 Preface to Buddhism and Buddhists in China. This volume is the third to be published of a series on the world's living religions, projected in 1920 by the Board of Missionary Preparation of the Foreign Missions Conference of North America. The series seeks to introduce Western readers to the real religious life of each great national area of the non-Christian world. Buddhism is a religion which must be viewed from many angles. Its original form, as preached by Gautama in India, and developed in the early years succeeding, and as embodied in the sacred literature of early Buddhism, is not representative of the actual Buddhism of any land today. The faithful student of Buddhist literature would be as far removed from understanding the working activities of a busy center of Buddhism in Burma, Tibet, or China today as a student of patristic literature would be from appreciating the Christian life of London or New York City. Moreover, Buddhism, like Christianity, has been affected by national conditions. It has developed at least three markedly different types, requiring therefore as many distinct volumes of this series for its fair interpretation and presentation. The volume on the Buddhism of Southern Asia by Professor Kenneth J. Saunders was published in May 1923. This volume on the Buddhism of China by Professor Haudus will be the second to appear. A third on the Buddhism of Japan to be written by Dr. R. C. Armstrong will be published in 1924. Each of these is needed in order that the would-be student of Buddhism, as practiced in those countries, should be given a true, impressive, and friendly picture of what he will meet. A missionary, no less than a professional student of Buddhism, needs to approach that religion with a real appreciation of what it aims to do for its people and does do. No one can come into contact with the best the Buddhism offers without being impressed by its serenity, assurance, and power. Professor Haudus has written this volume on Buddhism in China, out of the ripe experience and continuing studies of 16 years of missionary service in Fuchiao, the chief city of Fuxian province, China, one of the important centers of Buddhism. His local studies were supplemented by the results of broader research and study in Northern China. No other available writer on the subject has gone so far as he in reproducing the actual thinking of a trained Buddhist mind in regard to the fundamentals of religion. At the same time he has taken pains to exhibit and to interpret the religious life of the peasant as affected by Buddhism. He has sought to be absolutely fair to Buddhism, but still to express his own conviction that the best that is in Buddhism is given far more adequate expression in Christianity. The purpose of each volume in this series is impressionistic rather than definitely educational. They are not textbooks for the formal study of Buddhism, but introductions to its study. They aim to kindle interest and to direct the activity of the awakened student along sound lines. For further study each volume amplifies provides through directions in literature and the appendices. It seeks to help the student to discriminate, to think in terms of a devotee of Buddhism when he compares that religion with Christianity. It assumes, however, that Christianity is the broader and deeper revelation of God and the world of today. Buddhism in China undoubtedly includes among its adherents many high-minded devout and earnest souls who live an idealistic life. Christianity ought to make a strong appeal to such minds, taking from them none of the joy or assurance or devotion which they possess, but promoting a deeper, better balanced interpretation of the act of world, a nobler conception of God, a stronger sense of sinfulness and need, and a truer idea of the full meaning of incarnation and revelation. It is our hope that this fresh contribution to the understanding of Buddhism as it is today may be found helpful to readers everywhere. The Editors New York City December 1923 The Committee of Reference and Council of the Foreign Missions Conference of North America has authorized the publication of this series. The author of each volume is alone responsible for the opinions expressed and less otherwise stated. End of Preface Recording by Scott Robbins Chapter 1 of Buddhism and Buddhists in China This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org Buddhism and Buddhists in China by Louis Hodus Chapter 1 Introductory A well-known missionary of Peking, China was invited one day by a Buddhist acquaintance to attend the ceremony of initiation for a class of 180 priests and some 20 laity who had been undergoing preparatory instruction at the stately and important Buddhist monastery. The beautiful courts of the temple were filled by a throng of invited guests and spectators, waiting to watch the impressive procession of candidates, acolytes, attendants, and high officials, all in their appropriate vestments. No outsider was privileged to witness the solemn taking by each candidate for the priesthood of the vow to keep the ten laws, followed by the indelible branding of a scalp, truly a baptism of fire. Less private was the initiation of the lay brethren and sisters, more lightly branded on the right wrist, while all about intoned I put my trust in my original teacher, Sakya Muni, Buddha. The missionary was deeply impressed by the serenity and devotion of the worshippers and by the dignity and solemnity of the service. The last candidate to rise and receive the baptism of branding was a young married woman of refined appearance, attended by an elderly lady, evidently her mother, who watched with an expression of mingled devotion, insight, and pride, her daughter's initiation and welcomed her at the end of the process with radiant face, as a daughter now in a spiritual as well as a physical sense. At that moment an attendant, noting the keen interest of the missionary, said to him rather flippantly, Would not you like to have your arm branded too? I might, he replied, just out of curiosity, but I could not receive the branding as a believer in the Buddha. I am a Christian believer. To be branded without inward faith would be an insult to your religion as well as treachery to my own, would it not? Is not real religion a matter of the heart? The old lady who had overheard with evident disapproval the remark of the attendant turned to the missionary at once and said, Is that the way you westerners, you Christians, speak of your faith? Is the reality of religion for you also an inward experience of the heart? And with that began an interesting interchange of conversation, each party discovering that in the heart of the other was a genuine longing for God, that overwhelmed all the artificial material distinctions, and the human devices through which men have limited to particular and exclusive paths their way of search, and drew these two pilgrims on the way toward God into a common and very real fellowship of the spirit. A Buddhist monk was passing by a mission building in another city of China when his attention was suddenly drawn to the swastika and other Buddhist symbols which the architect had skillfully used in decorating the building. His face brightened as he said to his companion, I did not know that Christians had any appreciation of beauty in their religion. These incidents reveal aspects of the alchemy of the soul by which the real devotee of one religion perceives values which are dear to him in another religion. The good which he has attained in his old religion enables him to appropriate the better in the new religion. A converted monk, explaining his acceptance of Christianity, said, I found in Jesus Christ the great bodhisattva, my savior who brings to fruition the aspirations awakened in me by Buddhism. Just as it has been said that they do not know England who know England only, so it may be said with equal truth that they do not know Christianity who know it and no other faith. There are many in China like the old lady at the temple who have found in Buddhism something of that spiritual satisfaction and stimulus which true Christianity affords in fuller measure. The recognition of such religious values by the student or the missionary furnishes a sound foundation for the building of a truer spirituality among such devotees. As will be seen in what follows religion in China is at first sight a mixed affair. From the standpoint of cruder household superstitions an average Chinese family may be regarded as Taoists. The principles by which its members seek to guide their lives individually and socially may be called Confucian. Their attitude of worship and their hopes for the future make them Buddhists. The student would not be far afield when he credits the religious aspiration of the Chinese today to Buddhism regarding Confucianism as furnishing the ethical system to which they submit and Taoism as responsible for many superstitious practices. But the Buddhism found in China differs radically from that of Southern Asia as will be made clear by the following sketch of its introduction to the flowery kingdom and its subsequent history. End of chapter one recording by Scott Robbins. Chapter two of Buddhism and Buddhists in China. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Leon Meyer. Buddhism and Buddhists in China. By Lewis Hodus. Chapter two. The entrance of Buddhism into China. Buddhism was not an indigenous religion of China. Its founder was Gautama of India in the 6th century BC. Some centuries later it found its way into China by way of Central Asia. There is a tradition that as early as 142 BC Zhang Qian, an ambassador of the Chinese emperor Wu Di, visited the countries of Central Asia where he first learned about the new religion which was making such headway and reported concerning it to his master. A few years later the generals of Wu Di captured a gold image of the Buddha which the emperor set up in his palace and worshiped but he took no for the steps. According to Chinese historians Buddhism was officially recognized in China about 67 AD. A few years before that date the emperor Ming Di saw in a dream a large golden image with a halo hovering above his palace. His advisors some of whom were no doubt already favorable to the new religion interpreted the image of the dream to be that of Buddha the great sage of India who was inviting his adhesion. Following their advice the emperor sent an embassy to study into Buddhism. It brought back two Indian monks and a quantity of Buddhist classics. These were carried on a white horse and so the monastery which the emperor built for the monks and those who came after them was called the white horse monastery. Its tablet is said to have survived to this day. This dream story is worth repeating because it goes to show that Buddhism was not only known at an early date but was favored by the court of China. In fact the same history which relates the dream contains the biography of an official who became an adherent of Buddhism a few years before the dream took place. This is not at all surprising because an acquaintance with Buddhism was the inevitable concomitant of the military campaigning the many embassies and the wide-ranging trade of those centuries. But the introduction of Buddhism into China was especially promoted by reason of the current policy of the Chinese government of moving conquered populations in countries west of China into China proper. The vanquished peoples brought their own religion along with them. At one time what is now the province of Shanxi was populated in this way by the Xiangnu many of whom were Buddhists. The introduction and spread of Buddhism was hastened by the decline of Confucianism and Taoism. The Han dynasty 206 BC to 221 AD established a government founded on Confucianism. It reproduced the classics destroyed in the previous dynasty and encouraged their study. It established the state worship of Confucius. It based its laws and regulations upon the ideals and principles advocated by Confucius. The great increase of wealth and power under this dynasty led to a gradual deterioration in the character of the rulers and officials. The rigid Confucian regulations became burdensome to the people who ceased to respect their leaders. Confucianism lost its hold as the complete solution of the problems of life. At the same time Taoism had become a veritable jumble of meaningless and superstitious rights which served to support a horde of ignorant selfish priests. The high religious ideals of the earlier Taoist mystics were abandoned for a search after the elixir of life during fruitless journeys to the isles of the immortals which were supposed to be in the Eastern Sea. At this juncture there arose in North China a sect of men called the Purists, who advocated a return from the vagaries of Taoism and the irritating rules of Confucianism to the simple life practiced by the Taoist mystics. When these thoughtful and earnest-minded men came into contact with Buddhism they were captivated by it. It had all they were claiming for Taoist mysticism and more. They devoted their literary ability and religious fervor to the spreading of the new religion, and its success was in no small measure due to their efforts. As a result of this early association the tenets of the two religions seemed so much alike that various emperors called assemblies of Buddhists and Taoists with the intention of affecting a union of the two religions into one. If the emperor was under the influence of Buddhism he tried to force all Taoists to become Buddhists. If he was favorable to Taoism he tried to make all Buddhists become Taoists. But such mandates were as unsuccessful as other similar schemes have been. In the third century A.D., after the Han dynasty had ended, China was broken up into several small kingdoms which contended for supremacy, so that for about 400 years the whole country was in a state of disunion. One of the strong dynasties of this period, the Northern Wei, 386-535 A.D., was distinctly loyal to Buddhism. During its continuance Buddhism prospered greatly. Although Chinese were not permitted to become monks until 335 A.D., still Buddhism made rapid advances and in the fourth century, when that restriction was removed, about nine-tenths of the people of northwestern China had become Buddhists. Since then Buddhism has been an established factor in Chinese life. End of Chapter 2 Chapter 3 of Buddhism and Buddhists in China This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Leon Meyer Buddhism and Buddhists in China by Louis Hodes Chapter 3 The Establishment of Buddhism as the Predominating Religion of China Even the historical influences noted above do not account entirely for the spread of Buddhism in China. In order to understand this and the place which Buddhism occupies, we need to review briefly the different forms which religion takes in China and to note how Buddhism has related itself to them. 1. The World of Invisible Spirits The Chinese believe in a surrounding world of spirits whose origin is exceedingly various. They touched life at every point. There are spirits which are guardians of the soil, tree spirits, mountain demons, fire gods, the spirits of animals, of mountains, of rivers, seas, and stars, of the heavenly bodies, and of many forms of active life. These spirits to the Chinese mind of today are a projection, a sort of spiritual counterpart, of the many-sided interests, practical or otherwise, of the groups and communities by whom they are worshipped. There are other spirits which mirror the ideals of the groups by which they are worshipped. Some of them may have been incarnated in the lives of great leaders. There are spirits which are mere animations, occasional spirits, associated with objects crossing the interests of men, but not constant enough to attain a definite, independent life as spiritual beings. Thus, surrounding the average Chinese peasant, there is a densely populated spirit world affecting in all kinds of ways his daily experience. This other world is the background which must be kept in mind by one who would understand or attempt a guide to Chinese religious experience. It is the basis on which all organized forms of religious activity are built. The nearest of these to his heart is the proper regard for his ancestors. 2. The Universal Sense of Ancestral Control The ancestral control of family life occupies so large and important a place in Chinese thought and practice that ancestor worship has been called the original religion of the Chinese. It is certain that the earliest Confucian records recognized ancestor worship, but doubtless it anti-dated them, growing up out of the general religious consciousness of the people. The discussion of that origin in detail cannot be taken up here. It may be followed in the literature noted in the appendix or in the volume of this series entitled Present-day Confucianism. Ancestral worship is active today, however, because the Chinese as a people believe that these ancestors control in a very real way the good or evil fortunes of their descendants, because this recognition of ancestors furnishes a potent means of promoting family unity and social ethics, and most of all because a happy future life is supposed to be dependent upon descendants who will faithfully minister to the dead. Since each one desires such a future, he is faithful in promoting the observance of the obligation. Consequently, ancestor worship, like the previously mentioned belief in the invisible spiritual world, underlies all other religious developments. No family is so obscure or poor that it does not submit to the ritual or discipline which is supposed to ensure the favor of the spirit's belonging to the community. Likewise, every such family is loyal to the supposed needs of its deceased ancestors. In a very intimate way these beliefs are interwoven with the private and social morality of every family or group in Chinese society, and must be taken into account by anyone who seeks to bring a religious message to the Chinese people. Taoism is that system of Chinese religious thought and practice beginning about the 5th century BC which was originally based on the teachings of Lao Tzu and developed in the writings of Lie Tzu and Zhuang Tzu and found in the Tao De Jing. It is really in this original form a philosophy of Samarit. According to its teaching the Tao is the great and personal background of the world from which all things proceed as beams from the sun and to which all beings return. In contrast to the present transient changing world the Tao is unchangeable and quiet. Originally the Taoist emphasized quiescence, a life in accordance with nature, as a means of assimilating themselves to the Tao, believing that in this way they would obtain length of days, eternal life, and especially the power to become superior to natural conditions. There is a movement today among Chinese scholars in favor of a return to this original highest form of Taoism. It appeals to them as a philosophy of life, an answer to its riddles. Among the masses of the people however Taoism manifests itself in a ritual of extreme superstition. It recommends magic tricks and curious superstitions as a means of prolonging life. It expresses itself very largely in these degrading practices which few Chinese will defend but which are yet very commonly practiced. 4. The organizing value of Confucianism Confucianism brought organization into these hazy conceptions of life and duty. It took for granted this spiritual unspiritual background of animism, ancestor worship, and Taoism, but reshaped and adapted it as a whole so that it might fit into that proper organization of the state and nation which was one of its great objectives. Just as Confucianism related the family to the village, the village to the district, and the district to the state, so it organized the spiritual world into a hierarchy with Shang Di as its head. This hierarchy was developed along the lines of the organization mentioned above. Under Shang Di were the five cosmic emperors, one for each of the four quarters and one for heaven above, under whom were the gods of the soil, the mountains, rivers, seas, stars, the sun and moon, the ancestors, and the gods of special groups. Each of the deities in the various rankings had duties to those above and rights with reference to those below. These duties and rights as they affected the individual were not only expressed in law, but were embodied in ceremony and music, in daily religious life and practice in such a way that each individual had reason to feel that he was a functioning agent in this grand Confucian universe. If anyone failed to do his part, the whole universe would suffer. So thoroughly has this idea been adopted by the Chinese people that everyone joins in forcing an individual, however reluctant or careless, to perform his part of each ceremony as it has been ordered from high antiquity. The emperor alone worshipped the supreme deity, Shang Di. The great officers of state, according to the dignity of their office, were related to subordinate gods and required to show them adequate respect and reverence. Confucius and a long line of noted men following him were semi-deified, Confucius was by imperial decree deified in 1908, and highly reverenced by the literati, the class from which the officers of state were as a rule obtained, in connection with their duties and as an expression of their ideals. To the common people were left the ordinary local deities, while all classes, of course, each in its own fashion reverenced, cherished, and obeyed their ancestors. It should be remarked at this point that Confucianism of this official character has broken down not only under the impact of modern ideas, but under the longing of the Chinese for a universal deity. The people turned to heaven and to the pearly emperor, the popular counterpart of Shang Di. Viewed from another angle, Confucianism is an elaborate system of ethics. In writings which are virtually the scriptures of the Chinese people, Confucius and his successors have set forth the principles which should govern the life of the people who recognize this spiritual universe and system. These ethics have grown out of a long and, in some respects, a sound experience. Much can be said in their favor. The essential weaknesses of the Confucian system of ethics lie in its sectional and personal loyalties and its monarchical basis. The spirit of democracy is a deadly foe to Confucianism. Another element of weakness is its excessive dependence upon the past. Confucius reached ultimate wisdom by the study of the best that had been attained before his day. He looked backward rather than forward. Consequently, a modern, broadly educated Confucianist finds himself in an anomalous position. He does not need absolutely to reject the wisdom which Confucianism embodies, but he can no longer accept it as a sound, reliable, and indisputable scheme of thought and action. Yet its simple ethical principles and its social relationships are basal in the lives of the vast masses of the Chinese. Five. Buddhism. An inclusive religion. Upon this confused jumble of spiritism, superstition, loyalty to ancestors, and submission to a divine hierarchy, Buddhism was superimposed. It quickly dominated all because of its superior excellence. The form of Buddhism which became established in China was not, to be sure, like the Buddhism preached by Gautama and his disciples, or like that form of Buddhism which had taken root in Burma or Ceylon. Except in name, the Buddhism of southern Asia and the Buddhism which developed in China were virtually two distinct types of religion. The Buddhism of Burma and Ceylon was of the conservative Hinajana, little vehicle of salvation, school, while that of China was of the progressive Mahayana, great vehicle of salvation, school. Their differences are so marked as to be worthy of a careful statement. The Hinajana, which is today the type of Buddhism in Ceylon, Burma, and Siam, has always clung closely to tradition as expressed in the original Buddhist scriptures. It's basic ideas were that life is on the whole a time of suffering, that the cause of the sorrow is desire or ignorance, and that there is a possible deliverance from it. This deliverance or salvation is to be attained by following the eightfold path, namely right knowledge, aspiration, speech, conduct, means of livelihood, endeavor, mindfulness, and meditation. To the beatific state to be ultimately attained, Gautama gave the name nirvana, explained by his followers variously either as an utter extinction of personality or as a passionless peace, a general state of well-being free from all evil desire or clinging to life, and released from the chain of transmigration. Hinajana Buddhism appeals to the individual as affording a way of escape from evil desire and its consequences by acquiring knowledge, by constant discipline, and by a devotedness of the life to religious ends through membership in the monastic order which Buddha established. It encourages, however, a personal salvation worked out by the individual alone. The Mahayana school of Buddhists accept the general ideas of the Hinajana regarding life and salvation, but so change the spirit and objectives as to make Buddhism into what is virtually another religion. It does not confine salvation to the few who can retire from the world and give themselves wholly to good works, but opens Buddhahood to all. The saint of Hinajana Buddhism is the arhat, who is intent on saving himself. The saint of Mahayana Buddhism is the candidate for Buddhahood, Bodhisattva, who defers his entrance into the bliss of deliverance in order to save others. Mahayana Buddhism is progressive. It encourages missionary enterprise and was a secret of the remarkable spread of Buddhism over Asia. Moreover, while the Hinajana school recognizes no God or being to whom worship is given, the Mahayana came to regard Gautama himself as a God and salvation as life in a heavenly world of pure souls. Thus the Mahayana type of thinking constitutes a bridge between Hinajana Buddhism and Christianity. In fact, a recent writer has declared that Hinajana Buddhists are verging towards these more spiritual conceptions. After the death of Sakkimuni, Sakkimuni is the name by which Gautama, the Buddha, is familiarly known in China, Buddhism broke up into a number of sects usually said to be 18 in number. When Buddhism came to China some of these sects were introduced, but they assumed new forms in their Chinese environment. Besides these sects brought from India, the Chinese developed several strong sects of their own. Usually they speak of ten sects, although the number is far larger if the various subdivisions are included. To indicate the manifold differences between these groups in Buddhism would take us far afield and would not be profitable. It will be of interest, however, to consider some of the chief sects. One of the sects introduced from India is the Pure Land or the Jing Tu, which holds before the believer the Western Paradise, gained through faith in Amitabha. Anyone, no matter what his life may have been, may enter the Western Paradise by repeating the name of Amitabha. This sect is widespread in China. In Japan there were two branches of it known as the Nishi Hongguanji and the Higashi Hongguanji, with their head monasteries in Kyoto. They are the most progressive sects in Japan and are carrying on missionary work in China, the Hawaiian Islands, and in the United States. Another strong sect is the meditative sect, or the Chan Men, Zen, and Japan. This was introduced by Bodhidharma, or Da Mo, who arrived in the capital of China in the year 520 AD. On his arrival, the Emperor Wu Di tried to impress the sage with his greatness, saying, We have built temples, multiply the scriptures, encourage many to join the order. Is there not much merit in all this? None, was the blunt reply. But what say the holy books? Do they not promise rewards for such deeds? There's nothing holy. But you yourself, are you not one of the holy ones? I don't know. Who are you? I don't know. Thus introduced the great man proceeded to open his missionary labors by sitting down opposite a wall and gazing at it for the next nine years. From this he has been called the wall-gazer. He and his successors promulgated the doctrine that neither the scriptures, the ritual, nor the organization, in fact nothing outward, had any value in the attainment of enlightenment. They held that the heart of the universe is Buddha, and that apart from the heart or the thought, all is unreal. They thought themselves back into the universal Buddha, and then found the Buddha heart in all nature. Thus they awakened the spirit which permeated nature, art, and literature, and made the whole world kin with the spirit of the Buddha. The golden light upon the sun-kissed peaks, the water murmuring in the pebbly creeks, are Buddha. In the stillness, hark, he speaks." Such pantheism and quietism often led to a confusion in moral relations, but these mystics were quite correct in their morals because they checked up their mysticism with the moral system of the Buddha. Still another important sect originated in the sixth century AD on Chinese soil, namely the Tiantai, Japanese Tendai, so-called because it started in a monastery situated on the beautiful Tiantai Mountains south of Ningbo. Zherkai, the founder, realized that Buddhism contained a great mass of contradictory teachings and practice, all attributed to the Buddha. He sought for a harmonizing principle and founded in the arbitrary theory that these teachings were given to different people on five different occasions and hence the discrepancies. The practical message of this sect has been that all beings have the Buddha heart and that the Buddha loves all beings, so that all beings maintain salvation, which consists in the full realization of the Buddha heart latent in them. There was a time when these sects were very active and flourishing in China. At the present time the various tendencies for which they stood have been adopted by Buddhism as a whole and the various sectaries, though still keeping the name of the sect, live peacefully in the same monastery. All the monasteries practice meditation, believe in the paradise of Amitabha, and are enjoying the ironic calm advocated by the Tiantai. While the struggle among the sects of China has been followed by a calm which resembles stagnation, those in Japan are very active and the reader is referred to the volume of this series on Japanese Buddhism for further treatment of the subject. When Buddhism entered China it brought with it a new world. It was new practically and new spiritually. It brought a knowledge unknown before regarding the heavenly bodies, regarding nature, and regarding medicine, and a practice vastly above the realm of magical arts. In addition to these practical benefits, Buddhism proclaimed a new spiritual universe far more real and extensive than any of which the Chinese had dreamed, and peopled with spiritual beings having characteristics entirely novel. In comparison with this new universe or series of universes which Indian imagination had created, the Chinese universe was wooden and geometric. Since it was an organized system and a greater rather than a different one, the Chinese people readily accepted it and made it their own. Buddhism not only enlarged the universe and gave the individual a range of opportunity hitherto unsuspected, but it introduced a scheme of religious practice, or rather several of them, enabling the individual devotee to attain a place in this spiritual universe through his own efforts. These ways of salvation were quite in harmony with Chinese ideas. They resembled what had already been a part of the national practice and so were readily adopted and adapted by the Chinese. Buddhism rendered a great service to the Chinese through its new estimate of the individual. Ancient China scarcely recognized the individual. He was merged in the family in the clan. Taoists, to be sure, talked of immortals, and Confucianism exhibited its typical personality, or princely man, but these were thought of as supermen, as ideals. The classics of China had very little to say about the common people. The great common crowd was submerged. Buddhism, on the other hand, gave every individual a distinct place in the Great Wheel, Dharma, the Law, and made it possible for him to reach the very highest goal of salvation. This introduced a genuinely new element into the social and family life of the Chinese people. Buddhism was so markedly superior to any one of the four other methods of expressing the religious life that it quickly won practical recognition as the real religion of China. Confucianism may be called the doctrine of the learned classes. It formulates their principles of life, but it is in no strict sense a popular religion. It is rather a state ritual, or a scheme of personal and social ethics. Taoism recognizes the immediate influence of the spirit world, but it ministers only to local ideals and needs. In the usages of family and community life, ancestor worship has a definite place, but an occasional one. Buddhism was able to leave untouched each of these expressions of Chinese personal and social life, and yet it went far beyond them in ministering to religious development. Its ideas of being, of moral responsibility, and of religious relationships furnished a new psychology which, with all its imperfections, far surpassed that of the Chinese. Buddhism's organization was so satisfying and adaptable that not only was it taken over readily by the Chinese, but it has also persisted in China without market changes since its introduction. Most of all, it stressed personal salvation and promised an escape from the impersonal world of distress and hunger which surrounds the average Chinese into a heaven ruled by Amitabha the Merciful. Footnote. Amitabha, meaning infinite light, is the Sanskrit name of one of the Buddhism's most highly revered in China. The usual Chinese equivalent is Omidofo. In footnote. The obligations of Buddhism are very definite and universally recognized. It enforces high standards of living, but has added significance because it draws each devotee into a sort of fellowship with the divine, and makes not this life alone, but this life plus a future life, the end of human activity. Buddhism, therefore, really expresses the deepest religious life of the people of China. It will be worthwhile to note some illustrations of the conviction of the Chinese people that there are three religions to which they owe allegiance, and yet that these are essentially one. They often say the three teachings are the whole teaching. An old scholar is reported to have remarked, the three roads are different, but they lead to the same source. A common story reports that Confucius was asked in the other world about drinking wine, which Buddhists forbid but Taoists permit. Confucius replied, If I do not drink, I become a Buddha. If I drink, I become an immortal. Well, if there is wine, I shall drink. If there is none, I shall abstain. This expresses characteristically the Chinese habit of adaptation. Such a decision sounds quite up to date. The Ethical Culture Society of Peking, recently organized, has upon its walls pictures of Buddha, Laozi, Confucius, and Christ. Its members claim to worship Shangdi as the God of all religions. An offshooter of the society, the Teng Shanxi, associates the three founders very closely of Christ. It claims to have a deeper revelation of Christ than the Christians themselves. A new organization, the Tao Yuan, plans to harmonize the three old religions with Mohammedanism and Christianity. Buddhism has consistently and continually striven to bring about a unity of religion in China by inter-penetrating Confucianism and Taoism. Quite early the Buddhists invented the story that the Bodhisattva Zhrutang was really Confucius incarnate. There was at one time a Buddhist temple to Confucius in the province of Shandong. The Buddhists also gave out the story that the Bodhisattva Kasyapa was the incarnation of Laozi, the founder of Taoism. An artist painted Laozi transformed into a Buddha, seated in a lotus bud with a halo about his head. In front of the Buddha was Confucius doing reverence. A Chinese scholar, asked for his opinion about the picture, said, Buddha should be seated, Laozi should be standing at the side looking a scanset Buddha, and Confucius should be groveling on the floor. A monument dating from 543 AD illustrates this tenancy of Buddhism to represent its own superiority in Chinese religious life. At the top of the monument is Brahma, lower down is Sakymuni, with his disciples Ananda and Kasyapa on one face, and on the other Sakymuni again, conversing with Buddha Prabhupāda Rātana and worshiped by monks and Bodhisattvas. On the pedestal are Confucian and Taoist deities, tin and number. Thus Buddhism sought to rank itself clearly above the other two religions. From the early days Buddhism regarded itself as their superior, and began the processes of inner penetration and absorption. In consequence, the values originally inherent in Buddhism have come to be regarded as the natural possession of the Chinese. It does express their religious life, especially in South China, where outward manifestations are perhaps more marked than in the North. In order that one may realize the place that Buddhism holds in the religious life of the Chinese people as a whole, he must turn to the organizations through which it functions. It is sometimes difficult to estimate the place of Buddhism in China because it so inner penetrates the whole cultural and social life of the people. It becomes their way. To see how it touches the life of the average man or woman in various ways will therefore be illuminating. The most outstanding evidence of devotion are the many monasteries which dot the land and all Buddhist countries. China is less dominated by them than other lands, yet they form a very important reason for the persistence and strength of Buddhism there. One of the famous old shrines will represent them as a class and give evidence of their importance. 1. The Monastery of Kushan Kushan Monastery, located about four hours' ride by sedan chair from Fuchiao, is a famous shrine of South China. It occupies a large amphitheater about 1500 feet above the plain, part way up Kushan, the Drum Mountain, some 3000 feet high. From the top of the mountain, on clear days, with the help of a glass, the blue shores of Formosa may be seen on the eastern horizon. The spacious monastery buildings are surrounded by a grove of noble trees in which squirrels, pheasants, chipmunks, and snakes enjoy an undisturbed life. The ascent to the monastery begins on the bank of the Men River. At the foot of the mountain, in a large temple, the travelers may obtain mountain chairs carried by two or more coolies. The road, paved with granite slabs cut from the mountainside, consists of a series of stone stairs which zigzag up the mountain under the shadow of ancient pine trees. Every turn brings to view a bit of landscape carpeted with rice, or a distant view where mountains and sky meet. A brook rushes by the side of the road, here it breaks into a beautiful waterfall, there it gurgles in a deep ravine. The sides of the road are covered with large granite blocks, which, loosed from the mountainside by earthquakes, have disposed themselves promiscuously. Their blackened, weather-beaten sides are ensized with Chinese characters. One of them bears the words, we put our trust in Amadaba, another immortalizes the sentiments of some great official who has made the pilgrimage to the mountain. Near the monastery stand the somber dog-o-boss, where repose the ashes of former abbots and monastery officials. Not far away, on the other side of the road, hidden by trees, is the crematory where the last remains of the brethren are consumed by the flames. As one approaches the monastery he hears the regular sounds of a bell told by a waterwheel, reminding the faithful of Buddha's law. He sees monks strolling leisurely about and lay brethren carrying wood, cultivating the gardens, or tending the animals released by pious devotees to heap up merit for themselves in the next world. Just inside the main gate is a large fish pond where goldfish of great size struggle with one another and with lazy turtles for the round hard cakes purchased from the monks by the merit-seeking devotee. The monastery itself consists of a large group of buildings erected about stone-paved courts rising in terraces on the mountainside. The large court at the entrance leads to the Hall of the Four Kings. As one enters the spacious door, he is faced by a jolly, almost naked image of the laughing Buddha. This is Midreya, the Mi'asaya of the Buddhists, who returned to the world 5,000 years after the departure of Sagya Muni. In the northern monasteries, Midreya is often represented as reaching a height when standing of 70 feet or more, which indicates the stature to which man will attain when he returns to earth. On each side of the visitor are two immense images of the diva kings. In Brahman cosmogony, they were the guardians of the world. In this entrance hall of the Buddhist monastery, they stand as guardians of the Buddhist faith. In the same hall, looking towards the open court beyond is We Do, another guardian deity of Buddhism. Somewhere nearby is Kuan De, the god worshipped by the soldiers and the merchants. Although a Confucian god, he was early adopted by Buddhist monks into their pantheon and made the guardian of their order. Beyond this entrance hall is a large stone-paved court. On the right side is a bell tower, whose bell is told by a monk who has kept the val of silence for 14 years. On the left is a drum tower. On the right one finds a series of small shrines. A passageway leads to the library where numerous Buddhist writings repose in lacquered cases, some of them written in their own blood by devout monks. On the same side are guest halls, the dining room for 300 monks, and a spacious, well-equipped kitchen with running water piped from a reservoir in the hills above. A store where books, images, and the simple requirements of the monks can be obtained is just above the dining room. On the left side of the court are large buildings used as dormitories for the monks, storerooms, and for housing the great printing establishment with its thousands of wooden blocks on which are carved, passages from Buddhist scriptures. Here also are kept the coffins in which the monks are to be burned. On a terrace above the north side of the court rises the main hall, called the Hall of Drayradna, the Buddhist trinity, where three gilded images are seated on a lotus flower with halos covering their backs and heads. The center image is that of Sagyamuni, the Buddha. On his right is Yau Sher, the Buddha of medicine. On the left is Amadabha. Quite often these images are said to represent the Buddha, the law, and the community of monks. On the altar are candlesticks and a fine incense burner from which curls of smoke arise. An incense lamp hangs from the ceiling. In the rear are banners with praises to Buddha given by pious devotees. The floor is tiled and covered with round mats made of palm fiber on which the monks kneel during worship. Before the mats are low stands for books. On each side of this main hall are the images of nine Buddhist saints, Arhads, 18 and all. Behind this large temple opens another court and on a terrace above it stands the Hall of the Law with the images of Kuanyan, the Goddess of Mercy, and the 24 Divas. Here also are small images of viceroys and patrons of the monastery. The hillsides are dotted with numerous temples and shrines. There is one to Zhu Xie, the great philosopher of the Song dynasty, who is born in Fugian. In it are preserved a few characters indicted by his hand. On the west side of the monastery are large buildings for the housing of animals released by merit-seeking devotees. Here cows, hogs, goats, chickens, geese, and ducks spend their old age without fear of beginning their transmigration by forming the main portion of a Chinese feast. The monastery is governed by an abbot, usually a man of good business ability, elected by the monks. Under him are the officers of the two wings or groups of attendance. One set looks after the spiritual interests of the monks, the other takes care of their material needs. The monks have worshiped about two o'clock in the morning and again at four in the afternoon. The rest of the long day they spend in meditation or study and strolling about the mountainside or in sleep. Their life is separated from all stirring contact with the life of the world. 2. Monasteries Control Feng Shui This monastery with its appointments is a good type of the monasteries all over China. It was founded at the request of the inhabitants of the neighborhood, because the dragons of the region used to cause much damage to the crops in the surrounding country. A holy monk came, founded the monastery, and by his good influence so curbed the dragons that the countryside has enjoyed peace ever since and the monastery has prospered. Since the fourth century of our era, records show that by building the monasteries in strategic places, holy monks brought rains and prosperity to various regions or prevented floods and calamities from damaging the villages. In other words, the monasteries are regarded as the controllers of Feng Shui, wind and water. According to the Chinese philosophy, winds and water are spiritual forces and may be so controlled by other spiritual forces that instead of bringing harm they will confer benefit to the people. Floods and dry seasons are so frequent in China that any institution holding out the promise of regulating them would become firmly established in the affection of the people. Monasteries have taken this place. One of the picturesque features of a Chinese landscape is the Bagoda. These structures were introduced in the early stages of Buddhism to enshrine the relics of Buddha. It is said that Buddha's body consists of 80,000 parts, hence numerous Bagodas were erected to shelter these relics. In as much as a Bagoda contained the relics of Buddha, it possessed magic power and so came to play a great part in the control of the winds and the rains. The Bagoda in China has an odd number of stories varying from 3 to 13. The odd numbers belong to the positive principle in nature which is superior to the negative principle. The Bagoda plays quite a part in the festivals of the people. On certain occasions, the stories are hung with lanterns and the Bagodas are visited by numerous throngs. 3. Prayer for rain. Rairs for rain afford such a common illustration of the relation of Buddhism to the life of the peasant that a detailed presentation of such a service may be of seal value. During a prolonged drought in some district of China, when the heat opens gaping cracks in the fields and the grain is drying up, the populace may visit their highest official and appraise him of the dire situation. He often forbids the slaughter of all animals for three days and, in case rain has not thereby come, he goes in person or sends a deputy to the nearest monastery to direct the monks to pray for rain. A. The altar. On such an occasion, the great hall of the law may be used for the ceremony. Quite often, a special altar is erected in an enclosure near the monastery on a platform one foot high and 25 feet on each side, overspread by a tent in green cloth. In the center seats are arranged for the presiding monk and his assistants. On each of the four sides of the altar is placed an image of the dragon king who is supposed to control the rain. If an image is not obtained, a piece of paper inscribed with the name of the dragon may be used. Flowers, fruits, and incense are spread before the images. On the doors of the tent are painted dragons with clouds. The tent and altar are green and the monks wear green garments because green belongs to the spring and suggests rain. For this ceremony, monks prepare themselves by abstinence and cleansing. The presiding monk is one of high moral character and religious fervor. While some monks recite appropriate sutras, two others look after the offering, the incense, and the sprinkling of water during the ceremony to suggest the coming of rain. The services continue day and night being conducted by groups of monks in succession. B. The prayer service. The ceremony is opened by a chant as follows. Purly dew of the jade heavens, golden waves of Buddha's ocean, scatter the lotus flowers on a thousand thousand worlds of suffering. That the heart of mercy may wash away great calamity. That a drop may become a flood. That a drop may purify mountains and rivers. We put our trust in the bodhetsafas and mahatsafas that purify the earth. The chant ended. A monk takes a bowl of water and repeats thrice. We put our trust in the great merciful Kuanyan bodhetsafa. Then follows the chant. The bodhetsafas' sweet dew of the willow is made to make one drop spread over the ten directions. It washes away the rank odors and dirt. It keeps the altars clean and pure. The mysterious words of the doctrine will be reverently repeated. This chant ended. The monks intone incantations of Kuanyan, quite unintelligible even to them, but of magical value. While these are being uttered, the presiding monk and his attendants walk around the altar while one of them with a branch sprinkles water on the floor. This symbolizes the cleansing of the altar and of the monks from all impurities which might render the ritual ineffective. When the preambulating monks have returned to their place while the sprinkler continues his duties, the monks repeat the words. We put our trust in the sweet dew king's bodhetsafas and mahatsafas. The bodhetsafas have now come to the purified altar and while the abbot offers incense to them, the monks repeat the words. The fields are destroyed so that they resemble the back of a tortoise. The demons of drought produce calamity. The dark people, footnote a term denoting the Chinese, pray earnestly while crops are being destroyed. We pray that abundant, limpid liquid may descend to purify and refresh the whole world. The clouds of incense rise. This plant is repeated thrice and is followed by an invocation. Wholeheartedly we cast ourselves to the earth, Odre Radna, who does exist eternally in the realm of Dharma and of the ten directions. The leader remains quite a long time with his eyes closed, visualizing the Buddhas, the bodhetsafas, the dragon kings, and the saints, all with their heavenly eyes and ears, knowing that this region is afflicted with drought, that an altar has been constructed, and that all have come to make petition. This meditation is regarded of chief importance. It is followed by an announcement to the effect that the sutra praying for rain was given by the Buddha that a drought is afflicting the land, that the altar has been erected in accordance with regulations, and that prayer is being made for rain. Befaring that something may have been overlooked, the magic formula of the king of light who turns the wheel is read seven times so as to remedy any such oversight. The altar, having thus been cleansed of all impurities, the rain sutra is opened and the 188 dragon kings are urged by name in groups of ten to take action. The formula is as follows. We, with our whole hearts, invite such-and-such dragon kings to come. We desire that the heart and wisdom which knows others intuitively will move the spirits above to obey the Buddha, to take pity on the people below and to come to our province and send down sweet rain. When the dragons have all been duly invited, the monks chant suitable magical formulas while the leader sits in meditation visualizing these dragon kings and their tender solicitude for the people in distress. The monastery bell is sounded and the wooden fish is beaten, while drums and cymbals add their effect. The whole is intended to draw the attention of the dragon kings to the drought. Then the 54 Buddhas are invited in a similar manner in groups of ten, the six group consisting of four. A similar form of a dress is used and similar magic formulas are recited with the noisy accompaniment. The ceremony concludes by the expression of the hope that the three jewels, Buddha, the law, and the community of monks and the dragon kings will grant the rain. Upon the altar are four copies of an announcement to the dragon kings and Buddhas. On the first day, three copies are sent to them through the flames, one to the Buddhas, one to the dragon kings, and one to the divas. One copy is read daily and then sent up at the Thanksgiving ceremony. The announcement is as follows. We put our trust in the limitless, reverent ocean clouds, the dragons of Auguste Virtue and all their hosts, all dragon kings and holy saints. Their Auguste Virtue is difficult to measure. In accord with the command of Buddha, they send liquid rain. May their quiet mercy descend to the altar. May they send down purity and freshness, spreading over the ten directions. We put our trust in the company of dragon kings of the clouds, the saints, and the bodhisattvas. The offerings are made only in the morning and as much as the Buddhas, following ancient custom, are not supposed to eat after the noon day meal. Great care is taken that the altar shall not be desecrated by anyone who eats, meat, or drinks wine. The magic formulas of great mercy are uttered, or the name of Kuanyin is repeated a thousand times. The monks take turns in these services which continue day and night until rain comes. See its meaning. In the religious consciousness of the people is the idea that the drought is a punishment for sin. The altar is made pure and acceptable and sin is removed in various symbolic ways. This fits in with the idea that man is an intimate part of the world order. His sin disturbs the order of nature. Heaven manifests displeasures by sending down calamities upon men. Men should cease their wrongdoing, which disturbs the natural order, and should also wash away the effects of their sins. The services for rain and their magic formulas help to clear away the consequences of sin and to predispose heaven to grant its blessings again. Four, monasteries are supported because they control feng shui. The prayers for rain are an important part of the Chinese peasant's world order. Drought is the manifestation of heaven's displeasure at the infraction of heaven's laws. It calls for self-examination and repentance. Thus, the monastery opens up the windows of the universal order as this touches the humble tiller of the soil. The Buddhist monasteries not only hold services in time of drought but also in time of flood and at times when plagues of grasshoppers afflict the land or when diseases afflict human beings. Their adoption of Chinese customs led them to have special ceremonies at the eclipse of the sun and moon, although they knew the cause of the eclipse. Peasants and officials support the monastery because of these services. Reguling the wind and water influences and through them brings the people into harmonious relation with the great world of spirits. Chapter 5 of Buddhism and Buddhist in China. This is LibriVox Recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by ML Cohen Cleveland, Ohio, July 2007. Buddhism and Buddhists in China by Louis Hodus. Chapter 5. Buddhism and the Family. One of the criticisms of the Chinese against Buddhism is that it is opposed to filial piety. According to Mencis the great unfilial act is to leave no progeny. In spite of this charge, Buddhism has done much for the family. It has taken over the ethics of the family, filial piety, obedience and respect for elders, and has made them a part of its system. Transgression of these fundamental duties is visited by dire punishments in the next world. The faithful observance is followed not only by the rewards of the Confucian system, but results in the greatest rewards in the future life. Buddhism has done more. Out of its atmosphere of love and mercy, all beings have developed Guanyin, the ideal of Chinese womanhood, the goddess of mercy, who embodies the Chinese ideal of beauty, filial piety and compassion towards the weak and suffering. She is especially the goddess of women, being interested in all their fears. Her image is found in almost every household and her temples have a place in every part of China. A brief history of this deity will enable us to understand the significance of the cult. Guanyin started as a male god in India, called Avakitsvara, who was worshipped from the 3rd to the 7th century of our era. He was the protector of sailors and people in danger. In the course of time, either in China or in India, the god became a goddess. Some think that this was done due to the influence of Christianity. In China, both forms survive, though the goddess is better known. A Buddhist once said that a bodhisattva is neither male nor female and appears in whatever form is convenient. Guanyin is a very popular goddess. Her experience in Hades are dramatically presented by traveling theatrical companies. Her deeds of mercy are portrayed in art. Her well-known story runs as follows. Guanyin was the daughter of the ruler of a prosperous kingdom, located somewhere near the island of Sumatra. Her birth was announced to the queen by a dream. The little girl ate no meat nor milk. Her disposition was very good. Her intelligence was most extraordinary. Once she read anything, she never forgot it. At the age of sixteen, her father tried to betroth her to a young prince. She refused and decided to give herself to a life of fasting and abstinence. Angered by her obstinacy, the father ordered her to take off her court dress and jewels to put on the garb of a servant and to carry water for the garden. The garden never looked so beautiful. The daughter also looked well and showed no signs of weariness because the goddess assisted her in her work. Relenting a little, the king sent an older sister to urge Guanyin to accept the husband he had found for her. When she refused, he sent her to a monastery and charged the abbess to treat her harshly so that she might be forced to return home. Expecting to win the king's favor, the abbess put the most unpleasant tasks on the girl, but again the goddess assisted her and made her work light so that her tasks were always well done and the young woman was cheerful. One day the report came to the king that his daughter was associating with the young monk discussing heterodox doctrines and that she had given birth to a child. The news so enraged the king that he burned the monastery, killing many monks. The princess was captured and brought before him. In as much as she was obdurate, the king ordered her to be executed. The executioner's sword, however, broke into a thousand pieces without doing any injury. The king then ordered her to be strangled. A golden image sixteen feet high appeared on the spot. The princess laughed and cried. Where there was no image, an image appeared. I see the real form. When body flesh is strangled, then appear the lights of ten thousand roads. She went to Purgatory and Purgatory at once changed into Paradise. Yama, in order to save his Purgatory, sent her back to the world. She appeared at Pudo and island off the coast of Chikang near Ningpo. Here she rescued sailors and performed many miracles for people in distress. In the meantime, the father, who had committed many sins, became sick. His allotted time of life had been shortened by twenty years. Moreover, an ulcer grew on his body for every one of the five hundred monks he had killed when he burned the monastery. A miserable, loathsome old man, he came to an old monk, who was really the princess in disguise and asked for help. The monk told him that an eye and an arm of a blood relative made into medicine was the only cure for his trouble. The two living daughters were willing to make such an offering, but their husbands would not permit them to do so. The old monk urged a monarch to take up a life of abstinence, to rebuild the monastery he had burned and to provide money for services to take the five hundred monks whom he had killed through Purgatory. He also said that a nun in the convent would offer an arm and an eye. When the monarch entered the monastery, he found hanging before the incense burner an arm and an eye. These were boiled, mixed with medicine, and rubbed on the king's body. He soon became well. Further inquiry revealed that these members belonged to his daughter. This is the story of the most popular goddess in China. She is worshipped by her devotees on the first and fifteenth of every month, on the nineteenth of the sixth month, when she became a bodhisattva, and on the nineteenth of the ninth month, when she put on the necklace. A month after marriage every young bride is presented with an image of the goddess of mercy, an incense burner, and candlesticks. This goddess is worshipped whenever trouble comes to man or woman. Her name signifies her willingness to listen to all prayers. She is the, quote, one who regards the voice, that is, prayer, one who hears the prayers of the world, one who regards and exists by himself as sovereign, the ancestor of Buddha who regards prayer, one who frees from fear, Buddha the August King, the great white robe scholar, and great compassion and mercy. Two, Quan Yin, the model of local mother goddesses. This conception is a creation of the social and religious consciousness of the woman in China. It reveals their aspirations for mercy, compassion, filial piety, and for the beauty that crowns a well-developed character. Such an ideal does not mean that these have been realized in all the numerous homes of the Chinese, but it manifests their sense of such an ideal to be realized in life and their ardent longing for its realization. Mother goddesses are found all over China and they have all of them been influenced by Quan Yin. Some of them have originated with actual women who are deified after death. Here is the story of one of these goddesses who presides over the censor in a small temple in Formosa. She was born in the province of Guangtong. At the age of seven, she was adopted by a family as the future wife of their 18-year-old son. One day, while crossing a river, he was drowned. This was a great blow to her. When she was fourteen years old, the father of the family died. The two women, thus left alone, wept bitterly day and night. The comfort of relatives was of little avail. The mother was becoming emaciated with grief. The daughter, unable to bear the strain any longer, washed herself, burned incense before the ancestral tablet of her betrothed, and then took this vow. I am willing to remain a virgin, to apply myself to carrying water, and working at the mortar and to serve my mother-in-law. If I cherish any other purpose and change my chastity and obedience, may heaven slay me and earth annihilate me. When the mother heard this vow, she stopped her weeping. Inasmuch as they had no uncle to look after them, they worked day and night. A relative of her future husband gave her one of his sons as an adopted son. The child died after a few months. This was a great grief. Then the mother died. The daughter sold her possessions to obtain money for a proper burial. She had only a coarse morning cloth for her dress. After a while she adopted a child as her son. When he grew up, she found him a wife who served her as faithfully as she has served her mother-in-law. When she was eighty years old, she dreamed that the golden maid and jade messenger of Kuan Yin stood beside her saying, The court of heaven has ordered you to become a god. She died soon after this. She said of herself, Shang Ti took compassion upon me during my life because with a firm heart I kept my chastity and served my mother-in-law with complete obedience. Therefore he gave me the office of Kuan Pin. I have performed my duties in several places. Now I am transferred to Formosa. This story, and many others like it, mirror the moral ideals of the women in China in the midst of their struggles for help and light and guidance. 3. Exortations on Family Virtues The Buddhist issue a large number of tracks. These are very commonly paid for by devotees to make a vow that, if their parents become well, they will pay for the printing of several hundred or thousand of these tracks for free distribution. In these tracks are usually many stories illustrating the rewards of filial piety. The story is told in one of them about a Mrs. Qin whose father-in-law, being ill, was unable to sleep for sixty days. His condition grew worse. Mrs. Qin, knelt before Kuan Yin's altar, cut out a piece of flesh from her arm and cooked it with the father's food. His health at once improved and he lived to the age of seventy-seven. Another story is told in the same track of a woman who cut out a piece of her liver and gave it as medicine to her mother-in-law. These Buddhist tracks take up all the moral habits which make the family and clan strong and stable and surround them by the highest sanctions. A track picked up in a Buddhist temple at Hang Chao purports to be the revelation of the will of Buddha. It urges sixteen virtues. The first is filial piety. The track says, quote, filial piety is the chief of all virtues. Heaven and earth honor filial piety. There is no greater sin than to cherish unfilial thoughts. The spirits know the beginning of such thoughts. Heaven openly rewards a heart that is filial. The second one mentioned is another important family virtue, namely reverence, quote, the saints, sages, immortals, and buddhas are the outgrowth of reverence. The greatest sin is to lack reverence for father and mother. When brothers lack reverence for one another, they harm the hands and feet. When a husband and wife lack reverence, the harmony of the household is ruined. When friends do not have reverence, they bring about calamity, end quote. Then follows similar exhortations on sincerity, justice, self-restraint, forbearance, benevolence, generosity, absence of pride, covetousness, lying, adultery, mutual love, self-denial, hope for the constellations of religion, and for an undivided heart ruled by peace. These are virtues quite essential to the integrity of the family. They are taught not in the abstract, but by exhibiting of shining examples, by vivid representations of the rewards both here and hereafter, and by pictures of awful punishments. So by precept and example, by threat of punishment here and hereafter, by declaration of reward in the future Buddhism, has tried to maintain the family virtues of the Confucian system, and has attempted to permeate them by the spirit of sacrifice. Still it has always been the sacrifice of the weak for the strong, the young for the aged, of the low for the high of women for men. Four. Services for the Dead Buddhism very early took over the relatively simple services for the dead, and developed them into an elaborate ritual which made very vivid the spiritual universe which Buddhism introduced. In the sixth century, a service was held on behalf of the father-in-law of Emperor Ning Tai, for seven times every seven days. He feasted a thousand monks every day and caused seven persons to become monks. On a hundredth day after the death, he feasted ten thousand monks and caused twenty-seven persons to become monks. Since that time, services on every seventh day after the deceased until the forty-ninth day, when a grand finale ends the ceremonies, have been very popular. The object of such services is to conduct the soul of the dead through purgatory, in order that it may turn to life or enter the western paradise. This is done by making a pleasing offering to the guardians and officers of purgatory, and to the gods and the bodhisattvas whose mercy saves people. Numerous messengers are consigned to the flames and forming the rulers of the netherworld about the soul of the dead. Offerings of gold and silver, of various articles of apparel, of trunks, houses, and servants are made, all, however, made out of bamboo frames covered with paper. Various powerful incantations are recited which force open the gates of purgatory and let the soul out. The services may be crowded into one day, or they may be held on every seventh day until the forty-ninth day. That is seven sevens. Various explanations are given for these services. During the first week, the soul of the dead arrives at the quote demon gate barrier. Here money is demanded by the demons on the ground that in his last transmigration the deceased borrowed money. Accordingly, large quantities of silver shoes, footnote, silver used for this purpose is molded and according with the ancient usage, in the shape of shoes and carried about in that form by merchants, end footnote, must be sent to the dead so that he may settle all claims and avoid beating and inconvenience. During the second week, the soul arrives at a place where he is weighed. If the evil outweighs the good, the soul is sawn asunder and ground to powder. In the third week he comes to the quote bad dog village. Here good people pass unharmed, but the evil are torn by fierce beasts until the blood flows. In the fourth week, the soul is confronted with a large mirror in which he sees his evil deeds and their consequences, seeing himself degraded in the next transmigration to a beast. In the fifth week, the soul views the scenes of his own village. In the sixth week, he reaches the bridge which spans the quote inevitable river, quote. This bridge is one hundred thousand feet high and one and three tenths of an inch wide. It is crossed by riding a stride as on a horse. Beneath rushes the whirlpool filled with serpents darting their heads to and fro. At the foot of the bridge, lictors force unwilling travelers to ascend. The good do not cross this bridge, but are led by golden youth to golden silver bridges which cross the stream on either side of this bridge of size. In the seventh week, the soul is taken first to Mrs. Wang who dispenses a drink which blots out all memories of earthly life. Then the individual enters the great wheel of transmigration. This is divided into eighty-one sections from which one hundred and eight thousand small and tortuous paths radiate out into the four continents of the world. The soul is directed along one of these paths and is duly reborn in the world as an animal or as a human being or passes on into the western paradise. In imitation of this bridge, a bridge is built of tables in front of the home of the dead. At the end, the tables are placed upside down and a lantern placed on each table leg. At night, this bridge is illuminated. A company of mucks repeat the prayers and incantations while others mount upon the bridge to impersonate devils. The pious son with the tablet of his deceased parent comes to take his father over the bridge. When his way is disputed by the demons, he falls on his knees and begs and gives them money negotiating a passage at last with the aid of large quantity of silver. Another ceremony is the breaking through purgatory. Five supplications duly signed or addressed to the proper authorities, four being suspended at each of the four sides of the table and one at the center. Tiles are then placed over the table or on the ground. After incantations have been repeated to the accompaniment of the sounding of the bell and wooden fish, the supplications are burned and the tiles are broken as a symbol of breaking through purgatory and of releasing the soul. Thus Buddhism has taken over the most important function of ancestor worship, has extended it and made it more significant to each individual as well as to the family. One. How the Lady is Trained in Buddhist Ideas A common way of emphasizing moral ideas among the people by Buddhist teachers is the use of tracks purporting to have a divine origin. The following gives the substance of such a tract. Not long ago, in the province of Shang-Tung, there was a sharp and sudden clap of thunder. After the frightened people had collected their wits, they discovered a small book written in red in front of the house of a certain Mr. Lee. Mr. Lee picked up the book, copied it, and read it reverently. He gave a copy to Mr. Ma, the prefect, but Mr. Ma did not believe in the book. Thereupon, Maitreya, the Messiah of the Buddhists, spoke from the sky as follows. These are the years of the final age. The people under heaven do not reverence heaven and earth. They are not filial to father and mother. They do not respect their superiors. They cheat the fatherless, impose upon the widow, oppress the weak. They use large weights for themselves and small measures for others. They injure the good. They covet for their own profit. They cheat men of money. Use the five grains carelessly. Kill the cow that draws the plow. This volume is sent for their special benefit. If they recite it, they will avoid trouble. If they disbelieve, the years with the cyclical character Ping and Ting will have fields without men to plant them, and houses without men to live in them. In the fifth month of these years, evil serpents will infest the whole country. In the eighth and ninth months, the bodies of evil men will fill the land. Those who believe this book and propagate its teachings will not encounter the ten sorrows of the age. War, fire, no peace day and night, separation of man and wife, the scattering of the sons and daughters, evil men spread over the country, dead bones unburied, clothing with no one to wear it, rice with no one to eat it, and the difficulty of ever seeing a peaceful year. Sakyamuni, foreseeing this final age, sent down this volume in Shang Tung. The goddess of mercy saw the sorrows of all living beings. Maitreya commanded the two runners of Taishan, the god of the eastern mountain, to investigate the conduct of men and as first punishment to increase the price of rice. And then besides the ten sorrows already mentioned above, to inflict the punishments of flood, fire, wind, thunder, tigers, snakes, sword, disease, famine, and cold. The rule of Sakyamuni, which has lasted 12,000 years, is now fulfilled. And Maitreya succeeds to his place. These sorrows may be escaped by reciting this sutra, whose substance we find above. If it is repeated three times, the person will escape the calamity of fire and water. If one man passes it on to ten men, and ten men pass it on to a hundred, they will escape the calamities of sword, disease, and imprisonment, and receive blessings which cannot be measured. He who in addition to repeating the sutra practices abstinence will ensure peace for himself. He who presents one hundred copies to others will ensure his personal peace. He who presents a thousand copies will ensure the peace of his family. He who is attacked by disease may escape it by taking five cash of the reign of Shun Chi, 1644 through 1661 AD, the first emperor of the Qing dynasty, one mace of the seed of Cyprus, one mace of the bark of Mulberry. Boil in one bowl of water until only eight tenths of the water remain, drink, and he will become well. In this way, the five Buddhist commandments for the lady, not to kill any living creature, not to steal, not to commit adultery, not to lie, and not to use intoxicating liquor, are propagated and made real to the common man. The method is quite efficient. Whole provinces have been put into a panic by such prophecies. 2. Effective ideals of mercy and universal love The command not to kill any living being has had considerable influence in China. There are volumes of stories telling of the punishments which will be visted upon those who disobey and of the rewards of those who release living animals. Every monastery has a special place for animals thus released by pious devotees. There is a popular story about a fishmonger of the Ta'ang dynasty, who was taken sick and during his illness dreamed that he was taken to purgatory. His body was a flame with fire and paint him as though he were being roasted. Flying fiery chariots with darting flames swept around him and burned his body. Ten thousand fish drove with one another to get a bite of his flesh. The ruler of the lower regions accused him of killing many fish and hence his punishment. For a number of days he was hanging between life and death. His relatives were urged to perform some works of penance. They had his fishing implements burned. With reverent hearts they made two images of Kuanyin presented offerings and repented. The whole family performed abstinence, stopped killing living things, printed and gave away over a hundred copies of the Diamond Sutra and ferried over a large number of souls through purgatory. As a result of their efforts the sick man became well. The following comment was made on the above story by a scholar. If its premises are granted the conclusion is inevitable. If the fiery chariots are real why does not man see them? If they are false how is it that man feels the pain? But where do the fiery chariots come from? They come from the heart and head of the one who kills fish. The fire in the heart, heart belongs to the element of fire, causes destruction. The chariot fire also causes destruction. This attitude of mercy has been extended to human beings. There are numerous tracks against the drowning of little girls in those regions where this custom is prevalent. One tells the following story. In the province of Kuang-Tung there lived a Mrs. Chang who daily burned incense and repeated Buddha's name. One day she and her husband died. Much to their surprise and consternation Yama, the potentate of hell, decided that Mr. Chang must become a pig and Mrs. Chang a dog. Mrs. Chang accordingly went to Yama and said, During life we honored Buddha, and so why should we become animals after death? Yama said, What use is it to honor Buddha? During life you drown three little girls whom I sent into life. People with the face of a man and the heart of a beast, should they not be punished? The husband accordingly took on a pig's skin and the wife a dog's. Then by a dream they revealed to their brother Chang, number two, that although they repeated Buddha's name, they were not permitted to be reborn as men because they had drowned little girls. Perhaps the extent of this spirit of mercy and its possibilities may be illustrated by the reverence for the ox. While there is a great deal of cruelty in China to animals and men, it is rarely that one sees an ox abused. Up to the advent of the foreigner, an ox was not killed for meat. In many places in China today the slaughter of an ox would bring the punishments of the law upon the butcher. No doubt this reverence is due to the great Indian reverence for the cow. The law of kindness has been extended to other animals, taking the rather spectacular form of releasing a few decrepit animals and allowing them to spend their last days in a monastery compound. There are many kindly things done in China. The debtor buried, the sicker provided for the cow, debtor buried, the sicker provided with medicine. Every year numerous wadded garments are given away to poor people. Various groups carrying on a humble ministry of helpfulness have found a real inspiration in the ideals held before them in Buddhism. The rewards promised and punishments threatened. Three, relation to Confucian ideals. Why have not these ideals exercised a larger influence in China? The answer is quite simple. The activities of the monks have been strenuously opposed by the Confucian state system. The philosopher Chang Nan Hisan, a contemporary of Chu Hasee, states concisely for us the differences between Confucianism and Buddhism in his comment on a passage in the book of records. Strong drink is a thing intended to be used in offering sacrifices and entertaining guests. Such employment of it is what heaven has prescribed. But men, by their abuse of such drink, come to lose their virtue and destroy their persons. Such employment of it is what heaven has annexed its terrors to. The Buddhists, hating the use of things where heaven sends down its terrors, put away as well the use of them which heaven has prescribed. For instance, in the use of meats and drinks, there is such a thing as wildly abusing or destroying the creatures of heaven. The Buddhists, disliking this, can find themselves to a vegetable diet, while we only abjure wild abuse and destruction. In the use of clothes, again, there is such a thing as wasteful extravagance. The Buddhists, disliking this, will have no clothes but those of a dark and sad color, while we only condemn extravagance. They, further, through dislike of criminal connection between the sexes, would abolish the relation between husband and wife, while we denounce only the criminal connection. The Buddhists, disliking the excess to which the evil desires of men lead, would put away, along with them, the actions which are in accordance with the justice of heavenly principles, while we, the Orthodox, put away the evil desires of men, whereupon what are called heavenly principles, are the more brightly seen. Suppose the case of a stream of water. The Buddhists, through dislike of its being foul with mud, proceed to dam it up with earth. They do not consider that when the earth has dammed up the stream, the supply of water will be cut off. It is not so with us, the Orthodox. We seek only to cleanse away the mud and sand, so that the pure water may be available for use. This is the difference between the Buddhists and the learned school. This statement reveals at once the opposition of the sect of the learned, and the influence which Buddhism exerted upon its members. Buddhism, while enjoying occasional favor from the state, was often zealously persecuted. In 819, Han Yi issued his celebrated act of accusation. In 845, the Emperor Wu Sun issued his decree of secularization. At that time, 4600 monasteries and 40,000 smaller establishments were pulled down, and 265,000 monks and nuns were sent back to lay life. Their rich lands were confiscated. Under the Ming Dynasty, as well as under the Qing Dynasty, Buddhism enjoyed a precarious existence. Whether Buddhism would have improved the moral conditions of the Chinese, if it had been given a free hand, is difficult to affirm. Still, its failure is at least partially due to the opposition of the Confucian Orthodoxy. 4. The embodiment of Buddhist ideals in the vegetarian sects The state persecutions of Buddhism forced it to leave temporarily its institutional life and trust itself to the people. These persecutions were usually followed by a revival of piety and religion among the people. The Buddhist teachers gathered about themselves a large number of lay devotees who formed societies, which practiced religious rites in secret. These sects have preserved the genuine Buddhist piety, not only in times of persecution, but at times when the Buddhist organization under imperial favor was departing from its simplicity. A number of these sects have contributed under different names for several centuries. For example, the Sai Li, a society now enjoying a quiet existence in North China, is successor to the White Lotus Society. The latter started in the 5th century. Its members sought salvation in the Pure Land of Amitabha. In the 11th century, it enjoyed imperial favor. During the Mongol dynasty, it fought against the throne with rebels and placed one of its leaders, Chu Yan Chang, a monk, on the throne, who became the founder of the Ming dynasty. The sect was soon proscribed and its members persecuted by the government. During the Qing dynasty, it took part in a rebellion and was ruthlessly exterminated. At present, it goes under the name of Sai Li, i.e., within the Li or principles of the Three Religions. It is a mediator among the Three Religions. There are 31 organizations of this sect in Peking and branches throughout North China. The society forbids the use of wine and opium, though it does not forbid the use of meat. It usually has a Buddhist image, Quanyin or some other. It uses Buddhist prayers and incantations. The outstanding doctrines held during its long history have been the hope of salvation in the western heaven of Amitabha, the early coming of Maitreya, the Buddhist messiah, and the large use of magic formulas and incantations. Another sect which embodies Buddhist ideals is the Qin Tan, the sect of the Philosopher's Stone or Pill of Immortality. Its founder was the writer of the Nestorian tablet, and so the sect is related to Christianity. It exalts the teaching of universal love. This is one of the several examples of supposed contact between Buddhism and Christianity. These sects, of which the two above are examples, are present in all parts of China. They obey the five Buddhist commandments for laymen. The members spend much time in fasting and prayer and in the repetition of Buddhist books. Their lives as a rule are simple and sincere. They are preparing for rebirth in the land of Amitabha or are expecting the early coming of the Buddhist messiah to set this world right. In the meantime, by means of incantations, personal regimen, and cooperative action, they are doing all they can to usher in a better state. 5. Pilgrimages Pilgrimages are very popular in China. The famous Buddhist shrines are in Wutai Shan in Shanxi, Puto on the coast of Chekang, Chi Hua Shan in Anhui, and Omei Shan in Shetsuan. These, one on each side of China, represent the four elements of Buddhist science, wind, water, fire, and earth. They are also the centers of the worship of the four great Bodhisattvas. Wenxu, Guan Yin, Titsang, and Puxin. Besides these large centers, there are many others to which pilgrims direct their footsteps. In the spring of the year, when the god of spring covers the earth with a green mantle, when the sky and winds call, many start on their pilgrimage. Many go sighingly and laboriously, kneeling and bowing every few steps. Others go in happy companies, chaperoned by Apias, Village Dame, who has organized the group. Some go because their turn has come. They are members of a guild which has a fund devoted to pilgrimages by its members. Some go for the performance of a vow made to Guan Yin when the father was sick unto death, and the goddess prolonged his life. To others, it is the culmination of Apias' life. All go for the joy which travel in the spring gives. Putou, an island off the coast of Chikang, is the goal of many pilgrims from all parts of China. In the monasteries on the island are about 2,000 monks. In the pilgrim season, this number is increased to 10,000 monks, and thousands of lay pilgrims. A group of pilgrims was going along Merrily. The sun was bright lighting up the white caps on the deep blue sea. Spring was rioting all about. One member was an abbot from Hengqiao. A small, humble-looking man, with a few straggling long hairs where the mustache usually grows, was a lay Buddhist from Wu Chang. One was a bright young monk from Tiansin. Last, but almost omnipresent, and always bubbling over, was a servant of the abbot from Hengqiao. He was in the presence of divinity and his whole life was heightened for the time being. Why did you come? they were asked. We came to worship the holy mother, Guan Yin. When they entered a shrine, each purchased three sticks of incense and two candles, and reverently placed them before the image of the goddess, kneeling and bowing. Then they sat and partook of the tea offered by the attendant. After paying a small gratuity, they went on to the next shrine. On the way, a large black snake as thick as an arm lazily crossed over the road. They stood, reverent and awestruck, until he disappeared in the grass, remarking that this was a good omen. When crossing a sand dune piled up by the winds, the abbot from Hengqiao remarked that this was called the flying sand, wafted there by the goddess who took pity on some travelers who had been compelled to cross a narrow strait in order to come to a cave. This cave, called Fan Ying Tung, is one of the rifts made by an earthquake and washed out by wind and waves. Below it rushes the tide, from above the sun sends down a few rays. Each pilgrim, after offering incense, looks into the darkness to see whether he can behold in the dark cavern an image of some Buddha. One sees Quan Yin, and is acclaimed as having had a good vision. Another sees the laughing Buddha. All exclaim that he has been the most fortunate of all, for this Buddha is the messiah to come. And he who beholds him will be blessed. So from place to place they wander, chatting and seeing the sights of the island. Thus thousands are doing in various parts of China, and in this way strengthening the hold of Buddhism upon themselves and their communities. End Chapter 6 Buddhism and Social Life This recording is in the public domain.