A Study On The Underworld And Beliefs In Tang And The Five Dynasties And Early Song Dynasty

As a part of the China traditional culture, the idea of netherworld, which was formed at the early periods of Tang and Five Dynasties and Song, had a very deep influence over the daily life and the spiritual world.The Introduction made a review about the idea and faith of the netherworld. Based on the previous studies by other researchers, a definition about the netherworld was made here. As all the concerning studies were quite deep but patchy; especially in the case of combining studies based on Extensive Records of the Taiping Era, Dunhuang Turpan, Heishui City Literature, there is still a rather big space for furthering research.Chapter One generalized the idea and faith of the netherworld of pre-Tang period and conducted a textual research about the deities in Tang and Five Dynasties and Song. In this part, two things were represented here:one was the tendency of netherworldization over the gods of mountains and rivers, and the other was the development of deities in netherworld in space and quantity. Chapter two demonstrated the names, titles, positions, influence and resources of the officials in the netherworld. Centered on the Dunhuang prayer manuscripts, the fusion and secularization of Buddhism and Taoism were investigated. Based on the case of the evolution of Han the Immortal(韩真人),this part also discussed the historical significance of "Kehan the Protector"(保人可韩)and "Official Kehan the Mediator"(专使可嚂官)in the prayer manuscripts.Chapter Three conducted a textual research concerning the judgments, prosecutions, heaven offices, calculators, account books, caves and hells in the netherworld from the perspective of Taoism’s impact to the netherworld idea during the periods of Tang and Five Dynasties and Song. The purpose was to explain the significant influence of the native netherworld idea of China and Taoism, which was developed since Han Wei and six dynasties, over the netherworld idea of early periods of Tang and Five Dynasties and Song. Then the relations between the netherworld and the hells were discussed. Chapter Four mainly discussed netherworld and officials, the imperial examinations and politics, netherworld and marriage, wealth and income, netherworld and diseases, and the idea of predetermination was also represented here. Chapter Five investigated the image-making and calligraphy and paper money-using under the idea and faith of netherworld, described the image-making activities in communities under the influence of Ten Kings’ faith. It also examined the change of meaning of copying Buddhist classics with blood sting. Taking Sutra of Long Live by Buda(佛说寿生经)as example, it also illustrated the functional change of paper money in the netherworld faith.Chapter Six took Sutra of Obon (盂兰盆经)and the Obon Holiday as the case, and described the netherworld idea how to make its change from "hungry ghosts" to "hells", and investigated the relations between "Forbidding Killing" and "killing then entering the netherworld". It pointed out that the policy of forbidding killing animals in Tang and Five Dynasties strengthened and spread the idea of the netherworld.Chapter Seven discussed the influence and evolution of the idea of the netherworld in Tang and Five Dynasties. First, it discussed the relationship between the idea of the netherworld and the posterity in the scripts in tombs. Second, special notice was focused on the relations among King Gesar (格萨尔),Tibet Book of the Dead(西藏度亡经)and "Maudgalyayana Rescues his Mother from the Underworld", and Sutra of King Yan Luo Granted to Remember (阎罗王授记经), concluding that the idea of the netherworld in Tang and Five Dynasties had impacted the faith in Tibet. Finally, an investigation about the evolution of Netherworld was conducted philologically from A Story of Tang Taizong Entering in the Netherworld to The Pilgrimage to the West.In Conclusion and Remarks, several conclusions were drawn concerning the idea and faith of netherworld in Tang and Five Dynasties Song, and pointed out the convergence of Confucius, Buddhism, and Taoism, and the significance of the merits of lattice.