佛教历史意识的兴起——以法显行记的几则记载为中心

Sacra,the Extinction of Dharma,and the Rise of Historical Consciousness in Medieval Buddhism

法显在师子国所闻佛钵经,改写了此前流传的佛钵传说,将之视为佛法住世的标志。其所描述的佛法兴衰过程,是移用早期佛教经典中关于"三中劫"的宇宙论描述,放入到释迦佛灭,弥勒下生的佛陀论框架中。佛钵以百年为尺度移动的时间表,同时期佛教经典中类似表现是对教团修行实践的描述,正、像二时的划分,佛灭年代的具体推算,和时间表的制定,起初是三个独立的传统,并在5世纪逐渐融合。

The scripture on the Buddha’s begging bowl which Faxian recorded in Sri Lanka deviates from the legends of the same object in the sense that the bowl is taken as the emblem of the existence of the dharma.The description of the fall and revival of the universe in this sutra is inserted into a Buddhological scheme.The timetable with the span of centuries is originally the description of the dominance of various practice in Buddhist community. The bipartite system Saddharma and Saddharma-pratirūpaka and the calculation of the year of the Buddha’s death developed independently,and gradually converged in the 5th century.