Buddhism (Fójiào) (563 to 483 BC)

Siddhartha Gautama: The Enlightenment One

Earliest sources for the life of Buddha date from the 2nd century AD. Siddhartha was
born around 563 BC in Nepal. He grew up surrounded by luxury, married a beautiful
woman and had a happy life. At the age of 29 he took a ride beyond the palace gates
and saw a sick man, an old man, a poor man, and a dead body. Disturbed, he left his
family to find the realm of life where there is no suffering nor death. Thereafter,
Siddhartha Gautama wandered for years and meet with scholars, however, his
question of suffering was not answered. Then, he fasted and meditated under a tree
pondering the mystery of life. After forty-nine days of meditation Gautama Buddha
was awakened, otherwise known as reaching enlightenment. Following which he
decided to spread the knowledge he just learned about how to end suffering.

 Buddhism stresses honesty, charity, and kindness to all living creatures and
rejects the caste system. He believed in reincarnation and karma. He does not
consider himself as God and he doesn’t like his followers to worship him as
God.
 Eventually he becomes as Buddha; the enlightened ones

The Four Noble Truths

(a) Suffering is universal - everyone suffers from pain, sickness, death
(b) The cause of suffering is desire - for material wealth, long life
(c) The only way to end suffering is to crush desire; by trying to achieve nirvana, the
condition of wanting nothing. If you achieve this, then you will not suffer if you do not
get the things.
(d) The way to end desire - is to follow the noble eightfold path, a guide to right
conduct.

The Dharma Wheel

The eightfold path; right understanding, right thought, right awareness, right speech,
right action, right effect, right livelihood, right concentration. Do the right thing all the

1
time.

The Middle Way

 Buddha stressed taking the middle path to enlightenment. The middle way
stresses honorable conduct and compassion for all living things, practicing
this will lead to calmness and purity of mind.
 Buddhism beliefs include reincarnation. It means when one dies their soul is
reborn into a new body.
 When one attains Nirvana, the cycle is broken
 Upon reaching Nirvana Buddhists devote their lives to bringing others to
enlightenment

What is Nirvana?
Release from selfishness and pain; a state of absolutely nothing. Nirvana is the state
of final liberation from the cycle of death and rebirth. It is also therefore the end of
suffering. There are two schools of Buddhism; both (Hinayana and Mahayana)
schools thrived during the early centuries.

(i)Hinayana (Therevada) School;

 An older school of thought
 The lesser vehicle to salvation
 Enlightenment was limited to a selected few.
 Dominated - Southern India, Sri Lanka and parts of Southeast Asia (Burma, lao,
Cambodia, Thailand etc.).
Buddhism does not last long in India though it has started in India.

(ii)Mahayana School
 Offered salvation for all.
 The greater vehicle to salvation.
 You will find deity and praying to Buddha in this school

This school of Buddhism spread to Central Asia, China, Tibet, Korean peninsula and
across Japan, Mongolia, and even to Vietnam.

2
Chinese (or east Asian) Buddhism is their portrayal of the Boddhisatva
Avalokitesvara. In South Asia, Southeast Asia, Tibet and Mongolia he is depicted as a
male deity, while in Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese Avalokitesvara is
depicted as a female Goddess (Guanyin/Kannon/Kanzeon).

The main differences can be seen through scriptures, cosmologies, philosophy,

concept of Buddha, final goal, practices, monastic rules, role of laity, countries
practices Buddhism today.
Some of the schools of Mahayana includes: Tibetan, Chan/Zen, Chen yen/Shingon,
Nichiren etc.
 Trikaya ‘three body’ teaching
 All can become Buddhas.
 Theravada - Historical Buddha, Maitreya as symbol of unity.
 Some of the practices include; temples, rituals, festivals, mandalas, mantras,
meditation, funerals.

Emperor Taiwu of Wei dynasty did not support the spread of Buddhism and the
temples, texts, arts were destroyed and to the extent of killing Buddhist monk
however emperor Wencheng rebuilt Buddhism.

Buddhism in China
After the fall of the Han dynasty in 220 CE, China disintegrated into the Period of
Division. The territory was broken into competing states until 589 CE. The period of
disunity was followed by reunification by rulers of the Sui, Tang and the Song
dynasties. Some of the reasons for disunity was a time of war and disorder that was
followed in the end of the Han dynasty. Sui dynasty under Yang Jian ended the
period of disunity by unifying China. The leaders also began the Grand Canal, linking
northern and southern China. In this manner, a series of waterways that linked major
cities, carried a huge amount of trade goods.

The Tang dynasty was also considered as the golden age of Chinese civilization.
Many land areas were conquered, the military was reformed, and laws were created.

3
Most foreign trade went over land routes to India, Korea and Japan and to the West
Asia. Gunpowder and the compass were very important inventions of the Tang
dynasty. The compass allowed sailors and merchants to navigate to distance land.
It was during this time Empress Wu Zhao, commonly known as Wu Zetian
(commonly known as Wu Zhao) became the only legitimate female sovereign ruler in
Chinese history.

During the Song dynasty, it had improved the irrigation facilities. During this dynasty,
sea trade allowed China to open its Pacific ports to other countries. Inventions of
paper money was seen at that point of time.

At this point of time, the nomadic people settled in the northern China. Some
Chinese adopted their culture, while invaders sometimes adopted the Chinese
culture. The non-Chinese were able to control parts of northern China. This was due
in large part to the invention of the stirrup of about 300 CE. This device gave
advantage to cavalry in warfare and favored the superior riding ability of northern
tribes. In southern China, people fleeing from the north shared their culture with the
southern Chinese while adopting some of the southern Chinese culture.

Buddhism was brought to China by Buddhist monk and merchants in 1st Century CE.
It reached China in late Han dynasty, and it is believed to have travelled through silk
road. Soon after, missionaries also carried the teachings of Buddhism to China. The
spread of Buddhism deepened when the sutras (Buddhist holy writings) were
translated from Sanskrit into Chinese by both Inner Eurasian and Chinese monks.
Mahayana Buddhist was adopted in China.

There was amalgamation of Daoism and Confucianism and with modifications it

was much easier for the Chinese to accept Buddhism. Buddhism lived continue to
live by blending with other religion. As people were going through warring period,
they believed Buddhism could offer comfort by teaching them individual cannot
escape suffering as its part of one’s life. Buddhism teaches suffering is unavoidable
and it could achieve enlightenment through nirvana by following the eight-fold path.
Buddhism also teaches in karma, the good and bad actions meted out in their
lifetime affect happiness. Subsequently, the Sui and Tang dynasties grew. In fact, the

4
Chinese missionaries spread Buddhism to Japan, Korea and other Southeast Asian
countries.

Chan Buddhism in China (Zen in Japan)

Chinese Buddhism had developed following the criticisms and rejections of Indian
Buddhism by 5th century. Batuo (464-495 CE) was the first abbot of the Shaolin
Monastery and Bodhidharma is considered as the founder of Chan/Zen Buddhism. It
is believed that many Chinese scholars and monks also travelled to India, such as
Xuanzang (b. 604) and I Ching (635-713), both of whom were students at Nalanda
University in Bihar. Xuanzang wrote The Great Tang Records on the Western Regions,
an account of his journey to India.

The three most important and most Chinese of Buddhist developments, namely, the
growth of the Pure Land School, the propagation of the doctrine of universal
salvation, and the emergence of Ch’an or the Chinese Meditation School (Zen in
Japan). It sounds strange to say that the Pure Land School is humanistic, to pray to
be reborn in paradise means to get away from the human world. Nevertheless, man
occupies a central position in this movement. Technically speaking, the school is not
indigenous to China, for the doctrine was taught in India and the basic texts are
Indian. But in spirit and character it is truly Chinese, and it exists nowhere else but in
China and Japan, in both of which it is the most popular Buddhist sect. While in India
rebirth in the Pure Land meant a complete break with earthly life, which was
considered a life of suffering, in the Chinese Pure Land School it means an extension
of earthly.

Difference Between Early Buddhism and Chinese Buddhism

 Chinese Buddhism believe everyone has a soul whereas the early Buddhism
does not believe in soul.
 In general, Chinese people worship the dead (which is as an assimilation of
ones culture), Indian does not.
 Chinese introduced the spells and charms to Buddhism.

5
Difference Between Buddhism and Confucianism
 Buddha’s life is full of suffering and Confucianism is full of enjoyment
 Buddha practice monk and Confucianism focus on having family and
relationship
 For Confucian hard work, labour is important, and meditation is a waste of
time
 For Buddhism, monastery is an independent whereas in Confucianism
everyone is subject to law

Buddhist Backlash
As Buddhism grew, some criticisms and resistance arose due to;
 Resentment of its enormous wealth
 Threat to imperial authority of China
 Buddhism was seen as foreign religion
 Withdrawal of monks from society is a sign against family-based values of
Confucianism

Conclusion
Buddhism is being emphasised strongly both in Chinese and Indian public diplomacy,
as they both seek to increase their soft power attractiveness. It is observed that both
China and India have used Buddhism in their diplomacy.