摘要:

The present essay presents the auther's recent research on early Buddhism as is reflected in the Budˉdhist pictorial remains.The author looks at the early Buddhist pictures found in south of China,especially those hung on the money trees found in some East Han and Shu-Han tombs in Sichuan,and those found on quintuple pottery jars unearthed from the Sun-Wu and Western and Eastern Jin tombs in the middle and lower reaches of the Changjiang.In his studies,the author notices the coexistence of images of aliens with these Buddhist pictures.Having consulted literature,he analyses the relationship between early Buddhism and traditional folk worship.He comes to the conclusion that before the Jin Dynasty,Buddha was regarded as a foreign deity,and the Han Chinese were not allowed to become a monk;the majority of Buddhist beˉlievers were aliens,who brought Buddhist pictures to China in the first place and to whose influence owes the later wide spread of Buddhist sculptures and painting in the country.