"Bald-headed Destroyers of Living Things": Buddhist Identity in the Silk Cultures of Medieval China

This article examines a Buddhist vinaya (or, monastic code) precept against the use of silk; it includes the broader contexts of Chinese Buddhist silk culture and Chinese applications of Indian monastic codes. Medieval Chinese commentators appropriated this precept to ban silk from the monastic uniform – echoing earlier lay Buddhist anti-silk drives – on the grounds of the Mahāyāna ethic of universal compassion. This was similar to broad efforts by Chinese Buddhists to reconcile the social agendas of vinaya codes with the lofty moral ambitions of the bodhisattva path. But with the Chinese sangha (monastic establishment) immersed in the ubiquitous sericulture industry, this call to ban silk monastic uniforms appears more socioeconomic than ethical. Elite clerics took a stand against silkworm killing only as it concerned the cassocks, while silk cloth otherwise flowed throughout monastic precincts; their motive chiefly was to fortify lay–monastic distinctions by creating a conspicuous absence of silk. This case illustrates how Indian sources of authority were both indispensable and fungible in medieval China: here they were deployed to demonstrate accordance between Buddhist ethical, social, and commercial interests and culturally embedded traditions of material production.