A Study Of The Buddhist Thoughts Of Master Lian-chi

In the late stage of Ming dynasty,Buddhism revived rapidly and showed great vitality.In the historical opinion,the revival undertook the responsibility for leading Traditional Buddhism to Modern Buddhism.Master Lian-chi was one of the key figure in the revival.His thoughts not only accelerated the development of Buddhism at that time,but also influenced Modern Buddhism evidently;therefore,the study of his thoughts is very important to research the Buddhist history,and could offer beneficial reference to promote Contemporary Buddhism.On the background of radical social changes and vigorous Buddhist revival,the paper analyses the thougts of Master Iian-chi systematicly.Full text includes three parts; preface,text and conclusion.The preface mainly discusses the historical background of the revival,and accounts the four aspects:the religious laws and regulations of Ming dynasty, the cultural merging of Confucianism,Buddhism and Taoism,the spread of Catholicism and the development of Luo's Sect, the internal cause of Buddhist reformation etc.The main body of text is further divided into six parts.The first chapter is a thorough study of Lian-chi's life experience.In the first section,I concisely introduce the early experience of Lian-chi's self-cultivation.The second section mainly studies the experience of propagating Buddhist doctrines in the later half of his life.The second chapter is a selective study of Lian-chi's thought of Pure Land.Thefirst section lay stress on the thought of commandments that Lian-chi looked on as the base of Pure Land.Besides,he drew a analogy between the concentration on practicing rules and on missing Buddha,in order to lead rules to Pure Land.The second section mainly narrates the detailed contents of Lian-chi's thought of Pure Land.On the one hand,Lian-chi explained the enlightment of Mahayana from the standpoint of Pure Land,underlining the Mahayana essence of Pure Land;On the orther hand,he expounded the connotation of the three kernels of Pure Land:faith,desire and pratice,and particualrly advocated missing Buddha by chanting Buddha's name.The third section attributes to researching lian-chi's thought of the relation between Ch'an and Pure LandXian-chi succeeded and developed Master Yong-ming's aim of connecting Ch'an with Pure Land.In the theory,he emphasized the unanimity of Ch'an and Pure Land.At the same time,Lian-chi advocated that Pure Land should be taken as the destination and safeguard of Ch'an.In the practice,he recommend Perceiving Truth By Chanting Buddhas Name as the best method of connecting Ch'an with Pure Land.The fourth section compares Lian-chi's thought of Ch'an and Pure Land with that of Master Zi-bai,Master Han-shan and Master Ou-yi.In short,Master Zi-bai paid more attention to Ch'an,and was inclined to explain Pure Land from the standpoint of Ch'an.Mater Han-shan thought Ch'an and Pure Land were equally important,and advocated the two should assist each other.Master Lian-chi also thought Ch'an and Pure Land were both important,but he was inclined to lead Chan to Pure Land.Master Ou-yi succeeded and accelerated the thought of Lian-chi.According to the situation of the day,Master Ou-yi advocated Ch'an and Pure Land be seperated;consequently he tried to replace the method of Perceiving Truth By Chanting Buddhas Name with that of Concentration On Pure Land By Chanting Buddhas Name.The fifth section put forth effort to study The Regulations of Yun-Qi Temple formulated by Master Lian-chi. The Regulations of Yun Qi Temple was the impotant measures of his religious reformation.Its principles,such as being away from secular life,economic punishment and urging on the introspection of morality bycounting,offered the effective safeguard of system for the practice of Pure Land.The third chapter relates how Master Lian-chi rectified Buddhist rites.The first section lays stress on the rectification of water-and-land service.In the late stage of Ming dynasty,there were many shortcomings in the rites of water-and-land service.First of all,Master lian-chi revise...