A Study Of The Buddhist Faith Of The Princesses In Sui And Tang Dynasty

Since the introduction of the Buddhism in China during the Han Dynasty,its influence extended continuously.Sui and Tang Dynasty was an important stage in the history of Chinese Buddhism.During this period,the Buddhism,regardless of nationality and class,its quantity increased rapidly.As a special group of the privileged class in our ancient society,the faith that princess had would get strong support from the royal family.“Although the Princess is noble,there is few recordation made by historiographer.”The princesses left few recordation compared with another people in the history.But starting the research with the Buddhism belief of the princesses is a new point of view of researching the idea of Buddhism in Sui and Tang Dynasty.It's worth making a research.The political marriage of princesses of Sui and Tang Dynasty made an ethnic fusion,and it also made a contribution of Buddhism's spread.The Buddhism was established as an official religion or main belief in another country such as Gaochang,Tuyuhun and Turk.The marriage of the Wencheng Princess and the king of Tibetan Empire---Songtsen Gampo,bring the Buddhism to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.Although the marriage of the princesses had political propose,it also accelerated the spread of religion.By sorting out historical materials such as epitaph,inscription and local chronicles,it is possible to determine that the total number of princesses in the Sui and Tang Dynasties,including the princesses who had been married out,was 260.Among them,there were 28 Buddhists which is closed to 1/10 of the total number.After combing and supplementation of the two generation of Princess lineage and religious belief,suspicious princesses such as Princess Da Xing,Princess Miao Yang in Sui and Princess Chang Zhao in Tang,the status of whom were also examined,it was concluded that most of the birth of Princess belief was influenced by their relatives and their own experiences.