Ouyang Jingwu’s Must-Read Buddhist Classics for Laity: Body Politics and Gendered Soteriology

Abstract

Abstract:This study articulates a prescriptive vision of gender and family put forth by the renowned leader of the laity-led Yogācāra (Consciousness-only) revival, Ouyang Jingwu 歐陽竟無 (1837–1943), whose vision of a Buddhicized family remains unexplored. This vision is best illustrated in his 1931 edited anthology of scriptures, The Must-Read Buddhist (Inner) Classics for Laity 在家必讀內典, sometimes dubbed a Buddhist bible by its readers. It was produced at the request of the Buddhist politician Dai Jitao 戴季陶 shortly after the Nationalist Party elder Hu Hanmin 胡漢民 masterminded the New Civil Code. While Dai held politically conservative beliefs about gender, Hu stipulated absolute gender equality in family settings. This study demonstrates that to garner wider support from intellectuals with diverging views on gender and family, Ouyang refashioned ancient Indian gender anxiety into disciplinary techniques intended to marshal the entirety of life and afterlives in service of the emerging nation-state.摘要:本文研究近代居士唯識學運動的代表人之一歐陽竟無（1837-1943）所提出的佛化家庭的概念及其中關於性別與救贖的潛台詞。通過細讀歐陽1931年所編輯的《在家必讀內典》及其編輯的相關情境，本文闡明歐陽所領導的佛學復興運動與佛化國家主義的不可忽視的聯繫。這一佛教經典選集是應佛教國家主義者戴季陶的要求而編輯的。1931年正值國民黨長老胡漢民所策劃的《新民法》隆重出台。雖然戴季陶對性別平等持保守態度，胡的《新民法》的關於家庭的法規中所體現的性別平等觀念更為激進。本文指出，為了調和佛教知識分子對性別平等和佛化家庭的不同認知並獲得更廣泛的社會支持，歐陽將古印度經典中對性別的焦慮調換為現代的規訓技術，其旨在與將個人的今生後世整體性地歸納與新興的國家主義的國民義務中。