Chinese history TRUE and FALSE/ Multiple choice

' . :-e ri,hole universe. Subtle . :=d parallel with these theo- ' -=l *i|h nirvana.lt was in

. -: .n a new form. In the fully 3cdies of Bliss, all of them

- - . :eavenly Buddha chiefly -., - ":le Radiance), who dwelt - ., :t rr'as known to the Chi- - -..:ted the earthly Gautama -, .--.:lttva, Avalokitedvara (the

: - ..ri bv side in India during : -:=* ot Buddhist monasteries ' : - :orrl€ HTnayanist. But, in : -: :-----r3r \,laheyanists or mem- - . ,.: ideas. The more austere

: ,::s of u,estern and southern .- ...iia. under the rule of the : , : that Buddhism spread

. -: : irom the northwest, it was

....S\I TO CHINA

: . : : :-e harbinger of civilization '' .*r had no system of writing

- '-: ::ost notable exceptions to

- :. rld. a classic canon, time- ' , :-eh u,as the only truly civi- -' -- .,. as ihe vehicle for the intro-

=: :. the Buddhist missionaries ::: ----..r!S in an already highly de- - : r: i .-.h indigenous philosophical - : .-.rireSe, and the Chinese, for :: :...iing of Buddhist phiiosophy

' :.:cal systems. : .-.:inese first came into contact

, :.lure, and from rvhat sparse :, Br-rddhist icons worshiped by

- .,= :,i the time adopted the Bud- - :..e order of their own mythical

- '.', as believed to have attained

The Introduction of Buddhism 421

.:rmortality. But the dawn of history for Chinese Buddhism came with the :=ndition of Buddhist sacred texts into the Chinese language.

The Chinese were particularly desirous of knowing whether Buddhism _ i,rld add to their knowledge of elixirs and practices that would contribute to

,egevity, levitation, and other superhuman achievements. As it happened, l -iddhism (like many other Indian religions) prescribed a precise set of prac- --:es, varying from school to school, which was believed to enhance the intuitive

',:ulties. The early Buddhist missionaries found that the scriptures containing :-..se prescriptions were what the Chinese wanted most to read, and so they

::-,ceeded to translate them. This was the beginning of Buddhist literature in

-,l ina.

-\ time went on, and as the interest of China's intellectuals veered toward .=raphysical speculation, it became fashionable to seek in Buddhism those

-:lime truths that persons so inclined were seeking in some of China's own -,:onized classics. When, in 3r7 c.a., non-Chinese peoples forced the Chinese - .:rt out of North China, an educated elite was displaced to the south. A -.-ired and sophisticated culture developed among them, with the dominant :.'d in southern Buddhism being toward abstruse philosophical discussion in -.:ns that brought together the cream of secular society and ihe best wits from :: sreat metropolitan monasteries. An often facile interpretation of Buddhism - :erms of Daoism and the Learning of the Mysteriouss prevailed, and Bud- ---:.m's Indian origins were somewhat effaced.

There were contrary trends, however. In the first place, not a few monks, in

:,::;i \orth and South China, were earnestly concerned with the true meaning : Buddhism and of Buddhist salvation. The Chinese aversion to foreign lan-

::;Ees being what it was, these persons showed their zeal principally in seeking

-: capable translators or in participating in translation proiects tl-remselves. .,r. simultaneously with the philosophical salons and the great translation :-.'ects a trend developed, more Pronounced in the north than in the south, -.',ard a practical and devotional Buddhism, which consisted of an emphasis . :ontemplative practices as well as on adoration and good works. Temples . : statuary were soon erected all over China.

The selections that follow are intended to illustrate the general character of

I :ldhism in this early period and some of the problems encountered in gaining . - - :ptance for it among the Chinese.

MOUZI: DISPOSING OF ERROR

-' .rEh the date and authorship o[ this work are not known, the general tone of the - :-:osition leads one to suspect that the work was written at a time when Buddhisn-r -..i aained a sufficier.rt foothold to cause many Chinese to fear its influence and to

: See ch. i3.

422 LATER DAOISM AND MAHAYANA BUDDHISM IN CHINA

attempt to strike back. while the counterattack against Buddhism in the north took the form of official persecution or curtairment, under the Southern Dynasties (3r7- 589 c.o.) it usually took the form of polem ics. Disposing of Enor, or Lihuo run, as it is known in chinese, appears to be an aporogia for Buddhism, written in answer to such polemical writings.

The form of the work is conversational - an exchange between Mouzi and a ques- tioner (or questioners) bent on criticizing Buddhist ideas and practices from a distinc_ tively chinese perspective. The author - Mouzi himserf or a recorder of his words -takes the stand that it is possible to be a good chinese and a good Buddhist at the same time, that there is no fundamental conflict behryeen the hvo ways of rife, and that the great truths preached by Buddhism are preached, if in somewhat different language, by Confucianism and Daoism as well.

4' There are several different rists of the Seven crassics. one found in ti-te History of the I'atter Han includes the od.es, Documents,Rlfes, "Music," c hanges, Sping and. Autumn Annars, and the Analects of Confucius.

5. The most famous physician of antiquity. 6. A prominent disciple of Confucius.

7. Analects r9:zz.

8. Qilin, a mythical beast like the unicom, but not actually one_homed.

why Is Buddhism Not Mentioned in the chinese crassics? The questioner said, "If the way of the Buddha is the greatest and most vener- able of ways, why did yao, Shun, the Duke of Zhou,

"rJ Co.,fu"ius not practice

it? In the Seven classicsa one sees no mention of it. you, sir, are fond of the classic of odes and classic of Documents, and you take preasure in the Rifes and "Music." why, then, do you love the way of the Buddha and reioice in outlandish arts? can they exceed the classics and commentaries and beautify the accomplishments of the sages? permit me the liberty, sir, of advising you to reject them."

Mouzi said, "All written works need not necessarily be the words of con_ fucius, and all medicine does not necessarily consist of the formurae of Bian Que.5 what accords with rightness is to be followed, what heals the sick is good. The gentleman-scholar draws widely on all forms of good and thereby benefits his character. zigong6 said, 'Did the Master have a permanent teacherz,T yao served Yn shou; Shun served wucheng; the ouke if zhou learned from Lii wang; and confucius learned from Laozi. And none of these teachers is men_ tioned in the Seven classics. Although these four teachers were sages, to com- pare them to the Buddha would be ]ike comparing a white deer tJa unicorn,s or a swallow to a phoenix. Yao, Shun, the Duke ofzhou,and confucius rearned even from such teachers as these. How much less, then, may one reject the Buddha, whose distinguishing marks are extraordinary and whose r,rp.rhr-"r,

&r took

s (117-

rr, as it srger to

a ques-

distinc-

rords - t at the ife, and

lifferent

t Tener- practice

d of the

he Rifes

:ioice in beautify

E vou to

of Con- r of Bian

r is good. 'benefits

er?"- Yao

hom Lli : is men- ,- to com-

unicotn,s

slearned reiect the

erhuman

*r of the '-'.-, -\nnals,

ThelntroductionofBuddhism +7

powers know no bounds! How may one reiect him and refuse

to learn from

him? The records '"0 tt'ffit';;ih: Five Classics do not

contain everything'

Even if the Buddha " ""i^*""*i"ned in them' what occasion is

there for sus-

PlClOnr

Why Do Buddhist Monks Do Inlury to Their Bodies?

One o[ the greatest obstacles confronting early Chinese

Buddhism was the aversion

of Chinese society to ttt ;;; ir-r" [t-'1 *r'ich was required of all

members of

*re Buddhist tft'gy' fh" ;""iii"" h"ld that the bodv is the gift of

one's parents

;;* to harm ii i' to u" disrespecdul toward them'

The questioner said, "The Classic of Filialitysays'

'Our body' Iimbs' hair' and

skin are all received f'"* *' f"f"" "'d *othl"' We dare not injure them''

\\hen Zengzi *" 'uJ"i;i;:"ht bared his hands and feet'e

But now the

monks shave their hea"d"s- il;iri; violates the sayings of the sages

and is out

"ii*t.g with the way of the filial!" '.' '-'

Mouzi said ' ' ' "Ci"i""t"t t'as said' 'There are those with whom one

can

DursuetheWay..'butwithwhomonecannotweigh|decisionsl.,l0Thisis *t

^t i, meant by doing what is best

at tht t;;' Fu't"h"itno"' the Clossic of

Filialitysays' 'The t"titt'ng' ruled by "'p"'i"g 'i'tue

and the essential Way''

r.iu" .* i, i, h,i,,ni'l ;"u*l*Fffi l1L* t jlffi :: ii:' L:H, ffiil fj,:::m1Y#:i, H:ills:[:.T:';]'::;

i"u- *''"' 't'a'i

his migh'[

"=fiU. called ihe ultimate virhre'"r2

WhY Do Monks Not Marry?

-\nother of the great obstacles confronting the

early Chinese Buddhist church was

:lerical celibacy. or;;; ;"st important feature, of indigenous chinese

religion

- devotion to "t"t't*']'If ;;; "t

t'o des"et'dant' to make the offerings' then there

*illbeno"t'in""''tothisisaddedth"t''t""ldesireforProgeny'Traditionally' irere could Ut "o

g'"'t"' talamity for a Chinese than childlessness'

o. To show he had preserved them intact from all harm

Analects 8:7'

ro. Analectsg:zg The ftll q"t;;;;; ; "There are tt'o" *irtt whom one can

learn but with

-:'iom one cannot Pursue ""-#';;:; ""'it'"* *nrt *ho'n o"" can Pursue

the way but

.'i*r *hom one cannot t'k" ;;J;';;;;;";;" tr'o'" *iti *i'o* o'" "'n

take one's stand

; :;*[* ;ff ilil:ff;'" r'""":']il']""" u ::, :n-']"'o*"

rand or wu and cut h is hair

::_.c tattooed his body ,, brro:;;;;;;ar, ,* ,*,u*g his claim to the throne

to King wen'

c. Analects 8:r'

124 LATER DAoISM AND MAHAYANA BUDDHISM IN CHINA The questioner said, "Now of fericities there is none greater than the continu-ation of one's rine, of unfilial conduct there is none worse than childressness. The monks forsake wife and chircrren, reiect property and wealth. Some do notmarry all their lives. How opposed this conductls to fericity rrJ nr,rr,ar," . . .Mouzi said ' ' "yi":r, children, and property are the rux.ries of tl-re worrd.btrt simple living and doing nothin g (yuwei)are the wonders of the way. Laozihas said, 'of repuration and rife, -ii"h ;, dearer? of rif.;;J;;;;erty, whichis worth more?'' ' ' ' Xu you and chaoftr dweit in a tree. Boyi rra ii.q, starvedi, Shouyang, but Confucius praised their worth, saying, ,if_r.y r"rgfra to act inaccordance with humanity and they s,cceeded ir'r.i,g ,o.i,i On. does nothear of their being i,+poken of becruse they were .hil;?.r; ,rd propertyless.

The monk practices the way and s.bstitutes that for th. pl.rrur., if dispo.ti,-,ehimself in the world., !1 accumulates goodness a,d wirdo* in er"ha.,ge fo,the joys of wife and children.

Death and Rebirth

cl.rinese ancestor worship was pre,rised on the berief that the souls of the deceased.if not fed, would suffer. Rationalistic confucianisn.r, whiie takir-rg over and canonizins much of chinese tradition, incruding the ancestrai sacrifices, *r, ,*o,t"rili".,,n. existence of spirits and an afterrife apart from the continuance of family life.

The Buddhists, though denying the existence of ,, i,r,rortrl ,"ri,'J"..0*O ur"r-rnigration, and the early chinese understood this to imply a belief in an individual soul that passed from one body to another until the attainment or

"ntigiin-.nt. Thefollowing passage must be understood i, the light of these conflicting and conftrsinginterpretations.

The questioner said, "The Buddhists say that after a man dies he wiil be reborn.I do not believe in the truth of these ,ordr. . . .,, Mouzi said . . . "The spirit never perishes. onry the body decays. The bodris like the roots and leaves of the five grains. when the roots and l.r;;;"""*;

fo-rth they inevitabry die. But do the sleds and kerners p.rirr.; o;ry trre bocrrof one who has achieved the Way perishes.,, . . . someone said, "If on-e follows the way one dies. If one does not follow theWay one dies. What differer-rce is there?,, Mouzi said, "you are the sort of person who, having had not a single day ofgoodness, yet seeks a lifetime of fame. If one has the way, .u.., ii"o,-," ai"r.one's soul goes to anabode of happiness. If one does not ]rave the way, whenone is dead or.re,s soui suffers misfortune.,,

4. Daodejing 44. t4. Analects 7:t4.

mtinu- itsness.

do not P

mrld, .Laozi rhich kved *tin lr Dot

hLn. rting

F for

E4

"ng tlhc

Ir- Ld Ihc

cg

m-

h E

h

e

The lntroduction of Buddhism +5

Why Should a Chinese Allow Himself to Be Influenced by Indian WaYs?

one of the objections most frequently raised by Confucians and Daoists once

irm had acquired a foothold on Chinese soil. The Chinese apologists for Bud-

mswered this objection in a variety of ways. Here we see one of the arguments

qEestioner said, "Confucius said, 'The barbarians with a ruler are not so

lrs the Chinese without one.'rt Mencius criticized Chen Xiang for reiect-

mrn education to adopt the ways of [the foreign teacher] Xu Xing, saying,

heard of using what is Chinese to change what is barbarian, but I have

heard of using what is barbarian to change what is Chinese''16 You, sir,

age of twenty learned the Way of Yao, Shun, Confucius, and the Duke

*. Wt y should I reject the Way ofYao, Shun, Confucius, and the Duke

? Cold and jade do not harm each other, crystal and amber do not

. But now you have reiected them and instead have taken up the arts

barbarians. Is this not a great error?"

ilforzi said . . . "What Confucius said was meant to rectilr the way of the

and what Mencius said was meant to deplore one-sidedness. of old, Confucius was thinking of taking residence among the nine barbarian

he said, 'lf a noble person dwells in their midst, what rudeness can n be among them?'I7 . . . The commentary says"The north polar star is in

anter of Heaven and to the north of man.'r8 From this one can see that

bnd of China is not necessarily situated under the center of Heaven. Ac-

to the Buddhist scriptures, above, below, and all around, all beings

ining blood belong to the Buddha-clan. Therefore I revere and study these

f

I

each other. You say that another is in error when it is you yourself who

Does Buddhism Have No Recipe for Immortality?

the movement broadly known as Daoism there were several tendencies, one

& quest for immortality, another an aftitude of superiority to questions of life and

"l[,rh The first chinese who took to Buddhism did so out of a desire to achieve

mXErhuman qualities, among them immortality. The questioner is disappointed to

&rn that Buddhism does not provide this after all. Mouzi counters by saying that

m in Daoism, if properly understood, there is no seeking after immortality'

ry. Analects 3:5. 16. Mencius 7A:4. q. Analects g:r3. r8. It is not clear what commentary is quoted here.

426 LATER DAor

3H:il:'*i1;lii#* ffi':;:HIsM IN .HINA

The Buddhiso ,rr,t,l].nv-tro air.rii.r-i,i'o'

Shun' the Duke of Zhou, and

rhis mean?,, at men il;,i'l;":;u not die' but became immorta]s.

Mouzisaid, "Thik ", ,--^--,:,

ure' srld that none can escape' what does

,r,. *"rJrilil rr.$l :'immortalitv is superstitious and unfounded; ir is not I;il iX.lJil #: *:f:t] i,!,, ffi 3;1::' T

E,"h .; ; ;; 11,,.,.. "..

arts and examined ,n" llrno n,,i o,",ilrra ,"us

said' 'The wise man leaves rhe

shun had his fprace of?'Tin'f it"'al-.'#ever"

I have looked into the six

I o/

I n -d s r,,,,"# ;l l,: :: "'l

A'i"; ;; il;l:,}:T: Jfl lJilil; I;ffii chastise r,r.,. ["r,] jlt"

*.':.ut in Shouvang.

uheng to grow u, . '?u',K''* w.,'d",I'a *luo'"

wen died before he could

was sh o rt-r ilveo, " i,u.,,,1i1:"i"" : td: .ilXiill'J"i:l: H i]: :,ll f T: iare clearly r"*r"o lr'XB

h'm lo a bud that neve make the crassjcs ,ra *1.

crassjcs, ;";';;;'*:, bJoomed.z,Ail

of these rriin;; I

the worrd of men. ,- ro1:. "ot*t,*r,'"r .;'::a'bsolute words of the **;':;

I , *",, [1 ]1,.*"i,i,v,,:r#,i:l,y_l:,1 }j,lr r,*i,, I[From Hongming ii, TD,; '

.."" "ut a gr€ot enor?" to. 2to2:t-7 _adapted

from LH by IB] HUIYUAN: A MONK DoES NoT Bov

when an Indian entererr ,r^ ,-;;" l':' ""'DowN BEF.RE A KING

worldly posses;;;t"o the Buddhist cle.sr, h.;,r_en his cian, his caste, and ail hisno ouhvard signs of u;

one standing outside ofor

I;',fi .TT+Ji;:":'"'*.:tlfi*i:i:##:iiil;[1]:'if ;il#f Ar nrst this

"",,.,.,,]j11t1""'r' ;;i..*" ;1T:ffi"1i:raved no signs orrespect

;;: J,jo.'l :",ffi*# i",T"5":l ::Tf .,

" ;: i.""ry'|'. m os t em i n e n t m on ks were

the maiority o, uuoonr,?nTese etiquette' *n"r

t usually foreigners who were not suesrion was broughr,;Il:'.:

iJ;:;";, ;: ;,liffi ;:fi: ff:,'ffi1g: senremenr ;;;,;;:;"oTqer

drscussion at court dilr

4o4). whohrd t.rrporr.Ln'o* " t ot t;ilJ;t'"9

the Eastern Jin period' but no

outstanding monks of ,n:'', "1'-o"o tn" *t"".. *

e hrgh minister Huan Xuan (369-

re pr i e-d. wi ti, il, il: -'il' il 1o" i ; ;;-;; ;; Ti:',' .l[ ff ?iT,,:":;,,J*; .'",.:**:;::n:l;#1::i:Ir5:[:f ii:,,#;;*l;::removed rr".n

"rorrf;:'t'*'' who bv the natu..

:n, courd not be expecteo :''h:l' Iife and ,i.n, *... fr.

to go through the ouhvard signs

t9. Daodeiing z3 zo. Analects n:6. zt. Analects

9:zt.