The Power Of Discourse In The Beam On Behalf Of The Monks And Nuns Biography

As is manifested in our scholarship, Buddhist hagiographies have long been the basic sources of Buddhist studies of medieval China. The complication of these hagiographies provide possibilities of interpretations from all different perspectives such as that of religion, history, literature, history of ideas, as well as linguistics.Focusing on the two most influential texts of the period, Biographies of Eminent Monks and Biographies of Nuns, this research investigates the power of discourses in the making of hagiographies. Specifically, it illustrates how the powers of sovereign, literati, and Buddhist historians have shaped the narratives and ideas in Buddhist hagiographies. Part one tackles the relationship between the power of sovereign and its impact on Buddhist hagiographies. It shows how the hagiographies depict ideal rulers faithful to Buddhism to react on the challenge from the highest power in the mundane world; yet the case of vegetarianism movement under the orders of Emperor Wu of the Liang Dynasty manifests how royal authority regulated monastic lives and the accounts about them. Part two moves to literati's Guanyin belief in Wu and Yue areas during medieval period. By examining the literati's connections to Buddhism, their transmission of Guanyin belief, and the reasons those literati did so, the research shows the way literari's voice permeated the hagiographies. Part three focuses on the power of Buddhist historians and analyzes their effors to edit and narrate lives of eminent monks. Also, it draws attention to the dream narrative in hagiographies, which apparently has become a narrative strategy. The appendix concerns about the illness narratives in Buddhist hagiographies, which form the knowledge of illness of Buddhism.This research takes a new look at Buddhist hagiography and attempts to expand its study, which finally leads us to rethink the making of Buddhist history.