Study On Monks And Nuns'Violation Of Commandments In The Wei,Jin,Southern And Northern Dynasties

During the Wei,Jin,Southern and Northern Dynasties,it was in the embryonic and developing stage of the study of law.Many historical materials mentioned that the phenomenon of Buddhist monks and nuns violated the precepts seriously at that time.The development of Buddhist monks and nuns' precepts in this period is systematically studied from these three aspects: their specific manifestations,causes and measures taken by all walks of monks and nuns.Firstly,the scope of monks and nuns violating the precepts involves all aspects of society.It can be roughly divided into,firstly,the internal activities of the monks.Monks and nuns were wearing gorgeous and fine clothes,drinking,stealing,fornicating and lying in the temple;secondly,the monks and nuns were participating in secular activities.Many peasant movements led or participated by monks caused serious social unrest and threatened the stability of the feudal regime,for example.Secondly,the phenomenon of seriously violating of monks and nuns the precepts is affected by many factors.Firstly,the influence of social environment,the different geographical environment and the prevalence of secular drinking custom in society had contributed to the occurrence of monks and nuns' violation of precepts to some extent.Secondly,the influence of secular regimes,especially the interference of rulers,is an important factor in breaking the precepts of monks and nuns.Thirdly,the temple of the commandment is still in its infancy,and monks and nuns did not undergo strict rituals of taking commandment in the early stage,thus creating the image of monks and nuns as monks but also non-monks during that time.Fourthly,the reasons of the precepts themselves are that they are too complicated and inconsistent and lack of maneuverability,which is the defect of making monks and nuns frequently break the precepts.Fifthly,the large number of monks mixed with a large number of people posing as them,is the key factor causing frequent breaking the precepts among monks and nuns.Finally,in view of the seriousness of monks and nuns' violation of the precepts,the monks and nuns from all walks of life were taken measures to deal with.The first is the official attitude.On the one hand,establishing the monk official to intensify internal constraint.On the other hand,the movement of eliminating Shamen and even the campaign to exterminate Buddhism had arisen many times.Secondly,the attitude within the monks' group.On the one hand,the monks' system was established for internal restraint,and on the otherhand,the Buddhist altar was created for the monks and nuns to have full strict precepts.Thirdly,the attitude of monks and nuns individual themselves.Some monks,such as Faxian,went westward to seek the dharma books;some monks were translated a large number of annotations of dharma texts;some monks and nuns were also proposed to use political and economic means to restrain the monks and nuns' rituals.Finally,the attitudes of the secular public.Civil and military officials,scholar-officials and other officials were fiercely attacked for the phenomenon of a large number of monks and nuns breaking the precepts in society.At the same time,they were also putting forward many suggestions and countermeasures for improvement.In short,through the study of the manifestations,causes and measures taken by monks and nuns during the Wei,Jin,Southern and Northern Dynasties,the general situation of the development of Buddhist precepts is not only understood by many other people,but also provide an important reference for the precepts.In particular,the translation of several Law books in the Wei,Jin,Southern and Northern Dynasties especially the translation of the Four-part Laws,was made an indelible contribution to the establishment of the Tang Dynasty's Lv Zong.