The influence of Buddhism on Chinese culture

The influence of Buddhism on Chinese society was also manifested in the normative aspects of its psychological composition of the population. When Buddhism was first introduced to China, it spread mainly to the royal family and its principal officials (such as Liu Ying, the brother of Emperor Ming of Han Dynasty), as well as to the educated intellectual class, including the scholars and their monks, who came from scholars' families. Among them, the scholarly class played a central role. The royal family and the powerful ministers played the role of supporting, propagating and expanding the influence of Buddhism in the society. However, over time, royal Buddhism as a governmental act and scholarly Buddhism as a social act interacted with foreign Buddhism, facilitating the assimilation of Buddhism into Chinese society and culture, and at the same time ****simultaneously facilitating the understanding of the faith in civil society, leading to the emergence and development of a highly vital popular Buddhism. As long as one examines in depth the position and role of Buddhism in Chinese society, and thus re-conceptualizes the historical evolution of Buddhism in China, it is not difficult to find that popular Buddhism is the real basis for the continuation and propagation of Buddhism in Chinese society. Because, popular Buddhism has been infiltrated into the folklore of the Chinese people, and the Buddhist rituals, taboos, festivals, etc. have been transformed into folklore and regulated the psychological composition of the people. Though the Chinese people have not formed a situation of universal religious beliefs, the influence of the folklore has been universal in the closed and stagnant agrarian society. Therefore, in spite of the ferociousness of the extermination of "Sanwu Yizong", the rulers of different dynasties had different attitudes towards Buddhism, and some of them adopted the policy of suppressing and restricting Buddhism, and the result of their strikes was the Buddhism of the royal family and the Buddhism of the scholars and the generals who were hard hit. As for popular Buddhism, due to the protection of folklore, it showed great resilience. This is also the real reason that after the extermination of Buddhism during the reign of Emperor Wuzong Huichang in the Tang Dynasty, the Buddhism of the clergy fell into a state of decline, while the popular Buddhism continued to develop as before. After the Zhao-Song Dynasty, especially during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, popular Buddhism became an important part of social life and an important basis for many folk customs. Family Maitreya, household Guanyin" is a vivid portrayal of the popularity of Buddhism in the people at that time, the different sects of the Taoist schools of the same way, Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, as well as monasteries and monasteries, frequent construction of the land and water, which undoubtedly reflects the need for the people's beliefs. In the past two decades, with the implementation of the policy of freedom of religious belief, the increasingly relaxed social environment, the rapid restoration of Buddhist monasteries, visitors, many families to worship Buddha, especially in Hong Kong to set up Buddhist public holidays and so on, all reflect that even in the modern era of high technology, Buddhism still has a broad base of faith in the public. From this, we can realize that the influence of Buddhism on people's lives (both believers and non-believers) is wide and deep.