It was the “Consciousness of Literature” period in the history of literary development when foreign Buddhism on Chinese thought and culture began to play a significant impact during the Eastern Jin “Sixteen Kingdoms” period. It is related to how to understand the nature of “literature” that the Buddhism pursuits the reality behind their appearance to put forward an idea of “reality” different from the common sense, which is directly related to how to distinguish between “the real life” and “the artistic truth”. The concepts in the teachings of Buddhism such as truth, nature of mind, the image, and languages in many aspects were involved in literary concepts and literary contents, ways of thinking and manifestations to promote the consciousness of literature which played a significant and far － reaching impact in the Chinese literary thought.
