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The Spread of Buddhisms, Part 1 From South Asia to China Tansen Sen Baruch College, The City University of New York
Transcript
Page 1: The Spread of Buddhisms, Part 1 - ASDP Buddhist Asia Spread of Buddhisms.pdf · The Spread of Buddhisms, Part 1 ... Century CE-581CE: Translation of Buddhist texts, ... they also

The Spread of Buddhisms, Part 1

From South Asia to China

Tansen Sen

Baruch College, The City University of New York

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Key Issues

Many Buddhisms and piecemeal transmissions

The economics of Buddhisms State formation and Buddhisms The hopping and circulatory itineraries The Buddhist cosmopolis: multiple centers

and peripheries

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Basic Timeline

c.1500-1000 BCE: Formation of Brahmanism

c.1000-500 BCE: Migration towards Ganges, followed by urbanization around River

Ganges, and the formation of jatis.

c. 400 BCE: Buddha and other critics of Brahmanism

c. 3rd century BCE: Reign of King Ashoka and the spread of Buddhism in southern Asia

1st century BCE-1st century CE: spread of Buddhism to Han China

c. 1st-3rd centuries CE: Kushans and the creation of Buddhist networks; spread to Burma

c.280-550: The Gupta Empire, deurbanization, revival of Brahmanism; spread to Korea

5th century: The establishment of the Nalanda University

c. 7th century: The emergence of vajrayana (esoteric Buddhism); spread to Japan and Tibet

12th century: Destruction of Buddhist institutions in parts of India

13th century: Localization in all part of Buddhist world; spread to Iran

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The Early Spread of Buddhisms

Missionary work

State patronage

Links to merchant communities

The urban-monastic connections: A Parasitic relationship?

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Caratha bhikkhave carikam bahujanahitaya bahujanasukhaya lokanukampaya ... Ma ekena dve agamittha. Desetha bhikkhave dhammam ... Aham pi bhikkhave yena Uruvela yena Sananigamo…

Go ye now, O Bhikkhus, and wander, for the gain of the many, for the welfare of the many, out of compassion for the world, for the good, for the gain, and for the welfare of gods and men, Let not two of you go the same way, Preach, O Bhikkhus, the doctrine which is glorious in the beginning, glorious in the middle, glorious at the end, in the spirit and in the letter; proclaim a consummate, perfect, and pure life of holiness. There are beings whose mental eyes are covered by scarcely any dust, but if the doctrine is not preached to them, they cannot attain salvation. They will understand the doctrine. And I will go also, O Bhikkhus, to Uruvelā, to Senāninigama, in order to preach the doctrine.

Mahavagga 1.11.1

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“A hundred years after my nirvana, there will be a king by the name of Aśoka in the city of Paṭaliputra. He will be a cakravartin king and rule over one of the four continents, and he will construct eighty-four thousand stupas for the enshrinement of my relics.”

我入涅槃百年後。於波吒利弗多城當有王。名阿輸柯作四分轉輪王。於我舍利廣作供養。起八萬四千塔。

Ayuwang jing (T. 2043) c. 184BCE/Tr.506-524CE

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Buddhisms and Trade Routes

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Buddhisms and Trade

Urbanization in the Gangetic region, c. 600 BCE

The Buddha’s association with traders and wealthy individuals

Interdepended relationship: donations, spiritual support, transportation, commercial enterprise, trade routes and monastic institutions

The development of Avalokitesvara (later, Guanyin) cult, popular among the merchant communities/travelers

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Place of Birth

Place of Enlightenment

Site of First Teaching

Site of Nirvana

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Buddhisms in Foreign Lands

Royal/ “Official” Transmissions to Sri Lanka and China ◦ King Devanampiya Tissa in Sri Lanka

◦ Emperor Wu of Han China

The Contribution of Itinerant Traders

The Role of Images and Misperceptions

Missionary and Translation Work

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The Children of Ashoka and the Conversion of Tissa (c. 250 BCE)

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The Mahavamsa

• THE great thera Mahinda, of lofty wisdom, who at that time had been twelve years (a monk), charged by his teacher and by the brotherhood to convert the island of Lañkä, pondered on the fitting time (for this) and thought: `Old is the king Mutasiva; his son must become king.’

• The great Indra sought out the excellent thera Mahinda and said to him: `Set forth to

convert Lanka; by the Sam buddha also hast thou been foretold (for this) and we will be those who aid thee there.’

• ‘So truly as the great Bodhi-tree shall go hence to the isle of Lañkä, and so truly as I shall stand unalterably firm in the doctrine of the Buddha, shall this fair south branch of the great Bodhi-tree, severed of itself, take its place here in this golden vase.'

• Then the great Bodhi-tree severed, of itself, at the place where the line was, floating above the vase filled with fragrant earth. Above the line first (drawn) the ruler of men drew, at (a distance of) three finger-breadths, round about ten (further) pencil-strokes. And ten strong roots springing from the first and ten slender from each of the other (lines) dropped down, forming a net.

• Thus with a hundred roots the great Bodhi-tree set itself there in the fragrant earth, converting the people to the faith. Ten cubits long was the stem; five lovely branches (were thereon), each four cubits long and (each) adorned with five fruits, and on these branches were a thousand twigs. Such was the ravishing and auspicious great Bodhi-tree.

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Not only “Theravadin” Sri Lanka

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Issue Two: Diffusion or Long-Distance Transmission?

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Problems with Contact Expansion

Evidence for Buddhist practices in China predates the evidence from Central Asia

Evidence for Buddhist practices in China predates the evidence from Southeast Asia

Evidence of transmission from China to Central and Southeast Asia

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Networks and …

Segmented and/or long-distance (trading, migratory, financial, etc.)

Circulatory, never unidirectional or “one-off”

Depended on modes of transportation, geographical terrains, navigational knowhow, political patronage, economic feasibility, social or cultural relationship, and other factors

Often overlapping with other networks, connected to feeder and auxiliary routes, local and overseas markets, etc.

Must be seen as having multiple identities, with regard to people involved, commodities traded, and ideas transmitted

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…Buddhist Networking

Use of existing networks, both segmented and long-distance, by monks

Facilitated the creation of new networks

through pilgrimage, monastic-building, and political/diplomatic activities

Supported networks of learning and

knowledge May not have received universal support from

every network operator

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BUDDHISMS IN CHINA

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HISTORY OF BUDDHISM IN CHINA: QUESTIONABLE ISSUES

The dream of Emperor Ming of the Han Dynasty, leading to the arrival of the first Indian monks, and the establishment of the first Buddhist monastery in East Asia (the White Horse/Baima Monastery)

The Role of Central Asia as the staging point of Buddhist transmission to China

The use of Daoist terminology in early

Buddhist translations

The “decline of Buddhism” in China after 845

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Emperor Wudi Worshiping Buddha

White Horse Monastery

EMPEROR MING’S DREAM: A LATER FABRICATION

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Linking “India” and “China” through Buddhisms

The early connections between urbanization, trade, and

the spread of Buddhisms (artifacts as well as ideas)

Translation, compilation, reinterpretation activities

Pilgrimages and missionary work Networks facilitating long-distance transmission of

Buddhism Creating a Buddhist identity for Asia

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Buddhisms in Han China

1st Century BCE?: Transmission of images directly from southern Asia to China (“long-distance” rather than “contact expansion”), in disorganized instead of in an organized way, and perhaps before the chaos marking the end of the Eastern Han dynasty in late-2nd-early 3rd century or dissatisfaction with Confucian teachings.

65 CE: Buddhist terms known to the Han court

c. 65 CE: Possible presence of Buddhist monks and laypeople in Pengcheng/Luoyang

Han China (by the third century CE): Early amalgamation of indigenous and Buddhist ideas, especially at the folk level (Mount Kongwang, Han Tombs)

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Interior of Cave IX, Ma Hao, Sichuan Province

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Seated Buddha in Cave IX, Ma Hao, Sichuan Province. Dated to the late 2nd-first half of 3rd century

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Seated Buddha and two attendants, Late Han Tomb at Pengshan, Sichuan Province

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Buddhist engravings on Mount Kongwang

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Donor figures, Mount Kongwang

The parinirvana of the Buddha,

Mount Kongwang

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Early Buddhist Sites in China

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The Maritime Buddhist Network: The Land-Sea Connections

Mount Kongwang evidence (2nd-3rd century CE)

Kang Senghui (d. 280), grew up and became a monk in Jiaozhi, and travelled to the court of Sun Quan (222-52). Father a Sogdian seafaring trader who migrated to the Jiaozhi region from “India.”

Travels of South Asian, including Kashmiri, monks to China (Guangzhou and Nanjing): Jivaka and Kumara in the 3rd century, Buddhajiva, Gunavarman, Gunabhadra and others in the 4th-5th century.

The pilgrimage of Faxian to India in the 5th century (and the role of Southeast Asia in the Buddhist interactions between India and China)

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Factors Contributing to the Successful

Spread of Buddhist ideas to China

Misconceived notion of the Buddha and Buddhism

Early amalgamation with folk beliefs and art

Political support by rulers such as Liang Wudi

Flexibility with which Buddhism could be practiced and the doctrines modified

The multiethnic nature of transmission and amalgamation

Timing and circumstances: Long-distance trade and interest in immortality

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Timeline: Buddhisms in China

1st century BCE-1st - Century CE: Introduction of Buddhist images and ideas

3rd Century CE-581CE: Translation of Buddhist texts, missionary work of foreign monks, Chinese pilgrimage to southern Asia, political support for Buddhism by rulers in China (Emperor Wu of the Liang dynasty), popularity of apocryphal texts

6th century onwards: Domestication/sinification/localization of Buddhism, founding of Chinese schools, Chinese pilgrimage sites, the emergence of China as one of the central realms of Buddhism, reverse transmission of Buddhism (Manjusri on Mount Wutai)

18th-19th centuries: Spread of “Chinese” Buddhism to India with Chinese immigrants

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Early Translation and Translators

Recitation of Buddhist Text

Oral Translation

Writing Down of the Chinese Translation

Editing of the Chinese Translation

• Parthians: An Shigao & An Xuan

• Indo-Scythians: Zhi Loujiachen (Lokaksema?) & Zhi Qian

• Sogdians: Kang Mengxiang & Kang Senghui

• Indian: Zhu Shuofo

• Chinese: Yan Fotiao

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Problems with Geyi

the English translation of geyi as “matching the meaning” is incorrect since the Chinese character “ge” 格rather than meaning “matching” stands for “lattice”;

geyi was meant to deal with the numerical categories of Buddhist doctrines (shishu事數), lit. “enumeration of items”);

geyi was not a translation technique but an exegetical method; and

geyi was an extremely short-lived phenomenon.

----Victor H. Mair

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Daoist Terms in Buddhist Translations

…[T]here is no indication that this was a part of a

systematic, conscious policy to appropriate Daoist

terminology that was allegedly known as geyi.

Furthermore, wuwei is used to render more than half a

dozen different Sanskrit terms, and the negative wu is

used at the beginning of more than two thousand

words translated from Sanskrit. It would be ludicrous

to insist that any Buddhist text which used the terms

wu or wuwei be branded as Daoistic simply because

they also occur in Daoist texts.

---- Victor H. Mair

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POWER OF IMAGES

AND ARTIFACTS

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Dunhuang Cave Painting

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Yungang Caves

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Buddhist Relics and Images in China

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From (a male) Avalokitesvara to the (female) Guanyin

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Emperor Wu and East Asian Buddhism

Reign: 502-549 (Liang Dynasty)

First powerful Chinese ruler to employ Buddhism for political legitimacy

The Chinese Ashoka

Buddhist contacts with India, Southeast Asia, and Korea

Model for later Chinese rulers interested in employing Buddhism for political legitimacy

The development of Chan Buddhism

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Faxian and the Land-Sea Connection

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Faxian’s Pilgrimage to India

Dates of Travel: 399-412

Route: Land route from China to India

Maritime route from India to China

Translations: Legge, Li Rongxi

Annotation: Max Deeg’s Das Gaoseng-Faxian-Zhuan als religionsgeschichtliche Quelle.

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Faxian: Significance First Chinese monk to provide eyewitness account of the Buddhist

holy land

Search for Vinaya texts, indicating their importance for Chinese Buddhism

Contributions to the development of relic and Asoka cults in China

The notion of borderland complex

Routes to India, overland and maritime

Decline of Buddhism in India?


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