The Emperors who accepted Bodhisattva Precepts in the Decadent Age : On the Royal Authority and Buddhism in the Chen Dynasty

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  • 衰世の菩薩戒弟子皇帝--南朝陳における王權と佛敎--
  • スイ セイ ノ ボサツ カイ デシ コウテイ : ナンチョウチン ニ オケル オウケン ト ブッキョウ
  • 衰世の菩薩戒弟子皇帝--南朝陳における王権と仏教--

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To examine the theory of royal authority in the medieval China, the element of religion cannot be ignored. The extreme manifestation of a emperor's belief in Buddhism is seen in the case of Liang Wu-di梁武帝. He received the Bodhisattva precepts, a new and emerging precept, and became a follower of Buddhism, even more gave himself a servant of a Buddhist temple. These actions of Wu-di show important links of the royal authority to Buddhism. The worship of Buddhism by the emperor cannot be seen as a matter of his personal and specific faith alone. Before Wu-di, Xiao-wu-di of the Song Dynasty had already received the Bodhisattva precept. It is therefore necessary to consider the continuity from Song and Southern Qi. Furthermore, after Wu-di, the emperors of Chen, Sui and Tang also received the Bodhisattva precepts, as did Wu-di. This article discusses how the emperors of Chen dynasty adopted the Bodhisattva precepts, and the meaning of their sheshen (捨身, sacrificing body). Their actions clearly followed those of Liang Wu-di. However, from a microscopic point of view, the actions of the Chen emperors are different from that of Liang Wu. In some cases, the Chen emperors sacrificed their body in the Great Hall of the Imperial Palace instead of doing so in a temple. In the larger historical context, the Northern Zhou and Sui dynasties were growing in the north, and Chen was losing their ruling power. Under such circumstance, the meaning of sacrificing was naturally different from those in Liang. In order to understand such sacrificing body of the emperors in Chen, I analyze some documents and discuss the meaning of the emperor's sacrificing, thereby examine the relationship between the royal authority and Buddhism in the last Southern Dynasty.

Journal

  • 東方學報

    東方學報 95 51-79, 2020-12-25

    Institute for Research in Humanities, Kyoto University

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