Project: Vinaya Revival on Baohua Mountain in Ming–Qing China

2023-10-01 – 2026-09-30

Abstract

The proposed project focuses on the history of Baohua Mountain from the late Ming to the middle Qing period (seventeenth–eighteenth century), tracing the establishment and development of the Vinaya (monastic code) tradition there. Scholars generally accept that Baohua Mountain became the preeminent center for the provision of ordinations and Vinaya instruction by the early twentieth century. Yet, the formation and development of this influential tradition has received relatively little scholarly attention. In this light, my research will draw on a wealth of primary sources in order to reconstruct the history of the Vinaya tradition on Baohua Mountain. Specifically, it will regard this history as comprising three distinct periods: (1) early attempts to revitalize Buddhism on Baohua Mountain at the start of the seventeenth century; (2) reforms by two key abbots in the mid-seventeenth century that enhanced the status of the Vinaya tradition on Baohua Mountain; and (3) the proliferation of sub-branches and the conceptualization of a new lineage for the revived Vinaya tradition in the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It is my intention that this research will make a valuable contribution to the wider scholarly inquiry into the nature, pattern and time frame of the Buddhist revival that began during the late Ming.