How do you see the relationship between the influence of Buddhist culture on literature and the influence of traditional Confucian and Taoist culture on ancient literature

Buddhism is a religion with faith as the root, liberation as the purpose, education as the center and culture as the bond. Since its introduction to China, its influence on Chinese literature can be summarized in seven aspects: First, the influence of the teaching culture on Chinese literati. The influence of Buddhism on Chinese culture is first manifested in the influence on the literati. Since the introduction of Buddhism into China, the literati and Buddhism have formed an unbreakable bond. Since the Han, Wei, and Six Dynasties, until the Qing Dynasty, there were no less than 40 great poets and writers who had a relationship with Buddhism, and all of them had a great influence on the history of Chinese literature. They include Cao Zhi, Tao Yuanming, Wang Xizhi, Xie An, Xie Lingyun, Liu Innocenti, Liu Zongyuan, Li Bai, Du Fu, Meng Haoran, Jia Dao, Wang Wei, Wu Daozi, Bai Juyi, Li Yu, Sima Guang, Wang Anshi, Su Dongpo, Huang Tingjian, Zhao Mengfu, Ma Zhiyuan, Tang Bohu, Wang Fushan, Song Lian, Wang Yangming, Wu Chengnan, Liang Qichao, Zhang Binglin, Li Shutong and Hu Shi, among others. Among the modern writers listed in the book Religious and Cultural Complexes of Modern Chinese Writers (by Liu Yong), there are 134 who are associated with Buddhism. They include Lu Xun, Zhou Zuoren, Lao She, Cao Yu, Bing Xin, Xu Dishan, Feng Zikai, Guo Moruo, Yu Dafu, Mao Dun, Shen Congwen, Xu Zhimo, Dai Wangshu, Zhu Ziqing, Lin Yutang, Zhang Ailing, Xiao Qian, Zong Baihua, Xia Shinzun, Shi Jingshu, Jin Yong, and Lin Chingxuan, among others. It can be said that in the history of Chinese literature, all of the writers who are distinctive and influential have some kind of connection with Buddhist culture. They either dabbled in Buddhism (e.g. Wang Wei, Li Shutong), or befriended famous monks (e.g. Wang Xizhi and Zhizan; Bai Juyi and Bird's Nest; Su Shi and Buddha's Seal). These great poets and writers, because of their association with Buddhism, have left a lot of good stories in the Chinese literary world. Second, the influence of Buddhist culture on the language of Chinese literature. The introduction of Buddhism added new words to the language of Chinese literature. Along with the introduction of Buddhism, the translation of Buddhist scriptures was also carried out, and many beautiful allusions and new words of artistic beauty in Buddhist texts were introduced into China. According to the book A Brief History of Chinese Novels, the literary works of the Six Dynasties, especially after the Tang Dynasty, in which the idioms originated from Buddhism, accounted for more than 90 percent of the foreign idioms in the history of the Chinese language. With the introduction and translation of Buddhist scriptures, Buddhist terms gradually became the everyday language of the Chinese family. For example, world, actuality, reality, relative, phenomenon, enlightenment, liberation, epiphany, living beings, six paths, sentient beings, sentient beings, the Pure Land, the other side of the world, knowledge, mind-only, and comparative, etc., all come from Buddhist texts. They have greatly enriched the treasury of our literary language and made the expression of Chinese language more flexible. According to Ding Fubao's Dictionary of Buddhism, there are more than 3,000 foreign words and special words originating from Buddhist scriptures, which shows the contribution of Buddhism to the Chinese language. There are also a lot of idioms originated from Buddhism. According to the book "The Source of Buddhism", there are three hundred and twenty-six idioms originated from Buddhism. Such as: six roots of purity, dragging mud, great compassion, birth, old age, sickness and death, mind like a horse, only I respect, incredible, cold and ambiguous self-awareness, all happy, bodhisattva heart, a thousand worlds, the eight parts of the Dragon, when the head of the baton to drink, the body to say, to present the law, the flower to present the Buddha, the Buddha scolding ancestors, fools talk about dreams, the muddy cow into the sea, the well fishing for the moon, the immense merit and virtue, the five bodies, the scarcity of food, the suffering of the sweet," The sea of bitterness has no boundaries, turning back is the shore", "reap what you sow, reap what you sow", "put down the butcher's knife, become a Buddha on the ground" and so on are all originated from the Buddhist terminology. They not only facilitate the exchange of ideas, but also greatly promote the creation of Chinese literature. Third, the influence of Buddhist culture on literary genres. The introduction of Buddhism promoted the creation and prosperity of Chinese ballads, plain language, opera and novels. Since the translation and circulation of Buddhist scriptures in China in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the content form and ideology of Chinese literature have been profoundly influenced. First of all, Buddhism had a great influence on Chinese poetry. Along with Buddhism, Indian statement theory was brought into China, leading to the invention of phonetics and poetic meter in the Southern Dynasties, thus contributing to the creation of a new genre of metrical poetry since the Tang Dynasty. Secondly, it also had a far-reaching influence on Chinese opera and the art of rap. In order to propagate the Dharma, Buddhism began to promote the "reading" of scriptures, the singing of "chanting" and "chanting guide" since the Northern and Southern Dynasties. The combination of this form of preaching and singing created the trend of Buddhist popular singing, and for the Song and Ming Dynasties, the production and prosperity of lyrics, plain language, opera, produced enlightenment, encouragement and promotion of the role. Thirdly, it promoted the production and prosperity of Chinese novels. Many classics of Buddhism, such as "The Praise of Buddha's Acts", "Buddha's Acts", "Puyao Sutra", etc. are long stories of Buddhism, with rich contents, touching plots, and well-constructed characters; "Vimalakirti's Sutra", "Siyi Brahma's Sutra" are semi-novel and semi-drama works; "Surai Sutra" itself is a novel work, which were basically not available before the Tang Dynasty in China. Their introduction not only opened up the horizons and thinking of Chinese literati, but also laid the foundation for the formation of vernacular novels in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and had an inestimable impact on the creation of a series of novels later. Fourth, Buddhist culture provides materials for literary creation. There are many stories and legends in the Buddhist classics, which were introduced into China with the translation of Buddhist scriptures and spread to the folk, and they provided a lot of materials for the creation of Chinese literature. For example, China's long narrative poems "Southeast Flight of the Peacock" and "Mulan Diction" are derived from the stories in the "Praise of the Actions of the Buddha". The novels of the Jin, Wei, and Six Dynasties, such as "The Record of Searching for Gods" and "The Record of Grievous Souls," were all derived from legendary stories in Buddhism. Some Buddhist scripture stories were even directly changed into Chinese novels, such as (Liang) Wu Jun's Renewal of Qi Huan Ji. The chapter books of Ming and Qing dynasties, some famous novels of China such as Dream of Red Mansions, Rulin's History, Water Margin, etc., were also directly or indirectly influenced by Buddhist stories. Wu Chengen's novel Journey to the West is even more the result of the influence of Buddhist stories. It is based on the popular story of Tang Xuanzang's journey to India to obtain scriptures. It can be said that Buddhist stories provide rich materials for the creation of Chinese literature.

V. The influence of Buddhist culture on Chinese literary thought. Buddhist culture enriched the imaginative world of Chinese literati, promoted the diversification of Chinese literary outlook, and enriched Chinese literary thought even more. Before the introduction of Buddhism, there was only this life and this world in traditional Chinese thought, neither past life nor afterlife. Even Confucius said, "How can one know death without knowing life?" After the introduction of Buddhism, it brought to China the ideas of the three worlds (past life, present life, and future life), the five paths (heaven, man, animal, hungry ghost, and hell), and the three realms (desire, color, and colorless realms). These ideas at once opened up the imaginary world of the Chinese literati. Thereby, the concept of mindfulness as well as ideas about realm, form and spirit, emptiness and impermanence, and image and beyond appeared in the field of Chinese thought, which greatly enriched the literary thought of the Chinese people. The Dream of the Red Chamber, one of the Four Great Wonders of China, is a masterpiece y influenced by Buddhist thought. Through the rise and fall of a family, it shows that life is like a dream and the world is impermanent, and the Buddhist thought is exposed between the lines. Without the richness and influence of Buddhist culture on Chinese literary thought, such a great work would not have appeared.

Sixth, the influence of Buddhist culture on the methods of literary creation. Before the introduction of Buddhism, the genre of Chinese literature was very simple. A poem was a poem, a word was a word, prose was prose, a rhyme was rhyme, a chi was a chi, and a biography was a biography. This was not the case with the Indian literature of the same time, which was basically a mixture of prose and rhyme, a fusion of rap and song, and a rich and colorful approach to literature. With the introduction of Buddhism, this style of writing and creative techniques were brought into China, so that China produced a new style of loose rhyme, rap interlaced. For example, later generations of play lyrics and plain speech are the result of the introduction of such creative techniques. Before the introduction of Buddhism, Chinese novels about gods and spirits were generally very short, with only one story per piece, and were written in a straight line from beginning to end. The Indian stories in the Buddhist classics are different; they generally take one main story as the backbone, and then intersperse many small stories in the course of the narrative. For example, the Mahabharata belongs to this type. This narrative method had a great influence on the creation of Chinese novels, especially on the creation of Tang Dynasty legends. Hu Shih once said, "Indian literature tends to emphasize the layout and structure of the form, and the Pu Yao Sutra, the Praises of the Buddha's Acts, and the Buddha's Acts Sutra are all great long stories, with strange twists and turns and a grand structure, with stories quoted within stories. This grapevine style of narration is all unparalleled in ancient China; their importation has had a direct or indirect influence on the novels and dramas written in later times."

Seven, the influence of Buddhist culture on Chinese literary criticism. Buddhism has not only had a significant impact on China's literary creation, the formation and development of China's literary theory and criticism, but also had a direct role in promoting. Buddhism advocates intuition, discernment and other methods, and the theory of literary creation has a lot of tacit understanding; Buddhism attaches importance to transcend the burden of the objective environment, the pursuit of a pure spiritual realm, and the aesthetic value of literary works, aesthetic understanding, there is also some kind of common ground. Therefore, Buddhist doctrine has profoundly influenced Chinese literary theory and criticism. The famous canon of literary criticism, Wenxin Diao Long (文心雕龙), and Zhong Rong's Poetry Pieces (诗品), are known as the twin jewels of the canon of Chinese literary criticism. Both books interpreted their theories of literary criticism in terms of Buddhist thought. Another book of poetry criticism theory, Poetry, puts forward "the image beyond the image, the scene beyond the scene", "rhyme beyond the chi", "obscurity beyond the purpose", that is, the work of the strings outside the voice, the rhyme and Ambiguity as the primary artistic characteristic of poetry is also due to Buddhist thought. Yan Yu, a literary critic of the Southern Song Dynasty, wrote Canglang Poetry, using the Buddhist epiphany, proposing that "the way of Zen is only in the wonderful enlightenment, and the way of poetry is also in the wonderful enlightenment", which pursues the idea of meaning outside the words and emphasizes the idea of image thinking and aesthetic judgment, which makes a great contribution to the theory of literature. The influence of Zen thought on the theory of literary criticism is even greater. In the Song Dynasty, "using Zen as a metaphor for poetry" has become a trend, and "the metaphor of Zen poetry" has almost become a popular catchphrase. Up to now, there are still many literary critics who use Zen theories to discuss the creation, appreciation and criticism of poetry.

All in all, Buddhism has had a great influence on our culture, bringing a new mood to our literature and adding much light to Chinese culture. In addition, Buddhism in sculpture, painting, music, and architecture also left a brilliant page of Chinese history, and they have contributed to the prosperity of China's literary endeavors from another aspect.