Research On Buddhists' Epitaph During The Song Dynasty

As a kind of Buddha-related literary form with tower as the carrier,Buddhists' Epitaph can be divided into benefaction and burial determined by different functions.The Buddhists' Epitaph of burial is the monumental writing of the monks and the believers of Buddhism.It is used to bury the bones of the deceased and the relics.There are few Epitaph of lay Buddhist in Song Dynasty,and most of them are inscriptions of eminent monks.This paper focus on the Buddhists' Epitaph during the Song Dynasty.The fundamental difference between Buddhists' Epitaph and the secular epitaph is its religious attributes.The author establishes the connection between the life of the monks with the Buddha or an ideal in an indirect or metaphorical way,thus achieving the role of enlightenment.The inscription pattern focuses on the Buddhist Mahayana "eight phases into Tao",in which the outstanding ones are the four phases: the birth,leaving home and becoming a monk,the enlightenment of the Tao,the Nirvana.The writers made unique expression in describing the four aspects to form different patterns.The writers can be divided into scholar-officials and Buddhist disciples.The creation of Epitaph in the Song Dynasty was very prosperous,such as Huang Tingjian,Luyou,Louyue and many other writers,which made the Epitaph of Song Dynasty more ideological and literary.In Song Dynasty,there are three main characteristics in writing: vivid image,changeable chapter and vivid details.Compared with Buddhists' Epitaph during the Tang Dynasty,Buddhists' Epitaph of the Song Dynasty is written by the predestined relationship with Buddhism as the core of writing instead of blood relationship.The writers in the Song Dynasty pays more attention to the predestined relationship with Buddhism rather than families,which is manifested in the construction of Buddhism sects,the emphasis on the orthodox status of the sects themselves,the rise and fall of this sect,and so on.