Women In The Tang Dynasty Buddhist Faith

During the Tang Dynasty, Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism have been fully integrated, coupled with relatively open social atmosphere of the Tang Dynasty, and the promotion of Buddhism and taoism of Tang Dynasty rulers, the society formed a atmosphere of Buddhist and Taoist faith. Women as an important part of social groups, also influenced by this atmosphere, and a large number of women have turn themselves into Buddhist and taoist believers. Because of the special social status of the Tang Dynasty women and their religious beliefs are mainly concentrated in Buddhism and Taoism, so I take the Buddhist and Taoist beliefs of women as the research object.This paper use statistical methods to collect statistics about the rate of general situation of Buddhist and Taoist faith of women and the respective rate of Buddhist and Taoist faith of women in the period of the Tang Dynasty. This paper tell us the reason, the specific form, the social class and social influence of the women who believe in Buddhism and Taoism, and try to make people know more about the sense of the Tang Dynasty Women and there will be some help on the understanding of the social environment at that time. The reasons of belief in Buddhism and Taoism of women in Tang dynasty are generally divided into the following categories:the people who suffer the pain of losing loved ones; pray for blessings; those who are not in good health, they believe in Buddhism and Taoism in order to release from the ailment; by nature; be influenced by families; be disillusioned with the mortal world; the aged to kill time; to be immortal at the other shore; praying for children; living in poverty and in order to live shelter; to pursue a free life and some other special reasons and so on. The women with belief in Buddhism and Taoism in Tang dynasty come from different classes, includes royal women, maid-in-waiting, bureaucratic literati women and common women. And the form of belief of the women who believe in Buddhist and Taoist can be divided into the following types:burning incense and chanting; eating abstinence from meat; giving alms; copying scriptures, drawing statues; building temples; building Buddha statues; choosing religious name for themselves; accept the religious discipline of Buddhism and Taoism; keeping Buddhist nun and Taoist nun; giving one's life to Buddhism and Taoism; buried by the way of religion after dying and so on.After the fusion of the Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism, Daoism and Buddhism changed a lot and more and more close to the Traditional Chinese culture. Meanwhile, so many women believe in Daoism and Buddhism made a significant impact on the social climate and Confucianism at that time. So many women believe in Buddhism and Taoism has injected new vitality for the development of Buddhism and Taoism. Because the Buddhist nun and Taoist nun can get land and don't pay taxes, so they compete for land with ordinary people, and compete for labor and taxes with state, and it is not good for the development of the state to a certain degree. Buddhism and Taoism enslave the idea of the followers and has become a tool for the rulers to rule the people, but to a certain extent, it is conducive to maintaining social stability.