Han Buddhism
The term "Han Buddhism," or to be exact "Buddhism in the Chinese Language," can be attributed to the fact that after Buddhism was brought into China all its scriptures have been translated into Chinese.
Opinions differ as to exactly when Buddhism spread into China, but only two of them prevail.
One has it that Buddhism was brought into this country in second BC (1st year of the Yuanshou reign, Western Han Dynasty), when Yicun arrived from Indo-Scythae to dictate Buddhist scriptures to a man named Qin Jingxian.
The other is based on the legend that in 64 AD (7th year of the Yongping reign, Eastern Han Dynasty), Liu Zhuang, or Emperor Mingdi, dreamed one night of a golden man wearing a sparkling necklace who was flying over his palace. At morning court the following day, he asked his ministers what this incident implied. Fu Yi, the grand scribe, replied, “I heard that there is a god in the West whose name is Buddha, and he might be the person Your Majesty dreamed of.” Convinced, the emperor dispatched an 18-member mission headed by Cai Yin to go to the West in search of the Buddhist doctrine. In 67 AD (10th year of the Yongping reign), the mission arrived in Indo-Scythae where they met two Indian monks, Kasyapamatanga and Gobharana. At Cai Yin’s invitation, the two monks brought Buddhist scriptures and sculptures to Luoyang, the Chinese capital, where they began to translate the Forty-two Chapter Sutra into Chinese. Their arrival is thus thought to be the beginning of the dissemination of Buddhism in China.
It is difficult to tell which of the two ideas holds water. While scholars espouse the first opinion, the second is widely believed among Buddhists. However, given the narrow gap of seventy years between the two, both theories indicate that Buddhism first made inroads into China during the interregnum between the Western and Eastern Han dynasties.
In the beginning the Chinese regarded the Buddha as a god from some alien land, putting him on a par with the Yellow Emperor, Lao Zi, or immortals well versed in the art of divination (Both the Yellow Emperor and Laozi are honored as founders of Daoism, and the “immortals” here refer to those Taoist alchemists who successfully achieved immortality and mastered the unpredictable art of divination.), and the popularity of Buddhism was limited to the elite. However, it did not take long for Buddhism to acquire a following among the common people, despite the absence of canonical texts. It was not until the mid-second century that monks began to arrive from the Western Regions to preach the doctrines and translate the scriptures. According to history books, An Shigao, a prince of Parthia (present-day Iran), and Lokaksema from Indo-Scythae, were the two earliest monks to arrive as Buddhist translators. With more and more scriptures being translated into Chinese, Buddhism gradually presented itself to the Chinese not only as source of spiritual solace but also as a profound philosophy that played an important role in the development of civilization.
During the Han Dynasty, the law banned people from relinquishing the secular world to become monks. But there were exceptions, and one of these was Yan Fotiao, a child prodigy from Huainan (in present-day east Fengyang County, Anhui Province). No historical records are extant to show who his master might have been, but he was regarded as the first Buddhist scholar in China to translate Buddhist scriptures, and he authored a number of treatises on Buddhism.
Buddhism had come a long way by the Three Kingdoms Period (220-265). The prohibition of the Hans against people becoming monks was lifted, and more and more temples were erected. But Buddhism was limited to the kingdoms of Wei and Wu, and remained little known to the kingdom of Shu in the remote southwest part of the country. Buddhism in the kingdom of Wei was highlighted by two major events. One was that in 250 (2nd year of the Jiaping reign), Dharmakala arrived and made Chinese Buddhist history by becoming the first Indian monk to lecture Chinese monks on the commandments and prohibitions. The other event was that Chinese monks began to embark on westbound pilgrimages in search of Buddhist doctrines. According to history books, in 260 (5th year of the Ganlu reign, Wei Kingdom), the Chinese monk Zhu Shixing began a solitary tour of the Western Territories. When he arrived at Khotan he obtained certain scriptures. His success exerted a great impact on pilgrims of later generations and unleashed a tidal wave of westward pilgrimages among Chinese monks during the Western and Eastern Jin dynasties (265-420).
The popularity of Buddhism in the kingdom of Wu was ascribed to two men’s efforts. One was Zhi Qian, an Indo-Scythian who grew up in China and was educated in Chinese culture as a child. When Zhi Qian arrived in the kingdom of Wu towards the end of the Han dynasty, he showed his flair as a diplomat and translated many Buddhist sutras while there. The other man was Kang Senghui, a native of Soghdiana whose family lived in India for generations. He accompanied his merchant father and arrived in present-day Wuzhou, Guangxi, where he received a Chinese education during his childhood. When he became a teenager his parents died. He then became tonsured and started systematic studies of Buddhism in a temple. In 247 (8th year of the Zhengshi reign, Wei Kingdom), he traveled to Jianye (present-day Nanjing), capital of the Kingdom of Wu, where he won the confidence of the king of Wu, Sun Quan, who then built the Jianchu Monastery, the first of its kind in the kingdom. Sun Quan dedicated it to Kang Senghui. The construction of this monastery unveiled a period of prosperity for Buddhism in the Kingdom of Wu.
During the Western and Eastern Jin dynasties (265-420), large numbers of Buddhist scriptures and classics were translated into Chinese, paving the way to a fusing of traditional Chinese culture with Buddhist philosophy. During the Western Jin Dynasty (265-316) Dharmaraksa emerged as the most prolific Buddhist translator of the time. An Indo-Scythian who lived with his family in Dunhuang, he was converted to Buddhism, traveled with his master to many kingdoms in the Western Territories, and in the process mastered thirty-six different languages. Returning to Dunhuang with a heavy load of Buddhist sutras that were popular in these kingdoms, he dedicated the rest of his life to translation, and rendered a total of 175 Buddhist scriptures into Chinese.
The Eastern Jin Dynasty (317-420) was ensconced in the safety of south China, keeping the 16 kingdoms up north at bay through the natural barrier of the Yangtze River. Mount Lushan and the city of Jianye (present-day Nanjing) emerged as two centers of Buddhism in the south, where many monks were engaged in the translation of Buddhist scriptures. In the North, Buddhism found its center in Chang’an (present-day Xi’an), where Kumarajiva and his team of Chinese and Indian scholar-translators rendered many scriptures into Chinese.
The increase in the number of Chinese translations of Buddhist scriptures gave rise to a new discipline of learning designed to rediscover the truth of Buddhism at a time when the metaphysical learning of Laozi and Zhuangzi was in vogue. That was why quite a few Buddhists were also versed in Taoism, and their knowledge was often a mixture of both religions. Zhi Dun (314-366) was an outstanding representative in this regard.
During the Eastern Jin Dynasty so many people embarked on pilgrimages to the West in search of the Buddha’s holy words that this had become something of a campaign. One of the well-accomplished pilgrims was Fa Xian (c.337-c.422). In 399 (3rd year of the Long’an reign), he teamed up with Hui Jing and two other fellow disciples to set off from Chang’an for India in search of commandments and scriptures. Their 11-year journey brought them to more than thirty kingdoms. In India, they paid homage to Buddhist sites and obtained a number of scriptures and commandments. In Sinhala (present-day Sri Lanka), Fa Xian was moved to tears when he saw local merchants offering Chinese-made silk fans as sacrifices to the Buddha. He became so homesick that two years later he boarded a ship in Sinhala, and braving life-threatening risks on the sea returned to China in 412 (8th year of the Yixi reign, Eastern Jin Dynasty).
In the North, Kumarajiva was not the only prolific translator of Buddhist scriptures and classics. There were two others who played a pivotal role in this field. One was Fo Tucheng and the other is Shi Dao’an.
Fo Tucheng (232-348), a Buddhist from Kucha, arrived in Luoyang in 310 (4th year of the Yongjia reign, Western Jin Dynasty) but war and turmoil dashed his hopes of building a monastery to disseminate Buddhism. At that time, General Shi Le’s army was stationed in Gepo (north of present-day Xincai, Henan Province) and was terrorizing the area by the indiscriminate killing of innocent people, including quite a few monks. Fo Tucheng, showing great sympathy for the misery of the local people, risked his own life by going to see Shi Le at his headquarters. The general asked him what Buddhism could accomplish in divination. Fo, knowing that the general was a savage, impervious to reason, decided to impress him by his extraordinary powers. According to Volume III of the Biographies of Preeminent Monks, Fo filled a container with some water, lit some incense sticks and began to chant incantations. In no time a green lotus popped out of the water, emitting brilliant light and color. With this trick the monk caught the fancy of the general and won his confidence. He went on to persuade the general to stop the wonton killing and exercise the rule of virtue. Shi Le obliged, and as a result the lives of many people slated for decapitation were spared. She Le became the founder of the Kingdom of Posterior Zhao (319-351). His reign lasted for 14 years, and after his death he was succeeded by his son, Hong, but shortly thereafter the power was usurped by Shi Hu.
The new king, however, had great faith in Fo Tucheng, and never made a decision without consulting him. Thanks to Fo’s effort, Buddhism flourished during the reign of Shi Hu, and construction of Buddhist monasteries became something of a fad. It is said that Fo alone had tens of thousands of followers, and more than eight hundred temples were built under his influence.
Shi Dao’an was a native of Fuliu in Changshan (northwest of present-day Quyang, Hebei Province), who became an orphan when his parents died young. After he was launched into his monkhood, he impressed his fellow monks with his photographic memory. However, his master was not impressed. Only after he became a disciple of Fo Tucheng did he earn respect for his talent. When he made a name for himself, he became the leader of a group of several hundred monks. However, he led an unsettled life due to war and chaos, and it was not until he arrived in Xiangyang (in present-day Hubei Province) that he settled down as a lecturer and writer. For his high moral and academic accomplishments he won the adoration of Emperor Xiaowu of the Eastern Jin Dynasty and Fu Jian, who made himself king of the former Qin Dynasty (350-394) in Chang’an. In 379 (4th year of the Taiyuan reign, Eastern Jin Dynasty), following his son’s army conquering of Xiangyang, Fu Jian had Shi Dao’an moved to the Wuchong Monastery in Chang’an. While there, the monk took advantage of his talent and position to contribute a great deal to the dissemination of Buddhism. In the process, his reputation as an accomplished scholar and man of honor spread far and wide. Kumarajiva, living in the Western Territories at the time, held him in high esteem and extolled him as the “Sage of the East.”
During the Southern and Northern Dynasties (420-589), China was torn apart by separatist regimes, and Buddhism embarked on different courses of development. In the South, emphasis was placed on decoding the philosophy of the Buddhist sutras, while in the North followers were devoted to the practice of dhyana (meditation) and samadhi (concentration). The emperors of the Southern Dynasties – Song (420-479), Qi (479-502), Liang (502-557), and Chen (557-589) – were all supporters of Buddhism, but none were more pious than Emperor Wudi of the Liang, who had previously been a Taoist. At a meeting of 2,000 monks and laymen in 504 (3rd year of the Tianjian reign), Wudi announced his decision to give up Taoism and convert to Buddhism. He had monasteries built and Buddhist statues sculpted and enshrined, and he devoted himself to the study of Buddhist philosophy. On four occasions he renounced his monarchy and worked as a coolie in a local monastery, but on each occasion his court ministers paid a large sum in ransom to get him back on the throne. The Chinese monks’ habit of eating only vegetarian foods had its beginning in the order of this emperor. After toppling the Liang Dynasty, the emperors of the Chen Dynasty continued to follow Buddhism and carried on with the dethroned Liang emperor’s practices. During the Southern Dynasties, both the number of Buddhist monasteries and population of monks and nuns increased considerably, and the translation of Buddhist scriptures and writings went on uninterrupted. Major translators at the time included Gunabhadra (394-468) and Paramartha (499-569).
The development of Buddhism in the Northern Dynasties, that is the Northern Wei (386-534), Eastern Wei (534-550), Western Wei (535-557), Northern Qi (550-577), and Northern Zhou (557-581), had its fill of ups and downs. Most of the monarchs of these dynasties believed in Buddhism. Under their aegis, the construction of temples and translation of sutras thrived more than before, and the number of monks and nuns reached an all-time high of over two million. The world-famous Yungang and Longmen grottoes, and the unparalleled Yongning Monastery were constructed during this period and remain to this day a part of the precious Chinese cultural legacy. However, in the midst of this prosperity, Buddhism suffered two telling blows that Buddhists refer to as the “Disasters of the Dharma.” These were the campaign launched by Emperor Taiwu of the Northern Wei Dynasty in 438 and the campaign by Emperor Wudi of the Northern Zhou Dynasty in 574 to eliminate Buddhism. Neither lasted long, but nevertheless incurred colossal losses to Buddhism.
The golden age of Buddhism came during the Sui (581-618) and Tang (618-907) dynasties. Yang Jian, founder of the Sui, was already working to resurrect Buddhism from the destruction wrought by Emperor Wudi during his days as prime minister of the Northern Zhou Dynasty. After he took the throne, he masterminded a renaissance of Buddhism in China. The Sui Dynasty was later overthrown by the Tang Dynasty, but Buddhism continued to grow. Actually sailing was even smoother during the Zhenguan reign of the Tang Dynasty, Li Shimin, or Emperor Taizong. With the lone exception of Emperor Wuzong of the Tang, all the Sui and Tang emperors were worshipers or supporters of Buddhism.
During the Sui and Tang dynasties new generations of outstanding personages emerged in the Buddhist circles, and an unprecedented number of Buddhist books were translated into Chinese. The celebrated monk Xuan Zang alone translated 75 scriptures comprising 1,335 volumes in Chinese. Joining him in the effort was Yijing (635-713). The other major translators were from outside China. These included Siksananda (652-710) from the Western Territories, and Amoghavajra (705-774) from India. The work of these eminent translators vastly enriched the collection of Buddhist sutras in the Chinese language and became a component part of Chinese culture during the heyday of the Tang. Thus, after about six centuries of repeated adaptation to the local environment once it made its first inroads into China during the Han Dynasty, Buddhism gradually became fused with traditional Chinese culture. But it was not until the emergence of the eight sects during the Sui-Tang period that Buddhism completed its process of domestication and became a Chinese religion in form and essence.
It seems to be a norm that things turn into their opposites when they go the extremes. After a period of unprecedented prosperity during the height of the Tang Dynasty, Buddhism was in for serious destruction during the dynasty’s waning years. This was because of a crackdown on Buddhism in 842 (2nd year of the Huichang reign), during which huge numbers of sutras were burned, numerous monasteries were closed down, monks were forced to return to a secular life, and Buddhism went on a decline.
Buddhism was somewhat revived during the early Song Dynasty (960-1279), but it never enjoyed the kind of prosperity it had during the Sui-Tang period. Emperor Huizong (1101-1125) of the Song Dynasty was initially opposed to Buddhism, but fortunately he changed his attitude before too long. The development of Buddhism during the Song Dynasty was characterized by the prosperity of a single sect, the Chan, but the Tiantai sect gained substantial growth as well. Another salient feature of Song-Dynasty Buddhism was its advocacy for both the Chan sect’s practice of meditation in a crossed-legged sitting posture and the Jingtu (Pure Land) sect’s practice of chanting the name of the Buddha.
The rulers of the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) advocated Lamaism, or Tibetan Buddhism. A number of eminent monks emerged during the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties, but nothing could arrest Buddhism’s general decline that began after the fall of the Tang Dynasty.
The study of Buddhism came somewhat back into its own by the late Qing Dynasty and early Republican years thanks to the efforts of some renowned scholars, and Buddhist seminaries were established to train high-caliber preachers. The result was that quite a few eminent Buddhist personages emerged during the Republican period (1912-1949). These included Dixian (1858-1935), Yuexia (1858-1917), Taixu (1889-1947), Hongyi (1880-1942), Xuyun (1840-1959), Yuanying (1878-1953), and Yinguang (1861-1940), and the lay Buddhists Yang Wenhui (1837-1911), Ouyang Jingwu (1871-1944), and Han Qingjing (1884-1949), whose hard work and dedication gave hope to the revitalization of Buddhism.
After the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the People’s Government has adopted a policy of religious freedom. This has enabled Buddhists to enjoy the freedom of religious belief while devoting themselves to the prosperity of both the country and Buddhism.
