In Recent Years, Nanjing Has Discovered Three Issues In The Study Of Buddhist Remains In The Southern Dynasties

The Northern and Southern Dynasties is the golden period of the development of Buddhism. Nanjing (Jiankang), as the capital of the Southern Dynasties, is known as the major center of Buddhism in the south of ancient China. Buddhism culture is prosperous. Buddhist archaeology is an important issue that cannot be ignored in the archaeology of the Southern Dynasties. From 1990s, new archaeological discoveries involving Buddhist culture emerge in an endless stream. This paper has collected and researched typical found Buddhism remains of Southern Dynasties in Nanjing recent years, tried to make a preliminary study on the layout problem of the Jiankang Buddhist temples in the Southern Dynasties and the communication of the Buddhism culture among the Northern Dynasties of ancient China, the Korean peninsula of Baekje and ancient Japan, in order to comprehend the overall appearance of the Southern Buddhist culture.The paper is divided into five parts, as follows:The first part introduces the value and significance of the topic, current study situation and the object and purpose of the research.The second part objectively introduces the unearthed Buddhism remains of the Southern Dynasties in Nanjing mainly found in recent years.The third part makes the classification of the archaeological research in different degrees according to the different stations of the remains. They can be divided into relics and ruins. A total of eight relics include temple ruins and burial sites. Although none of the temple ruins was fully excavated, but according to the features of the unearthed remains, we can determine that relics all belong to the Southern Dynasties. Remains can be divided into Buddhist statues and lotus eaves tiles. Buddhist statues include gold copper Buddha statues and clay Buddhist statues. Gold copper Buddha statues can be divided into four categories, including Buddha, bodhisattva, small Buddha and light back. According to different modeling features, the paper makes further type analysis. Integrating typology with comparative studies, we can speculate that the gold copper Buddha statue with inscriptions and the similar type of Buddha belong to Liang Dynasty period, the rest of the Buddha statues should be in the same age as the Buddha statues excavated from Shandong Longhua temple ruins which belong to Eastern Wei and Northern Qi period. In the clay statues, statues from Hongtu Bridge damaged seriously, according to the analysis of unearthed stratigraphy and other relics, the statues’age should belong to the late Southern Dynasties. Through the comparative study, some scholars speculate that the statue of Jinrunfa construction site exists during the reign of the Southern Qi and Liang dynasties. Lotus eaves tiles based on the stratum relationship and the pattern difference, can be divided into eight types, part of the them make further classification. According to the characteristics of the development, lotus eaves tiles are divided into three phases, the early Southern Dynasties, the middle Southern Dynasties and the late Southern Dynasties.The fourth part is the analysis of the issues related to the Buddhism remains of the Southern Dynasties in Nanjing. Jiankang Buddhist culture of the Southern Dynasties has a profound impact on the Northern Dynasties of ancient China, the Korean peninsula of Baekje and ancient Japan. According to the archaeological data and the literature data, it is concluded that the layout of Jiankang Buddhist temples in the Southern Dynasties should be tower front and hall behind, part of the large temples built courtyard. In addition, the style characteristics of Buddhist statues and lotus eaves tiles in Nanjing area of the Southern Dynasty can be found in the same type of relics unearthed in the Northern Dynasties of ancient China, the Korean peninsula of Baekje and ancient Japan, reflecting that the Buddhist culture of Jiankang area in the Southern Dynasties exchanges and spreads to other countries.The fifth part is the conclusion. Summarize the purpose of the study, and point out the limitations.