Praying for Power: Buddhism and the Formation of Gentry Society in Late-Ming China

by Timothy Brook

In 17th and 18th century China, Buddhists and Confucians alike flooded local Buddhist monasteries with donations As gentry numbers grew faster than the imperial bureaucracy, traditional Confucian careers were closed to many; but visible philanthropy could publicize elite status outside the state realm. Actively sought by fund-raising abbots, such patronage affected institutional Buddhism. After exploring the relation of Buddhism to Ming Neo-Confucianism, the growth of tourism to Buddhist sites, and the mechanisms and motives for charitable donations, Timothy Brook studies three widely separated and economically dissimilar counties. He draws on rich data in monastic gazetteers to examine the patterns and social consequences of patronage.

Genres: History, Religion, Cultural

412 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 1994

About the author

Timothy James Brook is a Canadian historian, sinologist, and writer specializing in the study of China (sinology). He holds the Republic of China Chair, Department of History, University of British Columbia.

His research interests include the social and cultural history of the Ming Dynasty in China; law and punishment in Imperial China; collaboration during Japan's wartime occupation of China, 1937–45 and war crimes trials in Asia; global history; and historiography.

Reviews

[Song · Rating 5 out of 5]

书的内容其实只是晚明社会中很小的一个侧面，即晚明士人与佛教的互动。与晚明中国历史发生的易代巨变相比，这个论题只是非常小非常狭窄的一个主题，但是，卜正民老师硬是把这个问题写成了400页的作品，其研究的问题意识和研究功力，自然令人咂舌。这本书像是作者对自己的研究方法和历史写作在一个具体问题上的实践和展示。

先说问题意识，大多有点文化的人，都知道古代士大夫好风雅，好游名山，好访古寺，好与僧人唱和，佛教文化已经成为中国文化的一个部分。但是，从这样看起来寻常的举动开始分享，进一步了解士人的想法，与佛教互动的具体过程，以及背后体现的王朝政府与社会的关系，确实是通过具体问题，展开深入研究的生动案例，其才能和思考，很值得借鉴。

[Liquidlasagna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Praying for Power: Buddhism and the Formation of Gentry Society in Late-Ming China is a history book which explores the relationship between Buddhism and Neo-Confucianism during the 17th and 18th centuries in China (the late Ming Dynasty); tourism to Chinese Buddhist sites, and the patronage of Buddhist monasteries in China by Buddhist and Neo-Confucian gentry during this period.

This philanthropy allowed these patrons to "publicize [their] elite status outside the state realm" and promoted the growth of a society of gentry.

Synopsis

Part 1 The Culture of Buddhism
Brook reviews the development of religious philosophy and politics and the new familiarity with, and openness toward, Buddhism, in what was a Confucianism-dominated society.

Part 2 Monastic Patronage
The author investigates the contributions of the new elite class of gentry, made in the form of land donations; money and materials for building and renovation; exercise of social and political influence to forward and protect monastic interests; and literary patronage, the composition of admiring poems and essays or the compilation and printing of an institutional history to elevate the prestige of a given monastery.

Part 3 Patronage in Context
The author examines in detail patronage by the gentry in three distinct counties: one poor, where Buddhist institutions were not well developed; a second, rich, where they flourished; and a third in peculiar circumstances that allow Brook to highlight the ambiguous position of the county magistrate vis-a-vis monastic patronage.

Reception
Praying for Power is frequently cited in other scholarly works and referred to in documents on the web sites of many educational establishments.

Writing in the international journal of Sinology T'oung Pao, Barend J. ter Haar describes Praying for Power as a splendid book.

He states that this excellent introduction is a sound piece of investigative research and that the author makes important contributions in two areas neglected in study in the West: the social history of Buddhism in late Ming China and social elites.

In The American Historical Review, Lynn Struve writes that the author makes a substantial contribution to our understanding of a lamentably neglected subject area: the place of Buddhism in late-Imperial Chinese culture and society.

She explains that "the core source material of this book is a large body of local and monastic histories, usually called gazetteers (difang zhi and sizhi), and Brook masterfully shows what can be done through assiduous mining of this genre.

The reviewer does caution, however, that though the specialist will appreciate Part 3 of the book (Patronage in Context), the non-specialist will find it heavy going.

[Tsai Wei-chieh]

博論用書。談晚明士紳如何透過布施給佛寺的善行來展現自身的士紳身分，並獲取象徵資本，以抵抗國家的公共權威。我自己是對於書中比較士紳跟商人的布施行為感興趣。

[he chow · Rating 4 out of 5]

更新：

我要向提摩西·布魯克正式道歉。
鈴木大拙的演說和文章很好，非常好。的確是一個良好的動機來研究中國的歷史文化與學問。
如果不是Daisetz Suzuki的英文全集這麼好的話，
我高估了漢語譯者作為無神論者、作為中國本地人對漢傳佛教文化一衣帶水可親可近的水平。
卜正民竟然寬宏大量，只是做到了這種程度點到即止的陰陽怪氣。
這個非凡的氣量、寬闊的胸懷，令我深感羞恥與慚愧。
我錯了。

=====================

又一個中國人他力本願的故事。
獨立自主、自力更生的反義詞並不是懶惰、無能，而是他力本願。

卜正民渴望得到禪宗的教義而竹籃打水一場空，
他的論文研究方向只能從有限的資料中
（1）放棄思想史，中國人沒有思想，連復述印度教義也不行，瓦房店的本土禪宗也不行；
（2）轉向社會史，韋伯是他最後的投靠而不是他原定的目標，所以他基本無批判接受所有理論框架，包括韋伯不屑與反對的某些人物；
（3）他的晚明與士紳框架來自日本學術圈，但不至於與自己原定的課題方向偏離太遠，所以前半部分（儒家無出路而在佛教尋找裝逼的精神需求）和後半部分（為什麼鄉紳送地給寺廟而寺廟竟然對這些地無權買賣還要聽捐贈人的主意）。他半路發現兩個中國，江南中國的佛教和黃泛區不是一路貨色，所幸藏傳佛教他還沒有染指。他沾了沾水縮回去，大概發現出了很大的破綻，僵局僵在那裡，再也不去碰它。
（4）他原先有一個跨宗教文化的比較視野，對比基督教和佛教兩個異端在中國的殖民過程，而後發現自己掌握不力於是留下半具殘骸。
（5）他從心底裡蔑視那些他力本願的中國士紳份子，要文化沒文化，要裝逼沒裝到家，在儒家與佛教之間兩腳橫跳，不三不四，靠王陽明一個不太弱智的人把水火不容的兩套世界觀體系搞成陰陽怪氣的和諧。

他作為一個年輕學者最忿忿不平的是：你們這群虛偽的儒教徒對佛教不虔誠。
虔誠。
連捐地送錢也是大大的不虔誠的呢～嗯哼。