The Relationship Between Li-shutong’s Tenrikyo Faith And His Song Creation Before He Becomes A Monk

The ideological interpretation of the artistic works of Li Shutong(Master Hongyi)has always been an extremely important research field in the study of Li Shutong(Master Hongyi).However,most of the researches are focused on the works of his later years(namely the years after he became a Buddhist monk).In addition to a few of annotated versions of his works,the systematic and in-depth ideological readings or belief readings of Li Shutong’s poems and songs were still lacking that should not be lacked.It should be said that the belief of youth Li Shutong is an important issue in the study of Li Shutong.From the investigations of Li Shutong’s own log documents and related literature of other people’s memories and cherishing the memory of Li Shutong,it can be found that there is already a lot of evidence pointing to Li Shutong’s very obvious orientation of Tenrikyo.However,from the comprehensive analysis of Li Shutong’s poems and songs from 1913-1918,it can be also seen that very clear elements of Tenrikyo exist in Li Shutong’s religious world.At the same time,traditional Chinese Confucian and Buddhist beliefs also occupy an important place in the poems and songs of young Li Shutong.Through the study of Li Shutong’s poems and songs,we can generally conclude that Li Shutong seems to show a complex and diverse face in his belief structure during the period of Zhejiang First Normal College,which is to regard Confucianism as the premise and basis,Tenrikyo as the realistic target,and Buddhism as the common external realm.Li Shutong’s belief in this period has a connection meaning for Li Shutong’s belief in the same life.The religion of Tenrikyo has actually become an important opportunity and cause for the transition of Li Shutong as a “Confucian scholar”,to the Master Hongyi as an “eminent monk” although this fact has never been directly affirmed by Li Shutong(Master Hongyi)himself.While the poems and songs of young Li Shutong are actually important documents that support his belief in Tenrikyo,and also the key documents for the actual recording of the transitional phase of his belief.However,even if the research of Li Shutong(Master Hongyi)has obtained considerable in-depth progress,the space for interpretation contained in these documents may still be underestimated.