Confucian Literati and Karmic Plots: An Analysis of A Slave to Money Buys a Creditor as His Enemy

Chinese Yuan dramas (zaju 雜劇) often employed notions of Buddhist karma in their plots and subplots. To highlight this dramatic aspect, I will analyze the karmic components of the play Kanqiannu mai yuanjia zhaizhu (A Slave to Money Buys a Creditor as His Enemy). The dramatic plot connects two unrelated families through karmic retribution and the transfer of blessings, a method akin to the transfer of merit. The text of the play shows how a family member’s good and bad deeds not only bring good and bad karma to oneself, but also alter the collective karma of the entire family, affecting its collective rise and fall. I argue that such plot features were a means for Confucian dramatists to promote family-oriented collective values within the unique context of the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368), at a time, when Confucian literati were disparaged and Buddhist monks were privileged.