Fact And Fiction:a Research About The Taoist Nuns In The Tang Period

The core purpose of this thesis is the carefully analysis and multi-text interpretation to the Taoist nuns in the Tang period. If you want to promote this research, the first question is:what the ratio of the female in the group of Taoist monks and nuns and what the characters in different areas and time periods?In the first chapter, these Taoist temples in Chang’an, Luoyang and Dunhuang are analyzed one by one; the changes of quantity, ratio and distribution of Taoist nuns’temples in Chang’an, Tang Dynasty, are researched from time and space and the quantity and ratio of them in Luoyang and Dunhuang and their distribution in Luoyang are shown briefly. Obviously, there are some differences of quantity and rate of Taoist nuns’temples on era and area. To sum up, comparing with the remote counties such as Dunhuang, the rate of Taoist nuns’ temples in Chang’an and Luoyang was remarkable high and it was constantly increasing. In addition, it is the main reason why the rate of Taoist nuns’ temples was so high in Chang’an and Luoyang that the dang’s princesses chose to become Taoist nuns.The aid of the second chapter isn’t parallel arrangement of reasons why some princesses of Tang Dynasty chose to become the Taoist Nuns. We hope to analysis mutuality resources and rational diagrams and got an all-round and solid comprehension that base on the clear understanding of developing that princesses of the Tang Dynasty became the Taoist Nuns and combine with the political background, religion position, female status and princess policy of Tang Dynasty. In conclusion, there were not princess except Taiping Princess had become the Taoist Nuns before Ruizong, but after that, some princesses became the believer of Daoism. This situation closely related to the change of princess policy and female status in the Tang period. In addition, there were two climaxes that princesses of the Tang Dynasty became the Taoist Nuns: Ruizong to Xuanzong and Wuzong period. The appearance of these two climaxes was the result of individual belief of emperors in the Tang period and the effect of their religion policy.Besides the official documents about the princesses of the Tang Dynasty, the texts about the Taoist nuns in the Tang period approximately content three kinds:gravestone epitaphs, fictions and poetry. The aim of the third chapter is to know the general situation and basic characters of these resources base on the overall review and explain the tension between the gravestone epitaphs and fictions through a careful analysis. Even though the types and key points of them is different, we can see the agreement between the religions feeling and secular elements. While pursuing the way to become a celestial, these Taoist nuns didn’t forget their secular life and kept a harmonious between the religions feeling and secular ethics. In addition, the analysis about the poems written by the Taoist nuns and the poems about the Taoist nuns written by male will help us to solve this problem.After the Tang period, with the decline of the Taoist nuns from the imperial family and the trend of preserving chastity after the death of her husband at home, the quantity of Taoist nuns had obviously decreased. On the other hand, the social reputation of them descended while they became the one kind of nuns and witches(San Gu Liu Po). From then on, the "daoist nuns boom" became the history and only their poems and stories occasionally remembered by us and become the historical memory of these female in that period.