Study On Further Biographies Of Eminent Monks

This dissertation concentrates on the Continued Lives of Eminent Monks, which is one of the three most important hagiographies in medieval China. It is based on the research of earlier scholars such as Chenyuan, Tangyongtong, Sujinren and Chenshiqiang, and refers to varsities of up-to-date academic achievements in Chinese, Japanese and English languages.Ahead of the main text, there is an introduction which introduces an overview of previous research, points out the significance of current research, and lays out the main structure of this dissertation. The main text consists of two major parts, one focuses on philological study and the other focuses on the content of the subject, each part is made of three chapters.Chapter1discusses the background and the author of Continued Lives. First, it overviews the social and academic atmosphere in Early Tang among which the Continued Lives came into being. Then it examines the life and works of Daoxuan, whose academic preferences were obviously embodied in this book. Moreover, it analyses the image of Daoxuan in different biographical materials, and reveals the particularity of Buddhist hagiographies to remaind researchers to be more careful when making use of them.Chapter2concentrates on the philological part of the book. In the first three sections, the author compares dozens of different editions from Tang dynasty transcripts to modern printed versions, refers widely to historical records、 bibliographic documents and Buddhist catalogues, traces the transformation from the original version to the late version. The fourth section discusses the traditional ten-division classification of Chinese Buddhist hagiographies. The fifth and sixth sections deal with the primary sources and narrative style of the subject.Chapter3exploits the literary value of Continued Lives, including some litterateur monks, the acquaintanceship between monks and scholar-bureaucrats and the literary materials contained in the book.The second part of the dissertation contains some monographies about the important historic facts in Continued Lives. Chapter4focuses on the Buddhist academy recorded in the second division of this book, discusses issues such as the change of academic tendencies, the rise and fall of different Buddhist schools, the interaction between Buddhism and power.Chapter5researches the Relic-Distribution Campaigns during the Renshou Era by Emperor Wendi of Sui which was in fact an outcome of Wendi’s personal superstition and political pomposity, so it was neither resultful in real political life nor helpful in the development of Buddhism.Chapter6analyses the activities of self-immolation in Chinese Buddhist hagiographies from both the theoretical and practical perspectives, examines the patterns, motives and influence of these activities.At the end of this dissertation there are five appendixes:"biography of Daoxuan" in Song Biographies of Eminent Monks、chronicle of Daoxuan made by the author, two data tables of kosho-ji version made by Japanese scholars ogata koshu and Fujiyoshi Masumi, and a short essay about the identity of Buddhasanta and the Zen master Buddha.