| Studies of Chinese popular religious culture, on one hand, have primarily focused two areas: (1) on Daoism and its interactive relationship with local cults, (2) on folk Buddhist sects. On the other hand, studies on Chinese Buddhism mainly concentrated on its "philosophical aspect." This dissertation employs an inter-disciplinary approach to study a group of folk Buddhism monks (xianghua heshang) and their ritual tradition (xianghua foshi) in Meixian of northeastern Guangdong province. Through this study, I try, firstly, to investigate a Buddhist funeral rite in the religious life of people in this locality; secondly, to argue that the xianghua heshang are the active agents for the continuous adjustments and prevalence of the rite; thirdly, to shift the study of Chinese Buddhism from merely the studies of eminent monks and their teachings, to the role of folk monks who were active and crucial for the religious life at the town and village levels. |
