Buddhism And The Tang Dynasty's Customs Of Eating, Traveling And Praying For Blessing, Birth, Old Age, Sickness And Death

In the process of propagation and development,the conflict of the religious culture and the local culture of other countries often happens,and there is no exception in Buddhism.At first,Buddhism encountered a great cultural impact when it introduced to the traditional Chinese society,where inspired people to love life and come into the world.In the Han Dynasty,Wei Jin and the Northern and Southern Dynasties,it tried to achieve a harmonious coexistence with traditional culture through communication and integration.And Buddhism culture reached the peak of development in the Tang Dynasty.From the philosophical perspective,Buddhism sects were well established in the the Tang Dynasty,the Buddhism theory was sound,and the ideological system was nearly perfect.It attracts a large number of scholar-bureaucrats to participate in the transformation and dissemination of Buddhism culture.From the perspective of life,Buddhism culture combined with traditional Chinese concepts,customs and beliefs.And it fonned a strong cultural atmosphere that affected every aspect of the daily life of the Tang people.In the Tang Dynasty,where Buddhist culture prevailed,whether it was a Buddhist nun,or a upasika,even a ordinary woman can achieve a certain degree of freedom of body and mind.Besides,they also grasp the method to express their own wishes and demands.With their participation,Buddhism was further integrated into the customs of daily life in China.And it also has become an important component of Chinese culture.Dietetic life remains fundamental to the human survival,and the spread and development of Buddhism adds a bright color to the original Tang Dynasty diet.Buddhism spreads vegetarianism by folktale to promote the concept of karma and hell.Many women expressed their recognition and internalization of both Buddhist culture and Confucianism through vegetarian life.And it also encouraged the popularity of vegetarianism.In addition,Buddhism culture have an important influence on the popularity of tea drinking in the Tang Dynasty.Through the activities of collecting tea,making tea,selling tea,and hosting tea parties,the majority of women group objectively promoted drinking tea from the monastic activities,which can help people with concentration and practice,to be introduced into the streets and lanes.Finally,it became a cultural custom which appealed to both refined and popular tastes.The ancients viewed travel as the important things in their life.And they created lots of way to get the protection from gods,especially the gods of travel.During the Wei Jin and the Northern and Southern Dynasties,the complicated and tedious rituals were gradually becoming more and more entertaining.They became the introductory remarks of the farewell activities,and blessing had not accounted for the mainstream.The Tang Dynasty society was open and inclusive.Whether the Tang people traveled for work,fight or simply,they had more opportunities to travel and their destinations were farther away.With the spread of an idea on the field of blessedness,Tang people have changed the way of pray.The traditional method of sacrifice gradually gave way to a great diversity of activities of worship of Buddhism.In this process,women in the Tang Dynasty played a great role in praying for their own and their families by reading Sutra,copying Sutra and building Statues.With the spread of Buddhism,Buddhism not only affected the Clothing,food,lodging and transportation of the Tang people,but also affected their life course.The activities of women in the Tang Dynasty contributed a lot.Women bear the main responsibility of human reproduction activities.In the stage of praying,conceiving and parenting,they joined in the activities such as praying and reciting the Buddhist scriptures.It promoted Buddhism to integrate into the birth habits of the Tang people.Facing diseases and aging,they expressed their desire to prolong their lives by copying Sutra,establishing statues,and building temples and embroidery.Even if they couldn't escape death,they was still calm.When they offered sacrifices to ancestors,they also participated in various activities,such as burning paper money,setting up statues,and blessing festivals.All activities further integrated Buddhism into the funeral customs of the Tang Dynasty.