Monastic Careers in Stone: Education, Models of Study and Practice, and Dharma Lineage Transmission in Abbots’ Stele Inscriptions of Yuan-Dynasty Jiangnan

As an important component of Buddhist “non-canonical” literature, the stele inscriptions composed for abbots in Yuan-dynasty Jiangnan preserve a wealth of information on local, temporal, and individual particularity. Drawing on a corpus of stupa inscriptions (ta-ming 塔銘) preserved in literati anthologies, monastic recorded sayings (yulu 語錄), and monastery gazetteers—whose subjects are predominantly abbots of the Five Mountains and Ten Monasteries (wushan shicha 五山十剎), the officially ranked hierarchy of Chan institutions in Jiangnan, with the Linji 臨濟 lineage overwhelmingly dominant—this article examines how elite monks constructed religious authority and social prestige within the institutional framework of Yuan Jiangnan Buddhism. These inscriptions were produced through a collaborative procedure in which disciples submitted an account of conduct (xingzhuang 行狀), a literatus supplied the composition, and multiple parties revised the draft; the textual form itself thus registers the depth of interaction between monks and the lay elite. The inscriptions show that the core constituency sustaining Yuan Jiangnan Buddhism comprised elite monks who came from Confucian households (ruhu 儒戶) or official–gentry families, or who had received rigorous classical training in their early years, and it was them who gave the Jiangnan monastic community its pronounced literati-scholar character (shidafuhua 士大夫化). With respect to religious training, the inscriptions reveal two prevalent trajectories—“awakening to the Chan lineage by way of doctrinal study” (jiejiao wuzong 藉教悟宗) and “abandoning doctrinal study for Chan” (shejiao ruChan 舍教入禪)—which reflect the Chan-doctrinal convergence characteristic of the age. Itinerant study (xingjiaocanxue 行腳參學), moreover, was not only an indispensable means of honing one’s practice but also a key mechanism for building trans-regional networks, obtaining recognition from eminent masters, and establishing lineage affiliation. The scrupulous recording of master–disciple descent and the conferral of Dharma implements effectively transformed a Dharma lineage modeled on the patriarchal clan system into the decisive narrative through which a monk secured legitimate identity, abbatial office, and social standing. Reinforced by the intervention and endorsement of state administration, these Dharma-based elite networks became the central ladder of ascent to abbotships in the Five Mountains and Ten Monasteries, thereby illuminating the interplay between religious legitimacy and state power in Yuan Buddhism.