Be named after Buddha
2020-01-22 01:42 | Hits: 347
From: Three Pagodas of Chongsheng Temple Author: Office
2020-01-22 01:42 | Hits: 347
From: Three Pagodas of Chongsheng Temple Author: Office
Ancestors of the Bai nationality used the earliest Chinese surnames when in the Han and Jin dynasties. According to historical records, when Wu Hou made the southern expedition, he gave the surname of Zhang to IX grandson of white King Renguo, said Zhang Longyou Na. To the early Tang dynasty, Zhang lejin qiu, who was the descent of Zhang Longyou Na, was granted by Tang, said white General of three Dana. In “Record of local conditions of Xi’er River”, it reads” there are tens and hundreds tribes around the Erhai, and dozens of surnames of Yang, Zhao, Li and Dong, who are masters. Qulianzhao recorded by “Man Shu”, said that Yang, Wang, Li and Zhao are four surnames. It serves to show that in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, surnames among the white man has become more popular around the Erhai Lake. There are 50 Chinese recognizable surnames in the inscriptions of Nan Zhao Dehua monument, and 16 in the image transmission of Nan Zhao; it proved that the adoption of surnames was very popular in the period of Nan Zhao. The name system of the father and son without last name has made the transition to the name system of father and son with Chinese surname, it showed that the Han culture had great influence on naming customs of Bai.
In the name system of father and son with Chinese surname, due to the syllabic features of Bai nationality, it appeared the three-word name or even the four-word name. For example, there were three-word names in the inscriptions of ten persons in Nan Zhao Dehua monument, such as Zhang piaoluo Qian, Zhao longxi li, Luoshimu ju and etc.Li boluo nuo, Meng xiluo wu, Zhao moluo mei and Yang dahe mei were in the book of ManShu.Zhang lejin qiu,Zhang yimu lian were in the book of the image transmission of Nanzhao.Among these names, the first word was Chinese surname, and the two words in the middle often represented a meaning, such as Lejin for the King Tiger, Xinju for Prince and Boluo for Tiger.
In the middle and later period of Nan Zhao, three-word name appeared again with a Buddhist name in Bai ‘names. The first word for Chinese surname, the middle two characters for Buddha’s, bodhisattva’s epithets or Buddhist scriptures and the last word for name. This naming was popular in Dali period; Yuan and Ming dynasties had this custom much found in record. For instance, the inscriptions of Jiao Yuan Tower (stand in Dali country,16 years after the beginning of Tiankai, A. D. 1221) written for "Su Na Tuozhi", the inscription had the three-word name of Gao Guanyin Zheng, Zaochuangji which was in the country of Dali in Kunming have Gao Guanyin Zheng and Gao Guanyin Ming, Dong's genealogy inscription in North Tang Tian of Dali FengYi had Dong Jingang tian,Dong fa Hua yong and Dong dacang lin, the signature of Qianxun Tower upon unearthed stone statue of Buddha had Li yaoshi xiang, Zhao Guanyin jin, Yang zhutian lun and so on. In addition, the four-word names of "apothecary Wang Ming" type were not uncommon.
Guanyin, Yichang, Dari, Miaoyin, Tianwang, Natuo and Zhutian were masters of Buddha and bodhisattva in Bai’names which were common used. However, Banruo, Shucheng, Fahua, Huayan and Jingang were classic names, and”Fanseng” was India monk at the beginning of the tantric Buddhism. Since the middle of the Nan Zhao Kingdom, especially the Dali Kingdom, A Chili sect of Buddhism became the national religion. Many devout A Chili and even general believers chanted Buddhist scriptures and practiced in this respect. Thus it tended to have a Buddha or a Buddhist name for himself. In the midst of these names, the name of Guanyin was most used, and it was the reason of A Chili sect of Buddhism’ worship for Guanyin. In short, the custom of practicing Buddha or classic name was deeply affected by the A Chili sect of Buddhism, great changes generated by Bai’s named custom after the fashion of Buddhist tantric sect fashion.