Southern And Northern Huaihe River Basin In Buddhist Studies

The Huaihe river valley lies in the connective area between the South dynasty and the North dynasty, so it is one of the area of most frequent war breaking, and it is one of the most turbulent area all over China. The situation provides a useful frame of reference to our study about the connection between war and Buddhism's expand. This dissertation will study the Buddhism of Huaihe river valley in South and North dynasty from three aspects. First of all, we try to outline the distribution and spread of the Buddhism in Huaihe river valley by the study of the Buddhism temples, josses, sculptures on the cliff; the degree of the development of Buddhism; and the relations between the Buddhism and classes in society. Secondly, in order to know the status and influence of the Buddhism in Huaihe river valley of that time in the history of Chinese Buddhism, we study the communication in Buddhism between Huaihe river valley and other area, and its effect to the development of the Buddhism of the Sui dynasty and the Tang dynasty. Finally, we researched the non-religious social activities of the monks in the fangji jobs and in the war. The development of Buddhism in the Huaihe river valley during the South and North dynasty period got a rapid progress, but compared with the other developed area, it has two typical characters: fluidity and transition. It indicates that the war provided a background for the spread and development of Buddhism, but it also destroyed greatly the spread and development of Buddhism.