A Study Of Indra

In following three chapters, the dissertation dicusses separately on the origin, the development and transformation of Di Shi, a holy god inBuddhism.In the first chapter, the author discusses the origin and development of Indra's worship in the contexts of religion and the unique system of caste in ancient India. The author divides the evolvement of Indra's worship into following phases: in the first phase, Indra was worshipped as religious spirit among various tribes in ancient Indian before Aryans invaded this area; in the second phase, the image and personality of Indra were diversified in the era of Veda as the consequence of mixture of cultures brought by the invasion of Aryans; in the third phase, the status of Indra was on the rise since he was worshipped as the highest god in Brahmanism; in the fourth phase,the influece of Indra was on the decline as the result of religious reform in Hinduism since the 7th century; in the fifth phase, the influence of Buddhism saw its rapid expansion in India, and Indra was transformed into protecting god in Buddhism.In the second chapter, the author focuses on transformations of Indra in China after Buddhism was introduced in this country. In the first part, the author discusses the changes of Indra in the context of image and religious symbol since Buddhism was transmitted into China; in the second part, the author discusses Indra's different images and religious statuses in different periods; int the third chapter, the author discusses the non-Buddhism elements in Indra's worship, such as the influences from religious Daosim and the worship of Jade Emperor in Chinese folk belief.In the third chapter, the author conducts a comparative study on Indra's image and status between Tibetan Buddhism as one side and Buddhism in India and China as the other.