關河的三世學與河西的千佛思想=The School of Three Periods Versus the Thoughts of a Thousand Buddhas: The Spread of Buddhist Thoughts and Imagery from Chang-an to Ho-hsi
As different topics in the same theme , three Buddhas, five Buddhas, seven Buddhas and a thousandBuddhas marked the milestones in Chinese Buddhist history. It was Kumarajiva who first established his school of Buddhist philosophy and meditation on thethree periods, that is, past , present and future , in the early fifth century at Chang-an. He based his interpretation mainly on the teaching in the `Prajna` Suta and the Lotus Sutra, while the time in Buddhist world reached a new wonderful era. According to the definition , past and present Buddhas are Prabhutaratna and Sakyamuni.
`Kumarajiva's` interpretation on the three periods quickly spread out from Chang-an to Ho-hsi, Kan-su province at present , where Buddhist art was prospering. It was here that the future Buddha Maitreya joined `Prabhutaratna` and `Sakyamuni` as a set of three Buddhas. Later developed are definitions on sets of seven Buddhas and a thousand Buddhas acompanied by systematic meditation , philosophy as well as imagery. This amazing development in Ho-hsi was unique at the time.
To sum up , the Chinese initiated and developed well a complete set of a thousand Buddhas with itsthoughts and imagery.
