The Main Teachings of Buddhism and Their Development and Spread Q&A

First, the basic teachings of Buddhism.

The starting point of Buddhist theory is the view of life, which concentrates on the idea that all life is suffering and how to relieve it. Therefore, Buddhist teachings are centered on the basic problems of life. Although the views of Buddhism have varied in different periods of history and from one school to another, the basic doctrines are the same. These teachings are: the Four Noble Truths, the Three Worlds of Dual Causes and Effects, the Three Dharma Seals, the Twelve Causes, and the Eightfold Path.

First, the Four Noble Truths.

The Four Noble Truths, meaning "truths," are the four truths that the Buddha discovered and taught, namely, the Noble Truth of Suffering, the Noble Truth of Setting, the Noble Truth of Destruction, and the Noble Truth of the Way. The Noble Truth of Suffering discusses the fact that all life in the secular world is suffering, specifically the eight sufferings: birth, old age, sickness, death, love and separation, hatred and resentment, seeking and not being able to seek, and the five blazing sufferings of the skandhas.

The Collective Meaning speaks of the causes of life's suffering. According to Buddhism, the root cause of life's suffering lies in people's wrong worldview and outlook on life (ignorance), and in their inner world of "I-ness" and "Dharma-ness". Because people stubbornly defend the unreal self and all things, they create all kinds of "karmic debts" and endless troubles, which is the root cause of life's suffering.

The Noble Truth holds that the creation of life's sufferings and troubles can be eradicated, and that when the sufferings and troubles are eliminated, one is liberated from the cycle of birth and death and reaches the eternal state of nirvana.

The Dhammapada discusses the specific methods and ways to get rid of suffering and reach nirvana. Buddhism recognizes eight methods, known as the Eightfold Path.

The eightfold path.

1. Right View. The correct insight into the truth of the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism.

2. Right Thinking. Correct thinking about the Four Noble Truths.

3. Right Speech. Speaking in conformity with the Buddha's teachings.

4. Right Karma. Right activity.

5. Right life. A proper life that conforms to Buddhist precepts.

6. Right Refinement. Rightly assiduous practice.

7. Right Thought. Correct mindfulness.

8. Right meditation. Concentrated practice of Buddhist meditation to achieve the state of nirvana.

Third, the Twelve Causes.

Buddhism advocates that all beings are constantly flowing in the river of birth and death, and can never get rid of the suffering of reincarnation, in which there are twelve kinds of karmic factors that make up the three dual karmic relationships. These twelve causes are: "ignorance" causes "action", "action" causes "reality", The twelve causes are: "ignorance" causes "action", "action" causes "reality", "reality" causes "name and color", "name and color" causes "six places", "six places" causes "touch", "six places" causes "touch", and "six places" causes "touch". "Touch", "Touch", "Reception", "Reception". Love", "love", "love", "take", "take", "have", "have", "have", "have", "have", "have", "have", "have", "have", "have

Fourth, the Three Dharma Seals.

The Three Dharma Seals refer to the three criteria for verifying whether or not they are true Buddhist views and theories. Specifically: 1. The impermanence of all actions. The view that all things in the universe are infinitely variable.2. The dharmas have no self. It is believed that all phenomena are the result of karma, and there is no independent entity as the master. 3. Nirvana Silence. Requires believers to cut off all worries, get rid of the cycle of birth and death, and achieve the state of nirvana.

The origin of Buddhism and its development in India

Buddhism is one of the world's oldest religions, and is also the third largest contemporary world religion, with its Asia, spreading very widely, affecting the traditional cultures of many countries, is a very important part of the history of the development of Eastern civilization.

Buddhism originated in ancient India in the sixth - fifth centuries BC, equivalent to China's Spring and Autumn period, about two thousand five hundred years ago. The period of the rise of Buddhism was the period of the rapid development of India's slave economy and the rise of a large number of city-states. At that time, there were sixteen countries in North India, the more important of which were the Magadha and the Brushala countries, both of which were areas where Buddhism became popular earlier.

A notable feature of class relations in ancient India was the system of caste separation. Brahminism divided people into four castes: the Brahmins (priests), the Kshatriyas (warriors and military aristocrats), the Vaishyas (peasants, craftsmen, and merchants), and the Shudras (wage laborers, slaves, and natives). Each caste had a different status, power, duties, and way of life in society, and there were strict boundaries. The Brahmins were known as the "gods of the earth", the intellectual monopoly of the time, and the guides of the spiritual life of the people. The Kshatriyas were the main pillars of kingship. These two classes largely constituted the slave-owning class. Therefore, the Indian society of this period was characterized by sharp class conflicts and prominent ethnic conflicts. Under this situation, many new religious and philosophical trends called "Shaman" emerged in Indian society to confront and criticize Brahminism. At that time, there were said to be 363 kinds of opinions, and Buddhism was one of them.

Nearly all of them centered on major philosophical questions about the universe and life. In the view of Buddhism, however, all schools of thought, including Brahminism, were exoteric.

It is said that Siddhartha Gautama was born of the Kshatriya caste, his father being the king of Kabiravi, and his mother, Lady Moya. Siddhartha Gautama's mother died on the seventh day of his birth and he was raised by his aunt. Siddhartha began studying the Vedas and martial arts at the age of 8. He married at the age of 17 and had a son after the marriage. at the age of 29, he became a monk because he felt the impermanence of life and had a strong desire to be free from the suffering of birth and death. After he became a monk, he first studied meditation with Avalokiteshvara and Yudhishthira, the pioneers of numerology, and practiced austerities for six years, but he thought that he could not achieve liberation by doing so. So he sat in meditation under a tree of Bibhuti Bhola on the banks of the Niren Chandra River outside Wangsha City, and after seven days and seven nights of contemplation on the universe and life, he finally attained "enlightenment". At this time he was already 35 years old, which is called Buddhahood. From then on, he began to spread Buddhism and established the first Buddhist sangha. Until his death at the age of 80, Siddhartha Gautama preached for 45 years.

Buddhism in India from rise to fall about 1500 years, *** divided into four stages of development: primitive Buddhism, sectarian Buddhism, Mahayana Buddhism and Tantra.

The spread of Buddhism in China

When Buddhism was introduced to China, there have been different accounts, some put the time to the end of the third century BC Qin Shi Huang and even Confucius, but not credible. Academics generally believe it was in 2 B.C. (the first year of Yuan Shou of the Han Dynasty Emperor Ai) that Jing Lu of the Kingdom of the Great Lunar Clan went on a mission to China and taught a copy of the Fudo Sutra to his doctoral disciple, Yi Cun. In the 10th year of Yongping of the Eastern Han Dynasty (67 AD), Emperor Ming of the Han Dynasty sent Cai Chuan and eighteen others to the Western Regions in search of the Buddha's teachings, and when they encountered the monks Regent Morten and Zhu Fan in the Dayuezhi, they returned together to Luoyang. The court built the White Horse Temple in Luoyang for the monks and first translated the Buddhist scripture, the Forty-two Chapters of the Sutra. Thereafter, An Shigao, a monk of the Anshi Kingdom, and Zhi Prophecy and Zhi Qian of the Dayue Clan successively translated Buddhism and spread the Dharma in China.

When Buddhism first came to China, it was regarded as a kind of Huanglao Dao. The world also regarded Buddha as a god. Therefore, Buddhists in the Wei and Jin dynasties often used Laozhuang to explain their teachings, which enabled them to gain a foothold among the scholars. During the two Jin dynasties, a large number of Buddhist scriptures were translated, and with the significant development of the doctrine of righteousness, especially the combination of the doctrine of Prajna and metaphysics, it became a fashionable trend for a while. During the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the north and the south were divided, and Buddhism also developed regional differences between the north and the south. The representatives of northern Buddhism were Tao An and Hatamarash, centered in Chang'an, emphasizing the practice of strict rituals and advocating the idea of Maitreya's Pure Land. Southern Buddhism maintains the Western Jinn cultural tradition of clear talk and mysticism, and focuses on the discussion of righteousness and doctrine.

Buddhism developed greatly during the Northern and Southern Dynasties. The South Dynasty emphasized the study of righteousness, and the number of monks and nuns was not as large as that of the North Dynasty; at its peak, during the Liang Dynasty, there were 2,846 monasteries and 82,700 monks and nuns. The Northern Dynasty emphasized religious practice, and the proportion of monks and nuns in the total population reached an unprecedented level. At the end of the Northern Wei Dynasty, there were more than 30,000 monasteries and more than two million monks and nuns. During the Northern Qi Dynasty, the number of monasteries increased to more than 40,000, with nearly three million monks and nuns. According to the Emperor Wen Xuan of Northern Qi, "Ask Sha Tuo Shi Li edict," said: "There is the Velvet (refers to monks and nuns) of the crowd, half of the common people; yellow clothing (Taoist) disciples, the number of more than the right household."

Beijing Zhou, which was embattled with Northern Qi, Emperor Wu ordered more than two million monks, nuns and Taoist priests to return to secularism. Throughout the north, monks and nuns **** more than four million people, ten times the number of monks and nuns in the later Tang Dynasty.

During the period of the North and South Dynasties, many schools of Chinese Buddhism were formed, such as the Pythagorean masters, the Chengshi masters, the Sanlun masters, the Regent masters, the Ten Recitations masters, the Nirvana masters, the Geomantic masters, the Four Discourses masters, the Four Documents masters, the Pure Land masters, and the Lengjia masters. After the Sui and Tang dynasties, due to the longer period of national unification, the development of Buddhism was more influenced by many factors of Chinese society, such as politics, economy and culture, and gradually tended to be "Chinese" in character. During the Sui and Tang dynasties, a number of Buddhist sects with Chinese characteristics were formed: the Sanlun Sect, the Tiantai Sect, the Dharma Sect, the Avatamsaka Sect, the Rudraksha Sect, the Zen Sect, the Pure Land Sect, and the Tantric Sect.

The attitude of rulers in feudal society toward Buddhism has traditionally been one of both utilization and control. Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty abolished Buddhism and Taoism; Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty vigorously developed Buddhism, with 230,000 monks and nuns, 3,792 temples, 132,086 scrolls of forty-six scriptures, and 106,580 statues of Buddha. Emperor Yang ordered Shamen to pay tribute to the emperor, so that unethical monks and nuns to return to secularism; Tang Dynasty many emperors consciously use and control Buddhism, especially Wu Zetian once used Buddhist scriptures and monks to clear the way for his empire, Tang Gaozu once ordered some monks and nuns to be eliminated, and Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty once took this measure, Tang Wuzong ordered the destruction of temples and statues and forced monks and nuns to return to secularism in two years of Huichang, and demolished more than 4,600 large temples and more than 40,000 small ones, and returned to secularism. More than 40,000, more than 260,000 monks and nuns. During the Five Dynasties period, Shizong of the later Zhou Dynasty followed suit and also once made a great effort to exterminate Buddhism. The rulers of the Tang and Song dynasties restricted Buddhism mainly by setting up monastic officials or specialized administrative institutions, forbidding the building of private monasteries and the ferrying of monks, and implementing measures such as the examination for monkhood and the issuance of ultimatums to prove one's identity. Subsequent governments basically followed the same practice, and there was a tendency to strengthen the restrictions. During the Tang and Song dynasties, Buddhism still flourished and China became the center of the spread of Buddhism in the world. The ruling class was enthusiastic about the translation of Buddhist scriptures and the compilation of Tibetan scriptures, and set up specialized institutions for the translation of scriptures. In the fourth year of the Kaibao era (971), Emperor Taizu of the Song Dynasty ordered Zhang Congxin, a eunuch, to go to Yizhou to carve scripture boards and print China's first large collection of sutras, the Kaibaozang. The number of monks and nuns who became monks and nuns in the Song Dynasty was more relaxed than in the Tang Dynasty. By the time of Emperor Zhenzong of the Song Dynasty, the number of monks and nuns had increased from 67,403 in the beginning of the Song Dynasty to 458,954, and the total number of monks, nuns and Taoist priests in the seventh year of the Song Emperor Huizong's Xuanhe reign (1125) had reached a million. Buddhism in Liao was most flourishing during the Shengzong, Xingzong and Daozong dynasties. During the Jin and Yuan Dynasties, Buddhism was very popular and the status of monks was very high. In the Yuan Dynasty, there were 24,318 Buddhist monasteries and 213,148 monks and nuns in the 28th year of the Yuan Dynasty (1291). In the Ming Dynasty, the number of monks was strictly controlled. Due to the great increase in population in the Qing Dynasty, the number of monks and nuns also increased greatly, and by the end of the Qing Dynasty, there were about 800,000 monks and nuns in the country.

The main characteristics of the development of Buddhism after the Song Dynasty are: 1, the believers are more important than the study of righteousness; 2, Zen and Pure Buddhism is the most popular, and there is a fusion of the trend; 3, the promotion of Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism, and the unity of the three religions, and the unity of the theory of Zen and Buddhism. The gradual decline of Buddhism in the Ming and Qing dynasties, the reasons for which are manifold, but the main reason is the rise of Song and Ming philosophy, absorbing the ideological factors of Buddhism and Taoism that were favorable to feudal rule, and was regarded by the rulers of the Ming and Qing dynasties as the official orthodoxy. With the strengthening of the Ming and Qing feudal authoritarian state apparatus, monks and nuns were strictly controlled. By the end of the Qing Dynasty, the invasion of imperialist powers, the country's fortunes declined, and Buddhism fell into disrepair.

Modern Buddhism is characterized by polarization: on the one hand, Buddhist beliefs and folk beliefs, Taoist beliefs fused, so much so that the local chronicles of Buddhism as one of the traditional Chinese shrines; on the other hand, Buddhism stepped into the hall of academia, in the scholars and social celebrities, the winds of research, lectures and discussions prevailed for a while.

In the early years of the Republic of China, there was a tendency to revitalize Buddhism. Buddhists spread Buddhism among the people through the publication of classics, represented by Zheng Xuechuan, Yang Wenhui, Ouyang Jingwu. During the years of the Republic of China, a number of famous Buddhist masters emerged, such as Ouyang Jingwu, Taixu, Yuanying, Yinguang, Hongyi, Void, Ding Fubao, and Christina Lü. Some monks and believers responded to the changes of the times and put forward the idea of Buddhist reform in an attempt to revitalize Buddhism, the typical representative figure being Master Taixu.

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