On The Chan Monastic System In Ming And Qing Dynasties

Conglin(丛林),so called chanlin(禅林),has been usually refer to Chan Monastery(禅宗寺院).As the carrier of zen buddhist sangha rely on,the pros and cons of Chan Monastery has been closely linked to the the rise and fall of Zen.Zen formed in early Tang Dynasty,when the basic structure of Chan Monastery and living standard had been established.In the middle period of Tang Dynasty,Baizhang Zen Master formulated Chanmen Guishi(《禅门规式》),formally achieved legislation and the clause designation of the Chan Monastery specification,as a result he had been regarded as the founder of monastic Codes.To Song Dynasty,as increase gradually in number of Zen,the system construction of Chan Monastery had been increasingly perfecting.Because of the detail differences in institutional norm of factions,distinctive family style had been developed.As the typical of monastic codes,Rectified Baizhang’s Commandments by Imperial Order(《敕修百丈清规》)had been issued for enforcement in Yuan Dynasty,and had been marked the entire maturation of Chan Monastic system.In early Ming Dynasty,the state had repeatedly promulgated decrees to maintain authority of Rectified Baizhang’s Commandments by Imperial Order(《敕修百丈清规》),and demanded nationwide Chan Monastery to obey.However,decrees couldn’t ensure the regular implement of monastic codes,at the same time there had been a lot of disadvantages within system itself in long-term operations.Since the middle period of Ming Dynasty,as the fall of zen,Chan Monastery had been gradually become patriarchal clan systematize secularly social organization for farming and taxpaying,so that the management system of Chan Monastery laxed gradually.In result,Rectified Baizhang’s Commandments by Imperial Order had become a dead letter.When zen revived in Late-Ming Dynasty,eminent monks rebuilt the organized Chan Monastic system.In order to maintain the zen temple operate eternally,they had recreate statute and buddhism system beyond Rectified Baizhang’s Commandments by Imperial Order.Therefore a set of effectively operated and up to date Chan Monastic system had been rebuilt.Compared to Rectified Baizhang’s Commandments by Imperial Order,the Chan Monastic system of Late-Ming and Qing Dynasties had changed all over,with obvious features of declined holiness and strengthened secularity.On the one hand,the paper would discuss general situation of Chan Monastic system in Ming and Qing dynasties in terms of Zhuchi,Sengzhi,Chantang and dharma dissemination,and conclude the basic characteristics and effects of Chan Monastic system.On the other hand,the paper would state the revolution’s specific performance and diachronic features by comparison,and analyze historically the influential factors on revolution.By studying these issues,we can rediscover the historical significance of Buddhist reform in late Ming dynasty from the aspect of Chan Monastic system,and make more explicit the fact that Chan Monastic system in Ming and Qing dynasties had played an important role as a connecting link between the preceding and the following.