Buddhism And Society In Jiangnan In The Middle And Late Ming Dynasty

In the early Ming Dynasty,the emperor used Buddhism as a tool to control the people and maintain the rule.Its development was limited to the control policy formulated by the ruler.It developed well in accordance with the ruler’s preset and played the role of secretly assisting the king.Since the mid-Ming Dynasty,the commodity economy in the south of the Yangtze River was active,which promoted social development and also had a certain impact on the original social order.Under such a general background,the policies to control the development of Buddhism made in the early Ming Dynasty gradually became invalid,and there were private interests in Buddhism.The construction of monasteries,private domination,monks and nuns crossing borders,and the mixing of monks and laymen and other phenomena are contrary to the original intention of the policy.These phenomena affect the stability of the social order in Jiangnan to a certain extent,and aggravate the transformation of the social atmosphere in the south of the Yangtze River.In order to evade heavy duty and labor,the people accepted the monks and nuns to lure them to become monks privately.A large number of wandering monks gathered to do evil and threatened social stability;the people worshipped the Buddha more and more excessively,and the trend of extravagance and prestige became more and more popular,and the etiquette was also attacked.The annexation of Zhidu caused monks to seize land.In view of these circumstances,the Ming government had to govern Buddhism,but failed to consider the actual situation when governing,and adjusted and reformed the policies at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty.The governance effect was very small,reflecting the weakening of the Ming government’s control and governance capabilities.