Monks And Nuns Who Are Not Far Away From The Earthliness

Since Buddhism was introduced into China,the monks and nuns have been subjected to the dual restrictions of Buddhist precepts and secular laws,and their images that hold themselves aloof from the world that prompt people to associate them with a condition which is getting away from earthly life.However,in the social environment of ancient China,even the monks and nuns could not escape from all kinds of connections with the secular society.It can be said that Buddhism started its secularization since it entered China.It is undeniable that although Buddhism is a foreign religion,it has the most profound influence on the people and the ruling class,whether compared with the local Taoism or Christianity and Islam.Compared with other religions,Buddhism has the greatest fit with the secular society,so Buddhism,which has a great influence on the society,has to be noticed by the rulers: on the one hand,the influence of many monks and Buddhists is one of the forces that the ruling class wants to accommodate as a ruling tool;on the other hand,in the process of Buddhism secularization,many monks and nuns have indeed violated the rules and regulations and the laws of the time due to various factors,and become the objects that need to be controlled.This paper first summarizes the evolution of the interaction between monks and secular management.In this part,we will sort out the policies and management measures of monks and nuns from Tang Dynasty to Qing Dynasty.Many laws and regulations of the Qing Dynasty are inherited from the Ming Dynasty,but some policies related to this aspect have come down in one continuous line since the Tang Dynasty.Besides paying attention to the similarities of the past dynasties,we will also make some comparisons among different dynasties and each emperors of Qing Dynasty.The second part is the specific case analysis of monks and nuns involved in lawsuits in the Qing Dynasty.In the collected archives of Baxian County,there are five types of cases involving monks and nuns,namely,emotional disputes,property disputes,real estate disputes,personal injury,and non-compliance with the rules.Most of the monks involved in the cases are the "perpetrators" or the subjects of non-compliance with the rules,but there are also some cases of civilians and squires deliberately taking the lead in the lawsuit for the above reasons.This part will also compare the differences between the specific case judgments and the judicial regulations and management regulations of the Qing Dynasty,and try to explore the reasons for the alienation between practice and expression.The third part is to discuss the reasons of the dispute.First,Ba County has developed its own economy and is an immigrant society.The emergence of Huishou and temple head is easy to cause disputes between monks and customs.In the process of the government’s post-war repair of Ba County,it also involved in the temple affairs more or less,deepening its secularization.Secondly,because of the decline of the internal quality of the monks’ groups and the complex external environment,the monks are more likely to be involved in the lawsuit.Third,because the mediation of the rural elite is limited,the original defendant has to solve the problem through litigation,so the probability of litigation is increased.Fourth,in some cases,monks and nuns,although they were defendants,were involved in the false accusations,which is also a case of litigation.Finally,in the process of secularization of the monks and nuns,with the decline of the binding force of Buddhism law and the rise of the restriction scope of the secular law,many problems cannot be solved within the monks,and can only be dealt with through the county magistrate trial.