The Study Of Temple Disputes During The Republic Of China

As a foreign religious entity,Buddhism has been introduced into China for more than one thousand years,which has been integrated with the local culture of China,and has been continuously growing and developing,exerting a certain influence on Chinese culture.However,since the beginning of modern times,the survival and development of Buddhism have been greatly threatened by the influence of the campaign which using temple to boost education and the campaign of anti-religious superstition.In modern China,while the form of state political organization changes violently,there also was a drastic gamble in the ownership of temple property.For protecting the temple property,and adapting the need of society's development,saving the Buddhism in dangerous situation,A group of people of insight led by Tai Xu master proposed a series of reform measures,and defended their legitimate interest by learning the western culture of democracy,nomocracy and law.When they worked hard to save Buddhism,advocating Buddhist reforms,Tai Xu master realized that it is critical to participate politics,but the aim to participate politics should not for power.In addition,due to the efforts of the Buddhist,the government's religious policy gradually increased the protection of Buddhist property,abandoning the policy of sacrificing religious property to promote charity andeducation.From the promulgation of provisional regulation of the temple management in the northern government period to the promulgation of the regulation of supervision of temple in the Nanjing national government period,the Buddhist sangha gradually expanded the domain of right for temple disposition,which indicates the triumph of Buddhist in the battle of protecting temple.The Buddhist journal in the republic of China was a witness to the rights protection of the Buddhist sangha,and recorded the efforts made by Buddhist sangha to oppose the rights violation of the temple property.Buddhist sangha through the journal to express their thoughts and write to the central government to ask for more property rights protection on temples property disposal and enact uniform laws and regulations on religious.Although the central government eventually did not enact a religious law that apply to all religion,but in the problem of temple disposal,the 1929 regulation of supervision of temple gives the decision-making right to Buddhist sangha on temple disposal,while the government only implement their regulatory functions.The journal of Chinese Buddhist association is the platform for Buddhist sangha to express their feeling during the time of Nanjing national government period,which intensively publishes many cases related to temple disputes and refutes the claim of using temple to boost education which from the angle of sense and law,informing relevant government timely the dispute about temple occupation and urge them to solve the problem.In the aspect of judicial litigation,Buddhist sangha actively participate in litigation about rights protection,and advocate their own legitimate rights and interests through the legal remedies.Buddhist sangha files lawsuit to resolve temple disputes manly by two ways,administrative lawsuit and civil lawsuit,which can be concluded into two categories: one is about the management of temple,and the other is about the maintenance of the temple.In the case of disputes over the management of temple,the focus mainly concentrated in the right of temple management,which the qualification of manager is the core of resolving these cases.In the case of disputes over the maintenance of temple,due to the differences in religious policies in different periods,the trial basis will be different,which will lead to different judgmentresults.During the period of northern government,the disposal of temple could only be met with the requirements of the procedure,which needs the reason of appropriation is for developing of charity and public benefits and should be approved by local officials.By the Nanjing national government period,because that the religious management policy cancelled local governor's power of temple disposal,the right of temple disposal subject to the consent of the local Buddhist association,which strengthens the protection of temple.In the process of the temple rights protection,the modern legal person system has been created,and the temple can participate in the lawsuit as incorporated foundation.in addition,protecting rights of temple through litigation also draw the attention of legal scholars to determine the nature of temple property,using different methods to resolve disputes of different nature's temple.For example,in the case of a temple dispute,if the property is donated by other people,the ownership of this property will be transferred by donation.Unless the temple is identified as a private temple,which the ownership is owned by the individual,otherwise the donated property will be considered belonging to the temple,and the donor has only the right to supervise the temple's disposal.This article has five parts,the introduction and four chapters.The introduction includes the significance,the reason,and academic history and research of the ownership of Buddhist property.The first chapter expounds the regulation of the ownership of Buddhist property during the period of the republic of China,introducing the historical background and the origin and development of using temple to boost education,which mainly introduces the evolution of the religious policy during the period of the republic of China.The second chapter is mainly about the study of Buddhist journal in the republic of China,which introduces the situation of temple that were occupied by other people.The third chapter is mainly about the study of temple disputes cases in the period of the republic of China,and through the cases research to understand the opinion of the Supreme Court and the results of these cases.The last part is conclusion,which concludes the value of Buddhist sangha'seffort in temple property's protection and explores the influence of Buddhist rights protection and Buddhist reform on the later generations.