The Origins and Role of the Great Fengxian Monastery at Longmen

Abstract

According to the stone inscription of 723 placed on the northern side of the base of the great Rocana statue in Longmen, the Da Fengxian-si was established south of the statue on September 25, 679 (Tiaolu 1.8.15). We are not told what motivated the foundation of such a monastic establishment, nor can we be absolutely certain that its original name was Da Fengxian-si because of several unsolved questions, and because, above all, no contemporary evidence concerning the monastery confirms this. It is to be assumed, nevertheless, that the monastery was instituted by the emperor Gaozong (r. 649-683), and given this name by him personally at the time of its foundation in 679. If so, it would have been dedicated to the “posthumous well-being” (zhuifu) of one or both his parents. As to the early history and role of the monastery, several manuscripts, including at least one from Dunhuang, have hitherto passed unnoticed by Longemen specialists, although they’re of manifest importance. They contain the original colopghon, dated October 7, 693 (changshou 2.9.3. -jichou) of the translation of the Baoyu-jing (Ratnamegha sutra). It is the earliest extant evidence we have on the monastery, as it is only fourteen years after its foundation and thirty years earlier than the inscription of 723. The colophon shows that by 693 the monastery name was definitely Da Fengxian-si. Interestingly, it also shows also that the Elder (sthavira) of the monastery at that time was the monk Huileng, a religious leader whose activity is documented from about 685 to 693, who was very instrumental I the establishment of the Zhou dynasty (690-705). Consequently, even if Da Fengxian-si was an ancestral monastery founded by Gaozong, it is clear that by around 685 it was firmly in the control of Wu Zhao (Emress Wu). Although Huileng may well have respected Gaozong’s personal ideas and wishes, he (and hence the monastic community belonging to the prestigious Longmen institution) did not support the cause of the Tang dynasty, but rather helped the empress to abolish it and to establish in its place the new Zhou dynasty in 690. Moreover, in 693 Huileng was instrumental in legitimizing Wu Zhao as the universal sovereign dreamt of in Buddhist Asia. In February 23, 722 the Great Fengxian Monastery was destroyed by a disastrous flood of the River Yi. Xuanzong had left Chang’an on Februaryt 5 on the same year, and happened to arrive in Luoyang just three days after the flood, on February 26, 722. He was there when he had to make the delicate decision of what to do with the monastic institution whose physical structures had been destroyed. He decided, in late 722 or early 723,that the monastery would not be rebuilt, but would rather merge with another monastery in the vicinity, the Longhua-si, which had been spared by the flood. It was at the time, we think, that it lost its special status as a “great monastery”. Xuanzong’s decision to allow the survival of the institution was probably due to the consideration that it belonged to his family, given that it had been founded by his grandfather Gaozong. On the other hand, if he also decided that the monastery should lose its privileged status as a “great monastery”, that was possibly a consequence of Xuanzong’s indifference, if not diffidence, for an institution whose members had effectively contributed to the overthrow of the Tang dynasty almost thirty-three years earlier, in October 690.

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• The Origins and Role of the Great Fengxian Monastery at Longmen. (deposited 12 Lug 2011 08:09) [Attualmente visualizzato]
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