The Attitude of Biographies of Monks toward the Mysterious: With a Focus on the relationship with Zhiguai

In this paper, focusing on several articles about monks in Zhiguai (志怪), I examined the changes in the distance between Zhiguai and Seng zhuan (僧傳 Biography of monks). It looked into the records of mysterious actions performed by monks, who, despite being outsiders, became familiar figures, observing the developments in Zhiguai and Seng zhuan. Unlike the criteria for recording monk stories in Seng zhuan, which mainly focused on spiritual aspects, Zhiguai included technical aspects and mysterious events related to ghosts in its records. Therefore, unlike the monastic focus on the maturity of monks in Seng zhuan, even monks who were not high-ranking were documented in Zhiguai during the period of Six Dynasties. In the early Zhiguai, non-Buddhists perceived Buddhism as a mysterious existence, recording the peculiarities of Buddhism. As a result, Zhiguai took on a new development. Buddhism ceased to be an exotic 'ritual' and began to be recognized as Buddhism itself. Moreover, by being associated with influential individuals or monks affiliated with temples, the stories of monks in Zhiguai were recorded and became part of the materials for Seng zhuan. In this way, by examining the transmission of stories about the mysterious or divine through the intermediary of the 'monk,' we have explored the interrelationship between Zhiguai and Seng zhuan.