在古代中国,不论是官方往来,民间交流,或是其他方式的交往,终究受制于一定条件,而且由于政治制度、文化背景乃至风俗习惯的差异,各地之间的交流往往存
在着很深的隔阂乃至偏见。唯有佛教文化例外。魏晋南北朝时期的绝大部分统治集团,多视佛教为神明,顶礼膜拜。因此,各地的佛教文化交流几乎是无条件的。六
朝僧侣作为文化交流的特殊使者,纵横南北,往来东西,在传播佛教文化的同时,也在传递着其他丰富的文化信息。其影响所及,不仅渗透到当时社会的各个阶层,
而且在很大程度上改变了中国文化的发展方向。从长安、洛阳、建康、凉州四大文化中心的兴衰及其文化交流的若干途径看,从僧侣自身的文学创作、佛教思想对于
中古诗律演变、中古文学题材、中古文学思想的巨大影响等方面看,六朝僧侣在魏晋南北朝时期的文化传播过程中,的确起到了特殊和重要的作用。
By "Six Dynasties" we mean the period between the downfall of the Han Dynasty in 220 and the reunification of China
in 589, covering Wei , Jin, and the Northern and Southern dynasties.
This article seeks to explore from several angles the important
scholarly activities of the Buddhist monks during this period and their
implications for the process of cultural diffusion. In time of peace
when cultural exchange occurs readily, this question does not draw much
attention. However, it is a salient point during times of disunion when
the social intercourse between different places, especially between
different states, encounters many obstacles. The threefold power
struggle between the Three Kingdoms, the southward movement of the
Eastern Jin, the confrontational relationship between the North and the
South-the four hundred years of the Six Dynasties history was basically a
period of disunion. It was however characterized by one unifying
aspect-the fact that most of the ruling factions practiced Buddhism, and
in some cases even regarded it as a state religion. Against this kind
of historical and cultural background, those monks whose "purpose was in
wandering and begging alms, and who did not seek a safe place to live"
[1]obtained support and favor from most of the ruling houses. It was for
this very reason that those monks in this highly fractured period of
the Six Dynasties were able to play a special role as messengers of the
cultural gospel and preservers of cultural resources.
In
order to familiarize ourselves with the activities of the monks, we
propose to begin by taking a closer look at the four cultural centers:
Chang'an, Luoyang, Jiankang (the present region of Nanjing in Jiangsu Province), and Liangzhou (now Wuwei in Gansu Province).
Chang'an
was originally the capital of the Western Han. The revolt of Wang Mang
left the city destroyed. When the Eastern Han established its capital in
Luoyang,
Chang'an's former glory seemed to have come to an end. During the last
years of the Western Jin, at the time of the revolt of the Yongjia era
(307-312), Luoyang was lost to the enemy and Prince Qin proclaimed
himself Emperor Min of the Jin in Chang' an, which by then had fallen
into ruins. With a weak base, he had no choice but to surrender to Liu
Yao. The Former Zhao and the Former and Later Qin subsequently
controlled the region of Qinlong (Shaanxi). With the long years of unceasing warfare, the cultural development of Chang'an ground to a halt.
In 379, the Former Qin took Xiangyang.
Xi
Zuochi, a historian, Shi Dao'an, an eminent monk and others arrived at
Chang'an, helping to produce a cultural revival in the city.[2] Sixteen
years after the death of Dao' an, Kumarajiva, an eminent monk from the
Western Regions, came to Chang'an and, with strong support from those in
power, undertook a group translation of the Buddhist sutras, thus
promoting the spread of this foreign culture and laying solid
foundations for the cultural renaissance of Chang'an. Following the rise
of the Northern Wei, most of the territories of Northern in the hands
of the Juqu Tribe). Moreover, Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei
strongly promoted Sinicization, leading to a considerable revival of
cultural activity in the North.
With
the partition of Northern Wei in the third year of the Yongxi reign of
Emperor Xiaowu (534), the Western Wei established its capital in
Chang'an. Forty-eight years passed before the rise of the Sui Dynasty in
58),which then, following the victory over the Chen, unified China in
589. This left Chang'an with a history of fifty-five years as the
capital of Northern China. During this period of time, in spite of brief setbacks, Chang'an flourished culturally.
In
October 554, the Western Wei launched a large-scale attack and
conquered the state of Liang. Jiangling, the capital of Liang, fell into
their hands and Emperor Yuan of the Liang was hanged. At the same time a
great number of Southerners were brought by force to the North; among
them were such important literary figures as Wang Bao from Langya, Liu
Ke from the State of Pei, Zong Lin from Nanyang, Shen Jiong from Wuxing
and Yu Jicai from Xinye. That same year, Yu Xin, who had been appointed a
diplomatic envoy to the Western Jin, was also detained in Chang'an.
Thanks to the arrival of the Southern literati, the cultural scene of
the city, already enlivened by the presence of Buddhism, benefited from
the addition of literature and art. After the fall of Jiangling, the
members of the southern gentry fell to the bottom ranks of society and
were treated as lower-class people. However, the rulers of the Western
Wei followed Yu Jicai's advise and liberated several thousands of
Southerners from their servile status, treating their major literati
with due respect and generosity. Yu Xin was, for instance, asked to
maintain his title of a diplomatic envoy and such titles as "the General
of the Pacification Army" and "the Grand Master of the Palace with
Golden Seal and Purple Ribbon" were bestowed on him.
Within
five years, the attitude of the Western Wei ruling classes towards Han
culture was transformed from discrimination to admiration. This provided
the Northern and Southern literati with quite a relaxed environment.
Literary gatherings spiced with alcohol, deliberations over scholarly
knowledge, mutual learning through the exchange of skills and
crafts-this was an important turning point in the general revival of the
culture in Chang'an. T}vo years later, Emperor Xiaomin (Yuwen Jue) of
the Northern Zhou overthrew the Western Wei. Most of the subsequent
rulers of the Northern Zhou appreciated the literati. Thus people like
Yu Xin, Wang Bao and others were treated with increasing consideration
and exerted far- reaching influence.
In
583, Niu Hong, the Director of the Palace Library, presented a petition
to the Sui Emperor Wendi asking to start a collection of books. Ne
accepted the proposition, ordering a search for ancient books scattered
and lost throughout the entire empire. This was an important step in the
process of reconstructing culture in Chang'an. In 585, Liu Zhuo,
together with Yang Su, Niu Hong, Su Wei, Yuan Shan, Xiao Gai, He Tuo,
Fang Huiyuan, C:ui Chongde and Cui Ze discussed difficult passages from
the past and present at the Directorate of Education. Subsequently Li E
submitted a petition to the emperor asking for the rectification of
literary forms. At that time the Sui emperor Yangdi was very keen on
reading, writing and compilation. In the period of almost twenty years
before he ascended the throne, the process of the compilation of texts
never stopped: from classics through belles-lettres, military,
agricultural, geographical and medical texts to works on divination,
Buddhism, Taoism and even gambling and hunting, all newly and
painstakingly edited. The compilation was in thirty-one parts containing
over seventeen thousand scrolls. When he was in charge of Yangzhou
himself, he gathered over a hundred scholars under him in the palace
and frequently ordered them to compile texts. At that time, the library
holdings of the Jiaze Palace
in Chang'an amounted to three hundred and seventy thousand scrolls.
Emperor Yangdi ordered the Director of the Palace Library, Liu Guyan, to
arrange them in order and remove miscellaneous duplicates, thus
obtaining over thirty一seven thousand classified scrolls. They were
stored in the Xiuwen Hall of the Eastern Capital. Fifty copies were then
made of each these scrolls, which were classified into three grades and
stored respectively in the Western Capital, the Palace Establishment of
the Eastern Capital and government agencies. Although those books were
lost from time to time in the turmoil of war and multiple relocations,
the process of collecting and transmitting them helped lay the
foundations of Tang culture.
Luoyang
was the capital of the Eastern Han. It was also the cradle of Chinese
Buddhism. As early as the Eastern Han, Buddhism had started to radiate
from Luoyang
throughout the whole country. It is said that the earliest Buddhist
temple, the White Horse Temple, was built in Luoyang, and that the first
Buddhist sutra translated into Chinese, the Sutra in Forty-two
Sections, was brought out here too. The Song of Five Surprises by Liang
Hong reflects Luoyang's
prosperity at that time. But not more than a hundred years had passed
before Dong Zhuo, a warlord from the Western Liang, forcibly moved the
capital to Chang'an and burned Luoyang's palaces and temples along with the houses of its residents. The proud city of Luoyang was soon left in ruins.[3]The Cao-Wei and the Western Jin established their capital anew in Luoyang,
managing to revive the city somewhat. However, sixty years later, the
Revolt of Eight Princes plunged the city into the abyss of war once
more. Emperor Yuandi of the Jin sought refuge in the South, while the
North fell into the hands of non-Han peoples. The Central Plains region
was successively controlled by political powers of various nomadic
peoples. None of their leaders established their capital in Luoyang, so that by this time the glory of the city was no more.
In
493, Emperor Xiaowen of the Wei inspected the old city of Luoyang in
person-including the bridge over the Luo River, the Directorate of
Education, and the stone scriptures一and was deeply moved by the
dilapidated state in which he found the ancient capital. Despite this,
he decided to restore Luoyang
as the capital on the grounds that Pingcheng was cold and subject to
dust-storms. After all, a capital located somewhere in the Central
Plains was a prerequisite to securing his political position. But Luoyang
was in such a poor condition that it had to be rebuilt. Thanks to
projects like the carving of the Longmen Grottos and to the policy of
large-scale Sinicization undertaken by the dynasty over the 42 years to
534, Luoyang became, once again, a cultural center of its era. Under the Northern Wei, the economy of Luoyang
achieved a high level of development. In the cultural sphere, apart
from traditional culture, Buddhism enjoyed an unparalleled rapid
development. While monks of Chinese origin like Songyun and Huisheng
traveled west in search of the Dharma, and spread Chinese culture as
they went,[4] an even greater number of foreign monks arrived in Luoyang
to preach the teachings of Buddha.
While Emperor Xiaowen regarded himself as the fons et origo
of achievements in the cultural domain, it has to be acknowledged that
there was still a large gap between the North and the South. It was with
the coming to maturity of the literati Zhen Chen, Yuan Fan, Chang Jing,
Zu Ying, Zheng Daozhao, Liu Fang and their like that the culture of
Luoyang began to show signs of recovery. In 534, the Northern Wei split
into the Eastern and the Western Wei with the Yellow River
as a border. In October of that year, Gao Huan installed Yuan Shanjian
as emperor, known as Emperor Xiaojing of the Eastern Wei. To avoid a
geostrategic threat from the Central Shaanxi he moved the capital
eastwards to Ye (in modern Hebei Province, west of Linzhang County between Handan and Anyang). The Eastern Wei was later replaced by the Northern Qi. In the process of building the new capital Gao Huan dismantled the palaces of Luoyang.
The city once again faced the specter of extinction. From then on the
northern center in the eastern region shifted to the city of Ye, with
areas in modern Henan and Shandong provinces under its jurisdiction. In the past, Cao Cao (155-220) had risen from Ye and thus the Kingdom of Wei
had taken the city as an alternate capital. In later years both the
Zhao and the Former Yan had had their capital here. Hence the city had a
fairly good infrastructure, making it a wise choice as capital for the
Eastern Wei and the Northern Qi.
In 573 the Chen sent an expedition against the North, recovering the Huainan region. This resulted in a considerable cooling of its relationship with the Northern Qi. At the same time, the Northern Zhou also sent their army against the Northern Qi,
seizing Jinyang and other areas and thus intensifying the rapprochement
with the South. This policy was adopted to some extent under the
influence of some important Southern literati residing in Central Shaanxi. Under a pincer attack from the South and the West, the Northern Qi
gradually declined. After the collapse of the Northern Qi, their
capital at the City of Ye fell into the hands of the Northern Zhou army
in 577. At this time, Yang Xiuzhi, Minister of Personnel Yuan Yuxiu,
Chamberlain of the Court for the Palace Garrison Li Zuqin, Minister of
Revenue Yuan Xiubo, Chief Justice of the imperial Court Sima Youzhi,
Chamberlain for the National Grain Stock Cui Dana, Director of the
Palace Library Yuan Wenzong, Senior Recorder and concurrently Vice
Minister for Confidential Documents and Imperial Edicts Li Ruo, Senior
Recorder and concurrently Supervising Secretary Li Xiaozhen, Supervising
Secretaries Lu Sidao and Yan Zhitui, Senior Recorder for Comprehensive
Duty and concurrently Vice Minister for Confidential Documenu and
Imperial Edicts Li Delin, Senior Recorder for Comprehensive Duty and
concurrently Imperial Edict Drafter Lu Yi, Vice Minister for
Confidential Document and Issuing Imperial Edict Xue Daoheng, Imperial
Edict Drafter Gao Xinggong, Xin Deyuan, Wang Shao and Lu Kaiming-the
eighteen Southern officials and literati一were ordered to set off for
Chang'an along with the emperor, thus moving there the cultural center
of the North.
Jiankang (modern Nanjing)
had already come into existence by the end of the Han Dynasty. As a
consequence of the retreat of Emperor Yuan of the Jin to the South of
the Yangzi River,
the center of traditional Chinese culture had relocated there. This
subject has been discussed at length in academic circles. The Eastern
Jin had the Huai River
as their northern border. For a long period the North and the South
were locked in a seesaw battle over the region between the Yangzi and
the Huai Rivers. During the Yixi reign Liu Yu attacked the north and recovered the area north of the Huai River.
However, the expedition to the north during the Yuanjia reign ended in
failure and this area was lost. Thus the boundary line between the
Northern and Southern Dynasties oscillated between the Yangzi and the Huai Rivers. Buddhist monks moving between the South and the North mostly did so by boat.
The
Buddhism of the South flourished under the Eastern Jin. They founded 19
large county-level temples, scattered along the coast and along rivers,
with a particular concentration in Yangzhou.
The Northern and the Southern Dynasties witnessed an even faster
development of Buddhist monasteries in the two prefectures of Wu and
Kuai, where there were more than four hundred temples-over half of the
total number of temples in the Southern Dynasties.
The
Buddhist monks of that period can be divided into two groups. The first
came from abroad and consisted mostly of descen- dams of Kang Senghui
from the State of Kangju in the Western Region, whose ancestral home was India. The second came from north of the Yangzi River.
During the wars at the end of the Han Dynasty they had sought refuge in
Wu, inspiring the development of Buddhism in the region.[5]Among the
latter group monks such as Zhidun, Huiyuan, Zhufaqian and Zhufatai, came
from Henan, proceeded to Xinye and Xiangyang and then followed the Yangzi downstream, mostly to Jiangling and Jingzhou.
Under
normal circumstances the monks who had crossed the Yangzi to seek
refuge in the South quickly immersed themselves in the mainstream of
contemporary cultural currents. The situation of the monks in the North
was different. At the time of the socalled "Five national minorities
wreaking havoc in Central China," the
cultural traditions of the North had been exposed to severe disruption.
Buddhism as a foreign culture entering the Central Plains encountered no
resistance from traditional culture and was thus able to basically
preserve its foreign appearance and style. The situation was different
in the South. After the withdrawal of the Jin to the South, the gentry
followed Chinese traditions from the Han and the Wei, especially the
neo-Daoism developed in Luoyang.
Given this cultural background, Buddhism had no chance of circumventing
mainstream culture and establishing itself as an independent cultural
alternative, as was possible in the North. In fact, a lot of monks
professed the Three Religions, or even abandoned Buddhism for Taoism, an
understandable choice in the circumstances.
Hexi
region, with Liangzhou as its cultural center, had often been an
important place of refuge for the gentry of the Central Plains,[6] in,
for example, the late years of the Western Han Dynasty and in the years
covered by the fall of the Eastern Han and the foundation of the Wei.
For that reason it preserved rich Confucian traditions. In the second
year of the Yongkang reign of the Western Jin (301), Zhang Gui, a
provincial governor of Liangzhou, became a fervent practitioner of
Buddhism. This marked the beginning of the city's Buddhist adventure,
and the doctrine spread to Dunhuang and surrounding areas. After the
division of the North, the Hexi Corridor was successively controlled by
the five Kingdoms of the Liang. It was an important stopping place on
the way to India for Buddhist scriptures.
Communication between the four cultural centers of Chang'an, Luoyang, Jiankang and Liangzhou was multifaceted.
Under normal circumstances cultural interchange occurred mainly through official channels. During the Eastern Jin and the Sixteen Kingdoms,
the reins of power changed hands with great frequency, limiting contact
between the South and the North. However, communication still went
ahead, mainly in political and military areas. Given the huge gap in
cultural development between the North and the South, one obviously
cannot talk about contact on an equal basis in this period. At the
beginning of the Northern and Southern Dynasties period, following the
progressive cultural revival of the North, the Northern Wei intensified
communication with the South, especially in the area of culture. During
the reigns of the emperors Cheng and Xiaowen of the Wei, that kind of
exchange became progressively more frequent. When it came to choosing
their diplomatic envoys, the Northern Wei took careful thought: often
they would entrust such a mission to those literati of Han origin who
best embodied the refined Confucian tradition. With Sinicization under
way, the Northern Wei was also paying increasing attention to matters of
scholarly knowledge. Under the Eastern Wei and the Northern Qi,
communication between the South of the Yangzi River
and the Central Plains deepened. For example, the number of the
literati participating in important exchange missions dramatically
increased, as discussed in detail in the book Chronicle of the Northern
and Southern Dypasties by Cao Daoheng and Liu Yaojin. [7]It seems that the South began its communication with the Guanlong (the region between Shaanxi and the eastern part of Gansu)
at a later date than with the Central Plains. The extant materials
suggest that it was under the influence of the Southern scholars-brought
to Chang'an in large numbers after the fall of Jiangling-that a channel
of communication with the South was progressively expanded and
developed.
Apart
from official contacts, contact at the popular level arose through the
covert movement of people fleeing various calamities. Since we are
interested in cultural exchange, we will focus on unofficial contacts
between the South and the North on the part of men of letters. Every
time a state sank into turmoil, many of the literati would be taken
prisoner (e.g., Yu Xin, Wang Bao, Yan Zhitui and Shen Jiong). There are
ample discussions of this phenomenon in the literary histories. Apart
from that, one more line of communication needs to be taken into
account, that is, war itself. Wars often have catastrophic effects on
culture. But there are times when cultural plunder undertaken for a
political imperative can have the objective effect of fostering
interchange between different cultures: for instance, the use of
military force to obtain the teachings of Buddhist monks. When Lii
Guang, sent by Fu Jian, an emperor in the Sixteen Kingdoms period, led
an army of seventy thousand troops to attack the state of Kucha in the
West, one of his objectives was to capture Kumarajiva. Emperor Tuoba Tao
of the Northern Wei threatened military retribution if the eminent monk
Tan Wuchen was not sent to him from Guzang. After 15 years of twists
and turns Kumarajiva finally arrived at Chang'an, while Tan Wuchen was
killed by Juqu Mengxun, the Prince of Hexi.
[1] Shi Hnijiao, Lives of Eminent monks .
[2] "Biography
of Fu Jian" and "The Life of Xi Zuochi" in History of the Jin
Dynasty;"The Life of Shi Dao'an" in lives of Eminent Monks; scroll
104 of Comprehensive Mirror forAid in Government.
[3] "Biography of Emperor Xiandi" in History of the Latter Han Dynasty.
[4] The item "Ningxuan Temple" in Volume 5 of A Record of the Temples of Luoyang. This item can be compared with Biography of Faxinn.
[5] Lives of Eminent Buddhist Monks.
[6] Liu Yaojin,
"Ban Biao and the Culture of Hexi during the Intervening Years of the
Former and the Latter Han Dynasties" in Qilu xuekan, 2003, no. 1 .
[7] Cao Daoheng and Liu Yaojin, Chronicle of the Northern and Southern Dynasties. People's Publishing House, 2002.