The Research Of The Buddhist Education Of Scholar-officials In Southern Dynasties

As a system of theory and practice,Buddhism always plays an important role in the education and cultivation of human beings.In particular,Mahayana Buddhism,which was introduced to China,keeps evolving to adapt to the demand of Chinese society and gradually develops a Buddhist culture with Chinese characteristics.In this process,Buddhism fought and echoed with Taoism and compromised with Confucianism to adapt to China's policy of"pushing people toward virtue by the threat of final retribution",and has gradually become a unique education system mutually reinforcing with Confucianism.The formation of the Buddhist education system,started with the introduction of Buddhism into China,is not only attributed to Mahayana Buddhism's further transformation to live a mundane life after its entry into China,but also the profound influence of China's inherent culture.By the time of the Southern and Northern Dynasties,Chinese culture experienced a great fluctuation and merger for the separation of the country,setbacks of Confucianism,competition of Taoism and rooting of Buddhism,so a vivid and powerful Buddhist education system rich in content and lively in style was shaped.Buddhist education in the Southern Dynasties was unique in its teaching methods.In its early sermon of Buddhist scriptures or lectures,the simple teaching method of questions and answers was adopted.Then with the development of Buddhist education,many unique teaching methods such as meditation and positive influence were derived.Scholar-officials received Buddhist education through lessons from temples,self-study at home and interaction with worshippers of all walks of life.At that time,Buddhist education for scholar-officials was born in the development of Buddhism education which was the fruit of the development and dissemination of Buddhism in the Southern Dynasties.Buddhist education for scholar-officials,consisted of learning and teaching in unique ways,played an important role in the multi-dimensional Buddhist education system.In the perspective of learning methods,scholar-officials learned through enlightenment,meditation,positive influence as well as questions and answers.While in the terms of learning ways,they learned from education given by temples,social activities of Buddhism and interactions with worshippers at alllevels.Learning methods and ways showed that the scholar-officials was flexible in receiving Buddhist education and reflected the effective dissemination of Buddhist culture at that time.By this long-term education in a variety of methods and ways,their knowledge of Buddhism was accumulated,beliefs of Buddhism strengthened,and practice as Buddhists greatly improved.Additionally,Buddhism education also had profound effects on them in terms of the development of personality,taste of life and improvement of spirit.While learning Buddhism,scholar-officials also promoted Buddhist education,namely teaching.By translating and annotating Buddhist scriptures,teaching Buddhist thoughts of monks and composing their own understandings,they disseminated Buddhist ideological teachings such as "all sentient beings have the Buddha nature inside" and "sudden enlightenment achieves Buddha",trying to influence more people to accept Buddhism thought.At the same time,scholar-officials profoundly influenced by Confucianism integrated Buddhist thoughts with Confucianism and Taoism,preaching the outlook on life and morality of the combination of Buddhism and traditional Chinese ethics,especially samara and karma as well as leniency and filial piety.Their efforts promoted not only the integration of Buddhism education and Chinese inherent culture,but also the continuous popularization of Buddhism education.With the development of Buddhist education for scholar-officials in the Southern Dynasties,its purpose,effects and fields under its influence were constantly expanding,reflected by the shift of Buddhist education from pure personal belief to formation of personality,guide of life and expanding influence to the society in particular.Profound effects to people from all levels and all walks of life not only further extended the coverage of Buddhist education,but also strengthened the influence of Buddhist education.Therefore,scholar-officials' active learning and teaching demonstrated the vitality of Buddhism while their combination of Buddhism and Chinese culture greatly accelerated the formation of the Buddhism with Chinese characteristics.The ideological connotation and practical methods of the Buddhist education for scholar-officials in the Southern Dynasties also provide modern education with much useful enlightenment.