Buddhism was prosperous in China since Tang dynasty, and it also inspired the emergence of a new style of gardens: Buddhist monastery gardens, which meanings and cultures gradually permeated into literati life. The Buddhist monastery gardens had carried out Buddhism's ideas: everyone is born equal so that common people can go into temples to worship Buddhas, visit the gardens or even stay there for a couple of days. The gardens were associated not only with common people's daily lives, but also with social lives and mental activities of literati. Therefore, this thesis intends to prove that Buddhist monastery gardens in Tang dynasty were the places not only for religion, but they also contained common values and other distinct cultures, such as places inspiring literati poetry writing. In order to demonstrate these concepts, this thesis will focus on Tang literati poetry, especially for those about Buddhism, Buddhist monastery gardens’ social states, culture's features, religious beliefs and literati lives’ experiences. In addition, the study also aims to reflect how literati thinking about life, inner self and philosophy while staying in the Buddhist monastery gardens. Quan Tangshi is hence studied as it provides information to illustrate how the Buddhist monastery gardens affected literati lives and minds of most Tang literati.
