Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s8.t2.12

v1.c7.s8.t2.12

In the Northern and Southern Dynasties, a heated debate about whether humans have an eternal subject after death has ever been conducted. For example, Fan Zhen in Qi and Liang Dynasties struggles against the independent existence of "spirit" (soul). He says in his *Theory of Spiritual Perishability* that, "the spirit and the body are the same one. They are interdependent whether existence or destruction". Fan Zhen does not fight against the theory of Atman on the basis of the theory of *Anatman* of Buddhism, but against the theory of *Samsara*. However, in Northern and Southern Dynasty, there are also many people who think that there exists a Samsara subject after death, such as Emperor Wu of Liang, Cao Siwen. They believe in the existence of Samsara from the point of view of Buddhism. About the retribution forms in *Samsara*, Chinese Buddhism not only absorbs a lot of relevant contents from Indian Buddhism, but also keeps its own characteristics. For instance, Hui Yuan in his *Theory of Three Retributions* puts forward three forms of retribution: present-life retribution, next-life retribution and future-life retribution. After Sui and Tang Dynasty, there were many discussions on Samsara by some Chinese Buddhism sects such as Tiantai Sect.