The Chinese
possess a history of over five thousand years. An important
component, which had yielded fruitful results on Chinese culture,
is Indian Buddhism. One will realise this enormous influence
when reading the cultural History of China. If one tries to
talk about Chinese culture without touching on Buddhism, one
will be in the position of a blind man as told in the story
of the Blind Men and the Elephant.
Buddhism
had been established some twenty-five centuries ago. It had
been transmitted to China during the Ch'in and Han Dynasties
some five hundred years after the Parinirvana of Sakyamuni
Buddha. Buddhism in China had risen and fallen according to
the law of constant changes during the past two thousand years.
Nevertheless it had been well established in China. In the
past it had not been greatly affected by the upheavals and
chaos of political changes. For me the Chinese have been open-minded
in their nature and have been capable of absorbing foreign
culture. That is why Buddhism, when introduced into the well-cultured
land of China, has flourished abundantly and developed fruitfully.
The golden
age of Chinese Buddhism was from the age of the Three Kingdoms
to the T'ang Dynasty. During this period the various Schools
in Buddhism evolved their irreproachable and infallible theories
based on the doctrine of Sakyamuni Buddha.
Historically
speaking the rise and fall of the various schools had been
closely connected to the evolution of cultural thoughts and
current events in China. For the past fifty years, the social
system of China had been changed from Absolute Monarchy to
Constitutional Monarchy, Republicanism and then to Socialism.
A student
of Chinese Culture therefore cannot neglect Buddhism otherwise
his progress will be handicapped as a wheel without an axis.
It is the duty of a lover of Chinese culture to shoulder the
responsibility of fostering the study of Buddhism so that
the culture will again radiate its splendid light.
It is
encouraging to see at this chaotic moment of multiple ideologies
that Buddhism still flourishes in various countries. Now I
would like to introduce briefly the ten schools of Chinese
Buddhism as follows:
The
Ten Schools of Chinese Buddhism:
1.
Reality School
or Kosa School or
Abhidharma School.
2. Satysiddhi School or
Cheng-se School.
3. Three Sastra School
or San-lun School.
4. The Lotus School or
T'ien-t'ai School (absorb
the Nirvana school).
5. The Garland School
or Hua-yen School or
Avatamsaka School.
(absorb the Dasab-humika School and the Samparigraha-sastra
school).
6. Intuitive School or
Ch'an School or Dhyana
School.
7. Discipline School or
Lu School or Vinaya
School.
8. Esoteric School or
Chen-yien School or Mantra
School.
9. Dharmalaksana School
or Ch'u-en School
or Fa-siang School.
10. Pure-land School or
Sukhavati School or Ching-t'u
School.
The principles
of all the above schools are based on the partial doctrine
of Sakyamuni Buddha. In the beginning there were no such things
as schools in Buddhism. The disciples of Buddha, however,
took up what had been most beneficial and most practicable
for them. Thus ten schools have evolved. Buddhism in China
may also be divided into thirteen schools, but the other three
have been absorb within the ten.
1. Kosa
School: The foundation
text is the Abhidharma-kosa-sastra by Vasubandhu. The
Sastra was translated and introduced to China from India by
Shuan-chuang. His disciples Yu-kuang and Fa-pau who wrote these
and other commentaries on the Sastra propagated this school.
The Sastra classifies all phenomena of the cosmos under seventy-five
categories. A student o this school learns the way of liberating
oneself from the passions and attains subsequent annihilation
of suffering. He bases his learning on the Four Noble Truths,
viz, 1. Suffering. 2. Cause of suffering. 3. Cessation of Suffering.
4. The Noble Eightfold Path. This school teaches Theravadin
Buddhism. It was popular in China during the T'ang Dynasty only.
Modern Chinese scholars of this school are the late Ven. Fa-fang
and Mr. Chang-si-shen.
2. Satysiddhi
School: Based upon the
Satyasiddhi Sastra by Harivarman (4th century A.D.) translated
into Chinese by Kumarajiva (5th century). This School flourished
during the six-Dynasty and T'ang Dynasty (5th & 6th century).
It teaches one to look upon the cosmos in realms: the worldly
realm and the supreme realm. A student is to meditate on the
unreality of self and the unreality of things in order to enter
Nirvana.
3. Three
Sastra School: Based its tenets on the Madhyamika
Sastra, Dvadasanikaya Sastra by Nagarjuna and the Sata
Sastra by Aryadeva. These three Sastras were translated
by Kurnarajiva (5th century). It teaches one to dispose of the
Eight Misleading Ideas (birth, death, end, permanence, identity,
difference, coming, and going) and establish correct thinking.
One will discover the truth between the relative sense and the
absolute sense, for the truth lies between them. Rev. Yin-sun
propagates this school, and has published a modern commentary
on the Madhyamika.
4. The
Lotus School: It is
also called the T'ien-t'ai school. This name is attributed to
the Tien-tai Mountain in Che-chiang Province. The school was
founded by Chih-che during the Sui Dynasty (6th century). The
chief text is the Lotus Sutra (the Law-flower Sutra).
Others are the Commentary on the Prajnaparamita Sutra,
the Mahaparinirvana Sutra, etc. This school divides each
of the ten realms of existence (hells, ghosts, animals, asuras,
men, devas, sravakas, pratyeka-buddhas, bodhisattvas, and buddhas)
into ten divisions and each division has ten qualities making
a total of one thousand qualities. These qualities are further
multiplied by three (past, present, and future) making a total
of three thousand qualities. This school teaches one to visualise
these three thousand qualities in an instant. The hundred divisions
of realms and the thousand qualities form the sphere of visualisation.
It teaches one to rest the physical body in three aspects and
to gain a clear insight into truth from three views. Chih-che
also divided the gospel of Buddha into five periods and the
doctrine into eight kinds. The late Ven. T'isien and Shing-ch'e
propagate this school.
5. Vatamsaka
School: Founded by Tu-shun
in the T'ang Dynasty (7th century). The foundation work is the
Garland Sutra. This school was expanded by Chih-yien,
Fa-chang, Ch'en-kuan, Chung-mi and other patriarchs. It treats
Buddhism in five schools (Theravada, Proto-mahayana, Mahayana,
the Intuitive, and the Perfect). These five are differentiated
into ten schools of thoughts. It presents ten Metaphysical propositions
and six characteristics of things for meditation. To meditate
on the fundamental nature of the universe is the door to enlightenment.
The theory is profound. It is said that one will not appreciate
the richness in Buddhism until one has studied the Garland
Sutra. The late Ven. Yue-shia founded the Hua-yen College
in Shanghai. The Ven. Ying-ch'ih, Win-chow, Chi-shong are the
modern expounders of this school.
6. The
Intuitive School: Bodhidharma in the Liang Dynasty
established it in China (6th century). This school does not
rely on the use of letters. It points directly to the mind and
sees into one's own nature. This special transmission outside
the scripture was succeeded by Hui-k'o, Shen-ch'an, Tao-sin,
Hong-jen, and Hui-neng, the 6th Patriarch. After the 6th Patriarch
this school expanded into five and later seven schools. It has
been very popular over a thousand years and causes most temples
in China to acquire the name of Ch'an Temples. Ven. Shu-yun,
the one hundred and twenty years old monk who passed away in
1959, could stay in meditation for ten to twenty days at one
stretch. The Ven. Lai-kuo of Kau-wen Temple in Yang-chou, Chiang-su
Province has attained identical level of achievement.
7. The Discipline School:
Based on the monastic rules laid down by the Buddha. The rules
have five divisions. Theravada and Mahayana have separate sets
of monastic rules. These rules are the basic moral code of the
Buddha. Tao-shuan promoted the Four-division Vinaya and founded
this school in the T'ang Dynasty. He wrote several treatises
and volumes of commentaries on the Vinaya. The essence of this
school is to do good and cease to do evil. One must follow strictly
the code of ethics so as to free oneself from the ocean of misery
and prepare oneself for Buddhahood. After Master Ling-chi of
Sung Dynasty and Master Yuan-chau of Yuan Dynasty, this school
was dormant in China for nearly seven hundred years until the
revival of this school by the late Master Hong-it.
8. Esoteric
School: Based on the Vairocana Sutra, the
Diamond Apex Sutra and Susiddhi Sutra. This school
was introduced to China during the T'ang Dynasty by Subhakarasirnha,
Vajramati and Amogha. The fundamental concepts are the six elements
(earth, water, fire, air, space, and cognition) and four magic
circles (pagoda, jewel, lotus and sword) which symbolise the
power of the Buddhas and the Bodhisauvas. One is to attain self-realisation
by the three mystic things of body (its posture and signs),
mouth (its voice), and mind (meditation). (The mystic body is
associated with earth, water and fire; the words from the mouth
with wind space; the mind with cognition). It maintains that
there are two aspects of the cosmos: the phenomenal or material
and the absolute or spiritual. After the T'ang Dynasty, it was
debased in China proper. It passed to Tibet and is known as
the Tibetan Esoteric School. It also passed to Japan as the
Shingon School. The ceremonies and services of this school are
very complicated. One can hardly learn about it without a teacher.
9. Dharmalaksana
School: The foundation works are the Sandhi-nirmocana
Sutra, Abhidharma Sutra, Yogacaryabhumi Sastra,
and the Vijnaptimatrasiddhi Sastra. This school aims
at studying the nature in relation to the phenomenal expression
of the cosmic existence. It was advocated by Maitreya and succeeded
by Asang, Vasubandhu, Dharmaplala Silabhadre in India. Shuan-chuang
studied this school from Silabhadre at Nalanda Monastery. On
his return to China, he translated many sutras and sastras in
the Ch'e-en Temple built by the T'ang Emperor. There were several
thousand people including government officials engaged in translating
the Buddhist Scriptures into Chinese and thus Shuan-chuang was
helped to established this school in China. Wuei-chi, Hui-chau,
and Chih-chou succeeded him. It maintains that the three planes
of existence are merely the manifestation of the conscious mind
and that all phenomena are the reflection of the sub-conscious
mind. This mind-evolution teaching is a profound philosophy
and it is radical in the modern Buddhistic thoughts among the
Chinese. In order to grasp the gist, one has to spend a considerable
amount of time in solid research. The late Ven. Me-an, Tau-kie,
Yuen-ying and Hui-ch'uang, Yan-wen-san of Fu-chien Province
especially the Ven. Vai-she were the modern exponents of this
school. There are many notable successors such as the Ven. Ch'ang-sing,
Ou-ysngu of Nanking and Han-ching-ching of Peking.
10. The
Pure-land School: Based on the Sukhavati Vyuha
Sutra, the Great Sukhavati Vyuha Sutra, the Small
Sukhavati Vyuha Sutra. This school was established by Hui-yuan
of the Chin Dynasty (4th century). He set up the Lotus Society
at Chiang-si Province. There were one hundred twenty-three distinguished
members including the notable poets Vau-yen-ming and Liu-wei-min.
This organisation greatly incited the zeal of studying Buddhism
among the Chinese. San-tau and Kuang-ming of T'ang Dynasty undertook
to popularise this school and were succeeded in spreading it
to almost every household. It teaches one to set the mind solely
on Amitabha, to recite the holy name and to recite the holy
name repeatedly, and one may gain salvation to the Pure-land
of Amitabha. The method employed is simple thus it is suited
to everyone who has faith in Amitabha, and who resolves to be
reborn in the Pureland. The late Ven. Yin-kuang greatly promoted
this school. He persuaded people to do good at the same time
so as merits may be brought to the Pure-land, the ideal final
resort.
The various
schools may be further classified into Mahayana and Theravada;
esoteric teachings and open teachings, and the easy way as
contrasted to the hard way of salvation. The Kosa and Satysiddhi
schools belong to Theravada whereas the other eight belong
to the Mahayana. The Mantra School belongs to the esoteric
teachings whereas the other nine are open teachings. The Pure-land
School is the easy way of salvation as compared to the other
nine schools, which are the hard way. This is just a general
view of classification on the Buddhist Schools in China.
-
Venerable Kong Ghee
