Title

Reading Three Rhapsodies on “Excursion" in Wenxuan from Xiao Tong's Buddhist Belief

Author

Shenman Chu

Genre

Article  

Pages

431-466

Download

PDF

Language

Chinese

Key words

Xiao Tong, Wenxuan, Two Truths

Abstract

  This essay consists of two main parts. The first part analyzes actual phenomenon. Comparing “Rhapsody on the Excursion to Mount Tientai" to the works that share similar content and style of writing, we found that it was not usual for the editor of Wenxuan to juxtapose this rhapsody with “Rhapsody on Ascending the Tower" and “Rhapsody on the Ruined City" under the sub -category of “excursion." The second part proposes a likely hypothesis for this phenomenon. Although Xiao Tong had multiple roles in his career─as a statesman, literary figure, and Buddhist一he did not have multiple personality disorder, and his religious belief would more or less help shape his criteria of literary evaluation and of anthology selection for Wenxuan. By clarifying the Two Truth view in Xiao Tong's Buddhist belief and taking it as a new point of departure, this essay reexamines the three rhapsodies on “excursion" in Wenxuan so as to understand the way Xiao Tong read the three works.