A Study Of Chinese Faith In Ti-tsang

In Chinese Buddhism, Ti-tsang p'u-sa is referred as one of the four great Bodhisattvas. He is famous for his great vow: "As long as the hells are not empty, I vow not to become a Buddha. Only when all living beings have been saved, will I accomplish Bodhi." And widely worshipped by Chinese people. As a result, we can find a lot of Ti-tsang's indelible traces in Chinese histories of society, religion, art, literature, and thought. Taking " sinification " as the main idea, in this thesis, I have studied almost every aspect of the faith of Ti-tsang in China, especially its rise, development, transformation, combination with Chinese culture, and influence on Chinese literati and literature.In the preface, I look back on the present research situation of this field. Although lots of achievements have been acquired, the research should be deepened and widened. For example, the true relations of San-chieh chiao school (teaching of the three levels) and Ti-tsang's faith, the cause of the change of Ti-stang's function, and the attitude of Chinese literati.In chapter one, I point out that Ti-tsang's name appeared in Chinese Buddhist texts early in the Three Kingdoms Period, but the faith in Ti-tsang was introduced to China after A.D.550s. The first Chinese translated scripture of Ti-tsang's faith may be Xu-mi zang ching (Now, it is an aspect of 60 fascicles Ta fang-teng ta-chi ching.) While the other two scriptures play more important roles in Ti-tsang's faith, they are Ta fang-guang shi-lun ching and Chan-ch 'a shan-o yeh-pao ching. Hsu-mi tsang ching and Ta fang-guang shi-lun ching come from India or Central Asia, but thereare few evidences of Ti-tsang's faith can be found there. In contrast, in China, Ti-tsang becomes as an important Bodhisattva as Kuan-yin. The cause, I think, is the thought on the latter dharma, which influenced Chinese People greatly. Especially San-chieh chiao school, influenced by the thought on the latter dharma deeply, contributed much to the rise of Ti-tsang"s faith. In this chapter, I also point out the Characteristic of Chinese faith in Ti-tsang before A.D.651 is the verbal chanting of the name of Ti-tsang.In chapter two, I pay more attention to Ta-sheng ta-chi Ti-tsang shih-lun ching. In A.D.651, the eminent monk Hsiian-tsang translated Shih-lun ching again, and renamed it Ta-sheng ta-chi Ti-tsang shih-lun ching, not only affirmed that it is the scripture of Ti-tsang, but also promoted its status. There from, except for monks of San-chieh chiao, the eminent monks of other sects began to quote the content of Shih-lun ching in their works. Evidently, this made Shih-lun ching spread more widely, also accelerated the development of Ti-tsang's faith. Affected by Ta-sheng ta-chi Ti-tsang shih-lun ching, there appeared a repentant ritual of Ti-tsang, Tsan-li Ti-tsang pu-sa chan-hui fa-yuan fa. Also because of this scripture, prosperous, and the spreading of Ti-tsang's story, a lot of Ti-tsang's statuaries rushed out.In chapter three, firstly, I discuss the change of Ti-tsang's saving function and its cause. Since the early 8th century, Ti-tsang began to save people mostly in the world after death, and became the chief savior in that world. In this change, monks of the Hua-yen tsung school, for example Fa-tsang and Cheng-kuan played important roles.Secondly, I discuss why Ti-tsang could take the Yen-lo wang's place, and became the overlord of the world after death. Maybe in the late Tang Dynasty, there came a Chinese forged scripture, Yen-lo wang shou-chi ssu-chung ni-hsiu sheng-ch 7 wang-sheng ching-t 'u ching, which says ten kings rule people after death together, Yen-lo wang only one of them. Because each king has his own function, Yen-lo wang fell in status, it is necessary to find a new overlord of the world after death. Ti-tsang of course took Yen-lo wang's place.Thirdly, I study the response of Mi tsung school and Ching-tu tsung school on Ti-tsang's faith. My conclusion is Mi-tsung school accelerated the development of Ti-tsang's faith since the early 8th century, while scrambling for believer, some monks of Ching-tu tsung school threw stones at San-chieh chiao school and Ti-tsang's faith.In chapter four, I mainly research on Ti-tsang p 'u-sa pen-yuan ching and the examples of the farther sinification of Ti-tsang's faith. I conclude that Ti-tsang p'u-sa pen-yuan ching was forged in A.D.936-974, it was already spread widely in the Northern Sung dynasty. Under its influence, Ti-tsang connected with Chinese filial piety culture, and to a certain extent, Ti-tsang and Mu-lien were confused. Inversely, Ti-tsang p'u-sa pen-yuan ching is called Buddhist Hsiao ching.The farther sinification of Ti-tsang's faith also exits in these fields: repentant rituals of Ti-tsang created in the Song, Yuan, Ming, Qing Dynasties; Ti-tsang p'u-sa shih-chai jih manuscripts in Maogao Caves in Dunhuang; the celebration of Ti-tsang's birthday; the connection of Ti-tsang and Taoism; and taking Chiu-hua Mountain as the worshipped place of Ti-tsang, etc.In chapter five, I pointed out the relationship of Li Bai, Liang Ssu, Mu Yun, Ssi-kong Tu, Su Hsun, Su Shi, etc and Ti-tsang's faith. And research on the literature concerned Ti-tsang's faith.In the conclusion, I summarize the content of five chapters. Furthermore, I discuss the roles that intellectuals and plebs played, and the effect of the choice of culture in the development of Ti-tsang's faith in China. I also discuss the significance of the study of Ti-tsang's faith to the study of faith in other Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Finally, I point out what should be farther deepened and widened in the future study.