230

"Buddhism for Daily Life" vs. "Buddhism for Death and

Ghosts" - Exploring Modern Buddhist Repentance Ceremony
in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang Region

Shao Jiade
Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Cultural and Religious Studies,
Chinese University of Hong Kong

Abstract

231

One of the important factors scholars attribute to the so-called

decline experienced by Chinese Buddhism since the late Qing Dynasty is the

commercialization of the Buddhist Repentance Ceremony. At the same time, it marks

the starting point of promoting modern Buddhist reform. This paper is a study of

Buddhist journals, newspapers, documents, and other autobiographical in Jiangsu and

Zhejiang provinces regarding the lives of "call monks" and the commercialization of

Buddhist Repentance in a historical context. This paper also explores how the Sangha,

the local people, and the government each view the commercialization of Buddhist
Repentance and whether such view is objective or not. Through historical analysis,

we can come to the conclusion that such commercialization has been abused and is

with numerous oppositions. Reforms within the Sangha, public demand, as well as

the government's ambivalent attitude and weak enforcement have all contributed
to the difficulty of eliminating the commercialization of Buddhist Repentance and

its popularity. At the same time, it helps us rethink modern Buddhist reform and
Buddhist funeral traditions and rituals.

Keywords: Call monks, Commercialization of Buddhist repentance,

Modern Buddhism

232

233

6
7
40

Welch

1.2611945114
2.
198042
3.
1991266-268
4.1996
274

5.200534
6.1988
104
7.200015
8.Holmes Welch, The Buddhist Revival in ChinaCambridge, Mass.: Harvard University
Press, 1968, p.264.

234

235

11 12

13

14

10

9.1993129131
10.J.J.M. de Groot, The Religious System of China, Its Ancient Forms, Evolution, History
and Present Aspect, Manners, Custom and Social Institutions Connected Therewith, Vol.
1Taipei: Southern Materials Center, 1989, p.178.

11.Holmes Welch
1988268-269
12.284
13.
14193412
15122105-106
121914615

14.Lye Hun Yeow, "Feeding

Ghosts: A Study of the Yuqie Yankou Rite" Ph. D. dissertation, University of Virginia,
2003
2005

2001343-361Daniel B. Stevenson, "Text, Image, and Transformation in

the History of the Shuilufahui, the Buddhist Rite for Deliverance of Creatures of Water
and Land," in Marsha Weidner ed., Cultural Intersections in Later Chinese Buddhism
University of Hawai'i Press, 2001, pp.30-70
2006
2005
2004
Stephen Teiser
1999

236

237

1940

15

16

20

17

18

21
1940

22

19

15.1997104
16.122
17.198450
18.
2005
19.1930
1960Johannes PripMoller, Chinese Buddhist Monasteries: Their Plan and its Function as A Setting for

Buddhist Monastic LifeHong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1967, p.366.
20.1995
11342011
877
21.
Vincent Goossaert, "Counting the Monks: The 17361739 Census of the Chinese Clergy," Late Imperial China, Vol. 21, No. 2December
2000: p.44.
22.2619466

238

239

23

261944

27

28

24

1935

25

23.1995
1133
24.Vincent Goossaertvernacular
Vincent Goossaert, "A Question of Control:
Licensing Local Ritual Specialists in Jiangnan,1850-1950 ,"

2013569-604

2014278-290
25.
28193556

281935
57-58

29

26.119281
75
27.104
28.
1999194-215
29.

240

241

33

2345

67

34

30

1940

31

19468
32

35

36

30.
289194137
15194132Welch

269
31.198471
32.
194681003-3-1892000031

33.199412
34.
1999251-52

200577
35.2111952715
26
36.Johannes Prip-Moller, Chinese
Buddhist Monasteries: Their Plan and its Function as A Setting for Buddhist Monastic
LifeHong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1967, pp.153-155.

242

243

37

421940

43

44

38

45

39

46

1920

40

41Holmes Welch1930

37.1924
1153
38.198725860
39.
2011266-270

2010450-454
40.197713
41.
1978680

42.Holmes Welch272277
43.110
44.132-133
45.1200129
46.
1999252-53

200578

244

47
48

19239
1941
194749

50

245

1940

51

52

47.

48.

200964-88
49.1995
1133-1134
50.1134
1978680
51.877
52.110

53

54

193040

53.8019281125
1
54.1211936216
24

246

247

55

62

56

63

64

57

58

59

60
61

1920
192711
65
66

67
68

55.26193116
36194916
56.38193381
1
57.1194741038
5193731522
80192811251
58.1211936216
24
59.23
60.
61.Holmes Welch275

104132
62.677-689
63.56
64.194-215
65.91192711111-2
66.1571931142-3
67.58
68.56

248

69
70

71

72

249

74
75

1930

76

1935
77

73

69.24
70.24
71.214
72.
1997148
1997160
73.1994

167
74.1997
798
75.831-833
76.228
19312-3
77.5951935913

250

78

Welch
80%

79

80

251

84

81

28

82

83

78.851921
11
79.193576
80.1924
1130
81.1918125-126
82.199412
83.2000162

85

1928
86

87

1920

84.Holmes Welch, The Buddhist Revival in ChinaCambridge, Mass.: Harvard University

Press, 1968, p.235, p.347.
85.Vincent Goossaert and David A. Palmer, The Religious Question in Modern China
Chicago, London: University of Chicago Press, 2011.
86.1519281016
21
87.1519281016
22

252

88

253

89191190
91

19201925
1928

92

93

94

88.192030
4551978

13:4200221-38
Rebecca Nedostup,
Superstitious Regimes: Religion and the Politics of Chinese Modernity Cambridge,
Mass.: Harvard University Asia Center, 2009. Poon Shuk-Wah, Negotiating Religion
in Modern China: State and Common People in Guangzhou, 1900-1937 Hong Kong:
The Chinese University Press, 2011.
89.25192912
1984310
90.
941911
91.
59191112-14

95

92.
18-19192943
193032332
43-44193081-82
93.
43192832-34
94.
2193119-20
95.473193012

254

255

962000 971500

19309

98160099

100

102

103

104105

101

106
107

96.15119296510
97.
483193011-12
98.601928
25-26
99.31927
45
100.231928
28151192965
10
101.101112
193061

102.
624193029-31
103.Rebecca Nedostup, Superstitious Regimes: Religion and the Politics of Chinese
Modernity Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Asia Center, 2009, pp. 244-251.
Poon Shuk-Wah,Negotiating Religion in Modern China: State and Common People in
Guangzhou, 1900-1937 Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, 2011, pp. 108116.
104.Rebecca Nedostup, Superstitious Regimes, pp. 251-258. Fang Ling and Vincent
Goossaert, "Les rformes funraires et la politique religieuse de l'tat chinois, 19002008," Archives de Sciences Sociales des Religions, Vol. 1442008: 51-73.
105.4
1933795
106.Poon Shuk-Wah. Negotiating Religion in Modern China, pp.108-116.
107.Rebecca Nedostup, Superstitious Regimes, pp. 199-206.

256

257

Welch
108

Welch

110

109

111

108.Holmes Welch, The Buddhist Revival in ChinaCambridge, Mass.: Harvard

University Press, 1968, p.269.
109.James Watson

orthopraxy
"Introduction: The Structure of Chinese Funerary Rites," in James L. Watson and
Evelyn S. Rawski eds., Death Ritual in Late Imperial and Modern ChinaBerkeley:
University of California Press, 1988, pp.3-19.

6122008
101-21

110.Welch

111.12001

258

259

20.
1988

1.19872

21.2005

22.2004

23.1999

1.1995
2.1988
3.1997
4.2011
5.Holmes Welch
1988
6.1996
7.Stephen Teiser
1999
8.1980
9.2009
10.1997
11.1993

12.1935
13.
2005
14.1984
15.2006
16.1918
17.1984
18.1991

19.2000

24.1997
25.1924

26.
2013
27.1977
28.1994

29.1995

30.1994

1.Daniel B. Stevenson, "Text, Image, and Transformation in the History of the

Shuilufahui, the Buddhist Rite for Deliverance of Creatures of Water and Land,"
in Marsha Weidner ed., Cultural Intersections in Later Chinese Buddhism
University of Hawai'i Press, 2001
2.Fang Ling and Vincent Goossaert, "Les rformes funraires et la politique
religieuse de l'tat chinois, 1900-2008," Archives de Sciences Sociales des
Religions, Vol. 1442008
3.Holmes Welch, The Buddhist Revival in ChinaCambridge, Mass.: Harvard
University Press, 1968.
4.Introduction: The Structure of Chinese Funerary Rites," in James L. Watson
and Evelyn S. Rawski eds., Death Ritual in Late Imperial and Modern China
Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988.
5.J.J.M. de Groot, The Religious System of China, Its Ancient Forms, Evolution,

260

History and Present Aspect, Manners, Custom and Social Institutions Connected
Therewith, Vol. 1Taipei: Southern Materials Center, 1989.
6.Johannes Prip-Moller, Chinese Buddhist Monasteries: Their Plan and its Function
as A Setting for Buddhist Monastic LifeHong Kong: Hong Kong University
Press, 1967.

7.Lye Hun Yeow, "Feeding Ghosts: A Study of the Yuqie Yankou Rite" Ph. D.
dissertation, University of Virginia, 2003
8.Poon Shuk-Wah,Negotiating Religion in Modern China: State and Common
People in Guangzhou, 1900-1937 Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press,
2011.
9.Rebecca Nedostup, Superstitious Regimes: Religion and the Politics of Chinese
Modernity Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Asia Center, 2009.
10.Vincent Goossaert and David A. Palmer, The Religious Question in Modern
China Chicago, London: University of Chicago Press, 2011.

11.Vincent Goossaert, "A Question of Control: Licensing Local Ritual Specialists in

Jiangnan,1850-1950.

12.Vincent Goossaert, "Counting the Monks: The 1736-1739 Census of the Chinese

261

1.
591911
2.
941911
3.1419341215
4.
6241930
5.
28-91941
6.101112
19306
7.601928

8.1519281016

9.
1930

1.
2001
2.

2014
3.
2010
4.
2011
5.
1978

10.2
11.15
1941
12.2
43-441930
13.4
1933
14.119281
15.
21931
16.
281935
17.

262

281935
18.
431928
19.1519281016

20.151192965
21.231928

263

1931
37.851921

38.
19992
39.11947410
40.51937315

22.4731930

41.1960

23.

42.157193114

4831930
24.361949

25.31927

43.12001
44.8019281125

45.1211936216

26.261931

46.261946

27121914615

47.3819338

28.9119271111
29.

1
48.5951935

194681003-3-1892000031
30.
18-191929
31.612200810
32.455
1978
33.""
1342002
34.261194511
35.2111952715

36.228

1.2005
2.
2005