Chapter 20 Section 5 Legends, Bianwen and Indian Literature

The Tang Dynasty was another prosperous dynasty after the Han Dynasty, and the literature of the Tang Dynasty also reached a climax.In this climax, we can also see the role played by Sino-Indian cultural exchanges.Poetry in the Tang Dynasty was the most developed. From these poems, we found that some great poets had close relations with monks from India, and they often wrote poems for Indian friends.For example, Li Bai's "Sangha Song", etc., I won't list them one by one here. The novels of the Tang Dynasty also developed. In addition to some novels of Zhiren and Zhiguai, excellent works such as legends of the Tang Dynasty also appeared.In Zhiren and Zhiguai novels, there are many Indian influence factors, needless to say.Traces of Indian influence can also be seen in the emerging romance novels.For example, the famous "Liu Yi Biography" is one of them.This novel tells the story of Liu Yi delivering a letter to the Dragon Girl and marrying the Dragon Girl.Before the Tang Dynasty, such stories of the dragon king and the dragon girl had been produced, and the Tang Dynasty was more vivid and more literary.In addition to "Liu Yi Biography", the legends of the Dragon King and Dragon Girl in the Tang Dynasty also include "The Story of the Dragon", "The Resentment in Xiangzhong", "The Story of the Dragon Girl in Zhenze", etc., all of which have high artistic achievements.Some people will say that the dragon is a traditional Chinese thing and a symbol of the Chinese nation. How can it be said that it has something to do with India?That's the problem.Dragon is indeed a traditional Chinese thing. Chinese ancestors have worshiped and deified dragons since ancient times.But we must also pay attention to the worship of dragons in ancient India.There are also many legends about dragons in Buddhist scriptures, such as "the eight divisions of heaven and dragons".It should be said that the Indian dragon is actually a snake, which is called naga in Sanskrit, but because of its similarity with the Chinese dragon, Buddhist scripture translators translated it as a dragon.In this way, the boundary between the Chinese dragon and the Indian dragon was broken, and the Indian dragon was also spread to China along with the Buddhist scriptures, and had an impact on the Chinese dragon.Before the introduction of Buddhism, Chinese dragons had not been personified, and there had been no love stories between humans and dragon kings and dragon daughters.But after the introduction of Buddhist literature, the situation changed drastically.Dragons are personified as Dragon King and Dragon Lady, and they also have feelings for people, fall in love, get married, and have children.

Above, we mentioned the story of the "foreign Taoist" in "Ling Gui Zhi", which is a story adapted from India, showing a view of space that the Chinese have never heard of before.In the Tang Dynasty, this kind of space view of the Indians was further developed, and stories such as "The Legend of Nanke Taishou" appeared.It says that a person suddenly entered an ant hole, became an official in the ant kingdom, married a wife and had children.This not only embodies a singular view of space, but also breaks through the boundaries between humans and animals.In the minds of the ancient Indians, the boundary between humans and animals was not as clear as that of the ancient Chinese.In the eyes of the ancient Chinese, there is a huge difference between human beings and beasts. The reason why people are human is because they have thoughts, feelings, and ethical and moral concepts. If a certain person is like a beast or a beast, it is absolutely swear words.But in ancient India, the boundaries between humans and animals were not so clear.Because Indians believe in reincarnation, they believe that the soul of a person can enter any body, and can be born in the shape of a human being or a beast.For example, in the stories of Buddha Jataka, the predecessors of Buddha were various animals, and these animals have thoughts, feelings, ethics and moral concepts, which are almost the same as human beings.The reason why the ancient Indians obliterated the boundary between humans and animals is because they believed in the cycle of life, believed that souls are equal in essence, and believed that all souls have a common source.Therefore, there are many animal fables in ancient India, in which the animals can think about problems and deal with them like humans.However, in the fables of the pre-Qin period in China, there is no such situation, only the story of the fox pretending to be the tiger's might is more or less marginal.During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, Chinese ghost novels emerged, in which the boundaries between humans and animals began to blur, and animals began to speak and behave, but they were still regarded as "spiritual monsters".The equating of humans and ants, like "The Legend of the Prefect of Nanke", is also obviously related to the influence of India.

In addition, the influence of Indian literature on Tang Dynasty legends is also reflected in the structure of Tang Dynasty legends.As Mr. Ji Xianlin pointed out: "The influence on form can be illustrated by Wang Du's "Ancient Mirror". A few irrelevant short stories are run through with ancient mirrors. This structural form is quite popular in Indian classical literature, such as the "Five Volumes" that has been circulated all over the world, and the Chinese translation of "Six Degrees of Collections". Books such as , also show this characteristic in terms of structure."

A new literary genre appeared in the Tang Dynasty, called "Bianwen".Although scholars have made various interpretations of the word "Bian" in "Bianwen", and there are many classifications, the opinions are not consistent, but "Bianwen" was produced under the influence of Buddhism. But it is consistent. First of all, because of the great development of Buddhism in the Tang Dynasty, more people believed in Buddhism than before.Especially after various social changes, people are looking for spiritual sustenance, and Buddhism is easier to be accepted by ordinary people under this situation.Coupled with the advocacy of the feudal ruling class, Buddhism became more popular.This has created a need among the people to explain the teachings of Buddhist scriptures in simple and popular language, and to use stories that everyone is interested in to trigger profound and difficult theories.It is to meet this need that the monks began to "communicate".Bianwen is a new literary genre formed on the basis of common sayings.

Secondly, the emergence of Bianwen is also related to traditional Chinese literature.There is also a considerable part of the Bianwen that does not come from Buddhist scriptures.We know that quite a few of the Bianwen that have been handed down and preserved are based on Buddhist scriptures.For example, "Mulian Bianwen", "Hell Bianwen", "Vimalakirti Sutra Bianwen" and so on.But there are also some Bianwen based on Chinese stories, such as Bianwen of the General of the Han Dynasty, Bianwen of Wang Zhaojun, Bianwen of Wu Zixu, Bianwen of Meng Jiangnv and so on.Even Bianwen, which is based on ancient Chinese legends and stories, was also produced under the influence of Buddhism.

According to the opinion of Mr. Zhang Xihou, a Chinese scholar, Bianwen can be divided into two categories according to its content, one is Bianwen that "tells and sings Buddhist scripture stories", and the other is "Bianwen based on historical stories, folklore and realistic content". The Bianwen".He said that the Bianwen of telling and singing Buddhist scriptures can be divided into two types: one is to quote a passage of scriptures first, and then sing while speaking, perfunctory.For example, the Bianwen of the Vimalakirti Sutra, the Bianwen of the Amitabha Sutra, and the Bianwen of the Miaofa Lotus Sutra are all directly preaching the meaning of the Buddhist scriptures and propagating the boundless Dharma.Some call them "speaking scriptures."Among them, "The Lectures on the Vimalakirti Sutra" is a magnificent masterpiece in the Tang Dynasty, with about 30 volumes, and there are more than 15 volumes that can be seen today, which are completely deduced from the "Vimalakirti Sutra".Before each stanza is sung, a scripture is quoted first, and then rendered according to the scriptures. Often a scripture of ten or twenty characters is laid out into a long text of three to five thousand words; different characters and different languages ​​are used to describe the scriptures. Describing the same scene, the imagination is very rich, and the writing method is also very clever, which is refreshing.The other is to directly tell and sing the story of the divine change in the Buddhist scriptures. This article does not quote the scriptures before, but based on a story or a legend in the Buddhist scriptures, freely expresses it and writes it into an article.Some of these works have a strong flavor of life, and the storylines and characters are very vivid and interesting.Although the main purpose is not to serve religion, the ideological content is still limited by Buddhist scriptures. For example, "The Bianwen of Conquering the Devil" and "The Bianwen of Mulian Saving the Mother" are all works promoting karma and reincarnation in hell. "Conquering Demons and Bianwen" comes from "The Sutra of the Worthy and Foolish", and it is a relatively good work, especially the description of the Buddhist disciple Shariputra's fight with the Six Masters, which is extremely wonderful.This fighting method has changed a lot, and there are strange scenes and strange scenes.Shariputra successively became King Kong, Lion and Bird King, and defeated the treasure mountain, buffalo and poisonous dragon transformed by the Six Divisions.With astonishing imagination, unique conception, and gorgeous words, the author depicts a myriad of scenes, which is so thrilling. "Mulian Rescue Mother Bianwen" comes from "Buddha Says Ullambana Sutra".This Bianwen narrates the story of Mulian, a Buddhist disciple, who went through all kinds of hardships to save his mother from hell.Mulian's mother, Mrs. Qingti, was thrown into hell because she didn't believe in Buddhism.At this time, Mulian, who had achieved good results, used the power of Buddha to travel through hell and visit his mother.Finally, with the help of Tathagata, his mother was able to escape from the sea of ​​suffering.The Bianwen ended with the sound of praising Buddhism.The works describe the misery of hell, the cruelty of punishment, the ruthlessness of jailers, and the omnipotence of Buddha's power.

Bianwen adopts the style of rhyme and prose alternately, which is also influenced by Buddhist scriptures.On this point, many scholars agree.I won't go into details here.