天下與佛國土：六世紀中國南朝佛教王權與海上絲路

Heaven and Buddhist Land: Buddhist Kingship of Southern Dynasties of China and the Maritime Silk Road in the Sixth Century

本文以六世紀中國南朝與海上絲路國家的往來為基礎，透過佛教王權的視角，探討中國南朝官方如何運用佛教王權的理論，將南朝國都建康建構為東亞世界的中心，並以此中心建構新穎且特別的對外關係。南朝是中國與海上諸國貿易、外交往來的興盛期，建康城成為此一時期中國與海上絲路諸國往來的重要城市。在梁朝佛教王權的發展下，建康城幾乎成為了佛教都城，梁王權的性質深刻地影響中國與海上絲路諸國的外交往來。在六世紀中國的官方文獻記載中，南朝官方與海上絲路諸國的外交往來，佛教成為外交文書的創作母題。這些帶有佛教色彩的外交文書，透過中國官方對於外國文書的翻譯與製作，梁朝彷彿成為了海南諸國眼中理想的佛教帝國。這除了可見南朝佛教王權的發達，亦可發現中國梁王權利用佛教與海南國家締結關係，透過海上諸國對其佛教聖王地位的承認，滿足梁朝作為中國與東亞世界中心的目的。

 

This article focuses on the communication between Southern dynasties of China and countries of the maritime silk road in the sixth century, via the perspective of Buddhist kingship, to discuss how the authority of Southern dynasties of China utilized the Buddhist kingship as a political and diplomatic idea to construct the capital Jiankang (建康) as the center of East Asia and developed the new and special international relations. The international trade and diplomatic communications were prosperous in the period of Southern dynasties of China and the capital Jiankang had become an important city on the maritime silk road. Under the development of Buddhist kingship of the Liang dynasty, the capital Jiankang almost had become a Buddhist sacred city and the Buddhist kingship of the Liang dynasty strongly affected the diplomatic communications between the countries of the maritime silk road. In the Chinese official records in the sixth century, Buddhism was the main motif in the diplomatic documents of the Southern dynasties of China and countries of the maritime silk road. These highly Buddhism-influenced diplomatic documents, were translated and retouched by the Chinese official government of Liang that the kingdom of Liang almost regarded as the ideal Buddhist empire in the eyes of the countries of the maritime silk road. It could illustrate the development of the Buddhist kingship of Liang dynasty. Also, it demonstrates that the official authority of Liang took advantage of establishing formal diplomatic relations with Buddhist ideas, through receiving the diplomatic recognition of being the sacred Buddhist empire, Liang succeeded in fulfilling the goal of being the heartland of China and East Asia.