Lantern Festival Development in Han Dynasty
The formation of the lantern festival reached the heyday of the Han and Tang dynasties. The development of the lantern festival in the Han and Tang dynasties was very critical. During the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the reverence, worship and sacrifice of the Taiyi God became more and more grand and grand. The lighting of lanterns, as the important content of sacrifices, was gradually concentrated on Shangyuan Day, and its night was called Yuan Ye, also known as Lantern Festival. The successor of Buddhism in the Eastern Han Dynasty made the custom of burning lanterns in Shangyuan spread widely and spread among the people. Emperor Liu Zhuang of the Han Dynasty, who believed in Buddhism, became a powerful advocate for the spread of Buddhism in China and the promotion of Everbright. At that time, Mo Tengzhu Flan came to teach in the East, and encountered the censure of Taoism, which led to the test of mana in the palace court in front of Emperor Ming of the Han Dynasty. Mortenzhu Flange burns the image of the scriptures with fire, and the images of the scriptures glow without damage.
Emperor Ming of Han believed in and respected Buddhism even more, and ordered "burning the lamp" on the day of the 15th day of the first lunar month, when the Buddha changed his mind, to show the great enlightenment of Buddhism (see "The History of Monks" cited in "Han Dharma Neizhuan"). This is the last day in Chinese history that the emperor issued a decree to light the lanterns, and it is not false to regard this as the beginning of the Lantern Festival. Before that, the city of Chang'an in the Han Dynasty was subject to Jinwu's "curfew" at night. In order to facilitate the people to light the lanterns all night, Emperor Ming of the Han authorized the "night release" on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, which also set a precedent for the ban on lanterns in Shangyuan. Since then, the magic lanterns of Buddhism have been lit on the land of China, and they have quickly set off a prairie.
During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, Lantern Festival and lantern viewing have gradually become the norm. In the Northern Qi Dynasty, the monk Yezhong Biantiyesha once explained a volume of the "Sutra of the Merit of Deng", which was prepared to describe the merits of deng. Emperor Liangwu of the Southern Dynasties believed in Buddhism. In addition to building monasteries, he also sacrificed himself three times as a slave in Tongtai Temple. On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month in his palace, the lanterns were lit up, which became a one-time event. Emperor Liang Jianwen also wrote a "Lie Deng Fu", and Empress Chen also wrote "Mountain Lamp Poems". From the above-mentioned poems and poems, we can see the scene of opening lanterns and enjoying lanterns on the night of Lantern Festival: the lanterns displayed include oil lamps, lacquer lamps, or burning incense or candles; there are lamps on distant mountains, and there are lamps on the road. During this period, the Shangyuan lanterns originated from Buddhism spread all over the place, and Taoism also joined in the excitement. According to its own special origin, the Lantern Festival in China has formed the prototype of an important festival for the Chinese nation during the Southern and Northern Dynasties.
The Lantern Festival was once developed in the Sui Dynasty, stagnant for a time, and prospered again in the reign of Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty. The popular religious theme lantern festivals and foreign-style lantern festivals achieved great development at that time.
