Abstract
From a generic perspective, the Tangut ideological system can be represented as the conflation of three major factors: in the course of their history, the Tanguts were open to ideological inflows originating mainly on the Central Plains (1, Buddhism and Confucianism) and the Tibetan Plateau (2, Buddhism). These two inflows encountered the Tangut indigenous ideology (3), which had obviously emerged before the proclamation of the Tangut State, and is scarcely known. These elements developed into a unique amalgamation provisionally identified as ‘Tangut ideology,’ or the ‘Tangut tradition.’ This ‘tradition’ cannot be reconstructed in its entirety: our sources are limited to the surviving textual materials in the Tangut language and scattered evidence in a variety of Chinese sources, and, to an even lesser extent, in the Tibetan chronicles. This paper seeks to deal with just one aspect of the multifaceted Tangut ideological system: the relation between Buddhism and Confucianism in the Tangut State. The main conclusion is that despite the fact that the role of Confucianism is not clearly evident in existing sources, the ultimate importance of Confucian influence is the formation of the Tangut *wen* 文.
Highlights
It has become somewhat commonplace to identify the Tangut ideology in terms of Buddhism [1] versus Confucianism, or as a combination thereof: the issue of the balance between Confucianism and Buddhism in the Tangut civilization determined much of the subject matter of the discourse on the history of the Tangut kingdom
One preliminary observation is that the invention of script and the development of Tangut philology were never connected with the necessity to translate Confucian texts or introduce Confucian ideology, but to further elaborate the Tangut language and writing system
Buddhism is a more likely candidate for the initial motivation behind the invention of the Tangut script, but even here one should refrain from hasty judgement: we know too little of Buddhism during the initial period of the Tangut Empire
Summary
ଈ୪ഌഝଈഝ From a generic perspective, the Tangut ideological system can be represented as the conflation of three major factors: in the course of their history, the Tanguts were open to ideological inflows originating mainly on the Central Plains (1, Buddhism and Confucianism) and the Tibetan Plateau (2, Buddhism) These two inflows encountered the Tangut indigenous ideology (3), which had obviously emerged before the proclamation of the Tangut State, and is scarcely known. These elements developed into a unique amalgamation provisionally identified as ‘Tangut ideology,’ or the ‘Tangut tradition.’. ౖ൰ൠಧஐഌ Tangut writing system, Buddhism, Chinese learning, Tangut state, Confucianism, Tangut rituals
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