The Relationship Between Lankavatara Sutra And Poets In Tang Dynasty

Buddhism reached to the greatest peak in Tang Dynasty during Chinese Buddhism history,this is recognized by academic circles.At that time,from the emperors to civilians,lots of people have a great enthusiasm for Buddhism.In politics,more than half emperors take an encouraging and supporting attitude toward the Buddhism;the amounts of temples,monks and land are quite large in its time economically,it even has a deep influence to the national finance;in the culture,As the main body of intellectual class at time,scholars often visit temples,make friends with monks,study Buddhist scriptures in their daily life,and they regard Buddhism as one of their important ideological resources.Therefore,Buddhism infiltrates into the society deeply in every aspects in this case.in some documents,it even has evidences to show that it is hard to distinguish to the syncretism of the three religions.For example,in Bai Juyi's The Big Rug,he said"I wish I had a big rug ten thousand feet long,which at one time could cover up every inch of the City."(Arthur Waley,Translator-A HUNDRED AND SEVENTY CHINESE POEMS-1938)The Buddhism elements contained in this poem is regarded as inherited from Du Fu's spirit in My cottage Unroofed by Autumn Gales.This is a visible example for the syncretism of the Buddhism and Confucianism.Because of the development of Tang's Buddhism,Buddhist scriptures become widely known.As a well-known Buddhism scripture,although Lankavatara Sutra's contents is considered to be Vijbana-vada when criticize sectarianism,Lankavatara Sutra has gone beyond Vijbana-vada limit,which means that it is regarded as a Buddhist Scripture symbol for a long time since it is recorded in monks' biographies that Patriarch Damour once prayed for initiation.In document records,the spread of this scripture has an inextricable part of Zen,especially Northern sect's development.With Northern sect's development gradually,North Zen masters come from different places bring this scripture to all parts of the nation.For example,in northern cities such Chang'an and Luoyang,or Southern Wuyue Region,this scripture is not rare.Because of its widely spread,Lankavatara Sutra also effects literature.If we study on the relationship between poets of Tang Danasty and Lankavatara Sutra,it is easy to find that Wang Wei,Gu Kuang,Bai Juyi,Li He,Li Shangyin and so on,all of them have works mentioned about this scripture go down to posterity.In Dali period,the famous poet Wei Yingwu also study on Lankavatara Sutra,and he is the first poet who tell in his poems to people that he once learn about this scripture in Tang Danasty.As a result,it is not too hard to know that Lankavatara Sutra must take an important place during his study process.It is generally accepted by academic circles that Wei can touch this sutra contact his two episodes when he visited to Tong De Temple in Luo Yang and Lang Ya Temple in Chu Zhou.Actually,before that,the young man has known about the sutra from Da Anguo Temple's master Jingjue,when he plays a role of guard for the empire in Da Ming Palace.Da Anguo Temple is adjacent to Da Ming Palace and master Jingjue is a famous monk at that time who writes a book named The Inheritance of Lankavatara Sutra.Needless to say how he appreciates the satra.The master maybe still alive when Wei Yingwu works for Da Ming Palace.And because of their blood relationship,no matter from aspects of geography,politics or family,Wei has a deep relationship with Jingjue.Wei is well-born and he values the concept of family very much.Accordingly,during four years when he plays a role of guard for the empire in Da Ming Palace,it is impossible that he can remain indifferent to master Jingjue and the satra in such a situation.Come to a conclusion,Wei may pay much attention to this satra from his youth.We could say that he learns about the Sutra not only for Buddhism but also for his family.In the sunset of his life,Wei Yingwu was once a governor of Suzhou,in which he makes friends with poets such as Jiao Ran,Gu Kuang and so on.This may also be a factor in his process of learning Lankavatara Sutra.From the youth to old age,the relationship between Wei and Lankavatara Sutra is almost throughout his whole life.During the process of his learning,Metaphor in the satra leaves a deep mark on his poems both on theme and thought,which making his poems mentioned about the metaphors on waves and ice as well as deep philosophical thoughts.In addition,besides the influence on poem creation,the satra also infiltrates into Wei's life,we can find evidence to show this from his attitude to the career,he thinks that his own political career is just go with the fate.On common study,this scripture can be accepted by people at that time,one of the reasons is that it tells people to be a vegetarian.Wei mentions to his vegetarian habit all the year in his poems,this habit is also influenced by Lankavatara Sutra.