China Buddhism was the only foreign religion to be absorbed into and changed by Chinese culture, contributing in many ways to the country’s cultural development. Legend has it that the emperor Ming Do of the Han dynasty dreamt he saw the Buddha, and he desparched envoys to India to bring back the scriptures. They returned with two monks on a white horse, and he set up the first Buddhist temple in AD 65 at Luoyang. The more realistic interpretation is that Buddhism came to China long time Silk Route in the first century AD, and by the third and fourth centuries was well established particularly among the non-Han Wei and Tuba emperors, who created the famous grottoes at Datong, Luoyang and Dunhuang. Fa Xian in the fourth century and Xuan Zang (602-44) are famous pilgrims who made their way to the west to seek the Buddhist scriptures.

Buddhism was founded in India in the fifth century BC. It holds that life is a cycle of sin and suffering, and that the only way to break the cycle is through attaining nirvana or the state of absence of desire through years of leading an ascetic life as a monk.

There were several branches of Buddhism. Hinayana Buddhism (the LesserVehicle) acknowledged only one Buddha-Sakyamuni. Mahayana Buddhismacknowledged that Sakyamuni was one Buddha in an infinite number of Buddhas -this branch of Buddhism is called the Grearer Vehicle. The Buddhist hierarchy alsocontains a 1ayer of Boddhisattvas, who are destined for enlightenment and nirvana,but have chosen to remain on earth to relieve the suffering of mankind; they aretherefore accessible to the prayers of the ordinary human being. There is also thepromise of the Buddha to come – the Maitreya Buddha or Laughing Buddha.

Chan Buddhism – or Zen as it is more commonly known – was a development peculiar to China. Based on the teachings of Boddhidarma, an Indian monk who lived in Luoyang in the sixth century. it taught that the road to enlightment laythrough contemplation and the discovery of the germ of Buddha person. Closein kind to Daoists, the followers of Chan scorned the scriptures, in avour ofmeditation and repetition of koans.

During the Tang dynasty Buddhism flourished in China, and.made enormous contributions to Chinese culture. Temples became very rich and used their wealthto erect bronze statues whose weights and sizes were noted down as a record oftheir value. Great contributions were made to the oral tradition in literature by thestories fold to illustrate the scriptures – another reason for the popularity of Buddhism. Since the translation and copying of texts were considered beneficial toone’s karma, this led to the development of printing. However by the end of theTang dynasty, when the power and strength of the empire were somewhatdiminished, resentment and anti-clerical feeling grew, temples were closed down,and monks and nuns returned to lay life.

Eventually the most widespread form of Buddhism was to be Amidism, which revolved around Amitabha, a deity born from a lotus in Heaven – Western Paradise. There was no need for contemplation or ascetism; merely invoking hisname would bring salvation and pave the way to paradise. Those with loftier idealscould devote their lives to doing good for others. It is not hard to understand why this form of instant nirvana was to become the most popular among the ordinary people. Most of the temples visited by tourists are devoted to this branch of Buddhism and peopled by its deities – for example the goddess of mercy, Guanyin;or the arbats – ’saints’ who have attained enlightenment and have special powersjust as a Christian might pray to St Anthony if he loses something. The Mingdynasty novel by Wu Chengen, translated by Arthur Waley as Monkey provides aLively, readable introduction to the figures which inhabit the Buddhist Paradise.

Buddhism was absorbed not only by the Han Chinese but by the Manchus. The Tibetans and Mongolians, as well as the Tu, Qiang and Dai nationalities, took it inas Lamaistic Buddhism.

Relics of Buddhism are found all over China today. Many of them are now underthe protection of the state. Monks and nuns still practise their religion in some ofthe temples, and many have been reopened only recently. The Association ofChinese Buddhists was formed in 1953; a library of sutras and a novitiate were setup, and rubbings were made at the Jinling scripture-carving house in Nanking ofthe complete collection of Buddhist scriptures, carved on over15,000 stone tablets.

The association publishes a magazme called Modern Buddbism. During the early 1960s the 2,500th anniversary of the death of Sakyamuni was celebrated, as well as the 1,300th anniversary of the death of Xuan Zang, and the Buddha’s ToothPagoda was rebuilt in the Western Hills. Today the Association of Chinese Buddhism has been reconvened, new research centres have been set up, and renewed contacts have been made with Buddhists throughout the world.