What influence does Buddhism have on the history and culture of China?

Buddhism was introduced into China at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and after more than a thousand years of dissemination and integration, it had a far-reaching impact on the traditional culture of China. On the one hand, Buddhism, as a foreign culture, has its own independence; On the other hand, it interacted with China traditional culture, changed the connotation of China culture, and had a far-reaching impact on China's traditional philosophy, literature, language, art and folk customs.

1, the influence of Buddhism on China's philosophy.

Buddhism is a religion and a culture, which contains profound philosophical thoughts. Since Buddhism was introduced into China, China's traditional ideas, such as world outlook, outlook on life and morality, have been constantly influenced by Buddhism. Some concepts, consciousness, theory, mode of thinking and value system of Buddhism have gradually entered the minds of China people. After a long period of conflict and running-in, it gradually merged with China's original thoughts and became a part of China's ideological culture.

For example, China's traditional philosophy pays attention to the demonstration of ethical principles based on paternalistic consanguinity and the investigation of the relationship between man and nature based on governing the country and safeguarding the people. Although it also involves the origin of human beings and all life and the universe itself, the argument is not in-depth and unified. Although we attach importance to the worship of God, the sacrifice of ancestors and the teaching of Shinto, we lack theological proof of the soul and the world after death. He put forward the theory of human nature, such as good nature and evil nature, and preached from everything to the most holy, but his analysis and demonstration of psychology was rough. The introduction of Buddhism, with its complicated religious doctrines and philosophical theories, greatly stimulated and inspired the development of China's philosophy, providing rich materials and argumentation methods. From a big perspective, infinite time and space, the combination of body and function, the pure dyeing of heart (good and evil), the careful analysis of heart and the demonstration of the decisive role of heart in liberation and sanctification have all had a great influence on the enrichment and development of China's philosophy. Buddhism puts forward the concept of "reason" which connects the universe's noumenon (truth, reality and dharma) with the mind (Buddha's nature and true consciousness), and Zen's "mind is Buddha".

The liberation theory of "knowing each other" directly promoted the formation and development of Neo-Confucianism in Song and Ming Dynasties.

. The theory of Neo-Confucianism in Song and Ming Dynasties about the unity of heaven and man, the nature of death and the nature of temperament, and the method of self-cultivation that pays attention to quietness and respect are directly influenced by Buddhism.

2. The influence of Buddhism on China literature.

The influence of Buddhism on China literature goes deep into all fields of literature. From literary theory to specific creative skills, from genre style to specific creative content, it can be seen everywhere.

First of all, many Buddhist scriptures are great literary works, such as Vimalakīrti Sutra, which has high literary value. Secondly, Buddhism has an important influence on China's poetry. For example, there are more than 50,000 Tang poems, and one out of every ten poems is about Buddhism, especially Zen. Among them, there are traces of Buddhism in the poems of Wang Wei, Wei, Wei Yuan and He. Take Wang Wei as an example. Wang Wei's word "Mo" comes from classics. As an idyllic poet, there are paintings and poems in his poems, and he uses a lot of "emptiness" because everything in Buddhism is empty. For example, the poem "After the rain, the mountain is empty, and the autumn dusk stands", "How many sad things have happened in my life, and I don't want to sell it to an empty door", "There seems to be no one on the empty mountain, but I think I hear a voice", "When people are idle, the osmanthus falls, the night is quiet and the spring mountain is empty" and "It's cold and cloudy and autumn is quiet"; Thirdly, Buddhism has a great influence on China's novels. For example, in the Journey to the West in the four classical novels, there are Buddhist ideas: the Monkey King even claimed to be the Great Sage of Qi Tian, and no matter whether he went to heaven or went to sea, he could not escape from the palm of his hand; There are bodhisattvas, reincarnation, regions and hungry ghosts in the world. Another example is the dialogue between a monk and a Taoist at the beginning of A Dream of Red Mansions. Jia Baoyu finally became a monk and everything was empty. In addition, a source of logical thinking research comes from Buddhism.

3. The influence of Buddhism on the language of China.

Buddhism also has a direct influence on the development of China language. On the one hand, it is manifested in Chinese vocabulary: one third of Chinese vocabulary comes from or is influenced by Buddhism. Like some words from Buddhism, for example, nowadays, in Buddhism, the original meaning is when people have bad ideas; World, the original meaning of Buddhism is that the past, present and future are called "world", and all directions become "boundaries"; Speculation refers to Siddhartha Gautama's teaching method, which has been convinced by everyone, even the stubborn stone nodded; The blind touch the elephant, Buddhism means that all beings are blocked by ignorance and don't understand the truth of the universe; Throwing oneself to the ground is a Buddhist etiquette. Similar words are too numerous to mention. There are also many words influenced by Buddhism. For example, the word "liberation" first came from Historical Records, which was originally intended to reduce and excuse. Later, with the introduction of Buddhism, it was injected with a new meaning, that is, getting rid of distress and getting comfortable.

On the other hand, in Chinese phonology, we can also see the influence of Buddhism. Buddhist culture is one of the sources of China culture, which promotes the change of China's language methodology. In the Southern Dynasties, under the influence of Brahma Buddhism, people divided the tone of characters into four tones, which were used in metrical poems, which promoted the development of phonology and the production of metrical poems. In the way of phonetic notation, ancient scholars changed the shun tone which was popular since the Eastern Han Dynasty into the reverse tone, which may also be related to the influence of Sanskrit Pinyin.

4. The influence of Buddhism on art in China.

In the long history of China art, the influence of Buddhism is undeniable. Whether it is architecture, painting, sculpture, music, dance and drama, it is permeated with the influence of Buddhism.

For example, in architecture, the introduction of Buddhism greatly increased the brilliance of China's architectural art. According to the Records of the Later Han Dynasty, Xiang Kaizhuan, in nine years (166), Xiang Kaijian said to Emperor Huan, "Wen Gong is the shrine of the Yellow Tower." This is the earliest temple record in China. Since then, the architectural style of our country has joined the architectural style of India. From the poem "480 temples in Southern Dynasties" written by Du Mu, a poet in Tang Dynasty, we can know that there were as many as 480 temples in Jinling at that time. Besides monks, emperors and individuals built temples. The reasons for building temples are to pray for the people, to build temples for emperors, and to use temples as living places. We can also get a glimpse of the splendor of Yongning Temple from the magnificent scenery recorded in Luoyang Galand.

In the aspect of painting, the introduction of Indian Buddhist painting had a certain influence on the content and form of China's painting, stimulated and expanded the theme of China's figure painting, and there appeared painting varieties depicting the emperor, Confucius and Laozi. The blooming method with obvious three-dimensional effect used in Buddhist painting creation has brought new techniques to China's painting; The popularity of Buddhist murals has promoted the rapid development of Buddhist temples in China.

In music, Buddhist music is called "Brahma". "Biography of the Monk" said: "chanting is called reading, and singing praise is called Brahma. Yesterday, the heavens praised it, and they all entered the string tube to rhyme. " In order to expand its influence, Buddhism is often accompanied by music in large-scale sacrificial activities. During the Southern Dynasties and the Qi Dynasty, Xiaoliangzi once attracted a famous monk to "create new sounds by classics". Buddhist music is also very popular in northern monasteries, and there is a record of "Sanskrit sounds insulting the world" in the Biography of Galand in Luoyang. There are "seven songs" and "nine songs" in the court of Sui and Tang Dynasties. Western cool music has the dance music "Yu Wen Buddha Qu", and Tianzhu music has the dance music "Tianqu". During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Buddhist music was self-contained, with six kinds of music scores and songs. Therefore, Buddhist music also occupies a place in the music history of China.

In addition, the influence of Buddhism on sculpture, dance and drama can not be ignored. With the integration and development of Buddhism and China traditional culture, Buddhist factors can be seen everywhere in China's art.

5. The influence of Buddhism on China folk customs.

After Buddhism was introduced into China, it gradually became popular among the people. On the one hand, Buddhism has many festivals. With the continuous integration of Buddhism and China traditional culture, these festivals gradually crossed the high walls of Buddhist temples, combined with China folk festivals, and entered people's secular life, becoming a common folk custom at the age of 20. Such as Buddha's Birthday Festival, Kasahara Festival and Buddha's Light Festival. On the other hand, with the widespread spread of Buddhism in China, it has influenced the traditional beliefs of our people and added fresh colors to the local beliefs of China people. The scene of "every family is watching the world and Maitreya is everywhere" fully shows that Buddhist belief has been integrated into the secular life of Buddhism. Buddhist transactions are deeply rooted in people's hearts, such as karma and the six divisions in the wheel of karma, which, combined with China's original concept of soul, have a great influence on China's funeral customs. The Buddhist idea of mercy not killing animals has also formed the custom of releasing animals among the people.

6. The influence of Buddhism on the scientific development of China.

The Chinese nation is a creative nation and has made great contributions to mankind in science and technology. Buddhism has made great contributions to the development of science and technology in China during its introduction into China. These contributions are also multidisciplinary and multidisciplinary. Such as astronomy, geography, mathematics, medicine, etc. Especially in astronomical calendar and medicine, such as the eminent monks and their gatherings in the Tang Dynasty, they are one of the great representatives in the ancient astronomical calendar history of China. The introduction of Buddhism also brought medical knowledge in South Asia and promoted the development of Chinese medicine ~