Li Meng| Making Mourning: The Rise of the Monument of Monks and Nuns in the Southern Dynasty (Part 2)

Author: Li Meng

Source: Proceedings of the Chinese Academy of History, Vol. 1, 2021

Third, the background of the rise of the southern dynasty monks and nuns and their specifications

(1) Monument Prohibition repeatedly: the background of the rise of monks and nuns in the Southern Dynasty

Since the Southern Qi Dynasty, the number of monks and nuns in the Southern Dynasty has gradually increased, and the number and specifications are relatively special. If it is not compared with the Southern Dynasty Patriarchal Princely Monument and discussed in the context of the Southern Dynasty Monument Prohibition, it is difficult to highlight its particularity and value. Therefore, it is necessary to first sort out the policy of banning monuments from the Wei and Jin dynasties to the Southern Dynasty, which has been fully discussed in the academic circles, and the basis is basically several important time nodes listed in the Book of Song and Lizhi II.

During the Western Jin Dynasty, the stele was strictly forbidden, and the Eastern Jin Dynasty began to relax, beginning with the Jin Yuan Emperor Xu erecting a monument for Gu Rong. And Gu Rong erected the monument, which is actually due to the "Old Horse Riding House Master Book Of Old Grace" table please. After Gu Rong's death, there was a posthumous gift of "Shi Zhong, Hun Riding General, Kaifu Yi Tongsan Division", so "Gu Rong's former official" was "the lord of the Hun Riding House". At the end of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Pei Song expressed his prohibition and proposed a solution: "Those who want to erect a monument should be informed of the order, agreed by the court, and then listened to it." "Approved by the Emperor. After that, the southern dynasty secretaries of state erected monuments in roughly following the form of "asking the emperor to issue an edict", and the passage of the court was not a necessary link.

As for the duration of the stele ban, Shen Yue's so-called "so far", Liu Tao believes that it is the Liang Dynasty, which seems inappropriate, and should be yongmingzhong on the song. In April of the seventh year of The Ming Dynasty, Emperor Xiao Zhao of the Qiwu Emperor issued an edict prohibiting large-scale weddings, and in October he issued an edict prohibiting thick burials and reiterating the prohibition on monuments. In the sixth year of the Heavenly Prison, Emperor Wu of Liang issued an edict that "the burial system is stated, and no tomb shall be made of stone monuments of men and beasts, but only as stone pillars and name names." As for the implementation of the stele ban, when explaining the reasons for the rise of the epitaph, the Book of Southern Qi and Li Zhixia said that Yongjiazhong "Had no stele strategy of the Su clan", the stele is the tombstone, and the policy is the lamentation strategy, and the latter is only available to the emperor and the concubines, the prince and the princess concubine, so the epitaph has become a substitute for the "Ji De" of the scholar clan.

Some scholars believe that it is precisely because of the repeated prohibitions that the official ban of the Southern Dynasty has been repeatedly banned, in fact, this is a misreading, from the perspective of the documents and stone carvings, there are only 19 people in the Southern Dynasty, and most of them are members of the royal family. During the Xiao Qi Gao and Wu dynasties, the stele was particularly strict, and before the Qi Ming Emperor Xiao Luan ascended the throne, only Chu Yuan had to erect the monument. The monument of Chu Yuan was erected at the request of his former official Tao Ji to Shang Shu Ling Wang Jian, with the permission of Emperor Qiwu. In the tenth year of Yongming, Emperor Qiwu's maternal brother Yuzhang Wang Lingxue and crown prince Xiao Changmao personally built the inscription and played it, but "did not reach the engraving". When Xiao Ling's former official Le Qiao went to the funeral, he saw that there was no stele in the tomb, so he and prince Liang of Jingling expressed his desire to "lead the officials of the three prefectures of Jing, Jiang, and Xiang to build a monument and a ridge"; he also wrote to Shen Yue to write an inscription, but was politely rejected. In Jianwu, Xiao Luan wanted to win over the Yuzhang Wang Ling family, and Xiao Ling's monument was erected. Seeing that Xiao Ling's monument was erected, Xiao Ziliang's former official Fan Yun then went to the Qi Ming Emperor to ask for a monument for Zi Liang, and the reason given was that "therefore Dazai Yuan, Xiang Xiangling, pro-xian and virtuous, that is, it is a rule", so "beg according to the precedent of the Second Duke, give Xu To stand". Xiao Luan did not allow it, and the Ziliang Monument was not erected in the end.

In fact, not only Xiao Ziliang, the long king and prime minister who died of illness in the middle and late yongming dynasties did not erect a monument, and the Wang Jian monument was posthumously erected under Xiao Yan in the first year of the Heavenly Supervisor. After entering Liang, there were more and more princes who were able to erect monuments, such as Xiao Yingxin, the duke of Badong County, Xiao Yi, the king of Changsha, Xiao Yi, the king of Sixing, Xiao Xiu, the king of Ancheng, Xiao Hong, the king of Linchuan, Xiao Fu, the marquis of Wuping, and Xu Mian, the third division of Kaifu Yi. Xiao Xiu had four monuments in one person, and the former officials "the monks and children of the King of the East Sea, Lu Qian of Wu County, Liu Xiao of Pengcheng, and Pei Ziye of Hedong, each made his own text, and there was no ancient one." In addition, the prohibition of the stele began to be relaxed to a very few famous Confucians and zhengshi, and Xiao Yantianjian issued a monument in the first year of the year to erect a monument for the great Confucian Liu Yong, and also allowed to erect a monument for the famous zhengshi Liu Qiu. From the second day of Yongming to the end of Yongyuan, there were at least 12 inscriptions for monks and nuns, at least 25 monks and nuns in Liang and Chen, and many senior monks had two or even three stele. As far as the Southern Dynasty steles that can be examined at present are concerned, the number of monks and nuns monuments far exceeds that of the princely monuments. Compared with the monastic biography, the biography of the prince of Zhengshi is more concerned with the gift of the lord, the funeral of the emperor or the prince, the gift of the secret instrument of the Eastern Garden, especially the gift of officials, the title of the monk, etc., and the erection of the monument is not the content of its intention to emphasize, and the relevant records of the historical biography on the stele are far less detailed than the monk's biography. In addition, the preservation of princely monuments and monks and nuns is different, so the gap in quantity between the two may not actually be as large as seen in the literature.

In the middle and late period of the Southern Dynasty, not only did a large number of monks and nuns emerge, but also monuments such as Taoists, temples, temples, moral government, and statues also emerged. There was a need for inscription creation, and all kinds of inscription writing gradually received attention, and by the middle of liang, even a wind of stele collection was formed, and the Sui Shu JingShu Zhi IV concentrated on the collection of stele works:

Twenty-nine volumes of the Collected Tablets. The Collection of Miscellaneous Tablets, 29 volumes. Twenty-two volumes of the Miscellaneous Steles (Liang has ten volumes of the "Collection of Steles", written by Xie Zhuang; thirty volumes of the Shishi Inscriptions, written by Emperor Liang Yuan; twenty-two volumes of the Miscellaneous Steles, fifteen volumes of the "Inscriptions", written by the great master Chen Xun of the Jin Dynasty; ten volumes of the Inscriptions, written by Che Guan; one volume of the "Yanghu Fallen Tears Stele", ten volumes of the Huan Xuanwu Stele, three volumes of the "Changsha Jingwang Inscription", three volumes of the "Jingzhou Miscellaneous Stele", four volumes of the "Yongzhou Miscellaneous Stele", the twelve volumes of the "Guangzhou Thorn History Stele", the "Yixing Zhou Stele" one volume, the "Taiyuan Wang Family Stele" twenty-six volumes; The Inscriptions of the Temples are forty-six volumes, written by the monks; the miscellaneous ritual texts are in six volumes; and the Deeds of the Monks is forty volumes, written by the monks. Dead).

Cheng Zhangcan believes that the "Miscellaneous Tablets" and "Inscriptions" compiled by Chen Xun may be the duties of the master; the "Taiyuan Wangjia Stele Praise and Praise Collection" is to preserve the literature of the original surname, focusing on the text. The compilation of inscriptions in the prefectures, counties and temples should also have the significance of searching for ancient carvings, recording monuments and showing the landscape. The Eastern Jin Dynasty stele prohibition is loose, there is a need for creation, so there is a collection of stele; and Xie Zhuang was a person of the Liu Song Dynasty, and the stele prohibition was relatively strict, so the "Collection of Steles" written should be a collection of stele, I am afraid that it is not a collection of inscriptions written. Among them, the length of the one-line princely stele is noteworthy: the Huan Xuanwu Stele, that is, the Huan Wen Monument, has as many as 10 volumes; the "Inscription of the King of Changsha Jing" is the stele of Liu Daopi, the King of Changsha of the Liu Song Dynasty, and there are also 3 volumes; the "Lu Ji Ji" has the "Monument of the General Xiaohou Zhou of The Western Jin Dynasty", or the "Zhou Monument". One volume seems to be the normal length of an inscription, and the "Inscription of the Dedication to the Unity" written by Shen Yue and the "Inscription of the Monk Rou Master" written by Liu Xun are both 1 volume in the Catalogue of Miscellaneous Inscriptions of the Three Tibetan Records and the FaJi. Considering that after the death of Xiao Xiu, the king of Liang Ancheng, there were 4 people who wrote inscriptions for the ancestors of the previous generation, and the entries recorded here in the Sui Shu Jing Zhi IV are of the nature of stele collections, so the 10 volumes of "Huan Xuanwu Stele" and the 3 volumes of "Changsha Jingwang Stele" here are likely to be a collection of inscriptions written for them by people of different periods. Even if it is calculated in the length of 1 volume, there are probably not many character monuments in the dozens of volumes listed above.

Not all of the collections of stele recorded in the Sui Shu Jing Shu Zhi IV are complete, but Xiao Xuan's Jin Louzi Shu The original note was written by Xiao Ben of Lanling", and it can be seen that Xiao Xuan also ordered his assistant Xiao Ben to collect as many as a hundred volumes. The Sui Shu Jing Shu Zhi IV is a collection of 30 volumes of the Shi Shi Inscriptions, and its preface is based on the Guanghong Ming Collection, according to which the book was originally titled "Neidian Inscription Collection Forest". Xiao Xuan also explained the reasons for the rise of Buddhist inscriptions:

However, the pagoda jigong was built, the temple was built, or the reason for the construction, or the oath was remembered, so the stone of the engraving was passed on to the immortals. There are also offerings of the heart, which is called sangmen, or wisdom tanks, or sealed hands. The high seat is good at fame, the seat of the pre-master Yin, and the seat of the dragon is seen by Dorin, and the seat of the flying dragon is accompanied. Emei, Lufu Zhixian, Yizhong, Wandeng Zhizhe, Zhaozha Historical Records, can be obtained and detailed. Therefore, the rise of the inscription is still there.

It can be seen from this that there were two main types of Buddhist inscriptions at that time, one was the temple pagoda inscription, and the other was the monk and nun inscription. Judging from the length of the two books and the origin of the compilation of the "Inner Classic Inscription Collection Forest" ("It is often gathered, there are nostalgic writings") and the concept ("Do not choose the high and low, but can be with, do not know in detail, follow the foot"), the 30-volume "Inner Classic Inscription Collection Forest" may be a collection of Buddhist inscriptions drawn by Xiao Xuan from the 100 volumes of the "Collection of Steles" compiled by Xiao Ben.

In addition to Xiao Xuan, the work of sorting out and compiling Buddhist inscriptions by monks is more noteworthy. Monk Yu had a clear sense of compiling the Fa Collection (i.e., the "Inner Collection"), and he compiled 8 Fa collections, including the "Shakya Genealogy", the "World Chronicle", the "Chu Sanzang Ji Collection", and the "Miscellaneous Records of the Fa Collection", and also compiled the Fa Collection and Catalog for Xiao Ziliang and Xiao Zhaoxin's father and son. The Sui Shu jingshu zhi iv recorded the "Inscriptions of the Temples" and the "Deeds of the Monks", and there is no such book as the "Collection of Records of the Three Collections", and their contents may coincide with the "Miscellaneous Notes of the Fa Collection". Because the sui shu and jingshu zhi iv are all collections of stele, the "Inscriptions of the Temples" and the "Acts of the Monks" collected by the monks are actually a collection of inscriptions on the two themes of monasteries and monks and nuns. Moreover, this classification echoes exactly what the monks called "Mountain Temple Inscriptions, Monks' Walking Notes" in the "Preface to the Catalogue of Miscellaneous Inscriptions of the Fa Collection". From this point of view, the "line" of the "Deeds of the Monks" does not refer to the lines as a style, but should mainly refer to the inscriptions and biographies of monks and nuns.

(2) The specifications and shape of the southern dynasty monks and nuns

The above discussion is mainly based on the monks' biographies, monks and nuns' inscriptions and inscriptions, etc., although these records have a certain degree of selectivity and accidentality, but at least can reflect the general situation. From the above discussion, it can be seen that only a few monks and nuns in the Jin and Song dynasties were able to erect monuments after death, and it was also a personal act. Occasionally, there are county-level magistrates involved, although with some official overtones, but not necessarily official behavior, such as Yuhang County Ling Nguyen Shangzhi may belong to the latter, at least at present there is no record of the governor of the state governor concerned about the monks and nuns erecting monuments. The earliest record seen so far is that Xiao Qi Yongming died in the second year of monk Yuan,Wu of Qi wrote calligraphy to care for the funeral of monk Yuan, and Xiao Ziliang selected a burial place and camp funeral for it, and "bordered Zhongshan, and buried famous virtues." Emperor Wu of Liang was influenced by this to build the Kaishan Temple at the Baozhi burial site and open another monk's burial ground on it. The choice of burial places for monks and nuns was not clearly planned before Xiao Ziliang's "boundary bell mountain, the collection of famous people". Judging from Xiao Ziliang's reluctance to be "in the tombs of the monks", the monks and nuns were also buried in a concentrated manner after their deaths. Whether it is the old tomb of Dinglin or the old tomb of Kaishan, it is the official planning of the tomb of famous monks, and the old tomb of Kaishan is basically the burial place of Emperor Wu of Liangwu, and very few people have to be buried. In the choice of burial place, the famous monks are distinguished from the ordinary monks, highlighting the official praise for the famous monks.

As early as the Jin and Song dynasties, the stele erected after the death of monks and nuns had two kinds of tombstones and temple steles, but often only one was erected. Although the location of the monument is different from the temple, after all, only a few people can erect monuments in the temple. In fact, during the Song and Qi dynasties, only the stele of the three monks Yi, Hui Ji and Zhi Zhi was explicitly erected in the monastery, while most of the monks and nuns stood in front of the tomb. In the eighth year of the Heavenly Prison, Bao Liang died, and the situation of "tombs and temples standing side by side" began to appear. In this way, the number of monuments erected has been greatly increased compared with before. Since then, one person, two monuments or even three stele have continued to emerge, Bao Liang, Hui Yue, and Monk Min have all erected three stele, and Fa Tong, Zhi Zang, Hui Chao, and Fa Yun have all erected two stele. In addition to the stele, many monks and nuns also have epitaphs, that is, the stele stands side by side, such as Zhishun, Baozhi, Zhizang, Fayun, monks and other five people. These monks who had to erect two and three monuments died in the middle and late Liang period. Although Chen and Hou liang had inscriptions written by the prince and the emperor himself, most of them were one person and one stele, and it was very rare for one person to have two stele and three stele. The situation of "standing together with monuments and aspirations" is roughly similar, only one stele and one monument were erected after the death of Chen Daifalang, and the rest were not co-established.

After the death of ordinary monks and nuns, most of them will erect monuments in the tomb, and some will erect monuments in the monastery, and the temple stele is generally erected in the temple where the temple was stationed in the tin before death, and most of them are one, only Hui Yue is more special, bunsen temple and the temple of the grass hall in the tin have a stele. Tombstones can be erected one or two according to the status of monks and nuns before they died. This difference is due to the considerable difference in the connotation and influence of tombstones and temple tablets. As far as the space of the stele and the audience are concerned, the tombstone is closer to the private stele, because although the tomb of the high monk is sacred, it is a relatively enclosed space. Temple monuments are different, standing at the temple gate or other conspicuous position of the stele, often easy to become a landscape, so closer to the public monument. Due to the vague and unclear records of monks, a considerable number of Southern Dynasty monks and nuns are difficult to determine whether they are temple tablets or tombstones; there are inscriptions with preserved texts, unless the title is clearly defined, it is difficult to distinguish between tombstones and temple tablets from existing texts alone. Moreover, the existing inscriptions of monks and nuns of the Southern Dynasty, only xu Ling's "Fu Dashi Stele" and Xiao Gang's "Daodu Zen Master Stele" have the full text, and the rest of the inscriptions have been greatly abridged, almost all of which are the words of the rich and beautiful puppets, not only the historical value is very limited, but it is also difficult to judge the difference in content and expression of the inscriptions of the two stele.

The production of inscriptions mainly refers to the establishment, writing, carving of stones and related situations of monuments. According to whether the person who erected the monument and the author are emperors, the monument can be divided into edict and non-edict; the stele can be divided into edict and non-edict. Only a very few monks and masters who were close to the emperor would have the honor of the emperor. Although Emperor Qiwu personally paid calligraphy tribute to the monk's death, he did not care about the production of his inscription. To Emperor Wu of Liang, he had the act of erecting a monument for the monks and nuns, and the monuments of Liang Zhibaozhi and Hui Yue, Chen Zhi Tan, and later Liang Zhi Monk Qian were all erected.

In addition to the emperor, there were also cases where the crown prince, the kings, and the secretaries of state erected monuments, such as Xiao Ying, the king of Qi Linchuan, erected a monument for Xuan Chang, Xiao Ziliang, the king of Jinling, erected a monument for the monk Yuan, Liang Liu Zhiqi erected a tombstone for Master Zhen, and Chen Yaocha erected a monument for Shang Zen master. However, after all, it is a minority, most of the monks and nuns are erected by their monks and lay disciples, such as after the death of the monk Min, his disciples Zhixue, Huiqing, etc. to establish the three monuments; Fayun died, and his disciple Zhou Changyin and others stood in the tomb to create the second monument. The former is a monastic disciple, while the latter is a lay disciple. The kings and secretaries of state who erected monuments for monks and nuns were also mostly lay disciples of the monks and nuns or disciples of bodhisattvas. Of course, there are also some monks and nuns of the same temple, such as monks who erect monuments for monks such as Chao Jie and Monk Rou who are stationed in Shangdinglin Temple.

Compared with the inscription, the inscription is more informative. Edict writing, that is, written on the orders of the emperor, is also a special honor that only a few great virtues have, such as emperor Wu of Liangwu writing an inscription for Baozhile, Emperor Lu of Liang making an epitaph for Baozhi, Zhao Wangjun writing a tombstone for Huiyue, Ordering Xiao Ziyun to write a Stele of Bunsheng Temple for Huiyue, and Emperor Xuandi Of Chen writing Xuling as Fu Dashi, Wang Gu as Huiji, and Zhou Hongzheng as Huihe.

In addition to the edicts, during the Liang Chen period, the princes and kings often participated in the writing of the inscriptions of famous monks, and the epitaphs became an important part of the funeral rites of the scholars and even members of the royal family. The princes and kings often wrote epitaphs for their deceased servants to honor them; and in order to obtain such mourning, they also asked the princes, kings, and famous scribes to write epitaphs for the relatives and friends of deceased friends. For monks and nuns, having the prince and the kings write inscriptions for them is obviously also an important honor. The literature can be examined: Prince Xiao of Liang wrote tombstones for the monk Min; Prince Xiao Gang wrote inscriptions for Hui Yue and wrote inscriptions for Daodu; in addition, he also wrote epitaphs for Several monks such as Xianggong Temple Zhixuan, Song Xi Temple Huinian, Ganlugu Temple Jingtuo, Jingju Temple Faang, and Tongtai Temple Zhilan; when Emperor Xiao of Liangyuan was the King of Xiangdong, he wrote inscriptions second only to Xiao Gang, he wrote inscriptions for Monk Zhizang, Monk Vice, Hui Chao, Fayun, And Monk Min, and also for jingzhou monk Zhengzhen; Shaoling Wang XiaoLun wrote epitaphs for Yangzhou monk Zheng Zhilan. The Chen Dynasty was slightly inferior, and only the crown prince Chen Shubao and the luling king Chen Boren wrote epitaphs and inscriptions for Farang.

There are about 17 inscriptions of monks and nuns written by the prince and the kings, although the number is not too small, but after all, the proportion is not large (about 30% of the total), and more monk and nun inscriptions are still written by the gongqing scribes. Most of these inscriptions for monks and nuns were first-class scribes at that time, such as Xie Lingyun of Song (writing Huiyuan inscription), Qi Zhi Xie Chaozong (writing Daohui inscription), Wang Jian (writing monk Yuan stele), Zhou Yuan (writing Xuanchang stele), Liang Zhi Shen Yue (writing monk Jingni and Fa Xian two stele), Liu Xun (writing Chao Jie, Monk Rou, monk You three stele), He Yin (writing Hui Ji stele, monk Min stele), Zhou She (writing Hui XuNi stele), Yuan Ang (writing Zhi Shun stele), Xie Ju (writing Fa Tong stele), Xiao Ziyun (writing Fa Tong stele), Lu Qian (Feng Shu wrote Bao Zhi Epitaph, Writing Hui Chu Stele), Wang Jun (Feng Shu Bao Zhi and Hui Yue Two Steles, Writing Fayun Epitaph), Xie Jiqing (Writing Hui Chao Stele), Xiao Ji (Writing Zhi Zang Stele Sequence), Wang Shengru (Writing Yun Master Stele), Zhou Xingsi (Writing Bao Liang Stele), Gao Shuang (Writing Bao Liang Stele), Yin Jun (Writing Zhi Zang Epitaph), Ruan Xiaoxu (Writing Monk Min Epitaph), Bao Ji Room (Writing Zhen Master Epitaph Order), Chen Zhi Xu Ling (Feng Zhi Zhi Zhi Fu Dashi Stele), Jiang Zong (Writing Fa Lang Epitaph Order and Hui Yong, Jianchu Temple BaoQiong, Shang Zen Master Tri-Person Stele), Wang Gu (Feng Shu Shu Hui he Stele), Zhou Hongzheng (Feng Shu wrote the Hui Ji Stele) and Xiao Ji (wrote the Zhiyuan Inscription). The large-scale writing of inscriptions can better reflect the status of scribes at that time, especially those who wrote inscriptions. In addition to the scribes, there were also individual monks who wrote, such as Huiju writing epitaphs for Huiji and Huixuan writing inscriptions for Zhiyuan.

Some of the inscriptions written for monks and nuns were at the request of monks and nuns, such as Liu Xun's inscriptions for Chao Wei and Monk Rou, and Shen Yue's dedication to writing inscriptions, all of which were invited by monks; some were invited by lay disciples, such as Princess Liang Yongxing, who asked Crown Prince Xiao Tong to write inscriptions as a monk's deputy. Some may be the author's initiative, the author himself is a disciple of the Buddha or even a disciple of the monk or nun, or has a relatively close relationship with it, such as the "Three Xiao Tablets" of Zhizang, and the Three Xiaos who write the preface, inscription and book all call themselves "disciples". Writing inscriptions for high monks and masters, especially the Feng edicts, the Prince's Order, and the teachings of the kings, is both an honor for the writers and a recognition of their literary talents and status. Inscription writing, in turn, can also win fame for the author, such as Liu Xunshan's inscription, which was quite famous at that time, so that "the pagoda of the Beijing Division Temple and the inscription of the famous monks must be written by the monks".

The inscription is written in a fixed style, and the preface of the stele must not only record his actions in detail, but also lay out the words of the puppet to praise his meritorious deeds, and the inscription and epitaph must be combined with the narrative and the praise with the concise four-character rhyme. That is, in addition to the literary talent, the inscription also needs historical talent, so Liu Xun said that "the husband belongs to the body of the stele, and the capital is historical talent." Its preface is passed on, and its text is inscribed", and "the standard order is virtuous, and it will see the glory of the breeze; Zhao Ji Hongyi, will see the spirit of the mighty", and the party is "the system of the stele". Curiously, Liu Xun only talked about a few famous public stele of Sun Qi in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and did not mention the Song Qi inscriptions, especially the monks and nuns. In fact, he had been attached to the monks at Dinglin Temple for more than ten years, and he must have seen the inscriptions of the temples and monks and nuns compiled and sorted out by the monks and nuns since the Jin and Song Dynasties, and he was even likely to have participated in the preliminary collection and collation work. This may have something to do with the stricter prohibition of steles in the Song and Qi dynasties, the demand for inscription creation is less, the enthusiasm of scribes to imitate learning and even creation is reduced, and the degree of attention is naturally not high.

There is a phenomenon worth noting, that is, there are many families who have written inscriptions for monks and nuns for several consecutive generations, such as Xie Lingyun, Xie Chaozong, xie Jiqing three generations (Xie Lingyun is the ancestor of Xie Chaozong, Xie Chaozong is the father of Xie Jiqing), zhou Yong, Zhou She, Zhou Hongzheng three generations (Zhou Hao is the father of Zhou She, Zhou She is the father of Zhou Hongzheng), wang Jian and Wang Jun's two generations (Wang Jian is Wang Juncong's uncle). On the one hand, this shows that these families have an orderly literary inheritance, and on the other hand, it also reflects their attitude towards Buddhism and even the inheritance of their beliefs. If we further count the families of these people, we can also observe the development and changes of the Southern Dynasty, especially the later literary families. The above literary families with inscriptions of monks and nuns are mainly: Lanling Xiao clan (7 people 20 passes), Langya Wang clan (3 people 6 passes), Chen Jun xie clan (4 people 4 passes), Runanzhou Zhou clan (3 people 3 tong). The inscriptions of monks and nuns written by the Qi Liang imperial family have far exceeded the sum of the inscriptions written by Wang Xie and other members of the scholar clan, who not only pushed the writing of monks and nuns to a new stage and made it the trend of the times, but also further led the trend in the style of writing.

Fourth, the essence and significance of the concentrated emergence of the southern dynasty monks and nuns

The above examines the writing and erection of monuments of monks and nuns from the Jin, Song dynasties to the Chen Dynasty, and systematically sorts out the monuments of monks and nuns in the Southern Dynasty from the aspects of the choice of burial sites, the time and place of monuments, the number and shape of monuments, and the form and identity of monuments and stele writing. At the same time, under the forbidden vision of the Southern Dynasty stele, the difference between the monk and nun stele and the prince's stele is observed, from which it can be seen that the specifications of the monks and nuns in the Southern Dynasty are high. So, why did high-standard monks and nuns appear in this period, and what was its significance?

(1) Making mourning honors - bringing monks and nuns into traditional funeral rites

From the number of gifts and gifts, to the funeral department and ceremonial guards, to the choice of burial places, the number of inscriptions and the form of production, this series of high-standard funeral operations distinguishes high monks and individual monks and officials from ordinary monks and nuns. The traditional funeral rites were applied to the monks and nuns, and the status of monks and nuns in the political and spiritual life of the country was further raised through praise, gifts, funerals, and inscription making. From the perspective of funeral specifications, a considerable number of senior monks and masters have been equal to or even surpassed the princely secretary, the emperor buried, gave the East Garden secret utensils, and even sent a funeral to the Tianzi ceremonial guard and buried the monument for it, in addition to the title, the official, the title and the nine tins, a few high monks can get all the mourning glory that the secular princes and ministers can get after death. In the Tang Dynasty, the highest honors that could be obtained by secular princes and ministers such as dukedoms, officials, and titles were used for a very small number of high monks, and to some extent developed along the line of the Southern Dynasty. Of course, this set of official funeral models for monks and nuns in the Southern Dynasty was only a continuation of the traditional funeral rites of princes and princes, which later developed into a burial system in the Tang Dynasty and tended to mature.

Emperor Wu of Liang's bodhisattva master Hui Yue not only received the titles of Wise Man and Guoshi, but also received the courtesy of the Emperor and the Hundred Officials who wept after his death, while the princes of the Liang Dynasty, the kings and their concubines did not yet have the system of weeping for the Hundred Officials. The Liang Dynasty did not have the perfect system of quitting the dynasty and mourning like the Sui and Tang dynasties. Therefore, from this point of view, Hui Yue's funeral specifications can almost be regarded as the highest at that time except for the empress (including concubines). The same is true of the production of stele records of monks and nuns, from the existing literature, the specifications of the inscriptions of a very few high monks and masters have been equivalent to or even exceed those of the princes of the clan: the southern dynasty princes with more than one person and two stele seen in the literature and physical objects are only Xiao Xiu, the king of Liang Dynasty Ancheng, and Xiao Hong, the king of Linchuan, while there are at least 7 monks with more than one person and two stele. Since Xiao Ziliang's "Boundary Bell Mountain", senior monks have been buried in the old tomb of famous monks in Dinglin Temple and the old tomb of Kaishan Temple, and at the latest in the middle of Liang, the two famous monk cemeteries must be lined with monuments. It is a sacred space for religion, which in turn has become a religious and cultural landscape, and this space creation and landscape formation is basically dominated by the government. The high-standard official operation of the funeral of senior monks has opened up a new model, and in essence, a new mode of management of the monastic community.

The inclusion of monks, nuns and Taoists in traditional funeral rites, such as gifts, burial site selection, funerals and high-standard production of monuments, have become an important part of the funeral rites of senior monks and are important mourning. But on the other hand, this practice is also an effective way to strengthen the management and even control of the monastic community and to attract believers. That is, by interfering in the funerals of senior monks, the official brings the funerals of senior monks into the scope of secular royal control, which not only highlights the importance that the officials attach to senior monks, but also further strengthens the management of the monastic community. Further divide the levels by whether they give gifts, how much they give, where they are buried (whether they are famous monks' cemeteries, what level of famous monks' cemeteries), whether officials give funeral expenses, whether they send funerals or send them to supervise funerals, whether they give secret utensils in the East Garden, whether they erect monuments, and what specifications of monuments are erected, so that they become an important symbol of the mourning glory of monks and nuns, status, and even the conclusion of the coffin. Further, these initiatives even attempt to bring the right to evaluate senior monks under official control, unlike the previous evaluation, which was basically done by within the monastic community, believers or close scribes by writing monastic traditions, praises, etc. Of course, the level of the specifications has a very direct relationship with the attitude of the emperor and the upper magnates, such as the same monk Zheng, Although Hui Chao has served for more than 20 years, his funeral and inscription production specifications are far lower than that of Fayun, and between one low and one high, the emperor's authority has been fully highlighted. That is to say, the affairs behind the monks and princes who are the leaders of the monastic order must be decided by the emperor and the princes and princes, not by the sangha and the vast number of believers. The specifications of the funeral rites of the leaders of the local monastic orders shall be decided by the governor of the prefecture or county or reported to the imperial court for decision.

It should be noted that whether it is the choice of cemetery, or the high-standard funeral rites such as gifts, secret utensils given to the East Garden, funerals sent by the secretary of state, and guardianship by the priest, they are all based on the burial of monks and nuns after death. Although forest burials were rare at the time, there were still some monks who insisted on "revealing the remains of the forest", so that this set of funeral rites was difficult to perform. Even so, after a period of time, his disciples will bury him, and there will still be inscriptions to be made, such as Lushan Huiyuan discussed above. What's more, there are many examples of disciples who can't bear to let their teachers show their skeletons and disobey their teachers' orders, such as Zhishun. However, there are also a few monks who are dissatisfied with this high-standard funeral ritual, including the production of inscriptions, because it is quite inconsistent with the basic teachings and traditions of Buddhism. For example, before his death, The monk Chen Zheng Pengcheng Temple Baoqiong left his life to "not bother with Mingzhi", and he was only dissatisfied with the production of high-standard inscriptions. Zhi Yan's last words, "The world weeps and dresses, should not be", is more about traditional etiquette and funeral clothes than for official high-standard funeral rites. Before Zhi Yan, there were very few southern dynasty monks who did not accept the high-standard funeral rites given by the officials, and Bao Qiong's last order was "not to bother with Mingzhi", and Lord Chen Hou used the Tianzi ceremony to send a funeral to make up for it, but the specifications were raised. Generally speaking, for high-standard funeral rites, including the production of monuments, the monks and nuns of the Southern Dynasty were more cooperative or even active in seeking, rather than rejecting and resisting, the former, especially Fu Dashi's disciples repeatedly asked to erect a monument for Fu Dashi, and Princess Liang Yongxing asked Xiao Tong to write an inscription for Zhi Vice.

In fact, not only monks and nuns, but also the funeral rites of The Southern Dynasty Daoists also had a roughly similar process, but due to the more serious loss of Taoist literature, the surviving biographies of Daoist priests and the inscriptions of Daoist priests and female crowns are relatively small. Judging from the existing Daoist and female crown inscriptions, their specifications are also very high. For example, in the second year of Datong, after Tao Hongjing's death, "there was a system to give to Zhongsan Dafu, Mr. Zhenbai", and "sent the people to write the main letter to supervise the funeral", the crown prince Xiao Gang wrote the epitaph, the Shaoling king Xiao Lun wrote the inscription, the official, the gift, the yousi guardianship of the funeral, and the prince and the county king respectively wrote the chronicle and the monument, and its specifications are so high that no one in the history of Taoism in the Southern and Northern Dynasties is afraid that no one will be right. Another example is the death of the Taoist priest Xu Shizi, And Emperor Wen of Chen "edicts and secret instruments, and impermanence." All funerals are given to Tai Yan." It can be known that Gao Dao died, and there are also examples of the emperor giving the East Garden secret instrument and the funeral official.

Incorporate the posthumous affairs of the monks into the traditional funeral rites, and give high-level mourning in the official form to senior monks and high priests. The production of inscriptions is an important part of this, because the inscription itself is an important carrier for recording the actions of monks and nuns before they die and the mourning after their deaths, and can be widely disseminated through various forms. The stele is an important part of the mourning of monks and nuns, especially the high stele standing in the tomb, the temple, and the memorial device, with the passage of time, the place where the monks are buried and the monasteries where the stele are erected, will also form a landscape of stele towers, which seems to have a greater impact in the long run. However, at that time, the influence of mourning and honor such as funeral and edict, funeral with the honor of the Son of Heaven, gifts, secret utensils given to the East Garden, and funerals by the priest was greater, and the status of monks and nuns before they were born was more prominent, so it was more intuitive. What's more, many inscriptions are erected after the death of monks and nuns for a long time, which has a certain lag.

(2) The influence on the Southern Dynasty Stele Prohibition and the Northern Dynasty Sui Dynasty Tang And Tang Dynasty Inscriptions

As mentioned earlier, during the Song and Qi dynasties, the prohibition of stele was stricter and the implementation was more thorough, until the sixth year of Liang Tianjian, Emperor Wu of Liang was still reiterating the ban on stele, which shows that liang chu stele ban was stricter. In the middle and late Liang Dynasty, although various types of monuments such as temples, Taoist halls, temple studies, moral government, and statues continued to emerge, their number greatly exceeded that of the previous generation, but they basically belonged to the public monuments, and they were established in the form of "table please - play can". Among them, most of the monuments such as temple studies, temples/pagodas, and statues were erected by emperors, concubines, and local governors, and most of the inscriptions were written by princes and even emperors. The Dezheng Monument is a type of stele that appeared in the Liang Chen period, which can be examined by about 20 people in detail, and is basically requested by the "state people" or the old officials. Therefore, even though the total number of stele in the Qi Liang Chen period greatly exceeded that of the previous generation, the stele ban at that time was not really released to the "Su clan" outside the clan, and only a few ministers erected monuments in the form of edicts. There are only one stele outside the Liang Dynasty's ancestral chamber, Xu Mian, and the reason why his stele was erected was that he "therefore The reason why the Zuo Shi Shangshu Zuo Cheng Liu Lan and other chen mian deeds, please publish Shi Jide, that is, the edict Xu erected a monument in the tomb"; Chen Zhi Cai Jingli also has a stele, although the form of the stele is unknown, but from Chen Xuandi and Chen Hou Lord twice re-gifted to the official, the monument should be Chen Hou Lord's edict.

In fact, even if the princes of the clan set up monuments, they were basically invited by the old officials, and then the emperor approved. As mentioned earlier, the stele of Xiao Xiu, the king of Ancheng, is "the tombstone of the late official Xiahou Qi and others, and the edict Xu Yan". The rest of the princely stele, although the biography does not clearly record that its stele was erected by the old official's table, is reflected in the inscription, that is, at the end of the stele sequence, the reason for the erection of the stele is explained, generally there are "old official table please", "edict" and other related content, so that this special expression has become a fixed writing paradigm for the tombstone and the temple stele of the prince. Of course, this way of expressing the origin of the monument has long existed, but in the preface to the Southern Dynasty Prince's Monument, only the old officials are seen but not relatives and protégés, which is the biggest difference between the Southern Dynasty Prince's Monument and the Han Monument. The reason is, of course, that the monument erected by relatives and protégés is still within the scope of the forbidden monument in the Southern Dynasty. There is no similar expression in the Southern Dynasty Monk and Nun Stele, which is in stark contrast to the Prince's Monument, which shows that the Southern Dynasty Monk and Nun Stele does not seem to be within the scope of the stele prohibition. Although there were so many monks and nuns during the Southern Dynasty period, considering the scale of monks and nuns in the Southern Dynasty, this proportion is still not large. That is to say, the Southern Dynasty Monument Prohibition was not completely released to monks and nuns, Taoist priests, and female crowns, but only to a small number of high monks and masters. From this point of view, the Southern Dynasty stele prohibition was indeed lax in the late Southern Dynasty, and the large concentration of monks and nuns, Taoist priests/female crowns, temples, Taoist halls, statues and other monuments had a certain impact on the stele prohibition at that time, but it was not fundamental. For some members of the Southern Dynasty clan and the "Su clan" outside the clan, it is still forbidden to erect monuments privately.

Only by comparing the two can we highlight the uniqueness and value of the southern dynasty monks and nuns. Since the Song Dynasty, so many monks and nuns have sprung up in a concentrated manner, and of course there are emperors behind them, which is the embodiment of the Buddhist policy of the Southern Dynasty. Due to the wide spread of the bodhisattva vows, from the emperor, the prince, the princess and the princess to the ordinary believers, they competed to seek the bodhisattva ordination of the high monks, and the high monks and masters thus gained a higher status. For example, after Emperor Hui of Liangwu conferred the bodhisattva vows, "The crown prince has been deposed, and he has been sent to Wang Ji, a Taoist scholar, and a Xianxi dutuo." Forty-eight thousand disciples are authors." There are many senior monks with more than 5,000 "white and black disciples" contained in the "Biography of a High Monk" and the "Biography of a Continuing High Monk". For example, the monk "all white and black disciples, more than 11,000 people", The Fa Tong "more than 7,000 white and black disciples", and the funeral for Hui Chao stretched for ten miles, and the number of his followers can be imagined. Those senior monks who gave bodhisattva ordination to the emperor, the crown prince, and even the prince and princely secretary of state thus obtained the status of state teacher and family teacher, which should have a direct impact on the level of the funeral ceremony after their death.

In contrast, although the status of monks and nuns in the Northern Dynasty is also very high, especially the Great Virtue of the Northern Wei and Northern Qi dynasties who served as the Great Master of Zhaoxuan, the actual status may be higher than that of the Southern Dynasty monks, but the funeral specifications or mourning after death are lower than those of the Southern Dynasty, and there are fewer monuments. In the edict that Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei gave to The Daoists of Xuzhou and the Master of Xuzhou, there is no content made of inscriptions. Even after the death of Zhao Xuantong of the Northern Wei and Northern Qi, only the epitaphs have been unearthed, but no tombstones or temple tablets have been seen. In the Northern Dynasty, many concubines and concubines became bhikshunis for political or other reasons, and after their deaths, they only saw epitaphs and not monuments. In short, compared with the Southern Dynasty, there are very few monks and nuns in the Northern Dynasty, and the time of appearance is much later. The culture of northern dynastic epitaphs has gradually matured since Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei moved the capital, and although the tombstones of monks and nuns appeared a little later, they gradually became a tradition. Most of the people who wrote epitaphs for monks and nuns were their disciples, and some of them were relatives, reflecting the closer ties between the monks and nuns of the Northern Dynasty and their families.

In fact, the Northern Dynasty did not have the same strict stele prohibition as the Southern Dynasty, and although the number of princely monuments was far less than that of the epitaphs, it was obviously more than that of the Southern Dynasty, except for the few monk and nun stele. It can be said that before the Sui Ping Chen, the Northern Dynasty did not form a tradition of erecting monuments for monks and nuns. The opening of grottoes and statues in the Northern Dynasty is obviously more popular, many of the existing statues were made for the deceased monks and nuns, and these statues (especially the statues with the shape of the stele) replaced the monks and nuns to some extent, which may explain why the Northern Dynasty did not have the tradition of erecting monuments for monks and nuns. In addition, I am afraid that this is also related to the funerary methods of monks and nuns in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and the difference in the way and intensity of the upper echelons of the Southern and Northern Dynasties treating and even controlling Buddhism: Xiao Ziliang, the king of Southern Qi, and Xiao Yan, the emperor of Liangwu, not only copied Buddhist scriptures, but also produced monks and even monks and lay confessions; Xiao Yan even forced vegetarianism and even wanted to appoint himself as a white-clothed monk, and they were in fact deeply involved in and even changed the management of the monastic order and the daily practice. Putting traditional funeral rites on monks is only a continuation of their policy, which the Northern Dynasty did not have. In the Sui and Tang dynasties, when the higher-ranking monks and nuns died, their disciples would generally erect monuments and ask scribes or poets to write articles, a tradition that should not originate from the Northern Dynasty, but was mainly influenced by the tradition of making inscriptions of monks and nuns in the Southern Dynasty.

(The author is Li Meng, Lecturer, Research Center for Ancient Chinese Literature and Department of Chinese Chinese Literature, Fudan University)