Research On Chanting Buddha Beliefs And Customs Of The Middle-aged And Elderly Women In Xiaoshan,Zhejiang Province

The old lady chanting Buddha is a ritual expert in Xiaoshan,Zhejiang province.As the main body to carry out the practice of chanting Buddha faith and customs,the middle-aged and elderly women initially chant Buddha for their own family,attend temple fairs and Buddha fairs,and then extend to other families to provide ritual service.Based on the research perspective of daily life practice,this study centres on these old ladies,describes the process of practicing Buddhism,and discusses the spiritual and living world of this woman group through the explanation of the reasons for chanting Buddhism and the observation of specific practice scenes of chanting Buddhism.From the perspective of function theory,the practice of chanting Buddha faith has certain social and cultural functions for the elderly themselves and the community groups.In the specific field investigation process,participant observation and in-depth interview methods were used to combine "theme" and "guest",to observe the process of the practice of chanting Buddha faith and customs,to obtain a further understanding of this special group which is active in the folk,and to provide fresh cases for the study of daily life practice and folk belief.The paper is divided into six parts:The first part is the introduction and survey point overview,explaining the origin of the topic and clarifying the significance of writing;Secondly,relevant academic history is sorted out,research methods are explained,and important concepts of this paper are explained.Finally,the survey points are briefly introduced.The second part discusses the reasons of middle-aged and elderly women chanting Buddha and their cognition of chanting Buddha.Middle-aged and elderly women have more free time and need paper money to pray at home,and they can calm their mind and get compensation by praying to the Buddha.For this women group,chanting Buddha is used to kill time when they are old and they recite Buddha in their free time.In addition,this chapter describes the types of the old women of Xiaoshan chanting Buddha based on the reasons of middle-aged and elderly women chanting Buddha and the objects they serve.The third part expounds the acquisition and practice of middle-aged and old women’s chanting Buddha faith customs.The customs include chanting scriptures,folding paper money and using ritual tools,among which learning scriptures are the most difficult things for them.Devotional scenes include family chanting,which is the starting point of every middle-aged and elderly woman,and congregation chanting,Congregation chanting includes Jiatang Buddha and public welfare Buddha.The fourth part observes the Old Buddha from the concrete practice field.The old lady is conscious of both praying at home and participating in the congregation.Through the writing method of folk Chronicles,this part records the ritual process of Buddhist association in Shima Temple in Village D,and explores the practice of faith and custom of chanting Buddha from the specific practice situation.During the ceremony,the old Buddha worshippers have two identities: family believers and Buddhist worshipers.Their participation in the temple fair is not only for themselves and their families,but also for the village,which has distributing characteristics of spreading from family to society.The fifth part discusses the function of chanting Buddha beliefs and customs.The practice of the middle-aged and elderly women’s chanting Buddha beliefs and customs can not only provide social belief ritual services for the community and make up for the lack of participation in the folk secular life in the institutionalized religion in contemporary China,but also help to enrich the elderly women’s life.The existence of the subculture of middle-aged and elderly women chanting Buddha has social and cultural rationality.The conclusion part sorts out and summarizes this paper.Based on the research perspective of daily life practice,this paper studies the middle-aged and elderly women in Xiaoshan,Zhejiang who chant Buddha beliefs and customs,and proposes some ideas for the follow-up research.