中古西行求法僧與彌勒信仰的傳播 —— 以法顯、玄奘為中心的考察=Medieval Chinese Monks Travelling to the West in Pursuit of the Dharma and Their Connections to the Spread of Maitreya Belief: An Investigation Based on Faxian and Xuanzang
Faxian 法顯 (337–422) and Xuanzang 玄奘 (602?–664) are outstanding representative monks of Buddhist pilgrimages to Ancient India in the Eastern Jin and early Tang Dynasties. They both wrote rich records about belief in Maitreya in their travelogues. Their personal experiences of pilgrimage not only brought new information and a fresh vitality to beliefs in inland China, but also impacted the Maitreya belief in the years before their pilgrimage. This impact is much more defining than the effort of scripture translations. Faxian brought back new elements related to belief in Maitreya from Ancient India, such as the nāga-puspa picture (龍華圖), the nāga-puspa belief (龍華信仰), the first turning wheel of Maitreya Buddha (彌勒初會), the belief in Buddha’s bowl (佛钵信仰) and so on. These elements greatly promoted and influenced the nāga-puspa belief (Maitreya belief下生信仰), which was the prevailing faith in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Xuanzang also brought back his own experiences and religious practice from Ancient India, which introduced new contents of Maitreya belief in inland China. One example comes from the rules for confession and forgiveness of Maitreya (彌勒懺儀), and also Maitreya’s monks (彌勒內眾). These practices and their concepts directly contributed to the prosperity of Maitreya belief (上生兜率信仰), and meanwhile affected the rules for confession and forgiveness of Maitreya and Amitabh’s Pure Land (彌陀淨土) during the Tang dynasty. Moreover, it strengthened the exceptionality of Tushita’s monks and established the concept of China Tushita courtyard (中土‘兜率內院’). Since then, Tuṣita Courtyard and Courtyard became almost synonymous with Chinese Maitreya beliefs.
