The secularization of Buddhism in the Tang Dynasty was a necessary tendency in the course of development and evolution of Buddhism. This secularization of Buddhism had an extensive and profound influence on female marriage and family in the Tang Dynasty. First of all, it helped break the concept of family status in choosing a spouse, for people tended to believe that marriage was determined by the fate. Then, it encouraged to go against the feudal family ethics and allowed the wife not to be coburied with her wife. Next, it allowed a nun to continue her family responsibility and maintain a close contact with her family. Finally, a person ought to care for her parents by maintaining Buddhist restrains and praying for happiness. All these influences showed not only an active side by strengthening the women in the Tang Dynasty’s autonomous and independent awareness, but also an inactive side by restricting the women’s ability of properly understanding the external world with fatalism.

Buddhism in the Tang Dynasty; buddhism secularization; women in the Tang Dynasty; view of marriage and family