Between The Holy And The Vulgar:The Income Problem In The Temple Economy Of WuTai Mountain In The Ming Dynasty

The influence of the four famous Buddhist mountains in China is enormous,but the academic circles have not achieved many results of systematic research on the economic problems of the four famous mountains and monasteries.Mount Wutai ranks first among the four famous Buddhist mountains,and its status and influence are self-evident.To ensure the construction of temples,the normal life of monks and nuns,and the normal operation of temple Buddhist activities,there must be a strong economic backing and sufficient monastery income to guarantee.This topic is based on the perspective of the income of the Wutaishan monasteries in the Ming Dynasty,and systematically studies the source of the economic income of the Wutaishan monasteries in the Ming Dynasty and related issues.Through the in-depth analysis of the income from the incense of the Wutaishan temples in the Ming Dynasty,the income from the temple fields,and the income of the property related to the temple economy,the development of the Wutaishan temple economy and its influencing factors are clarified,in order to have an objective truth about the historical scene of the Wutaishan temple in the Ming Dynasty.Awareness.At the same time,studying the economic income of the Wutaishan monastery is also valuable for reference on how to strengthen and innovate temple management,establish a sound long-term temple management mechanism,and play the important role of Buddhism in social governance.Most emperors of the Ming Dynasty believed in and supported Wutaishan Buddhism,and the economy of the Wutaishan monasteries continued to develop.Incense income was the main source of the Wutaishan monastery economy in the Ming Dynasty.As far as the source of incense income is concerned,it is consistent with the spatial flow of pilgrims.The spatial flow of monks has a greater impact on the incense income of the Wutaishan monastery.In particular,the eminent monk of You Fang used his social influence to raise funds and build temples.And for;members of the royal family and senior officials are important contributors to incense donations,the so-called "people in the palace who are vegetarians and Buddhas";officials at all levels are keen to buy incense from the mountains and "build a dojo";"Sifang Tanxin is popular "Wind",the folk incense association constitutes the social foundation of the incense income of the Wutaishan monastery.As far as the types of incense income are concerned,Wutaishan incense mainly includes two categories: physical objects and services.The physical incense includes currency,grain,soil,Buddhist supplies,etc.As far as the expenditure of incense income is concerned,Wutai Mountain incense is firstly for the purchase of supplies for religious activities,secondly for the purchase of fields,and thirdly for the construction of temples.Among them,the construction and repair of temples is an important form of incense income solidification.Due to the special geographical conditions and social environment,the construction of the Wutaishan Temple in the Ming Dynasty cost a lot of money,with the characteristics of a long construction period,a large number of rebuilt temples,and a diverse identity of participants.The income of temple fields was an indispensable part of the income of Wutaishan monasteries in the Ming Dynasty.From the perspective of the source of the fields,there are three main channels for obtaining the fields of the Wutai Mountain monastery: namely,granting fields to the temples,reclamation of the surrounding areas,and social charity.In terms of land composition,the monastery land includes the main temple land,the lower court land,the private land of the monks,the monks sublet the temple land,the tenant farmers rent the temple land,and so on.In the Ming Dynasty,due to the small amount of land granted from the central government,finding out the historical evidence of temple foundations or temple sites was an important way to build temples and obtain legal property rights.In the Ming Dynasty,Wutaishan temple fields were divided into three categories according to the quality of the land: the first category was "desirable land" with relatively high yield,the second category was "unbearable land" with lower output,and the third category was the territories attached to the army..As an important source of monastery income,Terada became the object of competition for all social forces.In order to protect its own interests,the monastery played a game with the government because Terada received food,and because Terada met with the army,it competed with the army because of Terada's protection.In the Ming Dynasty,there was an uninterrupted conflict of interests between the monastery and the local government,the military and the local tycoons.Forestry,animal husbandry,mining and commerce derived from the Wutaishan products were also part of the income of the Wutaishan monasteries in the Ming Dynasty,and they were the objects of competition for all social forces.In terms of forestry,mining development,and animal husbandry development,they all face the dilemma of choosing between religious resources and commercial resources.In the context of the rapid development of the commodity economy,the local mining industry in Mount Wutai is developing rapidly,and the monks have also participated.Official trade in the monastery was the main business model at the time.The above analysis of the sources of income of the Wutaishan monasteries in the Ming Dynasty believes that the economy of the Wutaishan monasteries in the Ming Dynasty experienced a process of development from a downturn to a gradual recovery.A series of religious reform and rectification policies at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty made the economy of Wutaishan temples fall into a downturn at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty with the idea of "clearing what happened." Since Yongle,"the harem and all the people worshipped",the economy of Wutaishan temples began to improve;after Wanli,Due to the further development of the commodity economy and the deepening of the social division of labor,social fashions have become increasingly extravagant with the economic prosperity.The socialization and marketization of the Wutaishan monastery economy has promoted the revival of the monastery economy.First of all,the reform of "dividing monasteries and Qingzong" directly led to the specialization of the division of labor in the monasteries,the large-scale monk team,and the socialization of Buddhist services,which opened the trend of the secularization of Buddhism in the Ming Dynasty.The large-scale reorganization of the monks led to the merger of small monasteries into large monasteries.,It directly affects the overall income of the monastery.However,the mountain forest monasteries represented by Mount Wutai cannot compare with the monasteries in cities such as Beijing in terms of income level,living conditions,and business exchanges.Secondly,influenced by the commodity economy,the Wutaishan monastery economy presents market-oriented characteristics.On the one hand,Buddhist policies are formulated to encourage monks to support themselves,and on the other hand,the paid services of religious affairs also provide a new channel for Shanlin monastery's own income.In the process of the sinicization of Buddhism,the temples that were born not only connected with the secular,but also served the secular.The monastery is not only a place for Buddhist affairs,but also a place for the people's spiritual sustenance and services for the people.When the monastery receives various incense income,it will return part of it to the society in the form of social relief.This is to a large extent It reflects the mutual aid of economic ethics and secular interests of Buddhism in the Ming Dynasty.Although due to political advantages and geographical advantages,the development of urban temples represented by the two capitals and the mountain forest temples represented by Wutai Mountain has been unbalanced.However,the identification of the sacred mountain of Mount Wutai is conducive to both national governance and social governance;it not only solves the problem of spiritual conversion of monks,but also opens up an inexhaustible source of income for the monastery.The identity of the sacred mountain and the writing of the sacred mountain made the Wutaishan monastery rooted in the profound history and culture remain anecdotal and exquisite,which further promoted the economic development of the Wutaishan monastery in the Ming Dynasty.