Collected Essays on Buddhist Thought in Han and Tang Dynasties

Author: Ren Jiyu
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-04-01
Features: The founder of Buddhism was Siddhartha, whose clan name was Gautama. In ancient Chinese, it was translated as Qiantan. Legend has it that he was the prince of King Suddhodana and was born in Kapilavastu, which is now within the territory of Nepal. His life's preaching activities took place in the northern and central Ganges River basin of India. Sakyamuni is the honorific title given to him by Buddhists. According to the estimation of historical records, he was born around 565 BC and died between 480 and 490 BC, slightly earlier than Confucius in China (Confucius's birth and death years were 551–479 BC). During the early period of Buddhism's spread in India, it coincided with the relatively developed stage of India's slave society. The process of feudalization in India lasted for a long time, approximately from the 1st century BC to the 6th century AD, and the feudal economy gradually solidified only by the 6th century AD. After entering the feudal society, the remnants of Indian slavery persisted for a long time. Early Buddhism served the slave-owning class of India, while later Mahayana Buddhism served the feudal landlord class. Buddhism began to spread from Nepal, India, and Pakistan to the south, reaching Sri Lanka and the Indochina Peninsula, and to the north, reaching Central Asia. With the economic and cultural exchanges between China and the countries of Central Asia, Buddhism was introduced to China during the Han Dynasty. Under the social and historical conditions of China, it took root and developed, becoming a part of the superstructure of Chinese feudal society. The spread and development of Buddhism in China underwent nearly two thousand years of a long journey, and it had a broad influence on all levels of Chinese feudal society. Since its introduction to China, it has always been used to promote and interpret its religious doctrines to meet the needs of the feudal landlord class at the time. Many Chinese and foreign scholars believe that Chinese Buddhism has deviated from the original principles of Indian Buddhism, distorting the essence of Indian Buddhism. This view is not entirely without reason, but it is somewhat inappropriate. Ideology is a product of a specific society, and every society has its own process of growth and decline. Indian Buddhism also has its own process of growth and decline, constantly developing and changing. Indian Buddhism has undergone significant changes over the past two thousand years, even if we consider the religious activities of Sakyamuni in his lifetime. According to later studies, his early and later preaching had different focuses. So, what exactly is the original form of Buddhism? About a century after Sakyamuni's passing, there were serious divisions among Buddhists regarding the interpretation of doctrines and regulations, leading to the formation of the Theravada and Mahasanghika schools. These two schools continued to split, forming eighteen (or twenty) sects. Subsequently, the Mahayana school of Buddhism emerged. Within Mahayana Buddhism, the Madhyamaka school was first advocated by Nagarjuna and Chandrakirti, and later the Yogacara school was promoted by Asa?ga and Vasubandhu. Mahayana Buddhism claims to have obtained the "ultimate meaning" of Sakyamuni, while many schools of Hinayana Buddhism did not accept this, coexisting with Mahayana Buddhism and establishing their own sects, which continued to spread. It is clear that there was no standard model of Buddhism in India. If one wants to explain the reasons for the diversification, rise, and decline of Buddhist sects in India, one cannot only look within Buddhism for the causes of its changes but must also seek them in the social and historical context of India. This belongs to another topic and is not within the scope of the history of Chinese Buddhism. Our task is to examine the history of Chinese Buddhism, reveal the laws of its development and change, and thus deepen our understanding of ancient Chinese feudal culture after the Eastern Han Dynasty, as well as better understand the history of Chinese philosophy, literature, and the entire history. Social practice shows that everything is in constant development and change. The ancient belief that "Heaven does not change, and the way does not change" can only express the subjective wishes of the landlord class that has seized power. Philosophy and religion may seem lofty and detached from worldly concerns, but in reality, they are still reflections of a society's economic and political life, though sometimes direct, sometimes indirect, and sometimes oblique. The economic and political life is constantly developing and changing, and accordingly, the philosophy and religion that reflect it also change. We should examine the entire process of Buddhism's introduction, growth, flourishing, and decline on Chinese soil to identify the patterns and regularities within it.