论中国古代编年体佛教通史的撰述

On the Writing of General Buddhist Chronicles in Ancient China

中国古代编年体佛教通史的撰述,是为了应对末法时代来临和皇权强大造成的危机感,以砥砺信仰;具览佛教在中央集权政治统治下的兴衰变迁,以为借鉴;对佛教在中国传播发展历史进行全面的记述和总结。其编纂体例诸如内容详略、纪年方式、叙史技巧等,直接受到传统编年体史书,尤其是《资治通鉴》的影响,又具有佛教史独有的特征。其史料来源浩瀚繁多,佛教史家广征博引佛籍文献,参互稽考儒道典籍,更扩展史料范围,採摭诏令、碑铭、表、记、序等文字,以撰成综罗百代,广博精微的通史性著作。

The intention of writing of general Buddhist chronicles in ancient China was responding to crisis coming from dharma ending period and the imperial power,reviewing vicissitudes of Buddhism under the influence of the power of centralized empires as a warning,and recording the diffusion of Buddhism in China.The styles of chronicles,namely,the layout of contents as a warning,the way of numbering the years and narrating techniques and so on were influenced by Chinese traditional chronicles such as ZIZHITONGJIAN,besides,they had their own religious characteristics.Their sources mainly came from ancient records of Buddhism,as well as the records of Confucianism and Taoism.The historians also collected decrees,inscriptions,prefaces and so on to compile the general chronicles.