A Study Of The Life Of Milarepa From The Perspective Of The Biographical Literature Theory

The Life of Milarepa is a well-known biographical work in the history of Tibetan literature.Its author,Sanggye Gyaltsen(1452-1507),was a famous Kagyu monk.Feudal serfdom economy developed rapidly in Tibet from the 15 th to 16 thcentury,while various sects of Tibetan Buddhism were highly integrated and competed with local feudal forces.Against this background,the creation of The Life of Milarepa carried the missionary purpose of teaching people to believe Buddhism and seek vimoksa,and the ideal of revitalizing the Kagyu through the legendary deeds of the Kagyu monk Milarepa.Its specific plot contains the practice content of the Kagyupa Mahamudra teaching method and the creation idea of promoting Buddhism and the sect.This thesis uses the biographical literature theory system to analyze the creation details of the Sanggye Gyaltsen?s version of The Life of Milarepa,such ast he writing ideas,specific writing techniques,and creation appeals aside from delivering missionary sermons,in order to explore the specific influence of Tibetan Buddhism tantric practice procedures and the complex of monk writers? apologetics on the writing methods and creation content of biographies of Tibetan Buddhist monks.At the same time,this thesis combines literary theory with religious knowledge,thus exploring a different way of thinking and perspective for the study of biographies of Tibetan Buddhist monks.This thesis is composed of three parts: introduction,main body and conclusion.Its main body contains five chapters.The introduction first introduces the reasons for selecting this topic,pointing out that domestic scholars in this field have not achieved academic results in applying the biographical literature theory system to study The Life of Milarepa.Against this background,the author demonstrated the feasibility and specific research steps of combining Tibetan Buddhist Tantric practice procedures and the biographical literature theory.What?s more,the author points out that this thesis has sufficient research space and detailed research basis after combing the relevant research results of the academic circle as well as the biographical literary theory and Tibetan Buddhism tantric knowledge used in this paper.In terms of the main body,the first chapter mainly analyzes the similarities and differences between historical facts and biographical facts in The Life of Milarepa.By comparing the life story of the Venerable Mila recorded in The Life of Milarepa with the relevant part in The Blue Annalsand The History of Lho-rong Chos-byung,which were authoritative and relatively detailed Milarepa?s life story in Tibetan historical records,and The Collections of Songs of Milarepa,which was also written by Sanggye Gyaltsen and recorded some of the Venerable Mila?s life story,the author demonstrates specific aspects for detailed research on the reasons for these different records,in order to pave the way for analyzing the structural principles,explanatory strategies,and fiction of The Life of Milarepa in the main body.The second chapter mainly analyzes the basis and standard of Sanggye Gyaltsen's selection of historical facts and biographical facts in The Life of Milarepa,and points out that Sanggye Gyaltsen selected biographical facts based on standards such as shaping the extraordinary image of the Venerable Mila,reflecting the basic doctrines of Buddhism and the superiority of Kagyu teachings,as well as explaining specific practice content.The third chapter mainly analyzes fictitious phenomena in The Life of Milarepa.The author lists the fictitious plots in the biography,analyzes the reasons one by one,explores the purpose,demonstrates the creation appeals,and points out the nature of fiction in The Life of Milarepa and other biographies of Tibetan Buddhist monks.The fourth chapter mainly analyzes the structural principles of The Life of Milarepa.This chapter mainly discusses how Sanggye Gyatzan used the Kagyu Tantric practice procedures to organize the content in order to show the superiority of the Kagyu teaching methods and convey the practice ideas of the Kagyu teaching methods to the readers.The concluding summarizes the writing ideas and main points of the whole thesis as well as the conclusions drawn in each chapter,and again points out the theme of this thesis,i.e.carrying out research on The Life of Milarepa through combination of the theory of literature and religion to explore how Sanggye Gyaltsen delivered missionary sermons as well as promoted he Kagyu sect and apologetics through content selection,plot organization,and fictional description in The Life of Milarepa.In this way,the author provides a different way of thinking and perspective for the study of the biographies of Tibetan Buddhist monks,and hopes to practice the combination of theories of literature and religion in more case studies,thus further reflecting the creation of Tibetan literature.