The Reform Of Baizhang Jungle And Its Influence

During Tang Dynasty, the golden age of Chinese Buddhism, Zen denomination gains extraordinary achievement, which is greatly represented by Zen master Baizhang as a pioneer for establishing forest monasteries. This paper attempts to study the social background and driving forces behind this reformation, and analyze the complex interaction between the empire’s absolute power and this reformation.The first chapter of this paper focuses on the subtle manipulation of Buddhism Sangha by the empire. The empire adopts an apparently paradoxical policy: it restricts the Sangha politically yet supports it financially with the same goal of trying to abolish its religious autonomy. While the empire severely curbs and controls Buddhism in politics, its abundant financial support, which takes the form of both official reward and quasi-official donation, constitute the main source of income for monasteries. Meanwhile, the political controls include: developing stringent laws; appointing/dismissing most important positions in each monastery; restricting laymen from becoming monks/nuns. This policy leads to the "rich monasteries yet poor monks" phenomenon and an overly secular life among monks.The second chapter focuses on many causes and prerequisites for the reformation led by Zen master Baizhang. With the empire adjusting its economic policy after the Rebellion, the economic situation for monasteries began to deteriorate. At the same time, taking advantage of the long tradition of valuing both agriculture and meditation among Zen denomination, the empire’s favorable land reclamation policy, the flexible evolution of Zen teachings as well as the high mobility among Zen monks, Zen master Baizhang quickly adapt to changes of the environment and establishes some forest monasteries.Based on The Ancient Zen Commandments and Rectified Baizhang’s Commandments by Imperial Order, the third part makes a detailed analysis of the main content and features for Baizhang’s reformation. From its very beginning, these forest monasteries establish strict rules and make a clear division of labor and management system, at the same time, the implementation of commandments requiring all monks to take part in agricultural activities becomes the main highlight of this reformation. Due to many unique advantages, these forest monasteries maintain enough religious autonomy, which enables them to effectively rule out contamination and disturbance by the autocratic imperial power. Therefore monks can focus on spiritual practice once again. At the same time, with this kind of autonomy and spiritual orientation, compared with the past, the function of monasteries has greatly changed. Under the spirit of equality, monasteries strictly supervise words and deeds of monks yet at the same time fully meet the basic living needs of monks.The fourth part of the paper analyzes various effects of the reformation. First, due to factors like economy and geography, forest monasteries suffer far less concussions brought by political turmoil, which effectively protects Zen denomination when widespread persecution of Buddhism takes place in the future. Secondly, the monastic life was made organized and orderly to an extent that even subsequent neo-Confucian and Taoist will value and learn from this reformation. Thirdly, with focus on spiritual practice, those forest monasteries quickly get rid of all negative effects brought by official temples and this helps reshape the spirit of Chinese Buddhism. And finally, the ethic of thrift and hard-working advocated by Zen master Baizhang also has a profound impact on future generations.The paper finishes with an attempt to draw more generalized conclusions. The successful reformation led by Zen master Baizhang demonstrates not only that the religious groups have amazing potential as soon as they shake off the shackle by the autocratic power but also that economic independence is essential to religious autonomy. It also shows there exist inevitable tensions between outstanding religious groups and the secular power/life. Only religious groups who are able to withstand and transcend these tensions will make an important contribution to human civilization. At the end, this paper also roughly compares the evolution of Chinese Buddhism with the development process of European Christian churches.