佛教傳播與中國佛教國家的形成

Buddhist Transmission and Establishment of Buddhist Kingdoms in China

古代亞洲歷史變遷的原因很多，其中佛教的傳播是主要的原因之一。在過去，我們都認為佛教的傳播主要靠商人、傳教士及來往各地的僧人造成。這種看法與目前亞洲保留的古代佛教文物並不成正比例。換言之，商人、傳教士及來往各地的僧人是無法靠個人的力量開鑿像中國雲岡石窟或像印尼爪哇波羅波多(Borobudur)這種需要用非常久的時間，非常多的人力及財力才能建造的佛教藝術工程。特別是，保留的文獻及歷史也沒有提到這些建造是由商人、傳教士及來往各地的僧人建造而成。大乘佛教非常重視在地上建立佛國的理念，大乘佛教的發展不僅與此理想的發展息息相關，大乘甚至將這種理念登錄在經典上或反應在其造像上。由於大乘佛教有在世上建立佛國的信仰傳統，大乘佛教的傳播，便具有政治意函，甚至能改變亞洲歷史的發展及走向，本文因此要談論佛教傳播與亞洲佛教國家形成的關係。

Buddhist transmission was an important cultural phenomenon in Asian history. Up to the present, scholars have maintained that Buddhism was transmitted to China through the efforts of merchants, Buddhist monks and priests who travelled between India and China. In this paper I attempt to show that Buddhism was transmitted into China mainly because some Chinese emperors wanted to establish a Buddhist kingdom or to implement Buddhism as their ruling religion. From the time Kujūla Kadphises' (c. 5BC-78AD) first used Mahāyāna Buddhism to rule the Kushāns (c.30-300), Mahāyāna Buddhists have documented the image of a cakravartin (he who rules with Buddhism) and the method for establishing a Buddhist kingdom in texts which were composed in every period of its development. In this regard, whenever a Chinese emperor wanted to rule with Buddhism, he had first to find an eminent monk to help him import and translate the relevant texts. Following this, emperor and monk had to work very closely together to promote Buddhism in the kingdom. Both kinds of Buddhist activities were the main cause of Buddhism being transmitted to China. In other words, Buddhism was transmitted into China for political reasons.