An Illustrated Outline of Buddhism: The Essentials of Buddhist Spirituality (31 page)

100

An Illustrated Outline of Buddhism

that everything under the sun, including even a great spiritual dynasty,

has both a beginning and an end, and, when the appointed time has

come, must needs pass away. However the celestial principle which

the Dalai Lamas incarnated is imperishable. One recal s the saying of

Christ: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass

away.”

Young Tibetan Buddhist woman

In other living creatures, ignorance of Self is nature; in man it

is a vice.

The Buddha

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(18) China

i. The Introduction of Buddhism into China

Buddhism was introduced into China during the first century A.D.

and the immediately succeeding centuries. It is said traditional y that

this was on the order of the mythical Yellow Emperor, Fu-Hsi, and the

venerable Founder of Taoism, Lao Tzu, who were regarded as possess-

ing immortality.

On the one hand, Indian Buddhist monks entered China as mis-

sionaries. On the other hand, Chinese pilgrims traveled to India to

visit the earliest and most sacred Buddhist shrines and to learn about

Buddhism, thereafter returning to their own country to spread the

message. From that time onwards, in China, Buddhism and the indig-

enous traditions of Confucianism and Taoism were called “the Three

Teachings” or “the Three Religions”.

Early in the fifth century A.D., Fa-Hsien, after an arduous journey

through central Asia, reached India. He spent fifteen years in India

and Ceylon and compiled a detailed account of Buddhism that is re-

nowned in China to this day. In the year 520 A.D., Bodhidharma left

India and became the first patriarch of
Ch’an
Buddhism in China. In

the seventh century, during the T’ang Dynasty, the monk Hsüan-Tsang

traveled through East Turkestan and Afghanistan to India, eventual y

returning to China laden with Buddhist books and manuscripts, hun-

dreds of which he translated into Chinese.

The
Vajrayāna
or tantric doctrines were brought to China (under

the name of
Mi-tsung
)
by the three Indian masters Shubhākarasimha

(637-735), Vajrabodhi (663-723), and Amoghavajra (705-774).

During the sixth to ninth centuries (the Sui and T’ang dynasties),

several great schools of Chinese Buddhism developed. These are:

School

Literal Meaning

Founder

School

in Japan

Hua-yen “Flower Garland”

Fa-tsang (643-712)

Kegon

Tien-Tai

“Heavenly Terrace”

Chih-i (538-597)

Tendai

Mi-tsung “School of Secrets”

Shubhākarasimha (637-735) Shingon

Ch’an

“Contemplation”

Bodhidharma (470-543)

Zen

Ching-t’u “Pure Land”

Tan-Luan (476-542)

Jōdo

Fa-hsiang “Dharma-Character” Hsüan-Tsang (600-664)

Hossō

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An Illustrated Outline of Buddhism

The “Dharma-Character” school (
Fa-hsiang
in Chinese;
Hossō
in

Japanese) was also known as the “Consciousness-Only” school (
Wei-

shih
in Chinese;
Yuishiki
in Japanese). It never flourished in Japan to

the extent that it did in China.

For the Indian precursors of some of the Chinese schools, and for

fuller information on the Japanese schools or sects, see pp. 55, 58, 116-

117, and 121.

Shen Zhou,
Poet on a Mountain Top
, Ming Dynasty, China

Whoever speaks or acts with an impure mind, him sorrow fol-

lows, as the wheel fol ows the steps of the ox that draws the cart.

Dhammapada, 2

China

103

Statue of Bodhisattva Kwan-Yin, Shanxi, China, 1100

It is useless to try to force to believe those who will not, for even

the Buddha cannot do that.

Hōnen

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An Illustrated Outline of Buddhism

ii. The Chinese Dynasties

c. 2800 B.C.

c. 3700 B.C.-2000 B.C. Neolithic culture

Fu-Hsi, the First

Emperor, author of

c. 1766 B.C.-1122 B.C. Shang-Yin Dynasty

the
I Ching

1122 B.C.-221 B.C.

Chou Dynasty

c. 563 B.C. birth

of the Buddha in

North India

c. 722 B.C.-481 B.C.

Spring and Autumn Annals

c. 481 B.C.-221 B.C.

Warring States

221 B.C.-206 B.C.

Ch’in Dynasty (Empire of Shih Huang Ti)

206 B.C.-220 A.D.

Han Dynasty

220 A.D.-589 A.D.

Six Dynasties

first and succeeding

centuries A.D.

220 A.D.-280 A.D.

Three Kingdoms

386 A.D.-589 A.D.

North [Wei Tartars] (386 A.D.-581 A.D.)

in the fourth century

386 A.D.-535 A.D.

North:

Fa-Hsien wrote an

Wei Tartars

account of Indian

Buddhism

535 A.D.-557 A.D.

Western Wei

557 A.D.-581 A.D.

Northern Chou

534 A.D.-550 A.D.

Eastern Wei

550 A.D.-577 A.D.

Northern Ch’i

South [Native Dynasties] (420 A.D.-589 A.D.)

420 A.D.-478 A.D.

Liu Sung

479 A.D.-501 A.D.

Southern Ch’i