Reading section 32

In this reign the Chinese made a remarkable attempt to assert their authority in Ceylon. In 1405 a mission was sent with offerings to the Sacred Tooth and when it was ill received a second mission despatched in 1407 captured the king of Ceylon and carried him off as a prisoner to China. Ceylon paid tribute for fifty years, but it does not appear that these proceedings had much importance for religion[694].

In the reigns of Ying Tsung and Ching-Ti[695] (1436-64) large numbers of monks were ordained, but, as on previous occasions, the great increase of candidates led to the imposition of restrictions and in 1458 an edict was issued ordering that ordinations should be held only once a year. The influence of the Chief Eunuchs during this period was great, and two successive holders of this post, Wang-Chên and Hsing-An[696], were both devoted Buddhists and induced the Emperors whom they served to expend enormous sums on building monasteries and performing ceremonies at which the Imperial Court were present.

The end of the fifteenth century is filled by two reigns, Hsien Tsung and Hsiao Tsung. The former fell under the influence of his favourite concubine Wan and his eunuchs to such an extent that, in the latter part of his life, he ceased to see his ministers and the chief eunuch became the real ruler of China. It is also mentioned both in 1468 and 1483 that he was in the hands of Buddhist priests who instructed him in secret doctrines and received the title of Kuo-Shih and other distinctions. His son Hsiao Tsung reformed these abuses: the Palace was cleansed: the eunuchs and priests were driven out and some were executed: Taoist books were collected and burnt. The celebrated writer Wang Yang Ming[697] lived in this reign. He defended and illustrated the doctrine of Lu Chin-Yüan, namely that truth can be obtained by meditation. To express intuitive knowledge, he used the expression _Liang Chih_[698] (taken from Mencius). _Liang Chih_ is inherent in all human minds, but in different degrees, and can be developed or allowed to atrophy. To develop it should be man's constant object, and in its light when pure all things are understood and peace is obtained. The phrases of the Great Learning "to complete knowledge," "investigate things," and "rest in the highest excellence," are explained as referring to the _Liang Chih_ and the contemplation of the mind by itself. We cannot here shut our eyes to the influence of Bodhidharma and his school, however fervently Wang Yang Ming may have appealed to the Chinese Classics.

The reign of Wu-tsung (1506-21) was favourable to Buddhism. In 1507 40,000 men became monks, either Buddhist or Taoist. The Emperor is said to have been learned in Buddhist literature and to have known Sanskrit[699] as well as Mongol and Arabic, but he was in the hands of a band of eunuchs, who were known as the eight tigers. In 1515 he sent an embassy to Tibet with the object of inducing the Grand Lama to visit Peking, but the invitation was refused and the Tibetans expelled the mission with force. The next Emperor, Shih-T'sung (1522-66), inclined to Taoism rather than Buddhism. He ordered the images of Buddha in the Forbidden City to be destroyed, but still appears to have taken part in Buddhist ceremonies at different periods of his reign. Wan Li (1573-1620), celebrated in the annals of porcelain manufacture, showed some favour to Buddhism. He repaired many buildings at P'u-t'o and distributed copies of the Tripitaka to the monasteries of his Empire. In his edicts occurs the saying that Confucianism and Buddhism are like the two wings of a bird: each requires the co-operation of the other.

European missionaries first arrived during the sixteenth century, and, had the Catholic Church been more flexible, China might perhaps have recognized Christianity, not as the only true religion but as standing on the same footing as Buddhism and Taoism. The polemics of the early missionaries imply that they regarded Buddhism as their chief rival. Thus Ricci had a public controversy with a bonze at Hang-Chou, and his principal pupil Hsü Kuang-Ch'i[700] wrote a tract entitled "The errors of the Buddhists exposed." Replies to these attacks are preserved in the writings of the distinguished Buddhist priest Shen Chu-Hung[701].

In 1644 the Ming dynasty collapsed before the Manchus and China was again under foreign rule. Unlike the Mongols, the Manchus had little inclination to Buddhism. Even before they had conquered China, their prince, T'ai Tsung, ordered an inspection of monasteries and limited the number of monks. But in this edict he inveighs only against the abuse of religion and admits that "Buddha's teaching is at bottom pure and chaste, true and sincere: by serving him with purity and piety, one can obtain happiness[702]." Shun-Chih, the first Manchu Emperor, wrote some prefaces to Buddhist works and entertained the Dalai Lama at Peking in 1652[703]. His son and successor, commonly known as K'ang-Hsi (1662-1723), dallied for a while with Christianity, but the net result of his religious policy was to secure to Confucianism all that imperial favour can give. I have mentioned above his Sacred Edict and the partial favour which he showed to Buddhism. He gave donations to the monasteries of P'u-t'o, Hang-chou and elsewhere: he published the Kanjur with a preface of his own[704] and the twelfth and last collection of the Tripitaka was issued under the auspices of his son and grandson. The latter, the Emperor Ch'ien Lung, also received the Teshu Lama not only with honour, but with interest and sympathy, as is clear from the inscription preserved at Peking, in which he extols the Lama as a teacher of spiritual religion[705]. He also wrote a preface to a sutra for producing rain[706] in which he says that he has ordered the old editions to be carefully corrected and prayer and worship to be offered, "so that the old forms which have been so beneficial during former ages might still be blessed to the desired end." Even the late Empress Dowager accepted the ministrations of the present Dalai Lama when he visited Peking in 1908, although, to his great indignation she obliged him to kneel at Court[707]. Her former colleague, the Empress Tzŭ-An was a devout Buddhist. The statutes of the Manchu dynasty (printed in 1818) contain regulations for the celebration of Buddhist festivals at Court, for the periodical reading of sutras to promote the imperial welfare, and for the performance of funeral rites.

Still on the whole the Manchu dynasty showed less favour to Buddhism than any which preceded it and its restrictive edicts limiting the number of monks and prescribing conditions for ordination were followed by no periods of reaction. But the vitality of Buddhism is shown by the fact that these restrictions merely led to an increase of the secular clergy, not legally ordained, who in their turn claimed the imperial attention. Ch'ien Lung began in 1735 by giving them the alternative of becoming ordinary laymen or of entering a monastery but this drastic measure was considerably modified in the next few years. Ultimately the secular clergy were allowed to continue as such, if they could show good reason, and to have one disciple each.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 591: See _B.E.F.E.O._ 1910, Le Songe et l'Ambassade de l'Empereur Ming Ti, par M. H. Maspéro, where the original texts are translated and criticized. It is a curious coincidence that Ptolemy Soter is said to have introduced the worship of Serapis to Egypt from Sinope in consequence of a dream.]

[Footnote 592: [Chinese: ] No doubt then pronounced something like Vut-tha.]

[Footnote 593: [Chinese: ] or [Chinese: ]]

[Footnote 594: [Chinese: ]]

[Footnote 595: [Chinese: ]]

[Footnote 596: [Chinese: ]]

[Footnote 597: [Chinese: ]]

[Footnote 598: [Chinese: ]]

[Footnote 599: See Chavannes, _Les documents Chinois découverts par Aurel Stein_, 1913, Introduction. The earliest documents are of 98 B.C.]

[Footnote 600: The Wei-lüeh or Wei-lio [Chinese: ], composed between 239 and 265 A.D., no longer exists as a complete work, but a considerable extract from it dealing with the countries of the West is incorporated in the San Kuo Chih [Chinese: ] of P'ei-Sung-Chih [Chinese: ] (429 A.D.). See Chavannes, translation and notes in _T'oung Pao_, 1905, pp. 519-571.]

[Footnote 601: [Chinese: ]. See Chavannes, _l.c._ p. 550.]

[Footnote 602: See Francke, _Zur Frage der Einführung des Buddhismus in China_, 1910, and Maspéro's review in _B.E.F.E.O._ 1910, p. 629. Another Taoist legend is that Dipankara Buddha or Jan Têng, described as the teacher of Śâkyamuni was a Taoist and that Śâkyamuni visited him in China. Giles quotes extracts from a writer of the eleventh century called Shên Kua to the effect that Buddhism had been flourishing before the Ch'in dynasty but disappeared with its advent and also that eighteen priests were imprisoned in 216 B.C. But the story adds that they recited the Prajnâpâramitâ which is hardly possible at that epoch.]

[Footnote 603: Sam. Nik. v. 10. 6. Cf. for a similar illustration in Chuang-tzŭ, _S.B.E._ XL. p. 126.]

[Footnote 604: I may say, however, that I think it is a compilation containing very ancient sayings amplified by later material which shows Buddhist influence. This may be true to some extent of the Essays of Chuang-tzŭ as well.]

[Footnote 605: See Legge's translation in _S.B.E._ Part I. pp. 176, 257, II. 46, 62; _ib._ I. pp. 171, 192, II. 13; _ib._ II. p. 13; _ib._ II. p. 9, I. p. 249; _ib._ pp. 45, 95, 100, 364, II. p. 139; _ib._ II. p. 139; _ib._ II. p. 129.]

[Footnote 606: _Ib._ I. p. 202; cf. the Buddha's conversation with Vaccha in Maj. Nik. 72.]

[Footnote 607: Kumârajîva and other Buddhists actually wrote commentaries on the Tao-Tê-Ching.]

[Footnote 608: [Chinese: ] It speaks, however, in section 36 of being born in the condition or family of a Bodhisattva (P'u-sa-chia), where the word seems to be used in the late sense of a devout member of the Buddhist Church.]

[Footnote 609: But the Emperor Huan is said to have sacrificed to Buddha and Lao-tzŭ. See Hou Han Shu in _T'oung Pao_, 1907, p. 194. For early Buddhism see "Communautés et Moines Bouddhistes Chinois au II et au III siècles," by Maspéro in _B.E.F.E.O._ 1910, p. 222. In the second century lived Mou-tzŭ [Chinese: ] a Buddhist author with a strong spice of Taoism. His work is a collection of questions and answers, somewhat resembling the Questions of Milinda. See translation by Pelliot (in _T'oung Pao_, vol. XIX. 1920) who gives the date provisionally as 195 A.D.]

[Footnote 610: Accounts of these and the later translators are found in the thirteen catalogues of the Chinese Tripitaka (see Nanjio, p. xxvii) and other works such as the Kao Sang-Chuan (Nanjio, No. 1490).]

[Footnote 611: [Chinese: ]. He worked at translations in Loyang 148-170.]

[Footnote 612: Dharmakâla, see Nanjio, p. 386. The Vinaya used in these early days of Chinese Buddhism was apparently that of the Dharmagupta school. See _J.A._ 1916, II. p. 40. An Shih-kao (_c_. A.D. 150) translated a work called The 3000 Rules for Monks (Nanjio, 1126), but it is not clear what was the Sanskrit original.]

[Footnote 613: [Chinese: ]]

[Footnote 614: [Chinese: ]]

[Footnote 615: [Chinese: ]]

[Footnote 616: [Chinese: ]. He was a remarkable man and famous in his time, for he was credited not only with clairvoyance and producing rain, but with raising the dead. Rémusat's account of him, based on the Tsin annals, may still be read with interest. See _Nouv. Mélanges Asiatiques_, II. 1829, pp. 179 ff. His biography is contained in chap. 95 of the Tsin [Chinese: ] annals.]

[Footnote 617: [Chinese: ]. Died 363 A.D.]

[Footnote 618: Ts'in [Chinese: ] must be distinguished from Tsin [Chinese: ], the name of three short but legitimate dynasties.]

[Footnote 619: [Chinese: ]]

[Footnote 620: [Chinese: ]]

[Footnote 621: See Nanjio, Catalogue, p. 406.]

[Footnote 622: [Chinese: ]. For this title see Pelliot in _T'oung Pao_, 1911, p. 671.]

[Footnote 623: [Chinese: ]]

[Footnote 624: [Chinese: ]. He was canonized under the name of Wu [Chinese: ], and the three great persecutions of Buddhism are sometimes described as the disasters of the three Wu, the others being Wu of the North Chou dynasty (574) and Wu of the T'ang (845).]

[Footnote 625: [Chinese: ]. For the 25 pilgrims see Nanjio, p. 417.]

[Footnote 626: [Chinese: ]]

[Footnote 627: [Chinese: ]]

[Footnote 628: [Chinese: ]]

[Footnote 629: [Chinese: ], [Chinese: ]. See Chavannes, "Voyage de Song Yun dans l'Udyâna et le Gandhâra, 518-522," p. E in _B.E.F.E.O._ 1903, pp. 379-441. For an interesting account of the Dowager Empress see pp. 384-5.]

[Footnote 630: [Chinese: ]]

[Footnote 631: [Chinese: ]]

[Footnote 632: [Chinese: ] and [Chinese: ]]

[Footnote 633: See chap. XXIII. p. 95, and chap. XLV below (on schools of Chinese Buddhism), for more about Bodhidharma. The earliest Chinese accounts of him seem to be those contained in the Liang and Wei annals. But one of the most popular and fullest accounts is to be found in the Wu Têng Hui Yüan (first volume) printed at Kushan near Fuchow.]

[Footnote 634: His portraits are also frequent both in China and Japan (see _Ostasiat. Ztsft_ 1912, p. 226) and the strongly marked features attributed to him may perhaps represent a tradition of his personal appearance, which is entirely un-Chinese. An elaborate study of Bodhidharma written in Japanese is noticed in _B.E.F.E.O._ 1911, p. 457.]

[Footnote 635: [Chinese: ]]

[Footnote 636: The legend does not fit in well with chronology since Sung-Yün is said to have returned from India in 522.]

[Footnote 637: See Takakusu in _J.R.A.S._ 1905, p. 33.]

[Footnote 638: Mailla, _Hist. Gén. de la Chine_, p. 369.]

[Footnote 639: [Chinese: ], [Chinese: ]]

[Footnote 640: [Chinese: ], [Chinese: ]]

[Footnote 641: See Biot, _Hist, de l'instruction publique en Chine_, pp. 289, 313.]

[Footnote 642: [Chinese: ]. Is celebrated in Chinese history as one of the greatest opponents of Buddhism. He collected all the objections to it in 10 books and warned his son against it on his death bed. Giles, _Biog. Dict_. 589.]