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Gushan: the Formation of a Chan Lineage During the Seventeenth Century and Its Spread to Taiwan

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Gushan: the Formation of a Chan Lineage During the Seventeenth Century and Its Spread to Taiwan Gushan: the Formation of a Chan Lineage During the Seventeenth Century and Its Spread to Taiwan Hsuan-Li Wang Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2014 © 2014 Hsuan-Li Wang All rights reserved ABSTRACT Gushan: the Formation of a Chan Lineage During the Seventeenth Century and Its Spread to Taiwan Hsuan-Li Wang Taking Gushan 鼓山 Monastery in Fujian Province as a reference point, this dissertation investigates the formation of the Gushan Chan lineage in Fujian area and its later diffusion process to Taiwan. From the perspective of religion diffusion studies, this dissertation investigates the three stages of this process: 1. the displacement of Caodong 曹洞 Chan center to Fujian in the seventeenth century; 2. Chinese migration bringing Buddhism to Taiwan in the Qing dynasty (1644-1911) and 3. the expansion diffusion activities of the institutions and masters affiliated with this lineage in Taiwan during the Japanese rule (1895-1945), and the new developments of humanistic Buddhism (renjian fojiao 人間佛教) after 1949. In this spreading process of the Gushan Chan lineage, Taiwanese Buddhism has emerged as the bridge between Chinese and Japanese Buddhism because of its unique historical experiences. It is in the expansion diffusion activities of the Gushan Chan lineage in Taiwan that Taiwanese Buddhism has gradually attained autonomy during the Japanese rule, leading to post-war new developments in contemporary humanistic Buddhism. Table of Contents List of Chart, Maps and Tables iii Acknowledgements iv Chapter 1 Introduction 1 1. Research Motives and Goals 2 2. Research Method 7 3. Contents and Materials 14 4. Some Remarks on Displacement 18 Chapter 2 Displacement: the Spread of the Caodong Shouchang Sublineage to Gushan in the 23 Seventeenth Century 1. The Spread of the Caodong Shouchang Sublineage from Henan to Jiangxi: Neo- 26 Confucianism and Chan Mater Yunkong Changzhong 2. The Establishment of the Base of the Shouchang Sublineage in Jiangxi: Mater 34 Wuming Huijing and His Rustic Chan 3. The Spread of the Shouchang Sublineage from Jiangxi to Fujian: Yongjue 36 Yuanxian and the Reconstruction of Gushan Monastery 4. The Cooperation with Local Ming Loyalists: Cao Xuequan and Gushan 46 Monastery in the Ming-Qing Transition 5. Religious/Public Services of Gushan Monastery in the Wars 52 6. Conclusion 56 Chapter 3 The Formation of the Gushan Chan Lineage in Fujian during the Qing Dynasty 57 1. The Historical Development of Chan Lineages 57 2. The Emergence of Dharma Transmission Monasteries and the Practice of 67 Naming in Chan Lineages 3. The Formation of the Gushan Chan Lineage in the Qing Dynasty 90 4. The Legacy of Zhuhong and the Imperial Patronage of Gushan in the Qing 94 Dynasty i 5. Conclusion 128 Chapter 4 The Spread of the Gushan Lineage from Fujian to Taiwan: the Rise of the “Five 133 Mountains” under the Japanese Rule 1. Buddhism in Taiwan under the Qing 134 2. Gushan Chan Lineage from Fujian to Taiwan: Caodong or Linji? 137 3. The Rise of the Five Mountains 146 4. Receiving Precepts in Gushan and the Ordination Ceremonies in Taiwan 198 5. Conclusion 204 Chapter 5 The Spread of Gushan Lineage in Taiwan: Developments and Setbacks under 205 the Japanese Rule 1. The Three Periods of the Religious Policy of the Japanese Government in 205 Taiwan 2. The Advent of S ōtō and Rinzai Schools 215 3. The Reformist Ideals of the Taiwanese Buddhist Elites under the Japanese Rule 228 4. The Incorporation of the Five Mountains into Imperial-way Buddhism 243 5. Conclusion 251 Chapter 6 Conclusion 253 1. The Continuing Expansion Diffusion of the Gushan Lineage in Taiwan 254 2. The New Developments of Humanistic Buddhism in Taiwan 262 3. Summary of Main Arguments 267 Bibliography 273 ii List of Chart, Maps and Tables Chart 2.1 Caodong Sublineages from Shaolin Monastery in Mt. Shaoshi: 25 Shouchang and Yunmen Sublineages Map 2.1 Jiangxi and Fujian in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) 37 Table 3.1 Three Types of Buddhist Monasteries 75 Table 3.2 Name List of Gushan Abbots 130 Map 4.1 Fujian and Taiwan in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) 135 Table 4.1 The Five Mountains of the Gushan Lineage in Taiwan 144 Map 4.2 Map of the Locations of the Five Mountains under the Japanese Rule 145 (1895-1945) Table 4.2 Lineage Transmissions of the Five Mountains (Selected Masters) 146 Table 5.1 Name List of the Disciples of the Gushan Lineages in Taiwan 231 having studied in Komazawa University iii Acknowledgements This dissertation could not have been completed without instructions and kind help of Prof. Chün-fang Yü. In the past seven years, I received numerous instructions and help from Prof. Yü, for which I want to express my highest gratitude. In the days studying with Prof. Yü, when I was surrounded by the confusions in research, Prof. Yü helped me solve the problems; when I was feeling down, Prof. Yü encouraged and empowered me. To me Prof. Yu is like the Mercy Goddess Guanyin 觀音 shining with wisdom and compassion from within. I am also deeply grateful to my defense committee for providing me with insightful and invaluable guidance and advices. My sincerest appreciation goes to Bernard Faure, Michael Como, Max Moerman and Gray Tuttle for helping me enter the field of Buddhist studies and training me in the academic researches of the historical developments and cultural contexts of Chinese Buddhism, Japanese Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism. Furthermore, I want to say thank you to my Columbia friends and colleagues. I have benefited greatly from the selfless and warm help of Jianshu Shi, Jiansou Shi and Guoxing Shi. The discussions and conversations with Neil McGee, Gregory Adam Scott and Susan Andrews have been always pleasant and helpful. The happy hours shared together with Takuya Hino, Stephanie Lin, Andrea Castiglioni and Luke N. Thompson will be my most wonderful memories. iv A special thank you to Sherry Pu for the delightful working experiences in East Asian Library. For the research plan and the writing of this dissertation, I am highly grateful to the supports from China Times Young Scholar Award (China Times Cultural Foundation), Chung-Hwa Institute Fellowship for Graduate Students (Chung-Hwa Institute of Buddhist Studies) and Dissertation Fellowships for ROC Students Abroad (Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange). In writing the chapter on Taiwanese Buddhism during the Japanese rule period, I got treasurable help from Yuan Guang Buddhist Institute 圓光佛學研究所 for getting access to the precious historical materials. I want to express my gratitude here. My best appreciation goes to my wife, Joanna Hsu, and to our daughter, Grace, for their enduring love and endless supports. Finally, I wish to dedicate this dissertation to Chao-cheng Yu and Yu-ju Yang. v To Chao-cheng Yu and Yu-ju Yang vi Chapter 1 Introduction My dissertation focuses on the case of the Gushan 鼓山 Monastery in Fujian Province to investigate the formation and spread of its Chan lineage from Fujian to Taiwan since the seventeenth century in the three stages of the displacement of its center to Fujian, Chinese migration bringing Buddhism to Taiwan in the Qing dynasty (1644-1911), the expansion diffusion activities of the institutions and masters affiliated with this lineage in Taiwan during the Japanese rule (1895-1945), and the new developments of Taiwanese Chan Buddhism after World War II under the influences of Gushan masters who fled to Taiwan from China with the retreat of KMT (Nationalist Party of China) government and armies in 1949. In this spreading process of the Gushan Chan lineage, Taiwanese Buddhism has emerged as the crossroad or bridge between Chinese and Japanese Buddhism because of its unique historical experiences: it not only received lineage transmissions from Gushan (and other Buddhist traditions after 1949), but also was influenced by Japanese Zen Schools during the Japanese rule. On the other hand, Taiwanese Buddhism is by no means playing a merely passive role solely affected by both Chinese and Japanese Buddhism. Rather, it has agency. In other words, the interactions between Gushan and Taiwanese Buddhism were not one-way, but bidirectional: during the Japanese rule, the precept-giving activity was reexported from Taiwan to Gushan; nowadays, Taiwanese Chan Buddhism even reintroduces humanistic Buddhism (renjian fojiao 人間佛教), the modernized form of Chinese 1 Buddhism developed in Taiwan 1, back to China. How has Taiwanese Buddhism evolved and changed into the form we see today? To answer the question, this dissertation brings the readers back to the very starting point of this long story: Gushan, because it is in the expansion diffusion activities of the Gushan Chan lineage in Taiwan that Taiwanese Buddhism has gradually attained autonomy during the Japanese rule, leading to post-war new developments in contemporary humanistic Buddhism. 1. Research Motives and Goals When we think of the area where Buddhism had prospered in Chinese history, Zhejiang Province might be the immediate answer. Therefore, one might ask why do I choose Gushan Monastery in Fujian as my research topic rather than other monasteries in Zhejiang? Indeed, the impression of Zhejiang as the representative area for Chinese Buddhism could be considered as formed by the establishment of the Five Mountains and Ten Monasteries system in the Southern Song (1127-1279) which esteemed the monasteries in Zhejiang Province, where the capital of the Southern Song was located, as the highest rank, and the appointment of abbots of these monasteries by the court was regarded as the highest glory for the masters so chosen. In the beginning of the Ming (1368-1644) dynasty, because the capital was in Nanjing, the monasteries around Nanjing and in Jiangsu Province, where Nanjing was located, were also listed among these prestigious institutions.
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