What are the sects of Buddhism and what is their relationship to each other?

Buddhism began to be introduced to China from India before and after the Gregorian calendar, and after a long period of spreading and development, Chinese Buddhism with Chinese national characteristics was formed. Due to the different time, way, region and national culture, social and historical backdrop of the introduction, Chinese Buddhism formed three major lineages, namely, Buddhism in the Han Dynasty (Han Dynasty), Tibetan Buddhism (Tibetan language) and Theravada Buddhism in Yunnan Province (Pali language).

A. <Han Chinese Buddhism>

Buddhism introduced into the Han Chinese region of China, after a long period of classical transmission and translation, lectures, melting, and combining with the traditional Chinese culture Ding, thus forming a variety of schools and sects with national characteristics; and spreading out to Korea, Japan and Vietnam.

History The date of the introduction of Buddhism into the Chinese Han Dynasty has not yet been determined by the academic community. In ancient Chinese historical records, there is a record of 18 people, including Shamen Muri Defense, who came to China at the time of Emperor Qin Shi Huang. According to the Shanmilu Vipasha, in the time of King Ashoka, after the third assembly of Buddhism, the great Buddhist monk Mahārāja was sent to the world of Yenāna (Han); and Mādhārā?a was sent to the border country of the snowy mountains. According to the Tibetan Dharanatha History of Indian Buddhism, the monk Shanmai went to Dajina to propagate the Dharma at the time of King Dharma Ashoka. According to the Buddhist History of South China, the monk Shanmai went to Dajina to propagate the Dharma at the time of Dharma Ashoka. The above activities cannot be confirmed because there is no translation of the remains of these teachings.

Beginning of the Han Jianyuan two years to Yuan Shuo three years (139 ~ ~ 126 BC), Zhang Qian mission to the Western Regions, had seen in Daxia from the bream trafficked Shu cloth, Qiongzhu staff, indicating that at that time there was a civil exchange between India and China, and may be Buddhism has been introduced to the Han Dynasty. Han Wu Di also opened up the sea channel and the east coast of India, such as the Yellow Branch to establish contact. In recent years, archaeological discoveries, the Eastern Han Dynasty in Sichuan Pengshan tombs have been Buddha, Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province, Kongwangshan Buddhist cliff carvings initially confirmed that also belongs to the Eastern Han Dynasty. Ming Emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty in Yongping eight years (65) gave Chu Wang Ying edict that it "Shang Fudu's Ren Shrine, clean fasting for three months, and the gods for the oath", it can be seen that there has been the introduction of Buddhism at that time. The introduction of the classics, according to legend, began in the first year of the Han Yuan Shou (2 BC), the king of the Dayuezhi made Icun oral teaching doctor disciple Jinglu to Faudu Sutra (Buddhist scriptures), but to find out what the scriptures, has been lost. It is said that the 42 Chapters of the Sutra were sent to the Western Regions during the Yongping period (58-75 A.D.), and that this was the first time that Buddhism was introduced to China. Whether this is a historical fact or not is quite controversial in recent times. Because of the war in the Western Regions at that time, transportation was cut off, and it was not until the 16th year of Yongping that the area was opened. Therefore, it can only be assumed that Buddhism began to spread into the Han areas around the beginning of the Gregorian calendar. The spreading area was centered on Chang'an and Luoyang, and spread to Pengcheng (Xuzhou) and other places. At that time, some people thought that Buddhism was a kind of fairy magic, so Emperor Huan sacrificed the Yellow Emperor, Laozi and Buddha together, "reciting Huanglao's micro-phrases, and Shangfudu's benevolent shrine", and treating the Shamen as the same as the Fangshi.

Three Kingdoms period After the succession of Han, the Shamans of Tianzhu, Anshi, and Kangju, such as Tanko Kara, Tanti, and Kang Shengjia, came to the capital of Wei, Luoyang, to engage in the translation of scriptures; and Zhiqian went to the capital of Wu to propagate the Dharma in Jianye (present-day Nanjing, Jiangsu Province). Zhi Qian was honored by Sun Quan and made a doctor; he also built a pagoda for Kang Sheng Hui. Tanko Kara and Tanti were excellent in legal studies and translated a volume of precepts of the Mahabharata, the Heart of Precepts of Monks and Goddesses. He advocated that monks should follow the Buddha's system and be endowed with the precepts, which was the beginning of the precepts and precepts in Chinese Buddhism. Tantui also translated a volume of Tammu De Karmapa at the Baima Temple. In addition, Kang Shengjia also translated the "Yu Jia elder asked the sutra" and "immeasurable life sutra" and so on 4 parts. The translation of sutras in Wu began in Wuchang and flourished in Jianye. Zhiqian specialized in translating sutras as a business, the translation of canonical books widely involved in the large and small sections of sutras and laws, ****88, 118 volumes, the existing 51, 69 volumes; Kang Sheng will be translated the "six set of sutras," such as 9 volumes. At that time, the translation of the sutras, both large and small, was carried out. The Hinayana classics emphasized Zen, focusing on guarding the spirit and nourishing the mind ("guarding the mind"); the Mahayana favored prajna. The translation of sutras and the propagation and study of doctrines at this stage laid the initial ideological foundation for the development of Buddhism during the Wei, Jin, and North-South Dynasties. In addition, this period of the temple and pagoda construction, Buddha sculpture also has a scale, but today there are very few surviving.

North and South Dynasties of South Song, Qi, Liang and Chen emperors were all Buddhist. Emperor Wu of Liang was a firm believer in Buddhism, called himself "three precious slaves", four times to give up his body into the temple, all by the state to pay for the redemption. He established a large number of temples, personally preaching, holding a grand fast. Liang Dynasty, there are 2,846 temples, monks and nuns more than 82,700 people, in Jiankang (now Nanjing, Jiangsu Province), there are more than 700 large temples, monks and nuns often have ten thousand people. Although there were incidents of banning Buddhism in the Northern Wei Dynasty during the reign of Emperor Taiwu and Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, in general, the successive emperors fostered Buddhism. Emperor Wencheng of the Northern Wei Dynasty excavated the Yungang Grottoes in Datong; after moving the capital to Luoyang, Emperor Xiaowen began to create the Longmen Grottoes in honor of his mother. At the end of the Northern Wei Dynasty, the circulating Buddhist scriptures*** counted 415 parts and 1,919 volumes, and there were about 30,000 monasteries and more than 2 million monks and nuns. Under the jurisdiction of the monk officials of the Northern Qi Dynasty, there were more than 4 million monks and nuns and more than 40,000 temples. In the Southern Ming of the North and South, a large number of foreign monks traveled to China to propagate the Dharma, among them the famous ones were Chonavarman, Chonavarman, Zhenshi, Bodhidhuryuzhi, and Lenamurti. China also had a group of believers who traveled to India, such as the famous Fa Xian, Zhi Mang, Song Yun, Huisheng, etc. had gone to North India on a tour and brought back a large number of Buddhist scriptures.

Sui-Tang The development of Buddhism through the Wei, Jin and North and South Dynasties, both ideologically and economically for the Sui and Tang dynasties created the conditions for the creation of Buddhist sects with Chinese characteristics. After the unification of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty issued an edict to build a temple in each of the five mountain resorts, and restored the temple statues of Buddha destroyed in the period of the Northern Zhou's ban on Buddhism. In the capital city of Daxing City (southeast of Chang'an City in Han Dynasty), the Daxingxian Temple was established as a state temple to carry out the Buddhist policy. During the period of Renshou (601-604), 111 stupas of relics were built in the whole country, and translation centers were set up extensively to invite Chinese and foreign translators and famous monks to translate and explain Buddhist classics. Emperor Yang followed Emperor Wen's policy of protecting Buddhism and established the famous Huiridaochang in Yangzhou as a stronghold for spreading Buddhism, and continued to develop the scripture translation business of his predecessors, and Buddhism flourished. During the years of Renshou, there were 3,792 important monasteries in the country, 230,000 monks, 328,616 volumes of 46 collections of scriptures were written, 3,853 old scriptures were repaired, and 1,508,940 small and large stone statues of Zun were created to repair the old statues.

The Tang Dynasty was the heyday of Chinese Buddhism. Although the Tang emperors claimed to be descended from Laozi, the founder of Taoism, and honored Taoism, they actually adopted a policy of parallelism between Taoism and Buddhism. When Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty was clearing out the sects and calming down the riots, he had the help of monks and soldiers; after his accession to the throne, he issued an edict to establish monasteries and temples in the country's "warring places" and set up a scripture translation institute in the Daci'en Temple, which invited famous monks both at home and abroad to carry out the translation of scriptures and propagate the cause, and trained a large number of senior monks and scholars. After Emperor Gaozong succeeded to the throne, he set up official temples in the imperial capital and various states to pray for the peace and prosperity of the country; Wu Zetian even ordered various states to set up the Dayun Temple. During the Tang Dynasty, Buddhist monks were highly honored and rewarded. The monk Bukong worked for Emperor Xuanzong, Emperor Suzong, and Emperor Daizong, and was given the title of Duke of Su Guo; after his death, Emperor Daizong abolished the court for three days to show his condolences. During the Tang Dynasty, there were many famous Buddhist monks in China, and their interpretation of Buddhist doctrine exceeded that of the previous generation in both depth and breadth, thus laying the theoretical foundation for the establishment of many sects with national characteristics. Moreover, Buddhist beliefs penetrated into the folklore, creating popular popular sermons, changing texts and other forms of literature and art. In architecture, sculpture, painting, music, etc., it made great achievements and enriched the treasury of Chinese national culture and art. In the Tang Dynasty, there are a large number of foreign monks, scholars to engage in missionary work and translation of the scriptures in China, China also has a lot of monks (such as Xuanzang, Yijing), not to spare the hardship to support the Indian study tours. Chinese Buddhist sects began to spread to Korea, Japan, Vietnam and Hualing (present-day Indonesia), strengthening the religious, cultural and commercial relations between China and other countries in the Crooked Continent. However, by the fifth year of Huichang (845), a large-scale ban on Buddhism occurred for various social and economic reasons. Wu Zong ordered the confiscation of monastery land and property, the destruction of Buddhist temples and statues, the elimination of Shamen, and the ordering of monks and nuns to return to secularism. According to the records of Tang Hui Yao, there were more than 4,600 temples demolished, more than 40,000 Buddhist buildings such as Zhaoti and Lanruo, confiscated temple properties, and forced monks and nuns to return to secularism amounting to 260,500 people. Buddhism suffered a great blow.

Buddhism in the Sui and Tang dynasties flourished, leading to the establishment of various Mahayana sects. The important ones are the Tiantai Sect founded by Zhiyi; the Sanlun Sect founded by Jizang; the Dharma Sect founded by Xuanzang and Peugeot; the Ruling Sect founded by Daoxuan, Fadong, and Huaisu, with the Nanshan, Sangbu, and Dongtajia; the Pure Land Sect founded by Tanluan of the Northern Wei Dynasty and succeeded by Daoxue of the Sui Dynasty, and integrated by Shandao of the Tang Dynasty; and the Ch'an Sect, with the North Sect and the South Sect founded by Shenxiu and Huineng, both of whom were Hongneng's disciples, and which came into existence one after another after the mid-Tang period. After the middle of the Tang Dynasty, there emerged the "Five Schools of Zen", i.e. Weiyang, Linji, Caodong, Yunmen, and Fayan; the Huayan Sect founded by Fa Zang; and the Tantric Sect laid down by the Indian monks Shan Wufei, Vajra Zhi, Bukong, and Huiguo. After the founding of these sects, they soon spread overseas with the opening up of China's foreign transportation in the Sui and Tang dynasties.

The Two Songs In the early Northern Song Dynasty, the imperial court adopted a protective policy toward Buddhism. Jianlong first year (960) of the universal monks 8,000 people, followed by 157 people sent Xingqin to India to seek the law, and make the Commission from the letter in Yizhou (now Chengdu, Sichuan Province) carve the Great Tibetan scriptures version. Taiping Xingguo first year (976) and the universal monks 170,000 people, five years to set up the translation of the Scripture Institute, resumed from the Tang Dynasty Yuan and six years (811) since the interruption of the translation of the Scriptures of the 170-year-long period. At the same time, monks from the Western Regions and Ancient India brought scriptures to China in an endless stream, and by the beginning of the Jingyou period (1034-1037), there were already more than 80 monks. The scale of scripture translation exceeded that of the Tang Dynasty, but the achievements were slightly less. The Zen sects, especially Linji and Yunmen, were the most prevalent, followed by Tiantai, Huayan, Ruling, and Pure Land sects. Because of the mutual integration of the various sects, they provided "consistency in teaching (Tiantai and Huayan) Zen" and "consistency in purifying Zen", and thus Huayan Zen, Nenbutsu Zen, and so on, became widely popular. In addition, the Tiantai Sect was divided into the Shanjia and Shanwai sects, and the Nenbutsu associations in the private sector were particularly prosperous and influential. In the fifth year of Tianxi (1021), there were nearly 460,000 monks and nuns in the world, and nearly 40,000 monasteries, which was the peak of the development of Buddhism in the Northern Song Dynasty. Huizong (1101-1125), because of the court's strong belief in Taoism, once ordered the merger of Buddhism and Taoism, and changed the monasteries for Taoist temples, Buddhism once suffered a blow.

Southern Song Dynasty, although Buddhism still maintains a certain prosperity, but due to official restrictions on the development of Buddhism, in addition to Zen, Pure Buddhism, the other sects have been increasingly declining far from the past. Ch'an Buddhism did not emphasize scripture and theories, so it was less affected by the ban on Buddhism in Huichang and the Five Dynasties' military turmoil. The Pure Land Sect emphasized the Buddha's name and chanting the name of Amitabha Buddha, which was simple and easy to do, and after the Northern Nation, many Zen monks returned to the Pure Land, so it was able to continue until the recent times, and is still based on the prevalence of the Pure Land.

Song Confucianism, on the one hand, draws on the Buddhist Huayan, Zen thought, thus enriching the content of the scriptures, on the other hand, criticized and rejected Buddhism. The most famous of those who rejected Buddhism was Ouyang Xiu, but Ouyang Xiu's idea of rejecting Buddhism was opposed by the monk Qisong, the prime ministers of the Song Dynasty, Zhang Shangying, Li Gang and Liu Tranquillity, etc. Zhang Shangying wrote The Essay on the Protection of the Dharma. Zhang Shangying's "Treatise on the Protection of the Dharma" created the theory of reconciling the three religions, arguing that the way of Confucius and the way of knowledge of the heart and the supreme bodhi advocated by Buddhism were no different from the way of Confucianism to cure the disease of the skin, the way to cure the disease of the blood, and the way of Buddhism to cure the disease of the bone marrow, and that there was no contradiction in the original purpose of the three religions. Liu Tranquillity's "Treatise on the Three Religions and the Equalization of Minds" also plays out the same purpose.

Yuan, Ming, and Qing The rulers of the Yuan dynasty revered Tibetan Buddhism, but also adopted a policy of protection for Chinese Buddhism. The Ch'an and Ruling traditions of Buddhism continued to spread and develop, and there were many monasteries with 213,000 monks and nuns. The central and local governments had a strict system of monastic officials to supervise the work, and issued the Edicts of the Hundred Tais of Qing Dynasty, and engraved and printed the famous Puning Monastery version of the Da Zang Jing (Great Tibetan Scriptures).

After the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, the four great masters of Buddhism, namely, Hong, Zhenke, Deqing, and Zhixu, further developed the trend of integrating the doctrines of Zen, Buddhism, and Buddhism internally, and combining Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism externally, and were therefore very popular with the scholars and commoners in general, and made Buddhism more characteristic of China.

The early Qing dynasty royal family worshiped Tibetan Buddhism, and adopted a restrictive policy towards Chinese Buddhism. Kangxi when the ban slightly relaxed, to welcome the end of the Qing Ming Dynasty reclusive monks returned to the capital, so that the decline of Buddhism has been a moment and Wu now active weather. Yongzheng although attach importance to Tibetan Buddhism, but advocates Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, and the same body, parallel and not contradictory, to provide the integration of various schools of Buddhism. He personally produced the book of "picking the devil to identify differences", "the imperial selection of the discourse", to provide regardless of the differences and similarities of the sects, should be chanting Buddha, on the recent Buddhism has an important impact. During the Qianlong period, he published the Dragon Collection and edited the Chinese, Manchu, Mongolian, and Tibetan Mantras, which played a role in promoting the development of Buddhism. Since the end of the Qing Dynasty, Yang Wenhui, Ouyang Jingwu and others, driven by the study of Buddhism in Japan and Western Europe, founded scripture-engraving offices, Buddhist colleges, Buddhist societies and so on, opening up a new period for the study of Buddhist doctrine. Modern Chinese thinkers such as Kang Youwei, Tan Sitong, Zhang Taiyan and Liang Qichao were all influenced by Buddhism. Buddhist thought had been one of the ideological sources of the Renxue system established by Tan Sitong. In addition, a group of famous monks, such as Yuexia, Shixian, Yuanying, Taixu, Hongyi, etc., also rose up to engage in the revitalization and promotion of Buddhism, which gave rise to a new atmosphere in Buddhism.

B. <Tibetan Buddhism>

Tibetan Buddhism, or Tibetan-Tibetan-speaking Buddhism (commonly known as Lamaism), was formed in the second half of the 10th century, and began to circulate in Mongolia in the mid-13th century, where it is still practiced today by the Mongols, the Turks, and the Yugus.

History The development of Buddhism in Tibet was divided into the "pre-expansion period" and the "post-expansion period". The former from the 7th century to 838 Rang Dharma ban on Buddhism for about 200 years. The latter year of the beginning of quite a lot of different, according to the Zhongdunba said, when the beginning of 978, so far has reached a thousand years.

Former Hiroshima At the beginning of the Tubo Zangpo Songtsen Gampo married Nepal Shak Zun Princess and Princess Wencheng of the Tang Dynasty, and for them to bring the statue of the Buddha to build the Da Zhao Temple and the small Zhaoshaoshaoshaoshaoshaosha. Legend has it that at that time had invited the Indian Kusara, Nepalese to Dal and the Han Chinese Daitenshou monk translated a small number of classics, but did not establish the sangha. According to yi jing "datang western region seeks the law monks biography" records, at that time the tang monk to return to india, more take the road to tufan, some people also had been by wenwang to the lord of the courtesy. To Chide Zuzan when he married the Tang Dynasty Princess Jincheng, built a lot of temples, Han Buddhism was introduced. At the same time, because of the turmoil in the western region and the great food east invasion, ü-Tsang and Central Asia and other places of the monks and disciples also flowed into the Tubo, Chide Zuzan are to be accommodated. He had also sent to the Gangdis Mountain to welcome the Indian Tantric Teachers Buddha Mi and Buddha Silence, the two resigned from the future. In his later years, he also sent minister Sang Xi and other four people to go to Han to retrieve a large number of classics and bring back a Han monk. After the death of Chide Zuzan, worship of the noble ministers of the religion in power, launched the first ban on the Buddha movement, expulsion of Han, Nepal and other places of the monks, the demolition of temples. To Zanpur Chisong Dezan older pro-government, and only then restored Buddhism. Chisong Dezan invited from India, Silent Guardian and Lotus Sang, camped Sangye Monastery, the degree of monks monk, the establishment of the Sangha system, to welcome translators to translate the classics. Also had summoned the Buddhists and this religious Qandi debate to eliminate the Buddha; and held the debate between the Chinese monks and the Indian monks to unify the faith. Chisong Dezan after the Muni Zangpo, Sai Na Lei Chidzongzan two generations, to the Reba towel Chi Zu Dezan reign, please India, Tibetan monks to validate the translation of the name, editing Sanskrit Tibetan thesaurus, proofreading the translation of the classics, compiled three major translations of the directory. According to Gaden catalog, before the translation of the Hinayana, Mahayana, revealed, dense sutra, law, thesis, note **** more than 700 kinds of. He also stipulated that "seven households should support the monks" and appointed the monk Bhaisahab as the prime minister, entrusting him with military and political power. Finally, the anti-Buddhist ministers murdered Chizuo Detsen and installed his brother Rangdama as the heir to the throne, banning the spread of Buddhism in Tubo. After this campaign of banning Buddhism, it was only after more than 100 years (838-978) that Buddhism was reintroduced into Tibet from the Dokan region, beginning the Latter Day Saint period.

The latter period saw the formalization of Tibetan Buddhism. The word "lama" means "master" in Tibetan. Tantric Buddhism in the teacher as Buddha, the master is the first and advocate "four conversion", different from the pre-Buddhist "three conversion". This period of Tibetan Buddhism was characterized by a large number of translations of the classics and teachings of the Supreme Yoga Department of Tantra, which had flourished during the period of the Polo Dynasty in India, as well as the formation of various sects based on the Tantric heritage. In the early 13th century, not only did many Indian monks who were well versed in both Tantra and Buddhism come to Tibet to preach and translate scriptures, but also a large number of Tibetan monks went to India and Nepal to learn the Dharma and later became famous translators. There are more than 300 famous translators on both sides. These translations were later included in the Ganjur and Danjur. 1680 carved into the Beijing edition, Ganjur has 1055, Danjur has 3522, ***4577. 1730 carved into the Derge edition, Ganjur has 1114, Danjur has 3559, ***4673. Japan to Beijing version of the main photocopy of the Tibet sutra income Ganjur 1055, Danjur 4907, ***5962. Chinese and Tibetan two kinds of text of the sutra compared to each other have short and long. Chinese scriptures in the collection of four "ahant", "nirvana sutra", "great collection of scriptures", law collection of "ten recitation law", "four points of the law", "mishasai law", etc., on the collection of the "dazhidu letter paper", "the great vishnu bhasha theory", "into the truth", "shunzheng theory", such as the translation of the important canon of Tibet is not available. In the Tibetan sutras Ganjur and Danjur, there are a large number of sutras, treatises and explanations of the Supreme Yoga Department of Tantric Buddhism, as well as treatises on Zhongguancun, Yinming, declarations, medicines, calendars, and crafts, etc., which are not available in Chinese translation. In addition, the Tibetan monks of various schools of writings are also very large, but are not Tibetan Tibetan Tahitaka Mongolian translation, began in Yuan Chengzong (1295 ~ 1307), to the Ming Shenzong (1573 ~ 1619) to complete the translation of the Ganjur, to the early Qing dynasty Zhangjia Hutuketu completed the translation of the Danjur. The Manchu translation of the Tibetan scriptures was completed at the end of the Qing dynasty Qianlong (1736 ~ 1795).

The various schools of Tibetan Buddhism were gradually formed in the latter part of the period. In the former period, there was only a dispute over the text of the Buddha, and there were no different factions within Buddhism. In the latter part of the period of inheritance due to the different sects, the larger Nyingma, Kadang, Sakya, Kagyu, Gelugpa, smaller Hsi Xie, Jue Yu, Jue Nang, Guozha, Xialu and other factions. Although this religion is the original religion of Tibet, but in the latter part of the period of gradual integration with Buddhism, part of which has also become a faction of Buddhism.

C. <Yunnan Theravada Buddhism>

Yunnan Dai and other ethnic minority Buddhism, belonging to the Pali language family, that is, the southern Theravada Buddhism, it and the north of the Hinayana Buddhism in the teachings, doctrines have different development and each has its own characteristics. There are relatively complete translations of the sutras, laws, and treatises of Northern Hinayana in the Chinese Tripitaka. The monk Fa Xian once traveled to Shizi State (present-day Sri Lanka) to copy the sutras and laws, but it is not possible to say whether the Miscellaneous Ahan Sutras that he brought back with him was originally in Pali or not. The Shanmilu Vipasha, translated in the seventh year of the Yongming reign (489) of the Southern Qi Dynasty, and the Ludo Treatise, translated in the fourteenth year of the Tianjian reign (515) of the Liang Dynasty, are from the Southern tradition. The Four Points of the Law, which is practiced by the Chinese Rulers, is also based on the same system as the Southern Tradition. The Ruling School often quotes from the Shanmilu Vipasha in explaining the meaning of the law. The precepts of the Chinese nuns were initially taught by more than ten persons, including Tetsara, a bhikkhuni from the Shizi Kingdom. Therefore, the precepts of the Han Dynasty have a very deep origin with the Southern Tradition. In terms of doctrine, there are also a lot of **** the same content. In the Southern Tripitaka in the "small part" of the "lineage collection" that is recorded in a variety of Paramita line of deeds, recognizing the Buddha's way not with the voice of the road ****, for the Mahayana theory of the precedent. In particular, he advocated the idea that "the mind is pure, but it is stained by dust", which is also in line with the fundamental idea of the early Zen sect of the Southern Ch'an Buddhism, which is that "all living beings are of the same true nature, but they are obstructed by dust". Recent studies have found that Dharma's wall view may be related to the application of the earth-colored manjara from the earth-pervasive place in the Southern Chuan Dingxue. From this we can see that Southern Pali Buddhism has a deep and intricate relationship with Chinese Mahayana Buddhism.

Southern Pali Theravada Buddhism has been historically documented as having been introduced from Burma to the Dai region of China's Yunnan province around the middle of the 7th century. Initially, there were no pagodas and the texts were transmitted only by word of mouth. Around the 11th century, Buddhism disappeared when people fled due to war. After the war subsided, Buddhism was spread to Xishuangbanna via Jingdong in Burma from Mengrun (the area around Chiangbian in present-day Thailand), and the Buddhist scriptures written in the Thai-run scriptures were imported with it. This is now the Run School of Buddhism in the Dai area. In addition, there was another Burmese Pendulum School of Buddhism that was introduced to Dehong Prefecture and other places. To the Southern Song Dynasty Jingyan two years (1277) after the creation of the Dai language began to be engraved and written in the Bayeux scriptures. In the third year of the Longqing period of the Ming Dynasty (1569), when Princess Jinlian of Burma married Diao Yingmeng, the 19th Minister of Propaganda, the King of Burma sent a group of monks with the Tripitaka texts and Buddha statues to preach Buddhism. Initially, a large number of pagodas were built in the Jinghong area, and not less than two Burmese monks spread Buddhism to Dehong, Gengma, Menglian and other places, and then Theravada Buddhism became prevalent among the Dai people in these areas.

The content of the classics is the same as that of the southern Pali-speaking Tripitaka, but there are slight differences in the order of compilation. The Tripitaka contains the Dai translation and commentary of the Pali language and the Dai translation of some important classics, as well as a large number of writings of the Dai and the Brown people. In addition to the commentary of the classics, there are also astronomical, calendrical and arithmetical texts, medicinal texts, history, poems, legends, and stories of the Buddhist scriptures, etc. The Tripitaka is now a major source of Buddhist literature in these areas.

At present, Theravada Buddhism in Yunnan can be divided into four sects according to its name: Run, Pendulum Zhuang, Duo Lei, and Zuo Gion, which can be subdivided into eight subsects. The Dai boys must become monks when they reach school age, study culture and knowledge in monasteries, and then return to secularism when they are close to adulthood. Individuals who are recognized as outstanding can continue to stay in the monastery for further studies and gradually rise to become official monks according to their rank. Monk rank can be roughly divided into pa (shaman), all (bhikkhu), hu ba (all the unity of the elders), sha mi (sha men unity of the elders), sinhala jataka (monks, monks, the master of the elders, the monks of the rank of a long time to the virtual post no one), pa zhao hu (explication of the elders), song di (monks are the elders), Song Dee ajamani (great monks are the elders), and so on the eight levels. Or, before Pa, add Pano (lineage children) one level, after Du, add Du Long (Sindhu) one level is ten levels. Since the promotion of more than five levels is very strict, the last two levels in the entire Xishuangbanna region were only awarded to the Dai and Brown each one, to become the region's highest religious leader.