Local Matters: A Socioeconomic History of Monastic Reconstruction in Nineteenth-Century China

Abstract:The study of Buddhist monastic reconstruction has long focused on the leading role played by well-connected literati and charismatic monks in periods of fervent Buddhist revival in the late Ming and late Qing respectively. This article seeks to redirect scholarly focus and give voice to clerics and institutions that are so far marginalized in the history of Chinese Buddhism. By using legal archives, this article examines how ordinary clerics, including Daoists, used locally available resources to finance temple reconstruction in nineteenth-century Sichuan. In particular, since Sichuan had rich coal deposits and timber reserves, they routinely tapped into these resources to fund reconstruction projects. However, such efforts tended to aggravate the clergy-laity relationship due to ecological and fengshui concerns. In this regard, reconstruction did not always build upon and lead to community consensus. By foregrounding the experience of less-known Buddhist clerics, the article questions the dominant narrative of monastic reconstruction and deepens our understanding of the complexity of institutional Buddhism in imperial China.摘要:學界關於佛教寺廟重建的研究長期聚焦在明末或清末佛教復興時期士紳和高僧的領導作用。與之相對，本文把目光轉向在佛教研究中被長期邊緣化的底層僧侶。通過利用檔案材料，本文探討十九世紀四川底層佛教和道教僧侶如何利用地方資源來籌措資金進行寺廟重建。尤其值得注意的是，因為四川煤炭和木材資源豐富，當地僧侶充分利用這些資源來為重建提供資金支持。但是，由於生態和風水因素的影響，這種做法有可能導致僧俗關係的惡化。因此，寺廟重加並不一定建立在地方社會共識的基礎上，也不一定必然會促進僧俗關係的改善。通過視角轉移，本文對現有寺廟重建的敘事提出質疑，藉此加深學界對於帝製晚期製度性佛教的認識。