A Study Of Buddhist Belief In Liao Dynasty

Buddhism was the mainstream religion in Liao Dynasty.The development of Buddhism in Liao Dynasty has its own characteristics,which has a profound impact on various fields of Liao Dynasty.This paper mainly focuses on several aspects of Buddhism including its development,features,influence and the Buddhist ideas which were popular and had great influence in Liao Dynasty and discusses the unique features and historical significance of Buddhism in Liao Dynasty in the development history of Chinese Buddhism.In addition to the introduction and conclusion,the paper is divided into five chapters.The introduction mainly combing the academic history,summarizes the weaknesses of previous studies,and explains the innovation,difficulties and writing ideas of the full text.The first chapter is about the origin and development stages of Buddhism in Liao Dynasty.There are four main sources of Buddhism in Liao Dynasty: Tang and Wu Dai Dynasties,Bohai,Uighur and Tianzhu.The development of Buddhism in Liao Dynasty can be divided into four periods: Taizu to Taizong period was the Initial stage,Shizong to Muzong period was the bottleneck period,Jingzong to Shengzong period was the rising period,and Xingzong to the end of Liao Dynasty was the peak period.In its heyday,Buddhism in Liao Dynasty made brilliant achievements in all aspects.The second chapter talks about the worship and belief of Buddha and Bodhisattva in Liao Dynasty.The popularity of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas belief in Liao Dynasty was different from that in previous dynasties.In the aspect of Buddhist belief and worship,the most popular belief in Liao Dynasty is Sakyamuni,followed by Amitabha,pharmacist Buddha,Maitreya and Achu Buddha.In the aspect of belief and worship of Bodhisattva,Guanyin Bodhisattva was most respected in Liao Dynasty.The following are Maitreya Bodhisattva,Puxian Bodhisattva,Manjusri Bodhisattva and dizang Bodhisattva.The Bodhisattva belief in Liao Dynasty showed a tendency of esoteric education.The third chapter is about the Buddhism sects in Liao Dynasty,which showed different development trends in Liao Dynasty.Dharmalaksana sect and pure land sect were popular all the time;Tiantai Sect,Tantrism,Huayan sect and Law sect rose in the late Liao Dynasty.Zen and San Lun sect are always in the doldrums.Apart from Zen and Sanlun,all the Buddhist sects in Liao Dynasty were widely distributed,but there were signs of spreading in Nanjing Road.In the Liao Dynasty,there appeared the phenomenon of "simultaneously worshiping various sects" among different believers,which is of great significance to the development of Buddhism.The fourth chapter focuses on Mainstream Buddhist concepts in Liao Dynasty.The concept of the decline of Buddhistm law and the closely related concepts of the cakravartin and Maitreya were popular in the Liao Dynasty.The popularity of the concept of the decline of Buddhistm not only affected the development of the various sects of Buddhism in the Liao Dynasty,but also objectively created a prosperous situation of Buddhism in the Liao Dynasty.Some of the Liao Dynasty emperors created their own image with the cakravartin,and most of the Buddhist believers in the Liao Dynasty regarded the Liao Dynasty emperor as the cakravartin,which strengthened the Buddhist believers' recognition of the Liao emperor.With the spread of the idea of the decline of Buddhistm,Maitreya's idea of the next generation rose and exerted great potential influence.The fifth chapter is about the influence of Buddhism belief in Liao Dynasty.Buddhism has different influence on the different believers in the spiritual world.As for the politics and economy of Liao Dynasty,Buddhism played a positive and negative role.In terms of culture,Buddhism obviously plays an active role.In the final part,in addition to a comprehensive summary of Buddhism in Liao Dynasty,it highlights the special status of Buddhism in Liao Dynasty in the whole history of Chinese Buddhism development.At the same time,it points out the view of“Liao dying from Buddhism” is biased.Buddhist belief strengthened the identification psychology of all ethnic groups in Liao Dynasty.