A Preliminary Study On The Relationship Between Monks And Family In Mid-Ancient

Along the Mid-ancient,Buddhism had experienced the transformation from introduction to prosperity.As is widely acknowledged,families are the mirrors of a country.The attitude of the families toward monkhood-which is an important part of Buddhism-can reflect the attitude of the society towards Buddhism to a certain extent.Also,it shows the course of development of Buddhism in various regions of China.The relationship between monks and their families after they became monks reflects the infiltration of Buddhism into grass-roots social units and the compromise of Buddhism to Confucian ethics.The medieval monks recorded in The Biographies of Eminent Monks,Continuation of the Biographies of Eminent Monks and The Biographies of Eminent Monks in Song Dynasty are the main forces in the development of Buddhism at this stage.The behavior patterns of monks illustrated in these biographies are exemplary in their dynasties,they can clearly show the development of Buddhism from Wei,Jin,Southern and Southern Dynasties to Sui and Tang Dynasties.This research will analyse the development of Buddhism from three stages of monkhood:monks' life before monkhood,the code of conduct of monks by precepts and laws,and the interaction between monks and families in fact.The first chapter analyses the reasons why monks became monks and the attitude of families towards monks.In the second chapter,starting with the norms of precepts and laws on monks after they became monks,the ideal relationship between monks and families is analyzed,and the actual relationship between monks and families is shown.Chapter three comprehensively analyses the reasons of affecting the relationship between monks and their families from internal and external factors.In conclusion,the relationship between monks and their families is influenced by political and economic factors.At the same time,monks are reforming Buddhism from the inside in order to make Buddhism more adaptable to the environment of the central mainland.Finally in the Tang Dynasty,Buddhism reached a stage of prosperity.