The Study On Discipline And Monastic Rules For Buddhists In Dunhuang Manuscript

Introduced into China Since the Han Dynasty,and after development through Wei,Jin and Northern & Southern Dynasties,Buddhism entered a glowing period in the Tang dynasty.As an alien culture,it was influenced inevitably by local culture.After collisions and conflicts for several centuries,two types of different cultures gradually exchanged and syncretized.That means it has taken a long time to combine with Confucianism and Tanism since Buddhism was imported into China.Precepts,an important part of Buddhism which regularizes monk's behavior,changed correspondingly.To a large extent,chinization of Buddhism is chinization of precepts.In the course of Buddhism spreading to China through Western Regions(西域),Dunhuang was the necessary passage way.In mediaeval China,Dunhuang was a region where a number of religions existed side by side,and Buddhism particularly flourished.A lot of rock-cut buildings and Buddhist scriptures were cuted and copied at that time.We could see that Buddhist precepts in Dunhuang was also continuously reformed from these documents.The formulation and implementation of precepts in Dunhuang has its own causes and characteristics.After analyzing the case of monk's violation of Buddhist principles,this paper mainly study rules and regulations, punitivesystem,Buddhist scriptures-testing of monksThe thesis is divided into five parts.The first two chapters study the phenomenon that monks drank Liquor and hold possession.Although Buddhism strictly forbid monks from drinking,they could not only drink and brew,but also sell liquor for profit in Dunhuang.At the same time, temples also carried out such activities.It was common practice that the monks,from the general ones up to the senior ones,possessed property,such as lands,slaves,livestocks and so on.It made monks different from secular people to comply with the precepts of Buddhist.Monks cut hair, receive the tonsure,dress robes,beat Woodblock,take part in all kinds of religious rites,living a different life to laity.But why the fact the documents tell us is inconsistent with the Buddhist tenets? The previous two chapters will analyze these problems.The third chapter mainly does some researches on the practical implementation,content and distinctive region characteristics of Buddhist precepts in Late Tang and Five Dynasties.Maha Sangha(僧团) in Dunhuang has their own rules and regulations,which have many different terms, such as Guiju(规矩),lvling(律令),Geling(格令) and so on.Many of the Donhuang documents are about vassa(安居) and Bodhimanda(道场),which provide the possibility for us to enter the world of precepts of Maha Sangha in Dunhuang.The forth chapter pays close attention to the contents and the specific forms of the punitivesystem,which was closely linked with temple economy in Dunhuang.Punishment of Material was based on the fact that it was very common to hold possessions by monks,which made the punishiment of Material possible.Moreover,punishment of food and drink had accessible conditions bacause drinking ran rife among monks,and they and even the temples owned workshop for brewing.So the punishiment of material infinitely showed local features and the secularization of Buddhism.Secondly,punitivesystem of Buddhism in Dunhuang was closely integrated with Official orders.It can even be said that the government decree of punishment was the extension and backing Of Buddhist penalty.You'll find that government had control over Maha Sangha and Maha Sangha severely depended on the government.The fifth chapter follows closely feed back system(课考制度) and Buddhist scriptures-testing(试经).Examinations Authority(试部),an institution under the Dusi(都司),hold main task of testing monk's ability to recall Buddhist scriptures,including Vinaya,Sutras,Abhidharma, and the ability of Chan in Bodhimanda led by Dusengtong(都增统).Subjects were scored on a scale from high,middle to low.Examinations Authority send names of getting"lower"on subjects, with the advisory opinion,to Dusengtong(都增统),who finally determined the results.And the ones getting"high"and"middle"need to contribute certain materials to Bodhimanda.