Charity groups in the Yuan Dynasty were also active, do you know
China has a long history of philanthropy, and the Song Dynasty has the most far-reaching influence, known as "secular philanthropy". This kind of charity is still reflected in the Ming and Qing dynasties.
Since the Song Dynasty was in the Tang and Song dynasties, it was regarded as the beginning of the modern era, while the Yuan Dynasty inherited the influence of the Song Dynasty and opened the Ming and Qing dynasties. To study the deeds of the Yuan Dynasty charity group, epitaphs are undoubtedly the clearest and most clear way.
Epitaph materials often have the characteristics of concealing evil and promoting good, and exaggerating beauty, so more attention should be paid to the use of the perspective of charity writing in the analysis.
We are studying group philanthropy in the Yuan Dynasty and its writing characteristics. Through the collation and analysis of epitaphs, we hope to better understand the status of philanthropy in modern philanthropy in the Yuan Dynasty, as well as its inheritance and development of philanthropic culture in traditional society.
The charitable groups of the Yuan Dynasty included non-scholars, ordinary people, scholars, wealthy people, monks, women, and nobles. We mainly study the latter three. First of all, the philanthropic behavior of the aristocratic group in the Yuan Dynasty was mainly based on "disaster relief and famine relief".
Although the nobles of the Yuan Dynasty had abundant resources, their disaster relief actions did not meet people's expectations due to a lack of awareness of active disaster relief. Despite their civilian responsibility for disaster relief, their actions do not correspond to their status and resources.
Relatives, neighbors and people. In the public welfare and charity, the construction of schools is one of their major characteristics, which is similar to the modern concept of building schools. In addition, they also advocate public welfare and charity for local education through donations, which is also a major feature of them.
Although the nobles of the Yuan Dynasty followed the Mongol Yuan monarch to seize the world from horseback, their investment in charity did not decrease in the slightest.
In the Yuan Dynasty, with the unification of the country and the stability of the political power, those nobles who were in charge of the local area had the responsibility and obligation to manage the local area well, including the establishment of education, social education, and the maintenance of local security and stability.
As a result, some aristocrats began to attach importance to these tasks in order to maintain local harmony and stability and change customs. In the Yuan Dynasty, the philanthropic behavior of the female group was also active.
Through the research materials, it can be found that there are many kinds of women's charitable behaviors in the Yuan Dynasty, mainly including disaster relief, poverty relief and public charity.
Women in the Yuan Dynasty actively participated in philanthropy and demonstrated strong resilience to disasters. In times of disaster, they donate food to help people; In normal times, they help their clan relatives and neighbors with food, clothing, housing, transportation, weddings, funerals, illnesses and difficulties, and carry out public welfare undertakings such as building roads and bridges, digging wells and building weirs in the township.
This kind of ideological concept of mutual assistance by blood and geography helps to enhance the sense of identity and cohesion between the clan relatives and the villagers. Among them, disaster relief and famine relief was the first major content of women's charity in the Yuan Dynasty.
Only women from wealthy families with a certain level of economic strength can cope with the surge in demand for goods in times of famine.
During the famine, women in the Yuan Dynasty not only provided food and housing, but also adopted a variety of ways to help the victims, such as relief, loans, and giving. At the same time, they also undertake the task of helping the poor, solving the problems of lack of materials, lack of help and repayment of resources after the disaster.
In the Yuan Dynasty, women had to deal not only with the problems of daily life, but also with poverty in society. From the historical data, it can be understood that many women in the Yuan Dynasty actively participated in the action of relieving the poor, which also became the second major content of women's charity work in the Yuan Dynasty.
According to the distance of the recipients, the rescue actions of women in the Yuan Dynasty can be roughly divided into two categories: one is to help the poor and weak relatives of the clan, and the other is to help the poor and weak in the countryside.
In terms of clan assistance, the actions of women in the Yuan Dynasty were very frequent, because of the existence of blood relations, they invested a lot of resources in helping clan relatives. According to historical records, the content of the Yuan Dynasty women's clan assistance included the adoption of orphans, the care of the lonely and widowed elderly, weddings and funerals, clothing, food, housing and transportation, clothing and medicine, etc.
In our community, there are many selfless people who adopt and raise orphans, help them get married, and start families; They generously supported relatives who were poor and could not afford to marry; They are sympathetic to the lonely and widowed relatives, and take care of them or help them with the elderly and funerals; When their people are in trouble, they always come to the rescue and help to restore their freedom or improve their lives.
These things to help the poor and weak in the countryside include providing food and clothing, giving medical treatment, and helping with weddings and funerals. Helping the poor in the countryside usually requires only a few basic acts of kindness, such as providing food and clothing, to achieve the goal.
And these good deeds can be carried out at any time, which is relatively convenient. Therefore, even if they do not have strong economic strength, women can work in the countryside to help the poor.
Women in the Yuan Dynasty, regardless of whether their family conditions were superior or not, could become the saviors of the poor people in the countryside, and even become their dependence. They have done many acts of public welfare and charity, either out of family economic conditions or out of kindness.
These actions include not only assistance to the affected and disadvantaged, but also the construction of facilities to improve public welfare for the entire population or participation in activities to protect public safety.
The behavior of these women was highly valued by the countryside.
Women in the Yuan Dynasty actively participated in public welfare and charity, whether it was in the construction of bridges, road paving, rural security, ferry setting and other aspects, they can be seen.
One of the characteristics of the group is that it has a certain economic strength, and only when the economy is prosperous can it better realize its public welfare and charity aspirations. Another group characteristic is individualized donations, which reflects the independence and autonomy of women in participating in public welfare undertakings in the Yuan Dynasty.
In addition, the Yuan Dynasty monk group was also an important force for charity. Their main task is disaster relief and famine relief, and this kind of activity occupies a large amount of space in the literature such as the monks' Taoist monuments, Taoist deeds, good deeds monuments, Xingshi monuments, tower inscriptions, and tomb inscriptions.
Similarly, the epitaphs, tombstones, tombtables, immortal monuments, Taoist monuments, Taoist inscriptions, Taoist inscriptions, deeds, inscriptions, and records of the Taoist priests also record their active participation in public welfare and charity.
Although most Buddhist monks participated in sporadic or individual disaster relief activities during the Yuan Dynasty, they still played an active role in persuading people to provide disaster relief, personally relieving disasters, and sheltering temples.
These activities are mainly to mobilize people to donate money and materials for disaster relief through charity and Buddhist compassion. Some powerful families and people of good will will be influenced by the monks' pious demeanor and compassion and devote themselves to disaster relief activities.
In addition, another important task of the Yuan Dynasty monk group was to "help the poor and compassionate the poor", and they took the believers in the sect as the main object of assistance, among which the mutual assistance between Buddhist monks was the most prominent, which was concentrated in the activities of fasting monks.
These philanthropic activities show the positive contribution of religious groups in social welfare and public welfare undertakings in the Yuan Dynasty.
Fasting monks is an important ritual of Buddhism, and it is also one of the important ways for believers to do good. Buddhism stipulates that monks are not allowed to store rice grains, but can only beg for food in the court, and it takes seven houses to finish, so many monks often face the dilemma of lack of food and basic survival.
In order to help the monks, Buddhist scriptures encourage the devotees to make offerings to the monks, which not only achieves the consummation of "merit" but also allows the monks to obtain basic survival guarantees. During the Yuan Dynasty, some Buddhist monks also regarded fasting as an important activity for their devotion to the Dharma, even if it required a lot of time and money.
Zen Master Haiyun used the large gifts and rewards he received to build temples, make offerings to monks and help the poor, and his actions were praised by the Quartet and given gold silks and treasures.
Although the monk Shanrou had a simple diet, he often gave alms to 10,000 monks, reflecting his generosity. Fasting is often combined with Buddhist rituals, and although the main purpose is to worship the Buddha, it also promotes the sharing of wealth among the monks, which is helpful to the poor monks.
In the Yuan Dynasty, the third major task of the monk group was to participate in public welfare. Although they are rarely mentioned in inscriptions or memories, the records collected show that their public welfare activities, although not many in number compared with groups such as scholars and wealthy people, are comparable to women's charitable activities.
Although the Yuan Dynasty was different from the previous Central Plains Dynasty, their actions were not much different in terms of public welfare activities, all of which were to build public facilities for open objects, such as building bridges and paving roads, sinking wells and boats, opening museums and buildings, and protecting local security.
In general, this two-standard system is more of a political one.
The Chinese cultural system has shown its unique and inclusive characteristics at the social and cultural levels, which has made the core increasingly attractive. Regardless of their cultural background, they have gradually integrated into the big family of the Chinese nation.
During the Yuan Dynasty, Chinese cultural traditions such as philanthropy were continued and had a profound impact on later generations.