The Study On Buddhist Education For The Common People In The Northern And Southern Dynasties

Buddhism developed rapidly during the Southern and Northern Dynasties,and the development of Buddhist education was basically synchronized with it,especially the vigorous growth of the Buddhist education for the common people.This is not only an important manifestation of the Buddhism prosperity,but also a concrete presentation of the social and cultural features of this period.In this regard,there are few relevant studies in academic circles.This paper takes the Buddhist education for the common people in the Southern and Northern Dynasties as the research object.It sorts out relevant documents from the perspective of history,discusses from the perspective of pedagogy,and analyzes from the perspective of religion.The research scope includes: the Buddhist Education for the people carried out in the temple,and activities carried out outside the temple to propagate the Dharma and to enlighten the people in various forms.The research concludes that:First,during the Southern and Northern Dynasties,the teachers of Buddhist education for the common people were mainly monks and scholars,and the students were mainly intellectuals with low social positions,farmers,workers and businessmen.The students generally received or participated in Buddhist educational activities either in the name of individuals or within Buddhist belief groups.Second,during the northern and Southern Dynasties,the forms of Buddhist education for the common people included traditional lecturing,sutra translation,and the monks’ preaching during their study tour,Dharma transmission,Singing guide and transferring readings,charitable undertakings such as planting trees and practicing medicine organized by Buddhists,as well as some artistic activities such as doing statues,sculptures and paintings.Buddhism guided the common people to understand the Buddhist doctrine and thoughts by lecturing Buddhist classics.It also deepened the common people’s comprehension and cognition of Buddhism through Singing guide and transferring readings.Then,by way of Buddhist undertakings such as building statues and carving grottoes,the people would be led to accumulate merits,and the social blessing careers would help them to accumulate blessings and complete the moral education.Third,the content of Buddhist education for the common people during the Northern and Southern Dynasties included Buddhist classics,Buddhist eccentric novels and other auxiliary books to promote Buddhism.Buddhism directly disseminated Buddhist doctrine through Buddhist classics,and catered to the people’s psychology through Buddhist eccentric novels,both of which were methods to promote the common people to practice Buddhist education.The two had their own strengths and complemented each other in Buddhist educational activities.They had jointly promoted the development of Buddhist education for the common people.In order to better realize the educational purpose of spreading Dharma,Buddhist education for the common people in the northern and Southern Dynasties was closely combined with ordinary people’s life.In addtion,it widely absorbed the elements of Confucianism,Taoism and folk culture,and had caused an extensive social influence.The development of Buddhist education for the common people in this period not only accelerated the process of sinicization,secularization and socialization of Buddhism,but also promoted the integration and development of Confucianism,Buddhism and Taoism.It had a certain reference significance for the development of Buddhist Education and secular education at that time and even for the later generations.