Monks during the Period of Six Dynasties(I)

Monks during the Period of Six Dynasties:
Special Messengers of Cultural Exchange(I)

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.