Buddhism
Buddhism, religion and philosophy that developed from the teachings of the Buddha(Sanskrit: “Awakened One”), a teacher who lived in northern India between the mid-6th and mid-4th centuries BCE (before the Common Era). Spreading from India to Central and Southeast Asia, China, Korea, and Japan, Buddhism has played a central role in the spiritual, cultural, and social life of Asia, and during the 20th century it spread to the West.
Ancient Buddhist scripture and doctrine developed in several closely related literary languages of ancient India, especially in Pali and Sanskrit. In this article Pali and Sanskrit words that have gained currency in English are treated as English words and are rendered in the form in which they appear in English-language dictionaries. Exceptions occur in special circumstances—as, for example, in the case of the Sanskrit term dharma (Pali: dhamma), which has meanings that are not usually associated with the term dharma as it is often used in English. Pali forms are given in the sections on the core teachings of early Buddhism that are reconstructed primarily from Pali texts and in sections that deal with Buddhist traditions in which the primary sacred language is Pali. Sanskrit forms are given in the sections that deal with Buddhist traditions whose primary sacred language is Sanskrit and in other sections that deal with traditions whose primary sacred texts were translated from Sanskrit into a Central or East Asian language such as Tibetan or Chinese.
The Foundations Of Buddhism
The cultural context
Buddhism arose in northeastern India sometime between the late 6th century and the early 4th century BCE, a period of great social change and intense religious activity. There is disagreement among scholars about the dates of the Buddha’s birth and death. Many modern scholars believe that the historical Buddha lived from about 563 to about 483 BCE. Many others believe that he lived about 100 years later (from about 448 to 368 BCE). At this time in India, there was much discontent with Brahmanic (Hindu high-caste) sacrifice and ritual. In northwestern India there were ascetics who tried to create a more personal and spiritual religious experience than that found in the Vedas (Hindu sacred scriptures). In the literature that grew out of this movement, the Upanishads, a new emphasis on renunciation and transcendental knowledge can be found. Northeastern India, which was less influenced by Vedic tradition, became the breeding ground of many new sects. Society in this area was troubled by the breakdown of tribal unity and the expansion of several petty kingdoms. Religiously, this was a time of doubt, turmoil, and experimentation.
A proto-Samkhya group (i.e., one based on the Samkhya school of Hinduism founded by Kapila) was already well established in the area. New sects abounded, including various skeptics (e.g., Sanjaya Belatthiputta), atomists (e.g., Pakudha Kaccayana), materialists (e.g., Ajita Kesakambali), and antinomians (i.e., those against rules or laws—e.g., Purana Kassapa). The most important sects to arise at the time of the Buddha, however, were the Ajivikas(Ajivakas), who emphasized the rule of fate (niyati), and the Jains, who stressed the need to free the soul from matter. Although the Jains, like the Buddhists, have often been regarded as atheists, their beliefs are actually more complicated. Unlike early Buddhists, both the Ajivikas and the Jains believed in the permanence of the elements that constitute the universe, as well as in the existence of the soul.
Despite the bewildering variety of religious communities, many shared the same vocabulary—nirvana (transcendent freedom), atman (“self” or “soul”), yoga (“union”), karma (“causality”), Tathagata (“one who has come” or “one who has thus gone”), buddha(“enlightened one”), samsara (“eternal recurrence” or “becoming”), and dhamma (“rule” or “law”)—and most involved the practice of yoga. According to tradition, the Buddha himself was a yogi—that is, a miracle-working ascetic.
Buddhism, like many of the sects that developed in northeastern India at the time, was constituted by the presence of a charismatic teacher, by the teachings this leader promulgated, and by a community of adherents that was often made up of renunciant members and lay supporters. In the case of Buddhism, this pattern is reflected in the Triratna—i.e., the “Three Jewels” of Buddha (the teacher), dharma (the teaching), and sangha (the community).
In the centuries following the founder’s death, Buddhism developed in two directions represented by two different groups. One was called the Hinayana (Sanskrit: “Lesser Vehicle”), a term given to it by its Buddhist opponents. This more conservative group, which included what is now called the Theravada (Pali: “Way of the Elders”) community, compiled versions of the Buddha’s teachings that had been preserved in collections called the Sutta Pitaka and the Vinaya Pitaka and retained them as normative. The other major group, which calls itself the Mahayana (Sanskrit: “Greater Vehicle”), recognized the authority of other teachings that, from the group’s point of view, made salvation available to a greater number of people. These supposedly more advanced teachings were expressed in sutrasthat the Buddha purportedly made available only to his more advanced disciples.
As Buddhism spread, it encountered new currents of thought and religion. In some Mahayana communities, for example, the strict law of karma (the belief that virtuous actions create pleasure in the future and nonvirtuous actions create pain) was modified to accommodate new emphases on the efficacy of ritual actions and devotional practices. During the second half of the 1st millennium CE, a third major Buddhist movement, Vajrayana (Sanskrit: “Diamond Vehicle”; also called Tantric, or Esoteric, Buddhism), developed in India. This movement was influenced by gnostic and magical currents pervasive at that time, and its aim was to obtain spiritual liberation and purity more speedily.
Despite these vicissitudes, Buddhism did not abandon its basic principles. Instead, they were reinterpreted, rethought, and reformulated in a process that led to the creation of a great body of literature. This literature includes the Pali Tipitaka (“Three Baskets”)—the Sutta Pitaka (“Basket of Discourse”), which contains the Buddha’s sermons; the Vinaya Pitaka (“Basket of Discipline”), which contains the rule governing the monastic order; and the Abhidhamma Pitaka (“Basket of Special [Further] Doctrine”), which contains doctrinal systematizations and summaries. These Pali texts have served as the basis for a long and very rich tradition of commentaries that were written and preserved by adherents of the Theravada community. The Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions have accepted as Buddhavachana (“the word of the Buddha”) many other sutras and tantras, along with extensive treatises and commentaries based on these texts. Consequently, from the first sermon of the Buddha at Sarnath to the most recent derivations, there is an indisputable continuity—a development or metamorphosis around a central nucleus—by virtue of which Buddhism is differentiated from other religions.
The life of the Buddha
The teacher known as the Buddha lived in northern India sometime between the mid-6th and the mid-4th centuries before the Common Era. In ancient India the title buddhareferred to an enlightened being who has awakened from the sleep of ignorance and achieved freedom from suffering. According to the various traditions of Buddhism, buddhas have existed in the past and will exist in the future. Some Buddhists believe that there is only one buddha for each historical age, others that all beings will become buddhas because they possess the buddha nature (tathagatagarbha).
The historical figure referred to as the Buddha (whose life is known largely through legend) was born on the northern edge of the Ganges River basin, an area on the periphery of the ancient civilization of North India, in what is today southern Nepal. He is said to have lived for 80 years. His family name was Gautama (in Sanskrit) or Gotama (in Pali), and his given name was Siddhartha (Sanskrit: “he who achieves his aim”) or Siddhatta (in Pali). He is frequently called Shakyamuni, “the sage of the Shakya clan.” In Buddhist texts he is most commonly addressed as Bhagavat (often translated as “Lord”), and he refers to himself as the Tathagata, which can mean both “one who has thus come” and “one who has thus gone.” Traditional sources on the date of his death—or, in the language of the tradition, his “passage into nirvana”—range from 2420 to 290 BCE. Scholarship in the 20th century limited that range considerably, with opinion generally divided between those who believed he lived from about 563 to 483 BCE and those who believed he lived about a century later.
Information about his life derives largely from Buddhist texts, the earliest of which were produced shortly before the beginning of the Common Era and thus several centuries after his death. According to the traditional accounts, however, the Buddha was born into the ruling Shakya clan and was a member of the Kshatriya, or warrior, caste. His mother, Maha Maya, dreamt one night that an elephant entered her womb, and 10 lunar months later, while she was strolling in the garden of Lumbini, her son emerged from under her right arm. His early life was one of luxury and comfort, and his father protected him from exposure to the ills of the world, including old age, sickness, and death. At age 16 he married the princess Yashodhara, who would eventually bear him a son. At 29, however, the prince had a profound experience when he first observed the suffering of the world while on chariot rides outside the palace. He resolved then to renounce his wealth and family and live the life of an ascetic. During the next six years, he practiced meditation with several teachers and then, with five companions, undertook a life of extreme self-mortification. One day, while bathing in a river, he fainted from weakness and therefore concluded that mortification was not the path to liberation from suffering. Abandoning the life of extreme asceticism, the prince sat in meditation under a tree and received enlightenment, sometimes identified with understanding the Four Noble Truths. For the next 45 years, the Buddha spread his message throughout northeastern India, established orders of monks and nuns, and received the patronage of kings and merchants. At the age of 80, he became seriously ill. He then met with his disciples for the last time to impart his final instructions and passed into nirvana. His body was then cremated and the relics distributed and enshrined in stupas (funerary monuments that usually contained relics), where they would be venerated.
Dream of Maya presaging the Buddha's birth, marble relief from Nagarjunikonda, Andhra Pradesh state, India, Amaravati school,c. 3rd century CE; in the India Museum, Kolkata.P. Chandra
The Buddha’s place within the tradition, however, cannot be understood by focusing exclusively on the events of his life and time (even to the extent that they are known). Instead, he must be viewed within the context of Buddhist theories of time and history. Among these theories is the belief that the universe is the product of karma, the law of the cause and effect of actions. The beings of the universe are reborn without beginning in six realms as gods, demigods, humans, animals, ghosts, and hell beings. The cycle of rebirth, called samsara (literally “wandering”), is regarded as a domain of suffering, and the Buddhist’s ultimate goal is to escape from that suffering. The means of escape remains unknown until, over the course of millions of lifetimes, a person perfects himself, ultimately gaining the power to discover the path out of samsara and then revealing that path to the world.
A person who has set out to discover the path to freedom from suffering and then to teach it to others is called a bodhisattva. A person who has discovered that path, followed it to its end, and taught it to the world is called a buddha. Buddhas are not reborn after they die but enter a state beyond suffering called nirvana (literally “passing away”). Because buddhas appear so rarely over the course of time and because only they reveal the path to liberation from suffering, the appearance of a buddha in the world is considered a momentous event.
The story of a particular buddha begins before his birth and extends beyond his death. It encompasses the millions of lives spent on the path toward enlightenment and Buddhahood and the persistence of the buddha through his teachings and his relics after he has passed into nirvana. The historical Buddha is regarded as neither the first nor the last buddha to appear in the world. According to some traditions he is the 7th buddha, according to another he is the 25th, and according to yet another he is the 4th. The next buddha, Maitreya, will appear after Shakyamuni’s teachings and relics have disappeared from the world.
Sites associated with the Buddha’s life became important pilgrimage places, and regions that Buddhism entered long after his death—such as Sri Lanka, Kashmir, and Burma (now Myanmar)—added narratives of his magical visitations to accounts of his life. Although the Buddha did not leave any written works, various versions of his teachings were preserved orally by his disciples. In the centuries following his death, hundreds of texts (called sutras) were attributed to him and would subsequently be translated into the languages of Asia.
The Buddha’s message
The teaching attributed to the Buddha was transmitted orally by his disciples, prefaced by the phrase “evam me sutam” (“thus have I heard”); therefore, it is difficult to say whether or to what extent his discourses have been preserved as they were spoken. They usually alludeto the place and time they were preached and to the audience to which they were addressed. Buddhist councils in the first centuries after the Buddha’s death attempted to specify which teachings attributed to the Buddha could be considered authentic.
Suffering, impermanence, and no-self
The Buddha based his entire teaching on the fact of human suffering and the ultimately dissatisfying character of human life. Existence is painful. The conditions that make an individual are precisely those that also give rise to dissatisfaction and suffering. Individuality implies limitation; limitation gives rise to desire; and, inevitably, desire causes suffering, since what is desired is transitory.
Living amid the impermanence of everything and being themselves impermanent, human beings search for the way of deliverance, for that which shines beyond the transitoriness of human existence—in short, for enlightenment. The Buddha’s doctrine offered a way to avoid despair. By following the “path” taught by the Buddha, the individual can dispel the “ignorance” that perpetuates this suffering.
According to the Buddha of the early texts, reality, whether of external things or the psychophysical totality of human individuals, consists of a succession and concatenation of microelements called dhammas (these “components” of reality are not to be confused with dhamma meaning “law” or “teaching”). The Buddha departed from traditional Indian thought in not asserting an essential or ultimate reality in things. Moreover, he rejected the existence of the soul as a metaphysical substance, though he recognized the existence of the self as the subject of action in a practical and moral sense. Life is a stream of becoming, a series of manifestations and extinctions. The concept of the individual ego is a popular delusion; the objects with which people identify themselves—fortune, social position, family, body, and even mind—are not their true selves. There is nothing permanent, and, if only the permanent deserved to be called the self, or atman, then nothing is self.
To make clear the concept of no-self (anatman), Buddhists set forth the theory of the five aggregates or constituents (khandhas) of human existence: (1) corporeality or physical forms (rupa), (2) feelings or sensations (vedana), (3) ideations (sanna), (4) mental formations or dispositions (sankhara), and (5) consciousness (vinnana). Human existence is only a composite of the five aggregates, none of which is the self or soul. A person is in a process of continuous change, and there is no fixed underlying entity.
The belief in rebirth, or samsara, as a potentially endless series of worldly existences in which every being is caught up was already associated with the doctrine of karma (Sanskrit: karman; literally “act” or “deed”) in pre-Buddhist India, and it was accepted by virtually all Buddhist traditions. According to the doctrine, good conduct brings a pleasant and happy result and creates a tendency toward similar good acts, while bad conduct brings an evil result and creates a tendency toward similar evil acts. Some karmic acts bear fruit in the same life in which they are committed, others in the immediately succeeding one, and others in future lives that are more remote. This furnishes the basic context for the moral life.
The acceptance by Buddhists of the teachings of karma and rebirth and the concept of the no-self gives rise to a difficult problem: how can rebirth take place without a permanent subject to be reborn? Indian non-Buddhist philosophers attacked this point in Buddhist thought, and many modern scholars have also considered it to be an insoluble problem. The relation between existences in rebirth has been explained by the analogy of fire, which maintains itself unchanged in appearance and yet is different in every moment—what may be called the continuity of an ever-changing identity.
Awareness of these fundamental realities led the Buddha to formulate the Four Noble Truths: the truth of misery (dukkha; literally “suffering” but connoting “uneasiness” or “dissatisfaction”), the truth that misery originates within the craving for pleasure and for being or nonbeing (samudaya), the truth that this craving can be eliminated (nirodhu), and the truth that this elimination is the result of following a methodical way or path (magga).
The law of dependent origination
The Buddha, according to the early texts, also discovered the law of dependent origination (paticca-samuppada), whereby one condition arises out of another, which in turn arises out of prior conditions. Every mode of being presupposes another immediately preceding mode from which the subsequent mode derives, in a chain of causes. According to the classical rendering, the 12 links in the chain are: ignorance (avijja), karmic predispositions (sankharas), consciousness (vinnana), form and body (nama-rupa), the five sense organs and the mind (salayatana), contact (phassa), feeling-response (vedana), craving (tanha), grasping for an object (upadana), action toward life (bhava), birth (jati), and old age and death (jaramarana). According to this law, the misery that is bound with sensate existence is accounted for by a methodical chain of causation. Despite a diversity of interpretations, the law of dependent origination of the various aspects of becoming remains fundamentally the same in all schools of Buddhism.
The Eightfold Path
The law of dependent origination, however, raises the question of how one may escape the continually renewed cycle of birth, suffering, and death. It is not enough to know that misery pervades all existence and to know the way in which life evolves; there must also be a means to overcome this process. The means to this end is found in the Eightfold Path, which is constituted by right views, right aspirations, right speech, right conduct, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right meditational attainment.
The aim of Buddhist practice is to be rid of the delusion of ego and thus free oneself from the fetters of this mundane world. One who is successful in doing so is said to have overcome the round of rebirths and to have achieved enlightenment. This is the final goal in most Buddhist traditions, though in some cases (particularly though not exclusively in some Pure Land schools in China and Japan) the attainment of an ultimate paradise or a heavenly abode is not clearly distinguished from the attainment of release.
The living process is again likened to a fire. Its remedy is the extinction of the fire of illusion, passions, and cravings. The Buddha, the Enlightened One, is one who is no longer kindled or inflamed. Many poetic terms are used to describe the state of the enlightened human being—the harbour of refuge, the cool cave, the place of bliss, the farther shore. The term that has become famous in the West is nirvana, translated as passing away or dying out—that is, the dying out in the heart of the fierce fires of lust, anger, and delusion. But nirvana is not extinction, and indeed the craving for annihilation or nonexistence was expressly repudiated by the Buddha. Buddhists search for salvation, not just nonbeing. Although nirvana is often presented negatively as “release from suffering,” it is more accurate to describe it in a more positive fashion: as an ultimate goal to be sought and cherished.
In some early texts the Buddha left unanswered certain questions regarding the destiny of persons who have reached this ultimate goal. He even refused to speculate as to whether fully purified saints, after death, continued to exist or ceased to exist. Such questions, he maintained, were not relevant to the practice of the path and could not in any event be answered from within the confines of ordinary human existence. Indeed, he asserted that any discussion of the nature of nirvana would only distort or misrepresent it. But he also asserted with even more insistence that nirvana can be experienced—and experienced in the present existence—by those who, knowing the Buddhist truth, practice the Buddhist path.
Historical Development
India
Expansion of Buddhism
The Buddha was a charismatic leader who founded a distinctive religious communitybased on his unique teachings. Some of the members of that community were, like the Buddha himself, wandering ascetics. Others were laypersons who venerated the Buddha, followed certain aspects of his teachings, and provided the wandering ascetics with the material support that they required.
In the centuries following the Buddha’s death, the story of his life was remembered and embellished, his teachings were preserved and developed, and the community that he had established became a significant religious force. Many of the wandering ascetics who followed the Buddha settled in permanent monastic establishments and developed monastic rules. At the same time, the Buddhist laity came to include important members of the economic and political elite.
During its first century of existence, Buddhism spread from its place of origin in Magadhaand Kosala throughout much of northern India, including the areas of Mathura and Ujjayani in the west. According to Buddhist tradition, invitations to the Council of Vesali (Sanskrit: Vaishali), held just over a century after the Buddha’s death, were sent to monks living throughout northern and central India. By the middle of the 3rd century BCE, Buddhism had gained the favour of a Mauryan king, Ashoka, who had established an empire that extended from the Himalayas in the north to almost as far as Sri Lanka in the south.
(Left) India c. 500 BCE and (right) Ashoka's empire at its greatest extent, c. 250 BCE.Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
To the rulers of the republics and kingdoms arising in northeastern India, the patronage of newly emerging sects such as Buddhism was one way of counterbalancing the political power exercised by Brahmans (high-caste Hindus). The first Mauryan emperor, Chandragupta (c. 321–c. 297 BCE), patronized Jainism and, according to some traditions, finally became a Jain monk. His grandson, Ashoka, who ruled over the greater part of the subcontinent from about 268 to 232 BCE, traditionally played an important role in Buddhist history because of his support of Buddhism during his lifetime. He exerted even more influence posthumously, through stories that depicted him as a chakravartin (“world monarch”; literally “a great wheel-rolling monarch”). He is portrayed as a paragon of Buddhist kingship who accomplished many fabulous feats of piety and devotion. It is therefore very difficult to distinguish the Ashoka of history from the Ashoka of Buddhist legend and myth.
The first actual Buddhist “texts” that are still extant are inscriptions (including a number of well-known Ashokan pillars) that Ashoka had written and displayed in various places throughout his vast kingdom. According to these inscriptions, Ashoka attempted to establish in his realm a “true dhamma” based on the virtues of self-control, impartiality, cheerfulness, truthfulness, and goodness. Although he promoted Buddhism, he did not found a state church, and he was known for his respect for other religious traditions. He sought to maintain unity in the Buddhist monastic community, however, and he promoted an ethic that focused on the layperson’s obligations in this world. His aim, as articulated in his edicts, was to create a religious and social milieu that would enable all “children of the king” to live happily in this life and to attain heaven in the next. Thus, he set up medical assistance for human beings and beasts, maintained reservoirs and canals, and promoted trade. He established a system of dhamma officers (dhamma-mahamattas) in order to help govern the empire. And he sent diplomatic emissaries to areas beyond his direct political control.
Ashokan pillarInscription on Ashokan pillar, Lauriya Nandangarh, Bihar state, India.Frederick M. Asher
Ashoka’s empire began to crumble soon after his death, and the Mauryan dynasty was finally overthrown in the early decades of the 2nd century BCE. There is some evidence to suggest that Buddhism in India suffered persecution during the Shunga-Kanva period (185–28 BCE). Despite occasional setbacks, however, Buddhists persevered, and before the emergence of the Gupta dynasty, which created the next great pan-Indian empire in the 4th century CE, Buddhism had become a leading if not dominant religious tradition in India.
The Gupta empire at the end of the 4th century.Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
During the approximately five centuries between the fall of the Mauryan dynasty and the rise of the Gupta dynasty, major developments occurred in all aspects of Buddhist beliefand practice. Well before the beginning of the Common Era, stories about the Buddha’s many previous lives, accounts of important events in his life as Gautama, stories of his “extended life” in his relics, and other aspects of his sacred biography were elaborated on. In the centuries that followed, groups of these stories were collected and compiled in various styles and combinations.
Beginning in the 3rd century BCE and possibly earlier, magnificent Buddhist monuments such as the great stupas at Bharhut and Sanchi were built. During the early centuries of the 1st millennium CE, similar monuments were established virtually throughout the subcontinent. Numerous monasteries emerged too, some in close association with the great monuments and pilgrimage sites. Considerable evidence, including inscriptional evidence, points to extensive support from local rulers, including the women of the various royal courts.
The south gateway (torana) and the Great Stupa (stupa no. 1), Sanchi, Madhya Pradesh, India.Milt and Joan Mann/CameraMann International
During this period Buddhist monastic centres proliferated, and there developed diverseschools of interpretation concerning matters of doctrine and monastic discipline. Within the Hinayana tradition there emerged many different schools, most of which preserved a variant of the Tipitaka (which had taken the form of written scriptures by the early centuries of the Common Era), held distinctive doctrinal positions, and practiced unique forms of monastic discipline. The traditional number of schools is 18, but the situation was very complicated, and exact identifications are hard to make.
About the beginning of the Common Era, distinctively Mahayana tendencies began to take shape. It should be emphasized, however, that many Hinayana and Mahayana adherents continued to live together in the same monastic institutions. In the 2nd or 3rd century the Madhyamika school, which has remained one of the major schools of Mahayana philosophy, was established, and many other expressions of Mahayana belief, practice, and communal life appeared. By the beginning of the Gupta era, the Mahayana had become the most dynamic and creative Buddhist tradition in India.
At this time Buddhism also expanded beyond the Indian subcontinent. It is most likely that Ashoka sent a diplomatic mission to Sri Lanka and that Buddhism was established there during his reign. By the beginning of the Common Era, Buddhism, which had become very strong in northwestern India, had followed the great trade routes into Central Asia and China. According to later tradition, this expansion was greatly facilitated by Kanishka, a great Kushana king of the 1st or 2nd century CE, who ruled over an area that included portions of northern India and Central Asia.
Buddhism under the Guptas and Palas
By the time of the Gupta dynasty (c. 320–c. 600 CE), Buddhism in India was being influenced by the revival of Brahmanic religion and the rising tide of bhakti (a devotional movement that emphasized the intense love of a devotee for a personal god). During this period, for example, some Hindus practiced devotion to the Buddha, whom they regarded as an avatar (incarnation) of the Hindu deity Vishnu, and some Buddhists venerated Hindu deities who were an integral part of the wider religious context in which they lived.
Throughout the Gupta and Pala periods, Hinayana Buddhists remained a major segment of the Indian Buddhist community. Their continued cultivation of various aspects of Buddhist teaching led to the emergence of the Yogachara school, the second great tradition of Mahayana philosophy. A third major Buddhist tradition, the Vajrayana, or Tantric tradition, developed out of the Mahayana school and became a powerful and dynamic religious force. The new form of text associated with this tradition, the tantras, appeared during the Gupta period, and there are indications that distinctively Tantric rituals began to be employed at this time as well. It was during the Pala period (8th–12th centuries), however, that the Vajrayana tradition emerged as the most dynamic component of Indian Buddhist life.
Also during the Gupta period, there emerged a new Buddhist institution, the Mahavihara(“Great Monastery”), which often functioned as a university. This institution enjoyed great success during the reign of the Pala kings. The most famous of these Mahaviharas, located at Nalanda, became a major centre for the study of Buddhist texts and the refinement of Buddhist thought, particularly Mahayana and Vajrayana thought. The monks at Nalanda also developed a curriculum that went far beyond traditional Buddhism and included much Indian scientific and cultural knowledge. In subsequent years other important Mahaviharas were established, each with its own distinctive emphases and characteristics. These great Buddhist monastic research and educational institutions exerted a profound religious and cultural influence not only in India but throughout many other parts of Asia as well.
Although Buddhist institutions seemed to be faring well under the Guptas, Chinese pilgrims visiting India between 400 and 700 CE discerned a decline in the Buddhist community and the beginning of the absorption of Indian Buddhism by Hinduism. Among these pilgrims was Faxian, who left China in 399, crossed the Gobi, visited various holy places in India, and returned to China with numerous Buddhist scriptures and statues. The most famous of the Chinese travelers, however, was the 7th-century monk Xuanzang. When he arrived in northwestern India, he found “millions of monasteries” reduced to ruins by the Huns, a nomadic Central Asian people. In the northeast Xuanzang visited various holy places and studied Yogachara philosophy at Nalanda. After visiting Assam and southern India, he returned to China, carrying with him copies of more than 600 sutras.
After the destruction of numerous Buddhist monasteries in the 6th century CE by the Huns, Buddhism revived, especially in the northeast, where it flourished for many more centuries under the kings of the Pala dynasty. The kings protected the Mahaviharas, built new centres at Odantapuri, near Nalanda, and established a system of supervision for all such institutions. Under the Palas the Vajrayana form of Buddhism became a major intellectualand religious force. Its adherents introduced important innovations into Buddhist doctrine and symbolism. They also advocated the practice of new Tantric forms of ritual practice that were designed both to generate magical power and to facilitate more rapid progress along the path to enlightenment. During the reigns of the later Pala kings, contacts with China decreased as Indian Buddhists turned their attention toward Tibet and Southeast Asia.
The demise of Buddhism in India
With the collapse of the Pala dynasty in the 12th century, Indian Buddhism suffered yet another setback, from which it did not recover. Although small pockets of influence remained, the Buddhist presence in India became negligible.
Scholars do not know all the factors that contributed to Buddhism’s demise in its homeland. Some have maintained that it was so tolerant of other faiths that it was simply reabsorbed by a revitalized Hindu tradition. This did occur, though Indian Mahayanists were occasionally hostile toward bhakti and toward Hinduism in general. Another factor, however, was probably much more important. Indian Buddhism, having become primarily a monastic movement, seems to have lost touch with its lay supporters. Many monasteries had become very wealthy, so much so that they were able to employ indentured slaves and paid labourers to care for the monks and to tend the lands they owned. Thus, after the Muslim invaders sacked the Indian monasteries in the 12th and 13th centuries, the Buddhist laity showed little interest in a resurgence.
Contemporary revival
In the 19th century Buddhism was virtually extinct in India. In far eastern Bengal and Assam, a few Buddhists preserved a tradition that dated back to pre-Muslim times, and some of them experienced a Theravada-oriented reform that was initiated by a Burmese monk who visited the area in the mid-19th century. By the end of that century, a very small number of Indian intellectuals had become interested in Buddhism through Western scholarship or through the activities of the Theosophical Society, one of whose leaders was the American Henry Olcott. The Sinhalese reformer Anagarika Dharmapala also exerted some influence, particularly through his work as one of the founders of the Mahabodhi Society, which focused its initial efforts on restoring Buddhist control of the pilgrimage site at Bodh Gaya, the presumed site of the Buddha’s enlightenment.
Beginning in the early 20th century, a few Indian intellectuals became increasingly interested in Buddhism as a more rational and egalitarian alternative to Hinduism. Although this interest remained limited to a very tiny segment of the intellectual elite, a small Buddhist movement with a broader constituency developed in South India. Even as late as 1950, however, an official government census identified fewer than 200,000 Buddhists in the country, most of them residing in east Bengal and Assam.
Since 1950 the number of Buddhists in India has increased dramatically. One very small factor in this increase was the flood of Buddhist refugees from Tibet following the Chinese invasion of that country in 1959. The centre of the Tibetan refugee community, both in India and around the world, was established in Dharmshala, but many Tibetan refugees settled in other areas of the subcontinent as well. Another very small factor was the incorporation of Sikkim—a region with a predominantly Buddhist population now in the northeastern part of India—into the Republic of India in 1975.
The most important cause of the contemporary revival of Buddhism in India was the mass conversion, in 1956, of hundreds of thousands of Hindus living primarily in Maharashtrastate who had previously been members of the so-called Scheduled Castes (also called Dalits; formerly called untouchables). This conversion was initiated by Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, a leader of the Scheduled Castes who was also a major figure in the Indian independence movement, a critic of the caste policies of Mohandas K. Gandhi, a framer of India’s constitution, and a member of India’s first independent government. As early as 1935 Ambedkar decided to lead his people away from Hinduism in favour of a religion that did not recognize caste distinctions. After a delay of more than 20 years, he determined that Buddhism was the appropriate choice. He also decided that 1956—the year in which Theravada Buddhists were celebrating the 2,500th year of the death of the Buddha—was the appropriate time. A dramatic conversion ceremony, held in Nagpur, was attended by hundreds of thousands of people. Since 1956 several million persons have joined the new Buddhist community.
The Buddhism of Ambedkar’s community is based on the teachings found in the ancient Pali texts and has much in common with the Theravada Buddhist communities of Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia. There are important differences that distinguish the new group, however. They include the community’s reliance on Ambedkar’s own interpretations, which are presented in his book The Buddha and His Dhamma; the community’s emphasis on a mythology concerning the Buddhist and aristocratic character of the Mahar (the largest of the Scheduled Castes); and its recognition of Ambedkar himself as a saviour figure who is often considered to be a bodhisattva (buddha-to-be). Another distinguishing characteristic of the Mahar Buddhists is the absence of a strong monastic community, which has allowed laypersons to assume the primary leadership roles. During the last several decades, the group has produced its own corpus of Buddhist songs and many vernacular books and pamphlets that deal with various aspects of Buddhist doctrine, practice, and community life.
Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia
The first clear evidence of the spread of Buddhism outside India dates from the reign of King Ashoka (3rd century BCE), whose inscriptions show that he sent Buddhist missionaries to many different regions of the subcontinent as well as into certain border areas. Ashokan emissaries were sent to Sri Lanka and to an area called Suvarnabhumi, which many modern scholars have identified with the Mon country in southern Myanmar (Burma) and central Thailand.
Sri Lanka
According to Sinhalese tradition, Buddhism took root in Sri Lanka soon after the arrival of Ashoka’s son, the monk Mahinda, and six companions. These monks converted King Devanampiya Tissa and much of the nobility. King Tissa built the Mahavihara monastery, which became the main centre of the version of Theravada Buddhism that was ultimately dominant in Sri Lanka. After Tissa’s death (c. 207 BCE), Sri Lanka was ruled by kings from South India until the time of Dutthagamani (101–77 BCE), a descendant of Tissa, who overthrew King Elara. Dutthagamani’s association with Buddhism clearly strengthened the religion’s ties with Sri Lankan political institutions.
In the post-Dutthagamani period, the Mahavihara tradition developed along with other Sri Lankan monastic traditions. The Sinhalese chronicles report that, in the last half of the 1st century BCE, King Vattagamani called a Buddhist council (the fourth in the Sinhalese reckoning) at which the Pali oral tradition of the Buddha’s teachings was committed to writing. The same king is said to have sponsored the construction of the Abhayagirimonastery, which eventually included Hinayana, Mahayana, and even Vajrayana monks. Although these cosmopolitan tendencies were resisted by the Mahavihara monks, they were openly supported by King Mahasena (276–303 CE). Under Mahasena’s son, Shri Meghavanna, the “tooth of the Buddha” was taken to the Abhayagiri, where it was subsequently maintained and venerated at the royal palladium.
During the 1st millennium CE the Theravada tradition in Sri Lanka coexisted with various forms of Hinduism, Mahayana Buddhism, and Vajrayana Buddhism. As Buddhism declined in India, it underwent a major revival and reform in Sri Lanka, where the Theravada traditions of the Mahavihara became especially prominent. Sri Lanka became a Theravada kingdom with a sangha that was unified under Mahavihara leadership and ruled by a monarch who legitimated his rule in Theravada terms. This newly constituted Theravada tradition subsequently spread from Sri Lanka into Southeast Asia, where it exerted a powerful influence.
In early modern times Sri Lanka fell prey to Western colonial powers. The Portuguese (1505–1658) and the Dutch (1658–1796) seized control of the coastal areas, and later the British (1794–1947) took over the entire island. Buddhism suffered considerable disruption under Portuguese and Dutch rule, and the higher ordination lineage lapsed. In the 18th century, however, King Kittisiri Rajasiah (1747–81), who ruled in the upland regions, invited monks from Siam (Thailand) to reform Buddhism and restore the higher ordination lineages.
During the late 18th and 19th centuries, the monastic community in Sri Lanka was divided into three major bodies. The Siam Nikaya, founded during the reform of the late 18th century, was a conservative and wealthy sect that admitted only members of the Goyigama, the highest Sinhalese caste. The Amarapura sect, founded in the early 19th century, opened its ranks to members of lower castes. The third division, the Ramanya sect, is a small modernist group that emerged in the 19th century. In addition, several reform groups were established among the laity. These groups include the important Sarvodaya community, which was founded by A.T. Ariyaratne. This group has established religious, economic, and social development programs that have had a significant impact on Sinhalese village life.
Since Sri Lanka gained its independence from the British in 1947, the country has been increasingly drawn into a conflict between the Sinhalese Buddhist majority and the TamilHindu minority. In the late 20th century this conflict escalated into a vicious civil war. Many Sinhalese, including a significant number of monks, closely associated their Buddhist religion with the political agenda and anti-Tamil violence of the more militant Sinhalese nationalists. Other Buddhist leaders, however, tried to adopt a more moderate position and to encourage a negotiated solution that would reestablish the kind of peaceful coexistence that had characterized Sri Lankan politics through the greater part of the island’s long history. But a cease-fire signed in 2002 did not have the hoped-for effect, and it was abandoned a few years later. The Tamil Tigers ultimately were defeated in 2009.
The peoples of Southeast Asia have not been mere satellites of the more powerful Indian and Chinese civilizations. On the contrary, the cultures that arose in these three vast areas might better be thought of as alternative developments that occurred within a greater Austroasiatic civilization, sometimes called the Asia of the monsoons. The transmission of Buddhism and Hinduism to Southeast Asia can thus be regarded as the spread of the religious symbols of the more-advanced Austroasiatic peoples to other Austroasiatic groups sharing some of the same basic religious presuppositions and traditions.
In Southeast Asia the impact of Buddhism was felt in very different ways in three separate regions. In two of these (the region of Malaysia/Indonesia and the region on the mainland extending from Myanmar to southern Vietnam), the main connections have been with India and Sri Lanka via trade routes. In Vietnam, the third region, the main connections have been with China.
Although some scholars locate the Suvarnabhumi (“Land of Gold”), to which Ashokan missionaries were supposedly sent, somewhere on the Malay Peninsula or in Indonesia, this is probably not accurate. It is certain, however, that Buddhism reached these areas by the early centuries of the 1st millennium CE.
With the help of the monk Gunavarman and other Indian missionaries, Buddhism gained a firm foothold on Java well before the 5th century CE. Buddhism was also introduced at about this time in Sumatra, and by the 7th century the king of Srivijaya on the island of Sumatra was a Buddhist. When the Chinese traveler Yijing visited this kingdom in the 7th century, he noted that Hinayana was dominant in the area but that there were also a few Mahayanists. It was also in the 7th century that the great scholar from Nalanda, Dharmapala, visited Indonesia.
The Shailendra dynasty, which ruled over the Malay Peninsula and a large section of Indonesia from the 7th century to the 9th century, promoted the Mahayana and Tantric forms of Buddhism. During this period major Buddhist monuments were erected in Java, including the marvelous Borobudur, which is perhaps the most magnificent of all Buddhist stupas. From the 7th century onward, Vajrayana Buddhism spread rapidly throughout the area. King Kertanagara of Java (reigned 1268–92) was especially devoted to Tantric practice.
In the Malay Peninsula and Indonesia, as in India, Buddhism gradually lost its hold during the first half of the 2nd millennium CE. In some areas Buddhism was assimilated to Hinduism, forming a Hindu-oriented amalgam that in some places (for example in Bali) has persisted to the present. In most of Malaysia and Indonesia, however, both Hinduism and Buddhism were replaced by Islam, which remains the dominant religion in the area. In modern Indonesia and Malaysia, Buddhism exists as a living religion primarily among the Chinese minority, who in the early 21st century constituted about one-quarter of the population and were recognized by the constitution as Buddhist. There is also a small non-Chinese community of Buddhists that is concentrated in the vicinity of Borobudur.
From Myanmar to the Mekong delta
A second area of Buddhist expansion in Southeast Asia extends from Myanmar in the north and west to the Mekong delta in the south and east. According to the local Mon and Burman traditions, this is Suvarnabhumi, the area visited by missionaries from the Ashokan court. It is known that Buddhist kingdoms had appeared in this region by the early centuries of the 1st millennium CE. In Myanmar and Thailand, despite the presence of Hindu, Mahayana, and Vajrayana elements, the more-conservative Hinayana forms of Buddhism were especially prominent throughout the 1st millennium CE. Farther to the east and south, in what is now Cambodia and southern Vietnam, various combinations of Hinduism, Mahayana Buddhism, and Vajrayana Buddhism became prevalent. Throughout much of the history of Angkor, the great imperial centre that ruled Cambodia and much of the surrounding areas for many centuries, Hinduism seems to have been the preferred tradition, at least among the elite. In the late 12th and early 13th centuries, however, the Buddhist King Jayavarman VII built a new capital called Angkor Thom that was dominated by both Mahayana and Vajrayana monuments, which represent one of the high points of Buddhist architecture.
Bayon templeBayon temple, Angkor Thom, Angkor, Cambodia.© Connor Bros./Shutterstock.com
Gate at Angkor Thom, Angkor, Cambodia, c. 1200.R. Manley/Shostal Associates
In mainland Southeast Asia, as in Sri Lanka, a Theravada reform movement emerged in the 11th century. Drawing heavily on the Theravada heritage that had been preserved among the Mon in southern Myanmar, as well as on the new reform tradition of Sri Lanka, this revival soon established the Theravada tradition as the most dynamic in Myanmar, where the Burmans had conquered the Mon. By the late 13th century, the movement had spread to Thailand, where the Thai were gradually displacing the Mon as the dominant population. During the next two centuries, Theravada reforms penetrated as far as Cambodia and Laos.
The preeminence of Theravada Buddhism continued throughout the area during the remainder of the premodern period. The arrival of the Western powers in the 19th century brought important changes. In Thailand, which retained its independence, a process of gradual reform and modernization was led by a new Buddhist sect, the Thammayut Nikaya, which was established and supported by the reigning Chakri dynasty. In the 20th century reform and modernization became more diversified and affected virtually all segments of the Thai Buddhist community.
Two late 20th-century Buddhist groups, Santi Asoke (founded 1975) and Dhammakaya, are especially interesting. Santi Asoke, a lay-oriented group that advocates stringent discipline, moral rectitude, and political reform, has been very much at odds with the established ecclesiastical hierarchy. The Dhammakaya group has been much more successful at gathering a large popular following but has also become very controversial because of its distinctive meditation practices and questions concerning its care of financial contributions from its followers.
In the other Theravada countries in Southeast Asia, Buddhism has had a much more difficult time. In Myanmar, which endured an extended period of British rule, the sangha and the structures of Buddhist society have been seriously disrupted. Under the military regime of General Ne Win, established in 1962, reform and modernization were limited in all areas of national life, including religion. With the suppression of the pro-democracy movement in the late 1980s, the country’s military rulers used their support of a very traditional form of Buddhism to legitimize their highly repressive regime. Nevertheless, in the second decade of the 21st century, both government restrictions on opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and rules regarding political participation were eased, and the future of Buddhism seemed destined for change. In Laos and Cambodia, both of which suffered an extended period of French rule followed by devastation during the Vietnam War and the violent imposition of communist rule, the Buddhist community has been severely crippled. Beginning in the 1980s, however, it showed increasing signs of life and vitality. In Laos it was recognized by the government as a part of the national heritage, and in Cambodia it was even given the status of a state religion.
There are indications that Vietnam was involved in the early sea trade between India, Southeast Asia, and China, and it is quite probable that Buddhism reached the country via this sea route near the beginning of the 1st millennium CE. The northern part of what is now Vietnam had been conquered by the Chinese empire in 111 BCE and remained under Chinese rule until 939 CE. Hinayana and Mahayana traditions spread into the two Indianized states, Funan (founded during the 1st century CE) and Champa (founded 192 CE). The long-term development of Buddhism in Vietnam, however, was most affected by Zen and Pure Land traditions, which were introduced from China into the northern and central sections of the country beginning in the 6th century CE.
The first dhyana (Zen; Vietnamese thien), or meditation, school was introduced by Vinitaruchi (Vinitaruci), an Indian monk who had gone to Vietnam from China in the 6th century. In the 9th century a school of “wall meditation” was introduced by the Chinese monk Vo Ngon Thong. A third major Zen school was established in the 11th century by the Chinese monk Thao Durong. From 1414 to 1428 Buddhism in Vietnam was persecuted by the Chinese, who had again conquered the country. Tantrism, Daoism, and Confucianismalso filtered into Vietnam at this time. Even after the Chinese had been driven back, a Chinese-like bureaucracy closely supervised the Vietnamese monasteries. The clergy was divided between those who were highborn and Sinicized and those in the lower ranks who often were active in peasant uprisings.
During the modern period Mahayana traditions in northern and central Vietnam have coexisted with Theravada traditions from Cambodia in the south. Rather loosely joined together, Vietnamese Buddhists managed to preserve their traditions through the period of French colonial rule in the 19th and 20th centuries. During the struggle between North and South Vietnam in the 1960s and early ’70s, many Buddhists worked to achieve peace and reconciliation, though they met with little success; to protest the South Vietnamese regime of Ngo Dinh Diem, some Buddhist monks turned to self-immolation. Under the communist regime that has ruled the reunited country since 1975, conditions have been difficult, but Buddhism has persisted. Reports since the late 1980s indicated signs of vitality despite serious government limitations on Buddhist activities.
Central Asia and China
The spread of Buddhism into Central Asia is still not completely understood. However murky the details may be, it is clear that the trade routes that ran from northwestern India to northern China facilitated both the introduction of Buddhism to Central Asia and the maintenance, for many centuries, of a flourishing Buddhist culture there.
By the beginning of the Common Era, Buddhism had probably been introduced into Eastern Turkistan. According to tradition, a son of Ashoka founded the kingdom of Khotanabout 240 BCE. The grandson of this king supposedly introduced Buddhism to Khotan, where it became the state religion. Other accounts indicate that the Indo-Scythian king Kaniska of the Kushan (Kusana) dynasty, which ruled in northern India, Afghanistan, and parts of Central Asia in the 1st to 2nd century CE, encouraged the spread of Buddhism into Central Asia. Kaniska purportedly called an important Buddhist council and patronized the Gandhara school of Buddhist art, which introduced Greek and Persian elements into Buddhist iconography. In the northern part of Chinese Turkistan, Buddhism spread from Kuqa (Kucha) to the kingdoms of Agnidesa (Karashahr), Gaochang (Torpan), and Bharuka (Aksu). According to Chinese travelers who visited Central Asia, the Hinayanists were strongest in Turpan, Shanshan, Kashi (Kashgar), and Kuqa, while Mahayana strongholds were located in Yarkant (Yarkand) and Hotan (Khotan).
Buddha statueBuddha statue, in the Gandhara style, c. 2nd century; in the Delhi Museum, India.Photos.com/Thinkstock
In Central Asia there was a confusing welter of languages, religions, and cultures, and, as Buddhism interacted with these various traditions, it changed and developed. Shamanism, Zoroastrianism, Nestorian Christianity, and Islam all penetrated these lands and coexisted with Buddhism. Some of the Mahayana bodhisattvas, such as Amitabha, may have been inspired in part by Zoroastrianism. There is also evidence of some syncretism between Buddhism and Manichaeism, an Iranian dualistic religion that was founded in the 3rd century CE.
Buddhism flourished in parts of Central Asia until the 11th century, particularly under the patronage of the Uighur Turks. But with the successful incursions of Islam (beginning in the 7th century CE) and the decline of the Tang dynasty (618–907) in China, Central Asia ceased to be the important crossroads of Indian and Chinese trade and culture that it once had been. Buddhism in the area gradually became a thing of the past.
Although there are reports of Buddhists in China as early as the 3rd century BCE, Buddhism was not actively propagated there until the early centuries of the Common Era. According to tradition, Buddhism was introduced into China after the Han emperor Mingdi (reigned 57/58–75/76 CE) dreamed of a flying golden deity in what was interpreted as a vision of the Buddha. The emperor dispatched emissaries to India who returned to China with the Sutra in Forty-two Sections, which was deposited in a temple outside the capital of Luoyang. However this may be, Buddhism most likely entered China gradually, first primarily through Central Asia and later by way of the trade routes around and through Southeast Asia.
The early centuries
Buddhism in China during the Han dynasty was deeply coloured with magical practices, which made it compatible with popular Chinese Daoism, an integral component of contemporary folk religion. Instead of the doctrine of no-self, early Chinese Buddhists seem to have taught the indestructibility of the soul. Nirvana became a kind of immortality. They also taught the theory of karma, the values of charity and compassion, and the need to suppress the passions. Until the end of the Han dynasty, there was a virtual symbiosisbetween Daoism and Buddhism, and both religions advocated similar ascetic practices as a means of attaining immortality. It was widely believed that Laozi, the founder of Daoism, had been reborn in India as the Buddha. Many Chinese emperors worshiped Laozi and the Buddha on the same altar. The first translations of Buddhist sutras into Chinese—namely, those dealing with topics such as breath control and mystical concentration—utilized a Daoist vocabulary to make them intelligible to the Chinese.
After the Han period, Buddhist monks were often used by non-Chinese emperors in the north of China for their political-military counsel and their skill in magic. At the same time, in the south Buddhism penetrated the philosophical and literary circles of the gentry. One of the most important contributions to the growth of Buddhism in China during this period was the work of translation. The greatest of the early translators was the learned monk Kumarajiva, who had studied the Hindu Vedas, the occult sciences, and astronomy, as well as the Hinayana and Mahayana sutras before he was taken to the Chinese court in 401 CE.
During the 5th and 6th centuries CE, Buddhist schools from India were established in China, and new, specifically Chinese schools were formed. Buddhism was a powerful intellectual force in China; monastic establishments proliferated, and Buddhism became established among the peasantry. Thus, it is not surprising that, when the Sui dynasty (581–618) established its rule over a reunified China, Buddhism flourished as a state religion.
Developments during the Tang dynasty (618–907)
The golden age of Buddhism in China occurred during the Tang dynasty. Although the Tang emperors were usually Daoists themselves, they favoured Buddhism, which had become extremely popular. Under the Tang the government extended its control over the monasteries and the ordination and legal status of monks. From this time forward, the Chinese monk styled himself simply chen (“subject”).
During this period several Chinese schools developed their own distinctive approaches and systematized the vast body of Buddhist texts and teachings. There was a great expansion in the number of Buddhist monasteries and the amount of land they owned. It was also during this period that many scholars made pilgrimages to India and returned with texts and spiritual and intellectual inspiration that greatly enriched Buddhism in China. Buddhism was never able to replace Daoism and Confucianism, however, and in 845 the emperor Wuzong began a major persecution. According to records, 4,600 Buddhist temples and 40,000 shrines were destroyed, and 260,500 monks and nuns were forced to return to lay life.
Buddhism after the Tang
Buddhism in China never recovered completely from the great persecution of 845. It did maintain much of its heritage, however, and it continued to play a significant role in the religious life of China. On one hand, Buddhism retained its identity as Buddhism and generated new forms of expression. These included texts such as the youlu (“recorded sayings”) of famous teachers, which were oriented primarily toward monks, as well as more literary creations such as Journey to the West (written in the 16th century) and Dream of the Red Chamber (18th century). On the other hand, Buddhism coalesced with the Confucian (particularly in the neo-Confucian movement of the Song and Ming dynasties) and Daoist traditions to form a complex multireligious ethos within which the “Three religions” (sanjiao) were more or less comfortably encompassed.
The various schools that retained the greatest vitality in China were the Chan school (better known in the West by its Japanese name, Zen), which was noted for its emphasis on meditation (chan is the Sinicization of the Sanskrit dhyana, “meditation”), and the Pure Land tradition, which emphasized Buddhist devotion. The former school was most influential among the cultured elite, especially through the arts. Chan artists during the Song dynasty (960–1279) had a decisive impact on Chinese landscape painting. Artists used images of flowers, rivers, and trees, executed with sudden, deft strokes, to evoke an insight into the flux and emptiness of all reality. The Pure Land tradition was most influential among the population as a whole and was sometimes associated with secret societies and peasant uprisings. But the two seemingly disparate traditions were often very closely linked. In addition, they were mixed with other Buddhist elements such as the so-called “masses for the dead” that had originally been popularized by the practitioners of Vajrayana Buddhism.
A reform movement aimed at revitalizing the Chinese Buddhist tradition and adapting its teachings and institutions to modern conditions took shape during the early 20th century. However, the disruptions caused by the Sino-Japanese War (1937–45) and the subsequent establishment of a communist government in China (1949) were not helpful to the Buddhist cause. During the Cultural Revolution (1966–76), Buddhist temples and monasteries suffered massive destruction, and the Buddhist community was the victim of severe repression. With the reforms ushered in after the end of the Cultural Revolution, the Chinese government pursued a more tolerant policy toward religious expression, although with much regulation. In this context, Buddhism showed new life.
Altar at a Buddhist temple, Kunming, Yunnan province, China.© Corbis
Korea and Japan
Buddhism was first introduced into the Korean peninsula from China in the 4th century CE, when the country was divided into the three kingdoms of Paekche, Koguryŏ, and Silla. Buddhism arrived first in the northern kingdom of Koguryŏ and then gradually spread into the other two kingdoms. As often happened, the new faith was first accepted by the court and then extended to the people. After the unification of the country by the kingdom of Silla in the 660s, Buddhism flourished throughout Korea. The growth of Buddhism in Korea was facilitated by a number of impressive scholars and reformers, including the monk Wonhyŏ Daisa (617–686). He was married and taught an ecumenical version of Buddhism that included all branches and sects. He tried to use music, literature, and dance to express the meaning of Buddhism. Another important scholar of the Silla era was Ŭisang (625–702), who went to China and returned to spread the Hwaom (Huayan in Chinese) sect in Korea. The Chinese Chan sect (Zen, called Sŏn in Korea) was introduced in the 8th century and, by absorbing the Korean versions of Huayan, Tientai, and Pure Land, gradually became the dominant school of Buddhism in Korea, as it did in Vietnam.
Early Korean Buddhism was characterized by a worldly attitude. It emphasized the pragmatic, nationalistic, and aristocratic aspects of the faith. Still, an indigenous tradition of shamanism influenced the development of popular Buddhism throughout the centuries. Buddhist monks danced, sang, and performed the rituals of shamans.
Korean Buddhism reached its zenith during the Koryŏ period (935–1392). In the first part of this period, the Korean Buddhist community was active in the publication of the Tripitaka Koreana, one of the most inclusive editions of Buddhist texts up to that time. After 25 years of research, a monk by the name of Ŭich’ŏn (Daigak Guksa; 1055–1101) published an outstanding three-volume bibliography of Buddhist literature. Ŭich’ŏn also sponsored the growth of the Tientai school in Korea and emphasized the need for cooperation between Sŏn and the other “teaching” schools of Korean Buddhism.
Toward the end of the Koryŏ period, Buddhism suffered from internal corruption and external persecution, especially by the neo-Confucian elite. The government limited the privileges of the monks, and Confucianism replaced Buddhism as the religion of the state. Although the Chosŏn dynasty (1392–1910) continued these restrictions, Buddhist monks and laypersons fought bravely against invading Japanese armies under Toyotomi Hideyoshi(1537–98) in 1592 and again in 1597. In the decade before the annexation of Korea by Japan (1910), some effort was made to unify Korean Buddhism. This effort, as well as subsequent efforts by Buddhist missionaries from Japan, was largely in vain.
Since the end of World War II, Buddhism in Korea has been hampered by communist rule in the north and by the great vitality of Christianity in the south. Despite these challenges, Buddhists, particularly in South Korea, have preserved the old traditions and initiated new movements.
Origins and introduction
While Buddhism in China sent its roots down into the subsoil of the family system, in Japan it found anchorage in the nation itself. Buddhism, when it was initially introduced into Japan from Korea in the 6th century, was regarded as a talisman (charm) for the protection of the country. The new religion was accepted by the powerful Soga clan but was rejected by others, and this resulted in controversies that were similar to those that accompanied the introduction of Buddhism into Tibet. In both countries some believed that the introduction of Buddhist statues had been an insult to the native deities and had thus been the cause of plagues and natural disasters. Only gradually were such feelings overcome. Although the Buddhism of the Soga clan was largely magical, Prince Shōtoku—who became regent of the nation in 593—brought other aspects of Buddhism to the fore. Shōtoku lectured on various scriptures that emphasized the ideals of the layperson and monarch, and he composed a “Seventeen-Article Constitution” in which Buddhism was adroitly mixed with Confucianism as the spiritual foundation of the state. In later times he was widely regarded as an incarnation of the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara.
Statue of Kannon, bodhisattva of compassion, Takasaki, Japan.Tsuneo Iwata/Bon
Nara and Heian periods
During the Nara period (710–784), Buddhism became the state religion of Japan. Emperor Shōmu actively propagated the faith, making the imperial capital, Nara—with its “Great Buddha” statue (Daibutsu)—the national cult centre. Buddhist schools imported from China became established in Nara, and state-subsidized provincial temples (kokubunji) made the system effective at the local level as well.
After the capital was moved to Heian-kyō (modern Kyōto) in 794, Buddhism continued to prosper. Chinese influence remained important, particularly through the introduction of new Chinese schools that became dominant at the royal court. Mount Hiei and Mount Kōyabecame the centres for the new Tiantai (Tendai) and Vajrayana (Shingon) schools of Buddhism, which were characterized by highly sophisticated philosophies and complex and refined liturgies. Moreover, Buddhism interacted with the indigenous Shintō and local tradition, and various distinctively Japanese patterns of Buddhist-oriented folk religion became very popular.
New schools of the Kamakura period
The 12th and 13th centuries marked a turning point in Japanese history and in the history of Japanese Buddhism. Late in the 12th century the imperial regime centred at Heian collapsed, and a new hereditary military dictatorship, the shogunate, established its headquarters at Kamakura. As part of this process, a number of new Buddhist leaders emerged and established schools of Japanese Buddhism. These reformers included proponents of Zen traditions such as Eisai and Dōgen; Pure Land advocates such as Hōnen, Shinran, and Ippen; and Nichiren, the founder of a new school that gained considerable popularity. The distinctively Japanese traditions that they established became—along with many very diverse synthetic expressions of Shintō piety—integral components of a Buddhist-oriented ethos that structured Japanese religious life into the 19th century. Also during this period, many Buddhist groups allowed their clergy to marry, with the result that temples often fell under the control of particular families.
Kamakura: Great BuddhaGreat Buddha, or Daibutsu, in Kamakura, Japan.Fg2
The premodern period to the present
Under the Tokugawa shogunate (1603–1867), Buddhism became an arm of the government. Temples were used for registering the populace, and this inhibited the spread of Christianity, which the shogunate regarded as a political menace. By the beginning of the Meiji period (1868–1912), this association with the Tokugawa regime had made Buddhism quite unpopular. At that time, in order to set up Shintō as the state religion, Japan’s new ruling oligarchy decided to separate Shintō from Buddhism. This led to the confiscation of temple lands and the defrocking of many Buddhist priests.
During the period of ultranationalism (c. 1930–45), Buddhist thinkers called for uniting Asia in one great “Buddhaland” under the tutelage of Japan. After World War II, however, Buddhist groups, new and old alike, emphasized that Buddhism is a religion of peace and brotherhood. During the postwar period Buddhists were most active as members of the “new religions,” such as Sōka-gakkai (“Value Creation Society”) and Risshō-Kōsei-kai(“Society for Establishing Righteousness and Friendly Relations”). During this period Sōka-gakkai entered politics with the same vigour it had traditionally shown in the conversion of individuals. Because of its highly ambiguous but conservative ideology, the Sōka-gakkai-based political party (the Kōmeitō, now New Kōmeitō) was regarded with suspicion and fear by many Japanese. Sōka-gakkai was ultimately expelled from the main body of the Nichiren Buddhist organization, and after this its popularity exploded outside Japan.
Tibet, Mongolia, and the Himalayan kingdoms
Buddhism, according to Tibetan tradition, was introduced into Tibet during the reign of King Srong-brtsan-sgam-po (c. 627–c. 650). His two queens were early patrons of the religion and were later regarded in popular tradition as incarnations of the female Buddhist saviour Tara. The religion received active encouragement from Khri-srong-lde-btsan, in whose reign (c. 755–797) the first Buddhist monastery in Tibet was built at Bsam-yas (Samye), the first seven monks were ordained, and the celebrated Tantric master Padmasambhava was invited to come from India. Many legends surround Padmasambhava, who was a mahasiddha (“master of miraculous powers”); he is credited with subduing the Bon spirits and demons (the spirits and demons associated with the indigenous religion of Tibet) and with subjugating them to the service of Buddhism. At the time, Chinese Buddhist influences were strong, but it is recorded that a council held at the Bsam-yas monastery (792–794) decided that the Indian tradition should prevail.
Stupa on the bank of the Tsangpo (Brahmaputra) River near Song-i, Tibet.© Naomi Duguid/Asia Access
Following a period of suppression that lasted almost two centuries (from the early 800s to the early 1000s), Buddhism in Tibet enjoyed a revival. During the 11th and 12th centuries many Tibetans traveled to India to acquire and translate Buddhist texts and to receive training in Buddhist belief and practice. With the assistance of the renowned Indian master Atisa, who arrived in Tibet in 1042, Buddhism was established as the dominant religion. From this point forward Buddhism penetrated deeply into all aspects of Tibetan life, and it became the primary culture of the elite and a powerful force in affairs of state. One of the great achievements of the Buddhist community in Tibet was the translation into Tibetan of a vast corpus of Buddhist literature, including the Bka’-’gyur (“Translation of the Buddha Word”) and Bstan-’gyur (“Translation of Teachings”) collections. The Bka’-’gyur contains six sections: (1) Tantra, (2) Prajnaparamita, (3) Ratnakuta, a collection of small Mahayana texts, (4) Avatamsaka, (5) Sutras (mostly Mahayana sutras, but some Hinayana texts are included), and (6) Vinaya. The Bstan-’gyur contains 224 volumes with 3,626 texts, divided into three major groups: (1) stotras (hymns of praise) in one volume, including 64 texts, (2) commentaries on tantras in 86 volumes, including 3,055 texts, and (3) commentaries on sutras in 137 volumes, including 567 texts.
A major development in the history of Tibetan Buddhism occurred in the late 14th or early 15th century, when a great Buddhist reformer named Tsong-kha-pa established the Dge-lugs-pa school, known more popularly as the Yellow Hats. In 1578 representatives of this school converted the Mongol Altan Khan, and under the Khan’s sponsorship their leader (the so-called third Dalai Lama) gained considerable monastic power. In the middle of the 17th century, the Mongol overlords established the fifth Dalai Lama as the theocratic ruler of Tibet. The succeeding Dalai Lamas, who were regarded as successive incarnations of the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, held this position during much of the remainder of the premodern period, ruling from the capital, Lhasa.
The fifth Dalai Lama instituted the high office of Panchen Lama for the abbot of the Tashilhunpo monastery, located to the west of Lhasa. The Panchen Lamas were regarded as successive incarnations of the buddha Amitabha. Unlike the Dalai Lama, the Panchen Lama has usually been recognized only as a spiritual ruler.
Throughout much of Tibetan history, many of the great monasteries were controlled by aristocratic abbots who were able to marry and pass along their monastic possessions to their sons. Monks were often warriors, and monasteries became armed fortresses. The Manchus in the 18th century and subsequently the British, the nationalist Chinese, and the Chinese communists have all tried to exploit the division of power between the Panchen and Dalai lamas for their own ends. In 1959, after the Dalai Lama fled to India, the Chinese communists took over his temporal powers.
In the period since 1959, Tibetan refugees have set up a major centre in Dharmshala in northern India and have been dispersed to many different places, including India, Europe, Canada, and the United States. These exiles have made great efforts to preserve as much of their Buddhist tradition as possible and to spread Tibetan Buddhist teachings in the lands where they have settled.
In their own country Tibetan Buddhists have suffered periods of destructive attacks and severe persecution, especially but not exclusively during the Cultural Revolution. In the late 20th century, repression by Chinese authorities lessened somewhat, and a sense of normalcy was restored. Nevertheless, many Tibetan Buddhists remained strongly nationalistic, and their relationship with China continued to be very tense.
Buddhist monkTibetan Buddhist monks in a monastery.Dennis Jarvis (CC-BY-2.0)
Tibetan Buddhism has exerted a strong influence on neighbouring areas and peoples. Most important in this regard was the conversion of the Mongol tribes to the north and east of Tibet. There are some indications that Buddhism was present among the Mongols as early as the 4th century, but sources for this early period are scarce. It is clear, however, that during the 13th century close relationships developed between the Mongol court in China and some Tibetan Buddhist leaders. Kublai Khan became a supporter of Tibetan Buddhism. Kublai Khan’s Tibetan advisers helped to develop a block script for the Mongolian language, and many Buddhist texts were translated from Tibetan into Mongolian. In general, however, the religion failed to gain widespread popular support during this period.
In 1578 a new situation developed when the Altan Khan accepted the Dge-lugs-pa version of the Tibetan tradition and supported its spread among his followers at all levels of Mongol society. Over the centuries the Mongols developed their own very rich Buddhist traditions. Mongolian scholars translated a large corpus of texts from Tibetan, and they produced their own sophisticated original texts. The Mongols based their Buddhist doctrine, practice, and communal organization on Tibetan models, but they developed and adapted them in distinctive ways.
Between 1280 and 1368 China was part of the Mongol empire, and the Mongols established their variant of Tibetan Buddhism in China. When they no longer held power in China, they preserved their Buddhist traditions in their homeland areas. During much of the 20th century, Mongolian Buddhism was severely undermined by the communist regimes that ruled in Mongol areas in the Soviet Union, in Mongolia itself, and in China. Pressures against the Buddhist Mongol communities eased in the late 20th century, and by the early 21st century a resurgence of Buddhist institutions and practices had begun.
The Himalayan kingdoms
Tibetan Buddhism has exerted a considerable influence in the Himalayan areas situated along Tibet’s southern border. In Nepal Buddhism interacted with both India and Tibet. Although there is evidence that suggests that the Buddha was born in the southern part of the area that is now Nepal—at Lumbini, about 15 miles (24 km) from Kapilavatthu (Kapilavastu)—Buddhism seems to have been actively propagated only later, probably under Ashoka. By the 8th century Nepal had fallen into the cultural orbit of Tibet. A few centuries later, as a result of the Muslim invasions of India, both Hindus (such as the Brahmanic Gurkha aristocracy) and Buddhists took refuge in the country. The Tibetan influence on the Himalayan tradition is indicated by the presence of Tibetan-style prayer wheels and flags. The Indian heritage is especially evident in the caste system that embraces Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike. In the late 20th century a significant Theravada reform movement took root among the Newari population. The adherents of this movement, who have important connections with Theravada practitioners in Myanmar and Sri Lanka, oppose the maintenance of traditional caste distinctions.
In Bhutan a Tibetan lama introduced Buddhism and a Tibetan style of hierarchical theocracy in the 17th century. Buddhism practiced in Bhutan has been influenced by the Tibetan Bka’-brgyud-pa sect, which has stressed the magical benefits of living in caves and has not enforced on its clergy the discipline of celibacy. Buddhism in Bhutan, like Buddhism in Nepal, is coming into increasing contact with modernizing forces that are beginning to undermine many of its traditional practices.
Buddhism in the West
During the long course of Buddhist history, Buddhist influences have from time to time reached the Western world. Although the evidence is weak, some scholars have suggested that Buddhist monks and teachings had reached as far as Egypt by about the beginning of the Common Era. There are occasional references to what seem to be Buddhist traditions in the writing of the Christian Church Fathers. In addition, a version of the biography of the Buddha known as the story of Barlaam and Josephat was disseminated widely in medievalEurope. In fact, the Buddha figure in the story came to be recognized as a Christian saint.
Not until the modern period, however, is there evidence of a serious Buddhist presence in the Western world. Beginning in the mid-19th century, Buddhism was introduced into the United States and other Western countries by large numbers of immigrants, first from China and Japan and later from other countries, especially those of Southeast Asia. In addition, Buddhism gained a foothold among a significant number of Western intellectuals and—particularly during the 1960s and early ’70s—among young people seeking new forms of religious experience and expression. The interest of Westerners in Buddhism was greatly fostered by the work of Buddhist missionaries such as the Japanese scholar D.T. Suzuki(1870–1966) and a number of Tibetan Buddhist teachers who moved to the West following the Chinese conquest of their homeland in 1959.
Sangha, society, and state
Buddhists have always recognized the importance of community life, and over the centuries there has developed a distinctive symbiotic relationship between monks (and in some cases nuns) and the lay community. The relationship between the monastics and the laity has differed from place to place and from time to time, but throughout most of Buddhist history both groups have played an essential role in the process of constitutingand reconstituting the Buddhist world. Moreover, both the monastics and the laity have engaged in a variety of common and complementary religious practices that have expressed Buddhist orientations and values, structured Buddhist societies, and addressed the soteriological and practical concerns of individuals.
Monastic institutions
The sangha is the assembly of Buddhist monks (and in some contexts nuns) that has, from the origins of Buddhism, authoritatively studied, taught, and preserved the teachings of the Buddha. In their communities monastics have been responsible for providing an example of the ideal mode of Buddhist life, for teaching Buddhist principles and practices to the laity, for generating and participating in basic ritual activities, for offering “fields of merit” that enable lay members of the community to improve their spiritual condition, for providing protection against evil forces (particularly though not exclusively supernatural forces), and for maintaining a variety of other services that have varied over time and place. In exchange for their contributions, the monastics have received veneration and support from the laity, who thereby earn merit, advance their own well-being, and contribute to the well-being of others (including, in many cases, the ancestors of the living).
Young Tai pupils studying in a Buddhist monastery.S.E. Hedin/Ostman Agency
Besides serving as the centre of Buddhist learning, meditation, ritual activity, and teaching, the monastery offers the monk or nun an opportunity to live apart from worldly concerns, a situation that has usually been believed necessary or at least advisable in order to follow the path that leads most directly to release.
Sanghas
According to scholars of early Buddhism, at the time of the Buddha there were numerous mendicants in northeastern India who wandered and begged individually or in groups. They had forsaken the life of a householder and the involvement with worldly affairs that this entails in order to seek a pattern of belief and practice that would meaningfully explain life and offer salvation. When such a seeker met someone who seemed to offer such a salvific message, he would accept him as a teacher (guru) and wander with him. The situation of these mendicants is summed up in the greeting with which they met other religious wanderers. This greeting asked, “Under whose guidance have you accepted religious mendicancy? Who is your master (sattha)? Whose dhamma is agreeable to you?”
According to early Buddhist texts, the Buddha established an order of male monastics early on in his ministry and outlined the rules and procedures for governing their common life. These texts also report that later in his career he reluctantly agreed to a proposal made by his aunt Mahapajapati and supported by his favourite disciple, Ananda, to establish an order of nuns. The Buddha then set down rules and procedures for the order of the nuns and for the relationship between the order of nuns and the order of monks. (In the discussion that follows, the emphasis will be on the order of monks.)
The various mendicant groups interrupted their wanderings during the rainy season (vassa) from July through August. At this time they gathered at various rain retreats (vassavasa), usually situated near villages, where they would beg for their daily needs and continue their spiritual quest. The Buddha and his followers may well have been the first group to found such a yearly rain retreat.
After the Buddha’s death his followers did not separate but continued to wander and enjoy the rain retreat together. In their retreats the Buddha’s followers probably built their own huts and lived separately, but their sense of community with other Buddhists led them to gather at the time of the full and new moons to recite the patimokkha, a declaration of their steadfastness in observing the monastic discipline. This occasion, in which the laity also participated, was called the uposatha.
Within several centuries of the Buddha’s death, the sangha came to include two different monastic groups. One group, which retained the wandering mode of existence, has been a very creative force in Buddhist history and continues to play a role in contemporary Buddhism, particularly in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia. The other, much larger group gave up the forest life and settled in permanent monastic settlements (viharas); it is the earliest truly cenobitic monastic group about which any knowledge exists.
There appear to be two major reasons for the change in the mode of living of most Buddhist monks. First, the Buddha’s followers were able, through their common loyalty to the Buddha and his teachings, to build up a certain coherent organization. Second, as acts of piety, the laity gave gifts of land and raised buildings in which the followers of the Buddha might live permanently, assured of a supply of the staples of life and also able to fulfill the Buddha’s directive to minister to the laity. In this manner small viharas were established in northeastern India and adjoining areas into which Buddhism spread.
Already in the period prior to the reign of King Ashoka, the Buddhist monastic community had become a strong, widely dispersed religious force. The support of Ashoka encouraged further expansion, and in the post-Ashokan period the number, wealth, and influence of the monasteries increased. As Buddhism continued to develop, many kinds of monastic centres were established throughout India, several of which received lavish support from royal courts or from wealthy merchants, who were among the strongest supporters of Buddhism. Among the most interesting centres were the magnificent cave monasteries—for example, at Ajanta and Ellora—which contain some of the greatest examples not only of Buddhist art but of Indian art more generally. Perhaps the most influential monasteries were the great university-like mahaviharas that developed somewhat later in northeastern India.
Ajanta Caves in north-central Maharashtra state, India.Art Resource, New York
In all Buddhist countries monasteries served as centres of teaching, learning, and outreach. Different types of monastic establishments developed in particular areas and in particular contexts. In several regions there were at least two types of institutions. There were a few large public monasteries that usually functioned in greater or lesser accord with classical Buddhist norms. There were also many smaller monasteries, often located in rural areas, that were much more loosely regulated. Often these were hereditary institutions in which the rights and privileges of the abbot were passed on to an adopted disciple. In areas where clerical marriage was practiced—for example, in medieval Sri Lanka, in certain Tibetan areas, and in post-Heian Japan—a tradition of blood inheritance developed.
Internal organization of the sangha
The transformation of the sangha from a group of wandering mendicants, loosely bound together by their commitment to the Buddha and his teachings, to monks living closely together in a permanent monastery necessitated the development of rules and a degree of hierarchical organization. It appears that the earliest organization within Indian monasteries was democratic in nature. This democratic character arose from two important historical factors. First, the Buddha did not, as was the custom among the teachers of his time, designate a human successor. Instead, the Buddha taught that each monk should strive to follow the path that he had preached. This decision placed every monk on the same footing. There could be no absolute authority vested in one person, for the authority was the dhamma that the Buddha had taught. Second, the region in which Buddhism arose was noted for a system of tribal democracy, or republicanism, that had existed in the past and was preserved by some groups during the Buddha’s lifetime. Within this tradition each polity had an elected assembly that decided important issues.
This tradition, which was consonant with the antiauthoritarian nature of the Buddha’s teaching, was adopted by the early sangha. When an issue arose, all the monks of the monastery assembled. The issue was put before the body of monks and discussed. If any solution was forthcoming, it had to be read three times, with silence signifying acceptance. If there was debate, a vote might be taken or the issue referred to committee or to arbitration by the elders of a neighbouring monastery. As the sangha developed, a certain division of labour and hierarchical administration was adopted. The abbot became the head of this administrative hierarchy and was vested with power over monastic affairs. In many countries there developed state-controlled hierarchies, which enabled kings and other political authorities to exert a significant amount of control over the monks and their activities.
The antiauthoritarian character of Buddhism, however, continued to assert itself. In China, for instance, the abbot referred all important questions to the assembled monks, who had elected him their leader. Similarly, in Southeast Asian countries there has traditionally been a popular distaste for hierarchy, which makes it difficult to enforce rules in the numerous almost-independent monasteries.
As the Buddhist sangha developed, specific rules and rites were enacted that differ very little in Buddhist monasteries even today. The rules by which the monks are judged and the punishments that should be assessed are found in the vinaya texts (vinaya literally means “that which leads”). The Vinaya Pitaka of the Theravada canon contains precepts that were supposedly given by the Buddha as he judged a particular situation. While in many cases the Buddha’s authorship may be doubted, the attempt is made to refer all authority to the Buddha and not to one of his disciples. The heart of the vinaya texts is the patimokkha, which became a list of monastic rules.
Ideally, the patimokkha is recited by the assembled monks every fortnight, with a pause after each one so that any monk who has transgressed this rule may confess and receive his punishment. While the number of rules in the patimokkha differs in the various schools, with 227, 250, and 253, respectively, in the Pali, Chinese, and Tibetan canons, the rules are essentially the same. The first part of the patimokkha deals with the four gravest sins, which necessarily lead to expulsion from the monastery. They are sexual intercourse, theft, murder, and exaggeration of one’s miraculous powers. The other rules, in seven sections, deal with transgressions of a lesser nature, such as drinking or lying.
In the Theravada countries—Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos—the Buddhist monastic community is composed primarily of male monks and novices (the order of nuns died out in the Theravada world more than a millennium ago, and contemporary efforts to reestablish it have met with only minimal success), white-robed ascetics (including various types of male and female practitioners who remain outside the sangha but follow a more or less renunciatory mode of life), and laymen and laywomen. In some Theravada countries, notably in mainland Southeast Asia, boys or young men were traditionally expected to join the monastery for a period of instruction and meditation. Thus, the majority of men in these areas were (and to a lesser extent still are, especially in Myanmar) directly involved with the monastic ethos. This practice has fostered a high degree of lay participation in monastic affairs.
In the Mahayana and Vajrayana countries of China and Tibet, there was traditionally a stage of one year before the aspirant could become a novice. This was a year of probation, during which the aspirant did not receive tonsure and remained subject to governmental taxation and service while receiving instructions and performing menial tasks within the monastery. At the end of this period, the aspirant had to pass a test, which included the recitation of part of a well-known sutra—the length depending upon whether the applicant was male or female—and a discussion of various doctrinal questions. In China usually only those who were of exceptional character or who were affiliated with the government progressed beyond the novice stage.
According to vinaya rules, entry into the sangha is an individual affair that depends on the wishes of the individual and his family. In some Buddhist countries, however, ordination was often under the control of the state, which conducted the examinations to determine entry or advancement in the sangha. In certain situations ordination could be obtained through the favour of high officials or through the purchase of an ordination certificate from the government. At times the government engaged in the selling of ordination certificates in order to fill its treasury.
The life of a Buddhist monk originally involved wandering, poverty, begging, and strict sexual abstinence. The monks were supposed to live only on alms, to wear clothes made from cloth taken from rubbish heaps, and to possess only three robes, one girdle, an alms bowl, a razor, a needle, and a water strainer for filtering insects from drinking water (so as not to kill or imbibe them). Most Buddhist schools still stress celibacy, though some groups, particularly in Tibet and Japan, have relaxed the monastic discipline, and some Vajrayana schools have allowed sexual intercourse as an esoteric ritual that contributes to the attainment of release. In all schools, however, begging has become merely a symbolic gesture used to teach humility or compassion or to raise funds for special purposes. Also, the growth of large monasteries has often led to compromises on the rule of poverty. While the monk might technically give up his property before entering the monastery—though even this rule is sometimes relaxed—the community of monks might inherit wealth and receive lavish gifts of land. The acquisition of wealth has often led to the attainment of temporal power. This factor, in addition to the self-governing nature of Buddhist monasteries and the early Buddhist connection with Indian kingship, has influenced the interaction of the sangha and the state.
Society and state
Buddhism is sometimes inaccurately described as a purely monastic, otherworldly religion. In the earliest phases of the tradition, the Buddha was pictured as a teacher who addressed not only renouncers but lay householders. Moreover, although he is not depicted in the early texts as a social reformer, the Buddha does address issues of social order and responsibility. Perhaps the most famous early text on this topic is the Sigalovada-sutta, which has been called the “householder’s vinaya.”
Throughout their history Buddhists have put forth varying forms of social ethics based on notions of karmic justice (the “law” that good deeds will be rewarded with happy results while evil deeds will entail suffering for the one who does them); the cultivation of virtues such as self-giving, compassion, and evenhandedness; and the fulfillment of responsibilities to parents, teachers, rulers, and so on. Moreover, Buddhists have formulated various notions of cosmogony, cosmology, and soteriology that have provided legitimacy for the social hierarchies and political orders with which they have been associated. For the most part, Buddhism has played a conservative, moderating role in the social and political organization of various Asian societies, but the tradition has also given rise to more radical and revolutionary movements.
Over the course of Buddhism’s long history, the relationship between the Buddhist community and state authority has taken many forms. The early Buddhist sangha in India appears to have been treated by Indian rulers as a self-governing unit not subject to their power unless it proved subversive or was threatened by internal or external disruption. Ashoka, the king whose personal interest in Buddhism contributed to the religion’s dramatic growth, appears to have been applying this policy of protection from disruption when he intervened in Buddhist monastic affairs to expel schismatics. He came to be remembered, however, as the Dharmaraja, the great king who protected and propagated the teachings of the Buddha.
In Theravada countries Ashoka’s image as a supporter and sponsor of the faith has traditionally been used to judge political authority. In general, Buddhism in Theravada countries has been either heavily favoured or officially recognized by the government. The sangha’s role in this interaction, at least ideally, has been to preserve the dhamma and to act as spiritual guide and model, revealing to the secular power the need for furthering the welfare of the people. While the sangha and the government are two separate structures, there has been some intertwining; monks (often from elite families) have commonly acted as governmental advisers, and kings—at least in Thailand—have occasionally spent some time in the monastery. Moreover, Buddhist monastic institutions have often served as a link between the rural peoples and the urban elites, helping to unify the various Theravada countries.
In China Buddhism has been seen as a foreign religion, as a potential competitor with the state, and as a drain on national resources of men and wealth. These perceptions have led to sharp persecutions of Buddhism and to rules curbing its influence. Some of the rules attempted to limit the number of monks and to guarantee governmental influence in ordination through state examinations and the granting of ordination certificates. At other times, such as during the early centuries of the Tang dynasty (618–907), Buddhism was virtually a state religion. The government created a commissioner of religion to earn merit for the state by erecting temples, monasteries, and images in honour of the Buddha.
In Japan Buddhism experienced similar fluctuations. From the 10th to the 13th century, monasteries gained great landed wealth and temporal power. They formed large armies of monks and mercenaries that took part in wars with rival religious groups and in struggles for temporal power. By the 14th century, however, their power had begun to wane. Under the Tokugawa regime in the 17th century, Buddhist institutions were virtually instruments of state power and administration.
Only in Tibet did Buddhists establish a theocratic polity that lasted for an extended period of time. Beginning in the 12th century, Tibetan monastic groups forged relationships with the powerful Mongol khans that often gave them control of governmental affairs. In the 17th century the Dge-lugs-pa school, working with the Mongols, established a monastic regime that was able to maintain almost continual control until the Chinese occupation in the 1950s.
During the premodern period the various Buddhist communities in Asia developed working relationships of one kind or another with the sociopolitical systems in their particular areas. As a result of Western colonial incursions, and especially after the establishment of new political ideologies and political systems during the 19th and 20th centuries, these older patterns of accommodation between Buddhism and state authority were seriously disrupted. In many cases bitter conflicts resulted—for example, between Buddhists and colonial regimes in Sri Lanka and Myanmar, between Buddhists and the Meiji reformers in Japan, and between Buddhists and many different communist regimes. In some cases, as in Japan, these conflicts were resolved and new modes of accommodation established. In other cases, as in Tibet, strong tensions remained.
The Major Systems And Their Literature
Theravada (Pali: “Way of the Elders”; Sanskrit, Sthaviravada) emerged as one of the Hinayana(Sanskrit: “Lesser Vehicle”) schools, traditionally numbered at 18, of early Buddhism. The Theravadins trace their lineage to the Sthaviravada school, one of two major schools (the Mahasanghika was the other) that supposedly formed in the wake of the Council of Vaishali(now in Bihar state) held some 100 years after the Buddha’s death. Employing Pali as their sacred language, the Theravadins preserved their version of the Buddha’s teaching in the Tipitaka (“Three Baskets”).
During the reign of the emperor Ashoka (3rd century BCE), the Theravada school was established in Sri Lanka, where it subsequently divided into three subgroups, known after their respective monastic centres. The cosmopolitan Abhayagiriviharavasi maintained open relations with Mahayana and later Vajrayana monks and welcomed new ideas from India. The Mahaviharavasi—with whom the third group, the Jetavanaviharavasi, was loosely associated—established the first monastery in Sri Lanka and preserved intact the original Theravadin teachings.
The Mahavihara (“Great Monastery”) school became dominant in Sri Lanka at the beginning of the 2nd millennium CE and gradually spread through mainland Southeast Asia. It was established in Myanmar in the late 11th century, in Thailand in the 13th and early 14th centuries, and in Cambodia and Laos by the end of the 14th century. Although Mahavihara never completely replaced other schools in Southeast Asia, it received special favour at most royal courts and, as a result of the support it received from local elites, exerted a very strong religious and social influence.
Beliefs, doctrines, and practices
Cosmology
Like other Buddhists, Theravadins believe that the number of cosmos is infinite. Moreover, they share the near-universal Buddhist view that the cosmos inhabited by humankind, like all cosmos, has three planes of existence: the realm of desire (Pali and Sanskrit: kama-loka), the lowest of the planes; the realm of material form (Pali and Sanskrit: rupa-loka), which is associated with meditational states in which sensuous desire is reduced to a minimum; and the realm of immateriality or formlessness (Pali and Sanskrit: arupa-loka), which is associated with meditational states that are even more exalted.
The three planes are divided into various levels. The realm of desire is divided into heavens, hells, and the earth. It is inhabited by those suffering in the various hells—a species of wandering, famished ghosts (Sanskrit: pretas), animals, hell beings, human beings, gods, and a sixth group that is not universally acknowledged, the asuras (Sanskrit: demigods). The entire cosmos is enclosed by a great Chakkavala wall, a ring of iron mountains that serves as a kind of container for the realm of desire. Mount Meru, the great cosmic mountain topped by the heaven of the 33 gods over which Indra (Sakka) presides, is surrounded by a great ocean where people live on four island continents, each inhabited by a different type of human being. (The southern continent, loosely correlated with South—and sometimes Southeast—Asia, is called Jambudvipa.) The material aspect of the realm of desire is made up of four elements: earth, water, fire, and air, held together in various combinations.
In this cosmos, as in all others, time moves in cycles of great duration involving a period of involution (destruction of the cosmos by fire, water, air), a period of reformation of the cosmic structure, a series of cycles of decline and renewal, and, finally, another period of involution from which the process is initiated once again. Five buddhas are destined to appear in the cosmos in which humans live, including Gotama (Sanskrit: Gautama), who is to be the fourth, and Metteyya (Sanskrit: Maitreya), who is to be the fifth.
Human existence is a privileged state, because only as a human being can a bodhisattvabecome a buddha. Moreover, according to Theravada, human beings can choose to do good works (which will result in a good rebirth) or bad works (which result in a bad rebirth); above all, they have the capacity to become perfected saints. All these capacities are accounted for in terms of a carefully enumerated series of dhammas (Sanskrit: dharmas), the elements’ impermanent existence. In continual motion, these changing states appear, age, and disappear.
Classification of dhammas
Dhammas are divided and subdivided into many groups. Those that are essential to psychophysical existence are the 5 components (Sanskrit: skandhas; Pali: khandhas), the 12 bases (Pali and Sanskrit: ayatanas), and the 18 sensory elements (Pali and Sanskrit: dhatus). The 5 skandhas are rupa (Pali and Sanskrit), materiality, or form; vedana, feelings of pleasure or pain or the absence of either; sanna (Pali), cognitive perception; sankhara (Pali and Sanskrit), the forces that condition the psychic activity of an individual; and vinnana(Sanskrit: vijnana), consciousness. The 12 ayatanas comprise the five sense organs (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and body) and the mind (manas), as well as the five related sense fields (sights, sounds, odours, tastes, and tangibles) and objects of cognition—that is, objects as they are reflected in mental perception. The 18 elements, or dhatus, include the five sense organs and the mano-dhatu (Pali and Sanskrit: “mind element”), their six correlated objects, and the consciousnesses (Pali: vinnana) of the sense organs and manas.
The Theravada system of dhammas (Pali) is not only an analysis of empirical reality but a delineation of the psychosomatic components of the human personality. Moreover, Theravadins believe that an awareness of the interrelation and operation of these components, as well as the ability to manipulate them, is necessary for an individual to attain the exalted state of an arhat (Pali: arahant, “worthy one”). Through the classification of dhammas, a person is defined as an aggregate of many interrelated elements governed by the law of karma—thus destined to suffer good or bad consequences. All of this presupposes that there is no eternal metaphysical entity such as an “I,” or atman (Pali: attan), but that there is a psychosomatic aggregate situated in time. This aggregate has freedom of choice and can perform acts that may generate consequences.
Such classifications are not purely doctrinal but also are intended to guide those who seek to follow the Buddha’s teachings and to overcome the cycle of rebirths. Further guidance is found in the seven factors of enlightenment: clear memory, energy, sympathy, tranquility, impartiality, the exact investigation of the nature of things, and a disposition for concentration. Moreover, “four sublime states”—love for all living creatures, compassion, delight in that which is good or well done, and, again, impartiality—provide the necessary preconditions for liberation from karma and samsara (the perpetual cycle of death and rebirth).
Two basic forms of meditation (Pali: jhana; Sanskrit: dhyana) have been practiced in the Theravada tradition. Closely related to a Hindu tradition of yoga, the first of these involves a process of moral and intellectual purification. Initially, the Theravadin meditator seeks to achieve detachment from sensual desires and impure states of mind through reflection and to enter a state of satisfaction and joy. In the second stage of this form of meditation, intellectual activity gives way to a complete inner serenity; the mind is in a state of “one-pointedness” (concentration), joy, and pleasantness. In the third stage, every emotion, including joy, has disappeared, and the meditator is left indifferent to everything. In the fourth stage, satisfaction, any inclination to a good or bad state of mind, pain, and serenity are left behind, and the meditator enters a state of supreme purity, indifference, and pure consciousness.
According to Theravada belief, at this point the meditator begins pursuit of the samapattis(or the higher jhanic attainments). Beyond all awareness of form, withdrawn from the influence of perception, especially the perception of plurality, the meditator concentrates on and reposes in infinite space. Transcending this stage, the meditator focuses on the limitlessness of consciousness and attains it. Proceeding still further by concentrating on the nonexistence of everything, the meditator achieves a state of nothingness. Finally, the meditator reaches the highest level of attainment, in which there is neither perception nor nonperception.
The second form of Theravada meditation is called vipassana (Pali: “inner vision” or “insight meditation”). This practice requires intense concentration, which is thought to lead to a one-pointedness of mind that allows the meditator to gain insight into the saving truth that all reality is impermanent, permeated by suffering, and devoid of self. This insight, from the Buddhist perspective, allows the meditator to progress toward the attainment of nirvanaitself.
In Theravada texts both jhanic and vipassana forms of meditation are recommended and are often combined in various ways. In the 20th century, there was an increasing emphasis on vipassana practices, and vipassana meditation movements became extremely important in Asia and among Buddhist groups in the West.
The stages leading to arhatship
Theravadins maintain that the ideal Buddhist is the “one who is worthy” (Sanskrit: arhat; Pali: arahant), the perfected person who attains nirvana through his own efforts. Although the Theravadin arhat “takes refuge in the Buddha,” his focus is on the practice of the Buddha’s dhamma (Pali).
According to the Theravadins, true insight is achieved by passing through four stages. The first stage is that of the “stream winner” or “stream enterer,” the individual who has seen the truth, has experienced the first real intimations of nirvana, and will undergo no more than seven additional rebirths. Next is the stage of the “once-returner,” who will endure no more than one additional rebirth before achieving nirvana. The third stage is that of the “nonreturner,” who will achieve release in the present life or, at the very least, before another rebirth occurs. One who has reached this stage has broken free from the lower bonds of doubt, belief in a permanent self, faith in the results generated by rituals, sensual passion, and malice. The fourth and final stage is that of the arhat, who has attained complete freedom. The arhat is free from the bonds of ignorance, excitability, ambition, and the desire for existence in either the formed or formless worlds.
The Buddha
The state of the Buddha, the perfectly Enlightened One, is nirvana (Pali: nibbana). Beyond death—neither caused, born, nor produced—nirvana transcends all becoming and is devoid of all that makes up a human being. Three kinds of nirvana are particularly associated with Buddhahood. The first, the nibbana of the kilesas (Pali: “defilements”), is achieved by the Buddha when he attains enlightenment and leaves behind all defilements. The second kind, the nibbana of the khandas (Pali: “aggregate”), is achieved when the Buddha “dies” and leaves behind the aggregates that have constituted his identity as a person. Finally, at the time when the Buddha’s religion becomes extinct, his relics return to Bodh Gaya (the place of his enlightenment) or, in some texts, to Anarudhapura (the ancient capital of Sri Lanka), where they will reassemble into the body of the Buddha, who then preaches one last sermon before completely disappearing. At this point the Buddha attains his final nibbana, the dhatu (Pali) or relic nibbana.
The Buddha has been given many other names, the most common of which are Arahant and Tathagata (“He Who Has Thus Attained”). According to Theravada scriptures, previous buddhas (mostly those who met Gotama in one of his past lives) are recognized by name, and there is a single mention of the future buddha Metteyya (Sanskrit: Maitreya). The Theravadins came to believe that Metteyya is presently in the Tusita heaven and will come into the world in the distant future to reestablish the religion.
The Pali canon (Tipitaka)
The earliest systematic and most complete collection of early Buddhist sacred literature is the Pali Tipitaka (“Three Baskets”; Sanskrit: Tripitaka). Its arrangement reflects the importance that the early followers attached to the monastic life (Pali and Sanskrit: Vinaya), to the discourses of the Buddha (Pali: Sutta), and subsequently to the interest in scholasticism (Pali: Abhidhamma).
Buddhist Pali manuscript from Kandy, Sri Lanka, about 45 cm (18 inches) long. The palm-leaf pages are threaded with twine, and the covers are wood with painted decoration; in the Newberry Library, Chicago.Courtesy of Newberry Library, Chicago
The Pali Vinaya Pitaka (“Basket of Discipline”) is still in theory the rule in Theravada monasteries, even though some sections have fallen into disuse. It is divided into five major parts grouped into three divisions—Sutta-vibhanga (“Division of Rules”), Khandhakas(“Sections”), and Parivara (“Accessory”).
The largest of the three “baskets” is the Sutta Pitaka (“Basket of Discourse”), which consists of five collections (Pali and Sanskrit: nikayas) of the Buddha’s discourses. From a literary viewpoint, many of the discourses can appear to be drawn out and repetitive; however, they are characterized by sublimity of thought and employ rich, beautiful illustrative similes.
The third “basket,” the Abhidhamma Pitaka (“Basket of Special [Further] Doctrine”), comprises seven works. Although based on the contents of the Buddha’s discourses, they deal with topics that were central to Theravada scholastic thought. The Pali version is a strictly Theravada collection and has little in common with the Abhidhamma works recognized by other Buddhist schools.
Early noncanonical texts in Pali
The noncanonical literature of Theravada Buddhism consists, to a large extent, of commentaries on the Tipitaka texts but also includes other works. Prominent among the exponents of Buddhism who attempted to harmonize its apparently conflicting teachings and grasp the inner meaning of its doctrine were Nagasena, Buddhaghosha, Buddhadatta, and Dhammapala.
The Milinda-panha (“Questions of King Menander”), traditionally attributed to Nagasena, is one of the great achievements of Indian prose and was probably written at the time of Menander (160–35 BCE) or shortly after. The author begins with an account of his own past lives and those of King Menander because events in those lives will cause the two to meet again in this life. Menander, a well-informed scholar and keen debater, is disheartened when no one is able to resolve problems he raises regarding Buddhist teachings. Impressed by the serenity of the monk Nagasena, the king visits him in his monastery. Their conversation at the monastery and later at the king’s palace is the subject matter of the Milinda-panha, which presents a profound and comprehensive exposition of Buddhist doctrine, ethics, and psychology. This work, like several other noncanonical texts, contains a chariot analogy: although the parts of a chariot put together in a specific way constitute the chariot, there is no chariot as such over and above its parts; similarly, the various components of an individual human being make up the individual, but there is no entity that actually holds the components together.
Buddhaghosha (flourished early 5th century CE) is undoubtedly the most prolific and important writer in the Pali language. There is little agreement about his birthplace, but it is known that he stayed at Bodh Gaya, in eastern India, for a long time. There he most likely met Sinhalese monks, because the vihara (Pali and Sanskrit: monastery) at Bodh Gaya had been built with the permission of Emperor Samudra Gupta (c. 330–380 CE) for Sinhalese pilgrims. Relocating to Sri Lanka, Buddhaghosha stayed at the Mahavihara (“Great Monastery”) in Anuradhapura, which possessed a rich collection of commentarial literature, most likely in Old Sinhalese. Buddhaghosha’s first work probably was the Visuddhimagga(Pali: “The Path of Purification”), a greatly revered compendium of Theravada teaching. He also wrote commentaries on the Vinaya (Pali), the first four nikayas (Pali and Sanskrit), and the seven books of the Abhidhamma Pitaka, though the exact chronology of their composition cannot be determined.
Although a number of other works traditionally have been attributed to Buddhaghosha—including the Suttanipata (Pali: “Group of Suttas”), the Khuddaka-patha (Pali: “Collection on Little Readings”), the Dhammapada (Pali: “Verses on the Dhamma”), and the Jatakas(Pali and Sanskrit: “Births”)—modern scholarship indicates that he was not their author. The introduction to commentary on the Jatakas includes the most famous “biography” of the Buddha in Pali; it begins with the hero’s vow, made in a previous life, to become a buddha and concludes with his purported stay at the Jetavana monastery, where he told the 547 stories that follow. These stories, ranging from very brief narratives to full-scale romances, recount events in the Buddha’s previous lives (for example, the story of the Buddha’s last life before his birth as Siddhartha, during which he perfected the virtue of sacrificial giving). In countries where the Theravada school is prominent, these narratives and romances have exerted a tremendous influence on everything from the fine arts to law.
Mrga (“deer”) Jataka showing the bodhisattva (“buddha-to-be”) as a deer, stone bas-relief from Barhut, 2nd century BCE; in the Indian Museum, Kolkata.Courtesy of Indian Museum, Kolkata
Buddhadatta, a contemporary of Buddhaghosha, was a native of Uragapura, near modern Tiruchchirappalli, in southern India. Like Buddhaghosha, he went to Sri Lanka to study at the Mahavihara in Anuradhapura, and upon his return he wrote his works in a monastery on the banks of the Kaveri River. His Abhidhammavatara (Pali: “The Coming of the Abhidhamma”), though a summary of the older works on the Abhidhamma Pitaka, is one of the most important commentaries on the “basket.” While Buddhadatta’s ideas were similar to those of Buddhaghosha, he did not follow Buddhaghosha blindly. Instead, he reduced Buddhaghosha’s five metaphysical ultimates (form, feeling, sensations, motivations, and perception) to four (mind, mental events, forms, and nirvana). This creative classification, similar to that of the Sarvastivadins (a Buddhist sectarian group that emerged in the mid-3rd century BCE and that affirmed ontological realism), makes Buddhadatta a philosopher in his own right rather than a commentator who merely restates matters in new terms.
Dhammapala, who probably came from southern India, is credited with the writing of numerous commentaries, including the Paramattha dipani (Pali: “Elucidation of the True Meaning”), a commentary on several books of the Khuddaka nikaya. In the Paramattha manjusa (Pali: “Jewel Box of the True Meaning”), a commentary on Buddhaghosha’s Visuddhimagga, Dhammapala quotes a verse from the Hindu scripture Bhagavadgita and frequently mentions the views of other schools and teachers. As a result, this work provides valuable information about intellectual activity in traditional circles.
At the close of the 4th century CE, an even older work existed in Sri Lanka. This chronicle of the history of the island from its legendary beginning onward probably was part of the Maha-atthakatha, the commentarial literature that formed the basis of the works by Buddhaghosha and others. The accounts it contains are reflected in the Dipavamsa (Pali: “History of the Island”), which appears to be a poor redaction in Pali of an earlier Old Sinhalese version. The Mahavamsa (Pali: “Great Chronicle”), compiled by Mahanama in the 5th or 6th century, and its continuation in the Chulavamsa (“Little Chronicle”), compiled from the 13th to the 18th century, show much greater skill in the use of the Pali languageand make liberal use of other material. These artistic compositions contain rich mythic, legendary, and historical material. The vamsa tradition continued in Sri Lanka (where it remains alive) and other countries where the Theravada school was prominent.
Later Theravada literature
During and after the “revival” and spread of the Theravada in the early centuries of the 2nd millennium CE, a new corpus of Theravada literature came into being. This corpus includes commentaries and other works written in Pali in Sri Lanka and the Theravada countries of Southeast Asia, as well as many important texts written in Sinhalese, Burmese, Thai, Laotian, and Khmer. One of the important Pali texts is the Mangala dipani, a highly respected commentary on the Mangala-sutta that was written in northern Thailand in the 16th century. Important vernacular texts include the 14th-century Traibhumikatha (“Three Worlds According to King Ruang”), which is the oldest-known full-length text written in Thai, and the Buddhadhamma, a 20th-century work by the Thai monk Prayudh Payutto.
Mahayana Buddhism is both a system of metaphysics dealing with the basic structure and principles of reality and, primarily, a theoretical propaedeutic to the achievement of a desired state. Arising in India in the 1st century CE, it spread to Central Asia, China, Japan, mainland Southeast Asia, Java, Sumatra, and even Sri Lanka. Its teachings involved basic shifts in doctrine and approach, though there were precedents in earlier schools. It taught that neither the self nor the dharmas exist. Moreover, for the elite arhat ideal, it substituted the bodhisattva, one who vows to become a buddha and delays entry into nirvana to help others. In Mahayana, love for creatures is exalted to the highest; a bodhisattva is encouraged to offer the merit he derives from good deeds for the good of others. The tension between morality and mysticism that agitated India also influenced the Mahayana.
Basic teachings
The Buddha: divinization and multiplicity
In the Mahayana tradition the Buddha is viewed as a supramundane being. He multiplies himself and is often reflected in a pentad of buddhas—Vairochana, Akshobhya, Ratnasambhava, Amitabha, and Amoghasiddhi—who reveal various doctrines and elaborate liturgies and sometimes take the place of Shakyamuni.
As the tradition developed, there emerged new texts that were considered by Mahayana adherents to be Buddhavachana (“the word or words of the Buddha”). This new literature went far beyond the ancient canons and was believed to be the highest revelation, superseding earlier texts. In this literature the teaching is thought to operate on various levels, each adapted to the intellectual capacity and karmic propensities of those who hear it.
The bodhisattva ideal
The purpose of the bodhisattva is to achieve enlightenment and to fulfill the vow to become a buddha. The bodhisattva also foregoes entrance into nirvana in order to remain in the world as long as there are creatures to be saved from suffering.
Avalokitesvara, the compassionate bodhisattva, shown as a compassionate figure with 11 heads and 8 arms, symbolic of his ability to sense humankind's needs everywhere in the universe. In the Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde, Leiden, Netherlands.Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde, Leiden, Netherlands
Beginning with the vow to become a buddha, the career of a bodhisattva, according to some texts, traverses 10 stages or spiritual levels (bhumi) and achieves purification through the practice of the 10 perfections (paramitas). These levels elevate the bodhisattva to Buddhahood. The first six levels are preliminary, representing the true practice of the six perfections (generosity, morality, patience, vigour, concentration, and wisdom). Even though further purification and fortification must be achieved in the following stages, irreversibility occurs as soon as the seventh stage has been reached and the bodhisattva has assumed the true buddha nature. This is the moment when he engages in activity aimed at fulfilling the obligations of a bodhisattva. The difference between this and the preceding six stages is that now the activity is explained as an innate and spontaneous impulse manifested with conscious constraint and therefore not subject to doubt. Everything is now uncreated, ungenerated; thus, the body of the bodhisattva becomes identified more and more completely with the essential body (dharmakaya), with Buddhahood, and with omniscience.
The three Buddha bodies
The three bodies (trikaya; i.e., modes of being) of the Buddha are rooted in Hinayanateachings concerning the physical body, the mental body, and the body of the law. The theory of the three bodies was a subject of major discussion for the Mahayana, becoming part of the salvation process and assuming central significance in doctrine. The emanation body (nirmanakaya) is the form of the Buddha that appears in the world to teach people the path to liberation. The enjoyment (or bliss) body (sambhogakaya) is the celestial body of the Buddha to which contemplation can ascend. In the heavenly regions, or Pure Lands, the enjoyment body teaches the bodhisattva doctrines that are unintelligible to those who are unenlightened. The unmanifested body of the law (dharmakaya) already appears in the Saddharmapundarika, or Lotus Sutra, a transitional text of great importance to Mahayana devotional schools. In many Mahayana texts buddhas are infinite and share an identical nature—the dharmakaya.
As anticipated in ancient schools, the Buddha is the law (dharma) and is identified with an eternal dharma, enlightenment (bodhi), and nirvana. In later schools real existence is opposed to the mere appearance of existence, and voidness, the “thingness of things,” an undefinable condition, present and immutable within the Buddhas, is stressed. All is in the dharmakaya, the third body and expression of ultimate reality; nothing is outside it, just as nothing is outside space; transcendence and immanence come together. Other schools posit a presence that is innate within all human beings, even if it is not perceived. It is like a gem hidden in dross, which shines in its purity as soon as the veil of ignorance has been removed.
New revelations
New revelations are made on earth and in heavenly paradises by Shakyamuni and other buddhas. The teaching is expounded uninterruptedly in the universe because worlds and paradises are infinite and all buddhas are consubstantial with the essential body. They speak to assemblies of shravakas (disciples), bodhisattvas, gods, and demons. The authors of the new doctrines revealed their religious enthusiasm in various highly expressive ways, filling their works with phantasmagoria of celestial choruses, fabulous visions in which shine flashes of new speculations, and trains of thought influenced by Indian speculative and mystical traditions. The texts, from which new trends spring, overflow with repetitions and modulate the same arguments with a variety of readings.
Mahayana thinkers faced the daunting challenge of producing a completely logical arrangement of this prolix literature, some of which had legendary origins. The Prajnaparamita (“Perfection of Wisdom”) and the Avatamsaka-sutras (“Flower Ornament Sutras”), for instance, are said to have been concealed by the nagas, demigods that live in miraculous palaces in an underground kingdom. There are various Prajnaparamita texts, ranging from 100,000 verses (the Shatasahasrika) to only a few lines (the Prajnaparamitahrdaya-sutra, widely known as the Heart Sutra). The fundamental assumption of the Prajnaparamita is expounded in a famous verse: “like light, a mirage, a lamp, an illusion, a drop of water, a dream, a lightning flash; thus must all compoundedthings be considered.” Not only is there no “self,” but all things lack a real nature (svabhava) of their own. The Prajnaparamita-sutras announce that the world as it appears to us does not exist, that reality is the indefinable “thingness of things” (tathata; dharmanam dharmata), that voidness (shunyata) is an absolute “without signs or characteristics” (animitta).
The Mahayana schools and their texts
The Mahayana tradition encompasses a great many different schools, including the Madhyamika; the Yogachara or Vijnanavada (Vijnaptamatrata); the Avatamsaka school, which recognized the special importance of the Avatamsaka-sutra; a number of different schools that recognized the special authority of the Saddharmapundarika (Lotus Sutra); various Pure Land devotional schools; and several Dhyana (“Meditation”) schools.
Madhyamika (Sanlun/Sanron)
The Madhyamika (“Doctrine of the Middle Way”) system, also known as Shunyavada (“Theory of Negativity or Relativity”), held both subject and object to be unreal and systematized the doctrine of shunyata (“cosmic emptiness”) contained in the Prajnaparamita literature.
Along with his disciple Aryadeva, the Indian philosopher Nagarjuna (c. 150–250 CE) is recognized as the founder and principal exponent of the Madhyamika system. Nagarjuna is the presumed author of the voluminous Mahaprajnaparamita-shastra (“The Great Treatiseon the Perfection of Wisdom”), preserved in its Chinese translation (402–405) by Kumarajiva, and the Mulamadhyamakakarika (more commonly known as Madhyamika Karika; “Fundamentals of the Middle Way”), which is considered by many to be the Madhyamika work par excellence. The main work of Aryadeva, the Chatushataka, criticizes other forms of Buddhism and the classical Sanskrit philosophical systems.
Nagarjuna and his followers sought a middle position, devoid of name and character and beyond all thought and words. They used rigorous logic to demonstrate the absurdity of various philosophical positions, including those of Hindus and other Buddhists. Assuming that contradiction is proof of error, Nagarjuna took any point of view that would reveal the error of his opponents. He did not, however, accept the opposing point of view but used it only as a means to expose the relativity of the system he was attacking. Because he was willing to refute his first position, he could claim adherence to no doctrine. Moreover, Nagarjuna attempted to prove that all worldly thought is empty (shunya) or relative and that the true path is that of the middle, the path that is between or, more correctly, above extremes. This belief has been called the doctrine of emptiness of all things, which posits that all things lack essential characteristics and exist only in relation to conditions surrounding them.
Nagarjuna presented this middle path above extremes in his statement of the Eightfold Path of Buddhism:
Nothing comes into being, nor does anything disappear. Nothing is eternal, nor has anything an end. Nothing is identical, nor is anything differentiated. Nothing moves here, nor does anything move there.
In presenting these pairs of opposites, Nagarjuna taught that anything that can be conceptualized or put into words is relative. This led to the Madhyamika identification of nirvana and samsara, which are empty concepts with the truth lying somewhere beyond.
After the world’s emptiness or relativity has been proved, the question arises of how one is to go beyond this position. Nagarjuna answered with the doctrine of the two truths, explaining that humans can gain salvation and are not irreconcilably caught in this world, which can be used as a ladder leading to the absolute. In his doctrine the relative truth is of this existence. This leads first to the realization that all things are empty of subhava (“own being”) and then to the intuition of an absolute truth beyond all conceptions. The link between these two truths—the relative and the absolute—is the Buddha. He experienced the absolute truth, which is nisprapancha—i.e., inexplicable in speech and unrealizable in ordinary thought—and yet he returned to point to this truth in the phenomenal world. By following this path, one can be saved. Thus, Nagarjuna taught that through the middle path of Madhyamika, which is identified as the Buddha’s true teachings, one is guided to an experience beyond affirmation and negation, being and nonbeing. Madhyamika is a philosophy that can rightly be called a doctrine of salvation, for it claims to present humans with a system that leads to rescue from their situation.
The Madhyamika school divided into two subtraditions in the 5th and 6th centuries. The Prasangika school, which emphasized a more negative form of argumentation, was founded by Buddhapalita (c. 470–540), who wrote many works, including a commentary on Nagarjuna’s Madhyamika Karika. The school was continued by Chandrakirti, a famous logician of the 7th century and author of a commentary on the Madhyamika Karika, and by Shantideva (c. 650–750), whose Shiksa-samuccaya (“Summary of Training”) and Bodhicharyavatara (“The Coming of the Bodhisattva Way of Life”) are among the most popular Mahayana literary works.
The Svatantrika school, which utilized a syllogistic mode of argumentation, was founded by Bhavaviveka, a contemporary of Buddhapalita and author of a commentary on the Madhyamika Karika. Santiraksita, a great scholar who wrote the Tattvasamgraha(“Summary of Essentials”) and the Madhyamikalankara Karika (“Verses on the Ornament of the Madhyamika Teaching”), continued the school. Both the Svatantrika tradition and the Prasangika tradition strongly influenced Buddhist philosophy in Tibet.
The missionary translator Kumarajiva took the Madhyamika school to China from India in the 5th century. Three of the texts that he translated from Sanskrit into Chinese—the Madhyamika Karika and the Dvadashamukha-shastra or Dvadasha-dvara-shastra (“The Twelve Topics or Gates Treatise”) of Nagarjuna and the Shata-shastra (“One Hundred Verses Treatise”) of Aryadeva—became the basic texts of the Chinese Sanlun (Japanese: Sanron), or “Three Treatise,” school of Madhyamika. Although this school was challenged by the Silun, or “Four Treatise,” school, which also accepted the Mahaprajnaparamita-shastra as a basic text, Sanlun regained preeminence as a result of the teachings of Sengzhao, Kumarajiva’s disciple, and later of Jizang. Both of these Chinese Madhyamika masters commented on Nagarjuna’s thesis in numerous influential works.
A Korean disciple of Jizang, Ekwan (Huiguan), then spread Sanlun (Korean: Samnon) to Japan in 625. This school was never popular among the masses and rarely formed an independent sect, though it remained the basis of logical and philosophical thought among the learned.
Yogachara/Vijnanavada (Faxiang/Hossō)
The Yogachara (or Vijnanavada) school was founded, according to tradition, by the brothers Asanga and Vasubandhu (4th/5th century CE) and by Sthiramati (6th century), who systematized doctrines found in the Lankavatara-sutra and the Mahayana-shraddhotpada-shastra (attributed to Ashvaghosha but probably written in Central Asia or in China). Later Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism include doctrines that were to be influenced by Yogachara teaching.
The special characteristics of Yogachara are its emphasis on meditation and a broadly psychological analysis, which contrasts with the other great Mahayana system, Madhyamika, where the emphasis is on logical analysis and dialectic. Its central doctrine, however, is that only consciousness (vijnanamatra; hence the name Vijnanavada) is real and that external things do not exist. Thought or mind is the ultimate reality, and nothing exists outside the mind, according to this school. The common view that external things exist is due to an error that can be removed by a meditative or yogic process that brings an inner concentration and tranquility and a complete withdrawal or “revulsion” from fictitious externalities.
Alaya-vijnana (“storehouse consciousness”) is postulated as the receptacle of the imprint of thoughts and deeds, the vasana (literally, “dwelling”) of various karmic seeds (bijas). The “seeds” develop into touch, mental activity, feeling, perception, and will, corresponding to the five skandhas (“aggregates”; parts of an individual personality). This is followed first by the emergence of ideation (manas), which sets off the self or mind from the world, and then by the realization that objects exist only through the sense perceptions and thought of subject. The store consciousness must be purged of its subject-object duality and restored to its pure state. This pure state is equivalent to the absolute “suchness” (tathata), to Buddhahood, to the undifferentiated.
Corresponding to false imagination (vikalpa), right knowledge, and suchness are the three modes of being: the mere fictions of false imagination; the relative existence of things, under certain conditions or aspects; and the perfect mode of being. Corresponding to this threefold version of the modes of being and awareness is the trikaya doctrine of the Buddha (the apparitional body, the enjoyment body, and the dharma body), a doctrine that was systematized by Yogachara thinkers.
The Yogachara school was represented in China primarily by the Faxiang (or Dharmalaksana; also Weishi) school, called Hossō in Japan. Paramartha, an Indian missionary-teacher, introduced the basic Yogachara teachings to China in the 6th century, and his translation of the Mahayana-samparigraha-shastra provided the foundation for the Silun school. Silun was succeeded as the major vehicle of Yogachara thought in China by the Faxiang school, which was founded by Xuanzang, the 7th-century Chinese pilgrim-translator, and his main disciple, Kuiji. Xuanzang went to India, where he studied the works of Dharmapala (died 561) and taught at the Vijnanavada centre at Valabhi. When he returned to China, he translated Dharmapala’s Vijnapti-matrata-siddhi and many other works and taught doctrines that were based on those of Dharmapala and other Indian teachers. Xuanzang’s teachings were expressed systematically in Fayuanyilinzhang and Weishishuji, the basic texts of the Faxiang school.
Faxiang, the Chinese translation of dharmalakshana (Sanskrit: “characteristic of dharma”), refers to the school’s basic emphasis on the peculiar characteristics (dharmalakshana) of the dharmas that make up the world that appears in human ideation. According to Faxiang teaching, there are five categories of dharmas: 8 mental dharmas (chittadharma), comprising the 5 sense consciousnesses, cognition, the cognitive faculty, and the store consciousness; 51 mental functions or capacities, dispositions, and activities (chaitashikadharma); 11 elements concerned with material forms or appearances (rupa-dharma); 24 things, situations, and processes not associated with the mind—e.g., time, becoming (chittaviprayuktasamskara); and 6 noncreated or nonconditioned elements (asamskritadharma)—e.g., space or suchness (tathata).
In Chengweishi lun (“Treatise on the Establishment of the Doctrine Consciousness Only”), Xuanzang explained how there can be a common empirical world for different individuals who construct or ideate particular objects and who possess distinct bodies and sensory systems. According to Xuanzang, the universal “seeds” in the store consciousness account for the common appearance of things, and particular “seeds” account for the differences.
According to traditional accounts, Faxiang was first taken to Japan by Dōshō, a Japanese priest who visited China, studied under Xuanzang, and established the teaching (now called Hossō) at Gangō Monastery. It was also taken there by other priests, Japanese and Korean, who studied in China under Xuanzang, Kuiji, or their disciples. Thus, the Japanese claim to have received the Hossō teaching in a direct line from its originators, and it continues to have a living and significant role in Japanese Buddhism.
Avatamsaka (Huayan/Kegon)
Unlike the Faxiang (Hossō) school, which concentrated on the differentiating characteristics of things and the separation of facts and principles, the Avatamsaka school (called Huayan in China, Kegon in Japan) stressed the sameness of things, the presence of absolute reality in them, and the identity of facts and ultimate principles. It took its name from the Mahavaipulya-Buddhavatamsaka-sutra (“The Great and Vast Buddha Garland Sutra”), often called simply the Avatamsaka-sutra (“Wreath Sutra” or “Garland Sutra”).
According to legend, the Avatamsaka-sutra was first preached by the buddha Vairochanashortly after his enlightenment but was replaced with simpler doctrines because it proved incomprehensible to his hearers. The sutra tells of the pilgrimage of a young man in a quest to realize dharma-dhatu (“totality” or “universal principle”). Three Chinese versions and one Sanskrit original (the Gandavyuha), which contains the last section only, are extant. There is no trace of an Indian sectarian development, and the school is known only in its Chinese and Japanese forms.
The forerunner of the Avatamsaka or Huayan school in China was the Dilun school, which was based on the Shiyidijing lun or Dilun, an early 6th-century translation of the Dashabhumika-sutra (“Sutra on the 10 Stages”). Since this work, which concerns the path of a bodhisattva to Buddhahood, was part of the Avatamsaka-sutra (which came to circulate independently), Dilun adherents readily joined the Huayan school that was established in the late 6th century (?) by Dushun (Fashun), the first patriarch (died 640). The real founder of the school, however, was the third patriarch, Fazang (also called Xianshou; died 712), who systematized its teachings; hence, it is sometimes called the Xianshou school. The school developed further under Fazang’s student Chengguan (died c. 820 or c. 838), who wrote important commentaries on the Avatamsaka-sutra. After the death of the fifth and final patriarch, Zongmi, in 841, Huayan declined because of the general suppression of Buddhism in China in 845. Despite its decline, the school greatly influenced the development of neo-Confucianism (a significant movement in Chinese thought beginning in the 11th century) and is regarded by many as the most highly developed form of Chinese Buddhist thought.
The Avatamsaka school was introduced into Japan by pupils of Fazang and by an Avatamsaka missionary from central India during the period from about 725 to 740. Known in Japan as the Kegon school, it has exerted an important influence in Japanese Buddhism that has continued to the present day.
The school’s most significant doctrine is the theory of causation by dharma-dhatu(“totality” or “universal principle”), according to which all elements arise simultaneously, the whole of things creates itself, ultimate principles and concrete manifestations are interfused, and the manifestations are mutually identical. Thus, in Fazang’s Essay on the Golden Lion, written for the empress Wu Hou, gold is the essential nature or principle (Chinese: li), and lion is the particular manifestation or form (Chinese: shi; literally, “event”). Moreover, as gold, each part or particle expresses the whole lion and is identical with every other part or particle. This model suggests that all phenomena in the universe are expressions of the ultimate suchness or voidness while at the same time retaining their phenomenal character; each phenomenon is both “all” and “one.” All the constituents of the world (the dharmas) are interdependent and possess a sixfold nature: universality, speciality, similarity, diversity, integration, and differentiation.
The ideal expressed in this doctrine is a harmonious totality of things leading to the perfectly enlightened buddha. The buddha nature is present potentially in all things. There are an infinite number of buddhas and buddha realms. There are myriads of buddhas in every grain of sand and a buddha realm at the tip of a hair.
The universe is fourfold: a world of factual, practical reality; a world of principle or theory; a world of principle and facts harmonized; and a world of factual realities interwoven and mutually identified. The first three aspects are the particular emphases of other Buddhist schools. The fourth aspect—emphasizing the harmonious whole—is the distinctive doctrine that represents the perfect knowledge that was attained by the buddha Vairochana and is communicated in the Avatamsaka-sutra.
Tiantai/Tendai
The school known as Tiantai in China and Tendai in Japan is one of the most important schools in Chinese and Japanese Buddhism. It is significant for its doctrines, which in many respects are similar to those of the Huayan/Kegon school, and for its influence on devotion. The school’s doctrines and practices are focused on the Indian or Central Asian Saddharmapundarika-sutra (“Lotus of the True Law Sutra”) as well as on the Mahaparinirvana and Mahaprajnaparamita-sutras.
Sometimes called Lotus (Fahua in Chinese; Hokke in Japanese), this school, which apparently had no separate development in India, took its name from the mountain in southeastern China where the basic interpretation of the Lotus Sutra was first propounded in the 6th century. The origins of the school, however, are to be found in the early 5th century when the original text of the Sanskrit sutra was translated into Chinese by Kumarajiva and was then taught in North China by the monks and first patriarchs, Huiwen and Huisi. The latter’s student Zhiyi, who established a famous monastery on Mount Tiantai(“Heavenly Terrace”), is regarded as the true founder of the school because he propounded the systematic interpretation of Lotus doctrines that came to be widely accepted. His interpretation spread to Japan in the early 9th century, where Saichō (known posthumously as Dengyō Daishi), a Buddhist priest who studied the teachings first in Japan and then on Mount Tiantai, founded a Japanese Tendai school. He also founded a monastery on Mount Hiei that became one of Japan’s greatest centres of Buddhist learning.
Along with the Vajrayana Buddhist school of Shingon, with which it was closely connected, Tendai became one of the most important influences on Japanese religious culture. Tendai has been markedly syncretistic, incorporating the teachings of various Buddhist schools and those of Shintō, the indigenous Japanese religion, into its traditions.
The Lotus Sutra, which is recognized by Tiantai and Tendai as the locus of the most exalted Buddhist teaching, emphasizes the notion of the one way (or “vehicle” or “career”) for attaining salvation (Buddhahood). It claims to be the definitive and complete teaching of the Buddha, who is depicted as a transcendent eternal being, preaching to arhats, gods, bodhisattvas, and other figures, using all sorts of sermons, lectures, imaginative parables, and miracles. The Lotus is an object of devotion in this school, and those who preach, recite, or hear it are believed to accrue religious merit.
In the Lotus the three ways of salvation supposedly preached by the Buddha are adjusted to the level and situation of the hearers: shravakayana, the way of the disciples (shravakas), appropriate for becoming an arhat; pratyeka-buddhayana, the way of those who aim at salvation for themselves alone; and bodhisattvayana, the way of those (the bodhisattvas) who, on the point of attaining salvation, give it up to work for the salvation of all other beings. All are forms of the one way, the buddhayana, and the aim for all is to become a buddha.
The Tiantai/Tendai tradition divides the Buddha’s teachings into five periods. The first immediately followed the Buddha’s enlightenment, when, without success, he preached the Avatamsaka-sutra. The second is the so-called Deer Park period, when he preached the Agamas (Theravada scriptures) to those with ordinary human capacities. In the third or Fangdeng (“broad and equal”) period, he preached the Vaipulya or early Mahayana teachings, which were intended for all persons. During the fourth period he preached the Mahaprajnaparamita doctrines concerning absolute voidness and the falsity of all distinctions. Finally, in the Saddharmapundarika and Mahaparinirvana (“Wisdom”) period, he taught the identity of contrasts, the unity of the three “vehicles,” and the ultimate authority of the Lotus Sutra.
Central to Tiantai/Tendai doctrine is the threefold truth principle (following Nagarjuna’s [?] commentary on the Mahaprajnaparamita), according to which all things are void, without substantial reality; all things have temporary existence; and all things are in the mean or middle state, synthesizing voidness and temporary existence, being both at once. The three truths are a harmonious unity, mutually including one another, and the mean or middle truth is equivalent to the absolute suchness. The world of temporary appearances is thus the same as absolute reality.
Tiantai/Tendai propounds an elaborate cosmology of 3,000 realms. There are 10 basic realms, respectively, of buddhas, bodhisattvas, pratyeka buddhas, shravakas, heavenly beings, fighting spirits (asuras), human beings, hungry spirits or ghosts (pretas), beasts, and depraved hellish beings. Each realm, however, includes the other 9 and their characteristics, and counting these together thus yields 100 realms. Each of these in turn is characterized by the 10 features of suchness manifested through phenomena—form, nature, substance, power, action, cause, condition, effect, compensation, and ultimacy—which thus brings the total to 1,000 realms. Finally, each of these realms is divided into living beings, space, and the aggregates (skandhas); hence, the whole of things consists of 3,000 realms.
Those realms interpenetrate one another and are immanent in one moment of thought: “one thought is the three thousand worlds.” The universe is not produced by thought or consciousness but is manifest in it, as is the absolute suchness: hence, the central importance of concentration (zhi) and insight (guan) that leads to a realization of the unity of things and their manifestation of the ultimate.
The main text of the Pure Land schools is the Sukhavativyuha-sutra (“Pure Land Sutra”). Written in northwestern India probably before the beginning of the 2nd century CE, the Sukhavativyuha exists in two original versions, a longer one that emphasizes good works and a shorter version that emphasizes faith and devotion alone. This sutra tells of a monk, Dharmakara, who heard the preaching of Lokeshvararaja Buddha aeons ago and asked to become a buddha. After millions of years of study, Dharmakara vowed, among other things, to establish a Pure or Happy Land (Sanskrit: Sukhavati; Chinese: Qingtu; Japanese: Jōdo), also known as the Western Paradise, if he achieved Buddhahood. In this Pure Land no evil would exist, the people would be long-lived, they would receive whatever they desired, and from there they might attain nirvana. Dharmakara then revealed in a series of 48 vows the means by which this Pure Land can be reached. Several vows emphasize meditation and good works on earth as a prerequisite, but the 18th one (a famous vow in the later development of Pure Land schools) states that, if one merely calls the name of the Buddha at the moment of death, then one will be reborn in the Pure Land.
Great bronze Amida (1252; Daibutsu) at Kamakura, Japan.Asuka-en, Japan
Dharmakara, it is believed, attained Buddhahood and is known as the buddha Amitabha(Sanskrit: “Infinite Light”; Chinese: Emituofo; Japanese: Amida) or the buddha Amitayus (Sanskrit: “Infinite Lifespan”). He is flanked in the Pure Land he created in fulfillment of his vows by Avalokiteshvara (Chinese: Guanyin; Japanese: Kannon) on his left and Mahasthamaprapta on his right, who assist Amitabha in bringing the faithful to salvation.
By the 3rd century CE, the Amitabhist doctrine had spread from India to China, where a school based on it gradually became the most popular form of Buddhism. Followers of the Tendai school took Amitabhist teachings to Japan, where they attempted to weld the many sects of Buddhism into one system. By the 13th century CE, the Pure Land sect had separated from the Tendai school and spread among the common people of Japan through the work of two outstanding figures, Hōnen and Shinran.
The basic doctrines of the Pure Land schools emphasize the importance of devotion. Pure Land leaders teach that a person reaches salvation not by individual effort or the accumulation of merit but through faith in the grace of the buddha Amitabha. The main practice of those who follow the Pure Land teachings is not the study of the texts or meditation on the Buddha but rather the constant invocation of the name Amitabha, a practice based on the 18th vow of Dharmakara. Furthermore, in Pure Land Buddhism the attainment of nirvana is not the most prominent goal; it is rather to become reborn in the Pure Land of Amitabha.
These doctrines and the practice of invoking the name Amitabha—called nembutsu in Japanese and nianfo in Chinese—became popular in China and Japan, where it was believed that the world had reached the decadent age, the so-called “latter days of the law” in which Buddhist doctrines were unclear and humans lacked the purity of heart or determination to attain salvation by their efforts. Therefore, the only hope was to be saved by the grace of Amitabha. This doctrine of grace became more and more radical, until individual actions were said by some to play no part in the attainment of salvation.
Tanluan and the other 6th–7th-century Chinese Pure Land patriarchs, Daochuo and Shandao, were among those who rejected the role of works in salvation. Originally a follower of Daoism, Tanluan, while searching for the elixir of immortality, was converted to the Pure Land doctrine by an Indian monk. Dedicating his life to the spread of this doctrine, Tanluan preached the invocation of the name Amitabha and declared that even evil persons were eligible for the Pure Land if they sincerely uttered the nembutsu. He warned, however, that the lowest hell awaited those who reviled the Buddhist dharma.
Tanluan was followed by Daochuo, who argued that, because his was the age of the final decline predicted in Buddhist scriptures, people must take the “easy path” to salvation. They must trust Amitabha completely, for they are no longer able to follow the more difficult path of the saints. His disciple Shandao, believed by some Japanese Pure Land adherents to be the incarnation of Amida, shaped the doctrines of the later forms of Pure Land Buddhism. He distributed many copies of the Pure Land Sutra and wrote a commentary in which he taught that rebirth in the Western Paradise is made possible by invoking Amida. The nembutsu must be supplemented, however, by the chanting of sutras, meditation on the Buddha, worshiping of buddha images, and singing his praises.
The work of Shandao inspired Hōnen, the founder of the Pure Land sect (Jōdo-shu) in Japan, to declare that in this evil period people must put complete faith in the saving grace of Amida and constantly invoke his name. Hōnen expressed his beliefs in the treatise Senchaku hongan nembutsu-shu (1198), which was popular among the common people, as were his teachings generally. The treatise was burned by the monks of Mount Hiei, and his teachings were vigorously opposed by the established Buddhist priesthood. Indeed, opposition to Hōnen was so great that his rivals forced him into exile from 1206 to 1211.
Hōnen’s disciple Shinran, who was exiled at the same time, was the founder of True Pure Land (Jōdo Shinshu or Shin), a more radical Amida school. Shinran married with Hōnen’s consent, which thus suggests that one need not be a monk to attain the Pure Land. In Shinran’s teachings, which he popularized by preaching in Japanese villages, he rejected all sutras except the Pure Land Sutra, as well as the vows of Dharmakara in that sutra that stress individual merit. Basing his doctrines on the 18th vow, Shinran discouraged any attempt to accumulate merit, for he felt that this stood in the way of absolute faith and dependence on Amida. Furthermore, he rejected Hōnen’s practice of continual invocation of Amida, believing that the nembutsu need be said only once in order to attain salvation and that repetition of it should be regarded as praise of Amida and not as affecting one’s salvation. Thus, Shinran established the total ascendancy of the doctrine of grace. He also founded what would become the Shin school, the largest single Buddhist school in contemporary Japan. Throughout its history the Shin school has actively promoted music, dance, and drama and, since the late 19th century, has engaged in extensive educational and social welfare programs.
A third Pure Land sect grew up around the itinerant teacher Ippen. He traveled throughout Japan, advocating the chanting of Amida’s name at set intervals throughout the day; hence, his school was called the Ji (“Times”) school, or Jishū.
Like the Lotus Sutra and Pure Land schools, the indigenous Japanese Nichiren school focuses on the “Lotus of the True Law Sutra” and emphasizes fervent faith and the repetition of a key phrase. Unlike other schools that were named after a book or doctrine, the Nichiren school is unique in that it is named after its founder, Nichiren (1222–82). The son of a poor fisherman, Nichiren became a monk at an early age and studied at Mount Hiei, the centre of the Tendai school. He was frustrated by the many paths of Buddhism promising salvation and left Mount Hiei to search for the true path. When he emerged from his independent studies, he taught that the Lotus Sutra (Saddharmapundarika-sutra) contains the final and supreme teaching of the Buddha Shakyamuni and offers the only true way to salvation.
According to Nichiren, the three forms of the Buddha—the universal or law body (dharmakaya), the enjoyment body (sambhogakaya), and the phenomenal body (nirmanakaya)—are important aspects of the Buddha Shakyamuni and should be granted equal respect. Following the teaching of Zhiyi, the Chinese founder of Tiantai/Tendai, that the Lotus Sutra is the essence of Buddhism, Nichiren held that this same buddha nature was possessed by all people and could be realized only by proper worship of the Lotus Sutra. Furthermore, like the Pure Land Buddhists, Nichiren felt that his time, which was marked by political upheaval and unrest, was the period of degeneration known in the Lotus Sutra as the time of the latter-day dharma (mappō), when the purity of Buddhist doctrines could be kept only by the bodhisattvas. Nichiren identified himself as an incarnation of several of them, especially Vishistacaritra (Japanese: Jōgyō), the bodhisattva of supreme conduct. Nichiren believed that his distinctive bodhisattva mission was to propagate the true teachings of the Lotus Sutra in Japan, where he believed the regeneration of the Buddhist dharma would occur.
In attempting to guide Japan to the Buddhist dharma as he interpreted it, Nichiren drew great criticism for his strong-willed and uncompromising attitude. In one treatise Nichiren wrote that the unrest in Japan was caused by the chaotic state of religious belief, a condition that could be corrected only by adopting the teachings of the Lotus Sutra. He taught that if people turned to this sutra, they would realize their true buddha nature, perceive that suffering is illusion, and see that this world is a paradise. If human beings—i.e., the Japanese—did not follow the teachings of the Lotus Sutra, however, natural disasters and invasions would result. Moreover, Nichiren, confident of the righteousness of his cause, attacked the Shingon and Amida Buddhist groups for neglecting Shakyamuni, the true Buddha of the Lotus Sutra; and he attacked Zen for placing stress only upon Shakyamuni’s historical form. He went so far as to declare that “the Nembutsu is hell, Zen is a devil, Shingon is the nation’s ruin.” These sharp criticisms led Nichiren to be exiled twice and almost brought his execution, from which he was—according to his own account and the belief of his adherents—miraculously saved.
Nichiren advocated two main religious practices. The first is the worship of the honzon (or gohonzon), a mandala (symbolic diagram) designed by Nichiren, which represents both the buddha nature that is in all humans and the three forms of the Buddha Shakyamuni. The second is the daimoku (Japanese: “sacred title”), the repetition—both orally and in every action of the believer—of the phrase “Namu Myōhō renge kyō" (Japanese: “Salvation to the Lotus Sutra”) to affirm belief in the teaching and efficacy of the Lotus Sutra. Nichiren also taught that there should be a sacred place of ordination (Japanese: kaidan) where the believer could receive training in the doctrines of the Lotus Sutra. This sacred place might be seen as wherever the believer in the Lotus Sutra lives, for there is the Buddhist truth. The honzon, daimoku, and kaidan, “the three great secret laws” (or “mysteries”), are regarded as the essential teaching of Nichiren.
Nichiren’s fervent faith brought him wide fame and many devotees, and at his death he chose six disciples to continue his work. They developed the Nichiren-shu (Japanese: “School of Nichiren”), which still controls the main temple founded by Nichiren at Mount Minobu. One of his disciples, Nikkō, established the Nichiren shō-shū (Japanese: “True School of Nichiren”), which taught that Nichiren, not Shakyamuni, was the saviour and that the mandala painted by Nichiren was alone efficacious in saving mankind. In the 20th century these schools gained many devotees.
Within the Nichiren-shū the Reiyū-kai (Japanese: “Association of the Friend of the Spirit”) arose in 1925. This group, which preaches a combination of ancestor worship and Nichiren’s doctrines, places faith not in the Buddha or in bodhisattvas but in the mandala, in which all saving power is concentrated. The Risshō-Kōsei-kai (Japanese: “Society for Establishing Righteousness and Friendly Relations”), which split from Reiyū-kai in 1938, teaches the recitation of the daimoku as an affirmation of faith in the teaching of the Lotus Sutra and the worship of the Buddha Shakyamuni. Like Reiyū-kai, it also allows the veneration of ancestral spirits.
Risshō-Kōsei-kai gained many converts after World War II, but its success was soon eclipsed by Sōka-gakkai (Japanese: “Value Creation Society”), the lay movement of Nichiren Shōshū. Founded by Makiguchi Tsunesaburō (1871–1944) in 1930, Sōka-gakkai was dedicated to educational research and the extension of Nichiren Shōshū. Its founder insisted on the practical values of worldly gain and happiness as well as the attainment of goodness, beauty, and world peace; he taught that Nichiren was to be worshiped as the True Buddha predicted in the Lotus Sutra. The members also fervently practice daimoku and worship the honzon as the repository of the power of all buddhas and bodhisattvas. After World War II, Sōka-gakkai, under the leadership of Toda Jōsei (1900–58), grew rapidly through a technique of evangelism called shakubuku (Japanese: “break and subdue”), in which the resistance of the other person is destroyed by forceful argument. Although its practice of shakubuku was curtailed by Ikeda Daisaku, the society’s third president, Sōka-gakkai continued to grow throughout the second half of the 20th century and expanded into other countries, including the United States. Thus, Nichiren’s teaching and personality are still strong influences today.
The Dhyana (Sanskrit: “Meditation”; Chinese: Chan; Japanese: Zen) school of Buddhism emphasizes meditation as the way to awareness of ultimate reality, an important practice of Buddhism from its origin in India and one found in other Indian schools, such as Yogachara. Chan, which was also influenced by Daoism, promotes special meditation training techniques and doctrines. Despite Indian influences, Chan is generally considered a specifically Chinese product, a view reinforced by the fact that 4th–5th-century Chinese Buddhist monks, such as Huiyuan and Sengzhao, taught beliefs and practices similar to those of the Chan school before the traditional date of its arrival in China.
Most Chinese texts name a South Indian monk, Bodhidharma, who arrived in China about 520 CE, as the founder of the Chan school. Bodhidharma is regarded as the first Chan patriarch and the 28th patriarch of the Indian meditation school. The Indian school began with the monk Kashyapa, who received Buddha Shakyamuni’s supreme teaching, which is found in the Lankavatara-sutra (“Descent to the Island of Lanka”). The sutra teaches that all beings possess a buddha nature, often equated with shunya (Sanskrit: “the void”) in Chan, and that realization of this fact is enlightenment (Chinese: Wu; Japanese: satori). The truly enlightened one cannot explain this ultimate truth or reality, nor can books, words, concepts, or teachers, for it is beyond the ordinary duality of subject and object and must be realized in direct personal experience.
Bodhidharma was succeeded as patriarch of the Chan school by Huike, and this line of transmission continued to the fifth patriarch, Hengren, in the 7th century. After Hengren’s death a schism occurred between the adherents of the Northern school of Shenxiu, which held that enlightenment must be attained gradually, and the Southern school of Huineng, which taught that true wisdom, as undifferentiated, must be attained suddenly and spontaneously. Huineng’s Southern school claimed to de-emphasize rituals and the study of texts and to rely on teaching passed from master to pupil. Some proponents of the Southern school also adopted an iconoclastic attitude toward the Buddha, maintaining that if all things contain the buddha nature, then the Buddha could rightfully be equated with a dung heap. The Southern school overcame its rival, and standard Chinese Chan texts therefore name Huineng as the true and only sixth patriarch. Huineng’s Liuzu Tanching(Chinese: “Platform Scripture of the Sixth Patriarch”) became a key text of the Chan school.
In the 9th century, the Linzi (Japanese: Rinzai) and Caodong (Japanese: Sōtō) branches of the Southern school emerged. The former relied heavily on the gong’an (Japanese: koan), a paradoxical question or aphorism that was intended to reveal that all conceptualization is wrong and thus leads to enlightenment. The gong’an was often accompanied by shouts and slaps from the master to provoke anxiety in the student and, from this, an instant realization of the truth. The Caodong/Sōtō school emphasized the practice of “silent illumination” or “just sitting” (Chinese: zuochan; Japanese: zazen), which involved sitting in silent meditation under the direction of a master and purging the mind of all notions and concepts.
Both schools followed the doctrine of Huaihai, who taught that a monk who would not work should not eat and that work (as well as everything else) should be done spontaneously and naturally. The emphasis on work made the Chan schools self-sufficient and saved them from the worst effects of the government purge of supposedly parasitic Buddhist monks in 845. The emphasis on spontaneity and naturalness stimulated the development of a Chan aesthetic that profoundly influenced later Chinese painting and writing. The relative success of the Chan tradition in subsequent Chinese history is demonstrated by the fact that virtually all Chinese monks eventually came to belong to one of the two Chan lineages.
Chan (Zen) Buddhism was introduced into Japan as early as the 7th century but flowered only in the 12th and 13th centuries, most notably in the work of the monks Eisai and Dōgen. Eisai, founder of the Rinzai school in the 12th century and a Tendai monk, wished to restore pure Buddhism to Japan and with that aim visited China. When he returned, he taught a system of meditation based on the use of the koan phrases. Unlike the Chan schools, Eisai taught that Zen should defend the state and could observe ceremonial rules and offer prayers and incantations. These teachings influenced the warrior class and led to a Zen influence on the martial arts of archery and swordsmanship. Zen influence can also be seen in the Noh theatre, poetry, flower arrangement, and the tea ceremony, all of which stress grace and spontaneity.
Dōgen, who established the Sōtō school in Japan in the 13th century, joined the Tendai monastery of Mount Hiei at an early age, after the death of his mother and father taught him the transitoriness of life. Unfulfilled by his experience at Mount Tendai, Dōgen sought the true path of Buddhism and may have studied with Eisai for a time. Like Eisai, whom he held in high esteem, Dōgen went to China, where he fell under the influence of a Chinese Chan master. Upon his return to Japan, he taught the discipline of “sitting straight” (Japanese: zazen), the practice of meditation in the cross-legged (lotus) position. For Dōgen, practice and enlightenment were intertwined; in zazen the buddha nature in each person is discovered. Unlike many of his Chinese counterparts, however, Dōgen studied scriptures and criticized those who did not.
The Zen sects of Eisai and Dōgen have deeply influenced Japanese culture and continue to play a significant role in contemporary Japan. By the mid-20th century, Zen had become one of the best-known of the Buddhist schools in the Western world.
Vajrayana (Tantric or Esoteric) Buddhism
Mystical practices and esoteric sects are found in all forms of Buddhism. The mystical tendency that Buddhism inherited from Indian religion became increasingly pronounced. Following the codification of the Theravada canon—which according to tradition emerged orally shortly after the Buddha’s death and was written down by the late 1st century BCE—and the subsequent emergence of Mahayana (1st century CE), this mystical element slowly developed into discrete schools of thought. Buddhist mysticism (including the philosophical school of Chan), like other forms of mysticism, insists on the ineffability of the mystical experience, because it is not intelligible to anyone who has not had a similar experience. Mystical knowledge is not intellectual but is “felt knowledge” that views things in a different perspective and gives them new significance. The experience is both ineffable and timeless, which means that the mystic seems to be outside time and space, oblivious to his surroundings and the passage of time.
Early Buddhist mysticism was concerned with the emptying of subjective being, considered to be the greatest obstacle to the individual’s spiritual growth. This passing into a new dimension of reality is described in terms of a flame going out. In this emptying process the limits of the individual’s being are supposedly transcended. The experience of this new dimension of reality is a vision that goes far beyond the reach of “mere logic” and normal perception.
While Theravada Buddhism was analytic in its attempt to free reality from the imposition of subjectivity, Mahayana extended the analytic process to objective reality. In its rejection of subjectivism and objectivism, it emphasized the nature of reality-as-such, which was experienced in enlightenment (Pali and Sanskrit: bodhi). While the various philosophical trends associated with Mahayana dealt with the intellectual problem of reality, the tantras (Sanskrit: “treatises”), which form the distinctive literature of Vajrayana Buddhism, dealt with the existential problem of what it is like or how it feels to attain the highest goal.
Vajrayana Buddhism in India
Origins
Vajrayana (Sanskrit: “Diamond Vehicle” or “Thunderbolt Vehicle”) or Mantrayana (Sanskrit: “Path of the Sacred Formulas”), also known as Tantric Buddhism, first emerged in various parts of India and Sri Lanka. The esoteric nature of Tantric doctrine and practice makes identifying the origins of the Vajrayana school difficult, but some Buddhist traditions associate them with Nagarjuna and Asanga and therefore suggest that Vajrayana began to develop quietly in the 2nd or 4th century CE. Vajrayana was prominent in India and Tibet, and a form of it, which does not seem to have emphasized sexoyogic practices, spread to China and then to Japan, where it became associated with the Tendai and Shingon schools.
Although Vajrayana texts describe numerous yogic or contemplative stages that must be experienced before enlightenment can be achieved, they preserve the Mahayanaidentification of nirvana and samsara as a basic truth. Moreover, Vajrayana teaches that nirvana as shunyata (“voidness”) is one side of a polarity that must be complemented by karuna (“compassion of the bodhisattva”). Shunyata, according to the Vajrayana tradition, is the passive wisdom (prajna) that possesses an absolutely indestructible or diamond-like (vajra) nature beyond all duality, and karuna is the means (upaya) or dynamic aspect of the world. Enlightenment arises when these seeming opposites are understood to be one. This realization, which is known experientially and not cognitively, is portrayed in Vajrayana imagery and practice as the union of the passive female deity, which signifies wisdom or voidness, with the dynamic male, signifying compassion without attachment. Such a union, yab-yum (Tibetan: “father-mother”), is a symbol of the unity of opposites that brings the “great bliss,” or enlightenment.
Vajrayana Buddhists believe that, as all things are in truth of one nature—the void—physical-mental processes can be used as a vehicle for enlightenment. According to the Kalachakra-tanta, the Buddha taught that, in this age of degeneration, enlightenment must be achieved through the body, which contains the whole cosmos. Vajrayana specialists warn, however, that the first step toward enlightenment is taken by undergoing instruction by a master who has been initiated into the mysteries and can teach the correct use of the body’s process. The master directs every step so that the pupil learns to control mental and physical processes instead of being dominated by them.
The master, it is believed, leads the student to compassion through meditation on the transitoriness of life, the relation of cause and effect of one’s actions, and the suffering of humanity. After sympathy for human suffering has been aroused, the student is taught yogic, or contemplative, exercises that help to produce inner experiences corresponding to the various stages of spiritual growth. Advancement toward enlightenment involves the identification of the initiate with deities that represent various cosmic forces. These gods are first visualized with the help of mudras (meditative gestures and postures), mantras(sacred syllables and phrases), and icons portrayed in a mandala, all of which are believed to possess the essence of the divinities to be invoked. After this visualization the initiate identifies with the divinities and finds that each in turn is shunyata (“voidness”).
According to Vajrayana traditions, the culmination of this process, called vajrasattva yoga, gives the initiate a diamond-like body beyond all duality. The four stages in the process are described in four different groups of tantras (the Kriya-tantra, Charya-tantra, Yoga-tantra, and Anuttarayoga-tantra) that are compared with the fourfold phases of courtship (the exchange of glances, a pleasing or encouraging smile, the holding of hands, and consummation in the sexual act). The first stage involves external ritual acts, and the second combines these outward acts with contemplation. The third stage involves only contemplation, and the fourth is the unification of all dualities in the sexual act, symbolically or effectively. The last stage is divided into two phases. In the first the initiate uses controlled imagination to experience the union on an ideational level. The second phase is the maithuna, or sexual coupling. Unlike the ordinary sexual act, which gives only momentary pleasure, the maithuna is considered a technique to attain enlightenment and eternal bliss because the initiate has already realized the voidness of all things, allowing perfect control over emotions and a complete absence of attachment.
These Vajrayana practices have been condemned by some Buddhists and some modern scholars as degenerate, a view ostensibly borne out by the Guhyasamaja-tantra, which states that adultery and eating of human flesh are actions of the bodhisattva. Vajrayana practices and the imagery of its texts, however, were designed to shock the complacencyand self-righteousness of more traditional Buddhists. Moreover, the imagery of the texts was based on the belief that voidness alone exists and that it is beyond good or evil in the usual sense. The imagery is also based on the belief that any acts that bring about this realization are acts that benefit the practitioner and all sentient beings.
Vajrayana literature
The tantras, the genre of texts unique to the Vajrayana tradition, are written in a highly figurative and symbolic language to enable individual spiritual development. Because of this symbolic character, the tantras have usually been kept secret, and a literalist interpretation of such texts has usually failed to make any sense out of them.
The Guhyasamaja-tantra (“Treatise on the Sum Total of Mysteries”), also called the Tathagataguhyaka (“The Mystery of Tathagatahood [Buddhahood]”), is the earliest-known tantra and is traditionally ascribed to Asanga (c. 4th century CE), the renowned Indian scholar and propounder of the Yogachara philosophy. Unlike most tantras, which do not explain the technical or symbolic terms that they employ, the Guhyasamaja-tantra devotes a very long chapter to the elucidation of these terms.
An important feature of all tantras is a polarity symbolism, which appears on the physical level as the union of male and female, on the ethical level as the union of beneficial activity and an appreciation of what there is as it is, and on the philosophical level as the synthesis of absolute reality and absolute compassion. The richness of this symbolism is apparent in the opening of the Guhyasamaja, where the absolute, which is depicted as a polarity, manifests itself in various mandalas (circular diagrams that have both a psychological and a cosmic reference), each related to one of the celestial buddhas—Akshobhya, Vairochana, Ratnasambhava, Amitabha, and Amoghasiddhi. Each of these buddhas again represents a polarity that is often portrayed in iconographic works through their union with female consorts.
The tantras may emphasize either “beneficial activity” or “appreciative awareness” or their “unity,” and, therefore, Tantric literature has been divided into the so-called Father Tantra (emphasizing activity), the Mother Tantra (emphasizing appreciation), and the Nondual Tantra (dealing with both aspects unitively). The original Sanskrit versions of most of these works have been lost, but their influence is noticeable in works such as Jnanasiddhi(“Attainment of Knowledge”) by the great Vajrayana teacher Indrabhuti (c. 687–717), Prajnopayavinishchayasiddhi (“The Realization of the Certitude of Appreciative Awareness and Ethical Action”) by the 8th-century writer Anangavajra, and the songs of the 84 mahasiddhas (“masters of miraculous powers,” who were considered to have attained the Vajrayana goal). One of the last Sanskrit works to have been written in Central Asia was the Kalachakra-tantra (“Wheel of Time”), which probably entered India in 966 CE. It taught that the Adi-Buddha—primeval Buddhahood—manifested itself as a continuum of time (kala) and space (chakra).
Vajrayana Schools in Tibet
When Tibet was converted to Buddhism (7th to 11th century), the most dynamic form in India was Vajrayana; thus, it was this tradition that became established in Tibet. Little is known about the early stages of the conversion (7th to 9th century), however, and the role of Vajrayana in the conversion before the 11th century, when several identifiable schools emerged, remains unclear.
Tibetan Buddhist monk reading with handbell in Lamayuru Monastery, Ladakh, India.© Robert Frerck from TSW—CLICK/Chicago
Among the Vajrayana schools of Tibet and neighbouring regions, the Rnying-ma-pa claims to preserve most purely the teachings of Padmasambhava, the 8th-century Indian miracleworker who helped convert Tibet by using his magical prowess, it is believed, to quell the local demons. The Rnying-ma-pa makes fuller use than any other school of the “discovered” texts of Padmasambhava. These texts are believed to have been hidden since the early 9th century, when persecution began in Tibet, and their discovery began in the 11th century and continued until the late 20th century. Their importance to this school is reinforced by the Rnying-ma-pa notion that “hidden treasure” has strong spiritual and historical overtones.
The Rnying-ma-pa order divides Buddhist teaching into nine progressively superior groups and subdivides the tantras in a manner different from that of other Vajrayana schools. The six groups of tantras are: Kriya, or ritual; Upayoga, which involves the convergence of the two truths and meditation on the pentad of buddhas; Yoga, which involves the evocation of the god, the identification of the self with the god, and meditation on the mandala; Mahayoga, which involves meditation on the factors of human consciousness (skandhas) as divine forms; Anuyoga, which involves secret initiation into the presence of the god and his consort and meditation on “voidness” in order to destroy the illusory nature of things; and Atiyoga, which involves meditation on the union of the god and his consort, leading to the experience of bliss. Members of the order believe that those initiated into the Kriya can attain Buddhahood after seven lives, the Upayoga after five lives, the Yoga after three lives, the Mahayoga in the next existence, the Anuyoga at death, and the Atiyoga in the present existence.
One of the most profound thinkers of the Rnying-ma-pa tradition, Klong-chen rab-’byams-pa (1308–64), is the author of the Klong-chen-mdzod-bdun (Tibetan: “Seven Treasures of Klong-chen”). In modern times Mi-’pham of Khams (1846–1914) wrote important Vajrayana commentaries on the canonical texts.
Sa-skya-pa, Bka’-brgyud-pa, and related schools
Several Tibetan schools that developed during the 11th and 12th centuries traced their lineage back several centuries to particular Indian Vajrayana saints. The Sa-skya-pa and the Bka’-brgyud-pa orders were the most prominent, and they gave rise to many others, including the descendant of Bka’-brgyud-pa, the Karma-pa (Tibetan: “Black Hat”), which has its major centre at the monastery of Mtshur-phu.
Although the Sa-skya-pa order traces its lineage back to Virupa, its founder was the Tibetan ’Brog-mi (992–1072), who went to India and received training in the Vajrayana. The order places great emphasis on the Hevajra-tantra, which ’Brog-mi translated into Tibetan.
The Sa-skya-pa order had an important impact on the society around it. The order produced many great translators, and its scholars also contributed original works on Vajrayana philosophy and linguistics. On the ecclesiastical and political level, the order sometimes exerted considerable power. During the 13th century, for example, the Sa-skya-pa abbot ’Phags-pa (1235–80?) initiated Kublai Khan (founder of the Yuan, or Mongol, dynasty in China) into the tradition of the Hevajra-tantra. ’Phags-pa was then appointed dishi (Chinese: “imperial preceptor”) and invested with the authority to govern Tibet, though under the control of the Mongol court.
The Bka’-brgyud-pa school developed from the teachings of the Indian master Tilopa, who transmitted them to the Indian yogi Naropa, the master of Mar-pa, the 11th-century householder-teacher, who was in turn the master of Mi-la-ras-pa (1040–1123). The school preserved a collection of songs attributed to the founder and a hagiographic account of his life. Sgam-po-pa (1079–1153), who was Mi-la-ras-pa’s greatest disciple, systematized the school’s teaching and established the basis for its further development. His most famous work, Thar-rgyan (Tibetan: “The Jewel Ornament of Liberation”), is one of the earliest examples of the Tibetan and Mongolian Vajrayana literary tradition Lam Rim (Tibetan: “Stages on the Path”), which presents Buddhist teachings in terms of gradations in a soteriological process leading to the attainment of Buddhahood.
Bka’-brgyud-pa teachers stressed the exercises of hatha yoga and posited as the supreme goal the mahamudra (“the great seal”), or the overcoming of dichotomous thought in the emptiness of Buddhahood. The Bka’-brgyud-pa made frequent reference to the “Six Teachings of Naropa,” which set forth techniques for attaining enlightenment, either in this life or at the moment of death. These techniques are associated with self-produced heat (the voluntary raising of the body temperature), the illusory body, dreams, the experience of light, the state of existence intermediate between death and rebirth (Tibetan: Bardo), and the movement from one existence to another.
The Bka’-gdams-pa and Dge-lugs-pa
The Bka’-gdams-pa school was founded by ’Brom-ston (c. 1008–c. 1064), who based his school’s teachings on those of Atisha (an Indian monk who went to Tibet in the 11th century). The school produced the Bka’-gdams gces-bsdus (Tibetan: “Collection of the Sayings of the Bka’-gdams-pa Saints”), which preserves the poetic utterances of the founder’s disciples. The central practice of the school was the purification of the mind, which required the elimination of intellectual and moral blemishes in order to obtain a clear vision of emptiness (Sanskrit: shunyata). The school relied on the Prajnaparamita and made use of mantras. It was absorbed in the 15th century by the reform movement that became the Dge-lugs-pa school.
Members of the Dge-lugs-pa (Gelugpa; the “Virtuous”) are commonly known as Yellow Hats, in reference to the colour of their head cover. Their founder, Tsong-kha-pa, attended the important Sa-skya-pa, Bka’-brgyud-pa, and Bka’-gdams-pa schools, and his own school is considered the continuation of the Bka’-gdams-pa. Tsong-kha-pa initiated monastic reforms in response to what he deemed a general laxity of morals, increasingly less-rigorous observance of monastic rules, and deviations in the interpretation of the tantras. He imposed respect for the traditional rules of the Vinaya and reemphasized dogmatics and logic as aids to salvation. His treatise, the Lam-rim chen-mo (Tibetan: “The Great Gradual Path”), based on the Bodhipathapradipa by Atisha, presents a process of mental purification ascending through 10 spiritual levels (bhumi) that lead to Buddhahood. The essential points of such a process are the state of quiescence and the state of enhancedvision.
Tsong-kha-pa instituted regular debates at monasteries. Competing monks sought to reach, by means of formal logic and in the presence of an abbot of great learning, an unassailable conclusion on a chosen topic. Various ranks of monks were established on the basis of examinations, the highest being that of dge-bshes (Tibetan: “philosopher”).
The attention to doctrinal and logical problems did not exclude interest in the tantras, and Tsong-kha-pa’s Sngags-rim chen-mo (Tibetan: “The Great Gradual Tantric Path”) deals with Tantric ritual. Tantric initiation, however, was open only to students who had already acquired extensive learning. The literature of the Dge-lugs-pa is enormous, including the gigantic collections of the Dalai and Panchen lamas, both of whom are members of this school.
The Dge-lugs-pa assert that the nature of the mind element is light, which constitutes the cognitive capacity. The continuum of each person, therefore, is a thinking and luminous energy, which is in either a coarse or a subtle state, the latter state being achieved only after purification through meditation and contemplation.
During the 7th, 8th, and 9th centuries, Indian Vajrayana Buddhism spread to Southeast Asia and East Asia. In East Asia, it became established in the Zhenyan (“True Word”) school in China and in the Tendai and Shingon schools in Japan.
Zhenyan
According to the Zhenyan tradition, Vajrayana Buddhism was taken from India to China by three missionary monks who translated the basic Zhenyan texts. The first monk, Shubhakarasimha, arrived in China in 716, and he translated the Mahavairochana-sutraand a closely related ritual compendium, the Susiddhikara, into Chinese. The other two monks, Vajrabodhi and his disciple Amoghavajra, arrived in 720 and produced two abridged translations of the Sarvatathagatatattvasamgraha (“Symposium of Truth of All the Buddhas”), also known as the Tattvasamgraha.
Between the arrival of Shubhakarasimha and the great persecution of 845, the Zhenyan school enjoyed amazing success. The tradition of Shubhakarasimha and the Mahavairochana-sutra merged with that of Vajrabodhi and the Tattvasamgraha. The Chinese disciples of this new tradition, such as Huiguo, contributed to an emerging Zhenyan synthesis. The combination of sophisticated doctrinal instruction and miracle-working powers supposedly conferred by the esoteric rituals enabled Zhenyan leaders to gain the confidence of the court, especially of Emperor Daizong (762–779/780), who rejected Daoism in favour of Zhenyan Buddhism.
Although Zhenyan lost its position of prominence in China after the persecution of 845, it maintained spiritual vitality and communal visibility through the Song dynasty (960–1279). Moreover, the Zhenyan school contributed a great deal that has endured in the larger fabric of Chinese religion.
Although Vajrayana Buddhism played a much greater role in China than is usually recognized, it was in Japan that it became most influential. Esoteric elements, called taimitsu in Japanese, have been an important element in the Japanese Tendai school, which was founded by the monk Saichō (764–822), who studied with Zhenyan and Tiantai masters in China. The most systematized and elaborated expressions of the Vajrayana tradition, however, were developed in the Shingon school, the Japanese version of Zhenyan.
Heigen Temple, Kawasaki, Japan, dedicated to Kūkai, founder of the Shingon sect of Buddhism.Photos Pack
The founder of the Shingon school in Japan was Kūkai, better known by his posthumous name, Kōbō Daishi (Japanese: “Great Master Who Understood the Dharma”). An exceptional scholar, poet, painter, and calligrapher, he wrote a treatise comparing Confucian, Daoist,and Buddhist thought and naming the latter as superior. Although trained for government service, he experienced a change of heart and became a Buddhist monk. Like many monks in pursuit of the pure Buddhist doctrine, he journeyed to China, where he met the master Huiguo, who recognized Kūkai’s potential and taught him Zhenyan Buddhism. After the death of Huiguo, Kūkai returned to Japan, where he received many governmental honours and established a monastery on Mount Kōya as the centre of Shingon Buddhism.
In propagating the teachings of his school, Kūkai wrote many important texts, including the Jūjū shinron (Japanese: “The Ten Stages of Consciousness”). In this work Kūkai presented a model of the development of the spiritual life that arranged Buddhist teachings and those of other religions into a hierarchical system. He taught that the first stage of human spiritual development was one in which humans are controlled by their instincts. In the second stage, which Kūkai identifies with Confucian teachings, human beings attempt to live a proper moral existence. The third stage, in which the individual strives for supernatural powers and heavenly rewards, is that of Brahmanism and Daoism. The fourth and fifth stages of spiritual development are taught by the Hinayana schools and are characterized by the striving for self-enlightenment. Stages six to nine, identified with the Mahayanist teachings of Hossō, Sanron, Tendai, and Kegon, lead the individual to compassion for others. The zenith of spiritual development is identified by Kūkai with the esoteric teachings of Shingon.
The Shingon school claimed that its doctrine was the purest because it was not based on the teachings of the historical Buddha, Shakyamuni, who expounded his doctrine with the limitations of his audience in mind, but on the timeless and immutable teachings of the Buddha in his dharmakaya, or cosmic body. This buddha, named Mahavairochana, was felt to be beyond all earthly dualism and impurity but at the same instant to be within all things as their buddha nature.
In Shingon the realization that one’s own buddha nature is identical with Mahavairochana is enlightenment. This enlightenment, as depicted in Kūkai’s treatise Sokushin-jōbutsugi(Japanese: “The Doctrine of Becoming a Buddha with One’s Body During One’s Earthly Existence”), can be achieved in this world while possessing a human body. To achieve this enlightened state, however, the aspirant must receive the secret doctrine of Shingon orally and directly from a Shingon master. The truth that the master reveals is founded on the ritual mysteries of the body, speech, and mind; these mysteries invoke cosmic forces embodied in the buddhas and bodhisattvas with which the aspirant identifies before becoming one with Mahavairochana. The experience of the mystery of the body involves the use of mudras: devotional gestures of the hands and fingers, postures of meditation, and the handling of such sacred instruments as the vajra (“thunderbolt” or “diamond”) and the lotus. The mystery of speech involves the recitation of dharanis or mantras, mystical verses and sounds believed to be the essence of the cosmic forces with which one wishes to commune. Attaining the mystery of the mind involves yogic contemplation of and absorption in the buddha Mahavairochana and his attendants.
The aspirant is further helped in his quest to identify his buddha nature with the Cosmic Buddha by means of two mandalas, often placed on the Shingon altar. The mandalas, believed to contain all the power of the cosmos, were drawn in accordance with the teaching of Huiguo, who maintained that the buddha Mahavairochana’s doctrines were so profound that their meanings could be conveyed only in art. One mandala, called the “Diamond Mandala” (based on the Tattvasamgraha and known in Japanese as kongō-kai), portrays the buddha Mahavairochana sitting upon a white lotus in deep contemplation, surrounded by the buddhas of the four regions. This symbolizes Mahavairochana’s indestructible, immutable, or potential aspect. The second mandala, called the “Womb Mandala of Great Compassion” (based on the Mahavairochana-sutra and known in Japanese as taizō-kai), reveals Mahavairochana sitting on a red lotus surrounded by innumerable buddhas, bodhisattvas, and Indian gods, with consorts. This represents the Cosmic Buddha’s dynamic manifestation in which he is immanent in everything. It was believed that, by meditating correctly on these two mandalas, the aspirant would realize the unity beyond the diversity of the world.
The emphasis of Shingon upon ritual, symbolism, and iconography, coupled with the government’s praise of Kūkai and the bestowal upon him of the shrine for the protection of the country, made Shingon very popular in Japan. Shingon’s popularity was a cause of the growth of Ryōbu Shintō (Japanese: “Two Aspects Shintō”), which identified Shintō kami(object of worship or sacred power) with bodhisattvas. Moreover, believing that Shingon rites controlled the forces of the cosmos, many people used them to ward off evil and bring supernatural help in everyday life. While this combination of esoteric Buddhism with more this-worldly concerns caused schisms, Shingon maintains its position as one of Japan’s strongest Buddhist schools.
Myth in Buddhism is used at various intellectual levels in order to give symbolic and sometimes quasi-historical expression to religious teachings. Accepted on its own terms, Buddhism is a supernatural religion in the sense that, without a buddha to reveal them, the truths remain unknown. Only after human beings have received the Buddha’s revelationcan they proceed apparently by their own efforts. This teaching was explicit in the early schools, in which the revelation was still thought of as historically related to Shakyamuni’s mission in the world. Gradually some Buddhists developed the idea of the Buddha’s continuous revelation and gracious assistance, deriving from his glorified state of time-transcending enlightenment. Thus, the comparatively simple mythology of the great Buddha myth developed into the far more elaborate tradition of Mahayana.
The acceptance of the mythology, whether early or fully developed, has been a crucial factor in the development of Buddhism. Without the rich mythology associated with the Buddha, the religion collapses, and nothing is left but a demythologized, supposedly historical figure in whom it makes little sense to “take refuge.” He becomes a wandering ascetic of ancient India, like many others, and the appeal and growth of his religion has no adequate explanation. It was therefore the extraordinary combination of the historical Shakyamuni and the mythology that became associated with him that set the great religion known as Buddhism on its historical course.
In Buddhism myth is continually used at second or even third remove to bolster the primary Buddha myth. These subsidiary forms include, for example, stories about the recitation of the Buddhist canon soon after Shakyamuni’s decease, details of his previous lives, and descriptions of the six spheres of rebirth. Some Buddhist traditions take these subsidiary myths more seriously than others, and in each tradition there are also variations among individual adherents. But, even for those Buddhists who are most skeptical, the myths associated with the Buddha and his saving activity remain central and useful.
Shakyamuni in literature and art
Traditional literary accounts
The traditional biographies of the Buddha Shakyamuni all derive ultimately from early Indian extracanonical rearrangements of the still-earlier scattered canonical accounts of his great acts. The best-known of the Indian “biographies” are the Sanskrit works the Mahavastu (“Great Story”), the Buddhacharita (“Poetic Discourse on the Acts of the Buddha”), and the Lalitavistara (“Detailed Narration on the Sport [of the Buddha]”); the Chinese Abhiniskramana-sutra (“Discourse on the Going Forth”), translated from an Indian original; and the Pali introduction to the Jatakas, the Nidanakantha (“Account of the Origins”), as well as the commentary on the Buddhavamsa (“Chronicle of the Buddhas”). These early works grew out of earlier traditions, and ascertaining the dates of their final versions helps in no way to estimate the actual age or reliability of much of the material they contain. All that can be said is that this material agrees substantially with the earliest-known fragmentary canonical accounts and that, once presented in biographical form, there are only minor variations in the “national” versions of the story. The later Sinhalese, Thai, Myanmar (Burmese), and Cambodian stories are all firmly based on the earlier Pali versions. The Koreans and Japanese derived their accounts directly from the Chinese, who in turn derived their traditions, via Central Asia, from Indian sources. The Tibetans developed their versions from the same earlier Indian versions. The biography of Shakyamuni included by the Tibetan historian Bu-ston (1290–1364) in his Chos ’byung(“History of Buddhism”) differs from other traditional accounts only by its listing of the later Mahayana doctrines as part of Shakyamuni’s teachings on earth. All in all, the unity of the mythological and quasi-historical interpretations of the life and death of the “historical” Buddha, in whatever Buddhist country they have been retold, remains impressive.
The kernel of truth in the claim of the Theravadin Buddhists of Sri Lanka and mainland Southeast Asia to represent unadulterated “original Buddhism” derives from the fact that they have remained faithful to the early enthusiastic acclamation of Shakyamuni as the one and only Buddha of the present dispensation. Although other buddhas were recognized from a very early date, the attention of the early community was focused almost exclusively on the person and activities of Shakyamuni.
All the early canonical accounts agree in describing Shakyamuni’s experience of enlightenment as a definitive victory over Mara, the Evil One, and as resulting in a threefold knowledge: that of his own previous births, that of the births and deaths of all other sentient beings, and that of the saving insight that brings final release from the whole unhappy process. Moreover, Shakyamuni was acclaimed Mahamuni (“Great Sage”) and Bhagavat (“Lord”) in the texts not because he achieved a state of spiritual equilibrium in the context of ordinary existence but because he attained the supramundane state of nirvana. There are no textual indications that he was ever regarded by his followers as a kind of Socratic sage; on the contrary, he was thought to be a perfected yogi who possessed miraculous powers and divine insight, combined with an extraordinary concern for the spiritual advancement of others. Thus, from the first his state of enlightenment, or Buddhahood, was recognized as lokottara (“transcendent”) and as the transientembodiment of supramundane knowledge. Shakyamuni was identified with the pre-Buddhist Indian myth of the Mahapurusha (“Great Man”). As a Great Man, he could have become a universal monarch, but he chose instead the even higher career for which a Great Man was also prepared—the career of a universal religious teacher.
According to one very important early text, Shakyamuni was accepted as the seventh in a series of previous buddhas. His contemporary Mahavira, leader of the Jains, was linked to a similar series of 24 great religious figures. The essential mythical idea consists not in the numbers but in the notion of a necessary soteriological lineage. The title Tathagata, probably meaning “he who has thus attained,” was regularly used by Shakyamuni to refer to himself. Had it not been for his utter confidence in his achievement, his religious movement would doubtless have died with him.
Not only do buddhas appear at more or less regular intervals, but the final appearance of any buddha is the culmination of a whole series of previous lives, characterized by gradual advancement toward enlightenment. The belief accords well with the worldview of the region in which Buddhism originated, and it may be supposed that Shakyamuni believed this of himself. In any case, the earliest-known Buddhist tradition most certainly presented him as so believing. Building on this basis, many stories of events in his previous lives became very popular, some drawn from various folk traditions, others having a more distinctively Buddhist flavour. These stories have played an extraordinarily important role in Buddhist teaching and art.
The fundamental myth, however, was sometimes supplemented by later additions. One such addition concerns Mara, who represented the force of spiritual evil that Shakyamuni was conscious of having confronted and overcome. Mara is explicitly identified as Concupiscence and as Death, the twin foes of all those who strive toward the tranquil and immortal state of nirvana. At the same time, Mara is identified with various demons and evil spirits, and the texts usually describe him in these terms. The definitive victory over Mara, on whatever spiritual or popular level it may be understood, remains an inalienable element of the myth. It is just as important as the belief, universally attested in the earliest traditions of all Buddhists, in the omniscience and the miraculous powers of Shakyamuni.
Since Shakyamuni’s followers were interested in him as a marvelous being and as a transcendent Buddha, historical reminiscences that were preserved in the story are incidental to the recounting of such things as the great acts of his previous lives, his miraculous birth in his last life, the drama of his final enlightenment while sitting under the pipal tree, his stupendous decision to convert and save others (as symbolized by his first sermon in the Deer Park near Varanasi [Benares]), and his final decease at Kushinara.
Shakyamuni in art and archaeology
The primary Buddhist monument, both in early and present-day Buddhism, is the stupa, originally a reliquary mound or tumulus. Although the cult of the stupa is attested archaeologically only from the 3rd century BCE onward, the canonical tradition links this cult to the great events associated with Shakyamuni’s decease. Mythologically, the stupa is the supreme symbol of the Buddha in his fully realized state beyond the bonds of mortality. Carved stonework preserved from the 2nd century BCE onward, especially from the ancient stupas of Bharhut and Sanchi in India, reveals the great Buddha myth in visual form. The scenes on these stupas depict not only the great events of the Buddha’s last life but also those of his previous births as well.
Buddha assaulted by Mara and his demon horde, high-relief sculpture from Gandhara; in the Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde, Leiden, Netherlands.Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde, Leiden, Netherlands
In the earliest period symbols were used to represent the figure of the Buddha in scenes from his life as Shakyamuni—a tree indicating his enlightenment, a wheel his first preaching, and a miniature stupa his final nirvana—because the sanctity of his being was thought to be too great to be portrayed physically. The tree cult involved ancient pre-Buddhist traditions that coalesced with the act of the enlightenment as performed beneath the pipal or bodhi tree (Ficus religiosa). The wheel was the symbol both of the universal monarch and of the Buddha as universal guide and teacher. The stupa cult, with its extraordinary preoccupation with human relics, may have been a special Buddhist development related to the belief in nirvana as a supramundane state. It is in marked contrast to the usual Hindu (Brahmanic) horror of mortal remains as unclean.
ShakyamuniShakyamuni, wood sculpture with lacquer, inlaid glass, and gilding, from Myanmar (Burma), 18th–19th century; in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.Photograph by Beesnest McClain. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, gift from Doris Duke's Southeast Asian Art Collection, M.2003.231.3a-b
Sculptural representations of the Buddha appeared in northwestern India from about the 1st century BCE, and stereotyped images of him soon became the model for use throughout Asia. Common types of Buddha image are those that represent his calling the earth to witness against Mara by touching it with the fingertips of the right hand, the meditating Buddha protected by a cobra’s hood, and the Buddha lying on his right side as he enters final nirvana. The Buddha protected by a cobra’s hood represents a coalescing of the Buddha myth with the pre-Buddhist cult of snakes as protecting divinities (the naga cult) and derives from a legend in which the Buddha was protected from a rainstorm by a great naga king named
Mucilinda.
ShakyamuniBuddha Shakyamuni, metal, copper alloy with traces of paint, Uttar Pradesh, India, late 6th century; in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.Photograph by Howard Cheng. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, gift of the Michael J. Connell Foundation, M.70.17
Reclining Buddha statue, Ajanta Caves, north-central Maharashtra state, India.© davidevison/FotoliThe Buddha image was adapted to all the main scenes of Shakyamuni’s life. While the later stupas in India and Southeast Asia achieved ever-greater artistic splendour, they remained the symbols of Shakyamuni’s transcendence and preserved the iconographic traditions concerning scenes from his previous lives as well as his last life. Famous examples are Amaravati in South India, dating from about the 3rd century CE (some of its stone carvings are preserved in the British Museum), and Borobudur, which was built in Java between 778 and 850 CE and embodies Mahayana (and perhaps Vajrayana) components in its symbolic structure. It also displays the close association between later developments and the great Buddha myth of Shakyamuni.
ShakyamuniSeated Buddha Shakyamuni, gilt bronze, China, Liao dynasty, 965–1025; in the Brooklyn Museum, New York.Photograph by Katie Chao. Brooklyn Museum, New York, gift of the Asian Art Council in memory of Mahmood T. Diba; Mary Smith Dorward Fund, 1999.42
Temples and monasteries hewn out of rock were used by Buddhists at least from the 2nd century BCE until the 8th century CE and probably later. Early cave monasteries, famous for their temples with internal stupas set in a kind of sanctuary, are Bhaja, Bhedsa, and Karli, all within reach of Mumbai (Bombay). Other cave monasteries famous for the development of the iconography of the Buddha are Kanheri (near Mumbai), Nasik, Ellora, and, especially, Ajanta, which contains fine murals dating from the 1st century BCE to the 9th century CE. These mainly represent Shakyamuni in his last life and in his previous lives as a compassionate bodhisattva. Magnificent cave temples and monasteries were established in many other Buddhist areas, especially in China.
The iconographic traditions of Shakyamuni thrive to this day chiefly in Sri Lanka and the Southeast Asian countries where Theravada Buddhism prevails. In the Mahayana countries of Nepal, Tibet, China, Japan, Mongolia, and Korea, the same iconographic traditions are observed whenever an image or painting of Shakyamuni is required. So long as Buddhism remains, the visual representations of Shakyamuni will continue to be meaningful.
Shakyamuni attended by animalsBuddha Shakyamuni attended by animals in the Parileyaka forest, metal sculpture of gilt copper alloy with lacquer, from Thailand, late 19th century; in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. 115.57 × 51.44 × 47.63 cm.Photograph by Howard Cheng. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Mrs. James E. Bentley Bequest, AC1993.53.1
Celestial buddhas and bodhisattvas
Literary references
The starting point of all the later-developed traditions of the Buddha was the great Buddha myth. The early idea of a series of buddhas in time, first 7 and later 24, soon allowed for the idea of a future buddha Maitreya, whose cult became popular throughout the Buddhist world. Next came the tendency to focus attention on other buddhas in buddha lands distributed through endless space.
In the Indian context the most important of the new buddhas that came to be recognized were gradually systematized into a set of five Celestial or Dhyani Buddhas. The buddha who was usually placed at the centre of the group was Vairochana, the Illuminator, the universal sage or chakravartin buddha. He is often depicted using the gesture of preaching or by the symbol of the wheel of dharma. The buddha of the east, Akshobhya (the Imperturbable), is iconographically associated with Shakyamuni in the “earth-witness” posture. The cult of the Imperturbable buddha probably derives from the cult at Bodh Gaya, the historical place of the Buddha’s enlightenment. The buddha of the south was Ratnasambhava, the Jewel-Born, who represents the Buddha’s selfless giving, indicated by the gesture of giving gifts—right hand open, pointing outward and downward. Amitabha was the buddha of the western paradise, around whom an important devotional cult developed. The buddha of the north was Amoghasiddhi, “Infallible Success,” who represents the Buddha’s miraculous power to save, indicated by the hand gesture of giving protection—right hand raised, palm outward and pointing upward. These five celestial buddhas seem—in the early stages of their development—to have been celestial manifestations of various aspects of Shakyamuni.
Ratnasambhava, the Dhyani Buddha of the south, surrounded by the eight mahabodhisattvas, Nepalese painting.Holle Verlag
Two of these buddhas developed an important mythology and cult of their own quite apart from their role in the group of five Dhyani Buddhas. The first of these was Amitabha, the great buddha who presided over the western paradise and became the central figure in the traditions of Pure Land Buddhism. The Pure Land tradition, which probably began in northwestern India about the beginning of the Common Era, was most successful in China and Japan, where it became the dominant Buddhist tradition. The second of the five great buddha figures with a very important independent history was Vairochana. This “central” buddha developed an important role throughout the Buddhist world and emerged as the central buddha figure in the Vajrayana traditions of Japan, particularly Shingon.
The Dhyani Buddhas prepared the way for the psychophysical theories of the tantras. The five were associated with the centre and four compass points, namely, the macrocosm, conceived as a unity of the Five Great Elements. They were also identified with the microcosm of the human personality understood in terms of the Five Components (skandhas)—rupa (materiality or form), vedana (feelings of pleasure or pain or the absence of either), samjna (cognitive perception), samskara (the forces that condition the psychic activity of an individual), and vijnana (consciousness)—and with the Five Great Evils (ignorance, wrath, desire, malignity, and envy), typifying normal phenomenal existence. At this stage mythology and psychological symbolization are inextricably bound together.
In the tantras, Buddhist mythology overlapped with Hindu mythology. Akshobhya, for example, acquires a fierce Tantric form that is reminiscent of the fierce form of the Hindu god Shiva; in this form he became known by the Buddhist names Heruka, Hevajra, or Samvara. He is known in Japan in this guise as Fudō (“Imperturbable”). The Indian god Bhairava, a fierce bull-headed divinity, was adopted by Tantric Buddhists as Vajrabhairava. Also called Yamantaka (“Slayer of Death”) and identified as the fierce expression of the gentle Manjushri, he was accorded quasi-buddha rank.
The bodhisattvas also developed manifold forms. Maitreya, the buddha-yet-to-come, was already known prior to the beginning of the Common Era and became the focus of a major devotional cult that spread across Asia. This early cult seems to have prepared the way for the Pure Land traditions involving Amitabha, which gradually superseded it. From the 1st century CE onward, a number of other celestial bodhisattvas were recognized, and cults of various kinds developed around them. Bodhisattvas who became popular included Manjughosha (“Gentle Voice”) or Manjushri (“Glorious Gentle One”), the representative of divine wisdom, and Vajrapani, “the one who wields the ritual thunderbolt [vajra]” and who, as lord of yakshas (a class of local Indian divinities), entered the pantheon as a great protector.
Avalokiteshvara, the lord of compassion, first appeared in India and subsequently became an important figure in virtually every Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhist tradition. He was recognized as the great patron of Tibet, who is believed to reincarnate in each of the Dalai Lamas. As Guanyin in China, Kannon in Japan, and Kwanseium in Korea, this bodhisattva coalesced with his feminine counterpart, Tara, and became a kindly madonna.
The bodhisattva Kshitigarbha (“Womb of the Earth”), who had hardly any significance in India, Nepal, or Tibet, attracted a cult as lord of the underworld in Central Asia. Kshitigarbha and his cult spread to China and other areas of eastern Asia. Known as Dizang in Chinese and Jizō in Japanese, he is lord of hell and therefore became the central figure in important and popular after-death liturgies.
Kshitigarbha, 13th-century Japanese painting on silk; in the Museum of East Asian Art, State Museums, Berlin.Courtesy of the Museum für Ostasiatische Kunst, Staatliche Museen, Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin/Art Resource, New York
Art and archaeology
It is mainly from artistic and archaeological remains that scholars have been able to trace the remarkable spread of Mahayana Buddhist mythology throughout Asia from the 1st century CE onward. The main points of departure for this mythology were northwestern India and the Bay of Bengal, especially the port of Tamralipti. Early Mahayana developments also affected South India, Sri Lanka, and Southeast Asia.
In India itself Bihar and Bengal remained Buddhist, largely late Mahayana and Vajrayana, until the 13th century. In Java and Sumatra there is iconographic evidence of the popularity of the buddhas, bodhisattvas, and fierce quasi-buddha figures mentioned above. There are even traces in Myanmar, Thailand, and Cambodia of images and paintings of late Mahayana and Vajrayana divinities. In Southeast Asia the island of Bali retains a living but mixed Hindu-Vajrayana Buddhist culture.
Paintings and figures unearthed during the 20th century in Central Asia (Chinese Turkistan) revealed the manner in which Buddhist architecture, iconography, and painting passed from northwestern India to China and East Asia. Especially important are the paintings of buddhas and bodhisattvas in the caves of Dunhuang (4th to 10th century CE). These paintings reveal the popularity in China, Japan, and Korea of Amitabha-Amitayus, Vairochana, Maitreya, Manjushri, Kshitigarbha, and Avalokiteshvara (as the goddess Guanyin).
Bodhisattva, detail of a painted mural, mid-5th century, Bei (Northern) Wei dynasty, in cave 272, Dunhuang, Gansu province, China.Chen Zhi'an/ChinaStock Photo Library
The main repository of Indian Mahayana and Vajrayana iconographic traditions is Tibet, where Buddhism was introduced from the 8th to the 13th century. Until the communist takeover of 1959, the Tibetans preserved and developed Indian (Pala) styles of iconography. They also preserved ancient techniques and styles of Indian Buddhist painting that were modified and enriched in some schools by much later influence from China.
Recurrent mythic themes
Mythic figures in the Three Worlds cosmology
In the early Buddhist tradition, Gautama is represented as denying the importance of questions concerning the nature of the universe. It was enough to realize that normal existence consists of a process of continual birth, death, and rebirth, a process from which, by following the path the Buddha discovered, one might achieve release. If the early texts are correct, however, such an ordinance did not prevent the Buddha, and certainly did not prevent his followers, from accepting the general cosmological beliefs of the time, modified by conclusions drawn from the Buddha’s own teachings.
The cosmology, as it was systematized in the Buddhist tradition, included an infinitenumber of cosmos, all of which have the same structure. Each cosmos has three different realms, each of which is within the confines of samsara (the ongoing cycle of birth, death, and rebirth) and is regulated more or less strictly by the law of karma, according to which good and pious deeds are rewarded while evil and impious deeds are punished.
At the top of the cosmos is the arupa-loka (Pali and Sanskrit: “realm of formlessness”), in which the most-exalted brahma deities live and in which there are neither material qualities nor mythological activity. The brahma deities who are associated with the next-lower level, called rupa-loka (Pali and Sanskrit: “realm of material form”), do have a role in Buddhist mythology, particularly in the cosmogony through which the lower strata of the cosmos are restored after the eschatological cataclysms that periodically destroy them. According to an influential version of the primary creation myth, found in the Agganna-sutta, certain brahma deities whose abode was above the destruction begin—as the waters that are left from the old cataclysm start to coagulate below them—to savour the taste of the matter that constitutes these lower strata. As the strata take form, these brahma deities gradually descend into the lower realms and eventually become the first inhabitants of the new earth, from whom all humans descend.
Below the realms of the brahma deities is the kama-loka (Pali and Sanskrit: “the realm of desire”). This realm includes a set of six gatis (“destinies”) that have played an important role as a setting for mythology in virtually all Buddhist traditions in Asia. The highest of these six destinies is that of the devatas (though both gods and goddesses are included among the devatas, the goddesses generally have a secondary role). Within this destiny there are many heavens, each inhabited by many deities. Mythologically, the most important are the Tushita Heaven, where the future buddha Maitreya awaits the time for his coming to earth; the Heaven of the Thirty-three Gods, which is presided over by Inda (Sanskrit: Indra; sometimes called Sakka [Sanskrit: Shakra], a deity who plays a significant mythological role); and the Heaven of the Four Guardian Kings, protective deities who are found in many Buddhist myths.
The second of the gatis is the destiny occupied by human beings. The Agganna-suttacontinues the story of creation by recounting the process through which the primal people devolved from their original idyllic earthly situation. Human vices and human conflicts emerge until a king called Mahasammata (“Great Elect”) is chosen to keep the peace and slow the pace of decline. Beyond this story of the beginnings of social life, the human realm is the locus for a myriad of widely diversified mythic stories about pious monks, nuns, kings, and other laypersons.
The third gati is the destiny of the asuras (“demons”), who in Indian mythology are the traditional enemies of the devas or devatas, though in the Buddhist mythology they generally play a limited role. (In fact, in some contexts the gati of the asuras is omitted from the system.) The fourth gati—the destiny of the animals—provides the setting for stories about many fabulous creatures, including nagas (mythical snakes), Garuda (a mythical bird), lions, and elephants.
The two remaining gatis, those of the pretas (“hungry ghosts”) and the hell beings, are mythically important in two respects. The descriptions provided of the punishments that are inflicted in these realms are very vivid indeed. In addition, there are widely distributed and well-known mythic stories of compassionate bodhisattvas and Buddhist saints who make journeys to these gatis to assuage the torment of those who suffer and to secure their release.
In different areas of Asia, new gods, goddesses, and demons were incorporated into the cosmology (for example, in Southeast Asia the great Hindu gods Vishnu and Shiva were often depicted as devas). Despite these new mythic contents, however, the classic cosmological structure was kept remarkably intact.
Local gods and demons
Although the contemplative elite may deny the real existence of gods and demons together with the rest of phenomenal existence, the majority of Buddhists have preserved indigenous religious beliefs and practices. It has already been noted how Mara, the manifestation of spiritual evil, was presented in the earliest literature in terms of local demonological beliefs. It is also the case that the early stupas and entrances to cave temples were decorated with local male and female deities (usually referred to as yakshas and yakshinis) who were seen as converted defenders of the new faith. This proved to be a satisfying way of justifying the continuance of the cult of local deities, and it has been employed in varying degrees in every Buddhist land. Thus, there developed a pantheon of minor deities that continued to take in new members wherever Buddhism was established.
The Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions welcomed these local deities and have admitted some of their cults into the liturgies in honour of buddhas and bodhisattvas. Such favoured deities include Mahakala, the great black divinity; the mother goddess Hariti; Kuvera, the god of wealth; and especially Hayagriva, a fierce horse-faced god who is powerful in driving off unconverted demonic forces. The Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions have also identified local deities as manifestations of various buddhas and bodhisattvas. This process is particularly prominent in Japan, where the identification of buddhas and bodhisattvas with indigenous kami (Japanese: “god” or “spirit”) has included both the great gods (for example, in the identification of the buddha Mahavairochana with the great ancestral Sun goddess, Amaterasu) and the kami of local territories.
In other cases that are equally widespread, local gods and demons have been conquered, converted, and taken into the pantheon or relegated to the periphery (where they may still require propitiation). Perhaps the most interesting example is found in Tibet, where it is commonly believed that Buddhism became established in the 8th century only as the result of the wholesale subjugation of local deities—a subjugation that must, from time to time, be repeated through the performance of rituals marked by their dynamism and ferocity.
In Theravada, Buddhism has had to come to terms with local beliefs. In some cases well-organized pantheons have been built. In Sri Lanka, for example, various local, Hindu, and Buddhist deities hold places within a hierarchy headed by the Buddha himself. In Myanmar the traditional hierarchy of local nats is headed by Thagya Min. Identified with Indra, he becomes a divine protector of Buddhism, who reigns in the Heaven of the Thirty-three Gods.
These neatly organized systems, even where they exist, are, however, only a small part of the story. Throughout the various Theravada countries, a wide variety of deities and spirits have been incorporated into the Buddhist world as the inhabitants of particular realms within the Buddhist cosmos or as the guardians of various images, stupas, and temples. At the same time, there are others who, like the demons of Tibet, remain only partially encompassed within the Buddhist domain.
Female deities
In many Buddhist traditions female deities and spirits have been relegated to minor and secondary positions in the pantheon. Among the Theravadins, for example, it is rare for female deities to play a major role. An important exception is the goddess Pattini, who is a significant figure in the Theravada pantheon in Sri Lanka.
In the Mahayana tradition several female deities became major figures. Notably, Supreme Wisdom (Prajnaparamita) is often personified as the Mother of All Buddhas, who is manifest especially in Maha Maya, the virgin mother of Shakyamuni. Tara, the female saviour, is a much more popular figure who has often been seen as the female counterpart of the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara. In China and Japan, Avalokiteshvara himself gradually assumed a female form. As Guanyin (Japanese: Kannon), Avalokiteshvara became probably the most popular figure in the entire panoply of buddhas and bodhisattvas.
It was, however, in the Vajrayana traditions that female deities became ubiquitous at the highest levels of the pantheon. From the 7th century onward, a riot of female divinities found their way into certain circles of Buddhist yogis, where they were actually represented by women partners in a special kind of sexual yoga (physical and mental discipline). The process was gradually interpreted as an internal form of celibate yoga, for, in accordance with Vajrayana theory, enlightenment is achieved by the union of Wisdom and Method, now conceived of symbolically as female and male. Thus, it became possible to present supreme Buddhahood as the union of a male and female pair and then to represent every celestial buddha or quasi-buddha by a pair of male and female forms. The actual sexual ritual was certainly performed at one time in India and Nepal, seemingly to a very limited extent in Tibet, and perhaps not at all in China and Japan. Nonetheless, this form of Tantric symbolism, with its plethora of female buddhas and quasi-buddhas, has been taken for granted as part of the received tradition of virtually all Vajrayana Buddhists.
The great Buddha myth is a combination of the ideals of universal kingship and universal religious preeminence. This is clearly expressed in the myth of the prophetic utterance of future greatness by the sage Asita, who examined auspicious signs on the infant Gautama and determined that he was a Mahapurusha (a Great Man capable of attaining universal rulership or Buddhahood) who was destined to become a buddha.
According to the Jataka tradition, Gautama, in his penultimate life as Vessantara (Sanskrit: Vishantara), had already realized the perfection of the extraordinary combination of kingship and all-abandoning asceticism. As crown prince, Vessantara was famous for his vast generosity, and, to the despair of his more practical-minded father, he accepted banishment to the forest. There he attained ultimate self-abnegation by giving away his children and his wife, and in some accounts even his own eyes. In the end all the things Vessantara had given up were miraculously restored to him, and, responding to the demands of his countrymen, he returned home to become the best of kings. Similarly, the last life of Gautama, up to the time of his great renunciation, is told entirely as a royal story.
Although the practice of Buddhist religion strictly required withdrawal from the world, or at least renunciation of its pleasures, the Buddha and his followers were eager to win royal support. They needed benefactors, and what better benefactor than a king. Any suggestion of royal benefaction thus resulted in the revival of the “myth” of the vastly generous monarch. Even within the Theravada tradition, the notion of the beneficent king as a bodhisattva has been prominent.
The most famous example of the mythologized kings is the Indian emperor Ashoka, who helped spread Buddhism and became the protagonist in many Buddhist legends. He is credited with having built 84,000 stupas as well as having disseminated Buddhism to neighbouring countries. On a smaller scale, legends embellish the life of King Tissa of Sri Lanka (3rd century BCE), who presided over the arrival of Buddhism. Similar legends developed around other royal supporters of Buddhism, including Prince Shōtoku of Japan (died 622 CE)—whose enthusiasm for Buddhism is genuinely historical—Srong-brtsan-sgam-po of Tibet (died 650 CE), and Tibet’s two other great “kings of religion”: Khri-srong-lde-btsan (reigned 755–797 CE) and Ral-pa-can, who was assassinated in 838 CE.
The great 8th/9th-century stupa of Borobudur in central Java deliberately represents the ruling monarch of Java as a king who exhibited aspirations toward Buddhahood. The king presents himself as the bodhisattva par excellence. The Tibetans developed a similar idea when they identified their reincarnating Dalai Lama as a manifestation of their great patron, the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara. The Manchu emperors of China were regarded as manifestations of the bodhisattva Manjushri.
Borobudur stupa. Buddhist monument in central Java, built in the form of a mandala, late 8th century. The surrounding galleries are decorated with reliefs representing scenes of the life and religious development of the Buddha.Brian Brake—Rapho/Photo Researchers
From early in the history of Buddhism, the Buddha was recognized as a fully perfected yogi who possessed great religious insight and miraculous powers. Among the Buddha’s disciples, Maha Moggallana was especially known for his yogic attainments and magical powers. Notably, he traveled through various cosmic realms, bringing back to the Buddha reports of things that were transpiring in those worlds. In later Theravada accounts Maha Moggallana’s successor, the monk Phra Malai, visited the Tushita Heaven to question the future buddha Maitreya concerning the time when he was to be reborn on earth in order to complete his buddha mission.
At a more general level, the early disciples of Shakyamuni, known as arhats when they achieved perfection, were conceived of as miracle-working yogis and were presented in the early canonical literature in this way. This same ideal was acknowledged in the Theravada tradition, and all Theravada areas have claimed their share of arhats. But it was in Tibet, which drew on the more developed Indian myth of the mahasiddha (Sanskrit: “great yogi”) of the Tantric period (8th to 12th century CE), that this theme was most effusively developed. Especially famous are Padmasambhava (also called Guru Rimpoche), an 8th-century Indian yogi credited with having quelled the evil spirits of Tibet, and Pha-dam-pa Sangs-rgyas (died 1117), a Brahman of South India who became a Buddhist and visited Tibet and possibly China in the 11th century. Doubtless historical, Pha-dam-pa Sangs-rgyas passed out of history into myth with his fantastic powers and equally fantastic longevity. Better known in Europe is the story of the great Tibetan yogi Milarepa (1040–1123).
Early in the history of Chinese Buddhism, the same mythical tendencies appeared. Bodhidharma (6th century), the founder of Chan (Zen) Buddhism, was considered to be an Indian yogi. Subsequently, the ideal of the Buddhist sage, as typified by the arhats, coalesced in Chinese thought with the Daoist immortals (xian) in mythical figures known as lohans. In Japan new mythicized stories developed, some associated with the founders of Japanese schools such as Kūkai and Shinran, others with popular holy men who were the Buddhist counterparts of indigenous shamans and ascetics. Through the continued generation of such new myths and stories, Buddhism was able to move from culture to culture, taking root in each one along the way.
Popular Religious Practices
Like other great religions, Buddhism has generated a wide range of popular practices. Among these, two simple practices are deeply rooted in the experience of the earliest Buddhist community and have remained basic to all Buddhist traditions.
The first is the veneration of the Buddha or other buddhas, bodhisattvas, or saints, which involves showing respect, meditating on the qualities of the Buddha, or giving gifts. Such gifts are often given to the relics of the Buddha, to images made to represent him, and to other traces of his presence, such as places where his footprint can supposedly be seen. After the Buddha’s death the first foci for this sort of veneration seem to have been his relics and the stupas that held them. By the beginning of the Common Era, anthropomorphicimages of the Buddha were being produced, and they took their place alongside relics and stupas as focal points for venerating him. Still later, in the context of the Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions, the veneration of other buddhas and bodhisattvas came to supplement or replace the veneration of the Buddha Gautama. In the course of Buddhist history, the forms have become diverse, but the practice of honouring and even worshiping the Buddha or Buddha figure has remained a central component in all Buddhist traditions.
The second basic practice is the exchange that takes place between monks and laypersons. Like the Buddha himself, the monks embody or represent the higher levels of spiritual achievement, which they make available in various ways to the laity. The laity improve their soteriological condition by giving the monks material gifts that function as sacrificial offerings. Although the exchange is structured differently in each Buddhist tradition, it has remained until recently a component in virtually all forms of Buddhist community life.
Both of these practices appear independently within the tradition. The veneration of the Buddha or Buddha figure is a common ritual often practiced independently of other rituals. Moreover, the dana (Pali: “gift-giving”) ritual of the Theravada tradition and similar exchanges between monks and laypersons are performed independently of other rituals. Both of these practices, however, are embedded in one way or another in virtually all other Buddhist rituals, including calendric rituals, pilgrimage rituals, rites of passage, and protective rites.
Calendric rites and pilgrimage
The four monthly holy days of ancient Buddhism, called uposatha, continue to be observed in the Theravada countries of Southeast Asia. The days—the new moon and full moon days of each lunar month and the eighth day following the new and full moons—originated, according to some scholars, in the fast days that preceded the Vedic soma sacrifices. Buddhist laypersons and monks are expected to perform religious duties during the uposatha days.
The uposatha service typically includes the repetition of the precepts, the offering of flowers to the Buddha image, the recitation of Pali suttas, meditation practices, and a sermon by one of the monks for the benefit of those in attendance. The more pious laymen may vow to observe the eight precepts for the duration of the uposatha. These include the five precepts normally observed by all Buddhists—not to kill, steal, lie, take intoxicants, or commit sexual offenses, which came to entail complete sexual continence—as well as injunctions against eating food after noon, attending entertainments or wearing bodily adornments, and sleeping on a luxurious bed. The monks observe the uposatha days by listening to the recitation by one of their members of the patimokkha, or rules of conduct, contained in the Vinaya Pitaka and by confessing any infractions of the rules they have committed.
Anniversaries
The three major events of the Buddha’s life—his birth, enlightenment, and entrance into final nirvana (parinibbana)—are commemorated in all Buddhist countries but not everywhere on the same day. In Theravada countries the three events are all observed together on Vesak, the full moon day of the sixth lunar month (Vesakha), which usually occurs in May. In Japan and other Mahayana countries, however, the three anniversaries of the Buddha are observed on separate days (in some countries the birth date is April 8, the enlightenment date is December 8, and the death date is February 15). Festival days honouring other buddhas and bodhisattvas of the Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions are also observed, and considerable emphasis is placed on anniversaries connected with the patriarchs of certain schools. Padmasambhava’s anniversary, for example, is especially observed by the Rnying-ma-pa sect in Tibet, and the birthday of Nichiren is celebrated by his followers in Japan.
Interior of the Wat Arun (Temple of the Dawn), Bangkok, Thailand, during Vesak, the festival commemorating the birth, enlightenment, and death of the Buddha.Ewing Galloway
The beginning and end of vassa, the three-month rainy-season retreat from July to October, are two of the major festivals of the year among Theravada Buddhists, particularly in Myanmar, Cambodia, Thailand, and Laos. The retreat has largely been given up by Mahayana Buddhists. It is an accepted practice in countries such as Thailand for a layman to take monastic vows for the vassa period and then to return to lay life. Commonly, the number of years a monk has spent in monastic life is expressed by counting up the number of vassas he has observed.
The end of vassa is marked by joyous celebration, and the following month is a major occasion for presenting gifts to monks and acquiring the consequent merit. The kathina, or robe-offering ceremony, is a public event during this period and usually involves a collectiveeffort by a village, a group of villages, or a company to bestow gifts on an entire monastery. A public feast and display of the robes and other presents on a “wishing tree” are the usual components of the ceremony. The kathina celebration culminates in the making and presentation of the mahakathina (“great robe”), a particularly meritorious gift that requires the cooperation of a number of people who, theoretically at least, must produce it—from spinning the thread to stitching the cloth—in a single day and night. The robe commemorates the act of the Buddha’s mother, who, on hearing that he was about to renounce worldly life, wove his first mendicant robes in one night.
All Souls festival
The importance of the virtues of filial piety and the reverence of ancestors in China and Japan have established Ullambana, or All Souls Day, as one of the major Buddhist festivals in those countries. In China worshipers in Buddhist temples make fachuan (“boats of the law”) out of paper, some very large, which are then burned in the evening. The purpose of the celebration is twofold: to remember the dead and to free those who are suffering as pretas, or hell beings, so that they may ascend to heaven. Under the guidance of Buddhist temples, societies (hui, Youlanhui) are formed to carry out the necessary ceremonies—lanterns are lit, monks are invited to recite sacred verses, and offerings of fruit are made. An 8th-century Indian monk, Amoghavajra, is said to have introduced the ceremony into China, from where it was transmitted to Japan. During the Japanese festival of Bon (Obon), two altars are constructed, one to make offerings to the spirits of dead ancestors and the other to make offerings to the souls of those dead who have no peace. Odorinembutsu (the chanting of invocations accompanied by dancing and singing) and invocations to Amidaare features of the Bon celebrations.
New Year’s and harvest festivals
New Year’s festivals demonstrate Buddhism’s ability to co-opt preexisting local traditions. On the occasion of the New Year, images of the Buddha in some countries are taken in procession through the streets. Worshipers visit Buddhist sanctuaries and circumambulate a stupa or a sacred image, and monks are given food and other gifts. One of the most remarkable examples of the absorption of a local New Year’s celebration in Buddhist practice was the Smonlam festival in Tibet, celebrated on a large scale in Lhasa until the beginning of Chinese communist rule in 1959. The festival was instituted in 1408 by Tsong-kha-pa, the founder of the Dge-lugs-pa sect, who transformed an old custom into a Buddhist festivity. Smonlam took place at the beginning of the winter thaw, when caravans began to set out once again and the hunting season was resumed. The observances included exorcistic ceremonies performed privately within each family to remove evil forces lying in wait for individuals as well as for the community as a whole. They also included propitiatory rites performed to ward off evil such as droughts, epidemics, or hail during the coming year. During the more public propitiatory rites, the sangha cooperated with the laity by invoking the merciful forces that watch over good order, and processions, fireworks, and various amusements created an atmosphere of hopefulness. Through the collaboration of the monastic community and the laity, a general reserve of good karma was accumulated to see everyone through the dangerous moment of passage from the old year to the new.
Harvest festivals also provide Buddhism an opportunity to adopt local customs and adapt them to the Buddhist calendar. The harvest festival celebrated in the Tibetan villages during the eighth lunar month was quite different from the New Year ceremonies. Most commonly, offerings of thanks were made to local deities in rites that were only externally Buddhist. The same interplay between Buddhism and folk tradition is observable elsewhere. At harvest time in Sri Lanka, for example, there is a “first fruits” ceremony that entails offering the Buddha a large bowl of milk and rice. Moreover, an integral part of the harvest celebrations in many Buddhist countries is the sacred performance of an episode in the life of a buddha or a bodhisattva. In Tibet troupes of actors specialize in performances of Buddhist legends. In Thailand the recitation of the story of Phra Wes (Pali: Vessantara) constitutes one of the most important festival events of the agricultural calendar.
Buddhist pilgrimage
Within the first two centuries of the Buddha’s death, pilgrimage had already become an important component in the life of the Buddhist community. Throughout early Buddhist history there were at least four major pilgrimage centres—the place of the Buddha’s birth at Lumbini, the place of his enlightenment at Bodh Gaya, the Deer Park in Varanasi(Benares), where he supposedly preached his first sermon, and the village of Kushinara, which was recognized as the place of his parinibbana (final nirvana or final death).
Prayer flags and pilgrim under the bodhi tree at Bodh Gaya, India, the site of the Buddha's enlightenment.Milt and Joan Mann/CameraMann International
During this period the place of the Buddha’s enlightenment at Bodh Gaya was the most important pilgrimage centre, and it remained so throughout much of Buddhist history. After the collapse of Buddhism in India, however, Bodh Gaya was taken over by Hindugroups and served as a Hindu shrine. In the late 20th century, Buddhist control was partially restored, and Bodh Gaya once again became the major Buddhist pilgrimage site.
During the post-Ashokan period, four other sites in northeastern India became preeminent pilgrimage sites. In addition to these eight primary sites in the Buddhist “homeland,” major pilgrimage centres have emerged in every region or country where Buddhism has been established. Many local temples have their own festivals associated with a relic enshrined there or an event in the life of a sacred figure. Some of these, such as the display of the tooth relic at Kandy, Sri Lanka, are occasions for great celebrations attracting many pilgrims. In many Buddhist countries famous mountains have become sacred sites that draw pilgrims from both near and far. In China, for example, four such mountain sites are especially important: Emei, Wutai, Putuo, and Jiuhua. Each is devoted to a different bodhisattva whose temples and monasteries are located on the mountainside. In many Buddhist regions there are pilgrimages that include stops at a whole series of sacred places. One of the most interesting of these is the Shikoku pilgrimage in Japan, which involves visits to 88 temples located along a route that extends for more than 700 miles (1,130 km).
Buddhist pilgrimages, like those in other religions, are undertaken for a wide range of reasons. For some Buddhists pilgrimage is a discipline that fosters spiritual development; for others it is the fulfillment of a vow made, for example, to facilitate recovery from an illness; and for others it is simply an occasion for travel and enjoyment. Whatever its motivations, pilgrimage remains one of the most important Buddhist practices.
Rites of passage and protective rites
Initiation
Admission to the sangha involves two distinct acts: pabbajja (lower ordination), which consists of renunciation of secular life and acceptance of monastic life as a novice, and upasampada (higher ordination), official consecration as a monk. The evolution of the procedure is not entirely clear; in early times the two acts probably occurred at the same time. Subsequently, the Vinaya established that upasampada, or full acceptance into the monastic community, should not occur before the age of 20, which, if the pabbajjaceremony took place as early as age 8, would mean after 12 years of training. Ordination could not occur without the permission of the aspirant’s parents. The initial Pali formula was “Ehi bhikkhu,” “Come, O monk!”
The rite established in ancient Buddhism remains essentially the same in the Theravada tradition. To be accepted the postulant shaves his hair and beard and dons the yellow robes of the monk. He bows to the abbot or senior monk, to whom he makes his petition for admittance, and then seats himself with legs crossed and hands folded, pronouncing three times the formula of the Triple Refuge—“I take refuge in the Buddha, I take refuge in the dhamma, I take refuge in the sangha.” He repeats after the officiating monk the Ten Precepts and vows to observe them. Thereafter, in the presence of at least 10 monks (fewer in some cases), the postulant is questioned in detail by the abbot—as to the name of the master under whom he studied, whether he is free of faults and defects that would prevent his admission, and whether he has committed any infamous sins, is diseased, is mutilated, or is in debt. The abbot, when satisfied, thrice proposes acceptance of the petition; the chapter’s silence signifies consent. Nuns were once ordained in basically the same way, though the ordination of a nun required the presence of monks in order to be recognized as valid.
Bodhisattva vows
In Mahayana Buddhism new rituals were added to the ceremony of ordination prescribed by the Pali Vinaya. The declaration of the Triple Refuge is as central an assertion as ever, but special emphasis is placed on the candidate’s intention to achieve enlightenment and his undertaking of the vow to become a bodhisattva. Five monks are required for the ordination: the head monk, one who guards the ceremony, a master of secrets (the esotericteachings, such as mantras), and two assisting officiants.
Abhisheka
The esoteric content of Vajrayana tradition requires a more complex consecration ceremony. Along with other ordination rites, preparatory study, and training in yoga, the Tantric neophyte receives abhisheka (Sanskrit: “sprinkling” of water). This initiation takes several forms, each of which has its own corresponding vidya (Sanskrit: “wisdom”), rituals, and esoteric formulas and is associated with one of the five Celestial Buddhas or Dhyani-Buddhas. The initiate meditates on the vajra (Sanskrit: “thunderbolt”) as a symbol of Vajrasattva Buddha (the Adamantine Being), on the bell as a symbol of the void, and on the mudra (ritual gesture) as “seal.” The intent of the initiation ceremony is to produce an experience that anticipates the moment of death. The candidate emerges reborn as a new being, a state marked by his receipt of a new name.
The origin of Buddhist funeral observances can be traced back to Indian customs. The cremation of the body of the Buddha and the subsequent distribution of his ashes are told in the Mahaparinibbana-sutta (“Sutta on the Great Final Deliverance”). Early Chinese travelers such as Faxian described cremations of venerable monks. After cremation the ashes and bones of the monk were collected and a stupa built over them. That this custom was widely observed is evident from the large number of stupas found near monasteries.
With less pomp, cremation is also used for ordinary monks and laymen, though not universally. In Sri Lanka, for example, burial is also common, and in Tibet, because of the scarcity of wood, cremation is rare. The bodies of great lamas, such as the Dalai and Panchen lamas, are placed in rich stupas in attitudes of meditation, while lay corpses are exposed in remote places to be devoured by vultures and wild animals.
Buddhists generally agree that the thoughts held by a person at the moment of death are of essential significance. For this reason sacred texts are sometimes read to the dying person to prepare the mind for the moment of death; similarly, sacred texts may be read to the newly dead, since the conscious principle is thought to remain in the body for about three days following death. In Tibetan, Mongolian, and Chinese lamaseries, a lamasometimes recites the famous Bardo Thödol (commonly referred to in English as “The Tibetan Book of the Dead”).
Protective rites
From a very early period in its development, Buddhism has included within its repertoire of religious practices specific rituals that are intended to protect against various kinds of danger and to exorcise evil influences. In the Theravada tradition, these rituals are closely associated with texts called parittas, many of which are attributed directly to the Buddha. In Sri Lanka and the Theravada countries of Southeast Asia, parittas are traditionally chanted during large public rituals designed to avert collective, public danger. They are also very widely used in private rituals intended to protect the sponsor against illness and various other misfortunes.
In the Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions, the role taken by protective and exorcistic rituals is even greater. For example, dharanis (short statements of doctrine that supposedly encapsulate its power) and mantras (a further reduction of the dharani, often to a single word) were widely used for this purpose. Protective and exorcistic rituals that used such dharanis and mantras were extremely important in the process through which the populations of Tibet and East Asia were converted to Buddhism. They have remained an integral part of the Buddhist traditions in these areas, reaching what was perhaps their fullest development in Tibet.
Buddhism In The Contemporary World
Trends since the 19th century
During the 19th and 20th centuries, Buddhism responded to new challenges and opportunities that cut across the regional religious and cultural patterns that characterized the Buddhist world in the premodern period. A number of Buddhist countries were subjected to Western rule, and even those that avoided direct conquest felt the heavy pressure of Western religious, political, economic, and cultural influences. Modern rationalistic and scientific modes of thinking, modern notions of liberal democracy and socialism, and modern patterns of capitalist economic organization were introduced and became important elements in the thought and life of Buddhists and non-Buddhists all across Asia. In addition, Buddhism returned to areas where it had previously been an important force (India is the major case in point), and it spread very rapidly into the West, where new developments took place that in turn influenced Buddhism in Asia.
Buddhists responded to this complex situation in diverse ways. In many cases they associated Buddhism with the religious and cultural identity that they sought to preserve in the face of Western domination. Buddhists used a variety of measures to meet the challenge posed by the presence of Western Christian missionaries, often adopting modern Christian practices such as the establishment of Sunday schools, the distribution of tracts, and the arrangement of worship areas so as to resemble churches and meeting houses. They also attempted to strengthen the Buddhist cause by promoting missionary activity in Asia and in the West. In the West they also adopted Christian forms of religious organization and practice, particularly in the United States. For example, the U.S. branch of Japanese Pure Land (Jōdo Shinshū) Buddhism adopted the word church in its official name (Buddhist Churches of America) and established temples with worship areas resembling Protestant congregations. A number of societies were established to promote cooperation between Buddhists from all countries and denominations, including the Maha Bodhi Society (established in 1891 in order to win back Buddhist control of the pilgrimage site associated with the enlightenment of the Buddha), the World Fellowship of Buddhists (founded in 1950), and the World Buddhist Sangha Council (1966).
Four other responses deserve to be mentioned. In some situations Buddhists introduced reforms designed to make Buddhism a more appealing and effective force in the modern world. In the late 19th century, Buddhist leaders put forward a highly rationalized interpretation of Buddhism that de-emphasized the supernormal and ritualized aspects of the tradition and focused on the supposed continuity between Buddhism and modern science and on the centrality of ethics and morality. This interpretation represents, according to its proponents, a recovery of the true Buddhism of the Buddha.
Another response has been the development of so-called Engaged Buddhism. Those who identify with this cause include Asian Buddhists, such as the Vietnamese-born monk and writer Thich Nhat Hanh, and Western converts who have developed understandings of Buddhist teachings and practice that focus on the implementation of progressive social, political, and economic activity. In some cases attention has been centred on Buddhist ideas and activities that seek to foster world peace and world justice. The Buddhist Peace Fellowship (founded 1978) is one of the most-prominent organizations within this movement.
Both within Engaged Buddhism and outside it, socially active Buddhists have sought to develop Buddhist teachings as a basis for a modern democratic society. Still others have supported the development of a Buddhist-based economic system that is socially and ecologically responsible. Socially conscious Buddhists have also developed a Buddhist form of feminism and have been associated with groups that are attempting to reestablish (in the Theravada world) or to enhance (in Mahayana and Vajrayana contexts) the role of Buddhist nuns.
A third widespread pattern of Buddhist reform has involved the promotion of movements that give the laity a much stronger role than it traditionally had. In the Theravada world, lay-oriented meditation movements focusing on vipassana (Pali: “insight”) techniques of meditation have been successful and in some cases have found followers far beyond the borders of the Theravada community. In East Asia an anticlerical, lay-oriented trend, which appeared before the beginning of the modern period, has culminated in the formation and rapid expansion of new, thoroughly laicized Buddhist movements, particularly in Japan.
The fourth trend that can be identified stretches the usual notion of “reform.” This trend is exemplified in the emergence of new kinds of popular movements associated with charismatic leaders or with particular forms of practice that promise immediate success not only in religious terms but in worldly affairs as well. Since the 20th century, groups of this kind, both large and small, both tightly organized and loosely knit, have proliferated all across the Buddhist world. One example is the Dhammakaya group, a very large, well-organized, hierarchical, and commercialized sectarian group that is centred in Thailand. Sometimes labeled “fundamentalist,” the Dhammakaya group propagates meditational techniques that promise the immediate attainment of nirvana, as well as patterns of ritual donation that claim to ensure immediate business and financial success.
Challenges and opportunities
The condition of contemporary Buddhist communities and the challenges they face differ radically from area to area. There are a number of countries, for example, where previously well-established Buddhist communities have suffered severe setbacks that have curtailed their influence and seriously sapped their vitality. This situation prevails primarily in countries that are or once were ruled by communist governments that worked self-consciously to undercut Buddhist institutional power and influence. This has happened in the Mongol areas of Central Asia, in mainland China and Tibet, in North Korea, in Vietnam, in Cambodia, and in Laos. By the end of the 20th century, the pressure on Buddhist communities in many of these areas had eased, though conditions varied from country to country and from time to time. In Cambodia, Buddhism has been officially reinstated as the state religion.
A different situation exists in parts of Asia where Buddhism has remained the leading religious force and has continued to exert a strong influence on political, economic, and social life. This is the case in Sri Lanka and Myanmar, where Buddhism is the dominant religion among the Sinhalese and Burman majorities, and in Thailand, where more than 90 percent of the population is counted as Buddhist. Although in the majority, Buddhists face unique challenges in these areas. In Sri Lanka, Buddhists were divided over the proper response to the civil war (1983–2009) between the Sinhalese government and the Tamil Tigers, a paramilitary group that sought an independent state in the north for the primarily Hindu Tamils. In Myanmar, Buddhists confronted the profound political division between the military junta, which ruled from 1962 until 2011 and sought to legitimate its dictatorship in traditional Buddhist terms, and the democratic opposition—led by Aung San Suu Kyi, winner of the Nobel Prize for Peace—which based its resistance on a very different version of Buddhist teaching and practice. In 2007 Buddhist monks were prominent in Myanmar’s so-called Saffron Revolution (named for the saffron-coloured robes traditionally worn by Theravada monks), a large demonstration in Yangon for democratic reforms that drew a harsh response from the government. That action was a catalyst helping to effect constitutional reforms in 2008 and a change in government in 2011. As the state religion of Thailand, Buddhism has retained a firm position within a relatively stable social and political order, despite deep divisions and conflicts that have developed among various groups. Buddhism is the officially recognized “spiritual heritage” of Bhutan, a traditionally Vajrayana Buddhist kingdom that completed its transition to parliamentary government in 2008.
A third situation occurs in societies where Buddhist traditions operate with a considerable degree of freedom and effectiveness, though Buddhism’s role is circumscribed to varying degrees. This situation prevails in several of the Pacific Rim countries, including South Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore, and to a lesser extent in Southeast Asian countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia, where Buddhism is practiced by significant numbers of the large Chinese minority. The primary example, however, is Japan, where Buddhism has continued to exert an important influence. In the highly modernized society that has developed in Japan, many deeply rooted Buddhist traditions, such as Shingon, Tendai, Pure Land, and Zen, have persisted and have been adapted to changing conditions. At the same time, new Buddhist sects such as Risshō-Kōsei-kai (“Society for Establishing Righteousness and Friendly Relations”) and Sōka-gakkai (“Value-Creation Society”) have gained millions of converts in Japan and throughout the world. The latter, which is a variant of Nichiren Buddhism, has increased its international profile since the late 20th century under the leadership of Daiseku Ikeda.
Finally, new Buddhist communities have established roots in areas where Buddhism disappeared many centuries ago or did not exist at all before the mid-19th century. In India, for example, the Mahar Buddhist community established by B.R. Ambedkar has developed its own style of Buddhist teaching and practice that incorporates and integrates religious elements drawn from the pre-existing Mahar tradition.
In the Western world, particularly in the United States and Canada, the growth of new Buddhist communities—which include Buddhist immigrants from different parts of Asia, the North American-born children of immigrants, and indigenous converts—has been very rapid indeed. In these areas older Buddhist traditions have mixed and interacted in ways that have generated rapid changes in ways of thinking and in modes of practice. Many indigenous converts place greater emphasis upon the practice of meditation than upon monastic life, and since the mid-20th century a steady stream of books and other media have reflected this trend. Many other North American-born Buddhists of non-Asian descent have studied in traditional Buddhist countries, become ordained, and returned to the United States to lead and even found monasteries and Buddhist community centres. Some practicing Buddhists and scholars of Buddhism believe that the process of accomodation and acculturation in the West, and particularly in North America, is leading to a “fourth turning of the Wheel of the Dharma,” a new form of Buddhism that will turn out to be quite different from the traditional forms of Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana while incorporating aspects of each.
For more than two millennia, Buddhism has been a powerful religious, political, and social force, first in India, its original homeland, and then in many other lands. It remains a powerful religious, political, and cultural force in many parts of the world today. There is every reason to expect that the appeal of Buddhism will continue far on into the future
