On The Late Tang Dynasty Family Members Of The Buddhist Faith Mentality

The Tang Dynasty was a prosperity and development period in Chinese feudal society. Remarkable achievements have been made in every field in this period, thus becoming the object of widespread attention and study for both Chinese and foreign scholars. In recent years, the Tang religion beliefs were paid much more attention to, in which the Buddhist faith is the larger part studied by scholars. However, as for the mentality of the Tang Dynasty Buddhist faith studies, it is still very weak from a particular point of view in a particular dynasty. But the studying of the mentality of the Tang Dynasty Buddhist beliefs of family members is rarely involved from the family point of view. The Buddhism has a great development in the Tang Dynasty since its introduction, and its Sinicized process was fulfilled in the late Tang Dynasty, with the completion of the formation and development of Zen Buddhism. The Chinese played an important role in this process about the formation of a general situation of Buddhist worship. Family is the cell of society and the study about the mentality of the Tang Dynasty Buddhist beliefs of the family members means a lot for the understanding of Chinese social and spiritual significance, through which we can see the integration of Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism in Tang Dynasty, as well as its influence on the formation of Neo-Confucianism of the Song Dynasty. Therefore, this essay will place the Buddhist beliefs in the context of a particular era, by an era of concern about the Buddhist faith, family as a unit, in order to study Buddhism and Buddhist activities and acts as an entry point in the study of religious beliefs in the Tang Dynasty, and it may be a unique research perspective.This essay is divided into four major sections. The first part is the introduction part, which is a simple recount about the Sinicized process of Buddhism in China, articles on family involved in the division and necessity of the study of the mentality of the Tang Dynasty Buddhist beliefs; the second part makes the family a unit, and state the reasons for the formation of the family members of the late Tang Dynasty Buddhist beliefs, and it is mainly elaborate from four aspects: the change of the Tang material life and the characteristics of the psychological state of family members, the broad participation of family members from all sectors, the formation and development of Zen Buddhism, and the continued supporting from the Tang Dynasty rulers (Take Wuzong exception). The third part is the main body of this essay-the discussion of the beliefs of family members of the late Tang Dynasty Buddhist in detail. During the Sinicized process of Buddhism completion in China, it reflects their worship of Buddha from their different activities and family members from different families, and in this process, a common and stable mind of the worship about the Buddha is formed. From the upper-class family of the emperor, bureaucratic nobles and women, to lower-class family of NGS family members, special families and the investigation of literati class, all have generally shown their worship of Buddha in both behavior and mentality, showing that Buddhism enjoys popular support. The fourth part analyzes the late Tang family members, the characteristics of the Buddhist beliefs in mentality and its impact on social development. We can see the new features of the family worship of the Buddha and its influence on social thoughts and social culture in the Dynasty after Tang. The conclusion part of this essay is a brief summary, and also convinces the positive role of the general stability of the late Tang Dynasty Buddhist worship mentality in social and cultural development as well as the contribution of the Chinese Buddhism and Chinese-foreign cultural integration to the building of a harmonious society.