felt that they could in effect buy aid from beyond
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by the performance of the proper ceremony or religious
gesture. This mechanical attitude was opposed by true
teachers like Zhuhong and Zibo, who t.ried to direct
attention back to proper mental, physical and spiritual
alignment as the efficacious kernel of ritual. 126
46
Figures drawn from the Buddhist tradition were objects
of devotion as divine protectors who could bring blessings
to their worshippers in this life and the next. 127 From
the 'Medicine Buddha' (yao shi rulai) people sought
worldly gain. Bodhisattva Guanyin was felt as a protectress
who could save worshippers from the world's ills. Through-
out Xi You Ji, for example, Guanyin plays a major role as
divine savior and merciful protectress. The bodhisattva
Dizang was invoked to gain remission from wrongdoings after
death. Amida Buddha was the object of devotion of those
hoping for rebirth in the Western Paradise. So widespread
was invocation of Amida that Ricci considered it synonymous
with Buddhism. 128 When Sun Wukong plans to disguise a boy
as a Buddhist monk, the boy objects that he doesn't know
how to recite any scriptures. The monkey sage asks him,
"Can you chant the name of Buddha?" "You mean Amida?" said
the lad, "Who doesn't know that?,,129
Popular notions of Buddhist doctrine are reflected in
the vernacular literature, and also in the report of the
intrepid Matteo Ricci. In its ideal, Bdddhism is seen as
a way to purify the hearts of mankind and put an end to
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47
hatred and strife. 130 The principle of karmic retribution
is repeatedly emphasized as the main point of the Buddhist
teaching. 131 People strive to serve Buddhism in order to
escape the round of suffering and eventually to enter
Paradise. 132 Leaving home to become a Buddhist monk or nun
is rationalized as a way to bring blessings upon one's
relatives and descendants. 133 In Xi You Ji a verse in the
mouth of Sanzang expresses the essential teaching of
Buddhism like this: 134
For those who are monks
The myriad entanglements are all ended.
For those who comprehend reality-nature
All phenomena are empty.
Great Wisdom rests at ease
Peacefully moored within no-birth.
True potential is silent
Untrammelled and free within nirvana.
The triple world is empty,
The hundred starting points quelled.
The six sense faculties are pure,
The thousand kinds are exhausted
When mind is cleared
The solitary light shines alone.
When mind is kept
Myriad objects encroach .
Acts of merit and sitting meditation
Are the source of entering samadhi.
Spreading benevolence and giving generously
Are truly the basis of cUltivation
Don't let a single thought stir,
And the myriad practices are complete of themselves.
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48
A commonly held perception in the sixteenth century
saw Buddhism as fully compatible with Confucianism and
Taoism. 135 Ricci noted that many educated Chinese considered
the three teachings as merging into one. 136 The acceptance
of Buddhist and Taoist practices and symbols side by side
is often seen in Jin Ping Mei. 137 The monkey sage Sun
Wukong recognizes Chan as the basis for the true way,
while advocating respect for the unity of the three
teachings. 138 Wang Yangming, the most influential
Confucian philosopher of the Ming period, consistently
emphasized his differences with Buddhism, which he
criticized for being too inward and unworldly,139 yet in
the end he took a rather favorable attitude toward it. "The
teachings of Chan Buddhism and those of the sages (i.e.,
Confucianism) both seek the complete fulfillment of the
mind. There is only a slight difference between the two.,,140
Later generations of Confucian thinkers inspired by Wang
Yangming embraced Buddhism more openly, for example Hu Zhi,
Luo Rufang, and Jiao Hong. 141 From the Buddhist side, the
great teachers of late Ming, Zhuhong of Yun Qi, Deqing of
Han Shan, and Zhixu of Ou Yi, all made it their business
to expound the essential harmony of Confucian insights
with the Buddhist Teaching. 142 As Zhuhong said: 143
People with intelligence harmonize the
Chan School with the Confucian classics.
Not only is this a fusion of wisdom and
understanding, but it also promotes
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progress amon