CHAPTER X. THE CHRISTIAN APPROACH TO BUDDHISTS

1. Questions which Buddhists Ask

2. Knowledge and Sympathy

3. Emphasis on the Æsthetic in Christianity

4. Emphasis on the Mystical in Christianity

5. Emphasis on the Social Elements in Christianity

6. Emphasis on the Person of Jesus Christ

(a) As a Historical Character

(b) As the Revealer

(c) As the Saviour

(d) As the Eternal Son of God

7. How Christianity Expresses Itself in Buddhist Minds

8. Christianity’s Constructive Values

APPENDIX ONE, Hints for the Preliminary Study of Buddhism in China

APPENDIX TWO, A Brief Bibliography

PREFACE

This volume is the third to be published of a series on “The World’s Living

Religions,” projected in 1920 by the Board of Missionary Preparation of the

Foreign Missions Conference of North America. The series seeks to introduce

Western readers to the real religious life of each great national area of the

non-Christian world.

Buddhism is a religion which must be viewed from many angles. Its original

form, as preached by Gautama in India and developed in the early years

succeeding, and as embodied in the sacred literature of early Buddhism, is not

representative of the actual Buddhism of any land today. The faithful student

of Buddhist literature would be as far removed from understanding the working

activities of a busy center of Buddhism in Burmah, Tibet or China today as a

student of patristic literature would be from appreciating the Christian life

of London or New York City.

Moreover Buddhism, like Christianity, has been affected by national conditions.

It has developed at least three markedly different types, requiring, therefore,

as many distinct volumes of this series for its fair interpretation and

presentation. The volume on the Buddhism of Southern Asia by Professor Kenneth

J. Saunders was published in May, 1923; this volume on the Buddhism of China by

Professor Hodous will be the second to appear; a third on the Buddhism of

Japan, to be written by Dr. R. C. Armstrong, will be published in 1924. Each of

these is needed in order that the would be student of Buddhism as practiced in

those countries should be given a true, impressive and friendly picture of what

he will meet.

A missionary no less than a professional student of Buddhism needs to approach

that religion with a real appreciation of what it aims to do for its people and

does do. No one can come into contact with the best that Buddhism offers

without being impressed by its serenity, assurance and power.

Professor Hodous has written this volume on Buddhism in China out of the ripe

experience and continuing studies of sixteen years of missionary service in

Foochow, the chief city of Fukien Province, China, one of the important centers

of Buddhism. His local studies were supplemented by the results of broader

research and study in northern China. No other available writer on the subject

has gone so far as he in reproducing the actual thinking of a trained Buddhist

mind in regard to the fundamentals of religion. At the same time he has taken

pains to exhibit and to interpret the religious life of the peasant as affected

by Buddhism. He has sought to be absolutely fair to Buddhism, but still to

express his own conviction that the best that is in Buddhism is given far more

adequate expression in Christianity.

The purpose of each volume in this series is impressionistic rather than

definitely educational. They are not textbooks for the formal study of

Buddhism, but introductions to its study. They aim to kindle interest and to

direct the activity of the awakened student along sound lines. For further

study each volume amply provides through directions and literature in the

appendices. It seeks to help the student to discriminate, to think in terms of

a devotee of Buddhism when he compares that religion with Christianity. It

assumes, however, that Christianity is the broader and deeper revelation of God

and the world of today.

Buddhism in China undoubtedly includes among its adherents many high-minded,

devout, and earnest souls who live an idealistic life. Christianity ought to

make a strong appeal to such minds, taking from them none of the joy or

assurance or devotion which they possess, but promoting a deeper, better

balanced interpretation of the active world, a nobler conception of God, a

stronger sense of sinfulness and need, and a truer idea of the full meaning of

incarnation and revelation.

It is our hope that this fresh contribution to the understanding of Buddhism as

it is today may be found helpful to readers everywhere.

The Editors.

_New York city, December, 1923._

The Committee of Reference and Counsel of the Foreign Missions Conference of

North America has authorized the publication of this series. The author of each

volume is alone responsible for the opinions expressed, unless otherwise

stated.

BUDDHISM AND BUDDHISTS IN CHINA

I

INTRODUCTORY

A well known missionary of Peking, China, was invited one day by a Buddhist

acquaintance to attend the ceremony of initiation for a class of one hundred

and eighty priests and some twenty laity who had been undergoing preparatory

instruction at the stately and important Buddhist monastery. The beautiful

courts of the temple were filled by a throng of invited guests and spectators,

waiting to watch the impressive procession of candidates, acolytes, attendants

and high officials, all in their appropriate vestments. No outsider was

privileged to witness the solemn taking by each candidate for the priesthood of

the vow to “keep the Ten Laws,” followed by the indelible branding of his

scalp, truly a “baptism of fire.” Less private was the initiation of the lay

brethren and _sisters,_ more lightly branded on the right wrist, while all

about intoned “Na Mah Pen Shih Shih Chia Mou Ni Fo.” (I put my trust in my

original Teacher, Säkyamuni, Buddha.)

The missionary was deeply impressed by the serenity and devotion of the

worshipers and by the dignity and solemnity of the service. The last candidate

to rise and receive the baptism of branding was a young married woman of

refined appearance, attended by an elderly lady, evidently her mother, who

watched with an expression of mingled devotion, insight and pride her

daughter’s initiation and welcomed her at the end of the process with radiant

face, as a daughter, now, in a spiritual as well as a physical sense. At that

moment an attendant, noting the keen interest of the missionary, said to him

rather flippantly, “Would you not like to have your arm branded, too?” “I

might,” he replied, “just out of curiosity, but I could not receive the

branding as a believer in the Buddha. I am a Christian believer. To be branded

without inward faith would be an insult to your religion as well as treachery

to my own, would it not? Is not real religion a matter of the heart?”

The old lady, who had overheard with evident disapproval the remark of the

attendant, turned to the missionary at once and said, “Is that the way you

Westerners, you Christians, speak of your faith? Is the reality of religion for

you also an inward experience of the heart?” And with that began an interesting

interchange of conversation, each party discovering that in the heart of the

other was a genuine longing for God that overwhelmed all the artificial,

material distinctions and the human devices through which men have limited to

particular and exclusive paths their way of search, and drew these two pilgrims

on the way toward God into a common and very real fellowship of the spirit.

A Buddhist monk was passing by a mission building in another city’ of China

when his attention was suddenly drawn to the Svastika and other Buddhist

symbols which the architect had skilfully used in decorating the building. His

face brightened as he said to his companion: “I did not know that Christians

had any appreciation of beauty in their religion.”

These incidents reveal aspects of the alchemy of the soul by which the real

devotee of one religion perceives values which are dear to him in another

religion. The good which he has attained in his old religion enables him to

appropriate the better in the new religion. A converted monk, explaining his

acceptance of Christianity, said: “I found in Jesus Christ the great

Bodhisattva, my Saviour, who brings to fruition the aspirations awakened in me

by Buddhism.”

Just as it has been said that they do not know England who know England only,

so it may be said with equal truth that they do not know Christianity who know

it and no other faith. There are many in China like the old lady at the temple,

who have found in Buddhism something of that spiritual satisfaction and

stimulus which true Christianity affords, in fuller measure. The recognition of

such religious values by the student or the missionary furnishes a sound

foundation for the building of a truer spirituality among such devotees.

As will be seen in what follows, religion in China is at first sight a mixed

affair. From the standpoint of cruder household superstitions an average

Chinese family may be regarded as Taoists; the principles by which its members

seek to guide their lives individually and socially may be called Confucian;

their attitude of worship and their hopes for the future make them Buddhists.

The student would not be far afield when he credits the religious aspirations

of the Chinese today to Buddhism, regarding Confucianism as furnishing the

ethical system to which they submit and Taoism as responsible for many

superstitious practices. But the Buddhism found in China differs radically from

that of Southern Asia, as will be made clear by the following sketch of its

introduction into the Flowery Kingdom and its subsequent history.

II

THE ENTRANCE OF BUDDHISM INTO CHINA

Buddhism was not an indigenous religion of China. Its founder was Gautama of

India in the sixth century B.C. Some centuries later it found its way into

China by way of central Asia. There is a tradition that as early as 142 B.C.

Chang Ch’ien, an ambassador of the Chinese emperor, Wu Ti, visited the

countries of central Asia, where he first learned about the new religion which

was making such headway and reported concerning it to his master. A few years

later the generals of Wu Ti captured a gold image of the Buddha which the

emperor set up in his palace and worshiped, but he took no further steps.

According to Chinese historians Buddhism was officially recognized in China

about 67 A.D. A few years before that date, the emperor, Ming-Ti, saw in a

dream a large golden image with a halo hovering above his palace. His advisers,

some of whom were no doubt already favorable to the new religion, interpreted

the image of the dream to be that of Buddha, the great sage of India, who was

inviting his adhesion. Following their advice the emperor sent an embassy to

study into Buddhism. It brought back two Indian monks and a quantity of

Buddhist classics. These were carried on a white horse and so the monastery

which the emperor built for the monks and those who came after them was called

the White Horse Monastery. Its tablet is said to have survived to this day.

This dream story is worth repeating because it goes to show that Buddhism was

not only known at an early date, but was favored at the court of China. In

fact, the same history which relates the dream contains the biography of an

official who became an adherent of Buddhism a few years before the dream took

place. This is not at all surprising, because an acquaintance with Buddhism was

the inevitable concomitant of the military campaigning, the many embassies and

the wide-ranging trade of those centuries. But the introduction of Buddhism

into China was especially promoted by reason of the current policy of the

Chinese government of moving conquered populations in countries west of China

into China proper, The vanquished peoples brought their own religion along with

them. At one time what is now the province of Shansi was populated in this way

by the Hsiung-nu, many of whom were Buddhists.

The introduction and spread of Buddhism were hastened by the decline of

Confucianism and Taoism. The Han dynasty (206 B. C.-221 A. D.) established a

government founded on Confucianism. It reproduced the classics destroyed in the

previous dynasty and encouraged their study; it established the state worship

of Confucius; it based its laws and regulations upon the ideals and principles

advocated by Confucius. The great increase of wealth and power under this

dynasty led to a gradual deterioration in the character of the rulers and

officials. The rigid Confucian regulations became burdensome to the people who

ceased to respect their leaders. Confucianism lost its hold as the complete

solution of the problems of life. At the same time Taoism had become a

veritable jumble of meaningless and superstitious rites which served to support

a horde of ignorant, selfish priests. The high religious ideals of the earlier

Taoist mystics were abandoned for a search after the elixir of life during

fruitless journeys to the isles of the Immortals which were supposed to be in

the Eastern Sea.

At this juncture there arose in North China a sect of men called the Purists

who advocated a return from the vagaries of Taoism and the irritating rules of

Confucianism to the simple life practised by the Taoist mystics. When these

thoughtful and earnest minded men came into contact with Buddhism they were

captivated by it. It had all they were claiming for Taoist mysticism and more.

They devoted their literary ability and religious fervor to the spreading of

the new religion and its success was in no small measure due to their efforts.

As a result of this early association the tenets of the two religions seemed so

much alike that various emperors called assemblies of Buddhists and Taoists

with the intention of effecting a union of the two religions into one. If the

emperor was under the influence of Buddhism he tried to force all Taoists to

become Buddhists. If he was favorable to Taoism he tried to make all Buddhists

become Taoists.

But such mandates were as unsuccessful as other similar schemes have been. In

the third century A. D. after the Han dynasty had ended, China was broken up

into several small kingdoms which contended for supremacy, so that for about

four hundred years the whole country was in a state of disunion. One of the

strong dynasties of this period, the Northern Wei (386-535 A. D.), was

distinctly loyal to Buddhism. During its continuance Buddhism prospered

greatly. Although Chinese were not permitted to become monks until 335 A. D.,

still Buddhism made rapid advances and in the fourth century, when that

restriction was removed, about nine-tenths of the people of northwestern China

had become Buddhists. Since then Buddhism has been an established factor in

Chinese life.

III

THE ESTABLISHMENT OF BUDDHISM AS THE PREDOMINATING RELIGION OF CHINA

Even the historical influences noted above do not account entirely for the

spread of Buddhism in China. In order to understand this and the place which

Buddhism occupies, we need to review briefly the different forms which religion

takes in China and to note how Buddhism has related itself to them.

_1. The World of Invisible Spirits_

The Chinese believe _in_ a surrounding-world of spirits, whose origin is

exceedingly various. They touch life at every point. There are spirits which

are guardians of the soil, tree spirits, mountain demons, fire gods, the

spirits of animals, of mountains, of rivers, seas and stars, of the heavenly

bodies and of many forms of active life. These spirits to the Chinese mind, of

today are a projection, a sort of spiritual counterpart, of the many sided

interests, practical or otherwise, of the groups and communities by whom they

are worshipped. There are other spirits which mirror the ideals of the groups

by which they are worshipped. Some of them may have been incarnated in the

lives of great leaders. There are spirits which are mere animations, occasional

spirits, associated with objects crossing the interests of men, but not

constant enough to attain a definite, independent life as spiritual beings.

Thus surrounding the average Chinese peasant there is a densely populated

spirit world affecting in all kinds of ways his, daily existence. This other

world is the background which must be kept in mind by one who would understand

or attempt to guide Chinese religious experience. It is the basis on which all

organized forms of religious activity are built. The nearest of these to his

heart is the proper regard for his ancestors.

_2. The Universal Sense_ of _Ancestor Control_

The ancestral control of family life occupies so large and important a place in

Chinese thought and practice that ancestor worship has been called the original

religion of the Chinese. It is certain that the earliest Confucian records

recognize ancestor worship; but doubtless it antedated them, growing up out of

the general religious consciousness of the people. The discussion of that

origin in detail cannot be taken up here. It may be followed in the literature

noted in the appendix or in the volume of this series entitled “Present-Day

Confucianism.” Ancestor worship is active today, however, because the Chinese

as a people believe that these ancestors control in a very real way the good or

evil fortunes of their descendants, because this recognition of ancestors

furnishes a potent means of promoting family unity and social ethics, and, most

of all, because a happy future life is supposed to be dependent upon

descendants who will faithfully minister to the dead. Since each one desires

such a future he is faithful in promoting the observance of the obligation.

Consequently, ancestor worship, like the previously mentioned belief in the

invisible spiritual world, underlies all other religious developments. No

family is so obscure or poor that it does not submit to the ritual or

discipline which is supposed to ensure the favor of the spirits belonging to

the community. Likewise, every such family is loyal to the supposed needs of

its deceased ancestors. In a very intimate way these beliefs are interwoven

with the private and social morality of every family or group in Chinese

society, and must be taken into account by any one who seeks to bring a

religious message to the Chinese people.

_3. Degenerate Taoism_

Taoism is that system of Chinese religious thought and practice, beginning

about the fifth century B. C., which was originally based on the teachings of

Lao Tzu and developed in the writings of Lieh Tzu and Chuang Tzu and found in

the Tao Tê Ching. It is really in this original form a philosophy of some

merit. According to its teaching the Tao is the great impersonal background of

the world from which all things proceed as beams from the sun, and to which all

beings return. In contrast to the present, transient, changing world the Tao is

unchangeable and quiet. Originally the Taoists emphasized quiescence, a life in

accordance with nature, as a means of assimilating themselves to the Tao,

believing that in this way they would obtain length of days, eternal life and

especially the power to become superior to natural conditions.

There is a movement today among Chinese scholars in favor of a return to this

original highest form of Taoism. It appeals to them as a philosophy of life; an

answer to its riddles. Among the masses of the people, however, Taoism

manifests itself in a ritual of extreme superstition. It recommends magic

tricks and curious superstitions as a means of prolonging life. It expresses

itself very largely in these degrading practices which few Chinese will defend,

but which are yet very commonly practiced.

_4. The Organizing Value of Confucianism_

Confucianism brought organization into these hazy conceptions of life and duty.

It took for granted this spiritual-unspiritual background of animism,

ancestor-worship and Taoism, but reshaped and adapted it as a whole so that it

might fit into that proper organization of the state and nation which was one

of its great objectives. Just as Confucianism related the family to the

village, the village to the district, and the district to the state, so it

organized the spiritual world into a hierarchy with Shang Ti as its head. This

hierarchy was developed along the lines of the organization mentioned above.

Under Shang Ti were the five cosmic emperors, one for each of the four quarters

and one for heaven above, under whom were the gods of the soil, the mountains,

rivers, seas, stars, the sun and moon, the ancestors and the gods of special

groups. Each of the deities in the various ranks had duties to those above and

rights with reference to those below. These duties and rights, as they affected

the individual, were not only expressed in law but were embodied in ceremony

and music, in daily religious life and practice in such a way that each

individual had reason to feel that he was a functioning agent in this grand

Confucian universe. If any one failed to do his part, the whole universe would

suffer. So thoroughly has this idea been adopted by the Chinese people that

every one joins in forcing an individual, however reluctant or careless, to

perform his part of each ceremony as it has been ordered from high antiquity.

The emperor alone worshipped the supreme deity, Shang Ti; the great officers of

state, according to the dignity of their office, were related to subordinate

gods and required to show them adequate respect and reverence. Confucius and a

long line of noted men following him were semi-deified [Footnote: Confucius was

by imperial decree deified in 1908.] and highly reverenced by the literati, the

class from which the officers of state were as a rule obtained, in connection

with their duties, and as an expression of their ideals. To the common people

were left the ordinary local deities, while all classes, of course, each in its

own fashion reverenced, cherished and obeyed their ancestors. It should be

remarked at this point that Confucianism of this official character has broken

down, not only under the impact of modern ideas, but under the longing of the

Chinese for a universal deity. The people turn to Heaven and to the Pearly

Emperor, the popular counterpart of Shang Ti.

Viewed from another angle, Confucianism is an elaborate system of ethics. In

writings which are virtually the scriptures of the Chinese people Confucius and

his successors have set forth the principles which should govern the life of a

people who recognize this spiritual universe and system. These ethics have

grown out of a long and, in some respects, a sound experience. Much can be said

in their favor. The essential weaknesses of the Confucian system of ethics lie

in its sectional and personal loyalties and its monarchical basis. The spirit

of democracy is a deadly foe to Confucianism. Another element of weakness is

its excessive dependence upon the past. Confucius reached ultimate wisdom by

the study of the best that had been attained before his day. He looked backward

rather than forward. Consequently a modern, broadly educated Confucianist finds

himself in an anomalous position. He does not need absolutely to reject the

wisdom which Confucianism embodies, but he can no longer accept it as a sound,

reliable and indisputable scheme of thought and action. Yet its simple ethical

principles and its social relationships are basal in the lives of the vast

masses of the Chinese.

_5. Buddhism an Inclusive Religion._

Upon this, confused jumble of spiritism, superstition, loyalty to ancestors and

submission to a divine hierarchy Buddhism was superimposed. It quickly

dominated all because of its superior excellence. The form of Buddhism which

became established in China was not, to be sure, like the Buddhism preached by

Gautama and his disciples, or like that form of Buddhism which had taken root

in Burma or Ceylon. Except in name, the Buddhism of Southern Asia and the

Buddhism which developed in China were virtually two distinct types of

religion. The Buddhism of Burma and Ceylon was of the conservative Hînayâna

(“Little Vehicle” of salvation) school, while that of China was of the

progressive Mahâyâna (“Great Vehicle” of salvation) school. Their differences

are so marked as to be worthy of a careful statement.

The Hinayana, which is today the type of Buddhism in Ceylon, Burma and Siam,

has always clung closely to tradition as expressed in the original Buddhist

scriptures. Its basic ideas were that life is on the whole a time of suffering,

that the cause of this sorrow is desire or ignorance, and that there is a

possible deliverance from it. This deliverance or salvation is to be attained

by following the eightfold path, namely, right knowledge, aspiration, speech,

conduct, means of livelihood, endeavor, mindfulness and meditation. To the

beatific state to be ultimately attained Gautama gave the name Nirvana,

explained by his followers variously either as an utter extinction of

personality or as a passionless peace, a general state of well-being free from

all evil desire or clinging to life and released from the chain of

transmigration. Hinayana Buddhism appeals to the individual as affording a way

of escape from evil desire and its consequences by acquiring knowledge, by

constant discipline, and by a devotedness of the life to religious ends through

membership in the monastic order which Buddha established. It encourages,

however, a personal salvation worked out by the individual alone.

The Mahâyâna school of Buddhists accept the general ideas of the Hinayana

regarding life and salvation, but so change the spirit and objectives as to

make Buddhism into what is virtually another religion. It does not confine

salvation to the few who can retire from the world and give themselves wholly

to good works, but opens Buddhahood to all. The “saint” of Hinayana Buddhism is

the _arhat_ who is intent on saving himself. The saint of Mahâyâna

Buddhism is the candidate for Buddhahood (Bodhisattva) who defers his entrance

into the bliss of deliverance in order to save others. Mahâyâna Buddhism is

progressive. It encourages missionary enterprise and was a secret of the

remarkable spread of Buddhism over Asia. Moreover, while the Hînayâna school

recognizes no god or being to whom worship is given, the Mahâyanâ came to

regard Gautama himself as a god and salvation as life in a heavenly world of

pure souls. Thus the Mahâyâna type of thinking constitutes a bridge between

Hînayâna Buddhism and Christianity. In fact, a recent writer has declared that

Hînayâna Buddhists are verging toward these more spiritual conceptions.

[Footnote: See Saunders, _Buddhism and Buddhists in Southern Asia,_ pp.

10, 20.]

After the death of Sâkyamuni [Footnote: Sâkyamuni is the name by which Gautama,

the Buddha, is familiarly known in China.] Buddhism broke up into a number of

sects usually said to be eighteen in number. When Buddhism came to China some

of these sects were introduced, but they assumed new forms in their Chinese

environment. Besides the sects brought, from India the Chinese developed

several strong sects of their own. Usually they speak of ten sects although the

number is far larger, if the various subdivisions are included.

To indicate the manifold differences between these groups in Buddhism would

take us far afield and would not be profitable. It will be of interest,

however, to consider some of the chief sects. One of the sects introduced from

India is the Pure Land or the Ching T’u which holds before the believer the

“Western Paradise” gained through faith in Amitâbha. Any one, no matter what

his life may have been, may enter the Western Paradise by repeating the name of

Amitâbha. This sect is widespread in China. In Japan there are two branches of

it known as the Nishi-Hongwanji and the Higashi-Hongwanji with their head

monasteries in Kyoto. They are the most progressive sects in Japan and are

carrying on missionary work in China, the Hawaiian Islands and in the United

States.

Another strong sect is the Meditative sect or the Ch’an Men (Zen in Japan).

This was introduced by Bodhidharma, or Tamo, who arrived in the capital of

China in the year 520 A.D. On his arrival the emperor Wu Ti tried to impress

the sage with his greatness saying: “We have built temples, multiplied the

Scriptures, encouraged many to join the Order: is not there much merit in all

this?” “None,” was the blunt reply. “But what say the holy books? Do they not

promise rewards for such deeds?” “There is nothing holy.” “But you, yourself,

are you not one of the holy ones?” “I don’t know.” “Who are you?” “I don’t

know.” Thus introduced, the great man proceeded to open his missionary-labors

by sitting down opposite a wall arid gazing at it for the next nine years. From

this he has been called the “wall-gazer.” He and his successors promulgated the

doctrine that neither the scriptures, the ritual nor the organization, in fact

nothing outward had any value in the attainment of enlightenment. They held

that the heart of the universe is Buddha and that apart from the heart or the

thought all is unreal. They thought themselves back into the universal Buddha

and then found the Buddha heart in all nature. Thus they awakened the spirit

which permeated nature, art and literature and made the whole world kin with

the spirit of the Buddha.

“The golden light upon the sunkist peaks,

The water murmuring in the pebbly creeks,

Are Buddha. In the stillness, hark, he speaks!”

[Footnote: K. J. Saunders in _Epochs of Buddhist History._]

Such pantheism and quietism often lead to a confusion in moral relations, but

these mystics were quite correct in their morals because they checked up their

mysticism with the moral system of the Buddha.

Still another important sect originated in the sixth century A. D. on Chinese

soil, namely, the T’ien T’ai (Japanese Tendai), so called because it started in

a monastery situated on the beautiful T’ien T’ai mountains south of Ningpo.

Chih K’ai, the founder, realized that Buddhism contained a great mass of

contradictory teachings and practice, all attributed to the Buddha. He sought

for a harmonizing principle and found it in the arbitrary theory that these

teachings were given to different people on five different occasions and hence

the discrepancies. The practical message of this sect has been that all beings

have the Buddha heart and that the Buddha loves all beings, so that all beings

may attain salvation, which consists in the full realization of the Buddha

heart latent in them.

There was a time when these sects were very active and flourishing in China. At

the present time the various tendencies for which they stood have been adopted

by Buddhism as a whole and the various sectaries, though still keeping the name

of the sect, live peacefully in the same monastery. All the monasteries

practice meditation, believe in the paradise of Amitâbha, and are enjoying the

ironic calm advocated by the T’ien T’ai. While the struggle among the sects of

China has been followed by a calm which resembles stagnation, those in Japan

are very active and the reader is referred to the volume of this series on

Japanese Buddhism for further treatment of the subject.

When Buddhism entered China it brought with it a new world. It was new

_practical_ and new spiritually. It brought a knowledge unknown before

regarding the heavenly bodies, regarding nature and regarding medicine, and a

practice vastly above the realm of magical arts. In addition to these practical

benefits, Buddhism proclaimed a new spiritual universe far more real and

extensive than any of which the Chinese had dreamed, and peopled with spiritual

beings having characteristics entirely novel. In comparison with this new

universe or series of universes which Indian imagination had created, the

Chinese universe was wooden and geometric. Since it was an organized system and

a greater rather than a different one, the Chinese people readily accepted it

and made it their own.

Buddhism not only enlarged the universe and gave the individual a range of

opportunity hitherto unsuspected, but it introduced a scheme of religious

practice, or rather several of them, enabling the individual devotee to attain

a place in this spiritual universe through his own efforts. These “ways” of

salvation were quite in harmony with Chinese ideas. They resembled what had

already been a part of the national practice and so were readily adopted and

adapted by the Chinese.

Buddhism rendered a great service to the Chinese through its new estimate of

the individual. Ancient China scarcely recognized the individual. He was merged

in the family and the clan. Taoists, to be sure, talked of “immortals” and

Confucianism exhibited its typical personality, or “princely man,” but these

were thought of as supermen, as ideals. The classics of China had very little

to say about the common people. The great common crowd was submerged. Buddhism,

on the other hand, gave every individual a distinct place in the great wheel

_dharma,_ the law, and made it possible for him to reach the very highest

goal of salvation. This introduced a genuinely new element into the social and

family life of the Chinese people.

Buddhism was so markedly superior to any one of the four other methods of

expressing the religious life, that it quickly won practical recognition as the

real religion of China. Confucianism may be called the doctrine of the learned

classes. It formulates their principles of life, but it is in no strict sense a

popular religion. It is rather a state ritual, or a scheme of personal and

social ethics. Taoism recognizes the immediate influence of the spirit world,

but it ministers only to local ideals and needs. In the usages of family and

community life, ancestor worship has a definite place, but an occasional one.

Buddhism was able to leave untouched each of these expressions of Chinese

personal and social life, and yet it went far beyond them in ministering to

religious development. Its ideas of being, of moral responsibility and of

religious relationships furnished a new psychology which with all its

imperfections far surpassed that of the Chinese. Buddhism’s organization was so

satisfying and adaptable that not only was it taken over readily by the

Chinese, but it has also persisted in China without marked changes since its

introduction. Most of all it stressed personal salvation and promised an escape

from the impersonal world of distress and hunger which surrounds the average

Chinese into a heaven ruled by Amitâbha [Footnote: Amitâbha, meaning “infinite

light,” is the Sanskrit name of one of the Buddhas moat highly revered in

China. The usual Chinese equivalent is Omi-To-Fo.] the Merciful. The

obligations of Buddhism are very definite and universally recognized. It

enforces high standards of living, but has added significance because it draws

each devotee into a sort of fellowship with the divine, and mates not this life

alone, but this life plus a future life, the end of human activity. Buddhism,

therefore, really expresses the deepest religious life of the people of China.

It will be worth while to note some illustrations of the conviction of the

Chinese people that there are three religions to which they owe allegiance and

yet that these are essentially one. They often say, “The three teachings are

the whole teaching.” An old scholar is reported to have remarked, “The three

roads are different, but they lead to the same source.” A common story reports

that Confucius was asked in the other world about drinking wine, which

Buddhists forbid but Taoists permit. Confucius replied: “If I do not drink I

become a Buddha. If I drink I become an Immortal. Well, if there is wine, I

shall drink; if there is none, I shall abstain.” This expresses

characteristically the Chinese habit of adaptation. Such a decision sounds

quite up to date.

The Ethical Culture Society of Peking, recently organized, has upon its walls

pictures of Buddha, Lao Tzu, Confucius and Christ. Its members claim to worship

Shang Ti as the god of all religions. An offshoot of this society, the T’ung

Shan She, associates the three founders very closely with Christ. It claims to

have a deeper revelation of Christ than the Christians themselves. A new

organization, the Tao Yuan, plans to harmonize the three old religions with

Mohammedanism and Christianity.

Buddhism has consistently and continually striven to bring about a unity of

religion in China by interpenetrating Confucianism and Taoism. Quite early the

Buddhists invented the story that the Bodhisattva Ju T’ung was really Confucius

incarnate. There was at one time a Buddhist temple to Confucius in the province

of Shantung. The Buddhists also gave out the story that Bodhisattva Kas’yapa

was the incarnation of Lao Tzu, the founder of Taoism. An artist painted Lao

Tzu transformed into a Buddha, seated in a lotus bud with a halo about his

head. In front of the Buddha was Confucius doing reverence. A Chinese scholar,

asked for his opinion about the picture, said: “Buddha should be seated; Lao

Tzu should be standing at the side looking askance at Buddha; and Confucius

should be grovelling on the floor.”

A monument dating from 543 A. D., illustrates this tendency of Buddhism to

represent its own superiority in Chinese religious life. At the top of the

monument is Brahma, lower down is Sâkyamuni with his disciples, Ananda and

Kas’yapa on one face, and on the other Sâkyamuni again, conversing with Buddha

Prabhutaratna and worshipped by monks and Bodhisattvas. On the pedestal are

Confucian and Taoist deities, ten in number. Thus Buddhism sought to rank

itself clearly above the other two religions. From the early days Buddhism

regarded itself as their superior and began the processes of interpenetration

and absorption. In consequence the values originally inherent in Buddhism have

come to be regarded as the natural possession of the Chinese. It does express

their religious life, especially in South China, where outward manifestations

of religion are perhaps more marked than in the north.

IV

BUDDHISM AND THE PEASANT

In order that, one may realize the place that Buddhism holds in the religious

life of the Chinese people as a whole, he must turn to the organizations

through which it functions. It is sometimes difficult to estimate the place of

Buddhism in China, because it so interpenetrates the whole cultural and social

life of the people. It becomes their “way.” To see how it touches the life of

the average man or woman in various ways will, therefore, be illuminating. The

most outstanding evidence of devotion are the many monasteries which dot the

land in all Buddhist countries. China is less dominated by them than other

lands, yet they form a very important reason for the persistence and strength

of Buddhism there. One of the famous old shrines will represent them as a class

and give evidence of their importance.

_1. The Monastery of Kushan_

Kushan Monastery, located about four hours’ ride by sedan-chair from Foochow,

is a famous shrine of South China. It occupies a large amphitheater about

fifteen hundred feet above the plain, part way up Kushan, the “Drum Mountain,”

some three thousand feet high. From the top of the mountain on clear days with

the help of a glass the blue shores of Formosa may be seen on the eastern

horizon. The spacious monastery buildings are surrounded by a grove of noble

trees, in which squirrels, pheasants, chipmunks and snakes enjoy an undisturbed

life.

The ascent to the monastery begins on the bank of the Min River. At the foot of

the mountain in a large temple the traveler may obtain mountain chairs carried

by two or more coolies. The road, paved with granite slabs cut from the

mountain side, consists of a series of stone stairs, which zig-zag up the

mountain under the shadow of ancient pine trees. Every turn brings to view a

bit of landscape carpeted with rice, or a distant view where mountains and sky

meet. A brook rushes by the side of the road. Here it breaks into a beautiful

waterfall. There it gurgles’ in a deep ravine. The sides of the road are

covered with large granite blocks which, loosened from the mountain side by

earthquakes, have disposed themselves promiscuously. Their blackened,

weather-beaten sides are incised with Chinese characters. One of them bears the

words: “We put our trust in Amitâbha.” Another immortalizes the sentiments of

some great official who has made the pilgrimage to the mountain. Near the

monastery stand the sombre dagobas where repose the ashes of former abbots and

monastery officials. Not far away on the other side of the road, hidden by

trees, is the crematory where the last remains of the brethren are consumed by

the flames.

As one approaches the monastery he hears the regular sounds of a bell tolled by

a water-wheel, reminding the faithful of Buddha’s law. He sees monks strolling

leisurely about and lay brethren carrying wood, cultivating the gardens, or

tending the animals released by pious devotees to heap up merit for themselves

in the next world. Just inside the main gate is a large fish pond, where

goldfish of great size struggle with one another, and with the lazy turtles,

for the round hard cakes purchased from the monks by the merit-seeking devotee.

The monastery itself consists of a large group of buildings erected about

stone-paved courts, rising in terraces on the mountain side. The large court at

the entrance leads to the “Hall of the Four Kings.” As one enters the spacious

door, he _is_ faced by a jolly, almost naked image of the “Laughing

Buddha.” This is Maitrêya, the Mea siah of the Buddhists, who will return to

the world five thousand years after the departure of Sâkyamuni. In the northern

monasteries Maitrêya is often represented as reaching a height when standing of

seventy feet or more, which indicates the stature to which man will attain when

he returns to earth. On each side of the visitor are two immense images of the

Deva kings. In Brahman cosmogony they were the guardians of the world. In this

entrance hall of the Buddhist monastery they stand as guardians of the Buddhist

faith. In the same hall looking toward the open court beyond is Wei To, another

guardian deity of Buddhism. Somewhere near by is Kuan Ti, the god worshipped by

the soldiers and merchants. Although a Confucian god, he was early adopted by

Buddhist monks into their pantheon and made the guardian of their Order.

Beyond this entrance hall is a large stone-paved court. On the right side is a

bell-tower whose bell is tolled by a monk who has kept the vow of silence for

fourteen years. On the left is a drum-tower. On the right one finds a series of

small shrines. A passage way leads to the library where numerous Buddhist

writings repose in lacquered cases, some of them written in their own blood by

devout monks. On the same side are guest halls, the dining room for three

hundred monks, and the spacious, well equipped kitchen with running water piped

from a reservoir in the hills above. A store where books, images and the simple

requirements of the monks can be obtained is just above the dining room. On the

left side of the court are large buildings used as dormitories far the monks,

storerooms, and for housing the great printing establishment with its thousands

of wooden blocks on which are carved passages from the Buddhist scriptures.

Here also are kept the coffins in which the monks are to be burned.

On a terrace above the north side of the court rises the main hall, called the

“Hall of the Triratna,” the Buddhist Trinity, where three gilded images are

seated on a lotus flower with halos covering their backs and heads. The center

image is that of Sâkyamuni, the Buddha. On his right is Yao Shih, the Buddha of

medicine, and on the left, Amitâbha. Quite often these images are said to

represent the Buddha, the Law and the Community of Monks. On the altar are

candlesticks and a fine incense burner from which curls of smoke arise. An

immense lamp hangs from the ceiling. In the rear are banners with praises to

Buddha given by pious devotees. The floor is tiled and covered with round mats

made of palm fiber on which the monks kneel during worship. Before the mats are

low stands for books. On each side of this main hall are the images of nine

Buddhist saints (_arhats_), eighteen in all. Behind this large temple

opens another court and on a terrace above it stands the hall of the Law with

the images of Kuan Yin, the goddess of Mercy, and the twenty-four devas. Here

also are small images of viceroys and patrons of the monastery.

The hillsides are dotted with numerous temples and shrines. There is one to

Chu-Hsi, the great philosopher of the Sung dynasty, who was born in Fukien. In

it are preserved a few characters indited by his hand. On the west side of the

monastery are large buildings for the housing of animals released by

merit-seeking devotees. Here cows, hogs, goats, chickens, geese and ducks spend

their old age without fear of beginning their transmigration by forming the

main portion of a Chinese feast.

The monastery is governed by an abbot, usually a man of good business ability,

elected by the monks. Under him are the officers of the two wings or groups of

attendants. One set looks after the spiritual interests, of the monks;

the-other takes care of their material needs: The monks have worship about two

o’clock in the morning and again at about four in the afternoon. The rest of

the long day they spend in meditation, or study, in strolling about the

mountain side or in sleep. Their life is separated from all stirring contact

with the life of the world.

_2. Monasteries Control Fêng-shui_

This monastery with its appointments is a good type of the monasteries all over

China. It was founded at the request of the inhabitants of the neighborhood,

because the dragons of the region used to cause much damage to the crops in the

surrounding country. A holy monk came, founded the monastery, and by his good

influence so curbed the dragons that the country-side has enjoyed peace ever

since and the monastery has prospered. Since the fourth century of our era

records show that by the building of monasteries in strategic place’s holy

monks brought rains and prosperity to various regions, or prevented floods and

calamities from damaging the villages. In other words the monasteries are

regarded as the controllers of _fêng-shui_ (wind and water). According to

the Chinese philosophy winds and water are spiritual forces and may be so

controlled by other spiritual forces that instead of bringing harm they will

confer benefit upon the people. Floods and dry seasons are so frequent in China

that any institution holding out the promise of regulating them would become

firmly established in the affection of the people. The monasteries have taken

this place.

One of the picturesque features of a Chinese landscape is the pagoda. These

structures were introduced in the early stages of Buddhism to enshrine the

relics of Buddha. It was said that Buddha’s body consisted of eighty thousand

parts, hence numerous pagodas were erected to shelter these relics. Inasmuch as

a pagoda contained the relics of Buddha, it possessed magic power and so came

to play a great part in the control of the winds and the rains. The pagoda in

China has an odd number of stories varying from three to thirteen. The odd

numbers belong to the positive principle in nature which is superior to the

negative principle. The pagoda plays quite a part in the festivals of the

people. On certain occasions the stories are hung with lanterns and the pagodas

are visited by numerous throngs.

_3. Prayer for Rain_

Prayers for rain afford such a common illustration of the relation of Buddhism

to the life of the peasant that a detailed presentation of such a service may

be of seal value.

During a prolonged drought in some district of China, when the heat opens

gaping cracks in the fields and the grain is drying up, the populace may visit

their highest official and apprise him of the dire situation. He often forbids

the slaughter of all animals for three days and, in case rain has not thereby

come, he goes in person or sends a deputy to the nearest monastery to direct

the monks to pray for rain.

_(a) The Altar._—On such an occasion the great hall of the Law may be used

for the ceremony. Quite often a special altar is erected in an enclosure near

the monastery on a platform one foot high and twenty-five feet on each side,

overspread by a tent of green cloth. In the center seats are arranged for the

presiding monk and his assistants. On each of the four sides of the altar is

placed an image of the Dragon King who is supposed to control the rain. If an

image is not obtainable a piece of paper inscribed with the name of the dragon

may be used. Flowers, fruits and incense are spread before the images. On the

doors of the tent are painted dragons with clouds. The tent and altar are green

and the monks wear green garments, because green belongs to the spring and

suggests rain. For this ceremony the monks prepare themselves by abstinence and

cleansing. The presiding monk is one of high moral character and religious

fervor. While some monks recite appropriate sutras, two others look after the

offerings, the incense, and the sprinkling of water during the ceremony to

suggest the coming of rain. The services continue day and night, being

conducted by groups of monks in succession.

_(b) The Prayer Service._—The ceremonial is opened by a chant as follows:

“Pearly dew of the jade heavens, golden waves of Buddha’s ocean, scatter the

lotus flowers on a thousand thousand worlds of suffering, that the heart of

mercy may wash away great calamity, that a drop may become a flood, that a drop

may purify mountains and rivers.

“We put our trust in the Bodhisattvas and Mahâsattvas that purify the earth.”

The chant ended, a monk takes a bowl of water and repeats thrice: “We put our

trust in the great merciful Kuan Yin Bodhisattva.” Then follows the chant:

“The Bodhisattva’s sweet dew of the willow is able to make one drop spread over

the ten directions. It washes away the rank odors and dirt. It keeps the altars

clean and pure. The mysterious words of the doctrine will be reverently

repeated.”

This chant ended, the monks intone incantations of Kuan Yin, quite

unintelligible even to them, but of magical value. While these are being

uttered, the presiding monk and his attendants walk around the altar, while one

of them with a branch sprinkles water on the floor. This symbolizes the

cleansing of the altar and of the monks from all impurities which might render

the ritual ineffective. When the perambulating monks have returned to their

place, while the sprinkler continues his duties, the monks repeat the words:

“We put our trust in the sweet dew kings, Bodhisattvas and Mahâsattvas.”

The Bodhisattvas have now come to the purified altar and while the abbot offers

incense to them, the monks repeat the words:

“The fields are destroyed so that they resemble the back of a tortoise. The

demons of drought produce calamity. The dark people [Footnote: A term denoting

the Chinese.] pray earnestly while crops are being destroyed. We pray that

abundant, limpid liquid may descend to purify and refresh the whole world. The

clouds of incense rise.”

This plaint is repeated thrice and is followed by an invocation:

“Wholeheartedly we cast ourselves to the earth, O Triratna, who dost exist

eternally in the realm of _dharma_ of the ten directions.”

The leader remains quiet a long time with his eyes closed, visualizing the

Buddhas, the Bodhisattvas, the dragon kings, and the saints, all with their

heavenly eyes and ears knowing that this region is afflicted with drought, that

an altar has been constructed and that all have come to make petition. This

meditation is regarded as of chief importance. It is followed by an

announcement to the effect that the sutra praying for rain was given by the

Buddha, that a drought is afflicting the land, that the altar has been erected

in accordance with the regulations and that prayer is being made for rain. But

fearing that something may have been overlooked, the magic formula of “the king

of light who turns the wheel” is read seven times so as to remedy such

oversight.

The altar having thus been cleansed of all impurities, the rain sutra is opened

and the one hundred and eighty-eight dragon kings are urged by name in groups

of ten to take action. The formula is as follows:

“We with our whole heart invite such and such dragon kings to come. We desire

that the heart and wisdom which knows others intuitively will move the spirits

above to obey the Buddha, to take pity on the people below and to come to our

province and send down sweet rain.”

When the dragons have all been duly invited, the monks chant suitable magical

formulas, while the leader sits in meditation visualizing these dragon kings

and their tender solicitude for the people in distress. The monastery bell is

sounded and the wooden fish is beaten, while drums and cymbals add their

effect. The whole is intended to draw the attention of the dragon kings to the

drought. Then the fifty-four Buddhas are invited in a similar manner in groups

of ten, the sixth group consisting of four. A similar form of address is used

and similar magical formulas are recited with the noisy accompaniment. The

ceremony concludes by the expression of the hope that the three jewels (Buddha,

the Law and the Community of Monks) and the dragon kings will grant the rain.

Upon the altar are four copies of an announcement to the dragon kings and

Buddhas. On the first day three copies are sent to them through the flames, one

to the Buddhas, one to the dragon kings and one to the devas. One copy is read

daily and then sent up at the thanksgiving ceremony. The announcement is as

follows:

“We put our trust in the limitless, reverent ocean clouds, the dragons of

august virtue and all their host, all dragon kings and holy saints. Their

august virtue is difficult to measure. In accord with the command of Buddha

they send liquid rain. May their quiet mercy descend to the altar; may they

send down purity and freshness, spreading over the ten directions. We put our

trust in the company of dragon kings of the clouds, the saints and the

Bodhisattvas.”

The offerings are made only in the morning inasmuch as the Buddhas, following

ancient custom, are not supposed to eat after the noonday meal. Great care is

taken that the altar shall not be desecrated by any one who eats meat or drinks

wine. The magic formulas of great mercy are uttered or the name of Kuan Yin is

repeated a thousand times. The monks, take turn in these services which

continue day and night until rain comes.

_(c) Its Meaning._—In the religious consciousness of the people is the

idea that the drought is a punishment for sin. The altar is made pure and

acceptable and sin is removed in various symbolic ways. This fits in with the

idea that man is an intimate part of the world order. His sin disturbs the

order of nature. Heaven manifests displeasures by sending down calamities upon

men. Men should cease their wrongdoing which disturbs the natural order and

should also wash away the effects of their sins. The services for rain with

their magic formulas help to clear away the consequences of sin and to

predispose Heaven to grant its blessings again.

_4. Monasteries Are Supported Because They Control Fêng-shui_

The prayers for rain are an important part of the Chinese peasant’s world

order. Drought is the manifestation of Heaven’s displeasure at the infraction

of Heaven’s laws. It calls for self-examination and repentance. Thus the

monastery opens up the windows of the universal order as this touches the

humble tiller of the soil.

The Buddhist monasteries not only hold services in time of drought, but also in

time of flood and at times when plagues of grasshoppers afflict the land, or

when diseases afflict human beings. Their adoption of Chinese customs led them

to have special ceremonies at the eclipse of the sun and moon, although they

knew the cause of the eclipse. Peasants and officials support the monastery

because of these services regulating the wind and water influences and through

them bringing the people into harmonious relation with the great world of

spirits.

V

BUDDHISM AND THE FAMILY

One of the criticisms of the Chinese against Buddhism is that it is opposed to

filial piety. According to Mencius the greatest unfilial act is to leave no

progeny. In spite of this charge Buddhism has done much for the family. It has

taken over the ethics of the family, filial piety, obedience and respect for

elders, and has made them a part of its system. Transgression of these

fundamental duties is visited by dire punishments in the next world. The

faithful observance is followed not only by the rewards of the Confucian

system, but results in the greatest rewards in the future life.

_1. Kuan Yin, the Giver of Children and Protector of Women_

Buddhism has done more. Out of its atmosphere of love and mercy toward all

beings has developed Kuan Yin, the ideal of Chinese womanhood, the goddess of

Mercy, who embodies the Chinese ideal of beauty, filial piety and compassion

toward the weak and suffering. She is especially the goddess of women, being

interested in all their affairs. Her image is found in almost every household

and her temples have a place in every part of China.

A brief history of this deity will enable us to understand the significance of

the cult. Kuan Yin started as a male god in India, called Avalôkitêsvara, who

was worshipped from the third to the seventh century of our era. He was the

protector of sailors and people in danger. In the course of time, either in

China or in India, the god became a goddess. Some think that this was due to

the influence of Christianity. In China both forms survive, though the goddess

is better known. A Buddhist once said that a Bodhisattva is neither male nor

female and appears in whatever form is convenient.

Kuan Yin is a very popular goddess. Her experiences in Hades are dramatically

presented by traveling theatrical companies. Her deeds of mercy are portrayed

in art. Her well known story runs as follows:

Kuan Yin was the daughter of the ruler of a prosperous kingdom located

somewhere near the island of Sumatra. Her birth was announced to the queen by a

dream. The little girl ate no meat nor milk. Her disposition was very good. Her

intelligence was most extraordinary. Once she read anything she never forgot

it.

At the age of sixteen her father tried to betroth her to a young prince. She

refused and decided to give herself to a life of fasting and abstinence.

Angered b-v her obstinacy the father ordered her to take off her court dress

and jewels, to put on the garb of a servant and to carry water for the garden.

The garden never looked so beautiful. The daughter also looked well and showed

no signs of weariness, because the gods assisted her in her work.

Relenting a little the king sent an older sister to urge Kuan Yin to accept the

husband he had found for her. When she refused, he sent her to a monastery and

charged the abbess to treat her harshly, so that she might be forced to return

home. Expecting to win the king’s favor, the abbess put the most unpleasant

tasks on the girl. But again the gods assisted her and made her work light, so

that her tasks were always well done and the young woman was cheerful.

One day the report came to the king that his daughter was associating with a

young monk discussing heterodox doctrines and that she had given birth to a

child. This news so enraged the king that he burned the monastery, killing many

monks. The princess was captured and brought before him. Inasmuch as she was

obdurate, the king ordered her to be executed. The executioner’s sword,

however, broke into a thousand pieces without doing her any injury. The king

then ordered her to be strangled. A golden image sixteen feet high appeared on

the spot. The princess laughed and cried: “Where there was no image, an image

appeared. I see the real form. When body flesh is strangled, then appear the

lights of ten thousand roads.” She went to purgatory and purgatory at once

changed into paradise. Yama, in order to save his purgatory, sent her back to

the world. She appeared at Puto, an island off the coast of Chekiang near

Ningpo. Here she rescued sailors and performed many miracles for people in

distress.

In the meantime the father, who had committed many sins, became sick. His

allotted time of life had been shortened by twenty years. Moreover, an ulcer

grew on his body for every one of the five hundred monks he had killed when he

burned the monastery. A miserable, loathsome old man, he came to an old monk,

who was really the princess in disguise, and asked for help. The monk told him

that an eye and an arm of a blood relative made into medicine was the only cure

for his trouble. The two living daughters were willing to make such an

offering, but their husbands would not permit them to do so. The old monk urged

the monarch to take up a life of abstinence, to rebuild the monastery he had

burned, and to provide money for services to take the five hundred monks whom

he had killed through purgatory. He also said that a nun in the convent would

offer an arm and an eye. When the monarch entered the monastery, he found

hanging before the incense burner an arm and an eye. These were boiled, mixed

with medicine and rubbed on the king’s body. He soon became well. Further

inquiry revealed that these members belonged to his daughter.

This is the story of the most popular goddess in China. She is worshipped by

her devotees on the first and fifteenth of every month, on the nineteenth of

the sixth month, when she became a Bodhisattva, and on the nineteenth of the

ninth month, when she put on the necklace. A month after marriage every young

bride is presented with an image of the Goddess of Mercy, an incense-burner and

candlesticks.

This goddess is worshipped whenever trouble comes to man or woman. Her names

signify her willingness to listen to all prayers. She is the “one who regards

the voice,” i.e., prayer; “one who hears the prayers of the world;” “one who

regards and exists by himself as sovereign;” “the ancestor of Buddha who

regards prayer;” “one who frees from fear;” “Buddha the august king;” “the

great white robed scholar;” “great compassion and mercy.”

_2. Kuan Yin, the Model of Local Mother-Goddesses_

This conception is the creation of the social and religious consciousness of

the women in China. It reveals their aspirations for mercy, compassion, filial

piety and for the beauty that crowns a well developed character. Such an ideal

does not mean that these have been realized in all the numerous homes of the

Chinese, but it manifests their sense of such an ideal to be realized in life

and their ardent longing for its realization.

Mother-goddesses are found all over China and they have all of them been

influenced by Kuan Yin. Some of them have originated with actual women who were

deified after death. Here is the story of one of these goddesses who presides

over the censer in a small temple in Formosa. She was born in the province of

Kuangtung. At the age of seven she was adopted by a family as the future wife

of their eighteen-year-old son. One day while crossing a river he was drowned.

This was a great blow to her. When she was fourteen years old the father of the

family died. The two women, thus left alone, wept bitterly day and night. The

comfort of relatives was of little avail. The mother was becoming emaciated

with grief. The daughter, unable to bear the strain any longer, washed herself,

burned incense before the ancestral tablet of her betrothed, and then took this

vow:

“I am willing to remain a virgin, to apply myself to carrying water and working

at the mortar and to serve my mother-in-law. If I cherish any other purpose and

change my chastity and obedience, may Heaven slay me and earth annihilate me.”

When the mother heard this vow she stopped her weeping. Inasmuch as they had no

uncle to look after them, they worked day and night. A relative of her future

husband gave her one of his sons as an adopted son. The child died after a few

months. This was a great grief. Then the mother died. The daughter sold her

possessions to obtain money for a proper burial. She had only a coarse mourning

cloth for her dress. After a while she adopted a child as her son. When he grew

up she found him a wife who served her as faithfully as she had served her

mother-in-law. When she was eighty years old, she dreamed that the golden maid

and jade messenger of Kuan Yin stood beside her saying: “The court of Heaven

has ordered you to become a god (shên).” She died soon after this. She said of

herself:

“Shang Ti took compassion upon me during my life, because with a firm heart I

kept my chastity and served my mother-in-law with complete obedience. Therefore

he gave me the office of Kuan Pin. I have performed my duties in several

places. Now I am transferred to Formosa.”

This story and many others like it mirror the moral ideals of the women of

China in the midst of their struggles for help and light and guidance.

_3. Exhortations on Family Virtues_

The Buddhists issue a large number of tracts. These are very commonly paid for

by devotees who make a vow that, if their parent becomes well, they will pay

for the printing of several hundred or thousand of these tracts for free

distribution. In these tracts are usually many stories illustrating the rewards

of filial piety. The story is told in one of them about a Mrs. Chin whose

father-in-law being ill was unable to sleep for sixty days. His condition grew

worse. Mrs. Chin knelt before Kuan Yin’s altar, cut out a piece of flesh from

her arm and cooked it with the father’s food. His health at once improved and

he lived to the age of seventy-seven. Another story is told in the same tract

of a woman who cut out a piece of her liver and gave it as medicine to her

mother-in-law.

These Buddhist tracts take up all the moral habits which make the family and

clan strong and stable and surround them by the highest sanctions. A tract

picked up in a Buddhist temple at Hangchow purports to be the revelation of the

will of Buddha. It urges sixteen virtues. The first is filial piety. The tract

says:

“Filial piety is the chief of all virtues. Heaven and Earth honor filial piety.

There is no greater sin than to cherish unfilial thoughts. The spirits know the

beginning of such thoughts. Heaven openly rewards a heart that is filial.”

The second one mentioned is another important family virtue, namely, reverence:

“The saints, sages, immortals and Buddhas are the outgrowth of reverence. The

greatest sin is to lack reverence for father and mother. When brothers lack

reverence for one another, they harm the hands and feet. When husband and wife

lack reverence, the harmony of the household is ruined. When friends do not

have reverence, they bring about calamity.”

Then follow similar exhortations on sincerity, justice, self-restraint,

forbearance, benevolence, generosity, absence of pride, covetousness, lying,

adultery, mutual love, self-denial, hope for the consolations of religion and

for an undivided heart ruled by peace. These are virtues quite essential to the

integrity of the family. They are taught, not in the abstract but by the

exhibition of shining examples, by vivid representations of the rewards both

here and hereafter, and by pictures of awful punishments. So by precept and

example, by threat of punishment here and hereafter and by declaration of

reward in the future Buddhism has tried to maintain the family virtues of the

Confucian system and has attempted to permeate them by the spirit of sacrifice.

Still it has always been the sacrifice of the weak for the strong, of the young

for the aged, of the low for the high, of women for men.

_4. Services for the Dead_

Buddhism very early took over the relatively simple services for the dead and

developed them into an elaborate ritual which made very vivid the spiritual

universe which Buddhism introduced. In the sixth century a service was held in

behalf of the father-in-law of Emperor Ning Ti (516-528 A. D.) for seven times

every seven days. He feasted a thousand monks every day, and caused seven

persons to become monks. On the hundredth day after the death he feasted ten

thousand monks and caused twenty-seven persons to become monks.

Since that time services on every seventh day after the decease until the

forty-ninth day, when a grand finale ends the ceremonies, have been very

popular.

The object of such services is to conduct the soul of the dead through

purgatory, in order that it may return to life or enter the Western Paradise.

This is done by making a pleasing offering to the guardians and officers of

purgatory, and to the gods and Bodhisattvas whose mercy saves people. Numerous

missives are consigned to the flames, informing the rulers of the nether world

about the soul of the dead; offerings of gold and silver, of various articles

of apparel, of trunks, houses, and servants are made, all, however, made out of

bamboo frames covered with paper. Various powerful incantations are recited

which force open the gates of purgatory and let the soul out.

The services may be crowded into one day or they may be held on every seventh

day until the forty-ninth day, i.e., seven sevens. Various explanations are

given’ for these services.

During the first week the soul of the dead arrives at the “Demon Gate Barrier.”

Here money is demanded by the demons on the ground that in his last

transmigration the deceased borrowed money. Accordingly large quantities of

silver shoes [Footnote: The silver used for this purpose is molded, in

accordance with ancient usage, in the shape of shoes and carried about in that

form by merchants.] must be sent to the dead so that he may settle all claims

and avoid beating and inconvenience. During the second week the soul arrives at

a place where he is weighed. If the evil outweighs the good, the soul is sawn

asunder and ground to powder. In the third week he comes to the “Bad Dog”

village. Here good people pass unharmed, but the evil are torn by the fierce

beasts until the blood flows. In the fourth week the soul is confronted with a

large mirror in which he sees his evil deeds and their consequences, seeing

himself degraded in the next transmigration to a beast. In the fifth week the

soul views the scenes in his own village.

In the sixth week he reaches the bridge which spans the “Inevitable River.”

This bridge is 100,000 feet high and one and three-tenths of an inch wide. It

is crossed by riding astride as on a horse. Beneath rushes the whirl-pool

filled with serpents darting their heads to and fro. At the foot of the bridge

lictors force unwilling travelers to ascend. The good do not cross this bridge,

but are led by “golden youth” to gold and silver bridges which cross the stream

on either side of this “Bridge of Sighs.”

In the seventh week the soul is taken first to Mrs. Wang who dispenses a drink

which blots out all memories of the earthly life. Then the individual enters

the great wheel of transmigration. This is divided into eighty-one sections

from which one hundred and eight thousand small and tortuous paths radiate out

into the four continents of the world. The soul is directed along one of these

paths and is duly reborn in the world as an animal or as a human being or

passes on into the Western Paradise.

In imitation of this bridge a bridge is built of tables in front of the home of

the dead. At the end the tables are placed upside down and a lantern placed on

each table-leg. At night this bridge is illuminated. A company of monks repeat

their prayers and incantations, while others mount upon the bridge to

impersonate devils. The pious son with the tablet of his deceased parent comes

to take his father over the bridge. When his way is disputed by the demons, he

falls on his knees and begs and gives them money, negotiating the passage at

last with the aid of a large quantity of silver.

Another ceremony is the breaking through purgatory. Five supplications duly

signed are addressed to the proper authorities, four being suspended at each of

the four sides of the table and one at the center. Tiles are then placed over

the table or on the ground. After incantations have been repeated to the

accompaniment of the sounding of the bell and the wooden fish, the

supplications are burned and the tiles are broken as a symbol of breaking

through purgatory and of releasing the soul.

Thus Buddhism has taken over the most important function of ancestor worship,

has extended it and made it more significant to each individual as well as to

the family.

VI

BUDDHISM AND SOCIAL LIFE

_1. How the Laity is Trained in Buddhist Ideas_

A common way of emphasizing moral ideas among the people by Buddhist teachers

is the use of tracts purporting to have a divine origin. The following gives

the substance of such a tract:

Not long ago in the province of Shantung, there was a sharp and sudden clap of

thunder. After the frightened people had collected their wits, they discovered

a small book written in red in front of the house of a certain Mr. Li. Mr. Li

picked up the book, copied it and read it reverently. He gave a copy to Mr. Ma,

the prefect, but Mr. Ma did not believe in the book. Thereupon Maitrêya, the

Messiah of the Buddhists, spoke from the sky as follows:

“These are the years of the final age. The people under heaven do not reverence

Heaven and Earth, they are not filial to father and mother, they do not respect

their superiors. They cheat the fatherless, impose upon the widow, oppress the

weak; they use large weights for themselves and small measures for others. They

injure the good. They covet for their own profit. They cheat men of money, use

the five grains carelessly, kill the cow that draws the plow. This volume is

sent for their special benefit. If they recite it they will avoid trouble. If

they disbelieve, the years with the cyclical character _Ping_ and

_Ting_ will have fields without men to plant them and houses without men

to live in them. In the fifth month of these years evil serpents will infest

the whole country. In the eighth and ninth months the bodies of evil men will

fill the land.

“Those who believe this book and propagate its teachings will not encounter the

ten sorrows of the age: war, fire, no peace day and night, separation of man

and wife, the scattering of the sons and daughters, evil men spread over the

country, dead bones unburied, clothing with no one to wear it, rice with no one

to eat it, and the difficulty of ever seeing a peaceful year. Sâkyamuni

foreseeing this final age sent down this volume in Shantung. The Goddess of

Mercy saw the sorrows of all living beings. Maitrêya commanded the two runners

of T’ai Shan, the god of the Eastern Mountain, to investigate the conduct of

men and as a first punishment to increase the price of rice, and then besides

the ten sorrows already mentioned above, to inflict the punishments of flood,

fire, wind, thunder, tigers, snakes, sword, disease, famine and cold. The rule

of Sâkyamuni which has lasted twelve thousand years is now fulfilled, and

Maitrêya succeeds to his place.”

These sorrows may be escaped by reciting this sutra whose substance we find

above. If it is repeated three times the person will escape the calamity of

fire and water. If one man passes it on to ten men and ten men pass it on to a

hundred, they will escape the calamities of sword, disease and imprisonment,

and receive blessings which cannot be measured. He who in addition to repeating

the sutra practices abstinence will insure peace for himself. He who presents

one hundred copies to others will insure his personal peace. He who presents a

thousand copies will insure the peace of his family. He who is attacked by

disease, may escape it by taking five cash of the reign of Shun Chih (1644-1661

A. D.), the first emperor of the Ch’ing dynasty, one mace of the seed of

cypress, one mace of the bark of mulberry, boil in one bowl of water until only

eight-tenths of the water remain, drink and he will become well.

In this way the five Buddhist commandments for the laity not to kill any living

creature, not to steal, not to commit adultery, not to lie, and not to use

intoxicating liquor are propagated and made real to the common man. The method

is quite efficient. Whole provinces have been put into a panic by such

prophecies.

_2. Effect of Ideals of Mercy and Universal Love_

The command not to kill any living being has had considerable influence in

China. There are volumes of stories telling of the punishments which will be

visited upon those who disobey and of the rewards of those who release living

animals. Every monastery has a special place for animals thus released by pious

devotees.

There is a popular story about a fishmonger of the T’ang dynasty who was taken

sick and during his illness dreamed that he was taken to purgatory. His body

was aflame with fire and pained him as though he were being roasted. Flying

fiery chariots with darting flames swept around him and burned his body. Ten

thousand fish strove with one another to get a bite of his flesh. The ruler of

the lower regions accused him of killing many fish and hence his punishment.

For a number of days he was hanging between life and death. His relatives were

urged to perform some works of penance. They had his fishing implements burned.

With reverent hearts they made two images of Kuan Yin, presented offerings and

repented. The whole family performed abstinence, stopped killing living things,

printed and gave away over a hundred copies of the Diamond Sutra, and ferried

over a large number of souls through purgatory. As a result of their efforts

the sick man became well.

The following comment was made on the above story by a scholar. If its premises

are granted, the conclusion is inevitable:

“If the fiery chariots are seal, why does not man see them? If they are false,

how is it that man feels the pain? But where do the fiery chariots come from?

They come from the heart and head of the one who kills fish. The fire in the

heart (heart belongs to the element fire) causes destruction. The chariot fire

also causes destruction.”

This attitude of mercy has been extended to human beings. There are numerous

tracts against the drowning of little girls in those regions where this custom

is prevalent. One tells the following story:

In the province of Kwangtung there lived a Mrs. Chang who daily burned incense

and repeated Buddha’s name. One day she and her husband died. Much to their

surprise and consternation Yama (the potentate of hell) decided that Mr. Chang

must become a pig and Mrs. Chang a dog. Mrs. Chang accordingly went to Yama and

said, “During life we honored Buddha and so why should we become animals after

death?” Yama said, “What use is it to honor Buddha? During life you drowned

three girls whom I sent into life. People with the face of a man and the heart

of a beast, should they not be punished?” The husband accordingly took on a

pig’s skin and the wife a dog’s. Then by a dream they revealed to their brother

Chang number two that, although they repeated Buddha’s name, they were not

permitted to be reborn as men, because they had drowned little girls.

Perhaps the extent of this spirit, of mercy and its possibilities may be

illustrated by the reverence for the ox. While there is a great deal of cruelty

in China to animals and men, it is rarely that one sees an ox abused. Up to the

advent of the foreigner an ox was not killed for meat. In many places in China

today the slaughter of an ox would bring the punishments of the law upon the

butcher. No doubt this reverence is due to the great Indian reverence for the

cow. The law of kindness has been extended to other animals, taking the rather

spectacular form of releasing a few decrepit animals and allowing them to spend

their last days in a monastery compound. There are many kindly things done in

China. The dead are buried, the sick are provided with medicine. Every year

numerous wadded garments are given away to poor people. Various groups carrying

on a humble ministry of helpfulness have found a real inspiration in the ideals

held before them in Buddhism, the rewards promised and punishments threatened.

_3. Relation to Confucian Ideals_

Why have not these ideals exercised a larger influence in China? The answer is

quite simple. The activities of the monks have been strenuously opposed by the

Confucian state system. The philosopher, Chang Nan-hsüan, a contemporary of

Chu-Hsi, states concisely for us the differences betwen Confucianism and

Buddhism in his comment on a passage in the _Book of Records._

“Strong drink is a thing intended to be-used in offering sacrifices and

entertaining guests,—such employment of it is what Heaven has prescribed. But

men by their abuse of such drink come to lose their virtue and destroy their

persons—such employment of it is what Heaven has annexed its terrors to. The

Buddhists, hating the use of things where Heaven sends down its terrors, put

away as well the use of them which Heaven has prescribed.

“For instance, in the use of meats and drinks, there is such a thing as wildly

abusing and destroying the creatures of Heaven. The Buddhists, disliking this,

confine themselves to a vegetable diet, while we only abjure wild abuse and

destruction. In the use of clothes, again, there is such a thing as wasteful

extravagance. The Buddhists, disliking this, will have no clothes but those of

a dark and sad color, while we only condemn extravagance. They, further,

through dislike of criminal connection between the sexes, would abolish the

relation between husband and wife, while we denounce only the criminal

connection.

“The Buddhists, disliking the excesses to which the evil desires of men lead,

would put away, along with them, the actions which are in accordance with the

justice of heavenly principles, while we, the orthodox, put away the evil

desires of men, whereupon what are called heavenly principles are the more

brightly seen. Suppose the case of a stream of water. The Buddhists, through

dislike of its being foul with mud, proceed to dam it up with earth. They do

not consider that when the earth has dammed up the stream, the supply of water

will be cut off. It is not so with us, the orthodox. We seek only to cleanse

away the mud and sand, so that the pure water may be available for use. This is

the difference between the Buddhists and the Learned School.” [Footnote: _Shu

King,_ Pt. V, Bk. X, p. 122.]

This statement reveals at once the opposition of the sect of the Learned and

the influence which Buddhism exerted upon its members.

Buddhism while enjoying occasional favor from the state was often zealously

persecuted. In 819 Han Yü issued his celebrated act of accusation. In 845 the

emperor Wu Tsung issued his decree of secularization. At that time 4600

monasteries and 40,000 smaller establishments were pulled down and 265,000

monks and nuns were sent back to lay life. Their rich lands were confiscated.

Under the Ming dynasty, as well as under the Ch’ing dynasty, Buddhism enjoyed a

precarious existence. Whether Buddhism would have improved the moral conditions

of the Chinese; if it had been given a free hand, is difficult to affirm. Still

its failure is at least partly due to the opposition of Confucian orthodoxy.

_4. The Embodiment of Buddhist Ideals in the Vegetarian sects_