Buddhist Impact On Chinese Culture

The present essay is focused on assessing the impact of Buddhism on the culture and society of Medieval China. The first part will address the impact of Buddhist religious ideas on the culture and society of medieval China. The second part will focus on the Buddhist sacred power impact on the culture and society of medieval China. The historical framework of the present essay will situate Medieval China in the period from 220 CE to 960 CE.

Acta Orientalia Hung. , 1999

The Wiley Blackwell Companion to East and Inner Asian Buddhism, 2014

Poceski, Mario. “Buddhism in Chinese History.” Mario Poceski, ed. The Wiley Blackwell Companion to East and Inner Asian Buddhism. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2014: 40–62.

2013

Chinese challenges to Buddhism Buddhist interactions with Confucianism and Daoism; and Chinese Mahāyāna by Piya Tan ©2008 (2 nd rev), 2009 (3 rd rev) There are means by which the linguistic genius of a nation defends itself against what is foreign by cunningly stealing from it as much as possible. Karl Vossler, The Spirit of Language in Civilization, 1932 2.1 FACTORS THAT CHALLENGED BUDDHISM IN ANCIENT CHINA When Buddhism began entering China shortly before the Common Era, she was an ancient and wellestablished culture with her own indigenous philosophy and religion [1.1]. As such, Buddhism faced these special conditions following its introduction into China: (1) Daoism was China's own popular religion, but it did not have the rational and philosophical depth that gave Buddhism greater prestige. (2) Confucianism emphasized family values, obedience to authority and social stability. Confucian scholars constituted the most influential sector of society. They generally disapproved of-barbar-ian‖ religions. (3) Antecedents. Confucianism and Taoism had long provided the Chinese people with a vocabulary and philosophy of something beyond the daily grind. The cultural and intellectual bedrock helped Buddhism tremendously to express itself by means of contextualization. (4) The discipline and standard of moral virtue of Buddhism, as exemplified in the early Buddhist missionaries inspired the thinking Chinese. But, on a general level, the ancient Chinese were attracted to what they perceived as the magical powers of these missionaries. 2.2 DAOISM IN CHINESE BUDDHISM 2.2.1 How the early Chinese viewed Buddhism. When Buddhism first arrived in China in the 1 st century (or earlier), it remained within the community of foreign traders, and had no significant impact on the Hàn Chinese. Around 150 CE, translators such as Ān Shìgāo 安世高 (?-170) 1 began to produce Chinese translations of Buddhist texts. Most of his translations were of the Hīnayāna,-inferior vehicle‖ (a Mahāyāna term for the early Indian scripture and system), and as such served more as a curiosity and diversion for the leisurely elite, but had no impact whatsoever on the common people, who were mostly illiterate, anyway. Almost all of the Buddhist texts translated into Chinese were philosophical (eg the Wisdom texts), legalistic (the Vinayas) or mythical (the Lotus Sutra), and with the sidelining of early Buddhist teachings and meditation-and with the dominant influence of indigenous philosophies and beliefs-the Buddhism that grew on Chinese soil and filled the Chinese mind was effectively a Chinese religion. Whalen Lai, in-Buddhism in China: A historical survey,‖ for example, notes: For the Han Chinese, the doctrine of karmic rebirth entailed the transmigration of the soul-a presumption they could not do away with even when they accepted the doctrine of emptiness. Since nirvana was seen as a return to a pure origin, it was believed to be achieved by discarding the defilements. Refining one's inner self was thought to be a process of attaining a sublime shen (spirit) that would realize nirvanic immortality or nondeath. (2002:10 digital ed) 1 Ān Shìgāo was a prince of Parthia (ancient Iran) who renounced his claim to the throne to become a missionary monk. In 148, he arrived in China at the Luòyáng (洛阳), the Hàn capital, where he set up a centre for translating Buddhist texts. He translated 35 texts, mostly from the early Pali texts. Ān Shìgāo is the first Buddhist missionary to China to be named in Chinese sources. Another Parthian monk named Ān Xuán 安玄 is said to have joined Ān Shìgāo at Luòyáng around 181 CE. 2 SD 40b 2 Chinese Challenges to Buddhism http://dharmafarer.org 24 2.2.2 The Huàhú controversy: Lǎozi vs the Buddha. Around 300, Wáng Fú 王浮, a Daoist, fabricated the Huàhú jīng 化胡經 (Classic on the Conversion of the Barbarians) in which they claimed that the Buddha was a reincarnation of Lǎozi, or that he went to India and became Shakyamuni (or the teacher of Shakyamuni). 2 The Buddhists responded with the Qīngjìng fǎxíng jīng 清淨法行經 (Sutra to Propagate the Clear and True Teaching), 3 wherein the Buddha sent out his three disciples, 4 namely, Confucius (the bodhisattva Judō), his chief disciple Zhāng Yànyuǎn 張彥遠 (the bodhisattva Kōjō) 5 and Lǎozi (Mahā Kaṥyapa), 6 to instruct the Chinese, claiming this to be the true interpretation of the Daoist classic, Qīngjìng jīng 清淨經. [2.5; 2.6.3] Some 200 years later, in 520, in Luòyáng 洛陽, 7 there was a court-sponsored public debate between the Daoists and the Buddhists over the huàhú 化胡 thesis: did Lǎozi leave China and reappear in India as Buddha? Or, did Buddha will his own rebirth in China as Lǎozi? This debate was a product of the Hàn perception of Buddha and Lǎozi as equal sages, and each side sought to absorb the other. (Around the same time, in India, the Hindus were claiming that Vishnu had masqueraded as a heretical-Buddha‖ in order to deceive and weaken the demonic hosts.) In the process of the debate, the Chinese Buddhists and Daoists pushed the relative dates of their respective founders farther and farther back until Buddha was said to have died in 1052 BCE. The Buddhists won the 520 debate, but that also moved the date of the demise of the dharma, set by one popular count as coming 1,500 years after the Buddha's death, which would move the beginning of the last age to 552 C.E. After a debate in 520, was a period when Buddhist and Daoist scholars forged Classics and Sutras, both to prove that their respective founders were anterior to the other. In 552, the prophecy self-actualized, as it were. A civil war raging in Luòyáng, burnt down its temples. One of the darkest hours for Chinese Buddhism was the anti-Buddhist persecution of 574-577, launched by emperor Wǔ of Northern Zhōu [7.4.1]. Yet, out of this trial by fire, the Buddha dharma rose like a phoenix, and a result would be the Chinese Mahāyāna schools that flourished in the Sui and the Táng dynasties. The mature Chinese Mahāyāna synthesis was not like the earlier-concept-matching‖ or géyi 格義 syncretism [2.2.3]. The period of digesting Indian subtleties had ended; a time of independent creativity had begun. But before we consider a philosophical analysis of the Chinese Mahāyāna schools, we need to consider the building blocks of that edifice. 2.2.3 Dàoshēng 道生 (c360-434). Early Buddhism is a gradual teaching. 8 But in China, the dominant schools adopted the official view of-sudden awakening‖ [4.1.27; 5.3.1]. Why did this happen? The Chinese Buddhist theory of sudden awakening was first proposed by the ultra-liberal monk Dàoshēng, who was also remembered for asserting the doctrine of universal Buddha-nature [2.3.2, 4.2.2.3]. Let us exam-2 Also called Lǎozi huàhú jīng 老子化胡經-Lǎozi Converted the Barbarians‖ or Lǎozi kātiān jīng 老子開天經,-Classic of Lǎozi Opening Heaven.‖ According to another such apocryphal account, Siddhartha, on meeting Lǎozi could not understand his philosophy, and as a result the former taught what we know as Buddhism! 3 The extant version prob dates from the 6th cent Northern Celestial Masters (Tiān Shī Dào 天師道). The text is honorifically known as the Tàishàng Língbǎo Lǎozi huàhú miàojīng 太上靈寶老子化胡妙經,-The Supreme Numinous Treasure's Sublime Classic on Lǎozi's Conversion of the Barbarians‖). A copy of the Huàhú jīng was found in the Mògāo Caves near Dūnhuáng. Liu Yi (1997) believes the original text dates from around late 4th or early 5th cent; see International Dunhuang Project Newsletter 7, 1997: http://idp.bl.uk/archives/news07/idpnews_07.a4d. 4 Sānshèng pàiqiǎn shuō 三聖派遣說. 5 Yányuān 顏淵, Confucius' foremost disciple as the bodhisattva Kōjō. 6 Móhē Jiāyè 摩訶迦葉. 7 Located about 300 km east of Xī'ān 西安, the other ancient capital of China.

Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bangladesh, Humanities, 2023

This paper proposes a process of synthesis based on Chinese socio-historical context in order to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the synthesis of three major religious traditions of East Asia such as Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism. At the same time, to be considered is the syncretic approach through which these religions have attained popularity throughout all Eastern and Far Eastern parts of Asia. Thus, in order to make a reasonable justification for the current study, an attempt is made to explore how these religions have appeared to be more or less similar to each other in case of their beliefs and practices. The purpose of the current paper is to decipher the points where and how these three religions interact with each other in terms of belief and practice that is based on a cultural bridge between China and other East Asian countries. This paper offers an overview of the harmonious synthesis of Taoism, Confucianism and Buddhism in the matrix of Chinese culture. In conclusion, it points out a new mode of syncretism which can be called "Hybridization"-a new insight into the process of synthesis.

The study of an entity that we identify as "Chinese Buddhism" started at an early date with the writing of documents that cataloged what came to be the canonic translations and compilations. This focus on the textual tradition and the biographies of those involved in the creation of the Chinese language literature continued to influence study. Over the centuries since those first efforts to establish the identity of the tradition in China, we have seen a variety of approaches to the subject. In every period of time, there have been generally accepted methodologies. These procedures outlined the formalities of study that that resulted from custom, tradition, and preferences of scholars. One result of these developments has been the establishment of limits beyond which there was a penalty of rejection both personal and institutional. Subject matter was ranked so that some aspects were subordinated to a less conspicuous place or status in the scheme of studying Buddhism that could be called "Chinese". In the contemporary world, new technology has challenged the field and newer methods are raising questions about whether the computer is supplanting the older scholarly tasks or amplifying them. The tasks of researchers must include an appraisal of how they define the character of the subject matter as well as recognizing the limits imposed by custom on the ways of active investigation.

Religions of China in Practice/Religions of Asia in Practice, 1996

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Asian History, 2019

The three principal religious denominations of China, referred to in English as Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism, all share a concern with self-cultivation. Of these so-called “Three Teachings” (Sanjiao), Confucianism situates the self hierarchically within a social order, Daoism attempts to free the self from society and realign it with the more fundamental natural order, and Buddhism ultimately strives to liberate the self by dissolving any and all order. The two indigenous traditions of Confucianism and Daoism have roots in the same cultural environment from which the residual category of Popular Religion also emerged, and the two have long existed in a symbiotic relationship with local cults of worship. After the introduction of Buddhism to China, it too became deeply immersed in this interactive dynamic between more unified denominations and the locally diverse forms of worship of spirits, saints, and sages. Though Popular Religion does not represent a unified ideology or a consistent corpus of self-cultivation practices, its ubiquitous rites of spirit possession similarly relate to the self: by allowing the presence of certain gods to displace individual selves, these rites play with the need to suspend socio-individual identity from time to time, instead allowing the sacred embodiment of lineages, villages, or even entire regions to take precedence.

Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore Recent studies have signifi cantly altered the ways in which the early history of Buddhism in China and the Buddhist interactions between ancient India and China were perceived. The accepted views about the route of the initial transmission of Buddhist doctrines, the early method of rendering Buddhist ideas into Chinese and the notion of a decline of Buddhism in China after the eighth century have all come under scrutiny. Using these analyses and arguments, this essay attempts to reassess some of the key issues concerning the spread and successful establishment of Buddhism in China. In particular, it re-examines the contribution of India-China interactions to these processes and argues that the diffusion of Buddhism in China was an outcome of multi-ethnic collaborations and the ingenuity of Chinese and foreign monks in making the doctrine adaptable to Chinese society.

The China Quarterly, 2003

Based on fieldwork and studies of historical and contemporary materials, this article investigates several issues key to Buddhist life in the present-day PRC, focusing on Han Buddhists, especially the monastic tradition. It argues that many current practices take their shape from the innovations that transformed Chinese Buddhist life in the late Qing and Republican periods. While profound political, economic and social changes have occurred in the past few decades, some of the most pressing issues are extensions of questions raised at that time. The most significant question of the earlier period – what is the Buddhist monastic vocation, and what training and leadership are required to safeguard that ideal? – remains central to present-day activities and conceptions. To consider how to answer this question, or indeed how it is posed within present circumstances, three interconnected matters are investigated: current training methods, the economics of monasteries and the issue of lea...

This paper describes the difference of the vinaya in ancient Indian Buddhism to that of Chinese Buddhism.