Monastic Mobility, Social Embeddedness, and Kinship Networks: Buddhist Clerical Sexuality in Late-Qing Sichuan

One night in May 1868, residents of Youqing, a rural community at Futu Pass some 15 li west of Chongqing, discovered a monk named Yukun having sexual intercourse with Woman Deng, a widowed daughter of Deng Dashun, at the Deng home. Yukun was from Dongyue Temple, a religious institution located in the city. Caught in the act, Yukun tried to defend himself by claiming that his abbot, Fugui, had "purchased" (caimai) Woman Deng. Confronted with Yukun's self-justification, gathered community members led by a government student named Dai Qingyuan rebutted immediately, "supposing [that Woman Deng] had been purchased, then why did you have sex with her" (jixi caimai he ji xingyin)? Faced with this blunt question, Yukun was at a loss for words. In the end, Yukun and Deng Dashun entreated some neighbors to ask for mercy and handed a signed confession over to Dai. 1 This case from Ba County, in Sichuan's Chongqing Prefecture, sheds invaluable light on local people's attitudes toward clerical sexuality during the late imperial era. In principle, clerical sexuality was an oxymoron. Monastic regulations required Chinese Buddhist monks and nuns to abstain from sexual activity. Ever since the introduction of Buddhism