A Passage to China (走近中国) - Buddhism

Introduction

In China, Buddhism is also a religion, but from foreign land. Buddhism was introduced to China from India approximately in the first century AD, becoming increasing popular after the fourth century. Tibetan Buddhism, as a branch of China Buddhism, is popular primarily in Tibet and Inner Mongolia. Now China has more than 13,000 Buddhist temples.

Buddhism was founded in India by Siddhartha Gautama, called the Buddha, in 525 BC. Then it spread widely over the Asia countries and many other countries of the world. Buddhism is divided into two main schools: the Theravada or Hinayana in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia, and Southeast Asia, and the Mahayana in China, Mongolia, Korea, and Japan. A third school, the Vajrayana, has a long tradition in Tibet of China and in Japan. Buddhism has largely disappeared from its country of origin, India, except for the presence there of many believers from the Tibet region of China and a small number of converts from the lower castes of Hindusim.

Of the name Siddhartha Gautama, Siddhartha is the given name and Gautama the family name. Siddhartha was bron around 563 BC, the son of a king of the Sakya clan of the Kshatriya caste(hence his later epithet Sakyamuni, “ the sage of the Sakyas”) in the Himalayan foothills in what is now Nepal. It was predicted at his birth that he would become either a world ruler or a world teacher; therefore his father, King Suddhodana, who wished Siddhartha to succeed him as ruler, took great pains to shelter him from all misery and anything that might influence him toward the religious life.

Siddhartha spent his youth in great luxury, married, and became father of a son. The scriptures relate that at the age of 29, he wished to see more of the world and left the palace grounds in his chariot. He saw on successive excursions an old man, a sick man, a corpse, and a mendicant monk. From the first three of these sights he learned the inescapability of suffering and death, and in the serenity of the monk he saw his destiny. He forsook his wife, Yashodhara, and his son, Rahula, and secretly left the palace and became a wandering ascetic.

Siddhartha first studied yogic meditation under the teachers Alara Kalama and Udraka Ramaputra. After mastering their techniques, he decided that these did not lead to the highest realization. He then undertook fasting and extreme austerutues, but after six years gave these up as he feared that they might cause his death before he attained illumination. Taking moderate food, he seated himself under a papal tree at Bodh Gaya and swore not to stir until he had attained the supreme enlightenment. On the night of the full moon, after overcoming the attacks and temptations of Mara, the evil one, he reached enlightenment, becoming a Buddha( one who has awakened) at the age of 35.

Once Siddhartha Gautama was awakened to the truth about life, he became the Buddha and devoted his life to sharing his teachings with others. He left what was now the Bodhi Tree, or Tree of Enlightenment. and proceeded to the Deer Part at Sarnath, north of Benates(Varanasi), where he preached his first sermon to five ascetics who had been with him when he practiced austerities. They became his first disciples. The first sermon, known as “the setting into motion of the wheel of the dharma”, contained the basic doctrines of the “four noble truths” and the “eightfold path”. For the remainder of his life he traveled and taught in the Gangetic plain, instructing disciples and giving his teaching to all who came to him, regardless of caste or religion. He spent much of his time in monasteries donated to the sangha, or community of monks, by wealthy lay devotees. Tradition says that he died at the age of 80.He oppointed no successor but on his deathbed told his disciples to maintain the sangha and achieve their own liberation by relying on his teaching. He was cremated and his relics divided among eight groups, who deposited them in shrines called stupas.

Buddhism is a Western word. The religion is known in the East as the Buddha-Dharma, or the teachings of the Buddha, or Siddhartha Gautama. These teachings, based on his personal experience of Enlightenment, or Awakening , form the foundation of Buddhism. For every Buddhist the religion is both a discipline and a body of beliefs: that is, Buddhists share beliefs about the nature of the world and how to act within it.

Budh in the Indian Sanskrit language means “ to wake up, to know”. Buddha means “ the Awakened or Enlightened One”, and all Buddhist teaching try to share the Buddha’s experience of awakening to truth.

Basic Belifs – The Four Noble Troths and the Eightfold Path

The Buddha could have chosen to sit happily under a tree forever, but he wanted to make his inspiration about the nature of life available to others for their betterment. He worked his experience into a doctrine known as the Four Noble Truths and there truths are the basis of all schools of Buddhism.

The first truth is that all life is suffering, pain, and misery. The second truth is that this suffering has a cause, or selfish craving and personal desire. The third is that this selfish desire can be removed. The fourth is that the way to overcome this misery is through the Eightfold Path.

The Eightfold Path goes as follows:

• Right Knowledge-Understand the Four Noble Truths.
  
• Right Thinking- Decide to set a life on the correct path.
  
• Right Speech- Don’s lie; don’t criticize other unjustly; don’t use harsh language: and don’t gossip.
  
• Right Conduct-follow the Five Precepts.
  
• Right Livelihood-earn a living that does not harm living things.
  
• Right Effort-Conquer all evil thoughts; Strive to maintain good thoughts.
  
• Right Mindfulness- Become intensely aware of all the states in body, feeling, and mind.
  
• Right Concentration- Deep meditation to lead to a higher state of consciousness(enlightenment)

In Buddhism there are Five Precepts. They are:

Do not kill.
Do not steal.
Do not lie.
Do not be unchaste.
Do not take drugs or drink intoxicants.

Buddhists all believe in the idea of “no-self”, that people make a mistake when they identify too strongly with their own personal existence in any one life. To the follower of the Buddha, life goes on and on in many reincarnations or rebirths. This wheel rebirth, known as samsara, condemns the individual to the suffering of being alive and striving. Life’s goal, according to the Buddha, is to escape from this cycle of rebirth, to stop being born as a suffering individual with selfish cravings and passions. This release is called Nirvana, the highest bliss, the end of the self.

Development of Buddhism in China

In the middle of the first century, the Han Emperor Ming Di became interested in Buddhism and sent an emissary to India. The emissary returned in about 67 with Buddhist scriptures, two Indian monks and some images of the Buddha. Beginning about 150, trade between India, China, and the Roman Empire brought Indian people into China with more Buddhist ideas. Buddhism traveled overland from India to China as Mahayana monks rode with the traders’ caravants. In the 3rd century the Mahayana sutras, keys texts on the teaching of the Buddha were translated into Chinese. In the 4th and 5th caravans, Buddhism became dominant in China and the domination reached its peak in the 7th century.

Meanwhile, Chinese monks went to the west for Buddhism. Of all the Chinese monks, Xuan Zang is the most famous figure. Xuan Zang(602-664), in about 629, started his journey to India and returned years later with Buddhist scriptures, which he translated into Chinese from the original San skrit.

Buddhism prospered and reached a summit during the Sui and Tang Dynasties, especially the latter, with a lot of Buddhist monasteries built up. In the Song Dynasty, Buddhism developed further. History has it that there were about 460,000 Buddhism monks and about 40,000 Buddhist monasteries in China in 1021. In the following Dynasties of Yuan, Ming and Qing, Buddhism kept going, among the ordinary people and the ruling class as well though there were sporadic imposition of restrictions by the government.

Since Buddhism was introduced into China, it was integrated with China’s culture, customs and arts. In Chinese traditional painting, for example, the great painters were all good at Buddhist paintings. What stands out most is the Chinese traditional art illustrated in the Dunhuang frescoes in Gansu Province. The Yuangang and Longmen Grottoes are also gems of ancient Chinese art.

It is estimated that there are now more than 68 million Chinese people who consider themselves Buddhists even though they do not practice the religion regularly.

The following mountains attract people not only for their beautiful scenery, but also for the Buddhist monasteries there:

Wutai Shan, Shanxi Porvince;
Putuo Shan, Zhejiang Province;
Emei Shan, Sichuan Province;
Jiuhua Shan, Anhui Province.

Those mountains are known as “the four major mountains”. There are eight minor mountains, which are known also for the Buddhist monasteries:

Xiang Shan, Beijing;
Song Shan, Henan Province;
Lang Shan, Jiangsu Province;
Lu Shan, Jiangxi Province;
Tiantai Shan, Zhejiang Province;
Heng Shan, Hunan Province;
Zhongnan Shan, Shaanxi Province;
Jizu Shan, Yunnan Province.

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