DOI: 10.30792/2949-5768-2023-1-114-122
«CHAN AND AGRICULTURAL WORKS»: ECONOMIC STRATEGY IN ACCORDANCE WITH POLITICAL IDEOLOGY
Markhanova Tatyana Fridrikhovna – Candidate of Historical Sciences, Junior Researcher at the Federal State Budgetary Institution of Science Institute of Mongolian Studies, Buddhology and Tibetology SB RAS (Ulan-Ude, Russia).
E-mail: tatiya6a@mail.ru.
The article deals with the relationship between Buddhism and the state in China at the end of the 20th century. In the early 1980s, Buddhism in China entered a period of revival and prosperity, yet it retained a sense of public disgrace inherited from nearly three decades of persecution. In order to survive and to conform to the ethical system imposed by the government, the monks were forced to engage in «productive labour». However, Buddhism’s growing influence among lay people, and the increasing number of exchanges between monasteries and believers promoted a steady growth in the value of Buddhism’s cultural and religious capital. From the 1990s onwards, local authorities sought to co-operate with Buddhism, hoping to profit by its cultural capital through attracting investors and promoting tourism. The state did not cease to control and to oppress the Buddhists although, guided by economic interests, it contributed in some cases to promoting and reconstructing Buddhism: the monasteries thus found new legitimacy and new space for development.
