Buddhism and Chinese History

1. The Development of Buddhism in China

The development of Buddhism in China can be historically divided into two stages.

First, the absorption stage, from the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Wei, Jin, and North and South Dynasties, until the Sui and Tang dynasties so seven or eight hundred years. During this period, China basically absorbed Buddhist culture from India, and most of the Buddhist classics were translated during this period.

The second stage is the Chineseization of Buddhism. Since the Sui and Tang dynasties, the formation and development of Tiantai, Huayan, and especially Zen Buddhism have shown that Buddhism has become distinctive in China, and has gradually embarked on the path of independent development, becoming an important part of Chinese culture.

The Sui and Tang dynasties were the turning point of these two stages. In the Tang Dynasty, after Master Xuanzang returned from his studies in India, the level of Buddhism in China at that time was beyond the scope of Indian studies.

This is an important sign that China's long history of learning Buddhist culture from India has come to an end, and in the Sui and Tang dynasties, two small sects and eight schools were formed. The two minor sects were the Hinayana Shengshi Sect and the Kusha Sect, both of which were actually affiliated with the Mahayana sects in China.

The eight Mahayana schools are Tiantai, Sanlun, Vaisravana, Avatamsaka, Zen, Ritual, Pure Land, and Tantra. Legend has it that Zen Buddhism began in Qi and Liang, and was introduced to China by India's 28th patriarch, Dharma, who introduced Sakyamuni to China, but the real founder was the Sixth Patriarch, Huineng.

Zen stood out from the hundreds of controversies that analyzed the names and refuted the doctrines, and uniquely set up the banner of "no writing, no teaching, no transmission", advocating the "single transmission of the direct finger", and putting the "four out of the four into the" of Buddhism all to the heart. He advocated "single transmission and direct instruction", and put all the "four outlets and four entries" of Buddhism into the heart, got rid of all the shackles of dogma, and mingled with life, experiencing the true meaning of body, mind, life, and the universe of life from life. In the master-disciple teaching, it is more in the daily use of the movement of the mind, laughter and anger, playing songs and singing, exciting pointing, kill live longitudinal seizure in the implementation.

Therefore, Zen has become like a religion but not a religion, like a philosophy but not a philosophy, like an art but not an art. This is not only revolutionary for Buddhism, but also creates a special system of thought for people who want to be liberated, which is unparalleled in history.

Some scholars take Zen Buddhism as a typical example of the Sinicization of Buddhism, and even think that the merits of Zen Buddhism are inherent in Confucianism, and the ideas of Confucianism, some parts of which are not found in Zen Buddhism. In fact, many features of Zen Buddhism have the ideas of Confucianism or Taoism and other Chinese cultures.

However, the fundamental purpose of Zen Buddhism is to realize the "non-sentient dharma patience". This is the essence of Indian Buddhist thought, which is not found in Chinese culture.

And Zen is steeped in this, so there is no doubt that it is the acceptance of Buddhist thought that has allowed it to blossom into such a brilliant and bright flower. Buddhism talks about karma, and these are important elements of the law of karma.

Looking at it in this way, one can say that Zen and even Tiantai and Huayan are products of the development of Chinese culture, and that they are the flowers that blossomed after the Chinese people digested and absorbed Indian culture. If you don't know Zen (and also Tiantai and Huayan), then you can't penetrate into Chinese culture from the Tang Dynasty to the Song and Yuan Dynasties.

Song and Ming philosophy is Confucianism on the surface, but at heart it is Zen, its formation and development, consciously or unconsciously by the overwhelming influence of Zen. If the Zen component is extracted from the Song Ming philosophy, it will be eclipsed.

In this way, the history of Chinese thought, the history of Chinese philosophy can not go on. In addition, after the end of the Tang Dynasty to the Five Dynasties, Zen Buddhism became the mainstream and the core of Chinese Buddhism, and Zen Buddhism represented Buddhism in China during that period.

Therefore, Zen is a topic in the history of Chinese culture, and without understanding Zen, one is not qualified to say that one understands Chinese culture. A deeper study of the history of Chinese Buddhism shows that without Zen Buddhism, Chinese Buddhism would have been difficult to withstand the blow of the Tang Wuzong's campaign to destroy the Dharma.

In that nationwide campaign, all sects of Buddhism in China, except Zen, were wiped out. These sects, deprived of the support of temples, temple economy and classical culture, could hardly be viable (as was the case with late Indian Buddhism).

This was also true of the Vaisravana, Sanlun, Tiantai, Huayan, Rudravana, and Tantra sects, which fell apart after that blow, and some disappeared forever. Only the Zen Sect, founded by the Sixth Patriarch, not only survived this disaster, but instead grew rapidly, spreading throughout the country in the decades following the Dharma Extermination Movement, and achieving a dominant position in Chinese Buddhism.

So, without Zen, it is questionable whether the life of Buddhism in China could have continued to this day. And history itself shows that the development of Buddhism in China in the thousand years since the end of the Tang Dynasty when the Dharma was extinguished has been mainly the development of Zen Buddhism (excluding Tibetan Buddhism).

It is precisely because Zen combined the realities of Chinese culture that it has had such a long and glorious development, and the ability to reach the European and American worlds today. What is the reason for the decline of all the sects, but Zen is the only one that has flourished? As we all know, the banner of Zen is "Teachings outside the other, do not set up the text, straight to the heart, see the nature of the Buddha".

Because Zen Buddhism at that time there was no monastery, the monastery economy and the burden of classical literature, Tang Wuzong almost destroyed the nation's monasteries and canonical literature, but did not hurt a hair of Zen; at the same time, Zen methods simple and feasible, and the traditional methods of Confucianism and Taoism are not contradictory, and can penetrate and deepen Confucianism and Taoism, easy to accept the scholarly men, there is popularity; in addition, Zen Buddhism itself In addition, Zen itself contains all the essence of Buddhism and has a vigorous vitality. A Zen practitioner himself is a seed that can take root, sprout, blossom, and bear fruit no matter what kind of environment it is in. These characteristics of Zen are incomparably superior to those of other sects, and have made it the mainstay and mainstay of Chinese Buddhism for more than a thousand years.

We cannot talk about Zen without talking about the Tanjing, the Sixth Patriarch Huineng, the founder of Zen in the true sense of the word, the source of Zen, and the above five generations of patriarchs do not have such a significance. This point will be discussed later.

Secondly, the Tantra is rich, vivid, profound and simple, and covers the Tang dynasty's Zhongguan, Tiantai, Vaisnavism, Huayan, and Pure Land. This makes it easy to compare and analyze the major sects in conjunction with each other, and by looking at their similarities and differences, one can see the status and characteristics of Zen within Buddhism.

Third, the Tantra is a discourse, and the text is simple and easy to read, unlike the later texts, which are so obscure and difficult that outsiders have no way to begin. The Tanshing was preached by the Sixth Patriarch and recorded by his disciple Fa Hai.

Why the name Tanshing? This is because the Sixth Patriarch was ordained at the Guangxiao Temple in Guangzhou, and there was an altar at the place where he was ordained, which is said to have been one of the altars in the Liu Song period of the Southern Dynasty.

2. How did Buddhism develop in China

The Development of Buddhism in China (China. Dengfeng) 2007-01-14 09:24 I. The Development of Buddhism in China The development of Buddhism in China can be historically divided into two stages.

First, the stage of absorption, from the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Wei, Jin, North and South Dynasties, until the Sui and Tang dynasties so seven or eight hundred years of time. During this period, China basically absorbed Buddhist culture from India, and most of the Buddhist classics were translated during this period.

The second stage is the Chineseization of Buddhism. Since the Sui and Tang dynasties, the formation and development of Tiantai, Huayan, and especially Zen Buddhism have shown that Buddhism has become distinctive in China, and has gradually embarked on the path of independent development, becoming an important part of Chinese culture.

The Sui and Tang dynasties were the turning point of these two stages. In the Tang Dynasty, after Master Xuanzang returned from his studies in India, the level of Buddhism in China at that time was beyond the scope of Indian studies.

This is an important sign that China's long history of learning Buddhist culture from India has come to an end, and in the Sui and Tang dynasties, two small sects and eight schools were formed. The two small sects were the Hinayana Shengshi Sect and the Kusha Sect, both of which were actually affiliated with the Mahayana sects in China.

The eight Mahayana schools are Tiantai, Sanlun, Vaisnavism, Avatamsaka, Zen, Ritual, Pure Land, and Tantra. Legend has it that Zen Buddhism began in Qi and Liang, and was introduced to China by India's 28th patriarch, Dharma, who introduced Sakyamuni to China, but the real founder was the Sixth Patriarch, Huineng.

Zen stood out from the hundreds of controversies that analyzed the names and refuted the doctrines, and uniquely set up the banner of "no writing, no teaching, no transmission", advocating the "single transmission of the direct finger", and putting the "four out of the four into the" of Buddhism all to the heart. He advocated "single transmission and direct instruction", and put all the "four outlets and four entries" of Buddhism into the heart, got rid of all the shackles of dogma, and mingled with life, experiencing the true meaning of body, mind, life, and the universe of life from life. In the master-disciple teaching, it is more in the daily use of the movement of the mind, laughter and anger, playing songs and singing, exciting pointing, kill live longitudinal seizure in the implementation.

Therefore, Zen has become like a religion but not a religion, like a philosophy but not a philosophy, like an art but not an art. This is not only revolutionary for Buddhism, but also creates a special system of thought for people who want to be liberated, which is unparalleled in history.

Some scholars take Zen Buddhism as a typical example of the Chineseization of Buddhism, and even think that the advantages of Zen Buddhism, within Confucianism, and Confucianism's ideas, some parts of Zen Buddhism. In fact, many features of Zen Buddhism have the ideas of Confucianism or Taoism and other Chinese cultures.

However, the fundamental purpose of Zen Buddhism is to realize the "non-sentient dharma patience". This is the essence of Indian Buddhist thought, which is not found in Chinese culture.

And Zen is steeped in this, so there is no doubt that it is the acceptance of Buddhist thought that has allowed it to blossom into such a brilliant and bright flower. Buddhism talks about karma, and these are important elements of the law of karma.

Looking at it in this way, one can say that Zen and even Tiantai and Huayan are products of the development of Chinese culture, and that they are the flowers that blossomed after the Chinese people digested and absorbed Indian culture. If you don't know Zen (and also Tiantai and Huayan), then you can't penetrate into Chinese culture from the Tang Dynasty to the Song and Yuan Dynasties.

Song and Ming philosophy is Confucianism on the surface, but at heart it is Zen, its formation and development, consciously or unconsciously by the overwhelming influence of Zen. If the Zen component is extracted from the Song Ming philosophy, it will be eclipsed.

In this way, the history of Chinese thought, the history of Chinese philosophy can not go on. In addition, after the end of the Tang Dynasty to the Five Dynasties, Zen Buddhism became the mainstream and the core of Chinese Buddhism, and Zen Buddhism represented Buddhism in China during that period.

Therefore, Zen is a topic in the history of Chinese culture, and without understanding Zen, one is not qualified to say that one understands Chinese culture. A deeper study of the history of Chinese Buddhism shows that without Zen Buddhism, Chinese Buddhism would have been difficult to withstand the blow of the Tang Wuzong's campaign to destroy the Dharma.

In that nationwide campaign, all sects of Buddhism in China, except Zen, were wiped out. These sects, deprived of the support of temples, temple economy and classical culture, could hardly be viable (as was the case with late Indian Buddhism).

This was also true of the Vaisravana, Sanlun, Tiantai, Huayan, Rudravana, and Tantra sects, which fell apart after that blow, and some disappeared forever. Only the Zen Sect, founded by the Sixth Patriarch, not only survived the disaster, but also grew rapidly, spreading throughout the country in the decades after the Dharma Extermination Movement, and achieving a dominant position in Chinese Buddhism.

So, without Zen, it is questionable whether the life of Buddhism in China could have continued to this day. And history itself shows that the development of Buddhism in China in the thousand years since the end of the Tang Dynasty when the Dharma was extinguished has been mainly the development of Zen Buddhism (excluding Tibetan Buddhism).

It is precisely because Zen combined the realities of Chinese culture that it has had such a long and glorious development, and the ability to reach the European and American worlds today. What is the reason for the decline of all the sects, but Zen is the only one that has flourished? As we all know, the banner of Zen is "Teachings outside the other, do not set up the text, straight to the heart, see the nature of the Buddha".

Because Zen Buddhism at that time there was no monastery, the monastery economy and the burden of classical literature, Tang Wuzong almost destroyed the nation's monasteries and canonical literature, but did not hurt a hair of Zen; at the same time, Zen methods simple and feasible, and the traditional methods of Confucianism and Taoism are not contradictory, and can penetrate and deepen Confucianism and Taoism, easy to accept the scholarly men, there is popularity; in addition, Zen Buddhism itself In addition, Zen itself contains all the essence of Buddhism and has a vigorous vitality. A Zen practitioner himself is a seed that can take root, sprout, blossom, and bear fruit no matter what kind of environment it is in. These characteristics of Zen are incomparably superior to those of other sects, and have made it the mainstay and mainstay of Chinese Buddhism for more than a thousand years.

We cannot talk about Zen without talking about the Tanjing, the Sixth Patriarch Huineng, the founder of Zen in the true sense of the word, the source of Zen, and the above five generations of patriarchs do not have such a significance. This point will be discussed later.

Secondly, the Tantra is rich, vivid, profound and simple, and covers the Tang dynasty's Zhongguan, Tiantai, Vaisnavism, Huayan, and Pure Land. This makes it easy to compare and analyze the major sects in conjunction with each other, and by looking at their similarities and differences, one can see the status and characteristics of Zen within Buddhism.

Third, the Tantra is a discourse, and the text is simple and easy to read, unlike the later texts, which are so obscure and difficult that outsiders have no way to begin. The Tanshing was preached by the Sixth Patriarch and recorded by his disciple Fa Hai.

Why the name Tanjing? It is because of the Sixth.

3. What is the impact of Buddhism on Chinese history and culture

After Buddhism was introduced to China in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, it has had a profound impact on traditional Chinese culture after more than a thousand years of spreading and integration.

On the one hand, as a foreign culture, Buddhism has its own independence; on the other hand, it interacts with traditional Chinese culture, changing the connotation of Chinese culture, and has had a profound influence on traditional Chinese philosophy, literature, language, art and folklore.

Since the arrival of Buddhism in China, China's traditional ideas, such as the concept of the universe, the concept of life, morality and so on, have been constantly influenced by Buddhist thought. Some concepts, consciousness, theories, ways of thinking and value systems of Buddhism have gradually entered the minds of Chinese people.

After a long period of conflict and integration, Buddhism gradually merged with the original Chinese thought and became part of Chinese thought and culture. For example, traditional Chinese philosophy focuses on the argumentation of ethical and moral norms based on patriarchal blood relations, and on the examination of the relationship between heaven and man with the starting point of ruling the country and securing the people, and the origin of human beings and all living things, as well as the essence of the universe, although they are also involved in it, the argumentation is not in-depth, nor is it unified.

Although the importance of honoring the gods and sacrificing to ancestors, "Shintoism", but the soul and the world after death, the lack of theological arguments. It put forward the theory of human nature, such as sexual goodness and evil, and the sermon from the mortal to the saint, but the psychological analysis of the argument is relatively crude.

The introduction of Buddhism, with its complex religious teachings and philosophical theories of large and small multiplications, had a great *** and inspiring effect on the development of Chinese philosophy, and provided a wealth of information and methods of argumentation, from the broader aspect of the Buddhist theory of infinite time and space, the body and use of the same, the purity of the mind and the psychological analysis of the psychological, and the determination of the role of the mind in the liberation of the sainthood, and so on. All of these have had a significant impact on the enrichment and development of Chinese philosophy. In Buddhism, the concept of "reason", which communicates the essence of the universe (truth, reality, and dharma) with the nature of the mind (Buddha-nature and true consciousness), and in Zen Buddhism, the liberation theories of "the mind is the Buddha" and "recognizing the mind and seeing the nature" have all had a significant impact on the enrichment and development of Chinese philosophy. The concept of "Reason" in Zen Buddhism, which is "the mind is Buddha" and "knowing the mind and seeing the nature", directly contributed to the formation and development of Song and Ming ethics3 .

Song and Ming theories on the nature of heaven and nature, the nature of the premature earth and the nature of temperament, as well as the main quiet, the main respect for the cultivation of the body, are directly affected by the influence of Buddhism. 2, the influence of Buddhism on Chinese literature The influence of Buddhism on Chinese literature has penetrated into all fields of literature.

From literary theory to specific creative techniques, from genre to specific creative content, can be seen everywhere. First, many Buddhist texts are great literary works in themselves, such as the Vimalakirti Sutra, which has a high literary value in itself; second, Buddhism has had an important influence on Chinese poetry and literature.

For example, more than 50,000 Tang poems, on average, every 10th poem is about Buddhism, especially Zen Buddhism. Among them, the poems of Wang Wei, Wei Yingwu, Wei Yuan, and Li Shutong all have traces of Buddhism.

Take Wang Wei as an example. Wang Wei, the character Moqizi, is derived from the Vimalakirti Sutra.

As a poet of the landscape idyll school, his poems contain paintings and poems, and use a lot of the word "empty", because Buddhism says that everything is empty. As the Buddhist saying goes, everything is empty. For example, the lines "After the new rain on the empty mountain, the weather comes late in the fall", "How many sad things in my life, not to the empty door where to sell", "I don't see people on the empty mountain, but I hear people's voices", "I don't see people on the empty mountain, but I hear people's voices". "people idle osmanthus fall, night quiet spring mountain empty", "cold air law cloud land, autumn color still living people"; again, Buddhism also has a great influence on our novels.

For example, the Journey to the West, one of the four famous novels, has the idea of Buddhism: the Monkey King, whether in the sky or in the sea, and even called himself the Great Sage of Qi Tian Da Sheng, but can not escape from the palms of Buddha; there are bodhisattvas in the world, there is a rebirth, there is a geographical area, and there are hungry ghosts. Another example is the opening of Dream of the Red Chamber, which is a conversation between a monk and a Taoist priest, and Jia Baoyu eventually becomes a monk, and all glory and wealth are empty; in addition, one of the sources of logic - Ingenuity is from Buddhism.

3. The influence of Buddhism on the Chinese language Buddhism also has a direct influence on the development of the Chinese language. On the one hand, it is manifested in the Chinese vocabulary: one third of the Chinese vocabulary is taken from Buddhism or influenced by Buddhism.

Like some of the words taken from Buddhism, such as ksana, the original meaning of Buddhism is the time when people have bad ideas; world, the original meaning of Buddhism is the past, present and future called "world", up and down into the "world"; smallpox, originally refers to the teachings of Qiaodamo Siddhartha, which received a lot of credibility. The Buddha's teachings are so convincing that even the stubborn stones have nodded their heads; "blind man feeling the elephant" refers to the fact that all beings are blocked by ignorance and do not understand the truth of the universe; "five bodies throwing themselves on the ground" is a kind of ritual in Buddhism. The list of similar terms goes on and on.

There are also many words influenced by Buddhism. For example, the word "liberation" was first used in the Historical Records, which originally meant to abate and liberate. Later, with the introduction of Buddhism, it was infused with a new meaning, i.e., to get rid of suffering and be free.

On the other hand, the influence of Buddhism can also be seen in Chinese phonetics. Buddhist culture is one of the sources of Chinese culture, and it has contributed to the changes in the methodology of Chinese language.

In the south of China, under the influence of Buddhist Brahmi, people categorized the tones of characters into four tones, namely, Ping, Shang, and Jin, which were used in poems, and this promoted the development of phonetics and the production of metrical poems. In the way of phonetic notation, ancient scholars changed the straight tone, which had been prevalent since the Eastern Han Dynasty, to the reverse cut, which may also be related to the influence of Sanskrit pinyin.4

4. The Influence of Buddhism on Chinese Art In the long history of Chinese ancient art, the influence of Buddhism is also undeniable. Whether in the arts of architecture, painting and sculpture, or in the arts of music, dance and theater, the influence of Buddhism permeates.

For example, in architecture, the introduction of Buddhism greatly increased the glory of our architectural art. According to the "Later Han Book - Xiang Kai biography" records, Yan Xi nine years (166 years), Xiang Kai on the advice of Emperor Huan said: "heard the palace to set up Huang Lao Fudu's shrine."

This is the earliest record of temples in China. From then on, the architectural style of China joined the Indian architectural style.

From the Tang Dynasty poet Du Mu's poem, "Four hundred and eighty temples in the South", it can be seen that at that time, there were four hundred and eighty temples in Jinling, a place where there were more than four hundred and eighty temples. In addition to monks, there were also emperors and individuals who built temples.

The reason for building temples is to pray for people's blessings, some are made by the people for the emperor, and some temples are used as residences. We can also get a glimpse of the magnificent splendor of the temples at that time from the Luoyang Gala Records, which records the grandeur of the Yongning Temple.

In painting, the introduction of Indian Buddhist paintings, the content and form of China's paintings have had a certain impact, *** and expanded the performance of Chinese figure painting.

4. Information on Buddhism and Chinese culture

Buddhism has had a great influence and impact on Chinese culture, leaving a splendid Buddhist cultural heritage in Chinese history.

For example, China's ancient architecture is the most preserved Buddhist temple tower, the existing brick tower of Songyue Temple in Songshan Mountain, Henan Province, Shanxi Wutai Mountain, Nanchan Temple, Foguang Temple of the Tang Dynasty wooden buildings, Yingxian large wooden pagoda, Fujian Quanzhou, Kaiyuan Temple of the stone East and West Pagodas and so on, are the study of China's ancient architectural history of the valuable physical objects. Many Buddhist buildings have become prominent symbols of scenic contours across China.

In the midst of a lush green, covered with red walls and green tiles, treasure halls and pavilions. The exquisite Buddhist architecture has added infinite spring color to the miles of beautiful rivers and mountains.

Dunhuang, Yungang, Longmen and other grottoes are world-famous as a treasure trove of ancient carvings, which absorbed the characteristics of Gandhara and India and developed into a Chinese national style of elephant art, is China's great cultural heritage. Buddhism also brought a new mood, a new style of writing, and a new way of expressing meaning to Chinese culture.

Thousands of volumes of classics translated from Sanskrit are in themselves great works of literature. Ma Ming's "Praise of the Acts of the Buddha" brought a model for long narrative poems; the sutras "Dharma Flower", "Vimalaya", and "The Hundred Metaphors" inspired the novels of the Jin and the Tang dynasties; and the ideas of prajna and Zen Buddhism influenced the poems of Tao Yuanming, Wang Wei, Bai Juyi, and Su Shi.

Variant texts, popular sermons, and the corpus of discourses by Zen masters are all y related to Chinese popular literature. The moving stories in Buddhist scriptures often became the subjects of artists' paintings. Famous painters of all times, such as Cao Buxing, Gu Kaizhi, Zhang Shengqi, Zhan Ziqi, Yan Liben, Wu Daozi, etc., have been known for their specialization in Buddhist paintings.

The development of Chinese painting from Wang Wei's school of literati painting to the popularity of freehand painting after the Song and Yuan dynasties is related to the idea of Zen Buddhism. This shows the role of Buddhism in the art of painting.

As for music, in the third century AD, there was the popularity of chanting in China. The music of the Tang Dynasty absorbed music from Buddhist countries such as Tianzhu music, Guzi music, and Anguo music, and a small part of Tang music is still preserved in some Buddhist temples.

Along with Buddhism, there are astronomy, medicine and other scientific and technological practices. In the Tang Dynasty, the monk and his line created the Dayan Calendar and determined the meridian, which made a remarkable contribution to astronomy.

In the Sui and Tang dynasties, there are more than ten kinds of medical books and prescriptions translated from India, and there is a medical prescription in Tibetan Buddhism. The Buddhist scriptures promote the development of China's printing press, has been preserved in the world's oldest version of the engraved prints, almost all of the Buddhist scripture images.

Buddhist philosophy contains a very deep wisdom, which has a deep and unique insight into the universe and life, the reflection of human reason, and the analysis of concepts. Engels in the Dialectics of Nature praised Buddhists as being at a higher stage of development of human dialectical thinking.

In its worldview, Buddhism denies that there is a supreme "God" and believes that things are in a network of cause and effect that has no beginning, no end, and no boundaries. In its view of life, Buddhism emphasizes the self-awareness of the subject and links the liberation of the self with the salvation of mankind.

The interaction between Buddhism and classical Chinese philosophy has pushed philosophy to come up with new propositions and new approaches. It gave people new inspirations with its unique way of thinking and living, which enabled them to liberate their minds from Confucian dogmas and pushed their spiritual life to another new world.

So does Buddhism still have a role to play in the development of a new socialist national culture? The development of human culture is a continuous process, and it is impossible to completely sever traditional and modern culture. We need to draw on all the valuable essence of traditional culture to enrich the development of a new socialist national culture.

Traditional Chinese culture also includes Buddhist culture. Nowadays, there is a kind of prejudice, mentioning the traditional Chinese culture seems to be only Confucian culture, completely erasing the status of Buddhist culture in the traditional Chinese culture, erasing the contribution of Buddhists to Chinese culture.

In fact, the traditional Chinese culture since the Wei Jin and the North and South Dynasties is no longer purely Confucian, but is a cultural form of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism. The study of Chinese history, especially Chinese cultural history, cannot be separated from the study of Buddhism.

In fact, since 148 A.D., An Shigao came to the east to translate the scriptures caused by 260 years of Zhu Shi Xing westward to seek the scriptures to 1175 A.D. Zhu Xi, Lu Xiangshan Goose Lake meeting (the former marks a new cultural movement - the beginning of Buddhism, the latter marks the new cultural movement - the creation of science), this new cultural movement - the creation of the science of Buddhism. The latter marked the founding of another new cultural movement - the science of science), this more than a thousand years is the brilliant period of Chinese national culture, that is, scholars in China and abroad, known as the Wei, Jin, Six Dynasties, Sui and Tang cultures. The Five Dynasties and the Northern Song Dynasty were the rest of the wave.

It is precisely in this period that the development of Chinese philosophical thought was dominated by Buddhism. Its period of time, the momentum of the great, the influence of the wide (spread abroad), are far from the two Han scriptures, Song and Ming ethics can be compared.

So Hu Shi wrote "History of Chinese Philosophy" halfway to drop out of the pen, because at that time do not understand Buddhism can not write down. There is another famous contemporary historian in China who had taken a nihilistic attitude towards Buddhist culture in his early years, but in his later years he began to systematically study the Buddhist scriptures, saying that he needed to make up for his mistakes.

This historian told people that in Chinese history, the relationship between Buddhism and culture is so deep that one cannot understand Chinese culture without understanding Buddhism. But nowadays people still do not pay attention to the study of Buddhism and see it as a vulgar religious superstition.

For example, the great translator, traveler, linguist, and Buddhist master in Chinese history, Xuanjie, has been given his due in the world history works of Western scholars. His name is even more of a household name in India, where former Indian Prime Minister Nehru honored him as one of the four great men of history.

But in China, instead, people only know the Tang Monk from Journey to the West, and do not know the Xuan Prize in Chinese cultural history. What's more, some people also take the Buddhist culture, this valuable cultural heritage simply as a way to make money, happened a lot of things should not happen, granting people China does not respect the culture of the word handle.

Nowadays, many people deny that Buddhism is a part of Chinese culture, but when he opens his mouth to speak, he actually contains Buddhist elements. Language is one of the most pervasive and direct cultural barriers! Many of the terms we use in our daily life, such as world, reality, actuality, equality, present, ksitigarbha, purity, relative, absolute, and so on, come from the Buddhist vocabulary.

If we were to reject Buddhist culture completely, I'm afraid they wouldn't even be able to speak properly. The Tibetan version of the Great Tibetan Scriptures is very much.

5. What are the merits and demerits of Buddhism for the development of Chinese history

Buddhism is an integral part of Chinese culture, and naturally plays an important role in the revival of traditional Chinese culture.

Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism are the mainstays of traditional Chinese culture. In fact, Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, and other cultures interact with each other and are integrated into a whole, which we need to inherit organically. If we compare the traditional culture we need in life to a house, then Confucianism is the main door of the house, and the other schools of thought are the windows, and two of the big windows are Taoism and Buddhism.

Without the windows, the house would be stuffy; without the door, there would be no "Tao" to enter or leave. These different ideas and cultures form a system, the traditional culture that shapes the minds of the Chinese people.

However, the Chinese have never been able to distinguish between the main and the end. Zeng Zi said: "I have three times a day to save my own body - for people to plan and not loyal? With friends to make friends and do not believe it? Transmission is not practiced?" Until now, China still uses "three provinces" to evaluate a person.

In ancient times, people who read books were called "Confucian", and I never thought that "Confucian" meant narrowly only Confucianism, only reading Confucian books, but rather, they read a lot of books, read all the schools of thought. For example, people educated by Confucianism will naturally apply the thinking of the School of War in shopping malls and battlefields, and uphold the spirit of Buddhism and Taoism in their lives, which is an extremely normal and common phenomenon in China.

It is the rigid adherence to the teachings of Confucius and Mencius, and even a small percentage of these "pedants", that is a narrow and incomplete view of Confucianism. When Confucius said, "The benevolent one loves people" and "love all people", some people corrected the wording to say that "people" and "all people" referred to the scholarly people.

In fact, the basic spirit of Confucianism is "pro-relationship and benevolence", but this "pro" and "benevolence" is not undifferentiated. This is a matter of fact. It is impossible to love everyone the same way, therefore, there is a difference in etiquette, and there is a difference in love, and this is objective and will never change.

Therefore, from many points of view of Confucianism, Confucianism is the philosophy of life, the philosophy of the earth, the philosophy of the interrelationship of human society, not a metaphysical, very abstract, detached from people's lives. As people live between heaven and earth and in society, Confucianism will still be a very instructive guide.

This guide may not be accurate in all details, but the general direction is not wrong. Since its introduction to China, Buddhism has complemented Confucianism and absorbed its basic ideas.

For example, filial piety was a factor in Buddhism in India, as was affection for one's parents, but it was not prominent, and early Buddhism emphasized the "ashes of the body and the destruction of the mind," so there was less emphasis on family relationships. When it came to China, it was more about filial piety at home and less at home.

Being a monk is the realization of the great self, and it is a great spirit to be a parent to all the parents in all the world, and even to take all the living beings as parents. In a sense, this is an expansion of the Confucian spirit of benevolence.

If Confucianism talks about the equality of all people, "everyone can be Shunyao", and everyone has the possibility to become a sage, Buddhism is even more expanded to the equality of all living beings, not only people are equal, but also people are equal to all living things, and we have to cherish every life. This expansion has created the generous and loving character of the Chinese people.

In ancient times, although they did not talk about the concept of "environmental protection", the Chinese people cherished birds and animals and living creatures. Some of the ideas of Buddhism were once considered superstitious and backward. I think it is wrong to blindly criticize history on the basis of scientific and technological development of a certain period in isolation from historical conditions.

The idea of reincarnation, for example, has its positive significance. Before the introduction of Buddhism, China emphasized that "no good deed goes unpunished and no evil deed goes unpunished".

"The family of the good will have a surplus of blessings, the family of the evil will have a surplus of disasters", but the real life is not all like this, when it can not be realized, people's confidence in the accumulation of good may be shaken. The difference between the Buddhist concept of karma and the previous idea is that each person's destiny is triggered and caused by what he did in the past, and is borne by him.

The good deeds done by parents in this generation are responded to by the parents themselves in the next life, and the "bad karma" of the consequences brought about by the children themselves has nothing to do with the parents. In this way, from the mutual responsibility of a whole family, it comes down to the responsibility of each individual to society.

The concept of reincarnation is positive in two ways. One is that it gives people confidence that they can be good people, and that what they can't do in this life, they can continue to do in the next life, and that is "death is not enough".

Therefore, Buddhism has historically given people the hope that even in the most miserable times, there is still hope for the future, especially for those who have the will to live. On the other hand, the idea of reincarnation has a great effect on deterring people from doing bad things, like an invisible police demanding self-discipline.

Besides moral preaching and education, self-discipline was most effective in ancient China, brought about by the Buddhist concept of reincarnation. To be responsible for doing evil is to personally suffer retribution, which is very much a war cry for some people's souls.

Buddhism teaches people to be positive with a calm attitude, to get good results from good causes, and to get the corresponding blessings through their own efforts, and this idea is positive for society.