Buddhist Monasteries between Charity and Profit: Taking the Issue of Water Supply of Lin'an (Hangzhou) during the Song Dynasty (960–1279) as an Example

Abstract

Abstract:The study addresses the role that Buddhist monasteries played as institutions of charity on the one hand and as economic organizations on the other in the interplay with the local elite and the administration, using the water supply activities of monasteries that agglomerated in Lin'an (Hangzhou) and around the West Lake as examples. From local gazetteers it becomes apparent that monastic water supply activities were enabled by the monasteries' proximity to the springs found in the hills and to the water infrastructure that served the lake as the city's freshwater reservoir. The aim of the study is to elucidate how monasteries offered freshwater from their springs to travelers and city residents, especially in times of drought, and accommodated elite members. The study will show in particular how monks made their expert knowledge in hydrological engineering available to infrastructure projects of Hangzhou's local administrators. Besides being charity-minded, monasteries were also profit-orientated as they were well-versed in fund-raising and received generous bestowments and donations, mostly exempt from taxation. What is more, they attempted to encroach on the West Lake for the cultivation of water plants, thus, however, impairing the city's freshwater supply from the reservoir that local administrators tried so hard to preserve.摘要:本文主要以臨安和西湖地區的寺廟如何利用供水活動爲例，考察佛教寺廟作爲慈善機構的同時，又是個與地方官員及權貴合作的經濟機構。地方志記載顯示，這些寺廟參與事飲用水供應活動得益於他們靠近為城市供水的兩個渠道，即山間天然水源及依西湖建立起的供水體系。本文旨在闡明，尤其是在旱年，寺廟如何利用山泉為行人、市民以及逃難來的官員及權貴提供飲用水。特別是僧人們如何利用他們的水利技術知識，得到地方官員授權建立杭州地區的水利設施。寺廟除了以慈善為目的, 還從中獲得, 通過捐贈、施捨、善款等帶來的豐厚的盈利，且大多享有免稅之待遇。此外，寺廟亦試圖占用西湖培植水生作物，甚至因此影響到地方政府極力要保護的城市飲用水供應系統。