Tibet Ancient Literature Review

Buddhism was in full bloom within the period of the Tang Dynasty,meanwhile, the mural painting of Buddhist temple was prosperous,including other cultural studies pertinent to Buddhism.Time has almost extinguished those mural paintings:however, a few mural paintings survive by means of being recorded in documents.According to certain documents,the historical outline of the mural painting in the Tang and Five Dynasties comes into being both by examining author,site,content of those murals, and by compiling those painting murals according to its region.On the basis of compilation and the analyses of mural paintings and relevant information in documents,it is hoped that we could disclose a great deal of historical facts in cultural field,such as painting,Buddhism,literature and etc,in the period of the Tang and the Five Dynasties.The dissertation is divided into two parts,the discussion of Part One is based on the compilation of documents;Part Two is the compilation of documents which are relevant to the mural painting of Buddhist temple in the period of the Tang and the Five Dynasties.Part one consists of three chapters,which are discussion of the present study from the perspective of histories of the painting,Buddhism and literature as well.Chapter One studies relevant information in documents from the perspective of the painting history.People of different occupations were involved in the field of mural painting.As far as mural painting is concerned,there exist both cooperation and repetition.Traces could be found in various places.Furthermore,many famous painters participated in the field of mural painting.The subjects of mural paintings include not only subjects of Buddhism,secular society but also mountain-river subject, animal-plant subject.The research points out those different subjects of mural paintings occupy different proportion.Moreover,based on relevant documents,the study discloses the steps of mural painting and reveals its aesthetic characteristics.Chapter Two studies relevant document information from the perspective of Buddhism.The study shows that mural paintings not only disseminate the religious doctrine of Buddhism and attract Buddhist pilgrim,but also raise charity for temples. The study reveals pilgrims' belief in different Buddhist gods.Furthermore,the study on the mural painting of regions reveals Buddhism,painting and other culture activities are different from each other.Chapter Three studies relevant information from the perspective of literature. The study shows that the mural paintings of Buddhism temple have influence upon the literature of the time to a certain degree.Intellectuals of the time not only participated in the mural painting,but also were fond of appreciating mural paintings, which resulted in the composition of prose and poetry pertinent to temple mural paintings,consequently,traces of certain images relevant to mural paintings couldbe found in the writings from time to time.