The Chinese word “zhaijiang” is a binom consisting of two characters: the first is “zhai”, the second “jiang”. This particular diction makes occasional appearances in the Chinese Buddhist Canon, monastic biographies, and the Chinese Official Histories. However, its occurrence in the latter source is comparatively rare and mostly limited to the Nan/Bei Chao records. Other than its stereotypical Buddhist-related connotation, the word “zhaijiang” has a history dating back to the Chinese bone inscriptions. Moreover, the word “zhai” is still frequently used in today's conversation such as zaozhai, liuzhai, baguanzhai, changzhai, sengzhai, zhaiji etc. all of which signifies its realistic nature and close interfusion into the secular sphere. Because of its multidimensional facets, a full study of the current topic would involve analyzing Buddhist rituals, the development of “jiangchang”, discussing ancient literature, philosophical debates as well as textual studies of the Confucian, Daoist and Buddhist canons and their commentaries. However, in this paper the author wishes to focus solely within Chinese Buddhism and through critically analyzing its linguistic nature, and surveying primary sources that discuss the “zhaihui” service and the “jiangjing” assembly, piece together and reconstruct the development of the “zhaijiang” usage throughout Chinese Buddhist history.
