Study Of The Influence Of The Extermination Of Buddhism By Emperor Taiwu Of Northern Wei Dynasty And Emperor Wu Of Northern Zhou Dynasty On Recovering And Disappearing Of Buddhist Literature

The southern and northern dynasties was an important stage in the development of Chinese Buddhist culture,during which significant changes took place in the external features and internal principles of Buddhist literature.The two exterminations of Buddhism in the northern dynasties had an unprecedented impact on the development of the northern Buddhist culture,which was related to the quantity,quality and spread of Buddhist scriptures,as well as the inheritance,development and turn of Buddhist doctrines.What’s more,the extermination of Buddhism in the northern dynasty influenced the trend of Buddhist culture and the pattern of Chinese culture in the middle ancient times.This paper is divided into four parts: first,to introduce the reason,process and consequence of the two events in the northern dynasty.On the basis of the previous studies,this paper emphasizes the differences between the reasons and processes of the two destructive events of Buddhism,that is,the extermination of Buddhism by Emperor Taiwu of Northern Wei Dynasty was to eliminate the crisis of domination and strengthen the legitimacy of the regime,and that the extermination of Emperor Wu in the Northern Zhou Dynasty was to recruit soldiers and collect taxes,to prepare for the capture territory.Different causes lead to the same result.The two destructive events of Buddhism resulted in the loss of Buddhist literature in different degrees.In general,the disappearance caused by the extermination of Buddhism in the Northern Wei Dynasty was more serious than that in the Northern Zhou Dynasty.Second,by putting the historical literature and Buddhist catalogue in order,this paper examines the Buddhist scriptures and history books before and after the extermination of Buddhism in the Northern Wei Dynasty.There were more than a thousand Buddhist documents before the extermination of Buddhism,and more than 500 documents were disappeared because of the extermination of Buddhism,it also lists some documents that may have been disappeared because of the extermination of Buddhism in the Northern Wei Dynasty.Summarizes the recovery and revival of Buddhist documents by Emperor Xiaowen after the extermination of Buddhism.The important contributions of this period to recover literature are Tan Yao and Ji Jiaye.Third,study the Buddhist history books and catalogue,summarize the basic situation of the Buddhist scriptures and historical records of the northern dynasties before and after the extermination of Buddhism in the Northern Zhou Dynasty,list the books that may have been disappeared because of the extermination of Buddhism,analyze and summarize the revival of the Buddhist literature in the Sui Dynasty.It is found that although the number of Buddhist literature destroyed by the Northern Zhou Dynasty is not as large as that of the Northern Wei Dynasty,it also accounts for half of the total Buddhist literature at that time.After two times of eliminating Buddhism,Buddhism developed gradually from all parties developing together to Mahayana becoming mainstream,and finally formed the situation of Tiantai sect,which laid the foundation for the development of Chan sect after the Sui and Tang dynasties.The change of Buddhist literature reflects the fact that transformation of Buddhism culture,which was rooted in the caste system in India,when facing the authoritarian dynasties and the transformation and inclusion of Chinese traditional culture when facing foreign cultures.The combination formed the Buddhism culture with Chinese characteristics,and this Chinese Buddhism had a wide range of beliefs and people-based in a long time,thus affecting the development and characteristics of Chinese traditional culture.Fourth,the two extermination had a great influence on the development of Chinese Buddhist philology.First of all,the scriptures carrier form changed,from writing on the paper or bamboo slip to carving on the stone,carving scriptures became an important way of document preservation.Secondly,the emendation and Bibliography of Buddhist literature have made great progress after the extermination of Buddhism.Finally,the extermination of Buddhism provides an opportunity for the development of Chinese Buddhist Apocrypha.There are two extreme influences on the thought of literature compilation after eliminating Buddhism,one is the thought about degeneration of the Buddhism,the other is the thought of Buddhism constant being.In essence,they are both Buddhist efforts for the development of Buddhism.