A Study Of The Kaiyuan Temple In Dunhuang From The Tang Dynasty To The Early Song Dynasty

Dunhuang was a well-known Buddhist city where existed a lot of Buddhist monasteries during the Medieval times 。 Among these monasteries, Kaiyuan monastery had a extraordinary position, and it is because the emperor, Tang Xuanzong commanded every state of the empire should have a monastery named Kaiyuan in the 26 th year of Kaiyuan period 。There are large numbers of relevant records about the origin of Kaiyuan monastery,and the lifestyle of the Buddhists。Also there are some about these monasteries taking part in activities held by Buddhist group or the secular society as an entirety。These documents have already atttracted much attention from the authority,many of which have been equated in former academic outcomes。But there are few examples about study treating Kaiyuan monastery as an independent case。Stuying on Kaiyuan monastery can not only help us get more knowledge about the development of Dunhuang Buddhist society,it can also offer reference to researches about how Buddhist society worked in other areas。In this essay,I chose “Dunhuang monastery during the Tang,Five Dynasties and the Early Song”as a special object,and analyzed historical evolution from historical perspective adopting both case study and the whole research。The essay is composed of three chapters。The first chapter is about the probability of Kaiyuan monastery,including the origin,distribution and some monks related to the monastery。I hope it can leave you a probably impression about the monastery 。 The second chapter focused on the Buddhist activities Kaiyuan monastery took part in。The last chapter is about the activities related to secular society,especially some economic activities。Based on th e traditional philology and Buddhism, I particular emphasized on distinguishing the historical process and, and pay attention to the role Kaiyuan monastery played in these activities and the relationship with other monasteries 。Knowing that “reconstruct the history as the real one occurred in the past”(Leopold Rank)can never be totally accomplished,I still worked hard to make it clear how Kaiyuan monastery existed during Late Tang,Five Dynasties and Early Song。As to“search for the history knowledge from the historical evidence”( Chen Yinke),because of the insufficient of original materials and my academic ability,it can’t become true in this article。As an monastery built by the Emperor himself,Kaiyuan monastery had a lot of characters and advantages,which make it possible for the monastery to undertakesome politically-significant activity 。 It brought the monastery respect and more chance to hold national sacrifice ceremony。Kaiyuan monastery preserved a statue,which is molded according to the emperor’s face,and it became a good media when the local goverment, Guiyijun show their loyalty to the central government 。 By arranging these materials,we can understand the position Kaiyuan monastery has in Dunhuang and the connection beetween the monastery and the whole Dunhuang society。...