Keynotes 7

The Spread of Buddhism in China

Between the year 0 B.C.E. and the year 500 Buddhism spread all over China. The concepts of

• compassion,

• salvation through personal efforts to attain access to nirvana (a [bodiless in Theravada B. ] heaven, the 'spiritual infinite') and to end the cycle of suffering, in addition to

• meditation practice

made the new religion popular in China.

Buddhism had developed in India as a reaction against the dominance of the caste of the priests in Hinduism, the Brahmin. Followers of Buddhism objected against the hierarchy of the caste system and the increasing ritualization in Hinduism. Nevertheless, Buddhists shared certain principles with Hinduism such as:

• the concepts of dharma (duty),

• karma (consequence's of one's actions),

• samsara (reincarnation), and

• moksha (nirvana).

• burning of the dead

• celibacy of monks [in Theravada Buddhism]

Buddha (= the Enlightened One; ca. 563 B.C.E. - ca. 480/485 B.C.E.) announced the path of the Four Noble Truth to reach enlightenemnt and access to nirvana:

1. Life is suffering. Pain, sorrow, and constant change determine the secular existence.

2. The reason for pain is desire and attachment.

3. Those who give up desire and attachment can stop suffering.

4. The way to become un-attached is to follow the Eightfold Path of right conduct which will lead to spiritual perfection.

There are several schools of Buddhism:

Hinayana (= Theravada) Buddhism [today practiced in Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos; a mixed form of Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism is practiced in Vietnam]: Merits can be earned through good deeds.

Mahayana Buddhism developed between 100 CE and 200 CE into a mass religion. Bodhisattvas were revered. They are deities who voluntarily have not transcended to the Buddha existence yet because they decided to act as 'mentors' for those who are on their way but are in need of spiritual support. According to Mahayana teaching, charity helps to obtain Buddhahood.

Other ways to Buddhahood are meditation (as in contemplative and mystical Chan Buddhism; [=Jap. Zen Buddhism], repetitive prayer citations of the Buddha's name); moving prayer wheels which are inscribed with incantations [=Tibet. Lamaistic Buddhism].

Adaptation into Chinese society was successful because Buddhists offered (and continue to offer today) important services such as masses for the deceased or (in earlier times) the storage of coffins in special shelters set up by monasteries.

Coffins could be stored here until either an auspicious day was proclaimed for the burial of a certain deceased person or until the relatives had saved the money for a ritually correct burial.

Buddhist monasteries became popular not only as a refuge for men or women seeking salvation. They were also used by wealthy landowners to escape taxation. By donating land to a monastery landowners could reduce their taxable land. This method was at times used to such an extent that the government prohibited these donations. In later times (Tang dynasty) many Buddhist monasteries were closed for a short period and monks and nuns were forced to return to lay life, because the reduction of taxable land had led to severe income cuts for the state. This had no lasting consequences for the religion though.

The most important Buddhist sects

Tiantai, (Jap. Tendai): All things contain Buddha nature; most important text: Lotus-sutra

Huayan ('Flower Girland'): all things are interrelated and interdependent

Qingtu ('Pure Land'): faith is the most important way to nirvana; Amitabha (Jap. Amida), the Buddha of Infinite Light, ruler over the Western Paradise is worshipped by piously invocating his name just as Avalokitesvara (=Guanyin; Jap. Kannon, the Boddhisattva of mercy). Faith is the reliable way to nirvana.

Chan (Jap. Zen): concentrates on silent meditation practices to obtain (instant) enlightenment (Jap. satori)

The Northern Wei (439-534)

Northern Wei territory

After centuries of disunity following the relative stability under the Tuoba-Wei, the first emperor of the Sui dynasty, a general of Chinese and Turk decendence, unified the country again. Sui Wendi is often compared with Qin Shihuangdi:

His rule followed legalist ideas. He was known as a workaholic who tended to loose his temper easily. With his eagerness to consolidate power, he first unified the north, then the south of the country.

Sui Wendi's support for Buddhism was politically motivated: He used the religion to create unity as a base for his rule. He also restored the tax system, and re-established a central government oriented at the Han administration which laid the foundation for the institutions that were further developed in the Tang.

Map of Sui territory

The government was headed by the emperor. Three Dukes and Three Instructors functioned as his advisors, but their positions were less powerful than those of the The Three Ministers heading the next level of bureaucracy, the Chancellor, the Bureau of State Affairs, and the Imperial Secretariat were more influential than the Dukes and Instructors.

The Bureau of State Affairs had six ministries as subdivisions:

• Personnel

• Revenues

• Rites

• Military

• Justice

• Public Works

In addition the Censorate was founded and several offices of inspection as well as the “University” (guozijian) for the sons of the aristocratic elite were established.

Like Qin Shihuangdi, Sui Wendi became famous for his building activities. He reinforced the Great Wall and built palaces. The capital was established according to cosmological principles in Chang’an, the city which later during the Tang dynasty became the biggest city of the world. He envisioned to link the waterways of northern and central China, a project that was finally executed and finished by his son.

The second emperor of the Sui, Yangdi, like his father became famous for building activities. He established his capital in the city of Luoyang, and he built the Grand Canal which linked the Northern plains of the Yellow River and the Southern rice producing areas close to the Yangzi River. With a width of 40m and a length of 2.500 km it became a water transportation system and supply network that remained unmatched in Chinese history. It helped to fill the grain storages throughout the country.

Map of the Grand Canal

On the Grand Canal

Buddhist caves from the Sui

The 29 years of the reign of the Sui ended when again warfare at the northern border and against Korea resulted in discontent and rebellion within the population. Yangdi’s temperament was not any better than his father’s and finally Li Yuan, a general related to the imperial clan was the successful winner among the contenders for power. One of the few emperors who found himself in a conflict between his loyalty to the previous dynasty and his conviction that a new rule was inevitable, he founded the Tang Dynasty (618-907).

Due to the praise in traditional Chinese historiography to this day the Tang remains the very symbol of Chinese high culture. Military expansion and political grandeur, the cosmopolitan capital of Chang’an, which was the biggest city in the world at the time, where all luxuries known were available, and a centralized state with institutions that should prevail and influence the political order of the neighboring states of Vietnam, Korea, and Japan, contributed to the legacy of the Tang.

The Tang Dynasty (618-907): The Golden, Cosmopolitan Age of Chinese Civilization and the Final Period of Aristocratic Rule

Although Li Yuan, the founder of the Tang, was a popular emperor, his rule was short: It only lasted from 618 to 626. He was popular because he did not kill his opponents. Instead he tried to integrate them into his political system and had mercy for the soldiers of his enemies. He acted somewhat similar to the Zhou kings of antiquity who intergated members of the former ruling house of the Shang into their political system.

Tang emperor Taizong

Li Yuan's sons, the Tang princes, competed for the succession to the throne while their father was still in power.

Blackmailing and jealousy between the three brothers led to a barbaric act committed by Li Shimin. The second son and most successful military leader in the family killed the eldest son and heir apparent as well as their younger brother. Subsequently, Li Yuan abdicated and left the throne to Li Shimin.

Tang Territory

Successful as he was, Chinese historiography describes Li Shimin as a man of education. He was well read in the Confucian Classics, historiographical sources, had practiced calligraphy, and was a devout Buddhist. Once in power he seems to have tried to change the records of the palace historians in order to avoid that the beginning of his rule would be associated with the murder of his brothers forever. In this he was not entirely successful. Yet he was a tireless worker and after a few years of trying to gain fame for himself as a model ruler according to Confucian standards, he fell back into the behaviour of the Sui emperors and started extensive building activities. It was under his rule that the capital Chang’an became the famous metropolis it was to remain throughout history.

Tang Chang'an

The layout of Tang Chang'an was a rectangular grid, with streets running in North-Southern and East-Western direction in equal distance to each other. Residential quarters and the two central markets - the western international market with its offers of commodities from the silkroad, its hostels, restaurants, and brothels, and the eastern market which offered local products and supplied the households of the officials with everyday goods such as clothing and food as well as paper, brushes, ink, as well as the winehouses and courtesan quarters etc.- were arranged in walled quarters. Opening hours of the markets were regulated and a market overseer controlled the prices. There was a nightly curfew and residents who did not return to their wards in time faced closed ward gates. When caught they were punished severely. Exemptions from the curfew were made only for doctors on their way to a patient as well as for members of the Buddhist clergy.

In the Tang the system of centralized government institution became more elaborate than that of the Sui. Based on the Sui model the Censorate became even more powerful than before by having the right of reporting directly to the emperor and remonstrate with the emperor when the officials felt it to be necessary.

Foreign envoys were frequent visitors to the Tang court. They came from Japan, Persia, Byzanz, the Korean state of Silla, and the Sassanids.

Emperors were patrons of institutions of higher education, like the Hanlin Academy, the most influential academy of China which was founded in the Tang. Editions of the Classics were established as the basic knowledge for the participation in the examination system with written exams. [The exams were aiming at a high level of objectivity in grading: Every student was given a number and his exam papers were copied by a clerk and marked with the assigned number. After the papers were graded, numbers and names were matched again before the results were announced publicly. ] This system became established in the Tang, was further developed in the Song (906-1279) and remained throughout Chinese, Korean, and Japanese history the most important selection process for the appointment of officials. But in this early stage only 10 % of the officials were recruited for office in accordance with their merits. 90% were recommended for an official position.

Funerary statue of a female dancer

Women of the upper classes enjoyed considerable liberties in Tang society. They were involved through their clan membership in political decisions: Wu Zetian, originally consort of Tang emperor Gaozong became the (only) empress of China. From 690 to 705 CE she ruled as the empress of the Zhou Dynasty. Though she was treated with scorn by the Confucian officials, she managed to conduct a rather successful land reform. With a skill and ruthlessnes that matched her male predecessors well she consolidated her power successfully.

Women at the time engaged in poetry, they also rode horses, played polo, and traveled.

Wu Zetian supported Buddhism on a large scale. She associated herself closely with this non-aristocratic, anti-hereditary ideology and had herself celebrated as the re-incarnation of Maitreya. Just like many emperors before her she became a patron of Buddhist temples. The Buddhist statutes of Longmen and the famous caves of Dunhuang are a testimony for the tremendous acceptance Buddhism received.

Reliquary from the underground palace of Famen Temple; gilded silver, decorated with the Buddhist protective deities of the four directions (h 23,5 cm, w. 20,2 cm, w. 699 g).

The precious objects found in the underground palace of Famen temple pagoda which was destroyed during an earthquake were donations made by Tang emperors when the temple was built.

The Tang was the period when due to Central Asian influence, or better, the due to the influence of skilled artisans on the silkroad, objects made from gold and silver like the reliquary shown above became popular.

The silkroad functioned as a route of exchange for goods and ideas were ex- and imported. Buddhist scripts and iconography in the arts came from India and the states along the silkroad, spices, and medicines came from India, polo, glass and silver objects were imported from Persia, horses and furs came from Central Asia.

China's exports via the silkroad consisted of silk, porcelain, and artisans who mastered papermaking and metalworks.

During the Tang Dynasty northern Vietnam, Xinjiang, southern Manchuria, and Korea as a tribute state were incorporated into the Chinese sphere of political influence.