A Study On The Reasons For Daoxuan To Carry Forward The Precepts

Chinese Buddhism culture reached a peak during the Sui and Tang Dynasties.During this period,the eight major sects of Chinese Buddhism gradually were formed and developed further,and Vinaya School was one of them.Master Daoxuan promoted the Buddhism precepts with the "Dharmagup-vinaya" as the core throughout his life.He combined the mere-representation "seed" doctrine with the essence of the precepts of the "Dharmagup-vinaya",and then integrated Mahayana and Hinayana.In his later years,Daoxuan created a new type of ordination altar and taught the rituals with full ordination,and unified the norms of the ordination system of Chinese Buddhist monks and nuns.This article adopts the research method of social history,through studying the growth process of Daoxuan,the process of advocating the precepts and the formation process of the monkhood,trying to explore the external factors and internal motivations of his advocating precepts.By analyzing the social environment of Master Daoxuan,the development of Buddhist precepts at the time,and the social positioning of Buddhism,this study found that there were three external reasons for Master Daoxuan to promote precepts: in the late Sui and early Tang,the ruler’s religious policies were governed by attaching great importance to The Buddha,and then they turned to restrain the Buddha;the monks’ precepts in the Sangha were not clear;the monks’ lack of strict precepts led to many problems in Buddhism.Through a comprehensive study of Master Daoxuan’s personal life experience,it is found that there are also three internal motivations for his promotion of the precepts: Daoxuan learned from Master Zhishou and inherited the research results of the previous generation of vinaya teacher on the " Dharmagup-vinaya";Daoxuan becoming a monk at Riyan Temple Master and tutored by Huijun was influenced by the theory of "Cheng Shi Lun" and the ideology of mererepresentation.In daily life,Daoxuan was influenced by the strict attitudes of the two teachers to form a persevering monk quality.It is because of the joint force of internal and external reasons that Master Daoxuan promoted the precepts throughout his life,created the Nanshan Vinaya School,and made the Nanshan Vinaya School stand out from the several major systems of vinaya,and finally formed the Vinaya School of Chinese Buddhism.