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The Past Explains the Present: State control over Religious Communities in Medieval China

Department of Religious Studies, University of the Pacific, 3601 Pacific Avenue, Stockton, CA 95211

Buddhists in Chinese history did not enjoy the same political authority that their co-religionists did elsewhere. The clergy in other Buddhist countries could become official members of the government, participate in political decisions and select the head of their community autonomously. The affairs of the community were managed by the community itself. None of these rights were available to the Chinese sangha throughout its classical history, much as is the case today. The state in medieval China seems to have exercised complete control over the affairs of religious communities. The present day subservience of the Buddhist clergy to the Communist regime in China, thus, has a long tradition behind it, for the state has always been above religion there unlike in the medieval West where the Church dominated it.

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