A Case Study of the Decline of the Buddhist Funeral Ritual, the Guangdong Yuqie Yankou
2016; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 17; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/14639947.2016.1162424
ISSN1476-7953
Autores Tópico(s)Vietnamese History and Culture Studies
ResumoAbstractThis article contextualizes the decline of the Buddhist death ritual, the Guangdong Yuqie Yankou (廣東瑜伽焰口), through an examination of external and internal factors that might have affected its development in contemporary Hong Kong. During the last two decades, its popularity has dramatically declined, so much so that it now occupies an insignificant place among the pool of local funeral rituals. Its waning is not only a result of changing socioeconomic factors, such as contemporary lifestyles, commercialization of the funeral industry, 'fast-food' mortuary practices, and diminished religiosity of the Hong Kong laity, but is also caused by the scarcity of presiding Buddhist masters and competition from Buddhist rituals imported from other provinces of China. These intertwining factors have worked together to foster the decline of the ritual. The data for this ethnographic study were mainly collected in interviews and through the observation of participants. Notes1. All Chinese names and terms in this article have been translated into English and Romanized using the Mainland Chinese Hanyu Pinyin standard system, except for the official names of organizations and companies in Hong Kong that have local English spellings. Also, the names of participants in this article are pseudonymous, except for Buddhist monastics.2. In this article, 'death ritual' only refers to funeral and mourning rituals. A funeral ritual 'involves actions undertaken from the moment of death to the formal expulsion of the deceased (in a sealed coffin) from the community'; afterwards, it includes a series of mourning rituals that deal with the deceased spirit (Watson Citation1988, 12).3. T21.464b.4. In Chinese, a residing master is a zhufa (主法) but is more specifically termed a jiachi (加持) in Guangdong Yankou. In the provincial style, Yuqie Yankou, a zhufa is called a jingang shangshi (金剛上師).5. Chinese popular religion refers to the religious cults and practices of the commoners in Chinese societies (Teiser Citation1995). The religiosity of practitioners of Chinese popular religion always has 'an inclination toward beseeching for practical benefits, especially in times of trouble, and a lack of interest in theologizing and systematization' (Chau Citation2006, 242).6. The 'Ancestral Worship Ceremony in the Ching Ming Festival' (清明思親法會) refers to the yearly religious function of the Hong Kong Buddhist Association of the Buddhist Wong Fund Ling College at Causeway Bay, Hong Kong.7. The Universal Funeral Parlour is located in Hung Hom, Kowloon, and the Kowloon Funeral Parlour in Tai Kok Tsui, Kowloon.8. Sik Yongming (Citation1993), Buddhism and Monasteries in Hong Kong (Hong Kong: Po Lian Monastery). After the end of the Japanese Occupation (December 1941 to August 1945) of Hong Kong, societal development resumed under the colonial British government, which provided a comparatively safe social environment for immigrants from Mainland China from the late 1940s. Some more information related to the background to Hong Kong Buddhism see Ye Wen Yi (Citation1992) and Guo Wung Shuo (Citation1992).9. The Venerable Jian Zhao claimed that there are a few practitioners of Guangdong Yankou in Macau nowadays but that their practice is not as well-preserved and complete as it is in Hong Kong.10. From an interview which was conducted in 2013 with Aunt Xuan, who is the senior Guangdong Yankou specialist of Chung Yum. She told us when she recalled her experience of the ritual performance done in that period.11. Tang-guan(s) (堂倌) are instructors at funeral halls of parlours; they are experts in funerals and often serve to guide the bereaved to follow the proper etiquette.12. 'Restriction upon the keeping of dead bodies in domestic premises', Section 112, Part XI, Chapter 132 of 'Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance', Department of Justice, the Government of The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.13. These are funeral parlours registered by the government of Hong Kong, and they are entitled by law to handle corpses ('Regulations in relation to mortuaries', Section 123, Part XI, Chapter 132 of 'Public Health and Municipal Services Ordinance', Department of Justice, the Government of The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region).14. The five commercial funeral parlours include the Hong Kong Funeral Home, the Kowloon Funeral Parlour, the Universal Funeral Parlour, the Grand Peace Funeral Parlour, and the Po Fook Memorial Hall. Run by the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals, the International and Diamond Hill Funeral Parlours provide non-profit funerary services.15. According to Lai Chi Tim (Lai Citation2010, 60, 77–78), the Namo Daoist sect that performs for commercial purposes in funerals in Hong Kong is the Zhenyi School (正一派) out of several denominations of the Chinese Namo Daoist religion.16. Except for touqi (頭七), another six seventh-days are required as mourning rituals for the deceased. However, some lay people told us that they only perform mourning rituals on the third, fifth, and last day. This variation perhaps emerges because lay Chinese traditionally consider that even numbers belong to death and yin (陰), while odd numbers belong to the living and yang (陽).17. Yinghong (纓紅) is the short term of yinghongyan (纓紅宴) or yinghongjiu (纓紅酒) in Cantonese. Yinghong refers to the adornment of the ancestral tablets at the completion of mourning period with gold plated flowers and red tassels(簪花掛紅)as an indication that the deceased has become a fulfilled being. The gold plated flower and the red tassel are symbols of good fortune and longevity. Another term for the identical concept is chuanhong (穿紅, wearing the red); this was recorded by Watson in the New Territories in 1960s and 1970s (Watson Citation2004, 366–367).18. Cosmology refers to broad ideas and interpretations of the world and relation with other worlds. People behave in accordance with their cosmologies, through which they make sense of reality (Chan Citation2008).19. Religiosity refers to the religious feeling or experience of individual believers (Yang Citation2008, 27).20. For details about the cosmology of lay Dharma practitioners in Hong Kong, please refer to Chan Yiu Kwan (Citation2008).21. Filial piety (xiao, 孝) is a Confucianist moral value and practice rooted in Chinese culture; in general it refers to the obedience, respect, and support that children give to parents before and after their deaths; such children-parent relationships are often considered the foundation of Chinese kinship and society. However, filial piety is a changeable notion and practice, shaped by the socio-cultural changes of Chinese communities (Santos and Duro Citation2006, 288).22. These three levels of filial piety were mentioned by Dr David A. Palmer from the University of Hong Kong in an email conversation dated 2 July 2014.23. Ibid.24. Ibid.25. The Po Lin Monastery is the sole monastery providing an ordination rite in Hong Kong. The rite is held every three years, but it was interrupted in 2011 due to the renovation of the monastery.26. Scientism is an ideology that seeks to understand and explain every phenomenon of the universe, including all religious beliefs, through science and scientific knowledge (Stenmark Citation2001, 3–4). Since the rule of the British government from the 1850s, Hong Kong society has been vastly influenced by Western culture, secularism, and scientism, and thus its people have become more interested in a rationalist, scientific, and philosophical approach to Buddhism (Sik Citation2014).27. Since the early 20th century, due to turbulent socio-political conditions, monastics from Northern and Southern China fled to Hong Kong where the British colony provided a comparatively stable living environment. 'Humanistic Buddhism' was brought to Hong Kong from the early 1910s to the mid-1950s by its founder Taixu (太虛, 1890–1947) and his disciples, such as Zhumo (竺摩, 1913–2002) and Yinshun (印順, 1906–2005). The school's impact has slowed down since the mid-1950s, after most of Taixu's disciples migrated to Taiwan and South-East Asia. Regarding the development and popularization of 'Humanistic Buddhism' in Hong Kong, please refer to the detailed work of Sik Fa Ren (Citation2014) in Chinese.28. The 'Three Periods of Mindfulness' ceremony is derived from the Pure-land sect of Chinese Buddhism, since its promotion by Zhongfeng Mingben (中峰明本, 1263–1323) of the Yuan Dynasty. The textual scripture of the ritual embraces both self-study and the death ritual. Both categories consist of seven sections that are covered by chanters in each period (Ciyi Citation1989, 598–599).29. Since the mid-1950s, the Tiantai School expanded rapidly in Hong Kong and has become one of the most influential Buddhist sects there, sharing leadership with the local Guangdong Buddhist lineage. The 'Three Patriarchs from the North-East' (Dongbei Sanlao, 東北三老) and their disciples, such as Jueguang (覺光1919–2014), Yongxing (永惺), have contributed tremendously to the propagation of Buddhism in Hong Kong. For the development and detailed background of the Tiantai school in Hong Kong, refer to the work of Sik Fa Ren (Citation2014) in Chinese.30. Under the revolutionary current of Mainland China in the first half of twentieth century, the Tiantai School adopted a relatively soft approach towards Buddhist institutional reform and Buddhist liturgies; however, the school still had to moderate its institutional reform and academic teaching (Sik Citation2014).31. For details on this section, please refer to the work of Sik Fa Ren (Citation2014) in Chinese.
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