The Background Forces Behind the Jingnan Campaign — The Monk Yao Guangxiao and His Beijing Network —

This article argues that the successful execution and resolution of the Jingnan Campaign (1399–1402)—the decisive political upheaval that enabled the third Ming emperor, Yongle Emperor, to seize power—was underpinned by the extensive operation of a network centered on Qingshou Monastery in Beijing, with the Buddhist monk Yao Guangxiao at its core. Although Yao Guangxiao has long been noted as an outstanding meritorious contributor to the Jingnan Campaign and a favored strategist of the Yongle Emperor, previous scholarship has rarely undertaken a sustained analysis of the background and mechanisms through which he became so deeply involved in the Prince of Yan’s political coup.<br/> Focusing on Qingshou Monastery as the key institutional and spatial link connecting Yao Guangxiao and the Prince of Yan (Zhu Di), this study highlights how the monastery’s location in Beijing and its Buddhist identity functioned as mediating factors that bound political ambition to religious networks. In particular, through a contextual analysis of four texts authored by Yao Guangxiao (preserved in Ming jingshi wenbian), the article reconstructs the post-campaign discursive strategies he advanced: (1) emphasizing filial piety to rationalize the dynastic transition from the Hongwu Emperor to the Yongle Emperor despite the violent nature of the coup; (2) portraying the use of military force as an unavoidable measure aimed solely at eliminating “treacherous ministers” and “evil elements,” rather than at indiscriminate killing; (3) aligning the foresight of the Hongwu Emperor with the outcomes achieved under the Yongle Emperor to assert the legitimacy of the succession; and (4) appealing for a thorough and orderly revision of the Veritable Records of Taizu in accordance with the Yongle Emperor’s intentions.<br/> Throughout these processes, Yao Guangxiao fully mobilized the authority and resources he had accumulated as a high-ranking Buddhist cleric while serving as abbot of Qingshou Monastery, thereby forging a relationship of mutual trust and patronage with the supreme ruler. This pattern recalls the role played in an earlier era by the monk Liu Bingzhong, a close adviser to Khubilai Khan, with Qingshou Monastery functioning as a symbolic and practical site linking the careers of Yao Guangxiao and Liu Bingzhong. In this sense, Qingshou Monastery marked both the beginning and the culmination of Yao Guangxiao’s relationship with the Yongle Emperor. While Yao Guangxiao’s actions cannot be simplistically justified as motivated by purely “benevolent” religious intentions, it is nevertheless undeniable that the Buddhist monastic networks and interests rooted in Beijing significantly shaped his decision to participate in the Jingnan Campaign.