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It came as a revelation; it was the “doctrine’”’ or the “law,” as it is called in the Buddhist phrase- ology, transposed into living human form. Little by little the cold hearts of the Mongols thawed, and, through this personal influence, that best type among the Chinese monks, that type of holy dignity combined with nobility of character which, since then, has stood before the Chinese Buddhists as the great ideal, and which, in individual cases, has been attained and put into effect in life by a very few, was created. We shall come back to these Indian translators when we take up the subject of Buddhist literature in China, [13] TRUTH AND TRADITION IN BUDDHISM The first three hundred years after the introduction of Buddhism into China are marked by rest and deep religious seeking. One therefore need not be surprised over the fact that the new religion, protected by the royal house, well prepared for by Taoism, and itself provided with all that splendid machinery of worship which only India’s glowing spirituality could create, advanced along the whole line, steadily and surely, though not yet at double-quick pace. Buddhism had especial success among the states which sprang up rapidly in the fourth and fifth cen- turies. Thus the people of Chihli and Shansi, under the later Chou dynasty in a.p. 333, received permis- sion to take the vows and become monks. It was not long, then, before the country was swarming with monks and nuns. In the capital, Loyang, no less than forty-two monasteries, with their adjoining temples and pagodas, were built. In 381 A.D. nine-tenths of the people of north-west China were adherents of Buddhism. Both the “‘Eastern Chin dynasty” and the “ Later Chin” (Hou Chin) supported the new faith most strongly. Indeed, the Emperor Hsiao Wu Ti (373-397) himself. became a Buddhist. After the fall of the Chin dynasty in 420, a period of affliction and persecution for Buddhism began. Both the Mongol dynasty of Wei in the north, and the Chinese Sung dynasty in the south were at one in their policy of persecution; for any religion favoured by the enemy is always suspect, and must be combated. This rule has consistently been carried. out in China, [14] INTRODUCTION INTO CHINA In A.D, 426 an edict was issued by the powers in the north to the effect that all Buddhist images and writings should be destroyed and the priests killed. Many Buddhist monks lost their lives, and much - valuable literature was consumed by the flames, But with this it seemed as if the fury of the storm of opposition had spent itself. When it became evident that Buddhism had great power among the common people, the successor to the throne was diplomatic. enough to revoke the edict in a.p. 451; and, in order to make amends, if possible, he later made a figure of Buddha in copper, fifty feet in height, and had it over- laid thickly with gold. It was also arranged that every city might build a monastery, and that fifty of the city’s inhabitants should be allowed to “take the vows.” One of the later rulers, Hsiao Wu Ti, abdicated, in order to be free to study Buddhism. This was in A.D. 471. No wonder that, about the year _a.D. 530,. there were thirteen_thousand temples in northern China alone. Under the later emperors of the Sung dynasty in central and southern China, there was a more friendly attitude towards Buddhism. ‘The literati, indeed, tried to keep up the opposition, but the people, who had already acquired a taste for the religious values which Buddhism brought with it, decided in favour of the new religion. Among the best known of the emperors who, during this period, paid homage to Buddhism must be named Ming Ti (a.D. 465-473). He erected an enormously [15] TRUTH AND TRADITION IN BUDDHISM expensive monastery in Hunan; this act gave rise toa sharp conflict with his ministers, Still better known is Liang Wu Ti (502-550), who devoted himself with quite unprecedented zeal to the study of Buddhism. The most remarkable thing about him was that, besides this, he also sought in his government and in his private life to practise the best of Mahayana Buddhism’s teachings. He is therefore called ‘‘China’s Asoka.” It was during his reign that the famous Bodhidharma (P‘u-t‘i-ta-mo, # #2 #), the twenty-eighth patriarch from Buddha in India and the first on Chinese soil, came to China (A.D. 527). He settled down in Nanking for a time; but, as Liang Wu Ti had not sufficient appreciation of the value of meditation, he left him and betook himself to Loyang, the capital of the northern dynasty. We shall speak later of his importance in the development of Chinese Buddhism. Among Liang Wu Ti’s building achievements may be mentioned the monastery of Ch‘ang Ts‘ien, in the neighbourhood of Nanking, where a shrine containing relics of Asoka was erected, Among the later dynasties may be named the Ch‘en dynasty, whose first emperor retired to a monastery after four years of rule in order to carry on a study of Buddhism. Under the Sui dynasty, a great deal of literary work was done among the Buddhists. During the years between A.D. 594 and 616, no less than three collections of Tripitaka were produced. Finally, we have the period of the Ter~ The first emperors were unfavourably [16] * INTRODUCTION INTO CHINA Buddhism to such an extent_that severe persecution. broke out during the reign of Kao Tsu. This persecu- tion is connected with the name of Fu-yih, a minister, who sent in a complaint against the Buddhist society on the following grounds: the Buddhist monks and nuns, by their celibacy, consume the strength of society. They are “unproductive _ individuals, who reduce the national wealth. This truly Confucian complaint found favour with the emperor, and. strict rules were formulated to restrain access to the monas- teries. It is said that under Hsiian Tsung, one of the later emperors, twelve thousand monks were forced back into civil life. Later, a long period of prosperity had its beginning under this same emperor, who came to another way of thinking during his later years. Thus Tripitaka was once more issued under his auspices in the year a.p. 730. Now for a century and a half Buddhism had peace, broken only by a short period of persecution under Wu Tsung (844-847). The latter half of the eighth century was especially significant. The bulk of the common people devoted themselves with en- thusiasm to the worship; the imperial house was filled with reverence for the tremendous system of thought and machinery of worship that stretched so wide and gave such hope for both the living and the dead. The Emperor Su Tsung had a Buddhist temple in his palace, and permitted his eunuchs and his guard to dress Z. Buddhist costume; and his successor, Tai laste: =) was himself quite an able interpreter 1y sutras. When his mother died, he selected [17] TRUTH AND TRADITION IN BUDDHISM a thousand monks and nuns to say masses, not only at the time of the funeral but also every year, on the fifteenth of the seventh month. It is probable that the “Spirit Festival’? (Kuei Chieh, 3% #i) has a certain connection with this, though other things also may have had a bearing on it. It was during this period, also, that one of Buddha’s bones, which had been purchased in India, was brought into the capital with enormous pomp and splendour. This was under the Emperor Hsien Tsung (4.p. 819). It was on this occasion that the minister Han-yu sent in his famous protest, and, aS a consequence, was degraded. He narrowly escaped with his life. Persecution broke out again, however, and it was even worse than before. Just at this time there was great rivalry between the Buddhists and the Taoists. Several times it had come to the point of public dis- putations or wonder-working tests. As is usual in such cases, both parties claimed the victory. The Taoists then had recourse to intrigue. They succeeded in convincing the Emperor Wu Tsung, a Taoist sympathizer, that Buddhism was dangerous to the imperial power, for it outshone even the “dragon throne” in its brilliance. As a consequence of this, he issued an edict in a.p. 845, by which “four thousand six hundred monasteries were razed to the ground, forty thousand temples destroyed, and two hundred and sixty thousand monks and nuns forced back into common society.” It is possible that this report is exaggerated; but it is certain that Buddhism never fully recovered from [18] INTRODUCTION INTO CHINA this blow. History adds that, two years later, the emperor was taken ill because_of all the Taoist “medicine of life’ which he had drunk. He was so far through that he became dumb. In consequence, the edict was revoked, with the provision that only a limited number of monks might, by special permission, “take the vows.’ In the succeeding centuries Buddhism was a tolerated _ _ religion; but, even under these conditions, it made its influence strongly felt. This is seen not least in the art of the time. The Buddhists were very clever in the art of printing. One can still go into monasteries in China where tremendous quantities of wood-blocks.. engraved with block-type are piled up. Under the Emperor Jén Tsung, fifty young monks were selected. for special study of Sanskrit (1035). The last great game of intrigue, set going by the Taoists under their protector, Hui Tsung, failed com- pletely in its work. Under Kublai Khan, Buddhism took a decided for- ward_step;to. such an extent was this true that statistics give the number of temples at that time as forty-two thousand, and the number of monks as two hundred and fifteen thousand. In the years just following, we see that Buddhism was very strongly influenced by Lamaism.from.'Tibet and Mongolia.