초록 열기/닫기 버튼
The documents found in various sites in Tarim Basin tell us about children younger than twenty years old living in the Buddhist monastic community. It is surprising because there are almost no visual image or archaeological objects from the region that proves the existence of real children that lived with the monks and nuns. It seems as though that those children were only mentioned accidentally in the surviving records about economic transactions and legal disputes involving monks and nuns. This article will collect and discuss the pieces of information from those documents and Buddhist literature to do a general survey about the children who possibly lived within the Buddhist monastic environment in the Tarim Basin region. The children had different social status within the monastic community: the personal slaves of the monks and nuns, the natural or adopted children of the monks and nuns, and those sent by their parents to the monastery to go forth themselves. In addition, Buddhist literature shows us that there could have been the children who entered the monastic community to live in security and protection. In conclusion, the children seem to have belonged to various social status, which played an essential role in deciding the nature of their relationships with others.
키워드열기/닫기 버튼
Niya, Kucha, Turfan, Astana, children, monastic community
