Stone Inscriptions and Chinese Buddhist Practices in the Tang Dynasty (618–907 CE)

Abstract

To gain insight into the social and religious network available to everyday individuals and to understand the broader context of Chinese Buddhism during the Tang dynasty (618–907 CE), I focused on stone inscriptions obtained from a famous Buddhist site situated near the capital city of Luoyang, the Longmen Grottoes. My dissertation focuses on the ordinary people connected with the inscriptions through three perspectives: 1) Why and how did they establish these Buddhist projects and engrave their inscriptions? 2) What practices did they participate in and how were their Buddhist thoughts reflected through these practices? 3) What social and religious networks were they involved in, and how did they spread Buddhism in the Tang dynasty? My objective is to unveil an insider’s perspective to reveal the religious and social lives of Tang Buddhists and reconstruct their Buddhist practices through the materials composed by contemporaries of the era.