Chapter Three:
The Growth of Buddhism & its Spread to East Asia
<Digital Dictionary of Buddhism> <Buddhanet.net> <Buddhist Tradition(s)>
We should distinguish between Buddhism and the Buddha. Although there is obviously a connection between the two, with the passing of time, Buddhism evolved well beyond the teachings of a single enlightened person in ancient India/Nepal. It developed a formal organizational structure, with grades of monks and a hierarchy of temples. Detailed rules developed to govern this organization. In the realm of ideas, Buddhism developed a wide variety of doctrines and theological teachings, as well as a vast body of scripture. Distinctively Buddhist art and architecture emerged, first in India and later throughout Asia. Buddhism spread far and wide, traveling north, south and east from the Indian subcontinent. As Buddhism grew, it also splintered, first into two main divisions and then into hundreds of subdivisions. Although it began as a religion that rejected the world of ordinary human affairs, as an institution, Buddhism had a great influence on societies throughout Asia. It became a major cultural force, affecting art, literature and ideas. It also became a major political force. The armed bands of warrior monks, for example, who sometimes descended from their temples in twelfth-century Japan to intimidate the emperor in the hope of gaining economic concessions may seem far removed indeed from the Four Noble Truths. Of course, all religions change as the centuries go by, and Buddhism was no exception. Here we examine certain developments in Buddhism to contextualize its influence on medieval Japan.
In its earliest days, the formal organizational structure of Buddhism consisted of three major divisions, which soon became known as the *"Three Jewels"* or the "Three Treasures:" (1) the Buddha, (2) the Dharma (primarily, the Buddha's teachings), and (3) the followers of his teachings, called the sangha. The term sangha has two meanings. Broadly speaking, it includes anyone dedicated to the pursuit of Buddhist enlightenment. More narrowly, the sangha consists of those who have taken religious vows, namely monks, nuns, and novices. A novice is an apprentice to a monk or nun, who has committed to following ten rules of conduct: (1) refraining from killing, (2) not taking what is not given, (3) refraining from prohibited sexual activity, (4) refraining from unjust speech, (5) abstaining from intoxicating drinks, (6) abstaining from solid food after noon, (7) avoiding music, dance, plays, and other entertainment, (8) abstaining from the use of perfumes and ornamental jewelry, (9) refraining from sleeping in high, soft beds, and (10) refraining from contact with money and other valuables. The typical novice entered monastic service because his or her parents required it, often owing to poverty. Novices were usually servants of monks or nuns. By performing routine labor, novices permitted the monks or nuns more time to meditate and study. (*example*)
Upon reaching a certain age, those who had performed their duties as novices with satisfaction would be eligible to take the vows of a monk. The main activities of a monk were meditation, study of the Dharma and teaching the Dharma (*an example*). Monks vowed to renounce the ordinary world to live lives of poverty, celibacy, and peacefulness. In early Buddhism, monks wandered from place to place, but soon after the Buddha's death, many began to reside in permanent monasteries. A monk's clothing should be made from rags, and his possessions are limited to a few simple items of daily life. Monks ate only vegetarian food, ate only what others provide, and kept their heads shaved. In early Buddhism, the only medicine allowed monks was the urine of animals. Over 250 specific rules governed the activities of monks.
The following excerpts from early Buddhist texts describe some of these rules. Four rules about offenses so grave as to warrant expulsion from the monastic community:
1. If a monk should have sexual intercourse with anyone [in the community of monks?--see #3 of the 13 offenses below], down to an animal, this monk has fallen into an offense which deserves expulsion, and he should no longer live in the community. . . .
2. If a monk, whether he dwells in a village or in solitude, should take anything not given, he should no longer live in the community. . . .
3. If a monks should intentionally take the life of a human being or of one like a human being, with his own hand, or with a knife, or by having him assassinated, then he has fallen into an offense which deserves expulsion. And this applies also to a monk who incites others to self-destruction, and who speaks to them in praise of death, with such words as, 'O man, what is the use to you of this miserable life? It is better for you to die than be alive.'
4. [certain types of lies]1
There are an additional thirteen grave offenses that warrant suspension:
1. Intentionally to emit his semen, except in a dream.
2. With a mind excited and perverted by passion to come into bodily contact with a woman; he must not hold her hand or arm, touch her hair or any other part of her body, above or below, or rub or caress it.
3. With a mind excited and perverted by passion to persuade a woman to sexual intercourse, speaking wicked, evil, and vulgar words, as young men might use to their girls.
4. With a mind excited and perverted by passion, in the presence of a woman to speak highly of the merit of the gift of her own body, saying: 'That is the supreme service or gift, dear sister, to offer intercourse to monks like us, who have been observing strict morality, have abstained from intercourse and lived lonely lives!'
5. To act as a go-between for women and men, arranging marriage, adultery, or even a brief meeting.
6. To build for himself, without the help of a layman, a temporary hut on a site which involves the destruction of living beings and has no open space round it, and that without showing this site to other monks, and without limiting its size to the prescribed measurements.
7. To build for himself, with the help of a layman, a more permanent living place on a dangerous and inaccessible site, which involves the destruction of living beings and has no open space round it, and that without showing the site to other monks.
8. From anger, malice, and dislike to accuse falsely a pure and faultless monk of an offense which deserves expulsion, intent on driving him out of the religious life. That becomes an offense which deserves suspension if on a later occasion he withdraws his accusation, and admits to having spoken from hatred; and likewise if . . .
9. . . . He tries to base his false accusation on some trifling matter or other which is really quite irrelevant.
10. To persist, in spite of repeated admonitions, in trying to cause divisions in a community which lives in harmony, and in emphasizing those points which are calculated to cause division.
11. To side with a monk who strives to split the community.
12. To refuse to move into another district when reproved by the other monks for habitually doing evil deeds in a city or village where he resides, deeds which are seen, heard, and known, and which harm the families of the faithful. . . .
13. To refuse to be admonished by others about the non-observance of [these] Pratimoksha rules.2
These offenses seem concerned with three main areas: sex, comfort, and human relations within the community of monks. They provide insight into the temptations of the time, which have a surprisingly contemporary flavor. The other 200 plus rules are much more specific. For example, prohibition number 85: "to have a chair or bed made with legs higher than eight inches."3 It is important to note that many monks *did not live up to their vows.* Indeed, in certain times and places, becoming a Buddhist monk was a way to get ahead in worldly matters. During one period of Japan's history, for example, emperors became monks and retired to well-fortified Buddhist temples in order fully to exercise their political power.
Having looked at the life of monks in negative terms, that is, the various prohibitions, let us turn to a more positive description. The following are a series of verses about the monk's life allegedly spoken by the Buddha to one of his disciples:
The monk alert, rapt farer on the edge,
Should have no fear of these five fears:
Gadflies and stinging bees and things that creep,
Attacks of men and of four-footed beasts.
Nor should he be afraid of others' views,
When the great perils of them he hath seen;
So should the expert seeker overcome
All other troubles that may here befall.
When stricken by disease or hunger's pangs,
Cold and excessive heat should he endure;
When stricken sore by them, that homeless man
Must stir up energy and strive with strength.
Let him not steal nor let him tell a lie,
Let him show amity to weak and strong;
And when he knows disquiet of the mind,
Let him expel that as dark Mara's gloom.
(Question: to what does this line about Mara refer?)
Nor must he fall a prey to wrath and pride,
But digging up their roots, let him stay poised;
And, as he wrestles, let him overcome
All that is dear to him, all that repels.
With joy in what is lovely, wisdom-led,
Let him then put to flight these troubles here,
Conquer dislike for his lone lodging place,
Conquer the four that cause him discontent:
[. . .]
Ideally, a monk was one who, by living a life of renunciation and strict discipline, conquers his desires and attains enlightenment.
What about nuns? Early Buddhism would have won no points for political correctness by today's standards. Like many Hindus, most Buddhists regarded women as categorically lower beings than men. In other words, the highest sort of woman who lived a good life and reduced her karmic balance, would be reborn as the lowest sort of man. The goal of nuns, therefore, was not nirvana. The best they could hope for was to be reborn as a man. The Buddha himself did not advocate including women in the community of religious practitioners, for he though it would lead to moral decay. It was, at least according to legend, the Buddha's stepmother who first created an #order of nuns# (#nuns in China#). Incidentally, Buddhism has always been highly flexible and adaptable. Today, therefore, many Buddhist organizations claim #no difference# in the inherent spiritual status or abilities of men and women.
Back in ancient India, however, nuns lived similar lives to those of monks, but the rules were even more strict. Nuns were always subordinate to monks in the hierarchy of Buddhist communities, the most superior nun being required to bow down to the youngest monk. Compared with monks, the number of nuns in Buddhism was never great. It is only recently that women have begun to play a #large role# in Buddhism in some parts of the world. As mentioned above, most modern Buddhist theologians see nothing dependent on sex or gender in the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path. In theory, they apply equally to women and men, but, in practice, Buddhism as a formal social institution has been mainly a man's world.
Recall that enlightenment cannot be described in words. Although the Buddha himself had become enlightened, not even he was able to enlighten others. All he could do was set them in the right direction. The personal charisma of the Buddha after he became enlightened attracted followers. After his death, however, these followers did not always agree on their master's teachings. A few months after the Buddha died, his disciples assembled the First Buddhist Council (#the traditional tale#). The purpose of this assembly was to establish a formal canon, true to the Buddha's teachings. A Second Buddhist Council convened a century later in another effort to unify Buddhist teachings. The participants in this council also compiled a biography of the Buddha. Soon after the Second Council, the Sangha split up over disagreements regarding issues of doctrine, canonical texts, and monastic discipline--the specifics of which need not concern us here.
At this time, Buddhism split into two major varieties: Mahayana and Theravada. Theravada means "Teaching of the Elders," and, at least according to the claims of Theravadins, remained closest to the teachings of the original Buddha. Theravada Buddhism stressed liberation of the individual by retracing the steps Shakyamuni had walked. Geographically, Theravada spread to southern India and across the sea to Southeast Asia. Today, it thrives in places such as Sri Lanka, Burma, and Thailand. Because Theravada Buddhism had little influence on East Asia, we do not deal with it in this course.
Mahayana means "Great Vehicle," a name that reflects its claim of having something for everyone. The highest ideal in *Mahayana Buddhism* was not individual enlightenment but enlightenment for everyone. The embodiment of this Mahayana ideal was the bodhisattva. A bodhisattva is one who has eliminated all desires and is therefore eligible to pass into nirvana. Out of a feeling of compassion for the millions of other suffering creatures, however, the bodhisattva withholds his/her/its entry into nirvana to remain in this world and help others. The various bodhisattvas have taken vows to remain in this world until all creatures are ready to enter nirvana. They may have to wait a long time! Some textbooks liken bodhisattvas to Christian saints, but there are significant differences in the theory behind each. In practice, however, the two types of beings have much in common as objects of prayers and ritual devotion.
Mahayana Buddhism developed a wide variety of instructional techniques intended to reach people at all walks of life. Indeed, with its many parables, symbols, diagrams, esoteric rites, meditation aids and so forth, Mahayana Buddhism may have been the most pedagogically sophisticated form of religion in the world. It was also highly flexible and adaptable and spread rapidly throughout Central and East Asia. The core doctrine of Mahayana Buddhism is #Skillful Means#, which we examine in the next chapter (it is so important that you might want to click this link and read the short article anyway).
I do not want to leave the impression that Mahayana Buddhism is one, unified entity. The division between Mahayana and Theravada is roughly comparable to the divisions like Catholic vs. Protestant or Roman Catholic vs. Eastern Orthodox in Christianity. Just as there are many denominations of Protestant Christianity, so too are there many denominations of Mahayana Buddhism, a few of which (although it may seem like "many of which") we examine throughout HIST 480.
Mahayana Buddhism made extensive use of various Hindu deities. Some became bodhisattvas; others became lesser divinities. As we see in the next chapter, deities can be useful in Mahayana teaching and practice as inspirational symbols of desirable virtues or as objects of veneration to help train the mind. At the highest levels of understanding, there are no deities external to one's self (because, among other things, there is no self). For people at lower levels of understanding, however, deities can play a useful role in progress toward enlightenment.
Another development associated with Mahayana Buddhism was a theory of stages and cycles concerning the appearance of Buddhas in the world and the status of their teaching. In this theory Shakyamuni was only the most recent of a whole series of Buddhas that had appeared on earth at regular intervals. The Dharma, or Buddhist teaching, goes through three phases, which together constitute one full cycle. Specifically, 500 years after the Buddha's death (or, 1000 years in a competing version of the theory) is the period of the True Dharma. During this time, the Buddha's teaching is properly practiced, and the attainment of enlightenment is possible. Next comes a period of the Semblance Dharma, which lasts 1000 years (or, 500 years in a competing version of the theory). In this stage, people practice the Buddha's teachings, but they only go through the motions without true understanding making enlightenment impossible. In the final stage, the Last or Final Dharma, which lasts 10,000 years, the teaching exists, but nobody practices it, even if only going through the motions. This stage is a time of misery and suffering on a vast scale, at the end of which, a new Buddha appears and a new three-stage cycle begins. There were other Buddhas before Shakyamuni and there will be others after him. This theory caused great anxiety in Japan during medieval times starting in the late Heian period because many feared that the world was about to enter stage three, the period of the Last Dharma. The most common Japanese term for this final stage is mappō, and we will return to this topic in subsequent chapters.
Thus far we have examined Buddhism as a religious teaching and a social institution. Connected with both of these dimensions was a third one: Buddhism was an important cultural agent throughout Asia. As Buddhism spread to areas outside of India, it transmitted a particular world view, a body of learning and scripture, medical knowledge (many Buddhists practiced the healing arts), and distinctive art and architecture. Buddhism influenced the cultures of all East Asian societies, especially Japan.
There is a tendency in east Asia to think that visual images can often do a better job of portraying abstract concepts than do words. Similarly, Buddhism inspired artists to represent parables and concepts in visual form. Mahayana Buddhism in particular, with its emphasis on reaching people at many different levels of comprehension, developed an elaborate body of art. Just as Christianity was the major influence in European art and literature for centuries, so too was Buddhism the major artistic and literary influence throughout much of Japan's history. It also competed with Confucianism and Daoism in China as a cultural force. We examine Buddhist-inspired art throughout much of the course.
In ancient India, there developed a type of round building called a stupa. These structures were memorial monuments that supposedly housed a piece of the Buddha's mortal body. Stupas served as symbolic reminders of Buddhist teachings or events in the life of the Buddha. They also served as places for walking meditation. The mediators would walk around the perimeter of the stupa, and therefore around the holy remains enshrined in its center. You might wonder how people could have thought that an actual part of the Buddha's body could be in all of the many stupas throughout India. Did the Buddha's followers chop him up into thousands of small pieces after his death? A typical explanation, however, would be that some part of the Buddha's body (often ashes since he was probably cremated) appeared in a certain place as a miracle. The stupa would then be built to commemorate the miracle. This Buddhist interest in relics developed independently of the same phenomenon in Christianity. The Indian stupa developed into the *pagoda in China and Japan.* The pagoda is narrower and taller than a stupa and also houses what are alleged to be mortal remains of the Buddha. A pagoda typically forms the center of Buddhist temple compounds. (#Everything# you ever wanted to know about stupas and more.)
Evolution of Buddhist relic temples: #classic Indian stupa# >>> #modified stupa# >>> #Chinese pagoda# >>> #Japanese pagoda#
Buddhism arrived in China toward the end of the Han dynasty, roughly during the first or second century CE Prior to this time, there had been no major form of Chinese thought that viewed life, the concrete world, and the human body in so pessimistic a way as Buddhism. One of the earliest Chinese Buddhist meditation texts, dating from the third century, instructs mediators to ponder the corrupt and painful nature of life in a human body:
The ascetic engages in contemplation of himself and observes that all the noxious seepage of his internal body is impure. Hair, skin, skull and flesh; tears from the blinking of the eyes and spittle; veins, arteries, sinew and marrow; liver, lungs, intestines and stomach; feces, urine, mucus and blood: such a mass of filth when combined produces a man. It is as if a sack were filled with a leaky bag.4
How pleasant! Buddhism, with all its focus on the wretched nature of the human condition, was a radical new way of thinking in late Han China.
Because of its clash with major Chinese traditions of thought, Buddhism came under immediate attack from intellectuals. Some arguments against it were relatively simple-minded and ethnocentric in nature. One critic, for example, attacked a Chinese follower of Buddhism in the following terms:
Confucius said, 'The barbarians with a ruler are not so good as the Chinese without one' Mencius criticized Chen Xiang for rejecting his own education to adopt the ways of [the foreign teacher] Xu Xing, saying, 'I have heard of using what is Chinese to change what is barbarian, but I have never heard of using what is barbarian to change what is Chinese.' You sir, at the age of twenty learned the way of Yao, Shun, Confucius, and the Duke of Zhou. But now you have rejected them, and instead have taken up the arts of the barbarians. Is this not a great error?5
Arguments to the effect that the Buddha was an uncultured Barbarian from India were common among Han Chinese literati.
As Buddhism became more firmly established in China, such arguments became less common. Nevertheless, throughout China's history, attacks on Buddhism for its non-Chinese roots inevitably came up. A famous example from a later dynasty is the Tang-dynasty literatus Han Yu's memorial criticizing the emperor for having a Buddhist relic, supposedly the finger bone of Shakyamuni, brought into the imperial palace for veneration. Part of it reads:
Now the Buddha was a man of the barbarians who did not speak the language of China and wore clothes of a different fashion. His sayings did not concern the ways of our ancient kings, nor did his manner of dress conform to their laws. . . . If he were still alive today and came to our court by order of his ruler, Your Majesty might condescend to receive him, but it would amount to no more than one audience in the Xuanzheng Hall, a banquet by the Office for Receiving Guests, the presentation of a suit of clothes, and he would then be escorted to the borders of the empire, dismissed, and not allowed to delude the masses. How then, when he has long been dead, could his rotten bones, the foul and unlucky remains of his body, be rightly admitted to the palace?6
Han Yu, incidentally, nearly lost his life for such a vigorous critique of the emperor's religious practices.
Other critiques of Buddhism from Chinese Confucian scholars were more sophisticated, addressing specific points of Buddhist doctrine and theology. For example:
The Buddhists are fundamentally afraid of life and death and are selfish. Is theirs the way for all? They devote themselves only to penetration on the transcendental level, not to learning on the empirical level. This being the case, can their penetration on the transcendental level be right? Their two levels are basically disconnected. Whatever is separated is not the Way.7
Do not worry about understanding this passage in its entirety. The main point is that Buddhists allegedly neglect concrete, practical morality in favor of selfish attempts to transcend worldly affairs.
Despite such criticism, Buddhism became highly influential in China for several reasons. First, Buddhism came into China just as the Han dynasty was deteriorating. It was a time of warfare, famine, dislocation and similar misery on a vast scale. The message that life is suffering resonated with the experiences of many Chinese at that time. Second, Chinese scholars translated Buddhist texts using the language and terminology of Daoism, because often no Chinese words existed for major Buddhist concepts. Daoism is a classical philosophy that stressed abandonment of the artifice of human society for to live in harmony with nature. Translating Buddhism through Daoism modified Buddhist teachings, giving them a more Chinese flavor. There was also a strong tendency in Chinese thought to synthesize and harmonize apparently antagonistic teachings. Buddhism appeared to many Chinese not so much to conflict with Confucianism and other native Chinese traditions, but to supplement and add to them. Many promoters of Buddhism also stressed that one could be a Buddhist without rejecting Confucianism or any other religious or philosophical system (more on this in the next chapter).
Despite its general acceptance, some Chinese intellectuals in all ages continued to attack Buddhism. Consider the following example from the Song dynasty:
A student should forthwith get as far away from Buddhist doctrines as from licentious songs and beautiful women. Otherwise, they will soon infiltrate him. . . . About Buddhist doctrines, it is all the more necessary to say that we should be cautious at all times. After we have gained self-confidence, they cannot confuse us.8
Although this passage is part of a critique of Buddhism, it also attests to the strong attraction Buddhism exerted on educated Chinese. Its allure was seductive.
From China, Buddhism spread to Korea and then Japan. By the time Buddhism got to Japan, it was approximately 1000 years old and had changed much since the days of its founder. Although, as we have seen, Buddhism encountered some resistance when it first arrived in Japan, this resistance was not rooted in deep-seated cultural biases as was the case with Buddhism in China. Buddhism merged with native Japanese forms of religion in an almost seamless web. The basic formula was that native Japanese deities were local manifestations of Buddhas or lesser Buddhist deities. Brace yourselves--we'll be delving into this matter in some detail as the course goes on. It is interesting and significant that, unlike China, Buddhism was rarely ever attacked in Japan as being "foreign" until the late 1860s. This modern attack on Buddhism marks a key turning point in the development of nationalist thinking in Japan, a topic we usually examine in depth in HIST 481, Modern Japan.
Before examining the specifics of Buddhism in Japan, there is one more large topic we need to examine about Buddhism in general: the Six Courses (rokudō 六道) and matters related to it (#classic image#). It is a topic we will see much more of as we examine medieval Japan.
1. Quoted in Edward Conze, trans., Buddhist Scriptures (New York: Penguin Books, 1959), pp. 73-74.
2. Quoted in Ibid., pp. 74-76.
3. Ibid., p. 77.
4. Quoted in Wm. Theodore de Bary, ed., The Buddhist Tradition in India, China, and Japan (New York: The Modern Library, 1969), p. 129.
5. Quoted in Ibid., p. 135, with minor modification.
6. Memorial on the Bone of Buddha, quoted in Wm. Theodore de Bary et al., eds., Sources of Chinese Tradition, Vol. 1 (New York: Columbia University Press), 1960, with minor modification.
7. Wing-tsit Chan, trans., Reflections on Things at Hand: The Neo-Confucian Anthology Compiled by Chu Hsi and Lü Tsu-ch'ien (New York: Columbia University Press), 1967.
8. Ibid., pp. 283-84.
