CHAPTER 4
Buddhism in Other Countries
BUDDHISM IN ASIA
Let us consider the dissemination of Buddhism through the various countries of the world. In the Western world, Buddhism in Europe and America has been indirectly influenced by Chinese Buddhism. In southern Asia, Hinayana Buddhism had already entered the territories of the modern nations of Burma and Thailand long ago, in the time of the Indian King, Ashoka. In the third century B.c. Buddhism was transmitted to the countries of East Asia, like Korea, Japan, the Philippines, Singapore, and Vietnam, through their connection with China.
From an historical point of view, Korea was the earliest country Buddhism entered from China; the next was Japan. Here we will give a simple account of the sequence of events in the dissemination of Buddhism to these two countries.
Korea
Modern-day Korea includes the three ancient kingdoms that were known in history as Koguryo, Silla, and Paekche. Buddhism entered these three kingdoms at different times.
Koguryo, in the northern and central portions of the Korean peninsula, was the earliest of the three to receive Buddhist teachers. In the fourth century A.D., during the period of the Jin dynasty in China, Fu Jian, the barbarian monarch of the so-called Former Qin dynasty, in power in north China, dispatched the Buddhist monk Shundao to Korea along with a load of Buddhist images and scriptural texts. The king of Korguryo, Sosurim (r. 371-385), received Shundao and came to believe in Buddhism. He founded Songmun Temple, where he installed Shundao as his teacher in the Dharma. This was the first transmission of Buddhism to Koguryo and the first time a Buddhist temple was built there.
Twelve years later, the Indian Buddhist monk Marananta came from China to Paekche, in the southeastern portion of the Korean peninsula, bringing Buddhism along with him. The king of Paekche, Ch'imnyu, received him with full honors and had a Buddhist temple erected. The king allowed men to be ordained as Buddhist monks and officially became a Buddhist.
Fifty years later, the Koguryo monk Mukhoja brought Buddhism to the kingdom of Siila, in the southwest region of the Korean peninsula, but Buddhism did not become widespread there. It was not until a century later, during the time of King Pophung (r. 514-540), that Buddhism was propagated widely in Silla. Buddhist temples were thereafter built, and Buddhism began to flourish in Silla.
During the 660s and 670s, King Munmu of Silla defeated Koguryo and Paekche and unified the whole of Korea under the rule of Silla. During that time, eminent monks like Wonhyo (617-688) propagated the teaching of the Huayan Sutra widely throughout the country. Famous monks of high quality appeared in great numbers and Buddhism flourished gready.
Early in the tenth century, after Silla had disintegrated and split up into three kingdoms, Wang Kon rose to power and established the new unified state called Koryo. This was the time of the Five Dynasties in China, a time of militarization and political turmoil, when Chinese Buddhism was being weakened by political influences. But in Koryo, the new regime inherited the remaining traditions of the previous dynasty and Buddhist studies were flourishing there. Many Chinese Buddhist works, for example Tiantai treatises and Huayan commentaries, which had been lost during the chaos in China, had to be reintroduced into China from Koryo, in order that these schools of Buddhism could be revived in China.
In the early years of the Song dynasty, which was founded in 960, a party of more than thirty Buddhist monks from Koryo came to Yongming Temple to study with Zen master Zhijue, from whom they received the Zong Jing Lu, the Source Mirror Record. They brought this great encyclopedic synthesis of Zen and scriptural Buddhism back with them to Koryo and made use of it as they became teachers in various parts of Koryo. This was the beginning of the transmission of Zen to Korea.
Later on, the Koryo king sent ambassadors to the Song court to get the official Song edition of the Buddhist canon. This was compared with the two previous Korean editions of the canon, and the Khitan version of the canon, to prepare a new edition of the Buddhist canon. The Khitan were a people northeast of China who were the ruling group of the Liao dynasty in the tenth to twelfth centuries. This became the famous Koryo Canon acclaimed by later generations and recognized as an excellent version of the canon for the study of the Buddhist scriptures. Korean Buddhism was at the height of its glory in this period.
In the late 14th century, Yi Song-gye put an end to the Koryo dynasty, which had continued in power as vassals of the Mongol Yuan dynasty, and changed the name of the country to Chosen. During this period, Taoist thought and Neo-Confucian doctrines became very popular in Korea and Buddhism went into decline and did not again equal its early level.
In sum, Korean Buddhism was the result of the transmission of Buddhism from China and did not establish any distinctive sects of its own. The school that specialized in Huayan Buddhism was particularly prominent in Korea, as was an offshoot of the Fayan House of Zen. Apart from this, one stream of Korean Buddhism stressed gradual cultivation and advocated upholding the precepts of discipline, chanting sutras, and other practices aimed at planting a good karmic basis. This was called the school of the scriptural teachings. There was another stream of Korean Buddhism, oriented toward sudden enlightenment, that advocated single-mindedly reciting the buddha-name and rebirth in the Pure Land. This was called the school of mind. These were the two main tendencies.
Around 1910, Korea fell victim to annexation by Japan and Japanese Buddhism invaded the country on the heels of Japanese political and military power. Due to this, the true Buddhist spirit of Korea went into decline. Korean Buddhism in the 20th century was substantially altered by the Japanese occupation. But now that Korea has regained its independence, many outstanding people are doing their utmost to restore and renew the original Korean Buddhism.
Japan
The formal transmission of Buddhism into Japan took place in the middle of the sixth century A.D., during the thirteenth year of the reign of the Japanese Emperor Kimmei (A.D. 551). At that time, the king of Paekche sent an emissary to Japan with gifts of Buddhist images and scriptures. From this point on, there was a gradual tendency toward belief in Buddhism at the Japanese imperial court.
Several decades later, in the seventh century, with the rise of Prince Shotoku, Buddhism got the chance to develop further. Prince Shotoku was both the political and religious ruler of Japan. He founded temples and spread the Dharma and did all he could to promote Buddhism. Prince Shotoku also promulgated a constitution, which became the legal charter of the Japanese imperial house down through the ages. He himself composed commentaries on the Queen Shrimala Sutra, the Vimalakirti Sutra, and the Lotus Sutra, which became a model for later Japanese Buddhists. Because of these achievements, Prince Shotoku has always been revered as an enlightened monarch.
Over the course of the next century, during the Nara period (646-794), there was a trend toward unification of politics and religion. Buddhist groups devoted to the study of the Vimalakirti Sutra, the Benevolent King Sutra, and the Diamond Light Sutra were established, and various schools derived from the Tang dynasty schools of Buddhist philosophy arose in Japan: the Sanron (Madhyamika Three Treatises) School, the Hosso (Yogacara) School, the Kegon (Avatamsaka) School, the Ritsu (Vinaya) School, the Jojitsu (Sattyasiddi) School, and the Kosha (Abhidhar-makosha) School. These were the famous six schools of Nara period Japanese Buddhism.
In the Nara period, many eminent monks appeared in Japan and Buddhism became popular. The Three Treatises School was introduced by the Koguryo monk Huiguan. Later it split into two sects, the Genko and Dai-an. The Sattyasiddhi School in Japan was dependent on the Three Treatises School. The Yogacara School was brought to Japan from Tang China by the monk Xuanfang. Later this school split into northern and southern branches which contended for preeminence. The Abhidharmakosha School in Japan was dependent on the Yogacara School. The Vinaya teacher Daorui transmitted the Avatamsaka School to Japan, and master Jianzhen brought the Vinaya School there. All these schools had their source in the Buddhism of Tang China.
More than a century passed, the capital was relocated, and Japan entered the Heian Period (794-1185). The early Heian period witnessed the rise of Saicho (767-822), the transmitter of the Tiantai school to Japan, where it became the Tendai school, and Kukai, known as Kobo Daishi (774-835), the propagator of Tantric Buddhism, known in Japanese as Shingon.
The great teacher Saicho began propagating Buddhism at Mount Hiei and won many believers from among the royal family. Later, he went to Tang China to seek the Dharma. He returned to Japan after receiving the transmission of the Tiantai, Vinaya, Zen, and Tantric schools. On the basis of this, he gready extended his teaching activities on Mount Hiei and propounded teachings that included these four schools. He did all he could to disseminate the teachings of the Tiantai school, and he became the most famous Buddhist teacher of his time in Japan.
The great teacher Kukai came to China soon after Saicho, seeking to learn more about Buddhism. Kukai learned Tantric Buddhism from the Buddhist monk Huiguo (746-805). After Kukai returned to Japan, he established Toji Temple and worked energetically to propagate the rites associated with the Diamond and Womb mandalas. He became very famous and influential and laid the basis for the long-enduring esoteric Buddhist center on Mount Koya.
By the time Saicho and Kukai had done their work, Japanese Buddhism was dominated by the Tendai school and the Shingon school. The Tendai school, transmitted by the great teacher Saicho, contained within it elements of both exoteric and esoteric Buddhism, so it is sometimes called a blend of Tendai and Tantra. Later, his disciples Ennin (794-864) and Enchin (814-891) also went to Tang China to study Buddhism. Their school of esotericized Tendai flourished even more, and stood in opposition to the so-called esoteric teaching founded by the great teacher Kukai at Toji. Subsequently, due to disharmony among the followers, it split into two sects called Sanmon and Jimon. From this point on, sectarian differences multiplied, each with its own line of transmission.
In sum, the influence of esoteric Buddhism at that time was all-pervasive, and all the sects of Japanese Buddhism bore an esoteric coloration. The believers all put their emphasis on offering prayers and getting supernatural results. Thus, Buddhism was changed into a secret supernatural teaching of miracles and marvels, and became a major force in all strata of Japanese society. Because of this, many abuses appeared that went against the genuine original intent of Buddhism.
During the later Heian period, Japan's political order became chaotic and insecure, and this exerted an influence on the general psychology and made people world-weary. In this era, the Buddhist teacher Kuya (903-972) worked hard to promote the Pure Land method of reciting the buddha-name (in Japanese: nembutsu). The Buddhist teacher Ryonin (1072-1132) followed after him and founded the Yuzunembutsu sect, advocating the principle of reciting the buddha-name while adapting to circumstances. In Japanese history, the late 12th century was the time of the civil war between the Minamoto and Taira factions. Their deadly struggles left the people with nothing on which to depend. For this reason, the method of reciting the buddha-name and relying totally on the power of Amitabha Buddha, which was advocated by Honen and Shinran, became popular around that time.
In the Kamakura period (1185-1382), the period of the rule of the Minamoto shoguns, whose headquarters was the town of Kamakura, several sects of Buddhism rose to prominence in response to the trend of the times: Jodo (Pure Land), Shingon (Tantra), Ji (the Time sect), Zen, and the Nichiren sect. Many eminent monks appeared to make Buddhism flourish and spread its influence.
The Jodo school was started by Honen and became an independent sect. Honen (1133-1212) had originally studied on Mount Hiei. Later, because he venerated the teachings of China's great Pure Land teacher, Shandao, he advocated the Pure Land method of reciting the buddha-name. Among his direct disciples were many outstanding talents, so many later streams of Pure Land practice in Japan were handed down from him. Shinran (1173-1262) was his favorite pupil, and he inherited Honen's message. A special point of Shinran's teaching was that monks could marry and eat meat. He thought that, by developing faith and taking vows, anyone could certainly receive the protection of Amitabha's power and attain rebirth in the Western Paradise. The principles he taught were simple and easy to practice, so they exerted a deep attraction on people's minds. Shinran's teaching became a sect in its own right, called the Jodo Shinshu. Its influence extended widely and has continued undiminished up to the present day. Another example of a sect descended from the great teacher Honen's disciples is the Jishu, the Time sect, founded by Ippen (1239-1289), who traveled around holding meetings to recite the buddha-name.
The methods of the Zen school had already been transmitted to Japan earlier, but not until Eisai (1141-1215) and Dogen (1200-1253) did Zen become a distinctive school of Japanese Buddhism. Both Eisai and Dogen had been to Song China to study Buddhism. They transmitted to Japan the Linji (in Japanese: Rinzai) and Caodong (in Japanese: Soto) schools of Zen. The call of pointing directly to the human mind to enable people to see their inherent nature and become buddhas fitted very well with the needs of the people of the time, and so Zen spread all over Japan. The Zen idea of being liberated from birth and death influenced the fearless spirit of the later Japanese warriors’ code of Bushido. All the Japanese arts benefited greatly from Zen: gardening, poetry, painting. The call of Zen was felt everywhere.
The famous Nichiren sect arose as a transformation of the Japanese Tendai school. It was founded by the Buddhist teacher Nichiren (1222-1282). He advocated the practice of reciting the title of the Lotus Sutra, (in Japanese, Myohorengekyo) as a way to see inherent nature and become buddha. Nichiren had a very bold and adamant personality. He used his heroic qualities to carry out compassionate Buddhist teaching activities. He was full of energy and devoted his life to the role of “saving self and saving others,” so his teachings became very popular. Nichiren was truly an outstanding figure in the history of Japanese monks. He had many able disciples and they expanded the sect even further.
During the Kamakura period, new Buddhist sects rose to prominence one after another. This stimulated the older established sects dating from the Nara and Heian periods to re-energize themselves. Thus, the Kamakura period became the most flourishing period for Buddhism in Japan.
Later on, during the Yoshino (1336-1392) and the Mura-machi (c. 1392-1482) periods, the Rinzai school of Zen was the most flourishing branch of Japanese Buddhism. In the area around the capital of Kyoto in the west, and in the Kanto region, the eastern plain around modern Tokyo, there was a network of major Rinzai Zen temples and affiliated branch temples called the Five Mountains (Gozan) system. The Soto Zen school barely managed to survive in the northeast. The Nichiren sect had first been propagated by Nichiren around Kyoto, but later it became popular throughout Japan and branched into many streams. Two subsects arose within the Jodo sect: the Shirahata sect and the Myoetsu sect. In the Jodo Shinshu sect, there was the revival movement of Rennyo (1415-1499).
After this came the chaos of the Warring States period in Japan's history (1482-1558). The various sects of Buddhism were brought to the brink of ruin by the political decline of the country. The Warring States period culminated in the reunification of Japan under the Tokugawa shogunate early in the 17th century. After the Tokugawa regime had unified the country, they wanted to use the power of religion to win the allegiance of the people. Thus, they did everything they could to promote Buddhism. Thus Buddhism regained its influence and authority, and various Buddhist schools and academies were started.
The transformation in Buddhist learned thought that took place in Japan in this period can be compared to what happened in the Jin dynasty with the Dark Learning philosophy and in the Tang dynasty with the proliferation of Buddhist commentaries. Let us mention a few examples. The Buddhist teacher Hodan put forth a new account of the Avatamsaka (in Japanese: Kegon) philosophy. In Rinzai Zen, there was the influential teaching of Zen master Hakuin. In the Tendai school, the Anrakuritsu code of discipline became very popular. The Shingon school put into practice its Shoboritsu code of discipline. This was the period when the East and West Honganji Temples of the Shingon school were founded. In the Nichiren sect, there were doctrinal controversies. At this time, the Chinese Zen teacher Yinyuan came to Japan and founded the Obaku sect. Soto Zen also revived in this period. With all these developments, Buddhist learning and Buddhist thought prospered in the Tokugawa period. The philosophy of the Abhidharmakosha and the Yogacara treatises became the common basis for study and cultivation. The Japanese call this Buddhism's “age of commentaries.”
After 1867, with the Meiji Restoration, Japan undertook a vigorous policy that involved accepting new ideas from the West. All the Meiji trends in political thought, in learning, and in education show a great reorientation from traditional Asian influences toward new Western models. Because of this, even though Buddhism retained its old dignity as the national religion, the philosophy of the divine origin of imperial rule and the old spirit of Japanese Shinto rose to prominence.
Due to these developments, Japanese Buddhism again broke fresh ground and began to evolve in two directions. First, sects proliferated throughout the country that advocated a nationalistic society where Buddhism and Shinto were not separated. These sects were closely linked to the militaristic nationalism of the warlords. Next, the Japanese intelligentsia learned Western methods and renewed the study of Buddhist thought, delving into the question of how religious belief had evolved into philosophy. They also pursued textual studies on the Buddhist scriptures with a skeptical attitude.
Nevertheless, in the realm of learned thought, Buddhist studies flourished in Japan because of these developments. Over the course of several decades, into the 20th century, Japanese Buddhist studies exerted a very powerful influence on Chinese Buddhist circles. As for the Japanese Buddhist monks, they too were subject to the impetus of the trend of the times, and they established various Buddhist academies and universities. They edited the Buddhist canon and worked hard at the task of spreading the Dharma throughout society and developing it further.
After World War II, militarism in Japan went into decline and the power of the militarists in the government was eliminated. Japan repented its past mistakes and began to renew itself. Many Japanese went overseas to America and other Western countries, and they brought Buddhist culture along with them.
Thus Buddhism entered a new continent, North America. Nowadays in America, there are Buddhist temples and the beginnings of a Buddhist sangha. Much of this is due to the efforts of Japanese since the war. Japanese scholars who have devoted themselves to propagating Zen studies in the West, like Suzuki Daisetsu, have spread the style of Japanese Zen studies throughout the world in twenty or thirty years. Now the Japanese government has certified Dr. Suzuki as a “National Treasure.”
Thus it has come to pass that many people in these Western countries only know of Zen in Japan; they are unaware that the source of the Zen transmission was actually in China. Though the people in these countries have only been influenced slightly by Zen, many of them have begun to expound on Zen. Studying without the benefit of genuine teachers from whom to learn, relying on their own intuition, they cannot understand Zen correctly. We feel boundless regret and deep sadness over this state of affairs.
In sum, when we want to study Buddhism as a world religion, even though Japanese Buddhism was transmitted from China over the course of more than a thousand years, it has genuinely become a citadel of Buddhism that represents the religion on a world scale. Thus Japanese Buddhism has a very important position.
If we trace it back through history, Japanese Buddhist thought, although it originated with transmissions from China, has over the course of its history, gradually and in a hidden way, changed its principles. Since the Meiji Restoration and onward up through today, Japanese Buddhism changed into another distinct system of philosophy, perhaps because of its connections with national politics, and by no means retains its original aspect. It goes without saying that we must be concerned with this when we study the history of Buddhism in Japan.
For example, before the outbreak of the Second World War, when Japanese Buddhists explained Vairocana, the Great Sun Buddha, their explanations had a latent tinge of militarism, tacitly making the Great Sun Buddha a symbol for the Empire of Japan, traditionally the Land of the Rising Sun.
Before 1935, in front of the office of the Japanese chargé d'affaires in Hangzhou in China, there was a large signboard inscribed with the words “Great Sun Buddha.” I witnessed this with my own eyes. This was the use to which Buddhist thought was put by the Japanese at that time.
At present, the whole world takes Japanese Buddhist studies as the standard for the field. This has gone so far that even the majority of Chinese Buddhists think this way. All I can do is quote the Buddhist term and say that this is “inconceivable.” As for Japanese Zen studies (whether or not this can be called Zen itself), it is even harder to pass judgment.
As for present-day Japanese Buddhism, since the Second World War, there has been a vast proliferation of sects within Japan. There are sects combining Buddhism and Shinto, sects combining Buddhism and Taoism, and even some with secret-society links. These sects have cropped up like sprouts after a spring rain: there are at least three to four hundred of them. They are constandy changing, and these are not changes in name only. An example is the rise of the Sokka Gakkai movement, affiliated with the Nichiren sect, which takes part in politics under the canopy of Buddhism. It is hard to judge whether or not Sokka Gakkai will have any other ambitions as it develops in the future.
As we look upon Japanese Buddhism as it takes shape at the close of the 20th century, all we can do is send our salutations from afar and wish it a great future. May the true Dharma and the destiny of the nation both flourish!
Burma
Buddhism entered the territory of modern Burma by direct transmission from India in the third century B.C. through the missionaries sent out by King Ashoka. In this early period, it was the Hinayana form of Buddhism that was transmitted to Burma, and this planted deep roots in the country. Later on, Mahayana thought gradually entered the country and the controversies between Mahayana and Hinayana were very sharp. In the end, the Mahayana form of Buddhist thought lost all influence in Burma and, up through the present day, it is Hinayana Buddhism that holds complete sway in the country. Moreover, Burma is a purely Buddhist country.
Burma is dotted with Buddhist temples, and in their temples the Buddhist monks devote themselves to educational work. In general the people send their sons to the temples to receive a Buddhist education, and over 60 percent of the people can read and write. Usually boys over the age of seven are sent to the temples to receive a general education. Those who excel at their studies of Pali Buddhist textbooks are sent on to higher-level academies, where they receive a higher-level education and eventually become monks.
In the recent history of Buddhist studies, since Burma is one of the remaining homelands of Indian Buddhism, when Europeans first began to feel the influence of Buddhist thought, Burma was a center of its transmission. Many of the Europeans who have become Buddhist monks were ordained in Burma. They have started various English-language journals about Buddhist studies, and many noteworthy essays have appeared in these journals.
Nevertheless, it is a cause for worry that, in the last years of the 20th century, Burma relies totally on Hinayana thought in its politics and in its efforts to resist the mad ambitions of Communist philosophy to dominate the world. Not only is this worrisome, but it is probably something that the average person does not think about. This is something that must be criticized.
Thailand
Thailand was called Siam in the past. Early on, Buddhism was brought from Cambodia to the region that is now Thailand. In those days, Buddhagosha, who was famous for spreading Buddhism, had united the Buddhism of Burma and Cambodia. He often stayed in Cambodia; thus he disseminated Buddhism into the territory that was to become Thailand. He was revered by the royal family and the common people, and thus Buddhism became the national religion. Subsequently, the year of Shakyamuni Buddha's death was made the starting point of the Thai Buddhist calendar. Thai Buddhism takes Hinayana Buddhist thought as its standard.
Young men in Thailand must enter Buddhist temples and become monks for a time. There they receive a Buddhist education. All the Thai people take Buddhist principles as their standard of self-cultivation. Whatever form of schooling they receive, when they begin school and when they graduate they must formally recite Buddhist scriptures. When they reach the legally prescribed age, young Thai men must leave home and live as monks for a period of three months or one year. During this period, they curb their desires and devote themselves to learning Buddhist forms of conduct and studying Buddhist thought. This training provides them with moral standards for dealing with the world in later life. When a new king comes to the throne in Thailand, his installation must be carried out and proclaimed according to Buddhist ritual forms.
Thus, from top to bottom, throughout the whole country, all Thais are Buddhists. The Buddhist monks all wear yellow robes and the whole nation could be said to be a purely Buddhist country robed in yellow. Many Buddhist monks participate directly in politics. Deeply qualified monks are given titles as monk-princes. Buddhist images and temples are everywhere throughout the country. Temple buildings occupy 40 percent of the total area of the capital, Bangkok. The famous Wat Po temple is the most splendid structure in Bangkok. Wat Mahathat is a major Buddhist center to which monks from all directions come to study. Wat Bon-chamabopit is the one of the oldest Buddhist temples. It contains many statues of Buddha in various postures, ranging in size from many tens of feet to a few inches, all rich in artistic value.
Thailand is an ancient Buddhist land and it preserves many of the customs of early Indian Buddhism. The Southeast Asian Buddhist countries of Thailand and Burma are both strongholds for the preservation and dissemination of Buddhism. As the great wheel of time advances on these tranquil Buddhist lands, they still remain serenely in the Buddhist realm of blue skies and lush forests. Will the changing situation of the 20th century keep Thailand as a Buddhist land, or lead the country into demonic delusion? It all depends on the leadership of an enlightened royal family and the wise choices of the Buddhist sangha.
Vietnam
Vietnamese Buddhism was originally brought in from China, but later also received the influences of the Hinayana Buddhism of Burma and Thailand. Mahayana thought was unable to plant deep roots in Vietnam. As in the other Southeast Asian countries, in Vietnam, the understanding of the concepts of Mahayana Buddhism was always somewhat unclear. Buddhist temples and Buddhist monks in Vietnam did not follow the Chinese monastic system.
During the second half of the 19th century, Vietnam was invaded and occupied by the French. From this point on, the religious situation no longer remained simple. Before Vietnam regained its independence, the ancient Buddhist faith, which had relied on the protection of the royal family, had fallen into the gap between the new and the old eras and had run its natural course. At present, Vietnamese Buddhists have declared their struggle for independence. There have been several waves of this struggle that have risen up and overthrown governments. Monks and nuns have even immolated themselves in this struggle to demonstrate their adamant resistance to anti-Buddhist measures, and this has already attracted the attention of the whole world. At present, it is very difficult to judge whether this movement will succeed or not, and we must leave this for future historical judgment.
Tibet
From the seventh century A.D., the region of Tibet formally accepted Buddhist civilization. Within one or two centuries, the whole area of Tibetan culture, extending from the Lhasa area to Xikang in the east and to Qinghai in the north, had become an area of Buddhist civilization. For a thousand years after this, there took place internal sectarian divisions within Tibetan Buddhism, but there was no outside interference.
All political, economic, and military power was concentrated under the control of the Buddhist lamas. Every place where the lamas had a temple was equivalent to a center of local political power. This could be compared with the situation of the Papal States in Italy, but the wealth, resources, and political authority of the lamas may have even surpassed that of the popes in the Papal States. With its mineral resources, Tibet is one of the world's famous centers of mineral wealth. At the same time, the Tibetan people voluntarily gave about two-thirds of their income to support the lamas and their temples as a way of acquiring the merit to be reborn in heaven and to attain enlightenment.
Through this period, the social structure and customs of the Tibetans remained at a fairly primitive level as one of China's border peoples. For example, their marriage practices were relatively free and allowed for polygamy and polyandry, as well as monogamy. If a family had more than two male children, one son was sure to become a lama, either for life or for a limited period, as he wished.
In the vastness of their snowy mountains and high plateaus, the Tibetans lived an idyllic life. Consequently, in the view of the Tibetans of olden times, only a Buddhist-influenced society could achieve a utopia. Down through the ages, during periods of political upheaval and change in China, the Tibetans watched which way the wind was blowing and adjusted their course accordingly. They would profess allegiance to the new dynasty, and so the Chinese emperors generally looked upon them with favor. The Chinese government would invest the lamas with official titles and employ them as its local administrators. Thus the lamas could enjoy an un-troubled existence and pay no attention to Chinese affairs. During the reign of the Qianlong Emperor (1736-1795), the Manchu Qing dynasty sent troops to Tibet, and from then on there were usually Qing troops posted in Tibet. Even then, these garrison troops were soon converted to the Buddhism of the lamas.
During the later part of the 19th century and into the 20th century, due to the decline of the Qing dynasty and the warlordism that followed, China was afflicted by internal strife and its external problems multiplied. The British occupied India and had designs on Tibet. Many times, the British tried to provoke ethnic animosity between the Han Chinese and the Tibetans; they wanted to incite conflict between the two sides, from which they could profit. Thus there commenced in Tibet a conflict, sometimes open and sometimes hidden, between the faction that wanted to be allied to the British and the faction that wanted to be allied with China. Broadly speaking, the previous Panchen Lama was in the party that favored the Chinese and the previous Dalai Lama was in the party that favored the British.
Starting in the 19th century, a considerable number of Europeans and Americans came to Tibet in order to study Buddhism, or else used this as a pretext to further their other schemes. More Tibetans came to be able to read English than were able to read Chinese. British and French missionaries, or men posing as missionaries for their own protection, entered Tibet. They penetrated as far as the upper reaches of the Yangzi River in southwest China. Their intention was to take advantage of the ignorance of the backward peoples along China's borders and roll up China's southwest frontiers. Later, the Japanese also noticed this Chinese weak point, and, under the pretext of studying Buddhism, many of their agents penetrated deeply into Tibet and the southwest border region to carry out their aggressive ambitions.
After 1949, when the Communists came to power, the Tibetan lamas, due to their lack of political sophistication, thought that this was no more than another Chinese drama of a change of dynasties. None of them realized that, before long, there would be no room for them to preserve their traditional religious preeminence in the Tibet which they had thought of as a Buddhist pure land, and that they could scarcely dream of seeking to preserve their tradition of religious political rule.
Fundamentally, culture, history, and politics are three aspects of a single whole. In the spirit of reflecting on modern times in light of times past and restudying ancient times in order to gain new insight about the present, with the utmost respect I present this simple account of the experience of Tibet and offer it for the consideration of the Buddhist nations of Southeast Asia. It is up to them to ponder for themselves the sequence of cause and effect in this, and to discover the important theoretical principles.
To summarize briefly, in the 20th century, in the final analysis, it is not possible to amalgamate religion and politics into one whole.
Other Regions of Southeast Asia
Among the other regions of Southeast Asia in the early period, Buddhism flourished the most in Sri Lanka, Java, and Sumatra. About A.D. 450, the eminent Buddhist monk Gongdekai came to Java to propagate Buddhism. From the king and queen down, all the people in the country put their faith in him and Mahayana Buddhism became very popular. Late in the seventh century, the eminent Chinese monk Yijing passed through various regions of Southeast Asia as he made his way by sea to study in India; he spread the Buddha Dharma as he went. Buddhism in Sumatra was brought there from Java during the seventh through ninth centuries, but nowadays it has already withered away.
Throughout Southeast Asia, in Laos, Indonesia, Malaya, and the Philippines, wherever there are overseas Chinese, no matter how many or how few, Buddhism exists on a small but concrete scale. Some of these countries have been influenced by the Hinayana Buddhism of Burma and Thailand. Some have been influenced by the Pure Land school of Chinese Mahayana Buddhism. The sound of the Pure Land invocation “Hail to Amitabha Buddha” (Narno Amitajo) is present everywhere, and there are Buddhist temples being built all over the area.
BUDDHISM IN EUROPE AND AMERICA
Now that the conditions of Buddhism in Korea, Japan, Burma, Thailand, Vietnam, Tibet, and other Asian areas have been examined, it's time to examine the conditions of Buddhism in the West.
Britain
After the British had taken control of all of India by 1796, they began to pay attention to Indian civilization and to study Buddhist texts. Many talented people emerged among the British researchers on Buddhism. There were two among them who were particularly outstanding: Max Muller (1823-1900) and T. W. Rhys Davids (1843-1922). Muller was a specialist in Sanskrit. Starting in 1879, he began to publish the Sacred Books of the East series in forty-nine volumes. For this, he received the respect of the learned world of his time. In this collection, there were several Buddhist scriptures, such as the Hinayana code of monastic discipline, the Larger Agama Sutra, the Sutra in Praise of the Deeds of Buddha, the Contemplation of Amitabha Sutra, the Greater Amitabha Sutra, and the Lotus Sutra, along with English translations of various Sanskrit texts that had been discovered. This collection aroused British interest in investigating Buddhism. In 1881, Rhys Davids founded the Pali Text Society. The Society put out translations of various Buddhist texts that were in circulation in Sri Lanka, including sutras, shastras, vinaya texts, commentaries, histories, and biographies. Having received the support of the king of Thailand, the Society published the Pali canon. This did even more to encourage the interest of Europeans in studying Buddhism.
As related above, Muller and Rhys Davids performed a major service in transmitting Buddhism to the West. Many scholars from Britain, France, and Germany took part in this process, which injected a new current into the learned world of Europe in the 18 th and 19th centuries. Lecturing on Buddhism at the major universities of Oxford and London, Max Muller and Rhys Davids had a great influence. The London Buddhist Association made Rhys Davids its president, and Mrs. Rhys Davids also translated many Buddhist texts.
The British Mahabodhi Society was founded in 1927 by the Sri Lankan Angarika Buddhapala. A considerable number of British Buddhists joined it, along with Buddhists from India and Sri Lanka. Attached to it were a research society and a lecture society. Every month it published a journal called The British Buddhist, which achieved a wide circulation. In addition to this, there was the London Students’ Buddhist Association, founded by Dr. A. P. DeZoysa, and the Buddhist Layman's Association, founded by Christmas Humphreys. Both were organizations devoted to promoting Buddhist learning.
Germany
After the British, among German scholars a new movement began to study Indian Buddhism. In 1881, Hermann Oldenberg published The Life and Teachings of the Buddha, based on Pali textual sources, in which he related the immortal deeds of Shakyamuni Buddha. This book circulated very widely.
A famous contemporary of the British scholar Max Muller was the German specialist on Indian studies, Richard Karl von Garbe. He was the most eminent figure in research on the Agama Sutras. His student Hermann Weiler taught in Berlin, and was renowned for his expertise in Sanskrit and Tibetan. Among the students who studied with him for many years were the Japanese Buddhist scholars Watanabe Kaikyoku and Ogihara Unrai.
In addition, there was Max Walleser, who had mastered Sanskrit and Tibetan, and who was an authority in the German scholarly world. He wrote a book called The Question of the Self His works include, among others, The Philosophical Foundations of Ancient Buddhism, published in 1904, and The Sects of Ancient Buddhism, published in 1927. He also established a Buddhist Studies Association to encourage the study of Buddhism by European scholars and to draw together the scholars of various countries, especially those of eastern Asia, to do joint research on Buddhism. The activities of Dr. Walleser included work on translating Buddhist texts, publishing articles and a newsletter, establishing a Buddhist library, publishing study materials for university courses on Buddhism, and organizing Buddhist lectures outside the universities. The center of the Buddhist movement in Germany was the Buddhist retreat established in the suburbs of Berlin by Paul Dahlke. At present, this is one of the famous sites near Berlin, housing many original texts, Buddhist books and journals in Eastern languages, and Buddhist works of art. It is unmatched in Europe for the richness and breadth of its collection. This center also published many accounts of Buddhism. At the same time, it functioned as a retreat and as a meditation center for the real cultivation of Buddhist practice. Not only did it engage in theoretical discussion, but it put a major emphasis on practice and realization. It was truly a pioneering effort in Europe for emphasizing the cultivation of practice.
There were many other famous German Buddhist scholars besides these, such as Wilhelm Geiger, Moritz Winternitz, Ernst Windisch, Richard Pischel, Erich Frauwallner, Heinrich Zimmer, Hermann Beckh, Wilhelm Stede, and Kurt Schmidt.
France
French research in Buddhism and Eastern civilization was inaugurated by Eugene Burnouf, who opened up a new era in Western culture. Burnouf was born in Paris in 1801. He was an expert in the languages of the East, such as Pali, Sanskrit, Persian, ancient Babylonian cuneiform, and others. His representative work is A Treatise on the History of Buddhism in India, based on over a hundred and seventy Buddhist texts in Sanskrit which had been discovered in Nepal, and which he used to write a biography of Shakyamuni Buddha and to research the principles of the Buddhist teaching. This set of texts included the flower of the Mahayana Scriptures, such as the Prajnaparamita Sutra, the Lankavatara Sutra, the Avatamsaka Sutra, the Suvarnaprabhasa Sutra, and the Lotus Sutra. Burnouf also translated the Lotus Sutra in its entirety, making the first translation of a Buddhist Sanskrit text into a European language.
Among Burnouf's students, the most famous as Buddhist scholars were such men as Miyouluo and Emile Senart. Senart edited the texts of various scriptures and, based on Mahayana scriptural sources, wrote an essay on the biography of Buddha and other works. Fuxini, a professor at the University of Paris, wrote several works on Mahayana Buddhist art. There was also Fu-ai-ye, who edited and published the Samyutta-nikaya from the four Agamas.
Apart from these men, the most authoritative figure in the study of Eastern learning, and especially in Buddhist studies and Indian culture, was Dr. Sylvain Levi. His books on Buddhism include a Sanskrit text and French translation of the bodhisattva Asanga's treatise on the Mahayanasutralamkara published in 1911, a French translation of the first chapter of Cheng-you's explanation of the Abhidharmakosha, and Sanskrit texts and French translations of Vasubandhu's Vimshakakarika-shastra and Tridashakarika-shastra, and Sthiramati's explanatory treatise on the Tridashakarika-shastra, all published in 1926. He also compiled a French Buddhist dictionary and he was planning to compile a great collection of Buddhist music from the Asian Buddhist lands.
There is also a joint project of French and Japanese Buddhist scholars, who have formed a large-scale Japanese-French Buddhist Association, which is now flourishing and making great progress.
United States of America
American Buddhist studies have really contributed greatly to Buddhist studies in Europe. In the early period of Buddhist studies in America, a significant contribution was made by Henry Warren, who put out the book Buddhism in Translation in 1896. In 1902, A. S. Edwards wrote A Buddhist Bibliography and translated the Dhammapada under the title Hymns of the Faith. Professor Lamman of Harvard was the editor of the Harvard Oriental Series, which included the Agama Sutras and various other Buddhist scriptures. In addition, there were also such works as The Gospel of Buddha, by Anderson.
The leader of the Buddhist revival movement, the Sri Lankan Angarika Buddhapala, founded the American Mahabodhi Society and established a meeting place for it in New York City. Every year, on the fourth day of the fifth lunar month, he would gather together people from the various countries of the world and hold a large commemorative ceremony.
There are two or three hundred thousand Japanese immigrants in the United States. They are engaged in various areas with their religious and community activities involving the various sects of Japanese Buddhism. Gradually, this has attracted some Americans who have come to believe in Buddhism. In recent years, some Americans have even become Buddhist monks and nuns. In Hawaii, where Japanese Americans are very numerous, there are scores of centers for the propagation of Japanese Buddhism and Buddhist temples. Among these, the most fruitful has been the outreach work of the Honganji Shingon sect.
The number of Americans who are becoming Buddhists is continually increasing, and there are also Buddhist study associations. In recent years, more and more Buddhist groups and temples have been established. Americans go to Japan to study, and more and more Americans are investigating Buddhist learning and thought. They are particularly interested in investigating Zen.
In Brazil, because of the colonies of Japanese immigrants, Buddhism is also developing more and more.
The Japanese must bear the boundless shame and inner pain of unleashing the disasters of the Second World War. But their work since the war in bringing the culture of eastern Asia to the West, and providing extra spiritual nourishment for the people of the West, mired, whether intentionally or not, in the depressing life of their materialistic culture, seems almost to have made up for this mistake and is very much to be commended. When we reflect on our own relatively meager contributions in spreading Buddhism to the West, we Chinese must indeed regret our shortcomings.
Russia
In 1887, the Russian Buddhist scholar Minayeff published his famous treatise on Buddhism. In 1889, he also published the original text of the Bodhi Practice Sutra. Such was the early development of Buddhist studies in Russia. Comparable to Rhys Davids’ Pali Text Society in Britain, the Mahayana Buddhist Publishing Society was attached to the Russian National Academy. In 1895, the society edited and published many Sanskrit Buddhist texts that had never before been published. Among the principal Buddhist scriptures they published were Mahayana Treatise on the Learning of the Bodhisattvas, edited by Xibiante-er and published from 1897-1902, the Sutra of the Questions of the Protector of the Nation, published from 1901 to 1909 by Fuyinlao, the Selection and Assembly of the Hundred Phenomena Scripture, published by Stcherbatsky in 1902 (Stcherbatsky was an expert in Buddhist logic), La Vallee Poussin's translations of Nagarjuna's Mad-hyamika-karikas and the appended commentaries, published in 1903, and the joint studies by Kern and Nanjo on the Lotus Sutra, published from 1908 to 1916.
With the outbreak of the Russian Revolution in 1917, Buddhist studies in Russia were throttled.
CHAPTER SUMMARY
In the various countries of Asia, Buddhism still retains its traditional prestige. But the times are changing, and Buddhism is also in the midst of changes. It is difficult to anticipate what kind of religion Buddhism will become in the future. Nevertheless, from a religious standpoint, there are still many countries in Asia that are Buddhist lands. This is especially true in Southeast Asia.
Nevertheless, Buddhist learning in Southeast Asia is still confined within the limits of Hinayana thought. There are also religious phenomena in the Southeast Asian lands that show a mixing together of Buddhist elements with the worship of spirits. But the banner of Buddhism is still bright in these countries. There are precedents, however, that give us cause for concern: “Where we have gone, the enemy can also go.” When we investigate the overall trend of Buddhism in Southeast Asia, it cannot help but make us feel a secret worry.
In recent times, most of the Westerners who believe in or study Buddhism have taken the Southeast Asian version of Buddhist thought as the original form, or else they have been deeply influenced by the later manifestations of Japanese Buddhism. The Buddhism of China, the second great homeland of the religion, continues to be overlooked or deliberately slighted. I think that this is something that all intelligent Chinese Buddhists and their sympathizers must guard against!
The circumstances of the transmission of Buddhism to Europe and America have been described above. In the past half century, many Chinese have heard that Europeans and Americans are also studying Buddhism, and they have become enthusiastic about this. Thinking that Chinese Buddhism has already been propagated in the West, they take this as an honor. Some Chinese think that Westerners have brought the scientific spirit to the study of Buddhism, and that their Buddhism must be even better than Chinese Buddhism itself. They are ready to follow the Westerners gladly, and are going to Western countries to study Buddhism there. This blind mentality is really quite ridiculous.
Frankly speaking, the study of Buddhism by Westerners may possibly cause Buddhist studies to become more meticulous about textual criticism, but this is a far cry from being an impetus to a revival of the Correct Dharma. Moreover, at present, Buddhism is just beginning to be disseminated in the West, and how long it may take for it to be able to flower and bear fruit there, we will have to wait until the 21st century to see.
For now, I will mention five basic causal factors which will enable us to understand the trends in world Buddhism.
1. The translation of the Buddhist scriptures: When Buddhism was transmitted to China from India, it took four or five centuries, from the late Han period through the Sui and Tang periods, before there were genuine results. It is also necessary to be aware that Chinese civilization at that time already had its own brilliant accomplishments and was not some newly arisen upstart with shallow foundations.
Therefore, for Buddhist concepts to undergo translation into Chinese and become commonly understood in China was no easy matter. This was even more true because translating Buddhist scriptures is not comparable to translating ordinary books. The first requirement is to have a high level of literary cultivation in two dissimilar languages. The second requirement is that the translator must have already had personal experience of the realms reached by cultivating the practice of the Buddha Dharma. Just to reach a high level of literary cultivation in two languages is already far from easy, and the work of genuinely cultivating true practice is even more difficult.
The famous adepts in China's past who translated the Buddhist scriptures, like the Central Asian Kumarajiva and the Chinese Dharma master Xuanzang, were at the same time both talented literary scholars and men with a high level of attainment in cultivating realization of the Buddha Dharma.
Even so, they still had to rely on the support of the state, which established translation institutes staffed by several thousand people who devoted themselves to the work of translating the scriptures. Often the way a term was translated would be discussed over and over again for several months before they could decide on a translation.
Moreover, after a certain period of time, if there were people who thought that the translation was not exactly right, the text would be retranslated. Thus, there are usually several different translations of each Buddhist scripture. Only after several centuries did one of these translations get to be generally acknowledged as a reliable version.
Westerners use various different languages. After a few years of studying Buddhist texts, they make haste to translate and comment on Buddhist scriptures. They of course employ the customary ways of thinking of their own countries, claiming that they are being objective, but actually this amounts to subjective study. How reliable their translations ultimately are is really hard to say.
Even if Chinese try to translate Buddhist texts into foreign languages, they still must meet the conditions mentioned above before they can succeed. Thus, when it comes to the popular scriptures and examples of Buddhist thought translated by modern-day Westerners, we must be very cautious and seek confirmation of their accuracy.
2. The basis in the Buddhist scriptures: The Hinayana Buddhist thought that Europeans have taken up, and the Indian-language texts that they have discovered, usually represent texts from the late period of Indian Buddhism. There are great divergences between such texts and the texts of a thousand years earlier, from the time of Shakyamuni Buddha and King Ashoka. These texts must be compared with the various Chinese translations of the Buddhist scriptures and corrected in light of them before they can be considered comparatively reliable. But the modern-day Western translations of Buddhist scriptures have been undertaken without doing this work, and there is still a tendency not to take the Chinese versions of the Buddhist scriptures seriously. Moreover, the modern Western culture that has been formed on the basis of the Hellenic heritage has its own independent cultural tradition of several thousand years, and this must be comprehended.
3. Cultivating realization of the Buddha Dharma: Buddhist learning is not only a system of thought. Buddhist philosophy does indeed have a resemblance to Western philosophical thought. But Buddhist methods of cultivating realization must be pursued within the person himself. They are not like the methods of physics for studying the natural world. When Buddhism first entered China, men like Fotudeng and others could make the Chinese believe in them and accept the Buddhist teaching only because they themselves could show as proof spiritual powers based on their own attainments in cultivating realization.
In modern times, if people trying to promote Buddhism in the West do not seek the proof within themselves, but instead just try to spread Buddhism based on its texts and its philosophical thought, it will naturally appear as merely a system of Eastern thought, and it will detract greatly from the Buddhist spirit of bringing salvation to the world.
4. The dissemination of Zen: The message of the Zen school is a special transmission beyond the scriptural teachings, an approach that does not establish verbal formulations as sacred, but puts its real substantive emphasis on cultivating realization. The Dharma words, meditation cases, and pointed sayings of the Zen school that became popular in China from the Tang and Song periods on have already become indivisible from Chinese literature and Chinese common colloquial language. But when they came to Japan from the 13th century onward, they changed in character. These days, no matter whether in China or Japan, those who talk of Zen are many, but those who cultivate and realize it are few.
There are already many barriers for Chinese people to study Zen, and many points that are hard to comprehend if they are not deeply versed in the classical literary language and the various regional dialects of the Song period. Zen studies in modern-day Europe and America are in a state of flux: from a quick superficial impression, Westerners get some idea of the Zen realm of informality and humor, and then assume that Zen is just like this. If we Chinese are not able to give the countervailing evidence, and we just go along with these Western misconceptions and do nothing to correct them, then the misunderstandings will be endless.
5. The transmission of Buddhist concentration and wisdom: Indian yogic techniques and Tibetan Tantric methods of self-cultivation are currently becoming popular in Europe and America. The average Westerner who practices these methods takes them as a kind of Eastern mystical exercise for strengthening the body, and may even confuse them with hypnotic techniques. It goes without saying that, fundamentally, the meditative techniques of the true Buddha Dharma have not been transmitted to the West. Most of the people who try to spread so-called Eastern mystical exercises in the West do not even understand them themselves. They travel to the West and teach others only as a way of seeking empty fame. Are they misleading others or misleading themselves? Are they acting on behalf of Buddhism, or are they acting for themselves? We must reflect deeply on this and offer frank criticism.
For all these reasons, I would say that, in all the countries of the West in the late 20th century, Buddhism is in the beginning stages of being disseminated and there are bound to be mistakes made.
The introductory explanations of the Ming Yi (“Injury to Illumination”) and Jia Ren (“People in the Home”) hexagrams 36 and 37 of the Book of Changes say: “When it enters, there must be injury, so it is received with injury to illumination. Injury means damage. Damage to the outside must return to the family, so it is received by people in the home.” All of us Chinese must alert ourselves to this, for the sake of Buddhist civilization and for the sake of Chinese civilization!