A Brief Introduction to Famous Chinese Academic Works · Volume on Religion

Author: Chief Editor: Chen Shiqiang
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 1997-04-01
Features: Preface to the Publication
Chinese academic classics are the splendid treasures of Chinese culture, vast and profound, with a long history, embodying the knowledge and wisdom of the Chinese people. To promote the culture of our motherland and provide convenience for the descendants of Yan and Huang and foreign friends to study and research Chinese classics, we have organized experts to compile the "Outline of Chinese Academic Classics" series. This series includes approximately 3,000 famous academic works (articles) from the Shang and Zhou dynasties to the modern era (up to 1949), divided into volumes such as literature, art, linguistics, history, philosophy, religion, classics, economics, political and legal studies, education, science and technology, etc. Each volume is further subdivided. The content of the explanations includes: the title (alternative names, abbreviations); the main text; editions (selecting influential and common editions); the author (name, style name, birth and death years, place of origin, major life experiences and doctrines, writings, biographical materials); the process of writing and the date of completion; the general meaning of the content (general introduction, prefaces and postfaces, chapters and articles, key features); academic influence; research status, etc. After all volumes are completed, additional supplements will be made to make it a large-scale reference work similar to the "General Outline of the Siku Quanshu." Fudan University Press, October 1992.
Content Summary
This book provides an outline of academic classics related to religion in Chinese history. The entire book is divided into five categories: Buddhist Edition, Daoist Edition, Christian Edition, Islamic Edition, and Other, including 305 ancient and modern works. It includes important and influential series, encyclopedias, historical accounts, collections, treatises, commentaries, travelogues, geographical works, genealogies, miscellaneous records, dictionaries, bibliographies, etc. The content covers the doctrines, practices, history, schools, figures, events, regulations, rituals, scriptures, terminology, temples, monasteries, churches, sacred sites, as well as the religious decrees of the court, the relationships between different religions, and the exchange of religious and cultural ideas between China and the outside world. It provides a wealth of valuable materials for the study of the history of Chinese Buddhism, Daoism, Christianity and Catholicism, and Islam.
Excerpt:
"The Outline of Chinese Academic Classics: Religious Volume"
"Thinking of the marvelous also exists, it is the term for extinguishing thought. I took the leisure to annotate it, as the meaning is the same but the wording differs, no additional explanations were added."
The book provides an in-depth explanation of the Twelve Causes of Existence (avidyā or ignorance, sa?skāra, vij?āna, sa?skāra, rūpa, sa?j?ā, vedanā, tanhā, upādāna, bhava, jāti, jara-mara?a). It elaborates that the existence of sentient beings begins with the activity of vij?āna (consciousness), which then becomes experiential (sa?skāra) and accumulates into the content of consciousness. This activity manifests through the six senses (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind) in contact with the perceived objects (sa?skāra). Ordinary people take ignorance (avidyā) as their internal condition and craving (tanhā) as their external condition, taking everything as "me," forming the delusion of self (upādāna), thus leading to the suffering of impermanence in the human world. Moreover, in the Twelve Causes, each cause is the condition for the next, and if one is extinguished, the next is also extinguished, demonstrating interdependence, as stated in the scriptures: "Because this exists, that exists; because this arises, that arises; because this does not exist, that does not exist; because this is extinguished, that is extinguished" (from the "Human Desire for Existence Sutra").
Buddhas have extinguished ignorance and craving, so human suffering also ceases. Therefore, although "all living beings are entangled in the three realms and drift among the nine stations, bound by the eight fetters" (from the Preface to the "Human Desire for Existence Sutra"), as long as they "understand the Twelve Causes and attain the Four Noble Truths" (ibid.), and pursue "nirvana through meditation and wisdom," they will ultimately achieve liberation. This book is one of the earliest commentaries on Buddhist scriptures and helps in understanding the doctrine of the Twelve Causes of Existence. (Xia Jinhua)
"Discourse on the Buddhist Monks' Lack of Respect for the Rulers" (Eastern Jin) Huayan
"The Discourse on the Buddhist Monks' Lack of Respect for the Rulers" is a single essay. Written by Huayan of the Eastern Jin dynasty, it was completed around the third year of the Yuanyou era (404). It was included in Volume 5 of the "Collection of Promoting Brightness" compiled by Sengyou of the Liang dynasty. Common editions include the "Taishō Tripitaka" (Volume 51) and others.
Huayan (334–416), of the secular surname Jia, was from Yanmen Loufan (east of present-day Guo County, Shanxi). His family was scholarly, and in his youth, he "studied the Six Classics extensively, especially the Zhuangzi and Laozi." At the age of 21, he listened to Da'an's lecture on the "Praj?āpāramitā Sutra" in Taihang and Hengshan Mountains, lamenting that "the nine schools of Confucianism, Daoism, and others were like chaff." He shaved his head and became a monk together with his brother Huizhi. At the age of 24, he began delivering lectures, often using the "Zhuangzi" to explain the essence of Buddhist truth, enlightening those who were confused and gaining great respect from Da'an, who allowed him to include secular texts in his sermons. In the third year of the Ningyuan era (365), he followed Da'an south to study. After Xiangyang was destroyed by Fu Jian, he followed his teacher's orders to lead the monks south to Jingzhou, stopping in Lushan along the way and never leaving again. He settled in Lushan for over 30 years, "never leaving the mountain, never stepping into the secular world," dedicating himself to practicing and spreading the Dharma, becoming a revered leader of Buddhist followers both within and outside China. He expanded upon Da'an's "Rules for Monks and Nuns" to formulate the "Regulations for Monasteries and Temples," "Regulations for Monks in External Temples," and "Regulations for Nuns," establishing monastic rules. In the first year of the Yuanyou era (402), he established the Lotus Society with Liu Yimin and 123 others on Lushan's East Forest Temple, aiming to be reborn in the Western Pure Land. He was later revered as the first ancestor of the Pure Land School. At that time, Chang'an and Lushan were the two major centers of Buddhist learning in China. After Kumārajīva was invited to Chang'an, Huayan actively wrote to greet him, encouraging his disciples to go north to seek knowledge. He also mediated disputes within the Chang'an monastic community and welcomed, who was excluded by Kumārajīva's faction, to lecture in Lushan, translating the "Darmatāra Dhyāna Sutra."
Huayan promoted both Mahayana and Hinayana Buddhism. He sent his disciples Fajing and Faling to the Western Regions to seek scriptures, welcomed the Western monk ?rīlāta to translate the "Abhidharmako?a-bhā?ya" and the "Threefold Dharma Treatise," and requested Dharmarak?a to translate the "Ten Recensions of the Vinaya." His surviving works include: "The Three Karmas Treatise," "The Treatise on the Efficacy of Actions," "The Monks' Disrobed Dress Treatise," "Preface to the Lushan Method of Practice," "Preface to the Abhidharmako?a-bhā?ya," "Preface to the Threefold Dharma Treatise," and "Preface to the Collection of Recalling the Buddha." His deeds are recorded in "The Biographies of Eminent Monks" (Volume 6) and "The Biographies of the Eighteen Eminent Monks of Lushan" and other works.