敦煌初唐弥勒经变的发展及其意义 = The textual presentations of Maitreya in Dunhuang during the early Tang

Abstract

Before the Tang, these textual presentations of Maitreya were depicted separately, based either on the Ascending or Descending Sutra. But from the early Tang, these textual presentations observe a noticeable development. The contents of both the Ascending and Descending Sutras were depicted simultaneously in one single composition. No adequate explanations have been provided and scholars persists in understanding and interpreting it separately, maintaining that this simultaneous depiction is the combined presentation of the two sutras and the reason for its depiction was purely for religious purposes.There is however, a new proposition based primarily on the implementation of Buddhist political ideology. Contrary to previous studies, its explanation of these early Tang textual presentations of Maitreya is based on the Avatamsaka Sutra. With textual evidence as support, it argues that the principal character in these textual presentations are that of a Buddhist Cakravartin and that their appearance was in fact the result of the Avatamsaka Buddharaja tradition implemented by Empress Wu Zetian.