The Rule of Marginality: Hypothesizing the Transmission of the Mengshan Rite for Feeding Hungry Ghosts in Late Imperial China (original) (raw)
2018, Pacific World: Third Series Number 20 (2018)
In this paper, I will investigate the process of the transmission of an esoteric ritual in late imperial China and show how this ritual could rise from a peripheral place and be regarded as a genuine link between esoteric Buddhism in the seventeenth century and the ancient Tantric tradition in the Tang. This ritual, called the "Rite for Feeding the Hungry Ghosts (Shishi 施食) had flourished during Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties and had been incorporated into Chan monastic codes in the seventeenth century. One particular version of this ritual draws our attention because it was entitled "Mengshan 蒙山," a mountain located in the Sino-Tibetan border (nowadays in Sichuan province of China), and was attributed to the Indian monk Budong 不動who had served as national preceptor in the Xixia 西夏 (Tangut) state (1038-1227). In addition, it was incorporated into a seventeenth-century Chan Rules of Purity (qinggui 清規))composed in Japan by a group of émigré monks from China. Nowadays, it is still one of the essential liturgies in Chinese monasteries. Following this lead, my investigation starts from the emergence of this rite in seventeenth-century Chan monasticism. After comparing the existing liturgical manuals of the Mengshan Rite, I trace the origin of this ritual to a region often referred as Mi-ñag in the historical Sino-Tibetan border and to the Tangut state in which esoteric Buddhism enjoyed tremendous popularity. In light of R. A. Stein's discovery that the Mi-ñag people were actually descendants of the Tangut people, I shall explain that the transmission of this ritual to Mount Mengshan was related to the Tangut diaspora in the Sino-Tibetan border. In addition, based on my research on the role of this Tangut diasporic community in the Sino-Tibetan Tea-Horse trade, I suggest that the Mengshan Rite might be brought to China proper through frequent commercial exchanges between China and Tibet. My hypothesis is that the Tangut diasporic community, called "Mi-ñag" by the Tibetans, was one possible channel for the transmission of the Mengshan Rite in China. This hypothesis will show that the process of the "Tantrification" of Chinese Buddhism in late imperial China was a complex movement towards reassuring the continuity and integrity of Chinese esoteric tradition. At the end of this paper, I theorize the mode of transmissions in Chinese Buddhism and suggest that in the context of late imperial China the transmission of the Mengshan rite followed the rule of marginality.
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