Buddhism in the celestial empire

01-05-2005, 09:36 AM

Buddhism in the celestial empire
By M.S.N. Menon
"While the Indian civilisation was centred on God (to a large
extent), the Chinese civilisation was centred on man (almost
entirely)."

India has offered to build a Buddhist temple at Luoyang (central
China) at the very place where the first Buddhist temple was built
in the 2nd century a.d. It will be recalled that Atal Behari
Vajpayee spent a whole day there during his visit to China.

By the 8th century a.d., a third of the Chinese classics consisted
of works on India and Buddhism. That was the measure of the Indian
influence on China!

But, with all that, the Chinese civilisation was different. It went
its own way. While the Indian civilisation was centred on God (to a
large extent), the Chinese civilisation was centred on man (almost
entirely). And, in consequence, while the Indians became
impractical, the Chinese became extremely pragmatic and practical.

Let me give one example: faced with constant raids on their borders
by Central Asian nomads, the Chinese built the Great Wall of China—a
wonder of the world. The Indians, too, were subjected to constant
invasions from Central Asia. But they chose to remain slaves for
eight long centuries. True, the Chinese too were slaves. But they
appropriated the entire land of their conquerors. India must search
its soul.

To come back to our subject. The Buddha had something new to say. He
told his disciples: "O Bikkhus, go forth everywhere for the good of
the many, for the happiness of the many, for compassion for the
whole world." This was all about life, not about death. Nor did he
ask them to go, sword in hand, to kill or convert men by force as
some faiths did.

The Chinese were not a theocratic or theocentric people. They were
more concerned with life on earth. In this sense, they were very
much like the Greeks.

Was there, then, no God in Chinese life? There was. The Chinese
masses worshipped spirits of mountains and streams, while their
rulers worshipped the ruler in heaven. The Chinese did nothing
without consulting the spirits. But they kept the spirits at a
distance.

Chinese religious thought can be traced back to the Yellow Emperor
(about 25th century b.c.). By 12th century b.c., they had ideas of a
supreme spirit—a trial overlord, whom they called Ti or Shang Ti.
Shang Ti was surrounded by the ancestors of the emperor. They
protected the royal family. Thus, the Chinese took to ancestor
worship, and the emperor became the central figure in Chinese life.

Confucius, the first prophet of China, preached filial piety as the
principal virtue. He also preached devotion to the state. He had
little to say on God. To him, salvation consisted in the full
realisation of human nature.

Lao Tzu added a mystic element to Chinese life. He called upon men
to live in harmony with nature. "Be a companion with nature," he
used to say. Taoism (The Way) tried to provide philosophic answers
to human curiosity.

Chinese tradition has it that Emperor Ming (late Han period, a.d. 58-
75) dreamt of a golden Buddha. His officials brought a statue of the
Buddha and Buddhist scriptures from India—all on the back of a white
horse. The first Buddhist temple was built at Luoyang. It was called
the White Horse Temple, after the horse.

Buddhism, with its emphasis on nirvana, was out of tune with
Confucianism and Taosim. But Buddhism was a liberating force. It
liberated the Chinese from their superstitions. Over the years,
Buddhism learnt to co-exist with Taosim. Taosim absorbed the
practical aspects of Buddhism. For example, it took up dhyana (Ch'an
in Chinese, Zen in Japanese). Buddha was worshipped with Taoist
deities. To the ordinary Chinese, Buddha was a God.

As the Chinese emphasis was on life, and not on death, their main
preoccupation was with an ethical life. But their ethics was not
inspired by God. Benevolence was the keynote of Chinese ethics.

After the break up of the Han dynasty, Buddhism moved south. By
then, there were as many as 6,498 registered monasteries in northern
China alone. By a.d. 477, there were as many as 77,258 monks, 17,668
Buddhist temples and 3,000 Indian Buddhists in China. By a.d. 534,
there were as many as 30,000 monasteries.

The Confucians and Taoists resented this rapid growth of Buddhism,
especially of the `parasitic' monks. The emperor, on his part, was
afraid that the monks in league with disgruntled elements in Chinese
society might cause revolts. So in a.d. 446, he banned the practice
of Buddhism. But when his son came to power, he brought Buddhism
back to favour.

The message was clear: Buddhism did not fit into the Chinese dream
of turning China into a paradise, with its emphasis on nirvana.
Nirvana spawned monks by the thousands. And monks came to be
despised. Both Confucianism and Taoism, therefore, remained hostile
to the Buddhists.

When Kublai Khan, a Mongol Buddhist, invaded China in a.d. 1264, he
made Buddhism the official religion. Buddhism naturally spread
throughout China. The Chinese were outraged.

Thus, the association of Buddhism with the conquerors heightened the
hostility of the Chinese towards Buddhism. (Didn't we turn against
the Christians for their association with the British?) With the
conquest of China by the Manchus, Confucianism was back as state
religion. When the nationalists under Sun Yat Sen came to power,
there was less persecution of Buddhists. But persecution of a
different kind began under the communist regime.

Today China's is no more a communist regime. The regime is said to
have a human face. Religions are back in favour.

The Chinese were not concerned with life after death or immortality
of the soul. "Not yet understanding life, how can you understand
death?" asked Confucius. Death and the life after death—these were
subjects close to the heart of the Buddhists. Is there any wonder
then that the Chinese are Confucians while young, and Buddhists
before death? Yet another example of Chinese pragmatism?

Buddhism suffers only in one way: it cannot invoke, like
Confucianism, the nationalism of the Chinese, just as Christianity
and Islam cannot evoke the nationalism of the Indians (which is why
they are hostile to it). But Buddhism will remain in China, because,
in the final analysis, Buddhists are too numerous.

All these explain why China opposes attempts to impose Christianity
and Islam on the Chinese. They are more alien than Buddhism. But
this leaves one question unanswered: If the Chinese are against
foreign religions (and they are largely right in taking this stand),
how is it that they are trying to impose their way of life on the
Tibetans and the Muslims of Sinkiang?

(Shri Menon is the author of a book on China.)