Overview Of Vijnamatrasiddhisatra Scholar In China

The Vijnamatrasiddhisatra was transmitted to China during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, and after that, it has been developing continuously. Especially after Hsuan-tsang, the Tang-dynasty monk, finished his travel to the west to fetch Buddhist scriptures and then propagandized the Buddhist Idealism together with his fellow students, the Consciousness-Only branch became a separate and distinguished school in China at that moment. During the middle and late periods of the Tang Dynasty, Hsuan-tsang's directly taught students and their students, who are introduced and studied in this thesis in three categories, were the main force to study and spread the principles of Consciousness-Only School. The existence of different types of researchers was also a reflection of the real situation in the long history of the development of the Consciousness-Only School. As of the Late Tang and Five Dynasties, because of the wars and unrests, the Conscious-Only School and other branches of Buddhism declined. The lost of the classical books and the unclearness of the transition and inheritance of the principles of the Consciousness-Only School were so serious that some people of the future generations believed that this school totally died out. However, the fact was that there had been monks who believed in and spread the principles of the Consciousness-Only in different places since the Tang Dynasty until the Ming and Qing Dynasties, according to the historical records.In this thesis, the Consciousness-Only scholars after Hsuan-tsang are divided into three stages, which are the Tang-Five-Dynasty Stage, the Liao-Song-Jin-Yuan-Dynasty Stage and the Ming-Qing-Dynasty Stage, according to the periods they were in. Some representative scholars in each stage are introduced and investigated, and the characteristics of them in each stage are illustrated at the end of each chapter. Two prospective results in this thesis are:Firstly, it is hopeful that more people will get to know the Consciousness-Only scholars and the scale in each historical stage and their geographical distribution; Secondly, it is also hopefully that the characteristics of the scholars in each historical stage and the differences between individuals the traditions of the Consciousness-Only School in different areas and under different governments will be discovered and analyzed.