| This dissertation examines the social and political functions of Buddhist communities and the religious activities of regional courts during the period of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms (907-979). Chapters one through four trace the trajectory of a network of Chan monks as they rose from obscurity to dominate the elite religious cultures of the kingdoms of Min, the Southern Tang, and Wuyue. The rise of Chan lineages, the dynamics of political patronage, and the effects of regionalism on the development of Buddhist communities are examined within the context of shifting political and economic conditions. Chapters five through seven investigate the social functions of Buddhist clerics and communities in southeastern China, with a focus on ancestral veneration, mortuary rites, the appropriation of religious relics, and cultural revival. In contrast to the largely salutary aspects of sam&dotbelow;gha-state relations detailed in the first seven chapters, the final chapter discusses the vociferous critiques of a group of Song dynasty literati who viewed the privileged place of monks and nuns within the regional courts of the southern kingdoms as detrimental to the proper functioning of government. |
