Regulation of Tibetan Buddhism in Contemporary China

This article examines regulations of Tibetan Buddhism locally and nationwide,especially focusing on regulations pertinent to Tibetan lamas/monks.Based on fieldwork and studies of contemporary materials,the article demonstrates regulations of Tibetan Buddhism in contemporary China derive from two religious management systems:the state management system of religion and the monastic management system.Then it discusses the intersection of these regulations of Tibetan Buddhism in China,and it argues further that the changing balance between state power and religion throughout the intersectional regulations in practice,despite the religion under the leadership of the Communist Party of China.

Monastic Musings

My eyes kept being drawn to the cartoon characters on the bob-bing bus ceiling. Mickey Mouse and Pluto were pasted between metallic paper roses, hearts and butterflies. It seemed incongruous, hovering over an eclectic collection of rural passengers jabbering away in a jarring dialect, crammed into a bus chugging its way to the mountains high above Xining, the capital of Qinghai Province in northwest China.

Water as a common reference for monastic lives and spaces in Cistercian and Han Buddhist monasteries

Understanding the physical characteristics and cultural connotations of water is fundamental in obtaining a more in-depth view of the relationship between monastic lives and spaces.This study moves from several case studies to two case comparisons to a synthesis of two space prototypes to investigate how water management evolved into spatial water thought and became a common reference for monastic lives and spaces.Cistercian and Han Buddhist monasteries are investigated and considered to share many similarities in the internal institutional model of monks’lives,as well as their corresponding architectural core values.They are suitable cases for exploring this research idea.In Cistercian and Han Buddhist monasteries,the role of water in monks’lives and spaces is mainly reflected in the following aspects:1)the form of the water body shaped the monastic spatial morphology in site selection;2)the structure of water flow was closely related to spatial order and affected the spatial distribution;and 3)the performance of the water status formatted the connotation of space.This article attempts to depict a complete picture of the relationship between monastic lives and spaces from the perspective of water.Under the common pursuit of selfsufficient retreat life,water management was the common strategy for monastic venues to turn the wilderness into paradise refuges.Findings of this article show that the water culture of self-sufficiency and self-cleaning is the common reference,a shared universal value,and common parts of the spatial thought of the two monastic venues.Awareness of the importance of water in monastic lives and spaces helps us to pay attention to the relationship between the water environment and monastic venues.The research findings are linked to the current requirements of historical monasteries’preservation,restoration,and even reconstruction,which are fundamental in maintaining the sustainable development of monastic lives and spaces.

The Issue of the“Life-World”in the“Vegetable-Bamboo Style”in Chinese Buddhist Monastic Poetry

The“Vegetable-Bamboo Style(蔬笋气)”is the negative appraisal toward Chinese Buddhist monastic poems made by literati and scholars,which has ever become a stereotypical criterion of literary criticism since it was put forward.However,the criterion of“Vegetable-Bamboo Style”is extrinsic since it deprived the Buddhist monastic poetry of its“selfness”,making it intelligible but false1.This article argues that the characteristic of“Vegetable-Bamboo Style”is not a shortcoming of Buddhist monastic poetry but a new form of poem that is combined with traditional landscape poetry,pastoral poetry,and Chan literature more broadly.Furthermore,this paper will demonstrate that it is a new form of poetry language generated from a unique“life-world(生活世界)”2,which should be treated equally as popular literature and free verse written in the vernacular.

Seventy Years of Buddhist Institution Building in New China

In the 70 years since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, “the fortune of the Dharma has followed that of the nation,” and the development of Buddhism has been closely linked to the development of Chinese society. Chinese Buddhism has always been committed to self-construction, working tirelessly to cultivate a monastic community of pure conduct and monasteries of pure ethos. It is the conscious responsibility and mission of the Buddhist community in the new era to “strengthen its internal qualities and external image,” to enhance its ideological awareness of “loving the nation and loving the religion” in the historical process of the Sinification of Buddhism, to inherit and promote the legacy of the Buddha, to bring into play the positive role of Buddhism, to create a bright future for Chinese Buddhism,and to contribute to the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects, the construction of a modern socialist country, and the realization of the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation.

Monastic Money,Science Supremacy,Trash Troops,and Zodiac Zeal

Masters of kung-fu,sources of ancient and infallible wisdom,religious leaders beyond reproach—the Buddhist monk and the grand tradition of monasteries is of incalculable value to the culture of China.But the modern world brings with it something far more dangerous to these traditions than all the martial arts and religious purges in the world:money.For the faithful,the introduction of the free market is finishing off the work