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By Jayaram V
Buddhism entered China a few centuries after
the passing away of the
Buddha, at a time when Confucianism and Taoism were
the predominant religions in a country that was as a big as a continent and
rivaled India in historical antiquity and cultural pluralism. In the early
phases of its entry, Buddhism did not find many adherents in China. But by
the 2nd Century AD, aided to some extent by the simplicity of its approach
and some similarities with Taoism, it managed to gain a firm foothold and
acquired a sizeable following.
The arrival of many new Buddhist scholars from
the Indian subcontinent and central Asia, like An Shih-Kao, a Parthinian
monk, and Lokakshema, a Kushana monk from Central Asia gave an impetus to the
new religion that had many attractive features besides an inbuilt
organizational approach to the study and pursuit of religion. During the same
period many Buddhist texts were translated from Pali and Sanskrit into
Chinese.
The collapse of Han dynasty around 220 AD,
was followed by a period of confusion which continued to trouble Chinese
society for the next 350 years. During this period Confucianism and Taoism
gradually yielded place to Buddhism. The new Mongolian rulers of China
from the Northern Wei dynasty and some rulers in the south like Emperor Wu
found in Buddhism a great opportunity to demolish the old order and establish
a new one. As a result by 6th Century AD, China was teaming with millions of
Buddhist monks and thousands of monasteries.
During this turbulent period in China, two
major developments took place in Buddhism. One group consisting mostly of the
sophisticated gentry dwelled on the philosophical and mystical aspects of
Buddhism, while the other group dominated by rural folk followed Buddhism in
their own superstitious and simple ways imparting to it in the process a
peculiar Chinese Character.
During this period many Buddhist scholars came
to China from the east and worked selflessly to make Buddhism a mass
religion. Notable among them were scholars like Dharmaraksha (3rd Century AD)
Kumarajiva (4th Century AD), who got a number of Buddhist texts translated
into Chinese. By this time China produced its own eminent Buddhist scholars
with extraordinary vision like Seng-Chao, Tao-Sheng and Fa-hsien who also
contributed richly to the growth of Buddhism China through their
translations.
Between the 6th Century AD and 10th Century AD
China was ruled by Sui and T'ang dynasties who were also patrons of Buddhism.
During this period Buddhism reached its glorious heights in China. At the
same time the process of degeneration also began. Many Buddhist monasteries
turned to serious business and indulged in farming, trade and money lending
for their own benefit neglecting the spiritual side of their
responsibilities. Strangely, in a very uncharacteristic way, the Buddhist
monasteries cultivated the farm lands, ran mills and oil presses using slave
labor and low ranking monks and hoarded vast amounts of precious stones and
metals. They also indulged in pawn brokering and money lending.
Many new schools of Buddhism also emerged in
China during this period. Each school derived its authority from some
ancient Buddhist text or doctrine. Some of these schools spread to countries
like Korea and Japan and contributed to the emergence of Buddhism as the
predominant religion.
The fall of Buddhism began during the reign of
a Chinese Emperor Wu-Tsung (841-847). Probably noticing the greed that
characterized many monasteries, he ordered for the general destruction of all
Buddhist establishments and return of all Buddhist monks and nuns to
lay life. This shook the foundations of Buddhism though it did not destroy
it. Emperor Wu dismantled the greedy monasteries probably to fill his own
coffers, but not Buddhism. However his actions definitely reversed the
fortunes of Buddhism in China and sowed the seeds of its decline .
From 11th Century onwards, China witnessed the
reemergence of Confucianism and revival of people's interest in their
traditional religions. By their own excesses and neglect of their primary
duties, the Buddhist monasteries became the contributory factors to the
declining popularity of Buddhism. During the same period the Buddhism faced
tremendous challenges from the increasing popularity of Brahmanism and the
aggressive policies of the Islamic rulers of the Indian subcontinent.
These new developments in the land of the
Buddha had a direct impact on
the fortunes of Buddhism in China since for a
very long period the monks from the subcontinent provided a recurring source
of inspiration and information to their brethren in China. This decline
contributed greatly to the slackening of standards in the recruitment of
monks and the emergence of some decadent schools of Buddhism. These
schools deviated from the original rules prescribed by the Buddha for
monastic discipline among the brethren and emphasized the need for
exploring the lighter side of life in the practice of Buddhism instead of
sorrow and suffering. One prominent example was the emergence of Pu-Tai, or
the Laughing Buddha. He was but a decadent version of the exalted and highly
revered Maitreyi Buddha.
The Yuan dynasty that came to power in 1280
adopted Lamaism as their state religion. It was the Tibetan version of
Buddhism which gained ascendance in the mountainous country following the
emergence of Vajrayana Buddhism in eastern India. During this period some
secret schools of Buddhism also emerged in China. They believed in the future
advent of Maitreya and the emergence of new world order. These schools
practiced martial arts like Kungfu and sometimes indulged in the petty
politics of the local warlords.
Although Buddhism lost most of its dynamism and
vibrancy by the 20th century, it continued to flourish in China till the
advent of the Communism. As is well known, the emergence of communism
sounded the death knell of Buddhism. The Communist government of China did
succeed officially in putting an end to the practice of religion by
abolishing all forms of public worship and closing down all the monasteries.
The excesses of cultural revolution put an end
to whatever hopes the followers of Buddhism had about its revival. Today
Buddhism in China is a relic of the past, an ancient monument that has been
ravaged and vandalized by the clash of classes and ideological notions. It is
really difficult to say how long it would take for the cycle of Dhamma to
regain its supremacy and whether it would ever happen at all.
Chinese Schools of Buddhism
The principal schools of Buddhism
which flourished in China were:
1. The Vinaya School (Lu-tsung)
2. The Realistic School (Chu-she)
3. The Three Treatises School (San-lun)
4.The Idealist School (Fa-hsiang)
5. The Mantra or Tantric School (Mi-tsung
or Chen-yen)
6. The Avatamsaka or Flower Adornment
School (Hua-yen)
7. The T'ien-t'ai or White Lotus
School (Fa-hua)
8. The Pure Land School (Ching t'u)
9. The Dhyana School (Ch'an)
1. The Vinaya School (Lu-tsung):
As the name suggests, this school concentrated upon the monastic
discipline (Vinaya) of the Buddhist monks and adhered strictly to
do's and don'ts prescribed for them in the Vinaya Pitaka. This
school was said to have been founded by Tao-hsuan in the 7th
Century AD.
2. The Realistic School (Chu-she):
This school derived its inspiration from the Abhidhamma Kosha of
Vasubhandu (316-396), a Peshawar based Indian monk who was
originally a Sarvasthivadin and was faithful to the original
teachings of the Buddha. In course of time it became a part of the
latter day Idealist school.
3. The Three Treatises School (San-lun):
This school followed the teachings of the Madhyamika sutras of
the famous south Indian Buddhist monk, Nagarjuna who is remembered
by history for his Sunyavada or the theory of Absolute emptiness.
His approach to the notions of reality was akin to the Upanishadic
idea of non-self and the doctrines of the Advaita or non
dualistic schools of Hinduism. His ideas were brought to China by
Kumarajiva (549-623) through the translation of the
Sutras, which were later expounded in the form of commentaries by
Chih-Tsang (549-623). Chih-Tsnag argued in one of his works that
it would be possible to understand metaphysical truths only through
negation of things in view of the limitations of the mind to
understand transcendental reality. This school also derived its
inspiration from the Shata Shastra (The treaties of Hundred
Scriptures) of Aryadeva. With the emergence of the Idealistic
school, this school suffered a decline. It was later revived in the
7th Century AD by an Indian monk called Suryaprbhasa.
4.The Idealist School (Fa-hsiang):
This school was founded on the ideals of Yogachara school of
Vasubhandu as expounded in his Vimsatika- Karika or the Book of
Twenty Verses. The school became popular because of Hsuan-Tsang
(596-664) who traveled to India in the 7th Century AD to collect
original Buddhist texts and bring them back to China. Hsuan Tsang
was an adventurous monk who combined in himself the traits of a monk
as well as inveterate traveler. Undaunted by the task ahead of him
and driven by his goal to see the land of the Buddha, Hsuan-Tsang
travelled to India by a circuitous route via the Silk Road through
the perilious terrain of the north western frontires, and reached
the University of Nalanda in eastern India after a great hardship.
He spent considerable time there in the study of the Yogachara
philosophy under the guidance of a teacher called Silabhadra. From
there he went to the court of the famous Indian king by name
Harshavardhana, who was a powerful but generous ruler of his times
and ruled parts of northern and eastern India. He developed a great
liking for the Chinese monk and insisted him to stay in his court
for several years. Hsuan-Tsang complied with the king's request and
stayed in his court for a few years before resuming his journey. He
returned to to China after many hardships, and managed to carry with
him a huge collection of about 650 Buddhist texts and some Buddha
relics. He spent the rest of his life in the translation of the
texts and in spreading the teachings of Vasubhandu. Despite of the
fact that the translations he arranged were not superior in quality,
Hsuan-Tsang earned a place for himself in the history of China by
his unique contribution to the development of Chinese Buddhism.
Through his familiarity with the teachings of Vasubhandu, he made
the Idealist School one of the most popular schools of Buddhism in
ancient China.
5. The Mantra or Tantric School
(Mi-tsung or Chen-yen): This is the Chinese version of Tantric
Buddhism. It flourished in China for less tha a hundred years,
starting with the arrival of Subhakarasimha(637-735) from India
during the reign of T'ang dynasty. Subhakarasimha translated the
Mahavairochana Sutra which expounded the Tantric teachings. Two
other monks who played a key role in the growth of Tantric Buddhism
in China were Vajrabodhi (670-741) introduced the concept of
Mandalas to the Chinese, while Amoghavajra said to have initiated
three T'ang emperors into Tantricism. the Tantric school of Buddhism
believed in magic, incantations, drawing of mandalas, casting of
spells and elaborate and often secret rituals. The school was later
replaced by Lamaism, which was a more popular version of Tantricism.
6. The Avatamsaka or Flower
Adornment School (Hua-yen): This school flourished in China for
about 200 years, starting from the 7th Century AD and attracted the
attention of the famous Empress Wu (690-705). It was based upon the
teachings of the Buddha as contained in the Avatamsaka Sutra. The
followers of this school believed that the sutra contained the most
complex teachings of the Buddha, not comprehensible to ordinary
followers. The Avatamsaka school expounded a cosmic view of the
universe containing the two principal aspects of the reality,
namely li and shih, an approach which is in some ways resembles the
concept of Purusha (spiritual) and Prakriti (physical) of
Hinduism, adopted later on by the Tantric schools. It also believed
that in each and every aspect the cosmic reality reflected the same
relationships and balance of forces, signifying the ultimate truth
of one in all and all in one. The school was founded by Tu-shun,
whose commentary of Avatamsaka, known as Ha-chieh Kuan,
(Contemplating the Dharmadhatu) provided the necessary background
for the emergence of this school in the Buddhist world. He was
followed by four patriarchs, Chihyen(602-668), Fa-tsang (exact
period unknown), Chiangling(738-838) and Tsung-mi(780-841).
7. The T'ien-t'ai or White Lotus
School (Fa-hua): Like the Avatamsaka school, the White Lotus
School also was based upon the highest teachings of the Buddha, but
compared to the former, provided a more a elaborate view of the
cosmic reality. It was founded by a Chinese monk by name Chih-i
(538-597) who lived in Chekiang province of China, and formed his
doctrines on the basis of the Saddharma-pundarika sutra, an
ancient Buddhist text, which he believed to be the vehicle of all
other truths. According to this school, Truth operated from three
levels or aspects. At one extreme was the void or emptiness, the
unknown or the non self, about which nothing much could be
speculated except talking in terms of negation and denial. At the
other extreme was temporariness that was in reality nothingness but
would manifest itself temporarily or momentarily because of the
activity of the senses, as some kind of an illusion or as an image
on the film screen. The third level is a middle state, 'middle' for
our understanding, but not necessarily middle, 'different' for our
understanding but not necessarily different, because it
unites the two and presents them together as the one Highest Truth.
These three levels of truth are also not separate or different from
each other. They are the aspects of the same reality, that is
universal as well as ubiquitous. The school advocated the practice
of concentration and insight (chih and kuan) to understand the
transience of things and attain the Buddha Mind in which the above
mentioned three aspects of Truth reside in perfect harmony. Chih-i
said to have become very popular during his life time and caught the
attention of the emperor who donated the revenues of a district for
the maintenance of his monastery. The While Lotus School was
introduced into Japan in the 9th century AD and became popular
as Tendai.
8. The Pure Land School (Ching t'u):
This school was founded by Hui-yuan (334-416), who was originally a
Taoist. It was based upon the teachings of the Mahayana school and
the belief in the Bodhisattvas, the highest beings, who were next to
the Buddha in the order and just a step away from salvation, but
would postpone their own salvation for the sake of others. This
school worshipped Amitabha and sought his grace for deliverance from
this world under the notion that salvation could not be gained on
ones own efforts (jiriki) but with the help of the other power (tariki),
the grace of Amitabha. The school practiced devotional forms of
worship and regular chanting of O-mi-to-fo (the Chinese rendering of
Amitabha) as the means to salvation. It followed the teachings
contained in the Smaller and Larger Sukhavati-vyuha sutras. The
school was subsequently introduced into Korea and Japan where it
flourished under three different names.
9. The Dhyana School (Ch'an):
This was the most popular of the Chinese schools of Buddhism, which
became popular in Japan and later in the west as Zen Buddhism. Chan
was a "way of seeing into the nature of ones own being." (D.T.Suzuki).
Though it was introduced into China by an Indian monk by name
Bodhidharma, around 520 AD, Chan was essentially a product of
Chinese character, which unlike the Indian, evolved out of the
practical and down to earth philosophy of life. Chan rejected book
learning as the basis of enlightenment, set aside all notions and
theories of suffering and salvation, and relied upon day to day
events, simple thinking and ordinary living as the means to
enlightenment. Enlightenment descended upon one as a sudden shift in
awareness, not because of elaborate study of the Buddhist sutras,
exposition of the philosophies, nor worship of the images of
the Buddha but from a sudden shift in the paradigm, from an
instantaneous chasm in the process of thought, from a kind of Eureka
experience, characterized by a sudden opening of the mind and
removal of a veil, after years of silent waiting and steady
preparation. The Chan school discouraged the intellectual kind of
pursuit of religion as it believed that any scholarly approach would
tend to stiffen the mind and prevent it from experiencing the sudden
flowering of Chan.
Although the Chan masters did not
encourage preoccupation with scriptural studies, they encouraged the
initiates to study the basic Chan scriptures like the
Lankavatarasutra, the Vimalakritinirdesa, the
Vajracchedika Sutras and some additional Chan texts as a a part of
their preparation for the subsequent stages of observing into the
nature of things. By denigrating the scriptural knowledge, the Chan
masters therefore were not promoting illiteracy, but were preparing
the students to free themselves from opinionated intellectuality and
scholarly affectations to emerge into a world of notionless
observations.
The word 'chan' is a corrupt form of
the Sanskrit word, 'dhyana' meaning concentrated meditation or
contemplation. Dhyana was an essential aspect of Chan Buddhism aimed
to develop inner stillness and accumulation of chi energy among the
practitioners. But what Chan encouraged, more than the mechanical
aspects of meditation, was the development of an unfettered and
detached mind, that would not cling to anything and would not rest
anywhere and would flow with the flow of life, gathering nothing and
gaining nothing. Chan Buddhism did not place too much emphasis on
meditation, unlike the Zen Buddhism of Japan, but on finding the
Buddha mind in the most mundane tasks and conversations of day to
day life. In short, Chan made living a deeply religious act aimed to
break the encrusted layers of thought.
Chan Buddhism underwent a schism
during the 7th century resulting in the
formation of two rival
school, a southern school led by Hui-neng and a northern school led
by Shenhsiu. While the northern school disappeared over a period of
time, the Southern school underwent further sub-divisions resulting
in the formation of five Houses and seven sub sects of which two
survived. One was Lin-chi (Jap. Rinzai) and Tsao-tung(Jap.Soto).
Chan Buddhism influenced Chinese way
of life profoundly. The Chan art became famous in ancient China for
its spontaneity and simplicity of expression. But with the decline
of Buddhism in China, Chan also gradually retreated into remote
monasteries and gradually lost its appeal.
Suggested Further Reading
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