隋唐における仏教冥界遊行譚の変化：閻羅王と金剛経そして創作の萌芽=Changes in Buddhist Stories about Visits to the Underworld in the Sui and Tang Dynasties: King Yama, the Diamond Sūtra, and the Birth of Fiction
冥界遊行=Visiting to the Underworld; 閻羅王=the king of Yama; 誦経=Chanting Sūtra; 金剛経=the Diamond Sūtra
摘要
During the Sui and Tang dynasties, the king of the underworld changed from the Lord of Mount Tai (Taishan fujun 泰山府君) to King Yama (Yanluo wang 閻羅王). In Buddhist stories about visits to the underworld, those who had chanted sūtras were forgiven for their sins, and sometimes King Yama asked priests to chant sūtras. These changes became noticeable in the late Northern and Southern dynasties. This paper aims to clarify how and why these changes occurred during this period. Buddhist apocrypha written mainly in the Northern dynasties defined the behavior of King Yama in the underworld. He established his position as the king of the underworld at the beginning of the Tang dynasty, assuming a position superior to that of the Lord of Mount Tai. Initially, he would often ask people to chant various sūtras. The Diamond Sūtra, which was one of these, does not directly mention the prolonging of life. However, its core ideas came to be linked to prolonging life, and eventually the Diamond Sūtra became strongly associated with King Yama and stories about visiting the underworld. From the late Northern and Southern dynasties, there appeared various Buddhistsects, each with its own doctrines, and they modified stories about visits to the underworld and other Buddhist stories to bring them in line with their own doctrines. Stories about visits to the underworld became more fictional and creative during this period, and there is a possibility that these works of fiction were related to the rise of Tang chuanqi 伝奇 stories.
