Changing Relations 33
it meant the loss of a worker for cloth production—spinning, weaving, etc.—
and the family did not receive the bride price.
Generally speaking, encouraging one’s children to become monastics may
have been regarded as a kind of birth control: as a member of the clergy
monastics did not produce offspring and thus a further division of the crops of
the fields was not necessary.
Another reason why young people joined the clergy may have been due
to the propagation of Buddhism under the Tibetan Emperor Ralpacan.
Although the facts are clear, the explanations given here certainly must remain
suggestions.
2.3 Worship Clubs
The way in which lay people pursued their own way of devotion to Buddhism
can be seen in the formation of worship clubs (Chin. she 社). Originally, the
Chinese term she derives from the worship of earth gods in spring and autumn
to receive good harvests. The Chinese character consists of the pictograms
‘spirit’ and ‘earth’. From the Sui Dynasty (581–618, 隋) onwards, however, this
ritual became influenced by Buddhism. Dunhuang manuscripts, dating from
the time of the Tibetan rule of Dunhuang, refer to small groups of people
(14–22 members), which were organised privately to celebrate Buddhist festi-
vals and the spring and autumn festivities or help each other during times of
hardship. However, only sixteen manuscripts can be ascribed to this period
with certainty.
These groups were well organised and headed by a triumvirate consisting
of the president (Chin. shezhang 社長), manager (Chin. sheguan 社官, Tib.
zha co)60 and secretary (Chin. lushi 錄事). These positions were chosen by
60 P. tib. 1102, a circular asking for contributions for a member’s funeral, proves this
equation. This is not evident at first sight. The manager is not mentioned by name in
the circular, written in Chinese only manager (Chin. sheguan) is stated. But in the list
of contributions, written in Tibetan, he is listed twice. In text I—the list of donated
cereals—he appears with his full name Ba Seudar (Tib. ’Ba’ Se’u dar), while in text II—the
list with contributed silk cloth—he is designated as manager Seudar (Tib. zha co Se’u
dar). Neither of the other two members of the triumvirate bears the family name Ba (Tib.
’Ba’, Chin. Ma 馬). Thus it is evident that Ma is the manager Seudar. Tib. co thus is short
for gco. Therefore the Tibetan term zha co definitely corresponds to Chinese sheguan
(manager) and not to Chinese shezhang (president) as Takata states (Takata, Tokio, “Le
long rouleau chinois et la communauté sino-tibétain de Dunhuang,” in Bouddhisme et
cultures locales, quelques cas de récipoques adaptations, ed. Fukumu Fuminasa and Gérard
Fussman (Paris: École française d’Extrême-Orient, 1994), 143. This fact is important for the
dating of another worship club (Chin. she) related manuscript (see below).