Beyond Buddhist Apology The Political Use of Buddhism by Emperor Wu of the Liang Dynasty

279 Pages·2010·1.85 MB·English

Beyond Buddhist Apology

The Political Use of Buddhism by Emperor Wu of the
Liang Dynasty (r.502-549)

Tom De Rauw
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To my daughter Pauline,
the most wonderful distraction one could ever wish for

and to my grandfather,
a cakravartin who ruled his own private universe
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Although the writing of a doctoral dissertation is an individual
endeavour in nature, it certainly does not come about from the
efforts of one individual alone. The present dissertation owes much
of its existence to the help of the many people who have guided my
research over the years. My heartfelt thanks, first of all, go to Dr.
Ann Heirman, who supervised this thesis. Her patient guidance has
been of invaluable help. Thanks also to Dr. Bart Dessein and Dr.
Christophe Vielle for their help in steering this thesis in the right
direction. I also thank Dr. Chen Jinhua, Dr. Andreas Janousch and
Dr. Thomas Jansen for providing me with some of their research and
for sharing their insights with me. My fellow students Dr. Mathieu
Torck, Leslie De Vries, Mieke Matthyssen, Silke Geffcken, Evelien
Vandenhaute, Esther Guggenmos, Gudrun Pinte and all my good
friends who have lent me their listening ears, and have given steady
support and encouragement. To my wife, who has had to endure an
often absent-minded husband during these first years of marriage, I
acknowledge a huge debt of gratitude. She was my mentor in all but
the academic aspects of this thesis. To my mother, who has always
encouraged my academic explorations and inquired into the progress
of my research with the same enthusiasm she would undoubtedly
have shown if I had chosen to pursue the career of a circus clown, I
can only bow in reverence. Finally, I would like to extend my
gratitude to the institutions that provided the indispensable financial
means to conduct this research: the Research Foundation – Flanders
(FWO) and Ghent University. And of course you, the reader, for
taking the time to peruse this work that lies before you.
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CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………..1

CHAPTER I:
EMPEROR WU’S ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE
CONFUCIAN AND DAOIST TRADITIONS……………………….................6

I.1. Emperor Wu and the Confucian Tradition………………………6
I.2. Emperor Wu and the Daoist Tradition………………………….25
I.3. Assessment…………………………………………………….....36

CHAPTER II:
CREATING A FOUNDATION OF LEGITIMACY:
REINVENTING THE IDEOLOGY OF EMPERORSHIP……………….…..40

II.1. The bodhisattva ideal……………………………………..…….40
II.2. Final [Period of the] Dharma (mofa)…………………………...56
II.2.1. The Final [Period of the] Dharma at the time of
Liang Wudi……….……………………………………..……59
II.2.2. Use of the terms jidai and modai…………………...69
II.2.3. Emperor Wu and his application of mofa thought..84

CHAPTER III:
APPLICATION OF THE NEW BUDDHIST IMPERIAL
IDEOLOGY IN SOCIETY: KARMIC RETRIBUTION……………………….90

III.1. The theory of karmic retribution……………………………….91
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III.1.1. Transfer of merit in Buddhist thought……………..92
III.1.2. The debates on the existence of the soul and
karmic retribution………………………………….....97
III.1.3. Merit as ideology………………….……………….123
III.2. The promotion of vegetarianism……..………………………167

CHAPTER IV:
WHERE SECULAR AND SACRED MEET: COOPERATION
AND OPPOSITION WITHIN THE SAṂGHA…...………………………….186

IV.1. Liang Wudi’s attempts to control the saṃgha…...…………186
IV.1.1. Personal advisors………………………………….187
IV.1.2. Monks of the [Imperial] Family (jiaseng)………..191
IV.2. Cooperation and opposition: two case studies…………....197
IV.2.1. Baochang………………………………….……….197
IV.2.2. Zhizang………………………………………..……211

CONCLUSION……………………………………………...………………...220

BIBLIOGRAPHY……………………………………………………………...232
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INTRODUCTION

When Xiao Yan 蕭衍 (464-549) ascended the throne of the Liang 梁
(502-557) Dynasty as Emperor Wu 武 (r.502-549), he was faced with
some huge challenges. First was the problem of legitimacy. Emperor Wu
had seized power from one of his kinsmen, Xiao Baorong 蕭寶融 (488-
502), in revenge for the murder of his older brother. According to traditional
Chinese political theory, that would make Emperor Wu a usurper, as the
founder of a new dynasty had to come from outside the imperial family.
Aside from his personal problem of legitimation, he inherited an empire
that was marked by centuries of devolution, which had started with the
disintegration of the Han. The political reality of the time was that the
emperors of the Southern courts did not possess any real authority, but
were in fact no more than a primus inter pares, ruling by the grace and
with the support of their fellow literati. There was a delicate equilibrium of
power in which the elite of literati families was dependent on the existing
Confucian political system (with the emperor as a nominal figure head) for
their titles, salaries and legitimacy to govern over society. The emperor in
turn needed these powerful literati families to support his claim on the
throne. This co-dependence was a constant feature, even though the
equilibrium often shifted to favour different families at different times.
Emperor Wu was not the first Southern Dynasties emperor who tried to
restore the imperial authority. What seemed to make him somewhat more
effective than his predecessors, was his unique ability to make reforms in
the political, cultural and religious realm which tied different modes of
thought together in such an innovative way that it positioned him as
ultimate head of a new cosmic order. I am in no way suggesting that
Emperor Wu succeeded in becoming an autocratic ruler by his own right,
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but his amazing skill in reforming state ideology does seem to have
brought considerable (if temporary) stability and prosperity to his realm.
In this thesis, I will take a closer look at the tactics used by Emperor
Wu to reinvent the imperial persona. Despite his reputation amongst later
Buddhist and Confucian historiographers, Emperor Wu was not as single-
mindedly Buddhist as he is sometimes portrayed to be. He continued to
fulfil his Confucian duties as head of state and even made concerted
efforts to revive the faltering Confucian tradition. Although he is often
stigmatized as a persecutor of Daoism, we will show that there is little
basis to this claim. In fact he lavishly sponsored the Daoist community on
Mao Shan and relied on the medical and alchemical expertise of some of
its most respected exponents. But emperor Wu was a pragmatic politician,
and he realized when he ascended the throne that, if he continued down
the path of his forerunners, his rule would probably end as untimely as
theirs. In the practical matters of bureaucracy and legislation there was no
viable alternative to the traditional Confucian system. Yet Emperor Wu
also realised that to continue in his role as Confucian head of state would
for ever leave him in a vulnerable position, as he was essentially
dependant on the Confucian tradition, dominated by the literati families, for
his prestige as emperor. For this reason he set out to reform the imperial
ritual in such a way so as to create his own legitimacy as a ruler,
independent from the existing system. Fully realising the precariousness of
his position, Emperor Wu made the first steps towards independent
legitimacy in the field of Confucian ritual. He ordered the compilation of a
ritual code that would link him directly to the idealized rituals of the Zhou,
and return the prerogative of determining proper conduct and ceremony to
the imperial figure. Despite this small revival of Confucian scholarship, it
was clear from the start that Buddhism was set up to play the most
prominent role in Emperor Wu’s reforms. For the day of the coronation
ceremony, he chose the eighth day of the fourth month. By the early sixth
century, this date was already widely recognized among Buddhists as the
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birthday of Śākyamuni Buddha. As such, his coronation ceremony was
nothing more than a representation of the birth of a Buddha into this world.
In the first chapter I shall examine Liang Wudi’s attitude towards the
Confucian and Daoist tradition.
In Emperor Wu’s Buddhist reform of imperial ideology three
concepts played an important role: (1) the bodhisattva ideal, linked to a
new view on emperorship; (2) the Buddhist concept of mofa (the decline of
the Buddhist Teaching); and (3) the process of karmic retribution. These
three elements were all part of a single imperial Buddhist ritual program,
but each of them worked on a different level. The bodhisattva ideal was
meant to remould the imperial persona into a saviour figure. After decades
of constant warfare, most people were preoccupied with survival, not with
who was on the throne. Moreover in the traditional Confucian ritual, an
emperor was elevated far above the common people, and as such there
was no direct contact between them. Everything had to be mediated by the
literati. In order to make contact with his subjects directly, Emperor Wu
would organise large assemblies which everyone was free to attend, from
commoner to aristocracy. At these assemblies, the emperor would strip
himself of his imperial regalia and don a monastic robe.
The concept of mofa was Emperor Wu’s legitimation for asserting
his control over the Buddhist saṃgha. He claimed that in the final period of
the Buddhist Teaching, when monks and nuns have lost their way and
commit grave sins, it was up to the wise ruler of state to correct their
behaviour.
In chapter two I will show how these two elements of legitimation in
Emperor Wu’s Buddhist reform were theorised and how they played out in
reality.
The third chapter deals with the concept of karmic retribution. The
idea that one’s actions would have direct consequences for oneself and for
other was at once meant to create a sense of hope among his people, as
well as a new found unity. After he had successfully pushed his view on
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the existence of an enduring self that travel from one existence to another,
Emperor Wu had the theoretical means to start implementing it. In his
capacity as bodhisattva emperor, he would set up many initiatives of
meritorious work in order to accumulate merit for the state and its people.
His large assemblies functioned as fund-raisers to pay for all of these
initiatives.
One thing that made Emperor Wu’s reforms in imperial ritual and
ceremony so successful was his obsession with scriptural authority. Both
in the field of Confucianism and Buddhism, Emperor Wu ordered the
collection and cataloguing of texts. In his reforms, he made sure to have
ample reference to historic precedent from these scriptures. While it was
his prerogative as emperor to make changes in Confucian state ritual, he
was faced with the rift that existed between those that lived outside this
world to pursue religious goals and those who lived in the world. As the
direct descendants of Buddha, the saṃgha was the bearer of the scriptural
authority Emperor Wu needed. As he was no monk, Emperor Wu could not
make decisions on the authority of a scripture. For that reason the success
of the appropriation of Buddhist elements for his political goals hinged on
four factors: (1) His ability to study and survey as many of the Buddhist
scriptures as he could to make sure that no usable elements went
unnoticed, and that no conflicting elements remained undetected which
could be used to undermine his projected image; (2) His ability to rally the
support of influential, learned monks to help him in this endeavours and to
provide him with the necessary sanction for his interpretations; (3) His
ability to control the Buddhist saṃgha in order to make it do his bidding; (4)
His ability to tie all of the different elements, which were often taken out of
context, together with an irrefutable internal logic. This would leave him
vulnerable to attack from both political opponents and Buddhist monks
who were not happy with the increased politization of, and corresponding
meddling in their religion. In chapter four I shall explore the ways in which