泉州《一百大寺看經記碑》研究—兼論元代佛教寺院的地理分佈=A Study on the Stele Inscriptions of One Hundred Huge Monasteries’ Reading and Chanting Sūtras in Quanzhou: With a Glimpse on the Geographical Distribution of Mahāyāna Buddhist Monasteries in Yuan Dynasty
元代佛寺=Buddhist monasteries of Yuan dynasty; 《一百大寺看經記碑》=Stele Inscriptions of One Hundred Huge Monasteries’ Reading and Chanting Sūtras; 亦黑迷失=El Yighmish
There are few national statistical data on Buddhist Monasteries of Yuan Dynasty. Therefore, the Stele Inscriptions of One Hundred Huge Monasteries’ Reading and Chanting Sūtras in Quanzhou, Fujian province of China, by a Uyghur navigator named El Yighmish, is a significant source. This paper first discusses the discovery of this stele and the quality of different collections of its epitaph copies, and then analyses the biography of El Yighmish and his motive to build this stele. The author argues that the activities of reading and chanting sūtras was correlated with the cult of the Buddhist canon in Yuan dynasty. Finally, he analyses the geographical distribution of Mahāyāna Buddhist monasteries in Yuan dynasty based on the information in the scripture.
