Buddhist Impact on Chinese Culture PDF

CCCH9018: Lecture One Dr. Guang Xing ¨ Chinese culture has developed into a system of uniting the three religions into one system of thought with Confucianism at the centre supported by Daoism and Buddhism. Confucianism...

CCCH9018: Lecture One Dr. Guang Xing ¨ Chinese culture has developed into a system of uniting the three religions into one system of thought with Confucianism at the centre supported by Daoism and Buddhism. Confucianism Traditional Chinese Culture Foreign Religion Buddhism Daoism ¨ For over two thousands years, Buddhism has interacted with all levels of Chinese culture such as literature, philosophy, mores and behavioral norms, arts and architecture, and religions of all classes. As a result, Buddhism has successfully integrated into the traditional Chinese culture and become one of the three pillars. literature rel i gio philosop n s Chinese Culture hy Confucianism Buddhism Daoism Buddhism es & rs… mor oral he vi beha ms ot nor arts & architectu re ¨ Arthur F. Wright, quoting from a French Sinologist named Sylvain Levi, says, Buddhism interacted through the centuries with all levels of Chinese culture: with literary and philosophic traditions, with economic and political institutions, with mores and behavioral norms, with indigenous traditions in art and architecture, with the religions of all classes and of all the subcultures of China. ¨ In this lecture I will briefly discuss the Buddhist impact on Chinese culture from the following four points: (1) Philosophy and Moral Teaching, (2) Popular Religious Beliefs, (3) Language and Literature, (4) Art and Architecture. ¨ Before the introduction of Buddhism, Chinese people already had their philosophy of the world and life and moral teaching. After Buddhism was introduced into China, Chinese philosophy had been challenged and influenced by Buddhist thought and ideas. ¨ Chinese people concentrate on human welfare and do not like to discuss metaphysical questions of the universe and after life as Confucius said, “If you can't yet serve men, how can you serve the spirits (ghosts)?” when Ji Lu, a disciple of Confucius asked about serving the spirits. human welfare metaphysical ¨ When a disciple of the Buddha, Mālunkyaputta asked him the same metaphysical questions he explained that the Buddhist life does not depend on these views. Whatever opinion one may have about these problems, there is birth, old age, decay, death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, grief, distress, “the cessation of which (nirvāna), I declare in this very life.” old age decay metaphysical birth questions??? distress death grief sorrow pain lamentation ¨ First, Buddhist teaching of karma is individual responsibility while Confucian emphasizes on family responsibility. ¨ As it says, “those families accumulate good will have good result, those families accumulates bad will have bad consequences.” (Buddhism and Chinese Culture 佛教與中國文化, 164) 《易經坤卦》曰：「積善之家，必有餘慶；積不善之家，必有餘殃。」 vs Individual Family Responsibility Responsibility ¨ According to the Chinese thought, future generations either enjoy or suffer the consequences of their fore Chengfu fathers’ either good or bad deeds. So Chinese people developed a theory call Chengfu 承負. ¨ In the Buddhist teaching of karma, each one is good/bad action responsible for his or her own deeds. So man’s fortune in society is explained in Buddhism by the theory of karma. This is considered more reasonable. ¨ Confucians never really discuss man’s fortune in society, their sufferings and their positions. All these receive or bare the consequences are attributed to heaven without explanation. ¨ Second, Buddhism filled a gap in Chinese philosophy regarding next life by its teaching of rebirth as Confucius refused to discuss after life and Daoist teaching concerning next life is also not clear, particularly reading to one’s bad deeds. ¨ In the Mouzi Lihoulun《牟子理惑論》, Chinese people did not believe in next birth at that time. “A critic asked: the Buddha’s teaching that after death people must be reborn. I just cannot believe this opinion!” 問曰：佛道言：人死當復更生。僕不信此言之審也。 ¨ Meanwhile, according to the Buddhist teaching of karma and rebirth, one may be reborn as human, gods, ghosts, or even animals including insects depending on his or her own karma which means intentional actions. ¨ Third, there are much description of heaven and hell in Buddhist literature and Daoism has absorbed these ideas and thought and incorporated into their system of thought. ¨ For instance, we find the description of heaven in the Daoist scripture Yunji Qiqian 《雲笈七籤》 and the description of hell in the Daoist Lingbao Jing 《靈寶經》. heaven hell Buddhist literature Daoist literature ¨ Forth there is not much discussion on death in Chinese philosophy. But there are a lot of discussion on death in Buddhist scriptures. ¨ A modern Chinese writer comments on both Confucian and Daoist attitudes to death “they always talk things around death but never directly discuss the matter. But Buddhism directly points to the heart of the matter.” ¨ Buddhist attitude to death is, just as to all other problems in our life, to face it rather than to escape from it. ¨ Fifth, there is no theory in Chinese philosophy to retaliate or punish the people who want to do bad things. But the Buddhist teaching of karma is a theory to fill up this gap. ¨ Therefore according to this theory, bad people will never escape but definitely suffer the consequences of their bad actions. So when people want to do bad things, they will think twice. ¨ Sixth, there was hierarchy in traditional Chinese society and the well known Xiaojing 孝經 (The Classic of Filial Piety) discusses five classes of people: (1) emperors, (2) princes, (3) high ministers and great officers, (4) inferior officers and (5) common people. ¨ Buddhism teaches the equality of all people as particularly Mahayana Buddhism teaches that all sentient beings have the potentiality to attain enlightenment and become Buddha. It does not depend on someone else or other outside supernatural power. ¨ Seventh, many people think that Confucian or Chinese thought influenced Buddhism on filial piety after the latter was introduced into China. But it is not true because there is already a strong teaching of filial piety in Indian. ¨ There are already at least three important scriptures centered on the teaching of filial piety in the earliest Buddhist. Kataññu Sutta Sabrahma Sutta Mahāyañña Sutta Daoist Figure ¨ Vincent Goossaert says in “Popular Religion” in China found in the Encyclopedia of Religion, With the exception of religions, notably Islam and Christianity, that arrived in China from elsewhere and could not become fully integrated because of exclusive claims of truth, most religious practices, beliefs, and organizations in China can be described as belonging to a single system, best termed “Chinese religion” (sometimes called “Chinese traditional religion”). This organic, non-hierarchical system integrates traditions of individual salvation (self-cultivation through meditation and body techniques, morality, and spirit-possession techniques, including spirit-writing), communal celebration (cults to local saints and ancestors), and death rituals together with the three institutionalized religions, Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism. ¨ Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism within Chinese religion do not function as separate institutions that provide their members an exclusive way to salvation, as in the nineteenth-century Western concept of religion; rather, their purpose is to transmit their tradition of practice and make it available to all, either as individual spiritual techniques or liturgical services to whole communities. Confucianism Buddhism Daoism ¨ When Buddhism was first introduced into China, Buddhist teachings were quickly accepted by Chinese religions as Buddhism upholds a liberal attitude of mind and accepts whatever is good. The Uttaravipatti Sutta says, “Whatsoever is well spoken, all that is the word of the Buddha.” ¨ This thought has influenced Buddhists tremendously and led to important consequences in the transmission of Buddhism to other cultures. Thus, Buddhism has not caused any conflict with hosting local culture, but absorbed local cultures wherever it has been transmitted. As a result, it becomes Chinese Buddhism with a Chinese cultural marks and color when it comes to China as Buddhism absorbed many Chinese cultural elements in the last two thousand years. ¨ First, the most popular Buddhist bodhisattva is Avalokiteśvara 觀世音 菩薩 and the Chinese name is Guanyin who is worshipped by most of Chinese people as the goddess of mercy. ¨ Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara is introduced from India but it became popular from the Southern and Northern dynasties and continues to be the most popular Buddhist deity not only in China but in all East Asia. ¨ Daoism also accepts Guanyin into their temples and named it as the True Man of Compassion 慈航真人, Great Person of Compassion 慈 航大士. ¨ The Daoists of the Lingbao 靈寳 texts or school even created Jiuku tianzun 救苦天尊 (the Heavenly Venerable Savior from Suffering) by imitation of the Buddhist Guanyin. India Style Chinese Style ¨ The second most popular Buddhist Bodhisattva is Maitreya, Chinese translation is Milefo 彌勒佛 who became the Chinese Laughing Buddha 笑佛. He is also called: ¡ Mile with a bag 布袋彌勒, Mile with big belly 大肚彌勒, Happy Buddha 歡喜佛, Peace Buddha 平安佛, Buddha for good fortune 幸運佛 and Buddha for wealth 發財佛 etc. ¨ During the late Tang and five dynasties, there appeared a short and fatty Buddhist monk with a big belly who often visited and helped common people with a bag in Southeast China. So people called him the Monk with a bag 布袋和尚. After he died he was identified as the Maitreya. ¨ The third is the belief the ten kings in hells 地獄十王, the Ksitigarbha and the King of Eastern Mountain 東嶽大帝 are the chieftains who manage the hells. Here Ksitigarbha is a Buddhist Bodhisattva Chinese named him as Dizang 地藏. ¨ The fourth is the belief of the mother of child ghost 鬼子母. This is also from Buddhist tradition and according to which a female Hariti (ghost) who has five hundred children used to eat other people’s child. Upon hearing this Sakyamuni came and hid the youngest child so Hariti could not find it. Then she asked Sakyamuni to help and Sakyamuni taught her to compare herself with other women who also have children. So she realized her wrong deeds and became a protector woman who always protect child. She is worshipped in China as the mother who delivers child for childless people 送子娘娘. Yulanpen Festival 盂蘭盆節 ¨ Yulanpen Festival 盂蘭盆節 is popularly known as the Ghost Festival which is celebrated on the fifteen of 7th month of Chinese lunar calendar. The name Yulanpen is a Buddhist term from the Yulanpen jing or Ullanbana Sūtra 《盂蘭盆經》 which tells a story of how Maudgalyayana, a disciple of the Buddha, saved his mother from hell. So it is a good text to teach filial piety. ¨ This festival became quite popular in the Tang dynasty (618-906) that Daoism also created their own festival called Zhongyuan 中元 celebrated on the same day with the same purpose to save all souls from hell.  Laba Festival 腊八 ¨ The Laba Festival 腊八 falls on the 8th day of the 12th month Chinese lunar calendar. According to the Buddhist tradition, Sakyamuni attained enlightenment on the 8th day of the 12th month by practicing meditation under a bodhi tree after he ate congee offered by a young lady. This took place after he Laba congee realized the futility of practicing ascetic life for six long years. ¨ Later Chinese monasteries offer congee to people every year on this day and thus it became a tradition for people to enjoy congee. Shaolin monastery 2009 ¨ From the very beginning of Chinese Buddhism in the 2nd century, Chinese Buddhists started to translate Buddhist scriptures into Chinese and this activity lasted for more than a thousand years. As a result there is a large number of Buddhist scriptures translated into Chinese. ¨ This huge amount of Buddhist literature has had a profound impact on Chinese language and literature because together with the Buddhist literature new ideas and thoughts, new concepts and theories have also been introduced into China. ¨ In order to express these new ideas, thoughts and concepts, the translators created a large amount of new vocabulary and some of them become daily used words. The Chinese linguist Wang Li 王力 has given the following as examples. ¨ Today we use Shijie 世界 to mean “world”, but ancient Chinese people used Tianxia 天下 to mean world. Shijie 世界 is originally from Buddhist literature, shi 世 denotes time, jie 界 denotes space. ¨ These new ideas and thought in turn also gave rise many new forms of literature such as novels, Bianwen 變文 (popular literature), Baojuan 寶卷 (religious literature), and Tanci 彈詞 (script for singing) etc. ¨ First, the early Chinese literature such as Shijing 詩經 emphasizes the description of human and events while Zhuangzi 莊子 was specialized in discussion of the metaphysical thinking and Han ode 漢賦 emphasized on description of natural things such mountains and rivers. Imper manen ce ¨ But Buddhism teaches the impermanence of everything in the world and emphasized change as universal reality. This enriches the thought and ideas of Chinese literati in Change their writings. As a result many literati from Tang dynasty onwards started Cau ¨ salit y to criticize the nature and human life by explaining the Buddhist thought of causality, praising the good and Goo d denouncing the bad. B ad ¨ Second, the traditional Chinese literature emphasized on the description of actuality and was lacking in imaginative and creative thinking that transcend time and space. Even the descriptions of Daoist immortals are very limited in imaginative thinking. ¨ But the Buddhist ideas are unlimited in imaginative thinking without limitation of time and space. In the Buddhist literatures we often found the followings: ¡ to describe space: “the 18 hells”, “the 33 heavens”, “the 3,000 great ce spa chilicosmos”, etc.; tim e ¡ To descript time: kalpa (eons) mahakalpa (great eons) etc.; ber ¡ to describe number: “as many as the sands in Ganga River”, “infinite num and unlimited” etc. ¨ So it is a strong romantic sense and it inspired Chinese romantic literature to develop. Language 1. As discussed above there are many new words introduced into the Chinese language together with Buddhist translation. 2. With the Buddhist translation literature, there is an increase in the use of disyllabic 雙音節 and polysyllabic 複音 words. But in the traditional Chinese literature, there were more monosyllabic words. 3. According to Chinese scholars, Buddhism also influenced in phonetic syllabaries for instance Qieyun 切韻 and the four tones 四聲. ¡ Chinese people became aware of the phonetic syllabaries 音節文字 after the introduction of Buddhism and the study of Sanskrit language. Sanskrit 梵文 is a language with a strong phonetic syllabary emphasis and there was a systematic study of it. ¡ Some Chinese people even tried to establish a Chinese alphabet. The well known Chinese literati, Xie Lingyun 謝靈運 even wrote the Fourteen Phonetic Symbols《十四音訓序》. 4. Vernacular: In the traditional literature, only the literary and refined language is used, but with the introduced of Buddhist literature there was an increase in the use of vernacular language. ¡ This is because there are so many difficult and new concepts and ideas in the Buddhist literature so it is quite difficult to use the literary Chinese to translate these ideas and thoughts. The Chinese Buddhists freely used vernacular to express these ideas because the Buddhist teaching allows such things as the Buddha said, “I allow monks to learn the Buddha’s words in his own language.” ¡ This in turn gave rise to a huge number of vernacular literatures both within Buddhism and in public. Literature ¨ The Sanskrit phonetic study also influenced Chinese poetry. According to Victoria Mair (1991), it was “under the influence of the Sanskrit theory of poetic defects, Shen Yue 沈約 and his followers invented tonal prosody in order to reproduce, in Chinese, the same euphonic effect achieved by meter in Sanskrit.” ¨ The Buddhist monk Zhi Daolin 支道林 (314-366) who was well versed in Chinese literature was also a Buddhist poet. He had many friends such as Sun Chuo 孫綽, Xu Xun 許詢 and Wang Xizhi 王羲之 etc., who were famous for their philosophical poems that were full of metaphysics. They had been influenced by Buddhist teaching of emptiness. ¨ Chan: When Chan 禪 became a distinctive school in Tang dynasty, it influenced many Chinese literati. They studied Chan teaching and also practiced Chan meditation themselves. Then they wrote poems to express their experience, their attitudes towards life and the world which are called Chan Poems. ¨ Wang Wei 王維 (701-761 or 689-759) was the most influential Chan poet in Tang dynasty and he was also a Chan painter and musician. He was called the “Poet Buddha” 詩佛. ¨ Here is an example of his poems: “Empty mountain without a human, but only heard the human voices. The sunshine penetrates into the deep forest and reflects on the lichen.” ¨ 空山不見人，但聞人語響，返景入深林，復照青苔上. ¨ Other Tang poets influenced by Buddhism are such as Meng Haoran 孟浩然, Wei Yingwu 韋應物 and Liu Zongyuan 柳宗元 etc., who wrote poems full of Buddhist ideas and Chan thoughts. ¨ In Song dynasty Chan poems continued to flourish with many new poets such as Su Shi 蘇軾, Wang Anshi王安石, Huang Tingjian 黃庭堅, Lu You 陸遊 etc., who wrote many poems with Buddhist Chan ideas. ¨ Second, influenced by Buddhism many vernacular literatures developed such as Bianwen 變文 (popular literature), Baojuan 寶卷 (precious scrolls), Tanci 彈詞 (script for singing) etc. ¨ These kinds of literature were first used in Buddhism in order to teach the general public who knew little or no literary Chinese at all. Later in Ming and Qing dynasties there came up many such literatures to teach Buddhist morality. ¨ Third, Buddhism also provided the contents and story for traditional novels such the well known Journey to the West 西游記. ¨ Fourth, Buddhism also influenced literary theory criticism because there is a close relationship between the Buddhist dialectical thinking and intuitive realization and theoretical thinking of literature writing. ¨ For instance Buddhist idea of “inexpressible” 言語道斷, “sudden enlightenment” 頓悟 and “wonderful enlightenment” 妙悟 etc., which are similar to literati appreciation of the beauty and the expression of it. The above mentioned Chan poems are good example. ¨ “Learning poetry is like learning meditation, many years practice on mattress and bamboo bed, until one realizes the essence of it, then one can produce the wonderful.” 學詩渾似學參禪，竹榻蒲團不記年，直待自家 都了得，等閑拈出便超然。 ¨ Buddhist influence on Chinese art and architecture is tremendous. According to Fang Litian, without Buddhist art, Chinese art would not be so splendors and flourished. Buddhist influence on Chinese art is mainly in painting and sculpture. ¨ First, let us discuss Buddhist influence on painting. After Buddhism had been introduced into China, Buddhists also brought images of Buddha 佛 and Bodhisattva 菩薩 images to spread the Buddhist teaching as well as for worship. ¨ Chao Buxing 曹不興 who was the first ever known Chinese artists to learn from a Buddhist painting brought by Kang Shenghui 康僧會 from western region. ¨ Later Gu Kaizhi 顧愷之 in Eastern Jin dynasty (317-420) painted the well known Vimalakirti 維摩詰居士 image on the wall of a monastery 瓦棺寺 in Nanjing and it became a great image at the time. ¨ Cao Zhongda 曹仲達 of Northern Qi 北齊 (550-577) occupied a special place amongst the contemporary artists. He was known for his painting of Indian style images 梵像 and created the Cao model. ¨ In the Tang dynasty (618-906) the well known painter Wu Daozi 吳道子 painted numerous Buddhist paintings and his paintings are described as 吳帶當風 which the drawing of cloth flying up as if there is wind blowing. Thus he created the Wu’s Model. ¨ Zhou Fang 周昉, another Tang dynasty painter, who was specialized in figure drawing, created the first Water-Moon Guanyin 水月觀音. Later many Chinese artists imitated his drawing and thus Water-Moon Guanyin became very popular in Tang dynasty. ¨ One of the special paintings created during the Tang dynasty is Chan painting also known as Literati Painting. People usually think that Wang Wei 王維 was the creator of this kind of painting. ¨ This is a kind of painting that absorbs the Chan ideas and thought and they are mostly paintings of natural mountains and waters. Chan artists emphasized directness of expression which stood for the sudden enlightenment and insight which is the experience most highly valued by the adherents of the sect. ¨ It gave rise to a tradition amongst the literati in Song dynasty who painted Chan paintings express their ideas of life and attitude to the world. There are many Buddhist paintings found Dunhuang 敦煌, Maijishan 麥積山 at Tiansui, [Binglingsi 炳靈寺, Yungang 雲岡 and Longmen 龍門 which were created during the Tang dynasty.  Second, Buddhist influence on sculpture. Today we find many Buddhist images in Dunhuang 敦煌, Maijishan 麥積山 at Tiansui, Binglingsi 炳靈寺, Yungang 雲岡 and Longmen 龍門 which show the development of Buddhist art from imitating Indian style to pure Chinese ones. Dunhuang Binglingsi Longmen Maijishan Yungang ¨ Yungang is a good example. The main Buddha statues of caves No. 17 to No. 20 display Indian style of Buddhist robe that one shoulder is uncovered and the robe is one piece of cloth. Yungang 雲岡 ¨ From Tang dynasty onwards, Buddha statues are made with both shoulders covered. ¨ Later Buddha statues are more of Chinese in style. Longmen 龍門 ¨ Dunhuang cave No. 17, early 8th century. ¨ Thus, Buddhist sculpture enriched Chinese sculpture in contents and style by absorbing the Indian style or even Greek style because Indian Buddhist sculpture was influenced by Greek style. ¨ Architecture ¨ Third, Buddhist influence on architecture. Buddhist architecture is designed with its purpose of use and it can be divided into the following three: (1) the main hall to place the Buddha and other halls to place Bodhisattva statues for worship, (2) Pagoda or stupa to enshrine the relics of the Buddha or eminent monks, (3) Jingchuang 經幢, Sutra Pillars which is a construction at the gate or near the stupa on which there are carving of dharmacakra (wheel of dharma), humans and animals. (1) The Main Hall and other halls to enshrine bodhisattvas resemble traditional Chinese palace architecture. Here is a picture of Nanchan Monastery 南禪寺 on Mt Wutai, a architecture of Tang Dynasty, one of the few remains of early Buddhist buildings. (2) Buddhist Stupa or Pagoda is a kind of new architecture introduced together with Buddhism. The earliest form of stupa is in the shape of a dome such as the Sanchi stupa in India. ¨ This is a revised version in China, but it is still closer to the Indian original. Left: This is a totally modified version of typical Chinese stupa, Wooden Stupa in Yingxian, Shanxi Province. 山西應縣木塔 Right: Stupa in Huayan Temple, Chang'an, Xi'an, Shaanxi, China 西安(長安) 華嚴寺 (3) Jingchuang 經幢, Sutra Pillars are constructions at the gate or near the stupa on which there are carving of dharmacakra (wheel of dharma), humans and animals. This is Sanchi stupa in India.  Conclusion Over the last two thousand years of interaction and integration since its introduction, Buddhism has influenced Chinese culture tremendously at all levels and all aspects. This is reflected in many aspects of Chinese people’s life, particularly in their popular beliefs in the next life connected with karma which I will explore in the next lecture. Q&A Q&A