Meanings and Functions of Personal Effects of the Dead in Religious Community

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  • 宗教共同体における死と私有財産
  • 宗教共同体における死と私有財産 : 禅清規における唱衣法の記述から
  • シュウキョウ キョウドウタイ ニ オケル シ ト シユウ ザイサン : ゼン シンギ ニ オケル ショウイホウ ノ キジュツ カラ
  • The Robe-Selling Ritual in the Context of Chan Funeral Rites
  • 禅清規における唱衣法の記述から

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Abstract

<p>In this paper I have examined meanings and functions of the Robe-selling ritual from two viewpoints: from that of economics and funeral rites. First, the ritual brings economic benefits to a monastery and monks in general. Monks get dividends from the revenue of the auction, and a monastery gets earnings from the pure profit, besides some of the properties of the dead. Since the dead gets the funeral done by a monastery, it should also be pointed out that by placing belongings in a monastery's charge even the dead gets benefit.</p><p>Second, seen from a context of funeral rites, the ritual has to do with a renewal of a community from the dangers of death. The ritual is carried out during the time after the most fearful danger of death is gone. The problem left at that moment is how to deal with personal effects left in a monastery, which are easily regarded as representations of death. As the ritual creates a small market for a while, these representations of death can be transformed into mere commercial goods which are bid off or bought by money. So the performance of the ritual, in which the nature of representations of death left in a monastery are transformed, facilitates in a way a renewal of a monastery endangered by death.</p>

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