Equality And Benevolence

Equality and benevolence are two of the excellent factors in the Buddhism's doctrine.Although Shen Congwen wasn't a Buddhist who never did any research on Buddhism,he was closely related to Buddhist culture due to his special life experience and cultural background.It has been 74 years since the first scholar concerned the relation of Shen Congwen and the Buddhist culture.As early as in 1934,Wang Wei had realized "Sheng Congwen's articles are markedly influenced by Buddhist culture in his 'Reading Border Town".Now the articles about Shen Congwen and Buddhist culture are increasing,however,most of them are the general exploration about the framework whereas just a few focus on such concrete factors as equality and benevolence.This thesis tries to illustrate the influence of Buddhist culture upon Shen Congwen's creation from the perspective of equality and benevolence.The thesis includes three parts:preface,body and conclusion.The preface outlines the relation of religion and literature,the salvation function of Buddhism,the inexplicable bond between Shen Congwen and Buddhism,and sums up the research on the relation of Shen Congwen and Buddhist culture.The body is divided into three chapters.Chapter One discusses equality,which is the surviving principle of the universe in nature.The first section examines the interpersonal equality from the angle of the equality between Miao Nationality and Han Nationality,man and women, persons of different identities and social status and their striving for equal rights,and then the author finds the right point from the equal doctrine to trace back to the Buddhist culture;the second section of this chapter chiefly deals with the equality among human beings,inanimate objects and nature.Shen Congwen kept his eye on small animals,plants and detected the dignities and ingenuity of their life,displaying an amiable connection among them.Chapter Two deeply looks into the Buddhist origin of equality---benevolence.The author,by tracing back to the origin of Buddhism,makes a detailed analysis on the basis of Shen Congwen's creation,with a view to bringing the theory and practice together.Shen Congwen preferred to create the artistic images of high benevolence and pondered over the volatility of the destiny.Chapter Three explores Shen Congwen's insight into Buddhism.The author discerns his benevolence from his life particulars,presenting the unconscious influence of Buddhist benevolence on his personality,works and other aspects.