Guanghong Set Research

Daoxuan was the forefather of the Vinaya school of the southern mountain who wrote many Buddhism works. Guang hongmingji is a work of Buddhism thoughts document collections compiled by him. It includes more than 30 volumes, 180 articles written by more than 130 authors. These articles give us the first hand materials for studying society, history, religion and culture from Wei through earlier Tang dynasty. But Guang hongmingji, came into a book in the period of Gaozong when the dispute between Buddhism and Taoism was very intense, bore an explicit responsibility to teach and protect Buddhism. This influenced the attitude and objectivity of the compiling of the work. For this, my thesis will firstly distinguish the true from the false in the materials collected in Guang hongmingji, and probe into the cultural contents of the work secondly.The first four chapters basically discuss about the objectivity of the materials in Guang hongmingji, including native place and religious activity of Daoxuan, versions, resources, stylistic rules and layout of Guang hongmingji, as well as the the genuineness of those materials about the dispute of the three religions in Guang hongmingji. By combining the documents and history together, the thesis thinks Guang hongmingji collected materials about the dispute between the three religions in the first fifteen volumes. In the period of the first three emperors in earlier Tang, under the policy of putting Taoism before Buddhism and the situation of the dispute between Buddhism and Taoism getting more and more fierce, the compiling of Guang hongmingji got influences both from seeking the truth objectively and making forging subjectively. Therefore, the first fifteen volumes of the work have much higher value for reference, and at the meanwhile, have traces of interpolating and deliberate misreading by Buddhists. This part of documents should be used prudently.The last two chapters of the thesis will discuss about history of Southern and Northern Dynasty and relation between Buddhism and Literature by studying the materials collected in Guang hongmingji, including Buddhism activities after extinguishing of Buddhism in Northern Zhou, the differentiation between Cathay and Barbarians and translation versions Buddhism classics, dispute between Buddhism and Taoism in Southern Dynasty, Buddhism and Gong Style, influence on middle-age Literature by Buddhism Dukkha, Buddhism classics for subduing demons, etc. The thesis thinks that the merging of three religions after the extinguishing of Buddhism in Northern Zhou had an important influence on the development of Buddhism in the period of Sui and Tang Dynasty; The fact of no distinguish between Hu and Sanskrit versions of translation of Buddhism classics before Sui dynasty is closely related with the concept of the differentiation between Cathay and Barbarians; Idea of Buddhism exerted tremendous influence on the prosperousness of Gong Style Poem; The idea of Buddhism Dukkha had an important influence on the formation and development of middle-age suffering style of writing; Buddhism classics for subduing demons have multiple cultural values.Adopted a combining documental and historical method of study, the thesis aims to distinguish the false from the true. As Guang hongmingji is numerous in quantity of documents and rich in contents, further study of individual cases still has to waiting for.