Dimming the radiance to mingle with dust: Ximing temple as a confluence of historical elements

ABSTRACT

As a major temple associated with the imperial regime, Ximing Temple played multiple roles that ordinary Buddhist temples did not, but, at the same time, it resembled other temples in being an important node of the Buddhist movement to convert laypeople. Ximing Temple turned out to be more than a place of religious practice; it is a great open platform, an enormous platform on which the scholarly and the monastic, the Buddhist and the non-Buddhist, the bureaucrats and commoners, the sacred and the secular could all take what they wanted. Ximing Temple is the epitome of the once broad-minded and cosmopolitan Tang Empire, and the last vestige of a once cosmopolitan religious tradition. Since the reign of Emperor Xuanzong, the An Lushan Rebellion 安史之亂 (755-763) initially shattered the adolescent dream of Buddhism with its infinite possibilities, and the Huichang Suppression of Buddhism 會昌法難 (841-845) was the inevitable result of the abandonment of cosmopolitanism in the Tang Dynasty, which was slowly moving towards self-enclosure. After that, the commercial characteristics of a world religion slowly faded from Chinese Buddhism.

KEYWORDS:

• Ximing temple
• monastic life in Medieval China
• Buddhist cosmopolitanism
• Chang’an

Acknowledgement

This article represents a phasal achievement of the 2018 project ‘Translation and Research of Important Literary and Artistic Texts of Indian Classical Sanskrit’ 印度古典梵語文藝學重要文獻翻譯與研究, supported by the National Social Science Foundation of China 國家社科基金重大項目, project No: 18ZDA286.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Also see Li, Tang Wudai Fosi jikao, 37.

2. Tang huiyao, 722. Also see Li, Tang Wudai Fosi jikao, 42.

3. Tang huiyao, 722.

4. Ibid.

5. Rong, ‘Cong wangzhai dao siguan’, 71–76.

6. A note on ‘Guiyisi ti zhen shang ru bi’ 歸義寺題震上人壁 [Verses on Wall of the Chamber of Venerable Zhen at Guiyi Temple] in fascicle 231 of the Quan Tangshi 全唐詩 [Complete Poems of the Tang Period] states, ‘The temple had been a place of learning for Emperor Shenyao [i.e., Gaozu]; it was established as a vihāra [Buddhist monastery] after the dragon flew [i.e., after he ascended the throne]’ (寺即神堯皇帝讀書之所, 龍飛後創為精舍). Source: Siku quanshu, vol. 1425: 224a. Also see Li, Tang Wudai Fosi jikao, 15.

7. Li, Tang Wudai Fosi jikao, 1.

8. Ibid., 2.

9. Tang huiyao, 723.

10. Ibid., 723.

11. Li, Tang Wudai Fosi jikao, 40.

12. Ibid., 35.

13. Ibid., 11.

14. Tang huiyao, 720.

15. Ibid.

16. Li, Tang Wudai Fosi jikao, 6.

17. Tang huiyao, 720.

18. Ibid., 721.

19. Ibid., 724.

20. Ibid.

21. Li, Tang Wudai Fosi jikao, 19.

22. Ibid., 722. However, it must be noted that there were multiple temples with the same name in Chang’an. See Li, Tang Wudai fosi jikao, 3–4.

23. Ibid., 723.

24. Ibid., 722.

25. Ibid.

26. Ibid., 723–724.

27. Ibid., 32.

28. Tang huiyao, 724.

29. Ibid., 724.

30. Li, Tang Wudai fosi jikao, 9.

31. Ibid., 8.

32. According to a poem by Yuan Fu 袁甫 (fl. 1210s) titled ‘Yong Pei Xiu shezhai weisi’ 詠裴休捨宅為寺 [On Pei Xiu’s Donation of His Residence for Conversion into a Buddhist Temple], in fascicle 20 of Mengzhai ji 蒙齋集 [Collected Works from a Misty Studio], Siku quanshu, vol. 1175: 571a:

我憐裴相愛參禪 I remember fondly Prime Minister Pei [Xiu]’s love of meditation,

石上蓮花幾刻鐫 When were the stone carvings of lotus blossoms carved?

捨宅何如休起宅 What it was like when he prepared to retire from the residence he had donated,

酇侯師儉是名言 His motto was ‘the Marquis of Zan (i.e., Xiao He 蕭何 [?–193BC]) asked the worthies of later generation to emulate his frugality.’

33. Li, Tang Wudai Fosi jikao, 33.

34. Tang huiyao, 721; Li, Tang Wudai Fosi jikao, 41–42.

35. Li, Tang Wudai Fosi jikao, 45.

36. Tang huiyao, 722.

37. Ibid., 724.

38. Li, Tang Wudai Fosi jikao, 12.

39. The ‘Fenyang wang qi Huoguo furen Wangshi shendao bei’ 汾陽王妻霍國夫人王氏神道碑 [Funerary Inscription for Lady Wang of Huo, Wife of the Prince of Fenyang] (Quan Tang wen 331.3359–3360) reads: ‘Thereupon, she donated their villa in the west of the capital and presented it for the establishment of Faxiong Temple’ (乃捨京城西別業, 奏置法雄寺).

40. States an edict from Tanglong 唐隆 1 (710) recorded in fascicle 110 of the Tang da zhaoling ji 唐大詔令集 [Collected Grand Edicts and Decrees of the Tang Dynasty], Siku quanshu, vol. 426: 768c (cf. Tang huiyao, Siku quanshu, vol. 606: 645b):

Buddhist and Daoist temples have occupied fields and watermills throughout the land, encroaching upon the commoners and adversely affecting them. We should order the senior local officials of the prefectures to conduct an investigation. Among the donations of landed estates by officials or commoners that occurred outside the purview of the ordinances, those within the boundaries of the capital should be turned over to the Ministry of Agriculture, while those in the outer prefectures should be given to the poor and the lower tier of tax-liable households. 寺觀廣佔田地及水碾磑, 侵損百姓, 宜令本州長官檢括, 依令式以外及官人百姓將莊田宅舍佈施者, 在京並令司農即收, 外州給貧下課戶.

41. Nanbu xinshu, Siku quanshu, vol. 1036: 210a.

42. The Tang-period scholar Zhang Gu 張固 (d.u.) records the following interesting anecdote:

Xuanzong took care of Princess Wanshou 萬壽公主 (active 840s-850s), [out of his gratitude to her] because of her effort to protect him during the reign of Emperor Wu 武宗 (r. 840–846). One time, Zheng Yi [鄭]顗 (d.u.), the younger brother of her husband Chancellor Zheng [Hao] 鄭[顥] (817–860)], fell dangerously ill, and the emperor’s messenger went to check on the matter. When the messenger returned, the emperor asked, ‘Is the princess looking after him?’ The messenger responded, ‘No.’ ‘Where is she?’ ‘She’s at Ci’en Temple watching the theater.’ The emperor flew into a rage and shouted, ‘No wonder the literati don’t want to marry into our family! This must be the reason.’ He summoned the princess. She arrived in a palanquin, but the emperor let her stand below the dais without looking at her. After some time, the princess grew frightened and apologized tearfully. 宣宗囑念萬壽公主, 蓋武皇世有保䕶之功也. 駙馬鄭尚書之弟顗, 嘗危疾, 上使訊之, 使回上問: 公主視疾否? 曰: 無. 何在? 曰: 在慈恩寺㸔戲場. 上大怒且嘆曰: 我怪士大夫不欲與我為親, 良有以也. 命召公主, 公主走輦至, 則立於階下不視. 久之, 主大懼, 涕泣辭謝. See Luo, punct. & colla., Youxian guchui, 62.

43. Jiyiji 集異記 [Collection of Strange Stories], quoted in fascicle 394 of Taiping guangji 太平廣記 [Extensive Records of the Taiping Xingguo Era], from Siku quanshu, vol. 1045: 774d.

44. See Hu, ‘Ximingsi xilou’, 450–451.

45. Translator’s note: This refers to the poem ‘Ximingsi Weigong penchi xindao’ 西明寺威公盆池新稻 [The New Rice of Weigong’s Bonsai in Ximing Temple], by Tang Yanqian 唐彥謙 (d. 893).

46. Taiping guangji, Siku quanshu, vol. 1045: 642d.

47. Another record of this practice can be found in fascicle 7 of Tang zhiyan 唐摭言 [Collected stories from the Tang] (Siku quanshu, vol. 873: 739b) by Wang Dingbao 王定保 (870–940): ‘Chancellor Xu Shang 徐商 (fl. ninth c.) often went to the Quanru Cloister 泉入院 of Wangu Temple 萬固寺 in the Zhongtiao Mountains 中條山 to read books’ (徐商相公, 常於中條山萬固寺泉入院, 讀書). Also see Duan Wenchang’s 段文昌 (773–835) famous story of ‘the bell after the meal’ (飯後鐘) from fascicle 43 of the Leishuo 類說 [Categorized Tales], compiled by Zeng Zao 曾慥 (fl. twelfth c.).