How Buddhism won the hearts of the Chinese? (Part 1)
Do you know how Buddhism gain entry into China? Afterall, we all know that Buddhism originated in India and that Confucian and Taoism were seen as the major philosophical traditions in China then.
Buddhism did not win favor and flourish in china without opposition as many aspects of Buddhist teachings were at odds with the evolved nature of Chinese. Buddhism pessimism about the worldly life conflicted with Chinese familism and views about social harmony.
One of the more bizarre aspects of Buddhist history in China is the long controversy that raged between Buddhists and Taoists over the birth time of Buddha(Buddhism founder) and Lao-Tzu (Taoist founder). In India, little attention was paid to historical recording and hence, the life of Buddha was mostly guesswork. Even whether a person named Lao-Tzu ever existed was full of suspicion. Both camps responded to each others’ attacks by reassigning the birth date of their founders to even earlier dates. (Wonder if they took account of the structure of the bazi lol)
Confucians were more rational of their criticisms of Buddhism. They were against the Indian notion of karma which has invalidated by the Chinese doctrine of the Mandate of Heaven. (See the influence of Indian culture on the Chinese? We use the term karma quite often today!)
So how did Buddhism fights its way to the heart of the Chinese? I shall continue the story in my next post….
Discuss with us why u think Buddhism managed to gain popularity in China.
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