Tsukamoto Zenryu Ch. 6 A History of Early Chinese Buddhism

6
THE RISE OF BUDDHISM

SOUTH OF THE YANGTZE
UNDER THE EASTERN TSIN
A. Collapse of the Western Tsin and Buddhism's
Southward Trek
The Inauguration of the Eastern Tsin at Chien-k'ang. The rule of the Western Tsin,
which had created a unified Chinese state, was not to endure very long. As has been
said above, after the death of Emperor Wu (in 290), the court was characterized by
the autocratic usurpations of the Chia clan, blood kin to the empress, who were tak-
ing advantage of the new occupant of the throne, the idiot emperor Hui, while
elsewhere there were seven years of feuding among princes of the blood who took
turns in attacking the capital at Lo-yang in the hope of capturing the imperial power
(the so-called Disturbance of the Eight Princes). In this way the governing power of
the Tsin court was worn down to nothing, and to this was added a succession of
crop failures, floods, and other natural calamities, with the result that the entire
Middle Plain was converted into a virtual wilderness. Availing themselves of the op-
portunity provided by this situation, there rose up in attack all over the land a
variety of non-Chinese peoples in the north who, since the days of the Latter Han,
had been moving to within the Great Wall and many of whom were now settled
agriculturists. We are referring, of course, to the "Five Barbarian Nations" (wu hu),
i.e., to the non-Chinese peoples among whom the best known were the Hsiung-nu,
the Chieh, the Ti, the Ch'iang, and the Hsien-pi. Liu Yao, chief of the Hsiung-nu,
who were the first nation to become aggressively active, at length reduced Lo-yang,
taking Emperor Huai captive (in 311). Then Emperor Min, who succeeded him in
Ch'ang-an, the other capital, was also taken captive by Liu Yao (in 317), and the
Western Tsin, which had lasted only four reigns over a period of fifty-two years,
perished. Thereafter, North China became the scene of a bewildering struggle for
power among the Five, and there was ushered in the period of political turmoil
known as that of the "sixteen states of the Five Barbarian Nations" (wu hu shih liu
kuo). About the same time, one member of the imperial family, Ssu-ma Jui, who,
with his base at Chien-k'ang, had, from Yung-chia 1 (307), attained the highest
political-military rank south of the Yangtze and who, with the aid of men like
Wang Tao, and Chou Yi, had also contrived to win the sympathies of most of the
powerful families south of the Yangtze, was elevated, once the Western Tsin was no
more, to imperial dignity by two groups, viz., the powerful families indigenous to
the south and the aristocrats who, likeWang Tao, had come down from the north;
and thus it is that the Tsin was restored (in 317). He is the man known to subsequent
history as Emperor Yiian of the Eastern Tsin. Incidentally, Chien-k' ang is none other
than the old Wu capital of Chien-yeh, whose name was changed in order to avoid
the personal name of Ssu-ma Y eh, Emperor Min of the Western Tsin.
The court of the Eastern Tsin maintained itself, through a period of 104 years
(317-420, incl.), for eleven reigns, as diagrammed on the accompanying table, until
BUDDIDSM's SOUTHWARD TREK 313
taken over by the Sung, first of the "Southern dynasties." If one may arbitrarily
designate the first five reigns as the "former period" of the Eastern Tsin, then this
former period, lasting a bit over 50 years, was one. in which scholar-aristocrats
from the north, streaming southward in a steady succession to become officials in the
service of the court at Chien-k' ang, or taking up residence in the K'uai-chi area,
charmed by the loveliness of the southeast, brought with them into these two areas
the metaphysical scholarship ("dark learning") and "pure talk," based primarily on
the study of Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu, that had been so fashionable in the Middle
Plain, and, with their predilection for the life of the recluse, established in the south
a new fashion that was to carry all before it. At the same time, the Buddhist scriptures
in Chinese translation that had gradually, in conjunction with the "dark learning"
and "pure talk" just mentioned, come to be read by intellectuals and aristocrats
in the Lo-yang region under the Western Tsin, particularly the Vimalakirtinirdea
and the Prajfiaparamita scriptures, whose Chinese versions made use of expressions
reminiscent of the philosophy of Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu, came at length to be
interpreted within a framework of Chinese thinking. This produced Buddhists
among the Chinese, including monks, who would with enthusiasm preach and prop-
agate the doctrines of these scriptures.
(1) Emperor Yiian
(r. 317-323)
(2) Ming (r. 324-325)
II
m
II
daughter ofYu Ch'en
(empress regent for
Ch'eng)
(3) Ch'eng (r. 325-342)L(6) Ai (r. 362-365)
-(7) Prince of Hai-hsi
(Fei, r. 366-371)
II
m
II
daughter ofYu Yung
-(4) K'ang (r. 343-344)--(5) Mu (r. 345-361)
II II
m
II
daughter of Ch'u
P'ou (empress regent
for Mu and Hsiao-wu)
m
II
daughter of Ho Chun
-(8) Chien-wen - - - - , - ~ - ( 9 ) Hsiao-wu
(r. 371-372) (r. 373-396)
II
m Tao-tzu, prince of
I
(1 0) An (r. 397-418)
-(11) Kung (r. 419-
420)
II K'uai-chu
Lady Li of Chih-fang
Palace
Among these Buddhist scholars and evangelists, both lay and clerical, were not a
few who joined the southward move to Chien-k'ang. These scholar-aristocrats who
read, memorized, and studied the Buddhist scriptures and their colleagues in the
Buddhist clergy who combined in their own persons a mastery of Lao-tzu and
Chuang-tzu as well as the Vimalakirtinirdda and the Prajfiaparamita are the ones who
brought to bloom in the aristocratic salons ofChien-k'ang and K'uai-chi the flower
of Buddhism, as modified by "dark learning" and "pure talk." This aristocratic
Buddhism, together with the fashionable study ofLao-tzu and Chuang-tzu, laid the
foundation for the spiritual culture of the Eastern Tsin, which, inherited later by the
314 BUDDHISM SOUTH OF THE YANGTZE
Southern dynasties, effected the absolute triumph of aristocratic Buddhism in South
China. There were, of course, among the ethnically Chinese intellectuals and the
powerful families rooted south of the Yangtze many who were, broadly speaking,
heirs to the traditions of Confucian scholarship that had obtained since Han times,
but even these so-called "southern" (nan jen) scholars could not remain uninfluenced
by the new vogue of Lao-Chuang learning brought with them by the northerners'
southward flight. Yet, the southern intellectuals, answerable to the Son of Heaven
and charged with the responsibilities of government, however fond they might be
ofLao-tzu, Chuang-tzu, and" dark learning," were not men to cast aside the "doctrine
of propriety," based as it was on the Confucian classics and heir as it was to a long
tradition. Nor were they the men to forget that in this doctrine of propriety resided
the fundamental authority on which government and ethics had to rely. Chiang
Tun (305-353), for instance, was a man who stood in a relationship of mutual
friendship and respect with cultivated (jeng liu) gentlemen who were typical of the
"dark learning" of their age, such that he is said (in the chapter on "character evalua-
tion," p'in tsao, in Worldly Talk and Recent Remarks) to have held as models "Wang
(Meng) and Liu (Yen), who were worshiped by all who lay claim to being cultivat-
ed." Equally the master of Confucianism and "dark learning," he is mentioned
(in roll 56 of the Book of Tsin) as the author of an essay on "being consistently true to
the Way and esteeming self-control" (T'ung tao ch'ung chien lun), in which he appears
to have preached a syncretization of both disciplines, saying that "the behavior of the
gentleman is something that must be based on propriety, and anything that succumbs
to whim, casts off restraint, and ignores the canons of propriety is completely in-
consistent with the Way."
1
Even Hui-yiian, who embraced Buddhism in the con-
viction that the learned theories indigenous to China are nothing but "chaff,"
did not reject the study ofLao-tzu and Chuang-tzu, going so far as to conduct read-
ings in the classical canons of propriety (li) for members of the aristocracy. Con-
sequently, while there were occasional counterattacks from Confucian quarters on
the Buddhists, in reaction to the latter's successes with the aristocracy, there was no
stopping the stream that was leading to the reinforcement of that same aristocratic
Buddhism.
The Shortcomings of Aristocratic Buddhism under the Eastern Tsin. What aristocratic
Buddhism tends to lack is earnestness of religious practice, while the things that
easily adhere to it, on the contrary, are a casual, playful character and the elements
of rot that always accompany a life of extravagant luxury. Where the Buddhist
church of Chien-k' ang is concerned in the latter half of the Eastern Tsin, such
tendencies became pronounced within the clergy itself. In particular, as the conver-
sion to Buddhism of ladies of the upper class progressed, the community of nuns
developed, and the close contacts of these nuns with the powerful aristocratic clans
and with the ladies of the aristocracy invited criticism from men rooted in the
traditional (i.e., not very complimentary) Chinese view of womankind. Because
of this, and because there were serious abuses in fact as well, from this point of view
also serious attacks on, and even advocacy of the suppression of, Buddhism came to
A : BUDDHISM's SOUTHWARD TREK 315
be voiced. In response to this, the air became filled with theories professing to see
basic identity in Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism, as well as with arguments
about the relative worth of the three disciplines, about harmonizing their respective
differences, etc. Yet, in all this, the era of the Eastern Tsin was one in which Bud-
dhism, maintaining its doctrinal lead, invaded the Southern dynasties, thus con-
stituting a special chapter in the history of the Chinese spirit.
As the aristocratic Buddhism of the lower reaches of the Yangtze, an integral
part of the cultural complex of the capital at Chien-k'ang, went from triumph
to effeteness, then to decay, an effective monastic community disciplined in practice
and study in a rigorously regulated life, composed likewise of refugees from the
north, left its mark on its contemporaries in all quarters, as well as on later genera-
tions. The community to which we refer is that ofTao-an, who lived in Hsiang-yang
about the middle of the Eastern Tsin, and Hui-yiian (his disciple), who later made
his home on Mount Lu in Hsiin-yang.
What we intend to do now is to give a general description of Buddhism under
the Eastern Tsin, devoting one section of the present chapter to each of the (admit-
tedly rather arbitrarily selected) headings.
Internal War and the Expansion of Buddhism in North China. A look back over
China's history will reveal that the flight of ethnically Chinese refugees into remote
areas from the Middle Plain, i.e., the Yellow River valley, and the whole area to the
south of it, including the valley of the Huai, was something that took place repeated-
ly from the disturbed end of the Han to the no less disturbed era of the infighting
among the Three Kingdoms. In the midst of the turmoil that marked the latter
half of the Western Tsin, this movement became all the more pronounced. The
places in which the refugees took up residence were located as far to the west as Tun-
huang, to the southeast as Han-chung and beyond that to Szechwan, or to Ching-
chou in the middle of the Yangtze basin, or even farther south yet to Kiaochow
(the Hanoi region). Now that the Eastern Tsin had established a capital at Chien-
k' ang, however, it was only natural that a majority of the aristocratic clansmen
and intellectuals who had visions of establishing themselves in the political world
should move southward with the Chien-k'ang area as their destination. In order to
ward off, to whatever degree possible, the dangers of a troubled time, whole fami-
lies of the powerful would move, taking their retainers and dependents in tow, and
the powerless commoners for their own part, when giving up the soil they tilled,
would collect with the intention of moving under the protection of these same
powerful families. Of the latter too there were not a few who would move in large
groups, having first taken the dispossessed commoners under their protective wing,
then converted them into hired laborers and/or private armies.
While Buddhism in North China had at this time not yet reached a point at which
one might speak of"fl.orescence," still there were, already by the end of the Western
Tsin, not a few monasteries in Lo-yang, as well as monks to inhabit them, both
thriving to the extent of inviting general criticism. Yang Hsuan-chih, in the preface
to his well-known Record of the Sal'!fghiiriimas of Lo-yang (Lo yang ch'ieh-lan chi), notes
that "Buddhism, having arrived, gradually spread, and by Yung-chia in Tsin times
(306-312) there were forty-two monasteries." Then, in the Correction of Error (Cheng
wu lun), regarded as a work of the early Eastern Tsin, dating to the former half of the
fourth century (and contained in roll 1 of the Hung ming chi), one reads varied at-
tacks on Buddhism, saying, for example, that Shih Ch'ung, for all that he was a man
of power, wealth, and family, as well as a devout Buddhist, died a violent death
(ca. 301); that the sramal).as in the capital, in spite of their numbers, have never been
known to have effected either a prolongation of the emperor's life or a plentiful
harvest; that, in particular, "the men of the Way (i.e., the sa111gha) recruit the
common people in large numbers to build stiipas and monasteries on a large scale,
going to extremes in ostentation, luxury, and extravagance." This applies to other
places as well as Lo-yang. In nearby Hsti-ch' ang as well as the Chung-shan area north
of the Yellow River, then further west in such cities as Ch'ang-an, there were
Buddhist monasteries, which had become centers for scriptural translation, pros-
elytization, and the like. In Ch'ang-an, as we have already said, D h a r m a r a k ~ a and
his fellows saw to the construction of monasteries, in which, aided by large numbers
ofbelievers, both lay and clerical, they pursued their religious activities. In this way,
in the metropolitan centers of Chinese civilization toward the end of the Western
Tsin, Buddhism had already laid quite a respectable foundation for future evangelism,
part of which consisted of monks from abroad as well as committed monks and
laymen among both naturalized foreigners and native Chinese. Furthermore,
Buddhism was already a phenomenon oflong standing in the valley of the Huai, near
Chien-k' ang.
In addition to the above, the following should be noted: The arrival of foreign
monks continued. The propagation of Buddhism by naturalized foreigners pro-
ceeded. Buddhists began to make their appearance even within the ethnically Chinese
intelligentsia. As the evangelistic activity of these various sorts of Buddhists gained in
intensity during this early period, there was an uninterrupted movement of large
numbers of people from these areas to remote, outlying regions. Then, together
with the traditional learning and ideas, and beliefs indigenous to the centers of
Chinese civilization with their long tradition, Buddhism also spread to the new
homes of the people just mentioned. Also, since, as already stated, their principal des-
tination, the area of Chien-k'ang, the Eastern Tsin capital, had been since Wu times
(during the era of the Three Kingdoms) the scene of missionary activity of both
northern and southern origin, with the attendant construction of monasteries, there
were active in Buddhist circles at Chien-k' ang under the Eastern Tsin not only the
thinkers and scholars who had come south but also the newly added, purely Buddhist
scholars of the Middle Plain.
Intellectual Buddhism from the North. Now, once the Tsin court was reestablished at
Chien-k' ang, then the members of the powerful families and the high-ranking
officials who had served that court at Lo-yang, who had held power in the political
circles there, and who had been most active there, both in order to escape the internal
wars that plagued the north country and in order to regain their positions as active
A :BUDDHISM's SOUTHWARD TREK 317
functionaries in that same court, now reconstituted at Chien-k'ang, formed an
ever-increasing stream of refugees, from the time of the Yung-chia Disturbance on-
ward, having the latter city and its environs as their destination, a development that
was only to be expected. In this way, the mainstream of thought and scholarship
centering about Lo-yang early in the Eastern Tsin moved to Chien-k'ang together
with the intellectuals themselves, then further on to K'uai-chi, southwest of a Chien-
k' ang in which the one-time refugees were now more or less settled, to flourish in
both places. At the center of the thought and scholarship of the intellectuals of the
Western Tin, needless to say, was the study of the Confucian classics, which had
long been the basis ofboth government and ethics, but it had been somewhat squashed
by a new vogue of scholarship, that of Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu, the so-called
"dark learning." Since Buddhism too became, at length, an object first of interest,
then of acceptance on the part of these intellectuals through the intermediacy of
"dark learning," the Buddhism that moved south to Chien-k'ang and K'uai-chi was
of necessity propagated in an intellectual society enamored of those two sets of
ideas as a "Buddhism ofDark Learning," i.e., in conjunction with the ideas ascribed
to Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu. Also, by joining streams with the vogue of seclusion
(yin yi) and "pure talk" (ch'ing t' an) that had become fashionable in company with
the study ofLao-tzu and Chuang-tzu, it rapidly blazed the path to its own triumph
among the intellectual aristocracy, and eventually was blessed with the opportunity
to lay the foundation that was to lead to the total triumph of Buddhism under the
Southern dynasties (primarily an aristocratic Buddhism, to be sure).
Buddhism and the Family of Wang Tao. Now it is noted in the biography of Wang
Tao (courtesy name Mao-hung),
2
that "the capital on the Lo toppled, and the
ladies and gentlemen of the central provinces who fled trouble by going to the left
of the River (i.e., south of the Yangtze) numbered six or seven out of ten." The
family ofWang Tao was one of the distinguished families that moved south. It was
a family fond of"pure talk" and "dark learning," fraternizing at the same time with
the Buddhist sarp.gha, respecting its members, feeling inclined toward a belief in the
Buddhist religion and, at the very least, affording it a sympathetic understanding.
That same clan, as we will have occasion to tell later, also produced some influential
WangLan-
(Chu Fa-t'ai's sponsor)
-Ts'ai---Tao-------,,,----Hsia
1
Hsiin (Tao's descendants all
Buddhists)
-Min
-Shao
- Tao-pao (Buddhist monk)
-Chi--
1
,---Tun
-Chu Tao-ch'ien
-Cheng--K' uang----Hsi-chihlHsiian-chih (Hsi-chih' s descendants
all t'ien shih Taoists)
-Ning-chih
318 BUDDIDSM SOUTH OF THE YANGTZE
and effective members of the sarpgha, the most notable among them being Chu
Tao-ch'ien, a man active in the aristocratic Buddhist circles of Chien-k' ang and
K'uai-chi under the Eastern Tsin, one who furthered the conversion of the Chien-
k'ang aristocracy to Buddhism.
Let us now cite another clan that was one of the most powerful in the mass south-
ward move, and that also made its weight felt in the aristocracy, in the bureaucracy,
in the world of ideas, and also in the religious circles of the Eastern Tsin.
The dan just referred to is, as can be seen from the chart, that of Hsi Chien,
originally of Kao-p'ing (now Tsining in Shantung).
3
To begin with, he fled to
Mount Yi in Lu at the head of over a thousand households native to that locality,
but within three years those who fled south under his leadership numbered in the
tens of thousands. This clan had power and influence enough to rank it alongside that
ofWang Tao. Ever since late Han they had been believers in a Taoism that had been
gradually developing as an organized religious movement. Yet, at the same time,
it is to be noted that they produced from their own ranks the extremely zeaJous
Buddhist scholar and practitioner Hsi Ch'ao (courtesy name Chia-pin).
Even within Wang Tao's own clan, one family, that of Wang Hsi-chih, were in
their majority believers in t'ien shih Taoism. The appearance in such numbers of
believers either in Buddhism or in Taoism among both the Wang clan and the
Hsi dan may presumably be interpreted to mean that at this time of civil war even
the intellectual aristocrats, having experienced the turmoil in their very persons,
when confronted with the issues of death and life, could not help seeking some
spiritual prop or other, and that this was the golden opportunity for Buddhism or
Taoism-or both, as the case might be-to capture their hearts.
Now, while Emperor Yi.ian, first sovereign of the Eastern Tsin (r. 317-322), did
accede to the throne, by the end of the Western Tsin the princes had no real power,
being no more than "front men" for aristocrats such as Wang Tao. The real power
in the domains of the Eastern Tsin south of the Yangtze came to be monopolized by
powerful nobles, particularly those powerful noble families that made the move
south of the Yangtze and occupied the key posts in the Eastern Tsin government,
making the court into their puppet and becoming great landowners by letting their
power speak for them and by taking possession of the most fertile lands south of the
Yangtze, there again securing their position as distinguished families. As the aristoc-
racy and the intellectual class moved southward, the "dark learning," i.e., the
Lao-Chuang thought, that had come to flourish at Lo-yang under the Western
Tsin, also moved south. Wang Tao, once he had moved south of the Yangtze,
would speak of only three sets of ideas, those contained in two essays of Hsi K' ang,
arguing that music in and of itself contains neither sorrow nor joy (Sheng wu ai lo
A : BUDDHISM's SOUTHWARD TREK 319
lun) and the one on the cultivation of the life force (Yang sheng fun), and one by
Ou-yang Chien (courtesy name Chien-shih) stating that words do express ideas fully
(Yen chin yi lun).
4
Kuang Yi, also a refugee from the north, organized a group of
"pure talkers," known as the "Eight Accomplished Ones" (pa ta), in imitation of the
Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove.
5
If only from these instances, one is in a position to understand that the intellectuals
from the north had both respect and admiration for the scholarship and life at-
titudes ofLo-yang under the Western Tsin. In fact , it would have been only human
for persons so far removed from the old capital, the political and cultural center
in which they had lived so long, to yearn for the old soil and, in retrospect, to
idealize both the place and its way of life, including its polite accomplishments.
As a matter of fact, under the Eastern Tsin the young exponents of the new Con-
fucianism, which had incorporated the Taoistic ideas of Wei times, most notably
those ofHo Yen and Wang Pi, were looked back to with admiration as illustrious
thinkers, who had not been favored with worldly success, and their theories read
with fond attachment. Not only that, but the study of Chuang-tzu that flourished
in their wake, particularly that of late Western Tsin times, principally that of Kuo
Hsiang, became a preoccupation, with the result that "dark learning" flourished
more and more. Of course, men like Hsiung Yi.ian, giving stern warning against the
vogue typified by the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove that prevailed early under
the Eastern Tsin, with its contempt for the pedestrian duties of the statesman and its
fondness for Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu, for the life of seclusion (yin yi), and for
"pure talk" (ch'ing t' an), cites one of the three faults of persons charged with political
responsibility:
Now those persons charged with office regard the management of [worldly)
affairs [i.e., political duties] as [the work of] common clerks. The requirement
to obey the law they regard as cruel. Scrupulous attendance to propriety they re-
gard as sycophancy. Easy-going indifference they regard as sublime and subtle.
Recklessness they regard as the mark of an accomplished gentleman, while ar-
rogance is taken by them for gentility.
6
The mood of the age, however, was not to be arrested by memorials to the throne
such as the one from which these remarks are quoted. This is why and how Bud-
dhism, linked with the scholarly vogue of studying Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu, was
able to become current in aristocratic society.
In this way, while North China was subject to an unending siege of civil war, with
non-Chinese lording it over the Chinese, south of the Yangtze was fashioned a
comparatively serene society ruled by the distinguished families of the aristocracy,
into which was transplanted the aristocratic culture, specifically the "dark learn-
ing," that erstwhile had been flourishing at Lo-yang. Consequently, even after the
establishment of the Eastern Tsin there was a steady flow of persons from North
China. In fact, whenever there was any upheaval in the north, the refugees would
stream south of the Yangtze, creating a huge social problem for the court of the
Eastern Tsin. According to recent researches, in the period of time ranging from
the end of the Western Tsin to the end of the Liu-Sung, one-eighth of the popu-
lation of North China moved to the south, and, as a result, one-sixth of the total
population south of the Yangtze is alleged to have been of northern provenance.
7
Learned Chinese Monks Move South. Under the conditions just described, there
were also among the sarpgha not a few who moved to south of the Yangtze, a
typical case being Chu Tao-ch'ien (courtesy name Fa-shen), a man who entered the
Buddhist order from one of the most highly placed, most illustrious families of the
time, being younger brother to Wang Tun, the generalissimo who was the real
powerholder under the early Eastern Tsin. Apart from these cases, there must also
have been some who, being on close terms in the Middle Plain with gentlemen of
distinction, went south in the retinue of their respective clans, as well as whole
groups of monks, whether teachers and pupils, comrades, or simply countrymen,
who moved together.
Examples of the last named, a type of mass migration of monks that took place
several times during the history of the Eastern Tsin, would be the cases of Sarpgha-
r a k ~ a (Chu Fa-hu), who late in life left war-torn Ch'ang-an together with a whole
following of monks;
8
Tao-an's following, a group numbering several hundreds,
that went as far south as Hsiang-yang;
9
Yti Fa-Ian and his disciples, who crossed the
Yangtze together;
10
and others.
The monks who crossed the Yangtze, if only to stay alive, had first of all to place
their reliance on the aristocracy and on the powerful families. Therefore their
first destination was the capital at Chien-k' ang, but the second place they aimed at
was K'uai-chi, situated southeast of the capital, a place well suited to the religious
life because of its beautiful natural scenery, a place to which, in particular, the
aristocracy was attracted, building permanent homes or villas in which they pursued
the sophisticated pleasures of" dark learning" and "pure talk." K' uai-chi (the region
of what is now Shao-hsing in Chekiang), being a focal point for illustrious families
and powerful clans, was an important place, having close contacts with Chien-k'ang.
So important was it, in fact, that the court of the Eastern Tsin created a prince of
K'uai-chi and also stationed there a nei shih to take charge of the actual duties of
political administration.b The post of prince of K'uai-chi was occupied, among
others, by the man who was to become Emperor Chien-wen (r. 371-373), a man who
enjoyed "pure talk" and the reading of Buddhist texts in the company of distin-
guished scholars, both lay and clerical. In particular, the post was occupied by Ssu-ma
Tao-tzu, who, with his grip on the political power, lived a life of extreme luxury and
extravagance, performed Buddhist good works, and greatly advanced the cause of
Buddhism, but who at the same time, because of his naive faith in the Buddhist
clergy, brought the latter into the world of politics, thus launching the tendency
toward decay that was to characterize the aristocratic Buddhist community of
Chien-k'ang. The post of nei shih at K'uai-chi was occupied, among others, by such
distinguished scholars as Ho Ch'ung, a Buddhist, and Wang Hsi-chih and Wang
Ning-chih, both Taoists. It was thus a place favorable to the florescence of "dark
A : BUDDHISM'S SOUTHWARD TREK 321
learning" and "pure talk," of both Buddhism and Taoism. In particular, there were
present many distinguished scholars of noble family fond of Buddhism, who thus
attracted many renowned monks to make their home there. The latter had the run
of the mansions and villas of the aristocracy, whose partners they became in "dark
learning" and "pure talk," as well as their teachers in the reading and propagation
of Buddhist scriptures. The number of eminent monks who in this way played a
leading role in the advancement oflearning and the arts at K'uai-chi was not small.
In the former half of the Eastern Tsin, the centers for the advancement of Buddhism
were Chien-k'ang and K'uai-chi, another center, one of a very different and special
sort, being the Hsiang-yang monastic community headed by Tao-an. The effects
of the latter's powers in teaching and conversion were felt as far away as Liang-chou
(Kansu). During the latter half of the Eastern Tsin, in the face of the tendencies to-
ward decay that characterized the aristocratic Buddhism of the two flourishing
centers, Chien-k'ang and K'uai-chi, the evangelistic activity of monks of Tao-an's
school made itself felt as far away as the upper reaches of the Yangtze in Shu (Szech-
wan), and the entire Yangtze basin became, in fact , an area most favorable to the
triumphant spread of Buddhism.
Aristocratic Buddhism at Chien-k' an g. Now at the court of the Eastern Tsin, which
maintained its sway for over a hundred years, the founder of the dynasty, Emperor
Yi.ian (r. 317-322), from the time he was assigned to the area while still a prince,
accorded favorable treatment to illustrious men, in keeping with the suggestions of
Wang Tao and others. Even after his accession he continued the practice, conferring
the favorable treatment both on the illustrious clans long settled south of the Yang-
tze and on the outstanding scholar-gentlemen who had fled to the south, thus
winning them as allies in defense of the Tsin ruling house. Since his successor,
Emperor Ming (r. 313-325), in the company of ministers of state like the said Wang
Tao and Yi.i Liang, men who esteemed both "dark learning" and Buddhism, did
honor to distinguished guests and was fond ofliterary erudition, Chien-k'ang became
a focal point for outstanding scholar-gentlemen from the very beginning of the
Eastern Tsin, and "pure talk" flourished. The two sovereigns just mentioned laid the
foundations of a triumphant era for learning and the arts, one in which "dark learn-
ing," centered about Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu, and Buddhism, which was accepted
on the understanding that they were all of a piece, were to usher in their own glory
together with the distinguished clans that had fled southward. Both of the said
sovereigns, as well as Wang Tao and Yi.i Liang, were vitally concerned with Bud-
dhism, and all four had fri endly contacts with the sramal).as.
Chu Fa-chi, disciple to the Chu Tao-ch'ien who achieved such great things in the
conversion to Buddhism of the court aristocracy of Chien-k'ang and K'uai-chi at
the beginning of the Eastern Tsin, published a work entitled Lives of Eminent Reclus-
es (Kao yi sha-men chuan), among whose surviving fragments one reads as follows:
The emperors Yi.ian and Ming of the Tsin disported their thoughts in the obscure
and the empty, consigning their feelings to a taste for the Way and honoring the
teachers of the Dharma as friends and guests. My lords Wang [Tao] and Yii [Liang]
exhausted their feelings in deference to the latter, having the same [instincts as to]
odor and flavor [i.e., the same preferences; cited from the commentary to roll
2A of Worldly Talk and Recent Remarks].
Since Emperor Ming, in particular, was a Buddhist or, at the very least, a ruler
profoundly concerned with Buddhism, such that Hsi Tso-ch'ih, in a letter to Tao-
an, says that in his veneration of Buddhism he fashioned an icon with his own hand,
and that he tasted the true flavor of samadhi, the conversion to Buddhism of the
aristocratic society grouped around the court at Chien-k' ang proceeded at great
speed. In addition, after the reign of Emperor Ming there was a succession of boy
emperors, including a feeble-minded sovereign too retarded to rule. The real power
of government then went to the emperors' in-laws andfor to powerful ministers
from other outstanding families. An example is Ho Ch' ung, who, having risen to
power with the support of two devoutly Buddhist ministers, the Wang Tao and Yii
Liang just mentioned, and whose power, for a time, carried all before it, spent the
State's resources unstintingly in offerings to the clergy and in the construction of
religious edifices. Since, further, there was a continued period of regent dowagers,
a period in which most of these dowagers, as well as empresses and other high-
ranking court ladies, were also Buddhists, the pro-Buddhist atmosphere that had
its beginning at the very beginning of the Eastern Tsin, during the reigns of emperors
Yuan and Ming through the exertions of Wang Tao and Yii Liang, continued and
even flourished thereafter. The circumstances may be plainly deduced from Shih
Tao-an's letter to the distinguished Hsi Tso-ch'ih, in which he says, in part,
It is now more than four hundred years since Buddhism came to China. Yet,
though there might, from time to time, be princes assigned to outlying regions,
or gentlemen not serving in office, who would do homage to that religion,
because it had been preceded in China by the teachings of the Saints and Sages
of yore, there were not many Buddhists among the Chinese. Even when there
were, they came from the lower gentry. Now, however, that Emperor Ming
has become a Buddhist, the situation is such that there is no gentleman of distinc-
tion or wisdom in the upper classes but takes refuge in the Buddha's Doctrine.
If a monk of exalted virtue like yourself, Sir, were to propagate the Doctrine in
the land ofTsin, then the conversion of our country to Buddhism would proceed
all the further. n
Aristocrats Confronted by Monks Who Speak No Chinese. Now the aristocratic
Buddhism of the former half of the Eastern Tsin, the Buddhism of the capital at
Chien-k'ang and of the K'uai-chi of which the aristocracy was so fond, was of
course guided and developed by ethnically Chinese monks who had fled south from
the Middle Plain, typical of these being the activi ties, as teachers and evangelists, of
such gentry monks as Chu Fao-ch'ien and Chih Tun. Yet it is a fascinating fact that
the conversion to Buddhism of the Chien-k' ang aristocracy was initiated, oddly
A : BUDDIDSM' S SOUTHWARD TREK 323
enough, through wordless communications with Srimitra (Po Shih-li-mi-to-lo),
a non-Chinese monk who had come south as a refugee and who spoke no Chinese.
This too was possible only because the society of the time was one in which "pure
talk" was fashionable, an aristocratic society where worldly affairs were held in low
esteem, and here one can catch even at this early time a glimpse of what was to be the
character of aristocratic Buddhism under the Eastern Tsin.
Srimitra (a name traditionally rendered in Chinese as chi yu, "friend of good
fortune"), who is also referred to as kao tso ("the occupant of the high throne"), is
said to have been a Central Asian. The surname po would seem to indicate Kuchean
origin, and his biography says that he was born the legitimate son of the king of
Kucha, but that he entered the Buddhist clergy, surrendering his rights to his younger
brother; also, that he was a man of striking appearance and manner. This is the sort
of thing that apparently bewitched the Chinese aristocracy, given the esteem in
which they held nobility of lineage and of appearance, and that assured him their
respect even if he spoke no Chinese. He came to Lo-yang some time in Yung-
chia (307-314), but, being confronted by civil war, he went south, where he took up
residence at the Chien-ch'u-ssu, a monastery alleged to have been founded in Wu
times by K'ang Seng-hui. (Since there was a great market in front of the monastery,
it was also called the Monastery of the Great Marketplace [ta shih ssu].) The chancel-
lor Wang Tao is said, upon catching a glimpse of him, to have been taken with him
directly, remarking, "He is my sort!" From this one deduces that he became well
known among the distinguished gentry, and he did in fact make an enormous
impression on the aristocratic society of the time as an extraordinary personality,
and this without resort to conversation or to preaching. Distinguished gentrymen,
the real powerholders who controlled the Eastern Tsin, revered this "barbarian"
monk who had fled south from Lo-yang, this Central Asian who spoke no Chinese,
and took pleasure in consorting with him. In this class are included Yii Liang (289-
340, courtesy name Yiian-kuei), who held the rank of t'ai wei; Chou Yi (269-322,
courtesy name Po-jen), whose rank was kuang lu; Hsieh K'un (courtesy name Yu-
yii), whose rank was t'ai ch'ang; Huan Yi (276-328, courtesy name Mao-lun), whose
rank was t'ing wei; Pien Hu (281-329, courtesy name Wang-chih), whose rank was
shang shu ling; and Wang Tun (courtesy name Ch'u-chung), whose rank was ta
chiang chiin.
Huan Yi, in a eulogy to Srimitra, said that the epithet "outstanding and perspica-
cious" (Ch. cho lang, almost Lat. praeclarus) would be fit praise for him, while Chou
Yi, as occupant of a post charged with the selection of candidates for public office,
is alleged to have said, awe-struck, "If only this were a tranquil age, one -that permit-
ted one to select a distinguished worthy like him, indeed one would have no regrets!"
When Chou Yi was killed by Wang Tun (in 322), Srimitra went to Yi's home to
console his survivors. There he chanted three hymns, and the beautifully dignified
echo of the Sanskrit chants penetrated the clouds. Next, without changing his facial
expression, he pronounced several thousand words of incantations, then, with tears
in his eyes, he expressed his feelings of sympathy, after which, withholding further
tears, he maintained his composure. The manner of this foreigner, with its extremes
of sorrow and joy, of elation and depression, was what gained for him the extraor-
dinary respect of an aristocratic society .
12
Incidentally, Chou Yi's younger brother, Chou Ch'ung, was also later put to death
(in 323). Always a devout Buddhist, he is said, when facing the executioner, to have
chanted from the scriptures endlessly and in unshakable composure.
13
Further, the
Fa yuan chu lin (roll13) says of Chou Yi' s son Chou Ch'i, the General Who Protects
the Armies (hu chiin chiang chiin), that his family had "for generations revered the
Buddha." This leads one to suppose that the Chou family had been Buddhist at least
from the end of the Western Tsin, and that its devotion to Buddhism continued
even after its move southward.
Srimitra, noted as a man skilled in the pronouncement of spells and as the trans-
lator of Buddhist scriptures connected with spells, scriptures such as that of the
Magical Spells of the Queen of Peahens (K'ung ch'iieh wang shen chou ching, Mahamayu-
rividyariijfii?, now lost), a work in one roll; of the Assorted Magical Spells of the
Queen of Peahens (K'ung ch'iieh wang tsa shen chou, presumably another version of the
same, likewise lost), also in one roll; and of the Scripture of Anointment (Kuan ting
ching, in twelve rolls (a work that survives, but the last three rolls
of which seem a later addition), was also adept at the chanting of scriptures in San-
skrit (fan pai), a craft that he transmitted to his disciple Mi-li and that survived into
the Southern dynasties. Under Emperor Ch'eng, during the Hsien-k'ang period
(335-342), he died at the advanced age of eighty-some years, mourned by aristo-
cratic society. Wang Min, Tao's grandson (and Hsia's son), who had served him as a
master, made a special point of composing a eulogy in honor of his foreign teacher,
and the emperor himself saw to his burial on the hill called Shih-tzu-kang (or Yli-
hua-shan-kang), where he had lived his ascetic life, and set a chattra to mark the
place. Later, a monastery was erected in that place by sramal).as who had come from
west of the Passes, and Hsieh K'un rendered them assistance. This was none other
than the monastery known under the name Kao-tso-ssu, the "Monastery of(the oc-
cupant of) the High Throne."
Though it had not been possible for him to teach Buddhist doctrine by word of
mouth to the court of the early Eastern Tsin and to the gentlemen of position
and renown who gravitated to it, he is to be noted as a non-Chinese monk who
had a great effect as teacher and evangelist through the example he set by his behavior
and his manner. For example, when in close contact with Wang Tao, he would
maintain the attitudes of a foreign monk, not altering his manner in any way.
When, on the other hand, he saw Pien Wang-chih, the shang shu ling who attached
much weight to Confucian propriety, his manner would undergo a revolutionary
change. For he would, so we are told, adjust his collar and straighten his posture
before answering him. We are also told that his contemporaries admired him as
one who "behaved appropriately in every case." This nothing other than a form of
tbe "pure talk" (ch'ing t'an) so beloved of the aristocracy, one in which the attitude
of response, not dependent on the exchange of words, could change to suit the
A :BUDDHISM'S SOUTHWARD TREK 325
circumstances, and it is for this tha.t he won the highest accolades from the world
of "pure talk," those of "superlatively bright" (cho lang) and of "refined spirit
profound yet manifest" (ching shen yuan chu). (C the chapter on "praise and appreci-
ation," shang yu p'ien, in Worldly Talk and Recent Remarks.
14
)
Also, of members of the sa111gha skilled in this sort of magic, the Lives of Eminent
Monks lists, apart from him, Chu T'an-kai, Chu Seng-fa,
15
Chu Fa-k'uang,
16
and
others, whose powers of evoking numinal responses (ling yen) are all mentioned.
One is obliged to say that the influence of the Buddhist magician-monks, though
mention of it in written records is not to be compared to that of the pure-talking,
dark-learning Buddhism of the intellectual class, must have rendered an indelible
service in the spread of Buddhism both in breadth and in intimate contact with the
real life of gentry and commonalty in Eastern Tsin society, since at that very time
south of the Yangtze there was current in both classes a Taoism in which there were
likewise many magical elements.
A Summary History of u Sanskrit Chants." We wish now to trace and briefly to
describe the course of the "Sanskrit chant" (fan pai) south of the Yangtze under
the Tsin
17
-i.e., of a style of chanting of hymns on the Indian model, imported into
the Buddhist communities of China and Japan as part and parcel of Buddhist ritual
as a whole under the rubric of the "science of sound" (sheng ming, standing for
sabdavidya) and then undergoing further development in the lands of its adoption,
in other words, a sort of Buddhist hymn transplanted on the soil of South China in
the fourth century. Our reason for doing so is that these chants too have an extremely
close connection with the development of aristocratic Buddhism, with the flowering
of Buddhist ritual and particularly of arts and crafts, and, through these, with the
spread of Buddhism in the society in general.
The word pai is regarded as a transcription of Sanskrit patha ("reading") or,
according to another theory, of Sanskrit b h a ~ a ("speech"), both meaning "hymn
of praise" (tsan sung) or "chant" (ko yung).i The monks and pious Buddhist laymen
who came to China in the early period would, when worshiping the Buddha or
performing other rites, chant in Sanskrit or in their own respective languages,
thus exciting the curiosity of the Chinese. The above-mentioned rites, in the course
of which they humbly burnt incense and chanted before images of the Buddha
(who, to the Chinese, was a "golden deity"), pronouncing a body of unintelligible
syllables, must have won for them from the Chinese something quite unexpected,
an attitude of veneration as magicians possessing inconceivable powers. The like-
lihood is that these chants were in Sanskrit or in some other non-Chinese language
when, as mentioned above, one notes that early under the Eastern Tsin Srimitra,
when paying a condolence call on Chou Yi's survivors, "assis en face du corps, .. .
psalmodia trois pieces d'hymnes bouddhiques. L' echo du son indien se repercuta
sur les nuages," or when one reads as follows:
... Auparavant, le Kiang-tong [a savoir le bas Yang-tseu) n'avait pas de dharal).i.
Sirimitra traduisit et publia le K'ong ts'io wang king [T 986 et T 987: Maham-
iiyurividyiiriijfii] et revela les dharal).i divines. En outre, il apprit a son disciple
Mi-lika reciter a haute voix les hymnes bouddhiques qui ant ete transmis jusqu'a
nos JOUrs.
Since, on the other hand, many Buddhist scriptures had already been translated into
Chinese, since it was already customary for Chinese Buddhists, both lay and clerical
to recite these aloud, and since, in particular, there were many "verses" (chieh sung)'
contained in them, it is likely that even among those Buddhists who were ethnically
Chinese it became customary to recite or to chant verses and similar passages melod-
ically in an imitation of the Indian manner. It was also inevitable that on the oc-
casion of a specific religious ceremony one particular giithii would be chosen, then
a hymn composed in Chinese and, finally, set to music and chanted. Still, there was
a considerable difference in the chanting of Sanskrit hymns and of Chinese hymns,
given the respective characters of the two languages, and there was need for rather
ingenious manipulation to chant in the Indian manner a hymn whose words were
Chinese. In roll 13 of the Lives of Eminent Monks, in the concluding essay (fun)
on the ching shih ("chanteurs-compositeurs d'hymnes") one reads as follows :
18
. .. Where the songs of the Eastern Realm [China] are concerned, one links
rhymes and thus forms chants; where the hymns of the Western quarter [India]
are concerned, one forms giithiis and thus harmonizes sounds. Even though the
[Chinese] songs and [Indian] hymns are different, yet both resort to harmonizing
bell-chimes, to matching basic tones, for only then are they subtle and recondite.
Therefore, when playing songs on [instruments of] metal and stone, one calls them
"music" [yiieh]; when the hymns are modeled on woodwinds and strings, one calls
them "utterances" [pai, a transcription of bhii1Ja?] . ... Once the Great Doctrine
[of the Buddha] flowed eastward, translators of the texts were many, but those
who transmitted the sounds were, in effect, few. Truly, this is because the Brah-
manical sounds are multiple, while Han words are simple. If one were to use Brah-
manical sounds to chant Han words, then the sounds would be clumsy and the
giithiis oppressive. If one were to set Han tunes to the chanting of Brahmanic:1l
poems, then the rhymes would be deficient and the words excessive. For t h ~ s
reason, the golden words [of the Buddha] had their translations, but the Br: ""1-
manical echoes had no transmission.
The above is evidence of the difficulties involved, as well as of the then awareness
of those difficulties. Yet already in the Buddhist community of the Southern dynas-
ties it was customary to chant as fan pai such things as translated giithiis from the
scriptures, to the accompaniment of woodwind and stringed instruments imported
from the west.
As to the beginnings offan pai in China, at the time of the Southern dynasties there
was a tradition to the effect that during the era of the Three Kingdoms Ts'ao Chih,
the Wei prince Ssu ofCh'en, while spending some time on Fisherman's. Mountain,
was deeply touched by some Brahmanical sounds coming from Heaven and, moved
by these sounds, reduced in size and otherwise adjusted the text of the scripture
of the Former Rise of Wondrous Responses (a life of the Buddha), producing therefrom
a "science of sound" (sheng ming, representing a presumable sabdavidya) consisting
of forty-two parts (or "harmonies"?, ch'i). Under the Western Tsin, Po Fa-ch'iao
of the Middle Mountain (chung shan) took up the tradition inaugurated by Prince
Ssu of Ch' en, continuing with una bating voice until the advanced age of ninety.
All the night through he would chant hundreds of thousands of words from the
scriptures, the lovely tones reaching the gods. His life came to an end north of the
Yellow River, so we are told, late in the reign of Shih Hu (d. 349) of the Latter Chao
(cf. the notice on him in roll13 of the Lives of Eminent Monks). In Chien-k'ang, under
the Eastern Tsin, Chih T' an-yi.ieh, a man of Yi.ieh-chih origin, converted Emperor
Hsiao-wu (r. 373-396), and the Jan pai created by this latter, verses in six syllables sung
to a new tune, are alleged to have continued into Liang times (cf. ibid.).
We are not about to insist on the historicity of the tale that Ts'ao Chih of the
Wei perpetuated a Brahmanical chant that he had heard from Heaven on Fisherman's
Mountain, but the fact remains that in Sung and Ch'i times he was looked up to as
the man who originated sabdavidyii in China. We are also told that south of the
Yangtze, in the kingdom of W u, also one of the Three Kingdoms, Chih Ch'ien,
a Buddhist lay brother of Yi.ieh-chih origin born south of the Yellow River, com-
posed three Jan pai, "linked bodhisattva-verses," based on the Sukhiivativyuha and
the Middle Scripture of the Former Rise (Chung pen ch'i ching, likewise a life of the
Buddha). Again, we are told that K'ang Seng-hui, who came to Chien-k'ang from
Chiao-chih (the Hanoi area), "transmitted the sound of Nirval).a songs, which, pure
and elegant, sad yet clear, became a model for the age." This, in addition to the
evidence already given above, makes it evident that the chanting of these "Brah-
manical tunes" on the part of foreign Buddhists in China may be regarded as fact.
The early development of the Jan pai south of the Yangtze, in response to the flower-
ing of aristocratic civilization from the Eastern Tsin onwards and in keeping with the
florescence of a Buddhism focused on the aristocracy, appears to have developed fur-
ther and spread with great speed into the Sung and Ch'i eras. Roll 12 of the Ch'u
tsang chi chi (TSS. 92ab) lists the following twenty-one collections of Jan pai,
c.':nposed by "reciters of scriptures and hymns" (chi11g pai tao shih) :t
(1) Hymn [in which Men Pray] the God Sakra to Take Pleasure in Their Pan-
Convocation."u Source: Middle Scripture of the Former Rise (Chung pen
ch'i ching, a life of the Buddha). Ti Shih lo jen pan-che-se ko pai.
(2) "Record of the Buddha's Praise of a [Acts of] Benefit [to Others].
Source: Sarviistiviidavinaya. Po tsan pi-ch'iu ch'i li yi chi.
(3) "Easily Understood Explanation of the Excellent Hymn of the Mil-
lion-Ears." Source: same. Yi erh pi-ch'iu shan pai yi liao chieh chi.
( 4) "Record of the Penetration to the World of the Brahman Gods of the Voice
of the Deva." Source: Ekottariigama. T'i-p'o-pi-ch'iu hsiang ch'e Fan t'ien
chi.
(5) "Record of the Fine Voice of the Superior-Gold-Bell." Source:
Scripture of the Wise Man and the Fool (Hsien yu ching). Shang chin ling pi-ch'iu
miao sheng chi.
( 6) "Record of the B h i k ~ u Voice-Sound." Source: Mahiisiii'J'Ighikavinaya. Yin
sheng pi-ch'iu chi.
(7) "Hymn Recording the Fine Voice of the B h i k ~ u Dharma-Bridge, [a Voice]
Giving Evidence of [the Faculty of] Response [to Supernatural Stimuli]." Source:
Chih chieh chuan.v Fa ch'iao pi-ch'iu hsien kan miao sheng chi pai.
(8) "Record of the Composition by Prince Ssu of Ch' en of a Hymn in Response
to a Brahman Sound [Heard on] Fisherman's Mountain." Ch'en Ssu wang kan
Yu shan Fan sheng chih pai chi.
(9) "Record of the Brahmanical Hymn in Linked Verse Composed by Chih
Ch'ien." Chih Ch'ien chih lien chu fan-pai chi.
(10) "Record of the Nirvai).a-Hymn Handed Down by K'ang Seng-hui." K'ang
Seng hui ch'uan ni-huan-pai chi.
(11) "Record of the Brahmanical Chant [Pronounced in a] Loud Voice by Mi-
li." Source: Suratapariprcchii. Mi-li kao sheng fan-pai chi.
(12) "Record of Six-Syllable Brahmanical Chants Inspired by a Dream [Con-
sequent upon the Concoction and] Refinement of Medicine." Source: Scripture
of[That Which] Outpasses the Light of the Sun (Ch'ao jih ming ching). Yao lien meng
kan Fan yin liu yen pai chi.
(13) "Record of the Brahmanical Dance [to the Accompaniment of] Dharma-
Music Composed by Emperor Wen of the Ch'i." Ch'i Wen huang ti chih fa yueh
Fan wu chi.
(14) "Hymn Composed in Dharma-Music [fa yueh tsan] by the Same Author."
(15) "Words to a Song [to be Sung to the Accompaniment of] Dharma-Music,
Composed by the Courtier Wang Jung at the Same Emperor's Command."
(16) "Worshipful Brahmanical Hymn Composed by [Prince] Wen-hstian of
Ching-ling." Ching ling Wen hsuan chuan Fan li tsan.
(17) "Hymn Vowing to Exclaim Siidhuw [ch'ang sa yuan tsan] Composed by the
Same Author."
(18) "List of Names, Derived from a Preface to an Old Prajfiaparamita Trans-
lation [?] Accompanied by a Memorial Inscription, of Monks Who Had Read That
Scripture from Ytian-chia Times [151-153]x Onward." Chiu p'in hsu Yuan chia yi
lai tu ching tao jen ming ping ming.
(19) "Record of Scriptural Reading, Compiled at the Residence of Prince Wen-
hstian ofChing-ling [?]. Compiled by Shih Tao-hsing, [a Monk of the] Hsin-an-
ssu." Ching ling Wen hsuan wang ti chi chuan ching chi.
(20) "Record of the Karmic Backgrounds of the Reciters." Tao shih yuan chi.
(21) "Three Chapters of the Older Version of the Dharmasai'J'Igiti, Drawn Up by the
Dharma-Master [Tao-Jan."(?) An fa shih Fa chi chiu chih san k'o.
The above twenty-one are all contained in the sixth roll of the Collection of
Reciters of Scriptures and Hymns (Ching pai tao shih chi).
These scriptural hymns, set to music, were probably part of an elaborate ritual,
conducted to the accompaniment of Central Asian woodwind and stringed instru-
ments, quite apart from any other ways in which they may have been chanted.
Background information on the composition of the works above cited is furnished
by the section entitled ching shih p'ien ("chanteurs-compositeurs d'hymnes") within
the Lives of Eminent Monks, which, following the biographical notices on Po Fa-
ch'iao and Chih T'an-ytieh, has accounts of many such monks from Tsin, Sung,
and Ch'i times (a total of eighteen, if sub-biographies are included). In the biography
of Hui-jen, a monk of the Northern Prabhutaratna Monastery (pei to-pao ssu), one
reads as follows: Prince W en-hstian of the Ch'i, after he had had his dream, gathered
the chanters and, sifting with them through all the old discipline manuals of the
"science of sound" (sheng ming, sabdavidyii), established a new and different science.
In particular, the area of Hui-jen's greatest skill was the "forty-two sections of
[the Scripture of] Miraculous Response" (Shui ying ssu shih erh ch'i, presumably a hymn
from one of the lives of the Buddha), one that his disciples, more than forty in
number, had transmitted to "the present day" (i.e., the Liang). The same source
further cites eight Ch'i monks renowned for their skill in these matters, but the
details of whose lives were not known, noting their respective excellences in musical
performance and adding that the skills taught by them were actively put into
practice east of the Che, west of the Yangtze, and in Ching, Shan, Yung, and Shu.
From this one may deduce that in the Buddhist community from the Tsin into the
Southern dynasties the musical chanting of scripture and the singing of hymns
contributed greatly to the spread ofBuddhism by appealing to the sense ofhearing.
One may also surmise that these hymns, most of which dealt with the life of the
Buddha Gautama, easily facilitated the propagation of the Buddha's life story.
Also, in the halls of worship in which these musical ceremonies were conducted there
naturally developed depictions of the life of the Buddha in connection with the
former, as well as depictions of scenes from the Vimalakirtinirdesa, a scripture much
used as the subject of public readings or of "pure talk," and, above all, wall paint-
ings. The Buddhist community centered about Chien-k'ang under the Eastern Tsin
was also a breeding ground for the creation and development of Buddhist art and
Buddhist hymns on the part of the Chinese themselves, and this in turn also aided
the spread of Buddhism.
One may say, in sum, that the Buddhist community south of the Yangtze from the
Eastern Tsin onwards, characterized as it was by the chanting of magical charms
and the introduction ofjan pai, brought about the development of Buddhist paint-
ing, sculpture, and even music and dance, thus effecting an indelible achievement
in the spread of Buddhism, this foreign religion, among the gentry and common-
alty of China.
Evangelism and Medical Science. In addition to the above, there were monks en-
gaged in the practice of medicine. For example, Yti Fa-k' ai, the Prajfiliparamita scholar
who was well versed in the Pancavii'J".Siitisiihasrikii and in the Saddharmapur:zqarkia
and who would not yield to Chih Tun in the dispute over the doctrine of"emptiness
identical with matter" (chi se k'ung yi), was also a skilled practitioner of medicine
who, among other things, took the pulse of Hsiao-tsung (r. 345-362). When asked
why he practiced medicine, he replied, "By clarifying the Six Perfections I remove
the diseases of the four lethal devils. By regulating the nine signs I heal the illness
of chills caused by the wind. Surely it is a good thing thus to benefit both oneself and
others !"
19
Y It certainly seems an answer in keeping with the time, a time in which
the study of the Prajfiaparamita, tinged with "pure talk" and "dark learning," was
in full swing. Even medical science was regarded, every now and again, as a sort of
magic, and, in fact, practical, magical activities were conducted not only in the
Buddhist church of the north, in the territories of the Five Barbarian Nations, but
south of the Yangtze as well, the center being the foreign missionaries. This, presum-
ably, contributed greatly to heightening a general interest in Buddhism, one pervad-
ing aristocracy and commonalty.
Hsi Yin, an aristocratic believer in t'ien shih Taoism, contracted a stomach illness
that the physicians were unable to cure. Ironically, the following story is told about
him: Hearing that YU Fa-k' ai, an ordained Buddhist monk, was skilled in the practice
of medicine, he invited him to his home. After taking his pulse, Fa-k'ai said to him,
"Your illness is the result of one thing, too much exertion." So saying, he adminis-
tered a hot liquid medicine. That caused an enormous loose bowel movement in the
midst of which were several crumpled balls of paper, each the size of a man's fist.
Upon examination, they proved to be talismans (fu) that the fanatical Taoist had
swallowed whole. (C the chapter on "technical competence," shu chieh, in World-
ly Talk and Recent Remarks.
20
)
Srimitra may well be said to have been a typical missionary monk, one who
instilled a breath of fresh air into Buddhism south of the Yangtze, a religion not
confined to the "pure talk" circles of the aristocracy but a practical, magical relig-
ion of the sort just described. Yet, when all is said and done, he remains a foreign
monk to whom the Chinese language was alien. Those who successfully taught an
understanding of Buddhism to the aristocracy of the Eastern Tsin, who moved the
Buddhism of the aristocrats forward in gigantic strides by becoming their teachers
and companions in "pure talk" and "dark discussion" (hsuan lun), were the widely
learned, ethnically Chinese members of the sa111gha. We move now to a new sec-
tion, in which we will describe the advance of aristocratic Buddhism during the
first half of the Eastern Tsin, focusing on two typical members of the Chinese
sa111gha, Chu Fa-ch'ien and Chih Tun.
B. Monkish Recluses and the
Community oj((Pure Talkers" and ((Dark Learners"
at Chien-k' ang and K'uai-chi
The Triumph of Aristocratic Buddhism South of the Yangtze. As we have said above,
the association at Chien-k'ang under the early Eastern Tsin between the refugee
aristocracy and Srimitra, the likewise refugee missionary-a sort of conversation
without words or, at the very least, in broken language-was also something in the
B : "PURE TALKERS" AND "DARK LEARNERS" 331
nature of "pure talk".
1
Still, what furnished the principal force for the conversion
of that aristocracy to Buddhism, by functioning actively in the "pure talk" and
"dark learning" circles of the Middle Plain aristocrats who had fled to Chien-k' ang
and K'uai-chi, was, needless to say, the refugee sa111gha, whose members were as
steeped in Lao-Chuang study as the aristocrats themselves, who engaged in "pure
talk" with the same veneration of the life of seclusion, and who lectured the aristo-
crats on Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu as well as on Buddhism in Chinese translation. Of
course, the refugee intellectual monk, however learned, however much a paragon
of virtuous conduct he might be, was, in terms of his very calling as one who had
left the household in order to cultivate the Way, a man without a means ofliveli-
hood, and one who, in addition to all this, had forsaken the monastery of his origi-
nal residence and the danapatis (donors) associated with it to flee to the south. (Of
course there must also have been among them some who came south in the company
of their danapatis, others who preceded their lay sponsors as religious precursors,
so to speak.) Those of them, therefore, who had old friends now associated with the
aristocracy south of the Yangtze, or who, in particular, were able to make new ac-
quaintances among gentlemen of standing, among men who would provide them
with the necessaries of life, among gentlemen renowned for their scholarship and
their "pure talk," would gain immediate access, as respected friends, to the social
circles of court and aristocracy. A good example is Chu Tao-ch'ien, a member of a
top-ranking aristocratic family, the Wang clan ofLang-yeh, who contrived to lay
the foundation for the conversion to Buddhism of the Chien-k'ang court and the
K'uai-chi aristocracy during the reign of the first two sovereigns of the Eastern
Tsin, emperors Yiian and Ming (r. 317-326).
Those members of the sa111gha, however, who were not of distinguished back-
ground were compelled to experience difficulties even in their daily lives. A monk
of Central Asian extraction born in Ch' ang-an was K' ang Seng-yiian, a non-Chinese
naturalized to the point that, "though his appearance was that of a Brahman, his
speech was truly that of the Middle Realm," who recited from memory both the
Paiicavilpsatisiihasrikii (Fang kuang) and (Tao hsing) prajiiiipiiramitii.
During the reign of Emperor Ch'eng (r. 326-342), successor to Emperor Ming, he
crossed the Yangtze together with K'ang Fa-lang and Chih Min-tu, but, having no
acquaintances there, sustained himself by regularly begging for his food. In the
course of this he was discovered by Yin Hao, a circumstance that enabled him to
make himself generally known.
2
Another case is Chu Fa-t'ai, a colleague ofTao-an's
who, after taking leave of him and his colleagues at Hsin-yeh, suffered a variety of
hardships on the way to Chien-k'ang, then got the help of Huan Wen in Ching-
chou, finally proceeded to the capital, where, benefiting by the friendship and
assistance ofWang Hsia (Tao's son), he came ultimately to be held in general esteem.
3
Thus there were cases in which, in order simply to get enough to eat, it was necessary
to match the preferences of individual aristocrats. It is said of Chih Min-tu that,
when he was about to go south, he conferred with a friend, to whom he said, "If
we go east (i.e., south) of the Yangtze with (nothing more than) the old (worn-out)
doctrines, we shall surely earn nothing to eat." Accordingly, so the story goes, he
brought with him across the river a "doctrine of the non-existence of mind" (hsin
wu yi), which he had concocted with an admixture of ideas of"voidness" and "non-
existence" (hsu wu), derived from Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu, and which he expounded
for years on end after his arrival.
4
This may be taken as an indication of one aspect
of a life attitude forced on the refugee monks by the mere need to stay alive.
Among the monks just mentioned were not a few who had been active in the Bud-
dhist community, i.e., in the world of ko yi, of the Western Tsin. Examples of these
are Chu Tao-ch'ien, who had been giving readings of the and
the Paiicavi'!lsatis. p.p. even before his southward move,
5
and Yii Fa-lan, who
studied the scriptures, whose education and manner were both aristocratic, of whom
it is said that "his air and his spirit were distinguished and quite separate from the
ordinary, (his practice of) the Way much bruited about in the three River Areas, his
repute making its way into all four extremities," and who further is alleged to have
been fond of seclusion in mountain and forest.
6
Chih Min-tu's "doctrine of the
non-existence of mind" also appears to have been a theory previously current in
Lo-yang. In general, in fact, ko yi Buddhism, a product of Lo-yang, moved south
together with monks of the type just mentioned, where, now south of the Yangtze,
it was taken over and further developed. There it was welcomed by an aristocracy
fond of "dark learning," i.e., of ideas in the tradition of Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu,
and this in turn brought about the triumph of aristocratic Buddhism south of the
Yangtze.
On the other hand, among those who circulated in the well-known hills and
mountains of the K'uai-chi region were numbered Yii Fa-lan and his disciples (Yii
Fa-k'ai and Yii Tao-sui), as well as the monks listed in the section on the Lives
of Eminent Monks devoted to practitioners of dhyana (hsi ch' an p'ien), to say nothing
of Chu Tao-ch'ien, Chih Tun, K'ang Seng-yiian, and others who circulated be-
tween there and Chien-k'ang, none of whom completely severed his ties with the
aristocracy. Since K'uai-chi, favored as it was by natural beauty and accessible as it
was to the capital, was a spot especially fit for the villas of aristocrats who took
pleasure in "idling beyond the reach of grime" (ch'en wai chih yu), and since there
was accordingly a large number of recluses there, the sarp.gha dwelt in monasteries
donated by the former and, in the leisure left from educating their disciples, would
engage in "pure talk" with the aristocrats who visited them. Consequently, the
Buddhism of K'uai-chi, itself no more than an extension of that of Chien-k'ang,
was nothing outside the realm of a religion of aristocrats. Thus the ko yi Buddhism
of the Middle Plain that moved south on account of the collapse of the Western Tsin
prospered before all else in conjunction with the aristocratic scholarship and training
that had their centers in Chien-k'ang and K'uai-chi, gaining currency as something
marked with a special character, one that entitles it to be called a "Buddhism of pure
talk and dark learning," and proceeding to fashion an "era of aristocratic Buddhism,"
a unique phenomenon that permeated the history of Chinese civilization throughout
the Eastern Tsin and the Southern dynasties.
Now it is possible to make clearer the character of Buddhism at Chien-k'ang
and K'uai-chi under the Eastern Tsin by choosing two monks, Chu Tao-ch'ien and
Chih Tun, as typically representative of those who had the run of the aristocratic
society of Chien-k'ang and K'uai-chi, who engaged in "pure talk" and enjoyed
"dark learning" together with the members of that society, who read and discussed
Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu as well as the Buddhist scriptures in Chinese translation,
who laid the foundation for Buddhism in that area by becoming teachers and
friends to the aristocrats in the pursuit of the life of seclusion of which the latter were
so fond and which they held in such high esteem, and who, finally, achieved a
reputation throughout the Southern dynasties, thus heightening the triumph of
aristocratic Buddhism in their territories.
CHu T AO-cH'IEN
Clm Tao-ch'ien (286-347), courtesy name Fa-shen (of which the second syllable may
be written with one of two different characters). A member of the Wang clan of
Lang-yeh, i.e., of the very cream of North Chinese society, he was in fact younger
brother to Wang Tun, one of the top power-holders under the early Eastern Tsin.
This Wang Tun, who was a man of outstanding achievements as well as of great
power at the beginning of the Eastern Tsin, in 322 raised an army in revolt, with
which for a time he reduced the political world of Chien-k' ang to chaos, only to be
put down in 324 by one of his own kinsmen, Wang Tao. Yet this very Chu Tao-
ch'ien, in spite of the importance he attached to being a recluse who had left the
household, became the object of veneration of both royalty and aristocracy, as a
distinguished member of the sarpgha, the leader of the aristocratic Buddhist church
of Chien-k' ang and K' uai-chi, until his death at an advanced age close to ninety. The
same Wang clan, the most renowned and at the same time the most powerful of the
clans, produced other distinguished members of the sarpgha besides him, most
notably Tao-pao,
7
younger brother to Wang Tao, and Tao-ching,
8
cousin to Wang
Ning-chih. The pronounced partiality toward Buddhism of the Wang family, the
most powerful family early in the Eastern Tsin (and including relatives by marriage
from the mother's side), and, in particular, the successive emergence of devout Bud-
dhists from the house ofWang Tao, a distinguished public servant later enfeoffed as
duke of Shih-hsing, may be viewed as important elements facilitating the eventu-
ally triumphant rise of aristocratic Buddhism under the Eastern Tsin and guarantee-
ing its triumph. For example, from the lineage ofhis eldest son Yiieh, who succeeded
him in the dukedom ofShih-hsing, came Wang K'uei, who late in the Eastern Tsin
and at the beginning of the Sung attached himself as a devotee to Shih Chih-yen,
a monk who made his home first at the Shih-hsing-ssu, then at the Chih-ytian-ssu
("Monastery of the Quince Grove"). Both of these monasteries were situated hard
by the tomb of Wang Tao (c Chih-yen's biography). The Chih-ytian-ssu is said to
have been built by Wang Tao's son Shao (c Shen Yiieh's inscription, entitled
Chih yuan ssu ch'a hsia shih chi). Wang Hsia was of Tao's sons the one who distin-
guished himself the most, and his whole family was devoutly Buddhist, doing such
things as supporting Chu Fa-t'ai, serving Srimitra, and listening to Sa111ghadeva's
lectures. His own two sons, Hstin and Min, studied Buddhism from their youth,
both becoming men with a considerable understanding of Buddhist doctrine (cf.
their biographies, as well as the Lives of Eminent Monks).
9
Now Chu Tao-ch'ien forsook lay life at the age of eighteen (in 303), studying
under the tutelage ofLiu Ytian-chen ofChung-chou and achieving fame throughout
the Lo-yang area from quite an early age. His teacher, Liu Ytian-chen, was an
outstanding Buddhist scholar in the tradition of "dark learning" under the West-
em Tsin, as can be deduced from the fact that Sun Ch'o composed a eulogy (tsan)
in his honor, also from the fact that Emperor T'ai-wu of the Northern Wei, in his
famous edict of proscription, abused him to the following effect:
The extreme degree to which Buddhism prospered under the Northern Wei can
be traced back to the trust placed in the false words of foreign mendicants by the
followers of Liu Ytian-chen, a Chinese of the Western Tsin, who then grafted
these on to the learned theories of Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu.
10
In the Buddhist community of North China and the Middle Plain, in the year of
Chu Tao-ch'ien's birth (286), the SaddharmputJqarika (Chengfa hua ching) was trans-
lated by D h a r m a r a k ~ a (Chu Fa-hu), then in 291 a translation was made, by Wu-
ch' a-lo and Chu Shu-Ian, of the Paiicavii'J'Ifatis. p.p. (Fang kuang po-jo ching) sent back
to China by Chu Shih-hsing, the Prajfiaparamita scholar ofLo-yang in the kingdom
ofWei who went as far as Khotan in his quest ofDharma. It is to be noted that both
were scriptures much awaited by the Buddhist church of China, both at the same
time extremely important for the early advance of the Mahayana in that country,
both propagated and read publicly, whether by the translators themselves or by
other Prajfiaparamita scholars, both acquiring an unending stream of persons lay as
well as clerical, who studied them, read them, memorized them, and sang their
praises. Chu Tao-ch'ien at the age of twenty-four (in Yung-chia 3, i.e., in 309)
began his public readings of these newly translated Mahayana scriptures, both so
extremely important for the development of Buddhism in China, and his audience
is said never to have dropped below five hundred. It is worthy of note that Chu
Tao-ch'ien's activities after his southward move early became a vehicle for the
introduction south of the Yangtze of the vitally important Buddhist scriptures most
recently translated in the Middle Plain. He is alleged to have gone south early in
Yung-chia. If his readings of the SaddharmaputJqarika and the Paiicavii'J'Ifatis.p.p. in
Yung-chia 3 (309) at the age of twenty-four may be presumed to have taken place
in Lo-yang, then one may suppose that he moved south about Yung-chia 4 (310),
i.e., to escape the Yung-chia disturbances.
Chu Tao-ch'ien Honored by the Aristocracy. Almost immediately after his arrival
in Chien-k' ang, Tao-ch'ien was treated with honor and friendship by emperors
Ytian and Ming, as well as by the chancellor Wang Tao, the military officer (t' ai
wei) Yti Liang, and others, all of whom stood in awe ofhis air and his natural endow-
B : "PURE TALKERS" AND "oARK LEARNERS" 335
ments. It is to this, presumably, that Tao-ch'ien's disciple, Chu Fa-chi, is referring
when he says, in his Lives of Sublimely Secluded Sramm:zas (Kao yi sha-men chuan),
Two Tsin emperors, Yi.ian and Ming, disported their thought in the obscure and
the empty, entrusting their feelings to the flavor of the Way and courteously
attending the Dharma master as guest and friend. My lords Wang [Tao] and Yi.i
[Liang], exhausting their feeling for him, would move aside [to make room for
him on] their seating mats. [Quoted in the commentary to roll 2B of Worldly
Talk and Recent Remarks.U]
He is also said to have been in the habit of entering the palace without removing
his shoes, to which his contemporaries supposedly remarked, "This is because a
gentleman who lives beyond the confines (of the ordinary) has native talents that
(out)weigh (social conventions)." Since his biography says even about his manner
and appearance that "his air and form ... were of an imposing dignity," it is
likely that, quite apart from and in addition to his erudition in Prajfiaparamita and
other scriptures, his bearing, which most befitted his aristocratic background, as well
as the conduct of a man who prided himself on being a gentleman beyond the
confines of the ordinary, endowed his personality with elements acceptable to the
very cream of aristocratic society. As Hsi Tso-ch'ih says in his letter to Tao-an,
"When the Emperor Ming ... began to revere this Way (of Buddhism), with his
own hand he fashioned a likeness of the Thus Come One and savored the delicious
taste of samadhi" (quoted from Hung ming chi 12).
12
As one can see from this, Emperor
Ming took an active interest in Buddhism, his most profound inspiration in this
direction coming, presumably, from Chu Tao-ch'ien. It is also to be noted that the
latter, being a student of the Saddharmaput:z4arika and the Paiicavi'!'satis. p.p., both
newly translated in the Lo-yang region under the Western Tsin, transmitted this
new learning to the Buddhist community south of the Yangtze, a community that
had developed under the doctrinal leadership of two Wu monks, K'ang Seng-
hui and Chih Ch'ien. One reads in the biographical notice (in roll 5 of the Lives of
Eminent Monks) on another Prajfiaparamita scholar, Chu Seng-fu, who, also com-
ing south to escape the disturbances that marked the end of the Western Tsin, created
a reading group in the Wa-kuan-ssu at Chien-k'ang, that "of the old, established
sarp.gha at Chien-k' ang there was none who did not elevate him and submit to
him."
13
From this it is evident that the influential and learned monks who came
south at the end of the Western Tsin all injected a breath of fresh air into the other-
wise tradition-bound Buddhist community of Chien-k'ang.
Now Chu Tao-ch'ien, who had been active in aristocratic circles in Chien-k'ang,
once Emperor Ming (325), Wang Tao (339), and Yi.i Liang (340) were dead, retired
to Mount Shan by K'uai-chi, where for more than thirty years he would now ex-
pound the Prajfiaparamita and other scriptures, now comment on Lao-tzu and
Chuang-tzu, in both cases standing at the head of the learned community ofK'uai-
chi, and many are those who are said to have come to school to him in admiration
of this man who had such breadth of learning and knowledge in the realm of relig-
ious and secular knowledge fashionable at the time. About this time, at the earnest
invitation of Emperor Ai (r. 362-365), he went to Chien-k'ang, where he gave a
reading of the Paiicavi1J1satis. p.p. in the palace, to the praise of the emperor and
all the courtiers. He gained, among other things, the fervent adherence of Prince
Yti of K'uai-chi, the later Emperor Chien-wen, at whose invitation he visited the
latter's princely dwelling. On one of those occasions he met at the prince's dwelling
Liu Yen, the magistrate of Tan-yang, who was also a distinguished member of the
world of"pure talk" and a close friend ofWang Hsi-chih. Liu Yen fired at him the
question, "What is a man of the Way like you doing within these vermilion por-
tals?" To which Tao-ch'ien retorted, "You may see vermilion portals, but I think of
myself only as whiling my time in a sagebrush doorway." This story, as an example
of the brilliant conversation held in the world of "pure talk," is recorded not only
in his biography but also in the chapter on "language" (yen yii p'ien) in Worldly
Talk and Recent Remarks.
14
The Mighty Ho Ch'ung Is Converted. Not only did Tao-ch'ien win the adherence
of Wang Tao and Yii Liang, the two most powerful aristocrats at the court of the
early Eastern Tsin, he was honored, in a master-disciple relationship, by the devoutly
Buddhist Ho Ch'ung (292-346), who even after the deaths of the two men just
mentioned held the real political power at court, being related by marriage to the
ruling family, being a member of the very top rank of the aristocracy, and having
been recommended by both Wang Tao and Yii Liang during their lifetimes, a man
of whom it is said that "among important ministers his authority dominated the
whole age" (c the biography ofHo Chun in roll93 of the Book of Tsin). From this
one concludes that Tao-ch'ien's skill at converting the Chien-k'ang and K'uai-chi
aristocracy to Buddhism was demonstrated more continually and more effectively
than that of anyone else. The fact that he lived to the then rare age of eighty-nine
(the majority, even of royalty and aristocracy, died young in those days, and the
longing after, and veneration for, longevity was at the time extremely strong), the
fact that in addition to this he was fond of a life of seclusion, and, finally, the fact that
he chose the secluded retreats among the mountains and rivers of the K'uai-chi area
as his dwelling place all enhanced his effectiveness, already great, in converting the
aristocratic society of his time. Tao-ch'ien, fond as he was of the secluded life, took
no pleasure in frequenting the court at Chien-k'ang, and eventually finished out
his remaining days in his wonted retreat on Mount Yang in Shan, wandering at will
through the mountain.
15
When, in Ning-hsing 2 (374) he died at the advanced age
of eighty-nine, Emperor Hsiao-wu praised him in these terms:
The Dharma-master Ch'ien had an intuitive perception of universal truth that was
both free of preconceptions and far removed from the ordinary. A mirror of
manners both pure and upright, he set aside the possible glory of becoming
prime minister, donning instead the dyed garment of simplicity and poverty.
Dwelling in the mountains apart from men, and earnestly striving without
surcease [for the Buddhadharma], he rescued the common people by propagating
the Way.
B : "PURE TALKERS" AND "nARK LEARNERS" 337
So saying, he donated a hundred thousand cash in his memory (according to the
Lives of Eminent Monks). This man, who entered the monastic order from the very
highest ranks of the then aristocracy, who also had the run of aristocratic society in
both Chien-k'ang and K'uai-chi, was an absolutely classic leader-type in the sarpgha
of the then Buddhist community of the aristocratic society south of the Yangtze.
Chih Tao-lin comments, "Fa-shen's doctrinal scholarship is deep and broad, his
fame long established. He is a Dharma-master, a propagator of the Way."
16
Sun
Ch'o, in his Essay on Worthy Men of the Way (Tao hsien lun) , compares him to Liu
Ling, one of the Seven Sages of the Bamboo GroveY Among his disciples are
numbered Chu Fa-yi.i, Chu Fa-i.iyn, K'ang Fa-shih, and others, all of whom made
their home in the K'uai-chi area, all of whom achieved fame as learned monks.
One of his disciples, Chu Fa-chi, is the author of the Lives of Sublimely Secluded
S r a m a ~ J a S . For all of these men Sun Ch' o has written eulogies (tsan). Even Chih Tun,
to whom the next few paragraphs shall be devoted, and who became the leader of the
aristocratic Buddhist community of Chien-k'ang and K'uai-chi, is commonly
believed to have been a follower and a pupil of Tao-ch'ien. (For further details, see
the account of Chu Ch'ien in roll4 of the Lives of Eminent Monks.)
CmH TuN
Chih Tun (314-366).
18
Courtesy name Tao-lin, secular surname Kuan, he is re-
ported alternately to have been from Ch' en-li u (the hsien of the same name in what
is now Honan) and from Lin-Iii (Lin hsien in the same province). In either case, he was
born toward the end of the Western Tsin in the vicinity of Lo-yang to a gentry
family of the Honan area which, if one is to take at face value the statement in his
biography that his family had "worshiped the Buddha for generations," had already
adopted the Buddhist faith. He was born nearly thirty years after Chu Tao-ch'ien,
who was active in the same place at about the same time, but only three years after
Tao-an, who, born about the same time in North China, became an eminent monk
of the very first rank, and later came to Hsiang-yang, a place which, though far re-
moved from Chien-k' ang, was still within the territories of the Eastern Tsin, where
he exercised not a little influence and inspiration on the decision-making intellectuals
of that state. Since his biography says that his whole family fled south of the River
(Yangtze) from the disturbances ofYung-chia, the likelihood is that he himself was
born south of the Yangtze. At the very least, he was a man who grew up in a devout-
ly Buddhist family that had experienced the bitterness of giving up its ancestral home
and fleeing southward in order to live through a time of social disturbance. Whether
because he had grown to adulthood under the religious influence of a household
such as has just been described, or whether he was influenced directly or indirectly
by the recluse atmosphere that had its center in and about K'uai-chi, specifically
by Tao-ch'ien and the other eminent monks honored and respected by the aristo-
crats, he early acquired an interest in Buddhism. Going into seclusion on Mount Yu-
hang near K'uai-chi, familiarizing himself also with Buddhism in the tradition of
a missiOnary of the Latter Han, which had circulated south of the
Yangtze in the previous generation, he savored and acquired intuitive insights into
the p.p. and another scripture based likewise on the notion of Emptiness,
the Tathagatajfianamudriisamadhisiitra (?),translated in the kingdom ofWu by Chih
Ch'ien under the title Hui yin ching, and left lay life at the age of twenty-five (in
338). Just about this time there occurred a series of events that gave a considerable
shock to the Buddhist community of Chien-k'ang or of K'uai-chi, which had had
very favorable prospects, where the royal family and the aristocracy were con-
cerned, thanks to the exertions of the aforementioned foreign missionary Srimitra
and Chu Tao-ch'icn, the Chinese monk from the distinguished Wang clan.
Th-e Society of His Time and the Church's Uncertainty. Emperor Ming, who had car-
ried out the worship of the Buddha within the palace, whose contributions to the
advance of Buddhism in and about Chien-k' ang had, as a consequence, been very
great, died a young man of twenty-seven in 325, to be succeeded by his five-year-
old son, who was to be Emperor Ch'eng. The latter was "assisted" in the task of
government by Wang Tao and Yii Liang, while the regency was held by the latter's
younger sister, who was the boy emperor's mother. Inevitably the power of the
Yti clan, now the emperor's in-laws, waxed. At that time, however, an upstart
soldier named Su Chiin launched an uprising on the pretext of "chastising" Yii
Liang, contriving in 328 to invade Chien-k'ang itself, where he let his men loot at
will. The palace offices were burnt, the State's treasure scattered, Yii Liang and other
senior officials put to flight, to say nothing of other important functionaries (such as
Pien Hu) who died in the fighting. The officials and their ladies who were taken cap-
tive in Chien-k'ang were subjected to extremes of humiliation and cruel mistreat-
ment by the rebel army, and the empress herself, the Lady Yii, lost her life. Thus
Chien-k'ang, the once flourishing capital, became a wilderness, being reduced in a
single stroke to extremes of chaos and misery such as remind one of the portrayals
ofHeii.I
9
Su Chiin, luckily, was put down before long, but, with Chien-k'ang in
ruins, there was talk of moving the capital. Because of vigorous opposition from
Wang Tao and others, nod-ring came of such talk. On the contrary, in spite of the
acute economic distress a new palace was built, and the emperor took up residence
in the twelfth month ofHsien-ho 7 (332 or, by Occidental reckoning, early in 333,
when Chih Tun was nineteen years old). Chih Tun left household life at the age of
twenty-five, an age when the impressionable young man, born into a Buddhist
family and reared in an atmosphere of genteel Buddhism, with its predilection for
the life of seclusion, may well have been motivated by the misery and uncertainty
of life in Chien-k'ang at this time. In fact, there was to be a whole series of events
enough to shake any Buddhist.
In 339, the year following Chih Tun's entry into the order, Wang Tao died, to be
followed the next year by Yii Liang. Both men had been, as already stated, devoutly
Buddhist ministers of state, who had acknowledged monks such as Srimitra and
Chu Tao-ch'ien to be "gentlemen in seclusion" (yin yi chih shih), either associating
with them as friends or revering them as teachers of the Buddha's Doctrine. How-
ever, after their deaths, the political power was taken over by Yti Ping, Liang's
younger brother, and by Ho Ch'ung, whose career had been advanced by Wang
Tao himself, but principally by the former, who was related by marriage to the
reigning family. Now, while Wang Tao had exercised his government with le-
niency and tolerance, the whole pattern of government changed radically and at once
under Yti Ping, for the latter strove to rule by intimidation and the imposition
of punishment. This affected his policy toward the Buddhist church as well, for
he argued, "Let the sramai).as bow down before the king!" -a rigid policy premised
on the denial of the proposition that the saiTlgha consisted of "gentlemen in seclu-
sion." This was, in other words, a proposal to overturn the already indigenous
customary practice of accepting at face value the saiTlgha's profession that its mem-
bers were "gentlemen in seclusion" (yin yi chih shih), "sojourners beyond the con-
fines" (fang wai chih pin), of thus leaving them outside the Confucian framework
of a morality in which lord ruled over subject, senior over junior, and to compel
them to adhere to the ranks of subjects expected to pay the full measure of vener-
ation to their sovereign.
Yti Ping's position was, in effect, as follows:
Propriety is a grave thing, veneration a great thing, both being the very basis of
government. No sovereign has any right to disturb this way of propriety and
veneration, this very foundation of government, on the basis of a doctrine from
abroad. The sramai).as are Tsin subjects just like anyone else. They must not be
permitted to flaunt the proprieties due a King by claiming adherence to a "doctrine
beyond the confines," or by using foreign manners as a pretext. A sramai).a should
also bow down before a king!
On the other hand, there was at the very center of the bureaucracy a person
whose power was comparable to his own, and who was at the same time a passion-
ately devout Buddhist, namely, Ho Ch'ung, who held the rank of shang shu ling.
Not only Ho Ch'ung, but a number of other officials, such as the tso p'u yeh Ch'u
She, the yu p'u yeh Chu-ko K'uei, and the two shang shu Feng Huai and Hsieh
Kuang, opposed him in a body.
20
The position ofHo Ch'ung and his fellows may be
paraphrased in these words:
The saiTlgha, by rigorously keeping the Five Precepts, reinforces the converting
power of the king. It prays for the welfare of the State. Its observance of the
monastic code has much in common with adherence to Confucian propriety.
In fact, those sramai).aS who are the most zealous in their adherence to the monas-
tic code will not spare even their very lives. They are modest and self-effacing,
scarcely the kind to fly in the face of propriety and veneration. From Han and
Wei until our own Tsin times the sramai).as have been permitted to follow their
own code, with no evident harm to the doctrine of propriety. If now all at once
the saiTlgha should be compelled to bow down before kings, the result would
be the collapse of the Buddhadharma. There can be no justification for destroying
under the present reign a Buddhadharma which was tolerated up to and includ-
ing the reign ofHis Late Majesty.
Arguments were exchanged several times between Yii Ping and Ho Ch'ung and their
respective followers, the ministers in league with the latter all insisting that it was
right to allow the sramaga to dispense with these formalities and wrong to violate
established precedents. When Yii Ping put this matter up to the ceremonialists for
deliberation, even the doctors of propriety took the side of Ho Ch'ung, saying, in
effect, "Since these men are acknowledged by the Tsin court to be one kind of
'gentlemen in seclusion' and 'sojourners beyond the confines,' and since they
have customarily been permitted to dispense with these proprieties, it would best
accord with the intentions of All-under-Heaven to follow the precedent of His
Late Majesty [Emperor Ming] by not altering the sarpgha's rule that 'they who
worship the Buddha and cultivate goodness need not bow down before kings.' "
In this way, so we are told, this proposal to place the Buddhadharma in a position
of inferiority vis-a-vis the Confucian doctrine of propriety and to subject the
sramagas' code (vinaya) to Confucian restraints, a proposal put forth by a man
newly risen to the position of supreme political power in the State, was quashed. It
was, presumably, at a time like this that the aforementioned Tao-ch'ien left Chien-
k'ang to seclude himself at K'uai-chi.
The Favorable Religious Climate after His Entry into the Order. It might appear that
Yii Ping was won over all too easily on the question of absolving the sarpgha from
the requirements of civil etiquette, when one considers how unchallenged his
power as prime minister was, how seriously he took his political responsibilities, and
how harshly he governed, particularly by contrast with Wang Tao, who in the
execution of his own duties had always been guided by kindness and magnanimity.
(So harsh, in fact, was Ping as a governor that his political conduct was the occasion
of a protest on the part of Yin Jung.) Still, the situation in whose midst he had to
operate was, in our view, one in which it would have been difficult to break down
the thick aristocratic wall by resort to the Confucian doctrine of propriety, of which
the said aristocrats were none too fond, and to subject the sarpgha to regal authority.
For the aristocracy of the time was very fond of the philosophy of Lao-tzu and
Chuang-tzu, held "pure talk" and "dark learning" in the highest esteem, took
delight in Buddhism at the very same time, was most particularly fond of a Bud-
dhism of a "dark learning" variety in which the Prajfiaparamita scriptures oc-
cupied a central position, treated monks of the sort just described as teachers and
friends, respected or befriended them as one sort of "gentlemen in seclusion,'' and,
finally, were themselves pronouncedly inclined toward faith in Buddhism.
The Chinese aristocracy of the time, Yii Ping included, was quite like our own
Japanese court aristocracy of the Heian period. For, sitting cross-legged like them on
enormous holdings of land, pampered by large numbers of servants, and moving
back and forth between the palace and their own luxuriously appointed mansions
and villas, given, in other words, to a style oflife in which luxury and extravagance
had become habitual, they had by now lost all will power, all power of decision and
of the execution of decisions. I11 addition to this, they had come to prop them-
selves on the mysterious powers of the by now very prosperous Buddhist
religion. Under the circumstances, even Yti Ping would have lacked the strength
of will and decision to exert on the church, in the face of opposition from most
of the aristocracy, the pressure necessary to effect the desired reforms. It is also
possible, even likely, that he was himself in the process of becoming a soft-hearted
aristocrat, a man hesitant, even afraid, to exert pressure on the sa111gha or on the
Buddhadharma.
Be that as it may, by the time under discussion, thanks to the exertions of a darkly
learning, purely talking sa111gha, now treated like "gentlemen in seclusion," and of
their aristocratic sponsors, the elegant Buddhist church of Chien-k' ang had become
a power that no Yti Ping could break. More than that, Yti Ping's policy toward the
Buddhist church, once it had failed, may be said to have done the exact opposite of
what its author had intended, by furnishing further impetus for the triumph of
aristocratic Buddhism. It is at such a favorable time as this that Chih Tun was most
active, being at once the darling and the leader of this aristocratic Buddhist church.
21
Furthermore, humiliation of the Chien-k'ang aristocracy and danger to its very
life and limb, as well as the desolation of the capital, feuds over political power, and,
finally, the imperiled position of the bureaucracy, all the results of uprisings of which
that led by Su Chtin in 328 is typical, presumably drew the aristocrats, given the
weight they attached to lineage and their preference for seclusion, more and more
away from the metropolitan life in the direction of escape and retreat to such places
as K'uai-chi. Also, the loss of social position and/or property, which so frequently
plagued the middle and lower aristocracy, quite naturally strengthened the latter's
leanings toward a Buddhism now on the rise, since aristocrats of middle and
lower status, once in the sa111gha, could seize an opportunity to spread their wings
even among the upper aristocracy. The time at which Chih Tun entered the order
and was active at K'uai-chi was the best of times for such Buddhist activities, for
such "pure talk" activities in the Lao-Chuang tradition, as these. The aristocratic
company with which he associated, with which he discussed Lao-Chuang studies, or
to which he gave readings of Buddhist texts such as the Prajfiaparamita scriptures or
the Vimalakirtinirdesa, consisted of members of the Wang clan of Lang-yeh like
Wang Hsi-chih and his sons Hui-chih and Hsien-chih, or Wang Tao and his sons
Hsia and Hstin; of members of another Wang clan, that ofT'ai-ytian, such as Wang
Meng, his son Hsiu, his grandsons Kung and Shu, and the latter's son T'an-chih;
of Hsieh An and the entire Hsieh clan; and of other top-ranking aristocrats, such as
Liu Yen, Ch'u P'ou, Ho Ch'ung, Sun Sheng, Sun Ch'o, and Hsi Ch'ao, all of whom
he endowed with a heightened interest in Buddhism and a deeper religious faith.
Let us now look at the insistence by certain Confucianists on the irreconcil-
ability of Confucianism with Buddhism as another proof of the fact that this was
Buddhism's golden age, a time of a triumph so complete that even Yti Ping, the
supreme powerholder in the State, was unable to bring Buddhism, which he himself
characterized as a foreign religion, under the political restraints of a government
based on the traditional Confucian doctrine of propriety, where he said it belonged.
Contemporary with Yii Ping was a man such as Ts'ai Mu, who memorialized to
the effect that Buddhism, being a "barbarian doctrine," should be banished from
the public life of Chinese officials. Ts'ai Mu (courtesy name Tao-ming) was a mem-
ber of a family from K'ao-ch'eng in Ch'en-liu, a family that had been outstanding
for generations. Prince Hung of P' eng-ch' eng memorialized Emperor Ch' eng as
follows:
The Buddha-image of the Lo-hsien-t'ang, situated within the imperial palact.
and fashioned by His Late Majesty [Emperor Ming], escaped destruction even at
the time ofSu Chiin's uprising. One would do well to commission the writing of
a paean to that image.
Ts'ai Mu countered this proposal effectively by saying the following:
The religion of the Buddha is a barbarian practice, not a teaching of the Sages on
which the Middle Kingdom should rely. It would therefore not be proper to charge
the officials publicly with the composition of a paean even to a Buddha-image
fashioned by His Late Majesty.
22
However, this Ts'ai Mu, after Yii Ping's death in 344, Yii Yi's death in 345, and Ho
Ch'ung's death in 346 (at a time when Chih Tun was thirty-three), attained the
rank of ssu t'u, becoming, together with Prince Yii ofK'uai-chi (the future Emperor
Chien-wen), a central powerholder and a direct assistant in the exercise of imperial
power. In 350, however, he was stripped of his post and reduced to the rank of a
commoner, then in 355 he died at the age of seventy-six. It is interesting that this
one-time minister, who once said that "Buddhism is a barbarian doctrine, not a
doctrine on which the Middle Kingdom should rely," became the sponsor for the con-
struction of a metropolitan monastery, the Ch'i-ch'an-ssu.
23
Ts'ai Mu's son Hsi was
friends with, and under the influence of, Chih Tun.
24
It is likely that the Bud
dhistic atmosphere at court and in aristocratic society changed the father at some
point into a Buddhist believer.
From the fact that the anti-Buddhist plans of these two men, Yii Ping and Ts'ai
Mu, either were smashed or, contrary to their authers' intentions, worked to the
advantage of the Buddhists one deduces that the times had reached a point at which
the speedy rise to triumph of Buddhism south of the Yangtze in the territories of
the Eastern Tsin could not be arrested.
Let us now tell in somewhat more concrete detail how the circumstances of the
monk Chih Tun were at last moving in a direction favorable to his religious activ-
ities.
Worthy of mention before all else are Ho Ch'ung, who for sheer power had not
his like anywhere else in the central government, and the furtherance of the fortunes
ofBuddhism on his own part as well as that ofhis whole family.
Ho Ch' ung (courtesy name Tz'u-tao) was son to the elder sister of Wang Tao's
wife, and his own wife was younger sister to Emperor Ming's consort. His younger
brother, Chun (courtesy name Yu-t.ao), finally, was father to the consort of Emperor
Mu (who acceded to the throne at the age of two). Ho Ch'ung had his cause promoted
by Wang Tao, who recognized his talents and capacities, and was also friends with
Emperor Ming. Not only this, but, once Wang Tao, late in life and joined by
Yii Liang, recommended Ho Ch'ung to the emperor, saying that he if anyone was
the man to whom the fortunes of the State were to be entrusted, then, upon the
deaths of both men in successive years (339 and 340, respectively), he became,
together with the Yii Ping mentioned above, the wielder of real power in the central
government. Since, before becoming the powerholder just described, he exercised
a local political power as nei shih of K'uai-chi, where Chu Tao-ch'ien and Chih
Tun were making their home, he presumably had occasion to become close friends
with them and with other distinguished members of the sarpgha. Ho Chun' s biogra-
phy, contained among those of the reigning family's in-laws in the Book of Tsin,
says that "Ch'ung, who occupied the weighty position of tsai Ju (a sort of chancellor),
wielded an authority that dominated the whole age." The two Ho brothers, Ch'ung
and Chun, were such committed Buddhists that the biography of the former says,
"Since he was by nature a man fond of Sakya's canon and given to the respectful
repair of Buddhist monasteries, his donations to the sramaQ.as numbered in the
hundreds. Though the cost might run into the many hundreds of thousands, he
would not stint," while in Chun's biography one reads, "He would have nothing
to do with human affairs, confining himself to the recitation of Buddhist scriptures
and to the building and repair of stupas and mausoleums." The two Hsi brothers,
Yin and T'an, who, for their own part, were passionate believers in t'ien shih Taoism,
are said to have been linked by Hsieh Wan, as men whose religious zeal exceeded
proper norms, in these terms: "The two Hsi are abject flatterers of Tao, while the
two Hoare sycophants of the Buddha."
25
The Tsin succession, following the death (in 325) ofEmperor Ming, who had had
such a close connection with the advancement of Buddhism, fell to the youthful
Emperor Ch' eng (aged five at the time of his succession), then to Emperor K' ang,
who sat on the throne no longer than two years (dying in 344 at the age of twenty-
three). Yii Ping's plan was then to install Emperor Chien-wen, but he was anticipated
by Ho Ch'ung, the zealous Buddhist, who installed instead the two-year-old crown
prince (Emperor Mu). The real power nominally wielded by these puppet emperors
lay in the hands of"strong men" such as those of the Yii and Ho clans. Ho Ch'ung,
once he had succeeded in installing Emperor Mu, occupied the position of supreme
power until his death at fifty-five in 346, and applied himself zealously, together with
his whole clan, to the furtherance of Buddhism.
Another thing that took place together with the accession of the boy emperors
was the regency of empresses dowager. In a milieu in which the palace was al-
ready soaked in Buddhist proselytism, in which a sarpgha honored and respected by
the majority of the aristocracy had the run of the court, the womenfolk were easily
converted to the worship of the Buddha.
Emperor K'ang's consort, the Lady Ch'u (P'ou's daughter), was a zealous Bud-
dhist. In roll 8 of the Real Record of Chien-k' ang (Chien k' ang shih lu) one reads that
during the reign of Emperor K'ang (r. 343-345) two monasteries were constructed
in Chien-k' ang. One of them was the Yen-hsing-ssu ("Monastery for the Extension
ofProsperity"), sponsored by Empress Ch'u; the other, the Chien-fu-ssu ("Mon-
astery for the Establishment of Good Fortune"), sponsored by Ho Ch'ung. In due
course, as the mother of Emperor Mu, who was two years old at the time of his
accession, that lady became the latter's regent. She resumed the regency under
his successor, Emperor Ai (r. 362-365), who, as a believer in recipes of longevity
ascribed to the Yellow Emperor and Lao-tzu, abstained from cereals and was finally
poisoned by an overdose of an alleged elixir of immortality, so that it was never
possible for him to attend to the business of government. (Chih Tun died in 366.)
The latter regency then continued into the reign of the next occupant of the throne,
the deposed emperor (fei ti, the prince of Hai-hsi, r. 366-370; Chu Tao-ch'ien died
in 374).
However, at about this time Huan Wen, the mighty military dictator, having
worked out a plan for usurping the Tsin throne, proceeded to put his plan into action
by entering Chien-k'ang and deposing the emperor, whom he designated Prince of
Hai-hsi. Luckily for the Tsin house, Huan Wen died when he was only inches
away from occupancy of the throne, and the Tsin house contrived to prolong its life
a bit. Its real strength, however, continued to be worn away, and, under the pressure
of civil war and of the usurpatory tactics of Huan Wen's son Hsiian, the relative
positions oflord and subject, gentry and commonalty, became completely dislocated.
Even so, at the very time that Huan Wen had deposed the now prince of Hai-hsi,
Empress Ch'u "was burning incense in the Buddha-tabernacle" (cf. her biography
in the Book of Tsin), which means that in the very palace itself there was a room to
house the Buddha. This fanatically Buddhist dowager, whose regency extended
through the short reign of Emperor Chien-wen (r. 371-372) into early in that
of Emperor Hsiao-wu, continued to take advantage, until her death at sixty-one
in 384, ofher powerful position at court to live a devoutly Buddhist life.
The Lady Ho who became the consort of Emperor Mu was the daughter of the
devoutly Buddhist Ho Chun, and was herself, like her father and her elder brother
Ch'ung, a Buddhist zealot, the sponsor of the Ho-huang-hou-ssu ("Convent of
Empress Ho") and of the Yung-an-ssu ("Convent of Eternal Security"; both dating
to 354). It was natural for these religious edifices, sponsored by a lady of the palace,
to be places of residence for nuns, but this enables one at the same time to deduce the
advances made by the community of nuns, as well as the household conversion of the
palace aristocracy, particularly of its womenfolk. Two phenomena brought about
by the conversion to Buddhism of laywomen, viz., that of close contact between
these women and members of the sarp.gha and the increase in the number of nuns,
i.e., of women who themselves joined the order, led inevitably to a serious discus-
sion, whether from the standpoint of the Confucian view of womankind or from that
of a male-centered system of ethics, of the possibility of the annihilation or, at the
B : "PURE TALKERS" AND "oARK LEARNERS" 345
very least, of the disintegration through Buddhism of Chinese customs and manners.
It is also a fact that the monks and nuns who had dose ties with the power of the
court and of the aristocracy brought decline and corruption into the Buddhist com-
munity in and about Chien-k'ang. Below, we will devote a separate section to these
matters.
Teacher and Frimd to the K'uai-chi Aristocracy. Thus many of the aristocracy were
fond of the study of Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu; studied the Buddhist canon, most
particularly the Mahayana doctrine of emptiness (k'ung kuan, sunyaviida) preached in
the Prajfiaparamita scriptures, the Vimafakirtinirdesa, and the like; held in very high
esteem "dark discussion" (hsuan fun) and "pure talk" (ch'ing t'an), which exploited
the two forms of knowledge just mentioned; and, escaping the dangers and troubles
of the political world and of worldly affairs in general, took refuge amid the moun-
tains and rivers of the lovely K'uai-chi area. These aristocrats too were moving
toward a worship of the Buddha, toward becoming builders and sponsors of
Buddhist religious edifices. As one example, let us cite the case ofHsi.i Hsi.in, an adept
at "pure talk" and "dark discussion" and a most intimate friend of Chih Tun, who
also sponsored religious building at K'uai-chi.
We shall have occasion once again to mention the fact that the expositions, the
objections, and the subtle repartee occasioned by the public reading of the Vimalakirti-
nirde5a, an activity which, sponsored by the prince of K'uai-chi, centered about Chih
Tun and Hsi.i Hsi.in, elicited sighs of admiration from their aristocratic audiences,
and were long a fond memory and conversation topic in aristocratic circles south
of the Yangtze-for this fact has a fame all its own. It should be mentioned, however,
that Hsi.i Hsi.in, a man thoroughly versed in the Buddhist canon, was also a very
devout Buddhist. He made his home in K'uai-chi, where he rubbed elbows with
distinguished gentlemen such as Hsieh An and Wang Hsi-chih, as well as with
Chih Tun. In the year 331 (Hsien-ho 6) he donated his two K'uai-chi residences to
the saq1gha, renaming them Ch'i-yi.ian ('Jetavana") and Ch'ung-hua ("Monastery
Where Conversion is Revered"). The two names are said to have been conferred by
Emperor Mu (r. 345-351), the name Ch'i-yi.ian on his old Shan-yin ("North of the
Mountains") residence, the name Ch'ung-hua on his new Yung-hsing ("Eternal
Prosperity") residence. (Cf. the K'uai-chi Gazetteer.) He is also said to have built
for his new residence, now the Ch'ung-hua-ssu, a four-storied stapa, in the course
of the construction of which his funds were exhausted, so that he was obliged to
leave the new monastery without a "wheel dewpot" (lu p'an hsiang fun; c roll8 of
the Real Record oJChien-k'ang).q
Given this atmosphere of a flourishing aristocratic Buddhism, as these aristocrats
began to construct religious edifices, there would be an increasing tendency to seek
out "darkly learning" monks, thoroughly versed in Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu, as
teachers and friends to these aristocrats. At any rate, Chih Tun, a monk adept in both
Buddhism and the study of Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu and absolute master of a
facile tongue and a subtle mind, made his debut in the aristocratic Buddhist circles
of Chien-k'ang and K'uai-chi, as a child of fortune lucky enough both to have
benefited by the teaching of Chu Tao-ch'ien and his fellows and to be able to
transmit it to others, at a time best suited to the display of his talents and learning.
Now Chih Tun the monk, by joining the "pure talk" of the K'uai-chi aristocracy,
made a free display of his talent and learning in his associations with almost all of the
top-ranking gentlemen of the day, men like Hsieh An, Wang Hsia, Liu K'uei,
Yin Hao, Hsi.i Hsi.in, Sun Ch'o, Hsi Ch'ao, Wang Hsi-chih, Huan Yen-piao, Wang
Ching-jen, Ho Tz'u-tao, Wang Wen-tu, Hsieh Ch'ang-hsia, and Yi.ian Yen-po.
As one of the most cultivated men of the Eastern Tsin, a man many of whose bons
mots are among those most frequently quoted in Worldly Talk and Recent Remarks
and other such works, he left behind for posterity the great achievement of having
transmitted the doctrine of the Buddha to the most distinguished gentlemen of his
time. Let us now, by citing some stories about Chih Tun and Yin Hao, the latter
being a man distinguished both for his "pure talk" and for his "dark learning," have
a look at the position occupied by the former in K'uai-chi's Buddhist community
and in its world of ideas. Yin Hao (courtesy name Shen-yi.ian), a man who had a
dazzling reputation from youth, was most skilled at "dark language" (hsuan yen).
The chapter on "praise and renown" (shang yu p'ien) in Worldly Talk and Recent
Remarks, citing the Book of Restoration (Chung hsing shu), says, "Hao was master
both of words and of the abstract truths (embodied in them), subtle and refined in
his discussions, and consummately skillful at (interpreting) Lao-tzu and the Canon
of Changt:s. Persons of sophistication therefore all regarded him as an authority."
It is thus evident that he was a person of the highest rank in the world of"dark learn-
ing" and "pure talk," and that was in fact the atmosphere in whose midst he learned
to read the Buddhist scriptures. It was, most particularly, after his retirement to
Tung-yang in the K'uai-chi region, when, having run afoul ofHuan Wen, he had
been relieved of his post, that he familiarized himself thoroughly, through study,
with the Prajtiaparamita, the Vimalakirtinirdesa, and other Buddhist scriptures.
The chapter on "literary refinement and learning" (wen hsueh p'ien) in Worldly Talk
and Recent Remarks also has the following to say:
Having moved to Tung-yang, he did much reading in the Buddhist scriptures,
understanding them all thoroughly. He could not, however, understand the
numbered categories [such as the Five Skandhas, the Twelve Ayatanas, the Four
Noble Truths, the Twelve Causes and Conditions, etc.] or the doctrines arranged
numerically [ekottara, etc.]. Then he met a man of the Way, to whom he put all
these questions, and who explained them quite satisfactorily.
Upon reading the he allegedly found as many as two hundred doubtful
passages, about which he proposed to question Chih Tun. The latter, for his own
part, fully intended to go to him with an open mind, but abandoned the idea, so we
are told, upon the advice of Wang Hsi-chih. (The source for this is the Forest of
Words [Yu lin], as cited in the commentary to the aforementioned chapter in World-
ly Talk and Recent Remarks.) The Lives of Sublimeiy Secluded tells the follow-
ing (according to the same commentary):
Yin Hao, able as he was to discuss names and the abstract truths [that underlay
them], would find places that he could not penetrate. When this happened, his
wish was to question Chih Tun about them, but, to his profound regret, he was
never able to meet him. Such is the extent to which Chih Tun was esteemed by
men of renown.
26
While Yin Hao and Chih Tun appear never to have confronted each other in
doctrinal debate, one gathers that "dark learners" of the very first class regarded
the latter as an authority on Buddhist doctrine second to none, and one can surmise
for oneself how much respect the leading intellectual aristocrats of the K'uai-chi
region had for his Buddhist scholarship and "dark learning," also how much praise
they presumably heaped on him. The Lives of Eminent Monks (specifically Chih Tun's
biography in roll 4) lists them by name:
Wang Hsia, Liu K' uei, Yin Hao, Hsi.i Hsi.in, Hsi Ch' ao, Sun Ch' o, Huan Yen-piao,
Wang Ching-jen, Ho Tz'u-tao, Wang Wen-tu, Hsieh Ch'ang-hsia, and Yi.ian
Yen-po, all men of the greatest renown for their time, maintained with him an
association beyond the grime [of the world].
Since Chih Tun, in his reading of the Buddhist scriptures and of such secular
texts as Chuang tzu, did not hold himself to the exegesis of each individual word and
phrase, but consistently expounded the general outline, he was held lightly by the
learned monks of the old "parsing school," but Hsieh An, on the other hand, praised
him, saying, "He is like the great Po-lao of antiquity, who would reject a piebald
horse in favor of a swift one."
27
The significance of the horse in this case is that
Tun, Buddhist monk and all, kept both horses and cranes. He was, in other words
a monk of the aristocracy, of the cream of society, leading his life within a tiny,
closed, specifically Chinese circuit of fellow-aristocrats, something that set him off
quite sharply from an Indian sarpgha whose members went about with their alms
bowls begging for their food.
Chih Tun's Study of ((Chuang tzu". The "dark learning" of the time, removing
itself from the exegetical scholarship of the Han, preferred to engage in an overall
discussion of the broad meaning of the classics and to deal logically and philosophi-
cally with principal themes, such as the question of the Sage (sheng), the question of
good and evil, etc., thus enabling the flowers of discussion to bloom in the garden
of "pure talk." Tun's readings of the scriptures were entirely of a piece with this,
matching the mood of the aristocracy perfectly. That is the reason for the exag-
gerated praise lavished on him by aristocratic society. Together with this, he was
thoroughly versed in Chuang tzu, a cardinal text for the "dark learners," and once,
at the White Horse Monastery in Chien-k'ang, he engaged, with Liu Hsi-chih and
others, in a debate concerning the first chapter in that book, the one on "untram-
meled Wandering" (hsiao yao yu), an argument in which both sides took acutely par-
tisan positions regarding the realm of"Untrammeled Wandering." Hereupon, so we
are told, he withdrew to compose a commentary to that chapter, regarded as the
most difficult in the whole book, and in doing so he enunciated new views so far in
advance of the interpretations ofKuo Hsiang and Hsiang Hsiu as to amaze scholars
in general and the adherents of the traditional interpretations in particular.
28
Wang
Meng, the father of Emperor Ai's consort, praised him to the effect that he was "not
inferior, in the study ofLao-tzu and Chuang-tzu, even to Wang Pi."
29
Sun Ch'o,
comparing him in his Essay on Worthy Men of the Way (Tao hsien lun) to Hsiang
Hsiu, the Western Tsin's great authority on Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu, says, "Chih
Tun and Hsiang Hsiu both hold Chuang-tzu and Lao-tzu in the highest esteem. The
two men, though different in time, were, in their airs and their preferences, mys-
teriously the same."
30
Even Wang Hsi-chih, though at first distrustful of Chih Tun's
after hearing his views on Chuang-tzu's chapter on "untrammeled
wandering," was so struck that he begged him to take up residence at the Ling-
chia-ssu, where they could associate with each other.
The aristocracy and sarpgha of Chien-k'ang, for its own part, did not leave
Chih Tun in isolation. When he did it is not known, but he proselytized in that city
as well. In Chien-k'ang it was at the Wa-kuan-ssu and the Tung-an-ssu that Chih
Tun gave scriptural readings. (C the chapter on "literary accomplishments and
learning" in Worldly Talk and Recent Remarks.) However, late in life-though the
year is not known-he returned to Wu, where he built the Chih-shan-ssu. Next
he retired to Mount Shan by K'uai-chi, where he busied himself with the instruction
of his pupils, where he also, as teacher and friend to the aristocrats who took pleas-
ure in their K' uai-chi retreat, deepened their commitment to Buddhism. In the
monastery he built on the "small peak" (hsiao ling) in Wu-chou by Mount Shan
there is said to have been a sarpgha of more than a hundred in constant attendance
and study. Anyone who neglected his studies, so we are told (in his biography),
had his name inscribed on a list to the right of the teacher's seat, and would then be
encouraged with a severe reprimand.
In K'uai-chi at the same time was Chu Tao-ch'ien, his senior in the order and the
scion of a distinguished family. Since Chih Tun's monastery, located in the same area,
had a community of scholars whose number by then exceeded a hundred, one con-
cludes that the total number of monks at K'uai-chi was not small, and that the influ-
ence of Chih Tun's scholarship on the Buddhist church of Chien-k'ang and K'uai-
chi, i.e., of the very center of the Eastern Tsin, was by no means slight. Finally,
late in life he moved to Mount Shih-ch' eng and established the Ch'i-kuang-ssu,
where he adhered consistently to an ascetic vegetarian regime, and where he de-
voted himself single-mindedly to writing and to the cultivation of dhyana. The
writings just mentioned included commentaries to the Aniipiinasmrtisutra and a
scripture on the Four Dhyanas, as well as Essay on Disporting Oneself in the Obscure
[Realm Where Emptiness Is] Identical with Matter (Chi se yu hsuan lun), Essay 011 the Sage's
Abstention from Knowledge with Discrimination (? Sheng pu pien chih lun), End Point of
the (Tau hsing chih kuei), Admonition to Students of the Way (Hsueh tao
chieh). His collected literary works, entitled Wen han chi, were widely current until
Liang times (fifth century), but then perished, and all that survives are fragments,
in Worldly Talk and Recent Remarks (Shih shuo hsin yu), Hung ming chi, Kuang hung
ming chi, and Lives of Eminent Monks (Kao seng chuan), of such works as Preface to a
Selection of Comparative Excerpts from [the Prajfziipiiramitii in] the Greater and Smaller
[Number of] Chapters (Ta hsiao p'in tui pi yao ch' ao hsu),x the Chapter on the Subtle View
(Miao kuan chang), and the Essay on Untrammeled Wandering (Hsiao yao lun). Excerpts
of these may be found in such collections as the Complete Prose Works of Tsin
(Ch' uan Chin wen), in addition to a collected corpus of his, entitled the Chih Tun
Collection (Chih Tun chi), printed in two rolls with one roll of addenda (pu yi).
31
As we see it, Chih Tun about the age of forty, when he was presumably in retreat
at K'uai-chi, was an extremely strict recluse, devoted to silent contemplation and
the cultivation of his religion, aspiring to the model of and Nagarjuna,
two Indian monks of the Mahayana, both men of letters and philosophical thinkers,
and leader of a learned community of over a hundred zealous monks in an ascetic
pattern of life. About this time his ideas matured, he became more and more the
object of veneration on the part of the K'uai-chi aristocracy for his sharp wit and his
eloquence, and he contrived to develop great powers of conversion as the teacher
and friend of those aristocrats who were themselves fond of a life in retreat at K'uai-
chi. Then, at fifty-three, he died.
The thing that must be noted here is the attitude toward the life of seclusion
entertained by these aristocrats who owned such vast lands and such great wealth in
and about K'uai-chi.
Life of the K'uai-chi Aristocracy. In K'uai-chi at this time there lived in retirement
persons who could not gain admittance into central government circles, as well as
other aristocrats who had run away from involvement in political power struggles.
Here, living in intimate contact with mountains and rivers aglow with natural
beauty, they enjoyed a life of indolent self-satisfaction. Typical of them is Wang Hsi-
chih, who gave up his official position in order to get away from the feuds of the
powerful families and in order not to bring harm upon his own household, or Hsieh An,
who would not serve in an official capacity even when summoned to do so. Their
life at K'uai-chi was a peaceful, rustic one, in which they "planted mulberry fruits,
then, taking their children with them and carrying their little grandchildren in their
arms, would wander among them and look at them" (as stated in the Book of Resto-
ration, cited in the commentary to the chapter on "elegant measure" [ya liang p'ien]
in Worldly Talk and Recent Remarks). It was a pure form of self-amusement, wherein
they would "go out to cast their fish lines, then go in to chat and to compose literary
pieces." It had nothing in common with the ancient and proverbial bitter life
of renunciation, a life in which men would "let their hair grow wild and feign
madness, soiling their bodies and leaving behind them a heritage of filth." Nor
were they recluses of the type that would wear simple clothes and eat simple fare,
making their homes on crags and in caves, cultivating the Way of the superhuman
and presumably immortal sylph, casting aside the riches and the pleasures of the
world. Theirs was rather a seclusion to which they aspired, for which they longed,
and which was to be enjoyed. From their point of view, even the sramary.as, free
as they were from the restraints of official life, free as they were to disport themselves
in the midst of the natural beauty of mountains and rivers, to seek freedom from
any kind of restraint, and beyond the mundane as they might be, were men bound
by a doctrine and denied the freedom of their own feelings. Their type of seclusion
was born in the midst of the social position and economic security that owed their
existence to the establishment of an aristocratic society under the Eastern Tsin.
32
The recluses of K'uai-chi conducted their "pure talk" and their discussions of
Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu in the midst of a life of self-satisfaction such as has been
described above, and their concern with Buddhism also was deepened under these
conditions. Hsieh An sent Chih Tun a letter, in which he said, "Nowadays there
are virtually no more sophisticated pursuits, and I am depressed the day long.
If only I could chat with you, one day would be worth a thousand years !"
33
Chih
Tun, who had returned from Chien-k'ang to Mount Shan in the neighborhood of
K' uai-chi, became himself a sort of aristocratic recluse, enjoying at will the natural
scene, the composition of prose and verse, and "pure talk" in the rich and plentiful
surroundings of these great landowners. Rather, he became the principal teacher
and friend of a group that enjoyed the so-called aristocratic, sophisticated life, and
ushered in the triumph of K'uai-chi Buddhism, a religious phenomenon in which
these aristocrats occupied a central position.
"Vimalakirtinirdesa" and the Conversion of the Aristocracy. The aristocrats, while
mingling with the srama!)aS and holding discussions with them in the social spheres
of "pure talk," were also busily engaged in reading the Buddhist canon. Yin Hao,
for example, when, relieved of his office, moved his residence to Tung-yang in the
K'uai-chi region, read much in the Buddhist scriptures and commented on them
minutely, placing a marker wherever there was a doubtful point and questioning
the srama!)as about it, to the point that he found difficulties that Chih Tun himself
is alleged to have been unable to resolve.
34
The scriptures of which the aristocrats
were most fond were the Prajfiaparamita and the Vimalakirtinirdea, both of which
preached the doctrine of emptiness (sunyaviida), and Yin Hao's scholarship itself
proceeded from the latter to the ~ t a s . p . p . In the Vimalakirtinirdea in particular, the
devout Buddhist layman Vimalakirti, a man with wife and children, wealth and
property, a man with a high degree of education and a profound knowledge of
Buddhism, who in his understanding of Emptiness, i.e., in his attainment of the state
of release, far outstripped men like Sariputra, senior monk among the Buddha's
disciples, was the very ideal to which the K'uai-chi aristocracy aspired. This lay
brother, Vimalakirti, is on his sickbed. The Buddha designates by turns disciples
from Sariputra on down to visit the sick man as the Buddha's representatives, but
each declines on the grounds that he is not the man to confront Vimalakirti. The
scripture proceeds to construct, then to elaborate, a highly dramatic plot, in which
at length the grave mission of visiting the sick man as the Buddha's representative
is undertaken by Mafijusri, while three thousand disciples follow along, thinking
to hear the Dharma-talk that shall transpire between Vimalakirti and Maiijusri.
In Vimalakirti's sickroom, in his "cell,"z there is unfolded, in the presence of the
three thousand disciples, a philosophic discussion concerning the "gateway of the
non-dual Dharma" (pu erh fa rnen, representing advayadharmamukha?), in which
subtle wisdom is freely manipulated this way and that.
This Vimalakirtinirdesa, literary piece that it was, was read eagerly and with
predilection by an aristocracy fond of Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu. The structure of
the scripture was quite in keeping with the mood of "pure talk" society. The lay
brother Vimalakirti was a perfect model of the distinguished, "purely talking" gentle-
man, and his exchanges with Mafijusri were a living ideal of the "pure talk" in which
they themselves were engaged. Consequently, there were frequent public readings
of this scripture, to which the aristocrats were so attached, and these were used as
arenas for "pure talk." At these Vimalakirtinirdesa readings, sponsored by the prince
ofK'uai-chi, Chih Tun, as " lecturer" (chiang shih), i.e., as the principal functionary,
and Hsii Hsiin, as "overseer" (tu chiang), i.e., as questioner, would put on a display
of rapid-fire questions and answers. Hsii Hsiin would pose a question, a difficult
one touching on a vital point, and the audience, hearing it, would get excited, think-
ing, "Aha! Chih Tun will never be able to answer that!" Then Chih Tun's elegant
diction would flow forth, clarifying increasingly profound philosophic truths. The
audience would sigh, thinking, "Hsii Hsiin's objections have been silenced now!"
when the next moment another pointed objection would be made. This Vimalakirti-
nirdea reading, in which a monk and a layman would make the freest use of their
broad knowledge and their keen intelligence to comment on the scripture by argu-
ment and counterargument, was as unending as the flow of a valley stream. The dis-
tinguished aristocrats present were thoroughly bewitched, so that all they could do
was sigh in admiration.
In this way, in the social world of the aristocracy living in K'uai-chi, such Bud-
dhist scriptures as the Vimalakirtinirdea had become, together with Lao tzu and
Chuang tzu, required knowledge. Also, as one sees from the conduct of these meet-
ings, the readings of the Buddhist scriptures were occasions on which the lecturer-
protagonist and the questioner-antagonist would arrive at the scriptural meaning
by confronting each other, and on which members of the audience might also hurl
objections and conundrums at the lecturer. Scriptural readings of this type, conduct-
ed as they were in the form of disputations, developed an uninterrupted series of new
interpretations, and were at the same time much prized by an intellectual aristocracy
that held in high esteem "dark learning" and "pure talk" that were philosophically
liberated. Consequently, they may be presumed to have made a great contribution
toward broadening knowledge of, and belief in, Buddhism in the society in question.
Chih Tun's Prajfiiipiiramitii Scholarship. It1 this way, Chih Tun, trained as he was in
both the Buddhist canon and "dark learning," by bringing into the latter the Bud-
dhist doctrine of emptiness-that of the Prajfiaparamita and the Vimalakirtinirdea
in particular-gave a new dimension to the interpretation of Chuang tzu, and, by us-
ing the logic of Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu in interpreting the Buddhist canon and
thus harmonizing Mahayana doctrine, principally that of the Prajfiaparamita scrip-
tures, with Chinese thought, furthered the understanding of the Chinese upper classes.
He thus became a missionary leader of the K'uai-chi aristocracy, one who led to a
study of Buddhism, even to a belief in Buddhism, the aristocrats who were the
bearers of the civilization of the Eastern Tsin.
In interpreting the emptiness (k'ung, sunyatii) of the Prajfiaparamita corpus,
an activity that had become central for the learned Buddhist community of the
time, Chih Tun established a "theory of identity with matter" (chi se yi),
35
thus
exerting great influence on the Buddhist learned community of pre-Kumarajiva
Ch'ang-an.
When he had composed the Essay on Identity with Matter and Wandering in the Obscure,
he showed it to Wang T' an-chin. T' an-chih did not say a word. Chih Tun attempted
to prod him with a quotation from the Analects of Confucius, saying, "Are you un-
derstanding this in silence?" To which Wang T' an-chih retorted on the spot with a
paraphrase from the Vimalakirtinirdea: "There being no (bodhisattva) Mafijusri, how
can anyone perceive or see?" (The story is as follows: To Mafijusri's question, "What
is the ' gateway of the non-dual Dharma?' " the lay brother Vimalakirti did not say
a word, but simply sealed his mouth in absolute silence. Mafijusri, understanding
his meaning perfectly, then slapped his knees and exclaimed, "Good! Good!") The
story of this brilliant exchange circulated in aristocratic society as a good example
of "pure talk."
36
Tun also wrote the Panegyric, with Preface, to an Image of the Amita-
buddha (A-mi-t'o-Jo hsiang tsan ping hsu), in which he demonstrated his longing for
Amita's Pure Land (Sukhavati). He does say, however, that "in that Land there is
neither royalty nor official title, the lord being the Buddha and the regulations the
Triple Vehicle, men and women being born from lotuses without the defilements of
conception and parturition. The dwellings and palaces are all made of the Seven
Jewels, taking shape of themselves, the work of no human artificer."
37
This coincided
with the ideal realm of the "no-ado" and the "self-so" (wu wei tzu jan) as conceived
of by Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu, a land free of the restraints of the doctrine of pro-
priety; it was the kind of Pure Land that an aristocrat of the time, an aristocratic Bud-
dhist in particular, was likely to picture for himsel
However, it would never do to take Chih Tun as a mere "dark learner" who
disported himself "purely" with the aristocracy and discussed with them Buddhist
scriptures such as the Prajfiaparamita and the Vimalakirtinirdea or Taoist classics
such as Lao tzu and Chuang tzu. He was an earnest monk, a seeker of the Way,
since his birth into a family that had been devoutly Buddhist for generations. He
early familiarized himself with the Buddhist canon, himself diligently studying and
understanding much, until at the age of twenty-five he shaved his head and left
his household. With him as the central personage, there were held earnest convo-
cations for the practice of the Buddhist religion, the so-called Eightfold Fast (pa
(kuan chai),ad at which twenty-four persons, lay and clerical, would gather on the
twenty-second of the tenth month at the foot of the T'u-shan Mausoleum in Wu
hsien and engage in such earnest religious practices as fasting, rigorous adherence to
the monastic code, and penance until their adjournment on the morning of the
fourth day. (C the three poems on the T'u-shan convocation and the preface to
them, T'u shan hui chi shih san shou ping hsu.) One is also led to surmise that he did
not neglect to do honor to the Buddha's birthday on the eighth day of the fourth
month (cf. the Poem in Praise of the Buddha on the Eighth Day of the Fourth Month
(Ssu yueh pa jih tsan Po shih], and the Three Hymns to the Eighth Day [Yung pa jih
shih san shou]), also, on the basis of the Ode to the Long Fast in the Fifth Month ( Wu
yueh ch'ang chai shih), that he busied himself with the special observances-and with
the actual practices associated with them-that marked the three "long fasts" (ch' ang
chai), those of the first, fifth, and ninth months. He was, in other words, no mere
polished scholar, adept at "dark learning" and "pure talk," but also a serious practi-
tioner of the Buddhist religion and an earnest seeker after Buddhist enlightenment.
In truth, it was Chih Tun who was the "dark learner," earnest in his quest of enlight-
enment and eager to propagate the Buddhist faith, most suited to a "purely talking"
aristocracy.
38
Evangelism in Chien-k'ang. Even Chih Tun, though he had left Chien-k'ang to se-
clude himself at K'uai-chi and eventually to become the leader of that city's Bud-
dhist community, once Emperor Ai acceded to the throne (in 361), found himself the
object of frequent requests to return to the capital, and at forty-nine (in 362) he went
once more to Chien-k'ang, where, at the Tung-an-ssu, he gave readings in the Tao
hsing po-jo ching, succeeding to the chair once occupied by Tao-ch'ien. Still, he could
not stop longing for the old life at K'uai-chi, and after three years of residence he
presented a memorial in which he displayed his true feelings in words to this effect:
"I, poor in virtue [p'in tao] as I am, [formerly] escaped into the fields among the east-
ern mountains, where [my sense of] success was different from that of the world.
Keeping to maigre fare atop the tall hills, I bathed in streams in the clean valleys. In
rags for the balance of my life, I ceased to look to the imperial staircase." Having
bared his innermost feelings, he goes on after a bit to phrase his earnest petition ele-
gantly as follows: "I humbly beg Your Majesty to grant me the special favor of
letting me go, of sending me back to my forests and thickets, where I may be a bird
feeding birds, and where I may glory (in the destiny] that [I chance to bear]." (Cf.
his biography in roll4 of the Lives of Eminent Monks.) Granted permission, he returned
to Mount Shan, where in a very short time his quiet life came to an end (d. 366).
When he left Chien-k' ang, not only did the emperor provide him with lavish gifts,
but the most distinguished men of the time also bade him a sad farewell at the
Pavilion (Commemorating the) Chastisement of the Barbarians (cheng lu). This tells
us what a magical effect he must have had on the aristocrats and intellectuals of the
Eastern Tsin. ( C the Lives of Eminent Monks.) Hsi Ch' ao, born into a distinguished
clan and into a household of believers in t'ien shih Taoism, having been converted by
Chih Tun and others like him, became a fervent Buddhist. Hsi Ch' ao said in a letter
to a friend, "The Dharma-master (Tao-Jlin is the one man who more than any
other in the past several hundreds of years has maintained and clarified the Great
Dharma and kept the Absolute Truth from becoming extinct."
39
As Hsi Ch'ao says,
Chih Tun and he alone was the man who stood at the pinnacle of the aristocratic
Buddhist church in the middle Eastern Tsin, being its truest representative in all senses.
Other Leaders of the Satpgha. There were many monks besides Chu Tao-ch'ien and
Chih Tun who achieved fame by rubbing elbows with the aristocracy and partici-
pating in "pure talk." Among these monks are included some non-Chinese monks
as well.
An interesting case is one already mentioned, that ofSrimitra, surnamed Po by the
Chinese, who, though he spoke virtually no Chinese, maintained a close association
with the chancellor (ch'eng hsiang) Wang Tao and the military commander (t'ai wei)
Yti Liang (courtesy name Ytian-kuei), as well as with Chou Yi (courtesy name Po-
jen), Hsieh K'un (courtesy name Yu-yti), and others, by all of whom he was admired
and honored as the "Man of the Way Who Occupies the High Throne" (kao tso tao
jen), and many of whose "pure-talk" conversations are conveyed in anecdotes in
Worldly Talk and Recent Remarks. A no less interesting case, by contrast, is that of
K' ang Seng-ytian, the Chinese-born son of naturalized foreigners and a man perfectly
at home in the Chinese language, who was likewise befriended by Wang Tao and his
fellows and who, as the teacher and friend of aristocrats in the Chien-k' ang and
K'uai-chi areas, advanced the cause of Buddhist conversion at the beginning of the
Eastern Tsin. Born in Ch'ang-an to parents who had come from Samarcand, he was
skilled in the use of the Chinese language, and was fond of reciting from the Fang
kuang (Paficavitpsatis.) and Tao hsing recensions of the Prajiiaparamita.
During the reign of Emperor Ch'eng (r. 326-342) he went south together with such
Prajfiaparamita scholars as K'ang Fa-ch'ang and Chih Min-tu (the latter the pro-
ponent of the "theory of the non-existence of mind," hsin wu yi), and, having been
discovered by Yin Hao, he associated with Wang Tao and Yi.i Liang in their later
years, as well as with some of their friends. Later, when he built a monastic dwelling
in the striking natural setting of Mount Yi.i-chang, a place belted by the River
(Yangtze) and leaning against a mountain range, where pine and bamboo luxuriated,
eminent monks and distinguished gentlemen flocked to him in admiration.
40
K'ang Fa-ch'ang, who came south of the Yangtze together with Seng-ytian,
always walked the streets with his fly-whisk (chu wei) in his hand, stopping for a
"pure-talk" chat, with any gentleman he happened to meet, until the sun went
down. Once Yti Liang (courtesy name Ytian-kuei), a man who by virtue of his owD
family connections, his relation by marriage to the reigning family, and his official
position was the supreme powerholder in the land, asked him, "Why do you always
have that fly-whisk with you?" To which he allegedly retorted, "A modest man will
not ask for it, and to a greedy man I will not give it. That is why I always have it!"
The most important topic in "pure talk" was the evaluation of character, and Fa-
ch'ang did in fact publish an essay entitled ]en wu shih yi lun.
41
ae
Chu Fa-t' ai and His Community at the Wa-kuan-ssu. When treating the more in-
fluential Chien-k' ang evangelists, one may not bypass the Wa-kuan-ssu community
led by Chu Fa-t' ai, a fellow-disciple of Tao-an who several times found himself
obliged to flee from the warfare and upheavals brought on by non-Chinese peoples
in North China. This Chu Fa-t'ai (320-387, and for more details see the chapter on
Tao-an), who, after parting with Tao-an at Hsin-yeh, went from Ching-chou to
Chien-k' ang together with forty of his disciples, chief among whom were T' an-yi
and T'an-erh, became friends with Wang Hsia, Wang Hsi.in, Hsieh An, and others,
taking up residence and establishing a reading seminar on the Paficaviyt1satis.p.p. at a
famous monastery commonly called by the name W a-kuan-ssu. (The building, orig-
inally used as a pottery by Wang Tao-whence the name- was converted by the
sramaQ.a Hui-li into a monastery some time during Hsing-ning in the reign of
Emperor Ai, i.e., 363-365, then gradually became a place for scriptural readings
attended by monks of renown.) The seminar is alleged to have been attended by
Emperor Chien-wen as well as by the upper aristocracy (wang hou kung ch'ing), not
one of whom stayed away. It became, in fact, a center ofChien-k'ang Buddhism, at
which, "on the day the reading commenced, the black and the white (i.e., clergy and
laity) would come to watch and listen, gentry and commonalty forming a positive
herd. The place would be full of disciples who had come to receive the teaching, and
those who had arrived from the three Wu areas to learn numbered over a thou-
sand."af While the Wa-kuan-ssu at the time of his arrival consisted merely of a hall
(t'ang) and a stupa (t'a), monastic cells (fang yu), and a double gate (ch'ung men) were
added to them, and the place became an important center of Buddhist study at
Chien-k'ang, as well as an arena for aristocratic "pure talk."
42
Hsieh An, who held
the rank of t' ai ju, as well as Wang Hsia, Wang Hsi.in, and other outstanding rep-
resentatives of powerful families, are said to have honored him without limit. When
in T' ai-yi.ian 12 (378) he died at the age of sixty-eight, Emperor Hsiao-wu, in mourn-
ing him, issued an edict which said, in part, "The Dharma-master [Fa-lt'ai was one
whose Way spread in all eight directions, whose beneficence shall flow to later
generations." He is also said to have contributed a hundred thousand cash toward his
funeral costs. Furthermore, while at Ching-chou, holding Tao-heng's Prajiiapara-
mita theory-that of the non-existence of mind (hsin wu yi)-to be a heresy, he
argued against and vanquished him. Also, a work of his, in which he discussed the
theory of fundamental non-being (pen wu yr) with Hsi Ch'ao, was much touted.
43
One is no doubt right in surmising that there was mutual influence in the area of
ideas between Chih Tun and those other Prajaiiapramita scholars who had come
south together with him. Be that as it may, one would do well to note that Chu Fa-
t' ai, a northerner and a colleague of Tao-an, occupies an important position in the
history ofPrajiiaparamita study, which reached an apex of glory under the Eastern
Tsin.
Among the monks who, making their homes in that city ofK'uai-chi, were at the
same time friends and rivals of Chih Tun, also being engaged with him in a sharing
of ideas, were Yi.i Fa-Ian, his disciples Yi.i Fa-k'ai and Yi.i Tao-sui, and Fa-k'ai's pupil
Fa-wei. Of these, Yi.i Fa-k'ai was a student of both the Paficaviyt1satis.p.p. and the
Saddharmapu1J4arika, as well as a practitioner of medicine. Going to Mount Shan
near K'uai-chi, he frequently argued with Chih Tun about the doctrine of empti-
ness (k'ung yi, sunyaviida), gaining as an adherent to his notion of"consciousness con-
tained" (shih han yi) the devout Buddhist layman Ho Mo of Lu-chiang, while
Hsi Ch'ao ofKao-p'ing championed Chih Tun's views, or so we are told. Yi.i Fa-
k'ai's disciple Fa-wei, on instructions from his master, attended Chih Tun's readings
of the where he posed many objections, occasionally bringing even the
great Chih Tun to his knees (notice contained in the biography ofYli Fa-k'ai in roll
4 of the Lives of Eminent Monks). Fa-wei too was on friendly terms with Hsieh
An, Wang T' an-chih, and their fellows. There was in the K' uai-chi area a byword
that said, "Shen [i.e., Chu Tao-ch'ien, courtesy name Fa-shen] has scope, [Yli Fa-]
k'ai has thought, Lin [i.e., Chih Tun, courtesy name Tao-lin] has eloquence, [K'ang
Fa-]shih has memory."ah This was a comment, summing up in a few well-chosen
words the characters and the peculiarities of four eminent monks of the aristocratic
Buddhist community south of the Yangtze. Such was the degree to which these in-
tellectual monks were welcomed as paragons of"pure talk" into aristocratic society
that a byword such as this could be coined about them.
44
Buddhism in North and South. Buddhism south of the Yangtze, with its aristocratic
contacts, with its economic assistance from the aristocracy (for which see more
below), and with its adoption of the Lao-Chuang ideas of which the latter were
so fond, quite naturally fashioned a religion of a character different from that
of the north at the time of the Western Tsin and the Five Barbarian Nations. One of
the most striking manifestations of this difference was the failure to produce much
scriptural translation in the face of the very vigorous pursuit of that activity in North
China. Of course, toward the end of the Eastern Tsin there took place even at Chien-
k'ang, at the hands ofFa-hsien, back from his pilgrimage to India, and a number of
foreign sramal).as, translation of some important Buddhist scriptures.
There shall be occasion to comment on this later, but from the beginning into the
middle of the Eastern Tsin absolutely nothing is known of scriptural translation,
whether on the part of Chinese monks such as Chu Tao-ch'ien and Chih Tun or on
the part of non-Chinese monks such as K' ang Seng-ylian. For this there are a number
of reasons, one of them being that, cut offby the southward move from the east-west
overland highways, there was no conveyance of Sanskrit texts and very little arrival
of monks from abroad. Another reason is that a new age had dawned, one in which
the bearers of government and civilization, beginning with the aristocracy and
extending down through the intelligentsia even to the lower gentry (shih), were read-
ing Buddhist scriptures, now available in Chinese, in conjunction with the Confucian
classics and, in particular, with the writings ascribed to the Saints and Sages of their
own nation, such as Lao- tzu and Chuang- tzu, writings with which they were
thoroughly familiar. It was an age in which they could hear doctrinal expositions
from, and discuss doctrine with, members of the saq1gha who were themselves no
less familiar with Lao-Chuang thought; a time when readings and interpretations of
Chinese translations of the Buddhist scriptures permeated, so to speak, with "dark
learning" and "pure talk" were being constantly given by Chinese intellectuals,
whether lay or clerical, when the current faith in Buddhism was based on the mean-
ing attached to it by these men. It was, finally., an age in which it was considered both
necessary and advantageous to be well versed, albeit only for social purposes in
dealing with the aristocracy, in a knowledge of the principal Buddhist scriptures al-
ready translated into Chinese or, at the very least, of those scriptures available in
Chinese translation south of the Yangtze.
Such being the nature of the times, there was a concentration of attention on
reading and commenting on those scriptures already translated into Chinese. Con-
sequently, there was no choice before the Buddhist community of the time but to
rely on the locally available translations, incomplete as these might be. Where several
texts of the same scripture were available, comparison of the several texts made the
reading and interpretation easier, or combined editions of several versions would
be produced for the sake of ease and convenience, even though the advantages in the
specific case might be slight. Chih Min-tu, in addition to drawing up a scriptural
catalogue, compared different versions of the Vimalakirtinirdea and the SuraYJ1gama-
samiidhi, on the basis of which he formulated a brilliant theory of translation. (Cf.
his Preface to the Combined Vimalakirtinirdesa [Ho Wei-mo-chieh ching hsu], and his
Colophon to the Combined SuraYJ1gamasamiidhi [Ho Shou-leng-yen chi11g chi].
45
) Chih
Tun also did a comparative study of the translations of two Prajiiaparamita texts, the
Tao hsing and the Fang kuang (PaficaviYJ1.Satis.p.p.), adding his own com-
ments on the doctrinal essentials preached in the Prajfiaparamita, the Preface to a
Comparative Digest of the Greater and Lesser Prajfiiipiiramitii ( Ta hsiao p'in tui pi yao ch' ao
h
) 46
su.
Now the Prajfiaparamita and the Vimalakirtinirdea were Buddhist scriptures
central to the world of "pure talk," occupying a position analogous to that of Lao
tzu, Chuang tzu, the Analects of Confucius, and the Canon of Changes in the secular
canon; they were texts in which one had to be thoroughly versed. Other scriptures
besides these, such as the Aniipiinasmrti, the Saddharmapur:z4arika, the Pratyutpannabud-
dhasaYJ1mukhiivasthitasamiidhi, the Sukhiivativyuha, and those scriptures telling of the
life of the Buddha, were put to certain use in "dark learning" and "pure talk," in
addition to serving as sacred texts to be read and memorized by, or as scriptural
guides for the religious conduct of, devout Buddhists. Beyond this, however, and
apart from the learned salllgha, the intellectual aristocrat was never confronted with
the necessity to become widely read and thoroughly versed in the Chinese transla-
tions of the scriptures on pain of exclusion from the world of "dark learning" and
" lk " pure ta .
Two distinguished aristocrats of the time, Ch'u P'ou and Sun Sheng, comparing
the learned vogues of north and south, said that, whereas the northerners' learning
was deep and all-encompassing (yuan tsung kuang po), that of the southerners was
"clear and penetrating, simple and to the point" (ch'ing t'ung chien yao). Chih Tun's
comment on hearing this was, "A northerner's reading of a book is like looking at
the moon in clear surroundings, while the southerner's learning is like peering at the
sun through a window."
47
As we have mentioned before, Chih Tun on principle refused to become ensnared
like most southerners in words and phrases, insisting instead on culling out the sim-
ple essentials. His Buddhist scholarship was no exception to this rule. As a result, he
attached more importance to commenting on scriptural essentials and discussing
scholarly questions of doctrine than to translation or even to becoming involved in
the earnest, practical quest for enlightenment. In him there can already be seen a ten-
dency to display a high level of education in both sacred and secular literature, almost
for the mere sport of it (reminding one of a certain aspect of the aristocratic Buddhist
community in Japan's own Fujiwara period), which eventually shaped the learned
vogue of the aristocratic Buddhist society of the Southern dynasties yet to come,
with its one-sided insistence on scriptural exegesis. Also, at the same time one sees
how, even in the case of Chih Tun, sweeping discussions of the overall meaning of
the scriptures became widely fashionable in opposition to the minutely exegetical
examination of each and every word and phrase, and how, in keeping with a vogue
of "dark learning" that defied tradition to attempt a free interpretation, setting
great value on the give-and-take of ideas, an extremely logical and philosophic form
of learning was realized. To this extent, even the study of the Prajfiaparamita and
the Vimalakirtinirdea became an exchange of individually held theories based on a
Chinese mode of thinking.
Under these conditions, there was wide divergence of opinions and vigorous ex-
change of conflicting theories, and to the same extent the move toward a peculiarly
Chinese form of Buddhist scholarship, separated linguistically from the sense of the
originals and based on a uniquely Chinese interpretation, was advanced. Hereupon
there developed a welter of confused and conflicting theories in a Prajfiaparamita
scholarship now at the height of its glory, and the point was reached at which for a
solution to the problems just created the Chinese Buddhist community had to await
the arrival of a Kumarajiva, a foreign authority on the Madhyamika system orig-
inated by Nagarj una.
Throughout this period there emerged from the ranks oflay scholars such persons
as Sun Sheng,
48
who by drawing on Buddhist theory attacked Lao-tzu and Chuang-
tzu;49 Sun Ch'o, the first to hold that Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism are in
essential agreement; Hsi Ch'ao,
50
a man who, praised by Chih Tun as the "sharpest
man ofhis age," was the first layman to write a general description of Buddhism, the
Essentials of Upholding the Dharma (Feng fa yao); and others, thus showing that the
aristocrat' s understanding of Buddhism was already well advanced. There were, in
addition, Buddhist laymen so devout as to earn, like Ho Ch'ung and his brother, the
opprobrious comment, "The two Ho brothers fawn on the Buddha."
51
In the world
of"pure talk," however, the understanding of Buddhism was confined to a study of
theoretical Buddhist doctrine as the object of knowledge in the intellectual sense, for
it was not anything gained through earnest religious practice. At the time in ques-
tion, there was keen discussion, as well as reflection, on Lao-tzu's and Chuang-tzu's
non-being (wu), which was then held to be the root and source of the Universe, dis-
cussion and reflection having as a point of reference the emptiness (k'ung, sunyatii)
that is for Buddhism the central question. Yet, however refined the logical subtleties
to which the participants resorted, there was no religious depth, for there was a
predominant tendency for these activities to degenerate to something never breaking
the bounds of word-play and sentence-games. Even when there was resort to pro-
found philosophic consideration of the question in terms of phenomenon and nou-
menon, for example, this was not necessarily by any means the profundity of
religious practice or of a quest for salvation in which the religious subject confronts
the personal experience of salvation and steels himself in continued askesis to that end.
Even the synthesis of the three systems, which began with Sun Ch' o and was now
at the height of its glory, could in no sense be called a harmonization arrived at
through a profound study, analysis, and critique of the basic positions of the three
respective doctrines, but rather the glib pronouncement that the Duke of Chou and
Confucius equal the Buddha and vice versa (Chou K'ung chi Fo, Fo chi Chou K'ung).
52
In the Buddhist church south of the Yangtze, follow as it did, and attached as it was
to, the aristocratic world of "dark learning" and "pure talk," even the life of the
monk could not but be aristocratic in character. There is, of course, evidence of a
budding belief in the Pure Land on the part of Chih Tun and Fa-k'uang, but they
never succeeded, as did their successors in later generations, in producing through
their leadership a whole stream of believers in the Pure Land who were prepared to
resort wholeheartedly and single-mindedly to Buddha-recollection. 53 Also, the lives
of the monks do record that there were not a few sramai).aS in the K'uai-chi region of
the time who wandered about from one famous mountain to another, begging for
their food and sitting in contemplation, 54 but there is no evidence of much activity
in the area of proselytizing society in general. The critique of Chih Tun went to the
effect that, "while Tun's talents are outstanding in respect of ching tsan, i.e., of doc-
trinal knowledge, in his insistence on his own purity and in the way he holds himself
aloft from the world there is something that runs afoul of (the ideal of) combined
salvation, that is, ofbenefiting both oneself and others."
55
This is a critique that might
well be leveled at the whole Buddhist church of the time, where the concrete practice
of general salvation was lacking. In Chih Tun's latter years one does see some earnest
guidance of disciples and cultivation of religious practice, but in general the so-called
"outstanding monks" (ming seng) ofChien-k'ang and K'uai-chi had a way of life no
different from that of the self-pleasing aristocratic recluses who, escaping from poli-
tics and from the restraints of the civil service, maintained-and could afford to
maintain-a world-transcending attitude. They were, in fact, nothing other than
monkish recluses modeled on the said aristocrats, recluses (yin shih) beyond the con-
fines (fang wai).
They were, to be sure, thoroughly familiar with the Vimalakirtinirde.Sa, wherein
Vimalakirti says, "The beings are ill, therefore I'm ill," but they were by no means
religious evangelists prepared to make society's sufferings their own or to sacrifice
themselves in service to the salvation of society. Buddhism south of the Yangtze
under the Eastern Tsin, i.e., that of Chien-k'ang and K'uai-chi, may well be called
a religion in which recluse monks of the type just described were tolerated, but in
which efforts toward the conversion of the population in general were lacking. Still,
among the many men who left the ranks of the gentry, violating the ethical norms
of a society dominated by traditional ideas by going so far as to shave their heads and
leave their families, taking the bold step of entry into a life of ascetic scholarship of a
pronouncedly un-Chinese variety, joining a sarpgha that preached a foreign road to
salvation, there was observed, in the company of the aristocrats with whom they
were in constant association, what one might call a solemn Religious Week-one,
for example, in which, as in the case of the Eightfold Fast, there would be rigid
adherence to eight monastic restraints, accompanied by serious religious study, or the
monthly six-day fast, conducted more or less in the same way. Since these practices,
which cut across lay and clerical lines, centered about Chih Tun and his fellows, it is
evident that there the elements of sincere religious commitment were by no means
lacking. One is, in general, entitled to say that the doctrines of the Buddhist canon,
of the Mahayana canon in particular, were propagated by becoming mixed with aris-
tocratic elements of"pure self-amusement" (ch'ing yu).
Among the lay believers who had a profound experience of religious conversion
at the hands of teachers like Chih Tun, Hsi Ch' ao, to name an outstanding case,
left K'uai-chi to join the service of Huan Wen, a man who, having extended his
power to cover the whole middle area of the Yangtze basin, was eyeing the imperial
government itself, rising to a position on his military staff, a position in which his
very life might hinge on the outcome of a battle. This very man was then converted
to Buddhism by Tao-an, who in nearby Hsiang-yang was leading a group of relig-
ious practitioners. As a man of such diversified background as this, he appears to
have proceeded to a life of Buddhist religious practice based on notions of "what a
Buddhist should be," notions strongly colored by his reflection on his own sinful past.
It is highly noteworthy that a work such as his Essentials of Upholding the Dharma
(Fengfa yao) is a typical digest of Buddhist doctrine compiled by a lay Buddhist schol-
ar of the Eastern Tsin, one who had accepted Buddhism practically and subjectively
and, at the same time, a guide to the practice of that religion, also that traditional
Buddhism could be accepted to this degree by some of the lay aristocracy who were
not specialized scholar-monks by vocation. Leaving aside the Buddhism of the
Chinese masses, one is justified in saying that the religion of the Buddhist lay brother,
centering about an organized fellowship of such lay brethren (chu shih lin), a religion
which kept alive the practical and, at the same time, scholarly faith oflay intellectuals
or of the propertied classes for a long stretch of time, into Ming and Ch'ing and even
into modern times, traces its source back to the religion typified by the Essentials of
Upholding the Dharma, a peculiarly Chinese type of lay Buddhism that maintained
itself through T' ang, Sung, and Yuan into Ming, Ch'ing, and the present. For a trans-
lation of Essentials 4 Upholding the Dharma, see Appendix 3.
c. Doctrinal Disputes and the Advance
~ f Prajnaparamita Study
Now, as we have already stated, the Buddhist scriptures, as translated into Chinese
under the Latter Han, as early as the era of the Three Kingdoms and the Western
Tsin became, albeit only in small numbers, the objects of study and exegesis, in which
C :THE ADVANCE OF PRAJNAPARAMITA STUDY 361
the center of interest lay in the Hinayana doctrines rendered into Chinese by An
Shih-kao, who through his skill in dhyana was actually believed to have acquired su-
perhuman spiritual powers-particularly in the Aniipiinasmrti and similar scriptures
in which the practice of contemplation is concretely described-doctrines understood
in association with the "preservation of unity" (shou yi) and other such Taoistic pre-
scriptions for spiritual concentration. Even greater interest, however, was directed to-
ward the Mahayana scriptures translated by L o k a k ~ e m a and Chih Ch' ien, but both
sets of scriptures were accepted as the Teaching of one and the same Buddha, no dis-
tinction being made between the two disciplines.
Yet the general tendency, in the cultural centers ofWei and Tsin, was for the inter-
est to gravitate toward such scriptures as the Prajfiaparamita and the Vimalakirtinirdea
-in short, toward the early Mahayana scriptures, i.e., toward those religious writ-
ings whose emphasis was that the attainment of the Path of the Buddha consisted of
nothing other than the intuition that everything is "empty" and the consequent
advance to the acquisition of Prajfia-wisdom, armed with a view of emptiness
(k'ung kuan) whose goal was that realm in which a person is the victim of no
fixed conceptions. The interest just mentioned gravitated more to the study of
the Prajfiaparamita scriptures than to anything else. This development was guided
from without by the objective situation of the Buddhist religion in India and Central
Asia as well as its spread and the scriptural translation that accompanied it, but it
coincided with an internal Chinese development, the rise and eventual fashionable
triumph of "dark learning" (hsiian hsiieh). This is another name for ideas which, as-
cribed to Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu, took their first concrete shape among scholars,
thinkers, and men of letters in the leading social layers, the ruling classes, scions of
aristocratic families distributed among the nine official ranks (chiu p'in), men whose
position-economic, official, and personal-was secure.
These ideas, cultivated by the educated classes in the Middle Plain under the Wei
and the Tsin, among whom they had rapidly become fashionable, eventually sweep-
ing all before them, dismissed as "mean" and "base" the preoccupation with
everyday politics, even with production, that was due to a traditional morality
bound by political considerations and by "good order," as the latter was understood
in terms of the doctrine of propriety. The new ideas constituted a new learned vogue,
one that sought in Lao-tzu, Chuang-tzu, and the Canon of Changes the "Way," i.e.,
the abstract, invisible Truth that constitutes the root and source of all phenomena.
In other words, despising classical scholarship, whose aim was to be true to the tra-
ditional Confucian canon, with its principled insistence on the doctrine of propriety,
which the "dark learners" held to be the study ofhow to deal with reality in a world
of concrete, practical specifics (shih) or of existence (yu), this was a brand oflearning
that busied itself with the quest for and the attainment of non-being (wu), an ab-
stract and metaphysical universal truth (li).
The Golden Age of Nagarjunism in India. As has already been suggested, the first
external reason that led to the triumph ofPrajfiaparamita scholarship, was the Indian
situation. After the Nirval).a of the Sakyabuddha, the church splintered into rival
schools dominated by the monastic order, schools in which scholar-monks would
inherit, in the sublime conviction that they alone were right, a body of picayune, in-
tellectualized doctrines, and in which they had come to forget their mission, that of
the salvation of people in general, which means, in the majority of cases, house-
holders. The reaction to this was the Mahayana movement, a movement of radical
reform that declared, "Return to the religion of the Venerable Sakya! Put the Bud-
dha's teachings within the reach of all mankind! The real Buddhism is the gift of sal-
vation to all men without distinction. Your first duty is the benefit of others in the
here and now!" The Mahayana movement was composed, initially, of two groups,
lay and clerical, the former being earnest religious seekers, the latter a body of men
that the venerable Sakyamuni's teaching career and thus became more
keenly aware of the sarp.gha's true duty.
Eventually the two coalesced and a movement took shape, producing in due course
and without interruption such early Mahayana works as the Prajfiaparamita scrip-
tures, the Vimalakirtinirde.Sa, and the salvationist scriptures that told of the saving ac-
tivities of current, actual Buddhas like and Amita. Attacking the tradi-
tional church for allowing its sectarian doctrines to get brittle in the hands of a
self-righteous clergy, for allowing the clergy itself to degenerate into rival schools
each of which boasted of the subtlety and breadth of its own exegetical scholarship,
and for neglecting the salvation of the non-monastic bulk of human society, the
new movement undertook a vigorous program of evangelization, in which it de-
clared, "We are the heirs to the true spirit of the Sakyabuddha! Ours is the true Bud-
dhism, the one proclaiming the true Doctrine." Eventually the Mahayana movement
gained currency in Northwest India, in areas bordering on the Silk Road, during the
first and second centuries, where it found itself rivaling the missionary activities of a
school that it attacked and deprecated as a "lesser vehicle," that of the Sarvastivada,
a powerful and influential school, particularly in that place and at that time, that
holds that everything that exists is real.
Thanks principally to this missionary rivalry, these two tendencies, the several Hi-
nayana groups and the various Mahayana groups, took advantage of the newly
opened Silk Road to spread into the countries of Central Asia, then on further to
Lo-yang, one of two imperial Chinese capitals, where Buddhist scriptures of both
tendencies began to appear in Chinese translation. The translations proceeded to
appear in a steady stream beginning in the latter half of the second century, when
the collapse of the Latter Han (220) was not far off, and the twin activities of evan-
gelism and scriptural translation continued into the third century.
It is about this time that the young Mahayana movement, afire with missionary
zeal, gained sudden momentum, showing signs of extreme vigor particularly in
respect of the compilation, revision, and expansion of the Mahayana scriptures now
rivaling the traditional, sect-ridden religion that they were denigrating under the
name of "Lesser Vehicle." The early and basic Mahayana scriptures, those of the
Prajfiaparamita, underwent a striking development, the number and variety of them
increased, and the propagation of them was pursued with ever-increasing vigor.
C : THE ADVANCE OF PRAJNAPARAMITA STUDY 363
In the third century in particular, i.e., during the era of the Three Kingdoms, by
uncanny coincidence there was taking place in India the activity of the Mahayana
giants Nagarjuna and Deva and their successors. At the same time, in the learned
world in and around the Wei capital of Lo-yang, the eastern terminus of the east-
west traffic, there was emerging a new Confucianism, one that, freeing itself of the
restrictions of the philological scholarship of the Han, was resorting to the ideas
ofLao-tzu and Chuang-tzu, to shatter in due course the long-established philological
scholarship just mentioned, to usher in the vogue of Lao-Chuang thought, and to
lay the foundation for the mood of a new age, one in which the so-called "recluse"
(yin yi) was held in the highest esteem. There were also established friendly relations
with the empire of the Ta-yi.ich-chih (Kushans), which, with its base in Northwest
India, acquired an enormous territory bestriding India and Central Asia. Not only
did Nagarjuna, commonly regarded as an unexampled thinker and scholar in the
Mahayana world, systematize Mahayana doctrine principally on the basis of the
Prajiiaparamita scriptures and compose a commentary to the Greater Prajiiaparamita
(the Ta chih tu lun),a for he also composed a number of other basic works setting
forth the essentials of Mahayana Buddhism and left to the world a disciple such as
Aryadeva, a believer and evangelist of such zeal that he martyred himself in the
cause of the propagation of the Mahayana.
Since even after Deva Mahayana scholars, heirs to the tradition of Nagarjuna,
appeared in steady succession, since, further, this sudden missionary movement
dedicated to a triumphant and revolutionary faith shed its peculiarly Indian, even
its peculiarly monastic, skin to become a world religion with mankind as its object,
it comes as no surprise that it advanced into Central Asia, then spread in waves to
the Ch'ang-an and Lo-yang regions in China. Since, in addition to all this, the
Mahayana was a new Buddhism, responsive to the insistent demands of devout
householders, it also proceeded boldly to effect the compilation of new scriptures
suited to evangelizing householders. Indeed, if one looks at the Mahayana scriptures
translated into Chinese, steadily and on a large scale, during the second and third
centuries, one comes to understand clearly that the Buddhists, no longer restricting
themselves to the learned clergy but addressing themselves broadly to all classes
of householders, nor any longer confining themselves purely to Indians but now
concerning themselves with "all living beings," were embarked on a radical program
of creating a scriptural corpus and of devoting their efforts to the zealous evangeli-
zation of foreigners (chiefly Central Asians and Chinese) as well.
The Situation in China. The representatives of this new movement, the Mahayana,
in addition to gnawing their way into the base of the traditional Buddhist church,
which long before had taken root and become established in many parts of India,
now bent their efforts towards an extension of their ecclesiastical lines outside of
India as well. Under the circumstances, it was inevitable that Mahayana Buddhism,
which had already spread into Northwest India, should break those confines and
push its way into the countries along the Silk Road, that highway of east-west
communication that at that very time was well on its own way to prosperity.
This circumstance, in turn, created the momentum that was to launch the Mahayana
canon and its evangelists toward the great kingdom of China, the terminus of the
Silk Road, where the first steps toward proselytization had already been taken.
This was all the truer in view of the fact that the Kushan dynasty, which, as already
mentioned, had its base in Northwest India, sent a good-will embassy to Lo-yang,
the Wei capital (in 229), an embassy that the latter for its own part welcomed, thus
establishing a bond of friendship between the two realms.
In addition, the Kushan people who under the Latter Han had settled and become
naturalized in China, continued in large numbers to settle between Lo-yang and
Tun-huang, where their Chinese-born offspring became active, among them, ap-
parently, not a few who succeeded economically as well as in other ways. Since
among them there was a large number-possibly a majority-of Buddhists, since
as a result there developed within China a body of Mahayana Buddhists of Kushan
stock who were at home in the Chinese language, succeeding the Kushan missionary
translators of the Latter Han, there eventuated a structure within which it was
possible to invite Mahayana missionaries from the west and work with them in
close collaboration.
Mahayana Buddhism, moving eastward along the Silk Road, proceeded first to
convert the principal areas along the Southern Route through Central Asia, areas
that included the kingdom of Khotan, which, at least by the time of the Three
Kingdoms, was on the closest terms with China. (There are, for instance, two bits
of evidence that leave no doubt of this. One is that Chu Shih-hsing, who at Loyang
under the Wei studied the Prajiiaparamita in Chinese translation, went to Khotan to
obtain a complete text of the original and was actually successful in his quest. The
other is that Fa-hsien has left us from the time of the Eastern Tsin a minute record
of the conversion of this region to the Mahayana.) It was inevitable that the mo-
mentum of this eastward move of Mahayana evangelism should go even further to
convert China and to render its scriptures into her language, as the historical fact of
this translation testifies. Among the most important of the scriptures to be translated,
the Prajiiaparamita scriptures naturally occupied a place, and were, in fact, trans-
lated many times. No less understandably, the interests of the Buddhist church under
the Three Kingdoms and both Tsin veered towards Mahayana scriptures of the
Prajiiaparamita type.
The Domestic Background. The second of the domestic reasons mentioned above
may be further divided into two parts:
First is an event rare in the history of China, the arrival of an era of metaphysical
scholarship, a scholarship that attempted to get beyond concrete phenomena to
seek unseen, fundamental truths. This radical change in a world of learning, of
thought, and of fine art that had its center in Lo-yang, the capital city of both the
Wei and the Western Tsin, took over the Buddhism of Wei and Tsin, particularly
its Prajiiaparamita scholarship, and quickly brought it to a peak of prosperity and
fashion.
Second is the political instability, the social chaos of the time, which exposed the
whole nation to war, uncertainty, even starvation, conditions under which the
Chinese clan, until that time the product of developments peculiar to village com-
munities solidified by the institutions of the extended family, was no longer able to
dwell secure on the old land or even in its own home, but found itself forced in-
stead, by threats to life and limb, to flee every which way. All of this naturally strength-
ened the wish to seek spiritual props.
What comes to mind first under such conditions as these are religious phenomena
peculiar to the indigenous Chinese tradition itself, shamanism and the belief in the
"superhuman sylph" (shen hsien), adepts (fang shih), and magicians. In addition, from
the end of the Han onward there had been a series of such movements, some of them
of national proportions. The Rebellion of the Yellow Turbans (huang chin), for one,
had organized and enlarged itself on the firm base of traditional Chinese folk-
beliefs. They were followed in time by a continuous succession ofleaders of popular
cults based on beliefs in magic and "superhuman sylphs," much as in the case of the
Yellow Turbans themselves, who not infrequently would drive their people to make
war against established authority, war in which there was much loss of life and
property, and existence, in general, became very insecure indeed. Popular up-
risings of this sort heightened the distrust of, and engendered doubts on the part of,
intellectuals in these adepts and in the shrines that tended to become the centers of
the cults just mentioned, but, quite to the contrary, presumably stimulated curi-
osity and feelings of trust toward the religion and the evangelism of the practition-
ers of this newly arrived faith, as well as toward the icons they worshiped and the
scriptures they circulated in translation. Also, as it happened, the intellectuals'
interest in the Buddhist scriptures, now available in Chinese translation, matched the
new tendencies in thought and scholarship much as a lid fits a box.
It goes almost without saying that, on the other hand, there was a development
of Taoism as a purely Chinese religion, based on the tradition-hallowed belief in
adepts, shrines, and "supernatural sylphs" but then purified by the addition of
strictly religious elements, and that, once this had happened, it proceeded to cap-
ture the faith of all levels of Chinese society. The enrichment of this kind of religious
mood in an atmosphere of social insecurity did another thing as well: it aided the
acceptance and spread of Buddhism, a foreign religion now streaming into the
society, as a religion that could achieve feats of magic through prayer to an immortal,
gold-colored, superhuman, even supernatural sylph (i.e., the Buddha).
With regard to the tastes and predilections of the aristocratic thinkers and scholars
of the Middle Plain under the Western Tsin, a record based on direct experience has
been left in the form of the Catalogue of Tsin (Chin chi), a history, in twenty rolls, of
the fifty-threeyears during which the Western Tsin held sway, by Kan Pao, who, sin-
gled out by Wang Tao early in the Eastern Tsin for the post of chu tso lang, compiled
the history just mentioned. Referring to the Disturbance of the Eight Princes
and the repeated forays of non-Chinese peoples, he says:
Once Emperor Wu had passed on, ... the people, seeing no [evidence of) vir-
tue, heard of nothing but disturbances.
Not only that, but he speaks of scholars and thinkers in the following terms:
Learned men made Lao and Chuang their standard, rejecting the Six Classics [of
Confucianism]. Discoursers regarded emptiness and transparencyb as eloquence,
denigrating name and rule.c Those who acted took recklessness and imprecisiond
as "consummate expertise" [t'ung], regarding self-restraint and truthfulness as
" " narrow.
As these remarks indicate, once the "new learning," in the spirit of Lao-tzu and
Chuang-tzu was proclaimed, during Cheng-shih times (240-248) under the Wei, it
gained more and more in authority, and the advocacy of it by the learned world be-
came more pointed. Needless to say, there was a Confucian reaction to all this. Two
Confucian scholars, Fu Hsi.ian and Huang-fu T'ao, were appointed censors (chien
kuan) and put to work reforming the political world. Fu Hsi.ian memorialized as
follows:
In former times the House ofWei filled the court and the outlying territories with
talk of emptiness, non-being, and obedience to whim, thus banishing serious dis-
cussion from under Heaven. The disease that once wrecked the Ch'in is coming to
the fore once again.
In these and similar terms he advocated the rectification of the spirit of scholardom
and officialdom. These arguments were followed, in due course, by others, put for-
ward by his son, Fu Hsien, as well as by Liu Sung and others, memorializing the need
to rectify the arbiters of politics and morality. However, the scholars and aristocrats,
so we are told,
all slandered them as "common clerks," and, in spite of them, persons who based
themselves on emptiness and vacuity, who adulated the notion of mindlessness, all
gained a reputation for gravity within the Four Seas.
1
Under the Western Tsin, during the reign of Emperor Hui (r. 290-306), P'ei, react-
ing with hostility to the fact that the mood of the times was one in which the
"notions of emptiness and non-being" (hsu wu chih li) were held in high esteem,
published his famous Treatise Exalting Being (Ch'ung yu lun), in which he attempted
to right the "wrongs of empty and reckless (talk)" (hsu tan chih pi), only to have it
attacked by his contemporaries (c the chapter on letters and learning in Worldly Talk
and Recent Remarks).
2
In addition to all this, the latter half of the era of the Western Tsin saw the rise of
the study of Chuang-tzu and the appearance of many commentaries to that text,
most significantly that of Kuo Hsiang, which, pulling all the older commentaries
together, spread speedily as a new and authoritative work on the interpretation of
Chuang-tzu. It is worthy of comment that this interpretation bears a close re-
semblance to the Mahayana of the Prajfiaparamita type.
In this way, the central body of scholars during the latter half of the Eastern Tsin,
having already moved forward to a Lao-Chuang preoccupation rare in the history
of Chinese learning, then moved into Chien-k'ang and K'uai-chi, the cultural
centers of the Eastern Tsin, as part of a much more general move, and there contin-
ued to develop and become fashionable almost as if there had been no interruption.
Scholars and thinkers being of the type just described, once the "Doctrine of the
Sage from the West," steadily more available in their own language since Han and
Wei times, was being further subjected to translation and commentary by inter-
preters and exegetes who had recourse to Lao-Chuang ideas, it is only natural that
they should read and study it personally, with more of a feeling of affmity than ever.
Continued Translation of Prajfiaparamita Scriptures. The early Mahayana scriptures
translated in Han and Wei are very varied in content, but at the base of them all is
a doctrine of the Prajfiaparamita type, so that it would be safe to say that a doctrine
whose ideal, most particularly stressed in the Prajfiaparamita scriptures, is arrival
at the true wisdom of emptiness (Sanyata, k'ung) that is the prisoner of nothing,
wherein one has no fixed concepts, be they of existence or of non-existence, about
anything, whether matter or mind. The translators for their own part appear to have
done their best to make these things intelligible to the Chinese.
For instance, the Han-Wei translation of the Sukhiivativyuha, mentioned above,
tells of the beautifully adorned world that is the paradise (sukhavati lokadhiitub) of the
Buddha Amita and urges rebirth in that "Pure Land" (ching i'u). The translator,
however, sandwiches in a passage that exists neither in the Sanskrit nor in the T'ang
translation, hence must be presumed not to have been in the original work. It is a
passage smacking very much of Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu, one which says that a
person reborn in that Pure Land shall gain "a body which is, of itself, free of being
or indeed of anything, limbs without limits [tzu jan hsii wu chih shen wu chi chih t'i],
through which he shall attain to the Way of immortality and absolute self-mastery
[pu ssu tzu tsai chih tao]." If rephrased in the style of Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu, it
might be expressed in this way: "He becomes a Perfect Man [ chih jen), a Saint [sheng
jen], one who has attained to the state of the self-so [tzu jan] =non-being [wtt] = the
Way [tao]. In other words, the Buddha spoken of by the Buddhists and the Per-
fect Man or Saint indicated in the ideas of Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu both attain
to the same realm."
Whether in such cases as this one the translator of the Sukhavativyuha was con-
sciously adding something, or whether he was expanding the scriptural text with
a gloss that would facilitate his readers' understanding by borrowing the concept
of the "Perfect Man" from Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu, an ideal common to the
Chinese of the time, in either case there can be little doubt that the expression of an
ideal was borrowed from those two in order thereby to make the goal of evangelism
more easily attainable. As we have already indicated, Chih Tun, himself a Prajfia-
paramita scholar, evidently understood the land of Amita as a sort of ideal land in the
spirit of Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu, or as an ideal realm inhabited by "superhuman
sylphs," for he speaks in these terms: "There are no institutions of kingship nor of
succession of ranks and titles. The Sovereign Lord is the Buddha; the body of
regulations, the Three Vehicles. Men and women emerge miraculously from the
calyx of a 'lotus, there being none of the defilement of fetus and gestation. The
palaces and halls all take shape of themselves [tzu jan], made of the Seven Jewels ....
The (first) five perfections ride on open space and enter into Non-Being, Prajfia by
pushing her wisdom emerges from the Obscure. Hereupon a multitude of subtleties
open out wide."
3
Whatever else may be said, the first mission of the Mahayana translator mission-
aries who risked their lives to cross the desert was advertisement of the realm of the
intuitive perception of the Mahayana notion of "emptiness" in which they them-
selves worshipfully believed. The source of the most straightforward exposition, in
the most forceful terms, of the notion of Emptiness is the corpus ofPrajfiaparamita
scriptures, whose content, as it happened, bore a closer resemblance to Taoistic ideas
than to any other form of ancient Chinese thought.
Just then, beginning with Wei and Tsin, came an age in which one of these Taoistic
notions, that of "non-being" (wu), carried everything before it, an age in which,
furthermore, a series of internal wars and the accompanying social insecurity left no
choice but to seek spiritual props, in short, an age most peculiarly favorable to the
dissemination of the Prajfiaparamita scriptures. The very intellectuals who were
due to become the rulers of their society held in the highest esteem the "dark learn-
ing" of Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu, the quasi-religious metaphysics that attempted
to transcend the concern with visible, concrete reality in the quest for, and with
the aim of embodying, the unseen " Way" believed by them to exist eternally in the
background of those visible realities as their root and source. They denigrated as
common and vulgar the ethical life and the concrete duties of government, both
obedient to the order of "propriety" (li), based on Confucianism and long in force.
The scholarly habits and attitude toward life that combined the sentiments just
mentioned with a positive veneration for the discipline of the recluse led to a fasci-
nated interest both in the Buddhist scriptures, the newly imported repositories of a
foreign system of thought, and in the sarpgha, whose members left their families
and lived a life of religious self-denial. As a result, an increasing number of these
Chinese concerned themselves with Buddhism, came to respect it, took to reading
and studying its literature listening to expositions of its doctrine, and eventually
became devout believers. In the light of the continued activities of the zealous and
and distinguished leaders of the sarpgha, this development was only to be expected.
Continuous Stream of Prajiiiipiiramitii Translations. We shall now proceed to show
how a whole series of Prajfiaparamita translations was made and published in the
period ranging from the Latter Han through the Three Kingdoms into the Tsin era,
first Western, then Eastern.
(1) Tao hsing po-jo ching. 10 rolls. 30 chapters. Translated under the Latter Han,
in Kuang-ho 2 (179), by (Chih Lou-chia-ch'an). prajiiii-
piiramitii sutra. The Sanskrit text, brought to China by the Indian monk Chu Shuo-
fo (alternately mentioned as Chu Fo-shuo), was tr.anslated by the Yiieh-chih monk
with the aid of such Chinese collaborators as Meng Fu and Chang Lien.
In the present scripture, among others, the word tathatii, which, if it were translated
literally, one might expect to encounter in a form such as ju, appears, as already
mentioned above, in the form pen wu ("rien fancier"), a word with the smack of
Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu about it, and from which the original could never be
deduced. The likelihood is that, on the advice of their Chinese collaborators, who
presumably told them that the word, if literally translated, would simply not be
understood, they arrived at pen wu, giving a free Chinese translation by resort to the
ideas of Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu and separating themselves radically from the
original term. In the Buddhist church of Wei and Tsin this version was known as the
Lesser Prajfia (hsiao p'in po-jo). There is another tradition that says that Chu Fo-shuo
was the translator as well as the conveyor.
For further reference, c Tao-an's preface (Tao hsing ching hsu) and Chu Shih-
hsing's biography, both in the Ch'u san tsang chi chi.
(2) Taming tu wu chi ching. 6 rolls. 30 chapters. Translated under the Wu, during
Huang-wu (222-228), by Chih Ch'ien. Partial translation of the Paiicavif'!lsatisiihas-
rikaprajiiiipiiramitiisutra. Chih Ch'ien was a member of school in the
line Liang-Chih Ch'ien. In other words, he was heir to the Yiieh-
chih Buddhist tradition, but at the same time he was a native of Honan, perfectly at
home in the Chinese language and the recipient of a thoroughly Chinese education.
He was a lay Buddhist, head of a community of well-to-do, influential Yiieh-chih
settled and naturalized in China. What this means is that, even in the chaos that
marked the end of the Han, Buddhism in the tradition (Mahayana),
studied and propagated by Buddhists who, like him were of Yiieh-chih stock, was
transmitted at the very least to communities clustered around the culturally sinicized
sons and grandsons of Yiieh-chih immigrants settled in the Lo-yang region, where
it was endowed with an opportunity to be propagated and otherwise to spread
throughout the Chinese cultural heartland as a whole-a fact that must never be
ignored in any consideration of the propagation and expansion of Buddhism in late
Han. Now the present translation, made by Chih Ch'ien, grandson
in the Dharma, so to speak, is a retranslation which converts into pure Chinese, in
order to make them intelligible to Chinese readers, as many as possible of the locu-
tions given by in phonetic transcription because he was not sufficiently
at home in the Chinese language to translate them. (Cf. Chih Min-tu's colophon to
the combined Suraf'!lgama translation, Ho Slwu-leng-yen ching chi.) Also, the fact that
the introductory chapter is equipped with a commentary, granted that the author
of the commentary is unidentified, is noteworthy as presumable proof that the
Prajfiaparamita was actually being studied in Wei and Tsin times.
(3) Kuang tsan po-jo-po-lo-mi ching. 10 rolls. 27 chapters. Translated under the
Tsin, in T'ai-k'ang 7 (286) by Chu Fa-hu). See (2).
The present work is regarded as a variant translation of the original from which
the next entry, the Fang kuang po-jo ching, was made. However, the translation was
done in North China, where, as we have already had occasion to say in connection
with the wars and other upheavals were so violent that a complete
text never managed to circulate in the Middle Plain, to say nothing of China south
of the Yangtze. Instead, it was more or less confined to the territory of Liang-chou
in Kansu, where it became, in effect, a scripture of the Western marches. In the
ninety-first year after the translation, in 367, it was delivered into the hands of Tao-
an, who at Hsiang-yang, in the territories of the Eastern Tsin, was wholly occupied
with the study and exposition of the Fang kuang po-jo ching. Tao-an worked very
hard at a comparative study of the present text and the Fang kuang, but eventually
he was taken volens nolens to Ch'ang-an. Thus the Kuang tsan never contrived to
become a cardinal text for Prajfiaparamita study in the Lo-yang area under the
Wei and the Western Tsin or even in the Chien-k'ang and K'uai-chi region under
the rule of the Eastern Tsin, where, after the southward move, Prajfiaparamita
study . became more intensive yet. On the contrary, Prajfiaparamita study on the
part of the core of the intellectual aristocracy from the latter half of the Western
Tsin into the Eastern Tsin, as well as for those members of the sarp.gha with whom
they associated, was concentrated on two scriptural texts in Chinese translation,
the Tao hsing mentioned above (1) and the Fang kuang, which is the next entry.
(4) Fang kuang po-jo-po-lo-mi ching (known in Wei and Tsin times under the
alternate names of Ta p'in po-jo ching and Fang kuang ching). 20 rolls. Paficavil'!"satisii-
hasrikiiprajfiiipiirarnitiisutra. This translation has already been described above, but
we will repeat ourselves briefly here because of the enormous influence it exerted
over the Chinese Buddhist world in particular and the world of Chinese thought in
general. Translated in 291 by Wu-ch'a-lo (Wu-lo-ch'a?) and Chu Shu-Ian, it was
revised and put into final form by the latter. It was 282, already under the Western
Tsin, that Chu Shih-hsing, who as early as Wei times had been busying himself with
the study of the Tao hsing at Lo-yang, and who, saddened by the incomplete text of
the translation and by the imprecision of its doctrinal expression, undertook the
difficult journey to Khotan in order to get a complete text (in 260), having got it, gave
it into the charge of his disciple Fu-ju-t'an to take back to Lo-yang. For some reason
or other, it tarried at Lo-yang three years; then moved to Hsii-ch'ang, where it spent
two years more; next was translated at the Monastery South of the River (shui nan
ssu), situated at Ts'ang-yiian on the border of Ch'en-liu, with the collaboration of
W u-ch' a-lo and Chu Shu-lan and others and with the support and encouragement of
assorted worthies; finally, so we are told, was revised and put into final form by Chu
Fa-chi and Chu Shu-lan at the Monastery North of the River (shui pei ssu) over a
period of time ranging between 301 and 303. This was the Greater Prajfiaparamita
so eagerly awaited by the Buddhist community centered in Lo-yang after a Chinese
Prajfiaparamita scholar of that same city went in irritation to the west to obtain
a complete text and the same text was first translated, then carefully revised by
Chu Shu-Ian, an Indian born in Lo-yang, naturalized in China and thoroughly at
home in the Chinese language. Since, in addition to this, it was a time at which Lao-
Chuang philosophy was becoming progressively more fashionable, as were dis-
courses on the metaphysical notion of "fundamental non-being" (pen wu, "rien
fancier"), the scripture could be spoken of by Tao-an in the following terms, as
we have already stated: "Next the Fang kuang came out and circulated much in the
C :THE ADVANCE OF PRAJNAPARAMITA STUDY 371
capital area, where gentlemen residing at home, who had put their minds to rest,
eagerly came to propagate it. Even from the Buddhist community at Chung-shan,
the prince of Chung-shan sent a man to copy it on white silk, then welcomed this
scripture in a ceremony characterized by extreme veneration."
4
(5) Mo-ho-po-lo-jo-po-lo-mi ching ch' ao. 5 rolls. prajfziipiiramitii sutra.
Since Tao-an says in his preface that an original brought into China under the
former Ch'in, in Chien-yiian 18 (383), was translated by the Indian srama1,1as Dharma-
priya and Fo-hu this presumably means that Tao-an, who had
been brought more or less by force to Fu Ch'ien's Ch'ang-an, was in a position to
read it, but that the world ofPrajfiaparamita scholarship of the Eastern Tsin, situated
in Chien-k'ang and K'uai-chi, had no direct access to it.
(6) Mo-ho-po-jo-po-lo-mi ching. 27 rolls, as well as its commentary in 100 rolls,
entitled Ta chih tu lun and ascribed to Nagarjuna. Both done under the Latter Ch'in
(in 404-405) by Kumarajiva. Pafzcavif!15atisiihasrikii prajfziipiiramitiisutra. This was the
work of a fully equipped translation project, sponsored by the king as an official
State undertaking and supported by the participation of over five hundred learned
Chinese. On the other hand, the work both on the scripture and on the treatise,
which took place after Tao-an's death, was sent toward the end of the Tsin to Hui-
yiian on Mount Lu, who, however, was himself already at an advanced age. The
actual propagation of Mahayana of the sunyaviida variety, as translated by Kuma-
raj iva, in the Chien-k'ang region did not take place until the Tsin was near its end,
and its real florescence did not begin until the Sung, early in the Six Dynasties. The
influence of these two works, from the period of north-south division onward, as
well as its dominant influence, was extremely great, but at this point in our discus-
sions, where we are dealing with Prajfiaparamita scholarship in Wei and Tsin, a
consideration of that influence would be a bit out of place.
In addition to the above, Ch'u san tsang chi chi 2 lists the following titles in its
Catalogue of Recently Collected Scriptures of Unusual Provenance (Hsin chi yi ch'u chu
ching lu):
(1) Tao hsing p'in ching. 10 rolls. Translated by Chih Ch'ien
(2) Ku p'in Yi jih shuo po-jo ching. 1 roll. Translated by Chih Ch'ien.h
(3) Tao hsing ching. 1 roll. Translated by Chu Fo-shuo. The Tao hsing is a Prajfia
digesti
(4) The Fang kuang ching. 20 rolls. Edited by Chu Shih,...hsing. Another name
for it is the Former "Lesser Scripture" (Chiu hsiao p'in)i (Pafzcavif!15atis.p.p.).
(5) The Hsiao p'in ching. 7 rolls. Retranslated by
(6) Mo-ho-po-jo-po-lo-mi tao hsing ching. 2 rolls. Abridged by Wei Shih-tu
digest).
(7) Mo-ho-po-lo-jo-po-lo-mi ching. 5 rolls. Translated by Dharmapriya. Another
name for it is the Ch'ang-an Scripture (Ch'ang an p'in ching;
(8) Ta p'in. 24 rolls. Translated by Kumarajiva (Pafzcavif!'satis.p.p.).
(9) Hsiao p'in. 7 rolls. Translated by Kumarajiva
The list thus catalogues nine scriptures translated by seven men, the last of whol!).
372 BUDDillSM SOUTH OF THE YANGTZE
was Kumarajiva. Granted a certain number of factual errors in the translation notices,
one is still able to deduce from them the enthusiastic manner in which the Prajfiapar-
amita scriptures then circulating in India and Central Asia were imported into a
China rife with Lao-Chuang philosophy, as well as the amount of attention they
attracted. In his Vinaya preface (Pi-nai-yeh hsu), Tao-an makes the following
unequivocal statement:
The way the scriptures came into the land of Ch'in is that translations would be
made of whatever the Indian sramal).as happened to bring with them. As it
chanced, those of the Vaipulya group were the most numerous. [In general, the
word vaipulya refers to the Mahayana corpus as a whole, but in Tao-an's case it
would be safe to say that the term specifically indicated the early Mahayana, the
Prajfiaparamita scriptures in particular.] In this country [China] the doctrines of
Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu are current, doctrines resembling the Vaipulya scriptures,
doctrine of "all-inclusive forgetfulness" [chien wang].k This is what made it easy
to adapt the Vaipulya scriptures to the manners of our own learned community.
5
As can be seen from the above statement, the circulation of the Prajfiaparamita
scriptures in the heartland of the Wei-Tsin civilization, in view of the fashionable
study ofLao-tzu and Chuang-tzu, is exactly what one would have expected, in terms
both of the foreign and of the domestic situation, and that in fact is what did happen.
Whatever else may be said, under the Wei and Tsin, when the study ofLao-tzu
and Chuang-tzu was at its height, of all of the freshly translated Buddhist scriptures
it was those of the early Indian Mahayana that attracted the interest of China's
intellectuals, and among them it was on the most important of them, those of the
Prajfiaparamita corpus, that the principal interest and the most serious study were
concentrated.
From the ({Lesser Prajfiii" to the "Greater Prajfiii." China's first interest in the Prajfia-
paramita was directed, naturally enough, to the first Chinese translation, Loka-
Tao hsing po-jo ching (based on the next to the Taming tu ching,
a translation made by Chih Ch'ien, his countryman and a member of his own
school, of the same text,
1
and the two were studied in unison. Following that,
translation, the Kuang tsan po-jo,m long confined to the Kansu area,
gained no circulation either in Ch'ang-an or in Lo-yang, thus had no currency in
the Buddhist community of the Eastern Tsin, which flourished in the cultural
centers of Chien-k'ang and K'uai-chi after the southward move of Buddhist intel-
lectuals from the Middle Plain. On the other hand, as we have already indicated, the
Fang kuang po-jo ching (based on the Paficavii'J'I.Satis.p.p.), sent by Chu Shih-hsing
from Khotan and translated in Lo-yang, moved southward together with that city's
intellectuals, there to become a most particular object of reading and study.
Tao-an, engaged quite early in the study of the so-called Lesser Prajfia (hsiao p'in
po-jo) in the form of the Han translation and of its alternate version, Chih Ch'ien's
Taming tu ching,n was distressed by the opacity of the text. Late in his life, when
he was settled in Hsiang-yang, he became engrossed, as we have already said, in the
Fang kuang po-jo, the Paficavil?"satis.p.p. translation recently made under the Western
Tsin. Later yet, when he procured a copy Kuang tsan po-jo, an alter-
nate version of the same text,
0
he proceeded, simultaneously surprised and delighted,
to a comparative study of the two. In the Chien pei ching shu hsu, a Dasabhumika
preface presumed to be his work, one reads the following comments on the progress
ofPrajiiaparamita study in the Chinese Buddhist church of the time:
Now the samadhi scriptures of non-birth equal in all directions are of many
varieties. This gentleman has produced works which are in truth a
mysterious ladder for the beings. The appearance of the (Prajiiaparamita in the)
Larger [Number of] Chapters [Ta p'in, i.e., Paficavil?"satis.p.p.] took place several
decades ago, yet our honored predecessors scarcely studied it at all. ... The one
in the Larger Number of Chapters has, since recent times, been the object of
repeated study and comment, and there is none who does not concern himself
with it. The same cannot be said for its words and phrases, of whose profundity
one is increasingly aware. Yet one's portion of talent has its limits, thought and
inquiry have their confines; the manifestations of obscure truths are not a
thing that a dwarfed intellect can encompass. In spite of all this, one wishes to
study it. One hopes that by studying it exhaustively throughout one's life one
may eke out [one's meager intellect).
6
Lao-Chuang Scholarship, Chinese Translation, and the Proliferation of Views. One
may well imagine what emotions filled the aged Tao-an now that he was in a posi-
tion to study the Prajiiaparamita equipped with the two Paficavi1J15atis.p.p. translations
that he had just acquired. Thanks to the comparison of the Fang kuang and the
Kuang tsan, the translations just mentioned, with the older texts, of the in
particular, Prajiiaparamita study in China, beginning with Tao-an in the middle of
the Eastern Tsin and extending well into the beginning of north-south division,
flourished more and more. Needless to say, this was aided in large part by the vogue,
even the triumph, of the cultivated preference of China's intellectuals, from Wei
and Tsin onwards, for "dark learning," for the study of Chuang-tzu in particular.
There can, however, be no denying that it was not an easy matter for the real
meaning of such Indian ideas as emptiness (the inaccessibility of anything to thought-
construction), or the absence of substantial entity in a pattern in which every devel-
opment is dependent on every other, to be clearly understood in a context dominated
by the thought-processes of the Chinese heirs to a tradition that attached great
weight to concrete reality.
Among the earnest and distinguished Prajiiaparamita scholars in the Chinese Bud-
dhist community there were, to be sure, a Chih Tun and a Tao-an, who, by devot-
ing the whole of their lives to a comparative study of the Vaipulya scriptures, were
able to come close to the early Mahayana notion of emptiness. Generally speaking,
however, all were ignorant of the original language, and for the Chinese intellectual
who, steeped in Lao-Chuang study, was now showing an interest in Buddhism, par-
ticularly for the aristocratic donors whose sponsorship was vital for the sarp.gha, as
long as they had to rely exclusively on the Prajiiaparamita in Chinese translation,
there was scarcely any choice but to approach it through the ideas of"dark learning"
ascribed to Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu. Under the circumstances, it is only natural that
interpretations and conflicting opinions, both purely Chinese in character, should
make their appearance in rather rapid succession. At the same time, the conflicting
opinions just mentioned could not help being directed toward some sort of uniform
interpretation under the authority ofKumarajiva, who, invited to Ch'ang-an when
the latter was the capital of the kingdom of Ch'in ruled over by the Yao family,
retranslated the Prajiiaparamita as well as Nagarjuna's minute commentary to itu
and commented orally on the meanings of the words.
Niigiirjuna and Kumiirajiva Regularize Prajniipiiramita Scholarship. Simply stated,
scarcely had Chinese intellectuals begun to study the Prajiiaparamita, scarcely had
the first translations appeared, when the Latter Han experienced first chaos, then
collapse. Yet as early as the era of the Three Kingdoms the study of the
translated during the Latter Han, began, then the study shifted to the Fang kuang
(Pafzcavif!!Satis.p.p.), the next step was a comparative study of the different trans-
lations, and the final step was the inevitable clash of interpretations.
At that point there took place, under the leadership of a man whose renown had
reached Ch'ang-an before he did himself, viz., Kumarajiva, and his fellows, much
exegesis and commentary for the benefit of those Chinese Prajiiaparamita scholars
whose many questions on the subject were accompanied by a proliferation of
conflicting views. Kumarajiva, welcomed into Ch'ang-an under the rule of the Latter
Ch'in, became the central personality in a State-sponsored translation project in
which, in the presence of a large number of the Chinese Prajiiaparamita scholars just
mentioned and with the aid of a quite considerable number of learned Chinese
collaborators, he revised the older Prajiiaparamita translations.
This same Kumarajiva, by presenting in Chinese, supported by his own scholarly
authority as a Prajiiaparamita specialist, a minute commentary (the Ta chih tu fun,
in one hundred rolls) ascribed to Nagarjuna, the man honored as the author of the
greatest of the Indian Prajiiaparamita treatises (such as the Middle Treatise and the
Treatise of the Twelve Divisions),v could only enhance the authority ofPrajiiaparamita
scholarship in general. In view of this, Chinese Prajiiaparamita scholarship, marked
by a succession of conflicting opinions and racked by a criss-crossing battle of
disputations that extended through both Western and Eastern Tsin, could not help
acquiring a new focus in the form of the learned contributions of Kumarajiva.
In addition to all this, Kumarajiva's work of translation, being supported by the
State, attracted to it many Buddhist scholars from both the north and the south of
China and contrived in this way to reeducate the whole country in a unified fashion
in the Prajiiaparamita discipline. Then many outstanding scholars trained in the new
PrajfHiparamita discipline that was heir to a tradition extending from Nagarjuna to
Kumarajiva, armed now with the authority of two great teachers, took to propagat-
ing the doctrine south of the Yangtze, to say nothing of North China. Once things
had proceeded this far, the welter of learned theories which, based on the older
translations, had in the course of the years become incredibly entangled through the
intrusion ofLao-Chuang ideas and of interpretations based on Chinese versions with-
out the corrective aid of the originals had no choice but to fall in line with Kumara-
jiva's Prajiiaparamita scholarship and to part company with Lao-tzu and with
Chuang-tzu. This was true from the beginning of north-south division.
It is now our intention to have a general look at how the Prajfiaparamita scholar-
ship of Wei and Tsin, intertwined as it was with the philosophy of Lao-tzu and
Chuang-tzu, proceeded to churn out its welter of theories until China's Prajfiapar-
amita study was brought into line by Kumarajiva. We mean, however, to pay some
attention to the fact that this very clash of doctrinal interpretations was the vehicle
for the rapid dissemination among the Chinese intellectual aristocracy, at a time
when "pure talk" and "dark learning" were in vogue, of a Mahayana Buddhism
based principally on Prajfiaparamita scriptures which, while read only in Chinese
translation, were nonetheless of foreign provenance.
The First Chinese Prajiiaparamita Scholars. Let us now list some of the persons who,
ending with Tao-an in Eastern Tsin, studied translations of the
p.p. (Tao hsing po-jo) and that of the Paiicavii'J'Isatis.p.p. made by Chu Shu-Ian and his
fellows (Fang kuang po-jo).
(1) Chu Shih-hsing of Lo-yang (Wei). Studies but, regretting its in-
clarities, goes to Khotan and spends some time studying there, his purpose being
to find a good and complete text. Eventually obtains an original Paiicavii'J'Isatis.p.p.
which he sends back to China, in the face of much Hinayanist opposition, with a
disciple.
(2) Wei Shih-tu (Western Tsin). Devout lay Buddhist of Chi-chiin in Ssu-chou,
translates Tao hsing po-jo ching p. p ). in 2 rolls. (Biography appended to that of
Po Fa-yuan in roll 1, Lives of Eminent Monks.)
(3) Chih Hsiao-lung of Huai-yang. Constantly savored the regarding
it as the "pivot of the mind" (hsin yao). When Chu Shu-Ian's Paiicavii'J'Isatis.p.p.
made its appearance, read it in a little more than ten days, then proceeded to give
readings and lecture on it. (C Lives of Eminent Monks, roll 1.)
(4) K'ang Seng-yiian. Of Central Asian ancestry but born in Ch'ang-an, propa-
gated both Paiicavii'J'Isatis.p.p. and in Chinese translation. (Cf. ibid.)
(5) Chu Ch'ien, courtesy name Fa-shen. Born to the Wang clan of Lang-yeh,
gave readings of the Paiicavii'J'Isatis.p.p. and the Saddharmapu7J4arrka in the Lo-yang
region. Sent into southward flight by the Yung-chia disturbances, continued to give
readings of the former, also of Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu. (C ibid., roll 4.)
(6) Chu Fa-yiin. Well versed in the Paiicavii'J'Isatis.p.p. (C [5].)
(7) Chih Tun, courtesy name Tao-lin. Gave readings of the and of the
Vimalakrrtinirdea. Author also of a preface to comparative selections from the
Paiicavii'J'Isatis.p.p. and the (Ta hsiao p'in tui pi yao ch'ao hsu, extant), as well
as of notes to the first chapter of Chuang tzu and of the Essay on Disporting Oneself
in the Obscure [Realm Where Emptiness Is] Identical with Visible Matter (Chi se yu hsiian
lun; biography ibid., ro114).
(8) Yi.i Fa-k'ai. Disciple to Yi.i Fa-lan. Gave frequent readings of Paficavilrrsatis.
p.p. and SaddharmaputJ4arika during reign of Emperor Ai (r. 362-365; c ibid.).
(9) Chu Fa-t' ai. Colleague of Tao-an's, originally from Tung-kuan. Moving
southward, attacks "doctrine of absence of mind" (hsin wu yi) propagated by Tao-
heng and others and very fashionable in Ching-chou area. Goes to Chien-k'ang,
where he gives reading of Paficavilrrsatis.p.p. to Emperor Chien-wen.
(10) Chu Seng-fu. Flees south at end of Western Tsin, takes up residence at
W a-kuan-ssu, studies and produces commentaries to ~ { a s . p. p. and Paficavitpsatis. p. p.
(11) Shih Tao-an. Gives Prajfiaparamita readings ca. 364 in monastery on Mount
Hengin T'ai-hang range. Two brothers, Hui-yi.ian and Hui-ch'ih, impelled thereby
to join order. Tao-an devoted the latter half of his life to the study and propagation
of the Prajfiaparamita scriptures, toward the end of his life giving regular readings
twice yearly on the Paficavitp.Satis.p.p. He is credited with the following works:
"Moderate Commentary to the Kuang tsan" (Kuang tsan che chung chieh), 1 roll.
"Summary Commentary to the Kuang tsan" (Kuang tsan ch'ao chith), 1 roll.
"Standard for Demolishing Doubts concerning the Paficavitp.Satis.p.p. (Fang kuang
po-jo che yi chun), 1 roll.
"Summary of the Demolition of Doubts" (che yi liieh), 2 rolls.
"Commentary to the Beginning and the End" ("Commentary to Everything from
Beginning to End"? Ch'i chin chieh), 1 roll.
"Collection of Conflicting Comments to the AHas.p.p. (Tao hsing po-jo chi yi chu),
1 roll.
(The above are all lost.)
"Preface to the A ~ { a s . p . p . (Tao hsing ching hsii).
"Preface to a Combined Summary Commentary to the Fang kuang and the Kuang
tsan" (Ho Fang kuang Kuang tsan liieh chieh hsii).
"Preface to a Digest of the Mahiiprajfiiipiiramitii Scripture" (Mo-ho-po-lo-jo-po-lo-mi
ching ch' ao hsii).
(The above are extant.)w
From the above it is evident that in Tao-an's school there were many Prajfiapar-
amita scholars, who were also propagators of those same scriptures. Shih Tao-li,
for instance, gave readings of the Paficavitpsatis.p.p. and also made a close study of the
Three Mysteries, viz., Chuang-tzu, Lao-tzu, and the Canon of Changes, as of some-
thing that closely corresponded to the truths of Buddhism.
7
It is said of Hui-yi.ian
that he preached the doctrine of Real Marks (shih hsiang yi) and that, by preaching
on the meaning of Chuang-tzu, he brought his opponents round to his own point
of view. This allegation, apart from what it tells us about Hui-yi.ian himself, is
interesting for the insight it gives us into the character ofPrajfiaparamita scholarship
under the Tsin.
In sum, then, Chinese Prajfiaparamita scholarship by resort to translated texts
came to its peak late in Tao-an's life. However, for Prajfiaparamita scholarship, up
to Tao-an's time, to be accessible to the Chinese, the mediation of the ideas ofLao-
tzu and Chuang-tzu was a necessity. This was particularly true in the case of the
intellectual layman, who was both fond of and thoroughly versed in the study of
Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu, who at the same time enjoyed listening to public readings
of the Prajfiaparamita on the part of the sarp.gha, and who understood the Prajfiapar-
amita doctrine of emptiness only with reference to the several interpretations
mentioned above and in the light ofhis own secular knowledge. The product was,
so to speak, a ko yi Buddhism consisting of an interpretation of the Prajfiaparamita
scriptures in the light of Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu, one that of necessity removed
itself from the meanings of the words contained in the original scriptures. On the
other hand, it won a secure place in the hearts of many Chinese as a sort of specifi-
cally Chinese Prajfiaparamita study based on scriptures now written in Chinese. As
such, it liberated a host of theories that were to guide that community's spiritual
life-at the very least, theories typical of persons who enjoy "dark learning" and
"pure talk." This in turn made early Mahayana scriptures such as the Prajfiaparamita
into vehicles of specifically Chinese Buddhist thought, thought that was no longer
Indian because its translated sources were not Indian but Chinese, and thus assured
them a rapid spread throughout the intellectual society of the Tsin.
It was Tao-an who took due account of the fact that this sort of study was not
bringing anyone closer to a real understanding of Indian Buddhism, who pursued
a broad and comparative study of many Buddhist scriptures in many different
translations with the intention of breaking out of these confines, and who exerted
him.self for the purpose of arriving at the genuine meaning of prajfia. These exer-
tions are praised in the following terms in a Pancavi'!'satis.p.p. preface (Ta p'in ching
hsu) by Shih Seng-jui, who was Tao-an's pupil to begin with, and who after the
latter's death studied Prajfiaparamita directly under the guidance of Kumarajiva:
My late master, the upadhyaya [Tao-]an, by chiseling through the rough paths
opened up a wagon road, with a finger [that points to the] Obscure marked that
which is Empty by nature. Leaving the misleading tracks, he arrived directly [at
the desired goal].
8
To judge by these statements, Tao-an would appear to have arrived more or less
at a genuine understanding of what prajnii means. Yet, by looking at the rather
numerous writings he has left behind, one is virtually compelled to conclude that
his comments on the Buddhist scriptures were still aiding his listeners and readers
by recourse to the ideas of Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu or, at the very least, to their
vocabulary, and, even at the peak of his effort to shake off the heritage of ko yi, it
could never be said that either the times or the conditions were an encouragement
to work free of it completely. The same Seng-jui says this in his preface to a com-
mentary to the P'i-mo-lo-chieh-t'i Scripture, i.e., Kumarajiva's translation of the
Vimalakirtinirdea:
Since the Wind of Wisdom fanned eastward and the Word of the Dharma
poured hither in song [i.e., since Buddhism's arrival in Chinese translation], there
can be no doubt that many readings of the translated scriptures have been given,
yet the method pursued in these readings was to resort to the vocabulary of the
Chinese classics, the method known as ko yi, with results that were distorted
and in violation of the original meaning. The much-touted Prajfiaparamita
theories of the Six Schools did flourish, to be sure, but every one of them was the
arbitrary view of its proponent, totally divorced from the genuine doctrinal
content of Indian Buddhism-in short, one-sided interpretations wholly out
of touch with the original sense. Viewed from the vantage point of the present,
it is only the doctrine of emptiness by nature [hsing k'ung chih tsung], arrived at by
our master, Tao-an, that came at all close to grasping the reality of the Prajfiapar-
amita scriptures . . .. In the scriptures as translated in China hitherto, there are
very few passages that say hsing k'ung ["empty by nature," svabhavasanya] in so
many words, thus indicating that the cognizing spirit [shih shen] is devoid of any
substantial entity; on the contrary, most of these write unequivocally of an
[eternally] existing spirit [ts'un shen]. The Middle Treatise [Chung lun, Madhya-
makasiistra], the Hundredfold Treatise [po lun, Satakasiistra?], and the Treatise of the
Twelvefold Division [Shih erh men lun, Dviidasanikiiyasiistra? all three translated by
not yet having made their way to these parts, who but a wise
saint of penetrating, mirrorlike vision could have put [these errors] right? This,
indeed, is why the late master [Tao-an] would stop his writing and sigh into the
distance, thinking to be reborn in the presence of the bodhisattva Maitreya and
there to resolve his doubts.
9
This is a respectful statement, replete with profound understanding and sympathy
both, recalling the evidences of the bitter exertions carried out on behalf ofPrajfia-
paramita scholarship by the master Tao-an, who had died without having the author's
good fortune to be instructed by Kumarajiva in the Mahayana doctrine of emp-
tiness as propounded by Nagarjuna and other Indian patriarchs. The author goes on
to state that, of all the conflicting opinions on Prajfiaparamita study produced by the
Six Schools, his late master, Tao-an, by sparing himself no hardship in his profound
studies, had established a "doctrine of emptiness by nature" that came closest to a
correct understanding of the original sense of the Prajfiaparamita scriptures as
taught by Kumarajiva. Yet, he concludes, Chinese Prajfiaparamita scholarship before
coming under Kumarajiva's leadership, based as it was on translations rather far re-
moved from the originals and making use of a fundamentally different vocabulary,
unable as it also was to throw off the tendency to propound the doctrine with ref-
erence to the ideas ofLao-tzu and Chuang-tzu, was unable to arrive at a perfectly
accurate understanding of the meaning of the Prajfiaparamita originals. This could
eventuate in nothing other than a set of conflicting doctrines. In other words, he tells
us frankly, there was no sidestepping the "era of Prajfiaparamita study by resort to
ko yi."
What the above means is that China's Prajfiaparamita scholarship, until it was
set straight under Kumarajiva's leadership, was attacked by Seng-jui as consisting
of theories which, thanks to ". . . ko yi, . . . were distorted and in violation of the
original meaning. The . . . Six Schools did flourish, . . . one-sided interpretations
wholly out of touch with the original sense." By the "Six Schools," which existed
until Prajfiaparamita scholarship was revolutionized, are meant the assorted schools
in the Buddhist intellectual community of the Eastern Tsin, schools in which the
Prajfiaparamita was read and which, for practical purposes, were roughly divided
into six groups. T' an-chi, a monk of the Chuang-yen-ssu in Chien-k' ang under the
Liu-Sung, composed the Treatise on the Six Schools and the Seven Theories (Liu chia
ch'i tsung lun), in which he classified the various Prajfiaparamita theories and described
each of them briefly. On the basis of a citation appearing in Pao-ch'ang' s Sequel
to the Dharma Treatise (Hsii fa lun), written in Liang times, a T'ang monk, Ytian-
k' ang, describes them himself in his commentary to the essays of Seng-chao (Chao
lun su) .
10
These theories undoubtedly enjoyed their principal currency in the learned
circles of the Eastern Tsin. Yet it bears notice that Seng-chao, who studied directly
under Kumarajiva's tutelage, had earlier, presumably under the latter' s guidance,
singled out for adverse comment three theories, those of the non-existence of mind
(hsin wu shuo), of (emptiness) identical with visible matter (chi se shuo), and of funda-
mental (original?) non-being (pen wu shuo), as being typical, saying in his Essay on
the Emptiness of the Unreal (Pu chen k'ung lun, later incorporated into a collection
going by the name of Chao lun), "Recently the theories concerning the basic doctrine
of Prajfiaparamita, all at odds with one another, achieve no unity. "
11
The theory of the non-existence of mind [hsin wu shuo] holds that[, having, within
the mind, annihilated all things,] one is mindless with regard to things, but that
things are by no means non-existent. The advantage of this theory lies in its pacifi-
cation of the spirit, its disadvantage that it loses sight of the emptiness [vacuity]
of things.
The theory of the identity of emptiness to visible matter [chi se yi] makes it
clear that, since things endowed with visible form [se, rupa] do not take shape of
themselves, they are not "visible matter" in and of themselves, however much
they may be called by that name. All this theory does, however, is to explain that
visible matter is not visible matter in and of itsel It does not understand that,
since prajfia is identical with matter and non-matter simultaneously, matter,
without undergoing any change, is at the same time non-matter.
The theory of fundamental non-being has a particular fondness for non-being,
which expresses itself in the use of that word whenever there is occasion to ver-
balize. Now "not being" [Jei yu] means that being, without undergoin_.g any
change, simply is not, while "not non-being" [fei wu] means, likewise, that
non-being does not exist. In the case of the expression "neither being nor non-
being" [fei yu fei wu], the former means that nothing is real being, the latter
that nothing is real non-being. They should not simply be construed to mean,
in the former case, that there is no such thing as being, in the latter that there
is no such thing as non-being. The theory of fundamental non-being is, in sum,
an "expression fond of Non-Being." [In other words, it is a theory that, happily,
coincides with the vogue ofLao-Chuang scholarship.]
The above list is, without much doubt, a catalogue of the best-known of the
conflicting prajfia theories current in North China before Kumarajiva's arrival. Of
all philosophic views, theories of prajfia were at this time the most numerous, given
the vigorous metaphysical arguments based on the view that "non-being" is the
substance of all things, given also the free-flowing disputes springing from the
reading and study ofLao-tzu and Chuang-tzu, whose texts furnished the theoretical
base of these disputes. In Ch'en times, for instance, Hui-ta of the Hsiao-chao-t'i-ssu
(the "Lesser Caturdisavihara") says, in his preface to the essays of Seng-chao (Chao
fun hsu), "From six schools or seven theories, the views proliferated into twelve
separate theories. "
12
The Six Schools of Prajfiiipiiramitii Scholarship. Now, since, of Yi.ian-k'ang's "six
schools and seven theories," the first, namely that of fundamental non-being (pen
wu yi), corresponding to Tao-an's theory of the same name and to "the Dharma-
master Shen's 'alternate theory of fundamental non-being' " (pen wu yi tsung),
constitutes only one (not two) of the six, and since there is explicit treatment of all
six in Chi-tsang's Phrase-by-Phrase Commentary to the "Middle Treatise" (Chung
lutl su) and in the Notes to the "Phrase-by-Phrase Commentary to the 'Middle Treatise'"
(Charon shoki), the latter by a Japanese monk named Ancho, we proceed now to give
the essentials of these schools, basing ourselves on the sources just named, and to
use these same sources as a guide to a general understanding of how many prajfia
theories burgeoned in this atmosphere of the Eastern Tsin, in which "dark learning"
in the tradition of Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu was so fashionable.
(1) The Doctrine of Fundamental (Original?) Non-Being (pen wu yi). Ascribed
to a "Dharma-master Shen," who is presumed to be identical with Chu Fa-shen.
His position is described in these terms: "Before being (yu, i.e., the 'myriad objects,'
wan wu, i.e., the rupadharma) there was non-being (wu), which is what produced
being. That is to say, non-being preceded being while being follows non-being in
time. That accounts for the name 'original non-being.' "
13
It is an application to the
Prajfiaparamita conception of emptiness of Lao-tzu's dictum that "being was born
of non-being." In it one seems able to detect a confusion of the absolutistic idea of
non-being, as the fundamental essence from which all phenomena have unfolded,
with the subjectivist concept of intuition through r ~ f i a , the gnostic understanding
of emptiness. As we have already said, Seng-chao attacked this as an "argument in
love with non-being for its own sake."
14
An advocate of this theory was Chu Fa-t'ai,l
5
who, in fellowship with Hui-yi.ian,
denounced as heretical, then finally laid to rest, the doctrine of the non-existence
of mind (hsin wu yi), propounded by Tao-heng and his school. The likelihood is that
Tao-an, until he took up residence in Hsiang-yang, that is, before arriving at the
doctrinal position of emptiness by nature (hsing k'ung yi, which would correspond to
svabhiivasunyaviida), held, together with Chu Fa-t' ai, Hui-yi.ian, and others, a Prajfia-
paramita view that could be characterized as a doctrine of original non-being. In
view of the fact that Chu Fa-t'ai was active during his latter years at Chien-k'ang
under the Eastern Tsin, it would seem that this doctrine of original non-being
gained considerable standing south of the Yangtze, specifically in the Chien-k'ang
area, going on to exert quite an influence on the world of Buddhist doctrine and on
that of "dark learning." One is told in Chu Fa-t'ai's biography that "he published
a phrase-by-phrase commentary on the doctrine, then wrote Hsi Ch'ao a letter,
in which he discussed the doctrine of original non-being. Both are current in the
world." In the first roll of the Catalogue of Dharma Treatises (Fa lun mu lu), drawn
up by Lu Ch' eng under the Liu-Sung, one reads as follows:
Queries Concerning Fundamental Non-Being [Pen wu nan wen], by Hsi Chia-pin
[whose personal name was Ch'ao], consisting of objections by Chu Fa-t'ai and
Hsi' s answers, a total of four exchanges.
16
These two facts lead one to suppose that, at least until early in the tenure of the
Southern dynasties, the theory of original non-being maintained itself as an effective
Prajfiaparamita theory in the Chien-k'ang area. Yet, since Chu Fa-t'ai was long a
fellow-student ofTao-an's, with whom he maintained contact even after they had
parted, one is tempted to imagine that his "doctrine of original non-being" was noth-
ing like Master Shen's theory of the same name, but that, at least in his later years,
it had come, like Tao-an's theory, closest to the "fundamental doctrine of emptiness
b
" y nature.
(2) The Doctrine of the Non-Existence of Mind (hsin wu yi). Said to have been
the doctrine of Chih Min-tu, Chu Fa-wen(-yiin), Tao-heng, and others, it is a
theory that was sharply attacked by Chu Fa-t'ai and his fellows.
The argument is that "being" (yu) has form, that anything that has form is not
"non-being" (wu), and that, consequently, it is not possible to make "non-being"
of a myriad of concrete objects (wan wu). Yet, at the same time, it urges one to
annihilate these myriadfold objects within one's own mind, on the grounds that,
if one will terminate thought internally and take no thought for objects inwardly,
"material notions" (se hsiang) will also come to a haltY Seng-chao's retort is that,
while this theory "has an advantage in terms of its tranquillization of the spirit, still
it loses sight of the emptiness of things (in the sense that 'matter in and of itself is
emptiness,' se chi shih k'ung, rupam eva sunyatii)."lBz
(3) The Doctrine of (Emptiness) Identical with Visible Matter (chi se yi). fu
said above, this was the theory of Chih Tun, together with Tao-an's doctrine of
original non-being advanced as the closest approach, before the arrival of Kumar-
ajiva, to the sense of the Prajfiaparamita scriptures and enormously influential on
the Buddhist community of its own time. The Essay on Disporting Itself in the Obscure
[Realm Where Emptiness Is] Identical with Visible Matter (Chi se yu hsuan fun) is now
lost, but its essential message is restated in the "Chapter on Subtle Views" (Miao
kuan chang), cited in Worldly Talk and Recent Remarks: "Now the fundamental
nature of visible matter (se) is such that it is not visible matter in and of itsel (That
382 BUDDIDSM SOUTH OF THE YANGTZE
is, it becomes visible matter only in reliance on a force that makes it so.) Such being
the case, it is empty though called by the name of'visible matter.' This is why (the
scriptures) say that visible matter is in and of itself emptiness, emptiness in and
of itself visible matter.''
19
There is a point of contact between this and Chuang-tzu' s
idea that "what makes things into things is not itself a thing" (cf. the chapters
entitled Tsai yu and Shan shui). Great Chuang tzu authority that he was, he applied
that work's ideas and logic on a large scale in his writings; in fact, if one would
exchange two or three Buddhist technical terms, one might have the feeling that one
was reading a Lao-Chuang tract. Yet Seng-chao's critique of this theory is that
"all he does is explain that matter does not constitute matter in and of itself, but
he fails to understand that matter, without undergoing any change, is non-mat-
ter."20aa Still, the Phrase-by-Phrase Commentary to the Treatise of the Middle View
(Chung kuan lun su), by Chi-tsang of the Chia-hsiang-ssu, subdivides this doctrine
of identity into two, (a) that "within the Barrier" (kuan nei chi se yi) and (b) that of
Chih Tun (Chih Tao-lin chi se yi), adding that the object of Seng-chao's attack was
the latter.
21
(4) The Doctrine of Cognition Contained (shih han yi), the theory of Yii Fa-k' ai
of Mount Shan-po. A disciple of Yii Fa-Ian, he was well versed both in the Fang-
kuang Prajfiaparamita (Pancavil!'satisahasrika) and in the SaddharmaputJ4arika, lectur-
ing Emperor Ai on the former. In his Essay on the Two Conceptions, the Erroneous and
the Cognitive (Huo shih erh ti lun), he says, "The Triple Sphere is a lodging for a long
night, thought and cognition are the subject[ive element] in a great dream. If one
becomes intuitively aware that the Triple Sphere is fundamentally empty, then error
and cognition shall be completely cut off, and one shall mount to the tenth ground,
that of the Degree of Enlightened lntuition."
22
(5) The Doctrine of Hallucination (huan hua yi), the theory of Tao-yi, a Tsin
monk of the Chia-hsiang-ssu "north of the mountains" (shan yin). A scion of the Lu
clan in the Wu country, he was disciple to Chu Fa-t'ai together with T'an-yi, who
was designated with the sobriquet of the "Big One" (ta yi), while Tao-yi himself
was dubbed the "Little One" (hsiao yi). He published the Essay on Two Conceptions
of the Spirit (Shen erh ti lun), in which he held that the Spirit (shen) is not "empty":
"All of the dharmas being empty, this is called the Worldly Conception. The think-
ing Spirit being real and not empty, this is the Conception ofPrime Meaning."
23
ag
(6) The Doctrine of the Meeting of Conditions (yuan hui yi), theory of Yii Tao-
sui. A Tsin man from Tun-huang, he became the disciple of "my lord Lan" (i.e.,
Yii Fa-Ian), whom he was accompanying to Central Asia when he fell ill and died
at Giaokhi (Chiao-chih, i.e., the area of modern Hanoi) at the age of thirty-one.
In his Essay on the Meeting ~ f Conditions and the Two Truths (Yuan hui erh ti lun) he
says, "[The notion of] existence by reason of the meeting of conditions is the com-
mon [conception], for, when the conditions scatter, then there is no being. Non-
being is the Conception ofPrime Meaning, that is, Truth. For example, it is as when
clay and wood unite to form a house. The house has no a priori substance, because
it has a name but no reality [to correspond to the name]."
24
Prajna Disputations South ~ f the River. The theories described above had all to do
with Prajfiaparamita scholarship and were all more or less contemporary under the
Eastern Tsin, most of them being current south of the Yangtze. The conflict of argu-
ments was vigorous, since both the time and the place favored the vogue of "dark
learning" and "pure talk" and freedom of thought and expression. There survive
written references to the disputes between Chih Tun and Yii Fa-k'ai, Chu Fa-t'ai and
Tao-heng, or between the same Fa-t'ai and Hsi Ch'ao.
In the Buddhist community south of the river under the Eastern Tsin Prajfiapar-
amita scholarship triumphed in the manner just described, a flourishing debate was
fought out over the interpretation of emptiness, and thus were ushered in the
days of glory of ko yi Buddhism. Still, the study consisted of a speculative, logical
pursuit, such as may be seen in the "dark learning" of the time; there is a profound
feeling that, divorced from real life, what was taking place was nothing more than
an argument on abstractly metaphysical questions. The view that emptiness,
regarded as identical with the non-being of Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu, was the root-
source of everything was still no confrontation, to the accompaniment of strict
practice, of emptiness meaning, fundamentally, the conquest, in the religious
sense, of the suffering inherent in human and social life. The embodiment in oneself
of emptiness in the sense of the conquest of suffering, of the realm of religious
tranquillity, is something to be achieved from an experience of real human life, of the
grim realities confronting a person standing on the precipice of life and death,
not a thing to be found in an aristocratic society secure both in its high position and
in its livelihood, as was the class with which we are presently concerned. It was thus
inevitable that this Prajfiaparamita scholarship based south of the river should come
together on Nagarjuna's doctrine of emptiness as introduced by Kumarajiva, once
Kumarajiva had introduced his presentation of the undistorted doctrinal meaning of
the Indian scriptures on the basis of a revised translation of the older versions of the
Prajfiaparamita scriptures, this one based on more accurate Sanskrit texts and on a
Prajfiaparamita commentary ascribed to Nagarjuna (the Ta chih tu lun), once he had
introduced the learned tradition of Nagarjuna and Deva in close keeping with the
early Mahayana as typified by the Prajfiaparamita and the Vimalakirtinirdesa, by the
principal scriptures with which the early Chinese Buddhist community had been
intimately involved, once the Prajfiaparamita of both north and south were able to
benefit from his teachings. From the era of the Southern dynasties onward, in fact,
this study became progressively more energetic, and there emerged a San-lun
school and a Ch'eng-shih school, both based on Kumarajiva's translations.
However, Buddhism as a religion was, if anything, dominated by the triumph of
the practical Buddhism of the north, where it proceeded to belief in, and cultivation
through practice of, scriptures other than the Prajfiaparamita, while the Prajfiapa-
ramita scholarship of Wei and Tsin was simply not able to become the main stream
of Chinese Buddhism, again as a religion, in T' ang times and after. Yet, it is precisely
because a Buddhism of this sort lent depth to the study ofLao-tzu and Chuang-tzu
by the influence it exerted on "dark learning," advancing the conversion of the
aristocracy to Buddhism through this contact, that Buddhism, a thing of"barbarian"
provenance, was able to overcome the traditional notions of the "Sage," character-
istic of a nation in which there was a strong sense of the "central and flowering,"
and to usher in a period unique in Chinese cultural history, in which it brought to
flower the aristocratic civilization of the Eastern Tsin and the Southern dynasties.
In this sense, it is precisely this vigorous confrontation of conflicting theories as-
sociated with the study of the Prajfiaparamita and the Vimalakirtinirdda in the spirit
of" dark learning," an activity that had its center at Chien-k'ang and K'uai-chi under
the Eastern Tsin, it is, in other words, precisely the florescence of Chinese theory and
Chinese exegesis concerning the Prajfiaparamita scriptures in Chinese translation,
that occupies such an extremely important place in any consideration of the history
of Chinese ideas, particularly of the cultural history of the Southern dynasties.
D. The Advance and Decline
of Buddhism at Chien-k' ang under the
Late Eastern Tsin
Robots on the Tsin Throne. The fifth sovereign of the Eastern Tsin, Emperor Mu,
ascended the throne (in 344) at the age of two, the regency being held by the em.press
dowager, the Lady Ch'u, his devoutly Buddhist mother. The emperor died (in 361)
childless at the age of nineteen, to be succeeded by Emperor Ai, son of the third
sovereign, Emperor Ch' eng, while all power, civil as well as military, was in the
hands of the generalissimo (t' ai wei) Huan Wen, who by now was grimly advancing
his plans for the overthrow of the Tsin ruling house. In 365 Emperor Ai also died,
likewise without an heir, to be succeeded by his younger brother, who, however,
was deposed (in 371) and degraded to the rank of Prince West of the Sea (hai hsi
kung), and who lives in history as "the deposed emperor" (jei ti). About this time,
the sovereign power was ostensibly wielded by Prince Yli ofK'uai-chi, a man fond
of"pure talk" and a devout Buddhist, one who was quite familiar with the Buddhist
scriptures and who regularly attended readings of them, who, finally, under Huan
Wen's sponsorship became Emperor Chien-wen. The Imperial Annals in the Book
of Tsin say of him, "His Majesty, though a person of a lively and perceptive mind,
had no plans for directing the world": in short, he was entirely of a piece with the
whole "purely talking" aristocracy. The same source then records Hsieh An as
saying "His Majesty is quite in the style of the late Emperor Hui, the only exception
being that he is somewhat superior in respect of his 'pure talk.'" Chih Tao-lin (Tun)
is represented as saying, "The Prince ofK'uai-chi may have a distinguished manner,
but he lacks a probing spirit."
1
If occupants of the throne could be characterized
in this way even by aristocratic recluses and Buddhist monks, one may judge for
oneself the robotlike character of the Eastern Tsin ruling house.
On the throne no more than two years, Emperor Chien-wen died, to be succeeded
by his third son, Emperor Hsiao-wu, in 379, the year in which the political world was
D :ADVANCE AND DECLINE AT CHIEN-K,ANG 385
shaken by a succession of calamities from within and without. First, the rebel-
sorcerer Lu Sung invaded the palace (only to be taken prisoner immediately there-
after, it is true); next, the three Wu areas were visited by a great drought, which took
many lives; finally, there was the attack on Ch'ou-ch'ih by Fu Chien's army. As if
that were not enough, Huan Wen then made his move to usurp the Tsin throne.
Just as the stage was set for Huan Wen's occupation of the throne, when he was,
in fact, on the very point of effecting his usurpation, for better or for worse he died,
and the Tsin got a new lease on life. Lady Ch'u, the devout dowager, resumed the
regency for a time, until in 376 the emperor attained his majority and assumed the
prerogatives of government himself, the central political control now being wielded
by Hsieh An.
The times, however, were not propitious. Even after Huan Wen's death, his clan
and its hangers-on, grouping themselves about his son, Huan Hslian, continued to
wield huge military might, with which they sat on the Chien-k'ang aristocracy, set-
ting in firm order their preparations to pounce on the capital at the opportune mo-
ment. An even greater threat loomed in the person of Fu Chien, who reigned at
Ch'ang-an over the North Chinese state of the Former Ch'in, a political entity that
had unified virtually the entire north and that was now making its military prepara-
tions to unite All-under-Heaven by annexing the lands of the Eastern Tsin and to
make its sovereign the Son of Heaven. Now the annals of Emperor Hsiao-wu in the
Book of Tsin, under the first month ofT'ai-ylian 6 (381) have the following entry:
His Majesty, long a worshiper of the Law of the Buddha, built a tabernacle within
the palace, to which he invited srama!).aS and quartered them there.
This means that the imperial court became an openly Buddhist one, in which a
Buddhist hall of worship, built by the emperor himself within the very palace,
was used to quarter srama!).as permanently. However, the campaign against the
Tsin on the part of Fu Chien of the Former Ch'in was moving steadily forward
and, in the face of an onslaught by an army of northern "barbarians," the Eastern
Tsin, both court and country, was in a state of panic. A bit earlier, in 379, the army
of the Former Ch'in had reduced the city of Hsiang-yang, carrying off three no-
tables, viz., the general in command of the guard (shou chiang), Chu Hsli , a monk,
Shih Tao-an, who, coming from the north and establishing a new monastery, the
T'an-bsi-ssu, bad organized a rigorously disciplined fellowship of several hundred
monks, whose principal religious activity was the zealous study of the Prajfiaparamita
scriptures, a man who had won the unstinting admiration of a well-known local
aristocrat named Hsi Tso-ch'ih, as well as the profound and committed faith not
only of the Tsin court but also of persons of power both Chinese and non-Chinese,
north and south, not excluding the king of the Former Ch'in himself; finally, the
Hsi Tso-ch'ih just mentioned, whose commitment of faith was no less great.
Collapse of the Former Ch'in. Fu Chien, king of the Former Ch'in, flush with
victory, at length, in 383, took personal command of a large army, an army of total
mobilization, to invade the south, concentrating on Shou-ch'un, a key point on the
road from Chien-k'ang into the north. However, in a battle on the river Fei, which
flows nearby, a rear-guard mutiny led by Chu Hsii, who had been impressed into
this campaign, was successful, resulting in a huge and totally unexpected victory
for the Tsin forces and in the total annihilation of the armies of the Former Ch'in,
the king himself, Fu Chien, barely contriving to get back to Ch' ang-an. Then, in the
environs of Ch'ang-an itself there sprung up some rebel forces, bringing about the
destruction of the Former Ch'in, ruled by the Fu clan, at the hands of the Latter
Ch'in, whose rulers were the Yao clan. The Yao and their new state invited Kuma-
rajiva to Ch'ang-an, where they instituted a vast, State-sponsored project for the
translation of Buddhist scriptures, setting the whole history of Buddhist doctrinal
scholarship in China on a new course.
Aristocrats and Their Religion of Magic. The pressure from the non-Chinese peo-
ples to the north was relieved for a time, but internally, within the Chien-k'ang
aristocracy, Huan Hsiian, his eye on the throne, was steadily augmenting his mili-
tary power and advancing his ambitious plans. Yet Emperor Hsiao-wu personally
appointed his own younger brother, Tao-tzu (the prince ofK'uai-chi), to participate
directly in the central government. Their father, Emperor Chien-wen, having lost
three sons and being very eager to have more, took a large number of concubines,
yet was not to have his wish. Accordingly, he had a physiognomist examine the con-
cubines, and he appealed also to Hsii Mai, a Taoist practitioner respected as an adept
by the entire aristocracy of the time. The physiognomist's conclusion was that none
of the emperor's favorites was worth anything. Then he caught sight of a servant
girl, a woman employed at the looms and derisively called Hun-lun ("Blackie") by
everyone for her swarthy complexion. At a single glance he recommended her as the
very woman who was to bear the emperor an heir. This swarthy woman of lowly
origin (the Lady Li, d. 399) is the one who gave birth to two sons, Emperor Hsiao-wu
and the Tao-tzu just mentioned, and a daughter as well. A court that, thanks to the
comings and goings of some very learned and highly placed members of the sa111gha,
was in the process of becoming Buddhist was at the same time a believer in diviners,
Taoist practitioners, and magician-monks. The triumph of a sophisticated form of
Buddhism, centered about Prajfiaparamita scholarship, does not signify by any means
that the indigenous Chinese traditions of divination, physiognomy, and magic or the
belief in the superhuman sylph (shen hsien) were eliminated, for one must take due
account of the fact that the whole society of the Eastern Tsin, upper as well as lower,
accepted Buddhism at the same time and, so to speak, in the same package as belief
in the things just mentioned.
Buddhist Devotion and the Corruption of the Powerholders. In 385, after the death
of the prime minister (tsai hsiang), the Hsieh An mentioned above, total power
devolved on the emperor's younger half-brother, Tao-tzu, the Prince of K'uai-chi
likewise mentioned above. Tao-tzu entrusted everything to Wang Kuo-pao, a man
whose principal activities were flattery and bribery and who in turn appointed
all the major officials, lay and clerical, thus bringing about the decay oflocal govern-
ment. In addition to this, Emperor Hsiao-wu and brother Tao-tzu were up late
D : ADVANCE AND DECLINE AT CHIEN-K'ANG 387
every night carousing, neither of them having so much as a look at his governmental
duties, and the decay of the central government was likewise acute. The Tsin court
was sliding downhill to its doom. Since the emperor, his half-brother the prime
minister, and the Wang Kuo-pao whom the latter trusted so utterly were all devout
Buddhists, all eagerly committed to the furtherance of the faith, aristocratic Bud-
dhism prospered more and more at Chien-k'ang, while the monastic community
ofboth sexes, as well as their residences, steadily increased. There was a simultaneous,
and inevitable, increase in the elements of corruption that were to call down on
Buddhism the critical comments of the intelligentsia.
Proliferation of Buddhist Convents from Eastern Tsin Onwards. At this point, let us
have a look at two things: how the Buddhist community expanded, as it were by
leaps and bounds, under the Eastern Tsin as compared to all previous eras, but
chiefly how the Buddhist convents proliferated in and around the K'uai-chi area
and the capital at Chien-k'ang, both favored dwelling places of the Chien-k'ang
courtiers and the powerful and distinguished families who gathered round them,
living a life ofluxury on incomes derived from the ownership of huge tracts ofland
and taking pleasure in "dark learning" and "pure talk."
As stated earlier in the present chapter, thanks to the emergence early under the
Eastern Tsin of some eminent members of the sarp.gha and to the triumph of ko yi
Buddhism, also by gaining the moral support and the material aid of the upper class-
es, principally of the monarchy itself, the Buddhist community south of the Yangtze
had already secured its foundation, then, during the latter half of that dynasty's
tenure, it swelled rapidly and with great momentum. According to the Essay on Dis-
tinguishing the Right (Pien cheng fun), by the T'ang monk Fa-lin, whereas under the
Western Tsin there were in the two capitals ofLo-yang and Ch'ang-an 180 convents
and something more than 3,700 religious, under the Eastern Tsin there were 1,768
convents, while the number of religious exceeded 24,000. Under the Western Tsin
the ratio of convents to religious was 1 to 20 plus, while under the Eastern Tsin the
ratio was 1 to 13.5. The reason for this latter difference is that, while the earlier
ratio has to do only with the two capitals, the latter presumably includes a large
number of tiny rural convents within the territories of the Eastern Tsin while
excluding the capitals. While it would not be right to compare numbers during the
two historical periods, since the respective areas concerned were so vastly different,
still the fact remains that in the slightly more than a hundred years separating the
dates of the two inquiries the convents multiplied their number approximately by
ten, the religious theirs by about six. In particular, the increase in the number of
religious was one of some 20,300 persons, while during the tenure of the (Liu) Sung,
who succeeded to a century of (Eastern) Tsin rule to hold power themselves for a
bit more than fifty, the number of convents advanced to 1,913, that of religious to
36,000. This enables one to understand the significance of the gains enjoyed by the
Buddhist community south of the Yangtze under the Eastern Tsin, particularly
during the latter half of their tenure.
2
For that matter, even in North China, in the states governed by non-Chinese after
the era of the Western Tsin, the increase in the number of convents and of religious
was quite sudden. The convents of Lo-yang, which at the end of the Western Tsin
had numbered 42, in the 220 years from then till the end of the Northern Wei
increased to more than 1,000, multiplying themselves, in other words, by about 24
(c the preface to the Record of the Sa1J1ghiiriimas of Lo-yang). For the 170 years of the
Northern Wei the increase is recorded in the following terms :
The great convents sponsored by the State numbered 47; those built privately by
princes, dukes, and the like, 839; those built by commoners, more than 30,000;
monks and nuns, more than 2,000,000.
From this one deduces that the increased numbers of the Chinese Buddhist church,
in both north and south, date to about the collapse of the Western Tsin. During
the era of mutual confrontation between north and south, any increase in the one
would stimulate a corresponding increase in the other, so that in both realms the
doctrine of the Indian Buddha became current alongside of those of China's Sages
in their own classic native land. If anything, China turned into a country in which
Buddhism flourished at the expense of the two indigenous systems, Confucianism
and Taoism. Let us now try to sort out concretely the increased building of convents,
principally by the aristocracy at Chien-k' ang, under the Eastern Tsin.
The Convents of Chien-k'ang. In Chien-k'ang under the Wu there were monas-
teries, nunneries, and shrinelike temples on a small scale. An example of a nunnery is
seen in the History of the South (Nan shih), under the entry dealing with the land of
Fu-nan, according to which source it was demolished in Wu times by Sun Lin, to be
restored after the Wu had been put down by the Tsin, finally to be elaborately
refurbished by Emperor Yuan of the Eastern Tsin.
3
As to monasteries, the first of
these, as its very name indicates, was the Chien-ch'u-ssu, on whose site, in Ch'ih-wu
10 (247), under the Wu, K'ang Seng-hui had supposedly constructed a grass shack,
where he made offerings to a Buddha icon and cultivated the Path. From then until
the Tsin went south, an interval of seventy years, the only other monastery whose
construction is a matter of certain knowledge is the Ch' ang-kan-ssu (built under the
Wu), and it too was restored in Tsin times. Apart from these two, all the others
appear to have been constructed after the southward move. Even the two just
mentioned, for that matter, were restored and, in fact, totally renovated under the
Eastern Tsin. All of this is an indication of how rapidly temple-building progressed
under the Eastern Tsin in the capital at Chien-k'ang.
4
Ch'en Tso-lin, a Ch'ing writer,
in his Record of Buddhist Convents under the Southern Court (Nan ch' ao Fo ssu chih),
5
cites more than thirty convents constructed under the Tsin.
What we propose to do here is to look into the fl ourishing state of temple-
building at the time in question, supplementing Ch'en Tso-lin's findings with
material from the Lives of (Pi-ch'iu-ni chuan), which he seems not to have
used as a source, also adding material from the K'uai-chi Gazetteer (K'uai chi chih)
on temple-building in that city under the Eastern Tsin. It is our hope, at the same
time, to gain some view, through the information on the building and repair of
Buddhist convents, of the peculiarly aristocratic character of Buddhism at Chien-
k'ang and K'uai-chi under the Eastern Tsin.
(1) Chien-ch'u-ssu ("Monastery of the Established Beginning"; also called
Ta-shih-ssu, "Monastery of the Great Marketplace"; seven Chinese leagues south
of the old palace wall, south of the hill known in Ch' ing times by the name of
hua lu kang, "Flower Basket Hill"). In view of the tradition that this monastery
began with K'ang Seng-hui, a monk from Samarcand who, "erecting a grass hut
and setting up an image of the Buddha, cultivated the Path," having come to
Chien-yeh (Chien-k'ang) from his native Chiao-chih (Giaokhi) in Ch'ih-wu 10 (247)
during the reign of the Wu,
6
in view also of the tradition that says that "lewd
sacrifices" were performed beside the monastery, it is likely that it was a small
monastic-cell-cum-Buddhist-temple, a sort of popular shrine, which a foreign mem-
ber of the sarp.gha, a disciplined practitioner of religion who begged for his food,
aspired to make into a base for further religious practice and for evangelism. The
Wu people, probably because they took this place, in which a strange-looking for-
eign monk with a shaven head lived and practiced his religion, as just another
sacrificial shrine, of which the Wu region had so many, entertained some suspicions
about the religious life going on in this tiny Buddhist tabernacle, suspicions that
they reported to the authorities. However, when K'ang Seng-hui demonstrated the
magical power of the sarira in the presence of the "Great Emperor" (ta ti, i.e., Sun
Ch'iian), the latter was so impressed that he erected a stiipa, which, being the first
Buddhist edifice in the land, was entitled chien ch'u ssu and the piece ofland on which
it stood Fo-t'o li ("Buddha's alley"). This, the same narrative goes on to say, is the
foundation on which Buddhism was built at Chien-yeh-an account not entirely
free oflatter-day interpolations. However, Sun Ch'i.ian did employ as a tutor for his
heir apparent a man named Chih Ch'ien, son of the chief of a group of naturalized
Yi.ieh-chih who had come in a group to the Lo-yang region as early as Han times
and a devout Buddhist, a man thoroughly sinicized as far as education was concerned,
being perfectly at home with the Chinese classics, a man who himselfhad come south
at the head of a group and who, upon arrival, gained general respect by exerting
himself in scriptural translation, in evangelism, and in earnest religious practice.
Now, since it was known at Chien-k'ang, which was situated in the Wu country,
that Buddhism was current in Lo-yang and north of the Yangtze, in the rival
kingdom ofWei, and that there were stUpas and monasteries there, however few,
since it was also presumably known that Buddhism was current in the area of
Giaokhi (Chiao-chih), the region to the south that was economically so important
for the Wu country, it is not surprising that Wu, a rival of Wei for the control of
the whole empire, should adopt a policy of tolerance toward Buddhist monastic
institutions. This first of the Buddhist monasteries, however, could presumably
not develop fully in Wu times, given the religious persecution that took place
after Sun Ch'iian's death, notably the destruction of shrines and reliquaries and
the mass murder of religious that took place at the hands of such men as Sun Lin and
Sun Hao.
It is worthy of note, on the other hand, that this edifice bore the popular name of
Monastery of the Great Marketplace because of the large public market situated
in front of it, for it tells us that it was a Buddhist monastery coexistent with indige-
nous sacrificial shrines in one and the same religious center, on which there developed
a popular marketplace and a sort of temple town. Far from being the sort of aristo-
cratic Buddhist monastery that was to develop under the Eastern Tsin, it is likely that
it coincided with the early Western Tsin at a time when the number of its adherents,
both gentry and commoners, were increasing, and that it developed under the
Western Tsin as a popular Buddhist temple in conjuction with the great public
market, maintaining itself into the Eastern Tsin. Early under the latter dynasty
it became first the residence of a foreign member of the sa111gha, Srimitra, who,
after coming south, gained the respect of Wang Tao and others, but then, in the
uprising of Su Chi.in, it was burnt down (in 328). It was restored thanks to the
efforts ofHo Ch'ung, one of the most devout Buddhists among the highest-ranking
and most powerful ministers of state, and a small stapa is also said to have been
added to it by Chao Yu, the generalissimo for the pacification of the west (p'ing
hsi chiang chun). Emperor Hsiao-wu (r. 373-396) is said to have invited Chih T'an-
yi.ieh to this monastery, where he received the Fivefold Injunction (wu chieh, pa-
fzcasila) at his hands and treated him with the honor due a master. (C the account of
Chih T'an-yi.ieh in the Lives of Eminent Monks.) The Chien-ch'u-ssu, for all that
under the Wu and the Western Tsin it had been a center of popular religion, and
for all that under the Eastern Tsin it was burnt to the ground, was restored and
developed further, now with the unmistakable coloration of aristocratic Buddhism.
(2) Ch'ang-kan-ssu ("Monastery of the Long Ravine," also called A-yi.i-wang-
ssu, "Monastery of King Asoka"). The kan of ch' ang kan, in the dialect spoken east
of the Yangtze, signified a ravine between hills and mountains. The monastery's
location was ch'ang kan li, "ravine alley," just outside the chu pao men, the "Gateway
of the Collected Jewels"). The monastery got its name from its location, a poor
and crowded residential area, but there is recorded in the History of the South, in
the notice on the land of Fu-nan, a tradition to the effect that there had been on the
monastery's grounds one of the eighty-four thousand stapas erected by King Asoka.
It is, of course, not absolutely necessary to believe this story. During Wu times a
certain Buddhist nun built a small tabernacle on the spot, which, however, was
later destroyed by Sun Lin. When the kingdom of Wu had also perished, the
edifice was restored by some religious under the Western Tsin. Then, when Em-
peror Yi.ian, the founder of the Eastern Tsin, went south, he further repaired and
refurbished it.
Next, Emperor Chien-wen, sometime during Hsien-an (371-372), had a r a m a ~ a ,
the "Dharma-master An," construct a small stupa, but the latter, who died before
it was finished, left the completion and elaboration of it to his disciple Seng-hsien.
During the reign of Emperor Hsiao-wu, in T' ai-yi.ian 9 (384), the golden wheel
and the dew-receptacle atop the stapa were completed. Afterward there came from
Li-shih in Ping-chou a foreigner named Liu Sa-ho (who after joining the order was
known as Chu Hui-ta), who dug up a vessel containing some sarira, for which he
constructed a single-story stilpa t the west of the old stilpa, and to that Emperor
Hsiao-wu added two stories more.
Then, sometime in Hsien-ho (326-334), Kao K'uei, the magistrate of Tan-yang,
dug up a Buddha-figure containing a Sanskrit book. The Sanskrit book is said to
have been the work of the fourth daughter of King Asoka. Kao K'uei placed the
image in the Ch' ang-kan-ssu for safekeeping, then sometime thereafter a Lin-hai
fisherman discovered on the beach a lotus throne made of copper that fit the image
perfectly, and it was added to the image.
Finally, five monks came from Central Asia with the following tearful plea:
They had once come to Y eh with an Asoka image they had acquired in India, then
lost it in the upheaval that attended the civil wars. Being told in a dream that it
had turned up east of the Yangtze, they had crossed mountains and rivers to wor-
ship it. When they had made their plea, a glow given off by the image illuminated the
entire hall. These and many such others, all related to King Asoka and his wondrous
stilpa and image, are the miracle tales that brought glory to this monastery through-
out the Southern dynasties. This monastery too began modestly and developed under
the Tsin, gradually becoming a focal point for the faith of all, both high and low,
in its miraculous efficacy, turning at length into one of the most influential of the
Buddhist monasteries under the Southern dynasties and flourishing into fairly recent
times under the name Ta-pao-en-ssu ("Great Monastery for the Repayment of
Munificence").
Under the Eastern Tsin, Chu Fa-k'uang, who made his home in a stone cave
within Ch'ing-shan ("Green Mountain") in Wu-ch'ien, and who is said to have been
constantly intoning the SaddharmaputJ4arika and the Sukhavativyuha and giving
readings of them, made his new home in that monastery when invited by Emperor
Hsiao-wu to leave his mountain cave. That monk, who was friends with Hsi Ch'ao
and Hsieh Ch'ing-hsii, died in Yiian-hsing 1 (402) at the age of seventy-six, and
Ku K'ai-chih is said to have written a flattering biography in praise ofhim.
7
Both of the above are noteworthy in that they began in Wu as modest popular
shrines, then expanded in Tsin, also benefited from the backing of the aristocracy.
One can deduce for oneself how, with the establishment of the Eastern Tsin and
the southward move of both the distinguished clans and the Buddhist religion from
Lo-yang in particular and the Middle Plain in general, these monasteries changed.
Since the convents to be described below, built in Chien-k'ang under the Eastern
Tsin, when such building increased sharply and suddenly, were for the most part
monasteries of the aristocracy, they will provide us with an all the more interesting
glimpse of Chien-k'ang's Buddhism under the Eastern Tsin.
(3) Kao-tso-ssu ("Monastery of the Occupant of the High Throne," also known
as Shih-li-mi-ssu, "Srimitra's Monastery," representing a possible Srimitravihiira;
or Kan-lu-ssu, "Monastery of Sweet Dew," representing a possible amrtavihara or
rasiiyanavihara). Srimitra, the scion of the royal house of Kucha who went south
toward the end of Yung-chia (i.e., sometime after 310) and who, as mentioned
above, made his home for a time in the Chien-ch'u-ssu, was dubbed by his contem-
poraries "(the occupant of the) high throne" (kao tso). Living a rigorously disciplined
religious life east of Shih-tzu-kang ("Pebble Hill," i.e., on Rain Flower Hill, yu
hua shan kang, outside the above mentioned Gateway of the Collected Jewels, chu
pao men), acquiring his food by begging for it, he died over eighty sometime during
Hsien-k' ang (335-342) and was buried here. Emperor Hsien, in fond remembrance,
established a chattra beside his tomb. Later, a srama:t:la came from the right (i.e., the
west) of the Barrier and built a monastery. Hsieh Hun of Ch'en commandery, in
praise of his achievements and in order to glorify him, albeit posthumously, named
the e.difice Kao-tso-ssu, "Monastery of the Occupant of the High Throne."
8
Since
in that territory there was a well of nectar ("sweet dew"), the name Kan-lu-ssu,
"Monastery of Sweet Dew," also attached itself to it. It flourished throughout the
Southern dynasties and into the T'ang.
(4) Po-ma-ssu ("Monastery of the White Horse"). Said to be a restoration, in T'ai-
hsing 2 during the reign of Emperor Yiian (319), of a ruined monastery (cf. Fa yuan
chu lin 39). This is also the place where, according to Chih Tun's biography, he de-
bated Liu Hsi-chih on Chuang-tzu's first chapter, the Hsiao yao p'ien, after which
he retired and published his own commentary to the latter. Its location, however,
is not known with certainty, and it is possible that the monastery in question was
located in K'uai-chi.
9
(Cf. the biography of the Sung monk Shih Fa-p'ing, resident
in the Ch'i-yiian-ssu, the "Jetavanavihara.")
(5) Yen-hsing-ssu ("Convent ofExtended Prosperity"). (Situated on the west bank
of the canal in the general area of the Pei-ch'ien-tao-ch'iao, the "Northerly Bridge
of the Road to Heaven.") Built in Chien-yiian 2 (344) by the above-mentioned con-
sort of Emperor K'ang, the devout Lady Ch'u. The nun Seng-chi, making her home
here with over a hundred followers, was the object of the faith and respect of all, both
lay and clerical, dying in Lung-an 1 (392) at the age of sixty-eight.
10
(Cf. Lives of
1.)
(6) Chien-fu-ssu ("Convent of Established Merit," possibly pz.IJyasthapanavihiira?).
Likewise built during the reign of Emperor K' ang, specifically in the same year of
Chien-yuan 2 (344), by the devoutly Buddhist minister Ho Ch'ung, who held the
rank of chung shu ling, and inhabited, at his invitation, by the nun Hui-chan, who
had come south as a refugeeY (Cf. Lives of 1.)
(7) Chuang-yen-ssu ("Monastery of Adornment," ala1J1kiiravihiira? ala'!'krtavi-
hara?; name changed under the Liu-Sung to Hsieh-chen-hsi-ssu, "Monastery of
Hsieh, Pacifier of the West," and under the Ch' en to Hsing-yen-ssu, "Monastery
of the Promotion of Adornment" or, possibly, "Monastery of the Promotion of
Solemnity"). Remade in Yung-ho 4, during the reign of Emperor Mu (350), from
the home of Hsieh Shang (courtesy name Jen-tsu, Hsieh Hun's son), generalissimo
for the pacification of the west (chen hsi chiang chun), who donated it for the purpose.
Faces the Ch'in-huai. Since under the Sung, during Ta-ming (457-464) the dowager
empress, Lady Lu, also built a Chuang-yen-ssu in the herb garden west of the great
shrine outside the Hsiian-yang-men ("Gateway of the Propagation of Splendor"),
D :ADVANCE AND DECLINE AT CHIEN-K'ANG 393
the name of this monastery was changed to Hsieh-chen-hsi-ssu, also abbreviated
Hsieh-ssu ("The Hsieh Monastery"). The (Liu-)Sung lay brother Ching-
sheng here translated the Scripture of Avalokitdvara (Kuan shih yin ching) and the
Scripture of the View of Maitreya (Mi-lo kuan ching),d works valued by Meng Yi,
magistrate of Tan-yang. The monastery flourished through Sung, Ch' i, and Liang,
only to be burnt down in Ch'en times, but then restored by Ch'eng Wen-hsiu, the
censor of Yti-chou, and renamed Hsing-yen-ssu by Emperor Hsiao-hstian, after
which time it lasted into T' ang and even into Sung.
(8) Ch'i-ch'an-ssu ("Monastery of the Dwelling in Dhyana" or, possibly, "Mon-
astery Which Provides a Home for Dhyana"). Built by Ts'ai Mo, generalissimo for
the chastisement of the west (cheng hsi chiang chun; c the inscription composed
by Shen Ytieh in Liang times and entitled Ch'i ch'an ching she ming). Ts'ai Mo was,
to begin with, an official cast in the strict mold of the doctrine of propriety. So
committed was he to the latter principles, in fact, that once, during the reign of
Emperor Ch'eng (r. 326-342), when Prince Hung ofP'eng-ch'eng sought to engage
someone to compose a hymn of praise to a portrait of the Buddha painted by
Emperor Ming, Mo called a halt to the project by memorializing to the following
effect: "The teachings of Buddha are a set of barbarian manners, not part of the
institutions of the Central and Flowering canon of the classics. No imperial edict
should require anyone upwardly to laud the earnestness with which a former em-
peror loved the Buddha or, downwardly, to compose a hymn of praise to a barbarian
statue." (C Ts'ai Mo's biography in roll 72 of the Book of Tsin.) Then in 339,
after Hsi Chien's death, he became generalissimo for the chastisement of the
north (cheng pei chiang chun) and a person of great influence in the world of politics.
This powerful State functionary, the very person who once denigrated Buddhism
from a Confucian point of view, underwent such a change as to construct a Buddhist
monastery! It is in circumstances like this one, as we have already stated, that one can
sense the force of the upward surge of Buddhism among the Chien-k' ang aristocracy
from the fourth century onward.
12
(9) Ho-Huang-hou-ssu ("Convent of the Empress Ho"). A nunnery built by Em-
peror Mu' s consort, the Lady Ho. This lady was as fervent a Buddhist as the rest of
her distinguished clan, whose devotion to the Faith has already been described. The
nun Tao-yi, aunt of the celebrated Hui-ytian of Mount Lu, practiced her religion
at this convent late in T'ai-ytian (i.e., ca. 396; c Lives 1). In the History
of the South one sees that, under the Southern Ch'i, Ts'ai Hsing-tsung took as his
concubine a beautiful nun, named Chih-fei, from this convent, thus rivaling Yen
Shih-po. Evidently it was a convent of aristocratic nuns.
13
(10) Chien-hsing-ssu. So called because of its location in an alley called chien hsing
li, "alley of the establishment of prosperity," south of the Convent of Empress Ho,
just mentioned. It is not known who built it.
(11) P'eng-ch'eng-ssu. So called because it was built, in Sheng-p'ing 5 during the
reign of Emperor Mu (361), by Ch'un, Prince Ching ofP'eng-ch'eng (cf. the Real
Record of Chien-k'ang [Chien k'ang shih lu]). In the fifth century, under the rule of
the (Liu) Sung, a number of eminent monks, all objects of the religious faith of
Emperor Ming, were invited to reside in it, and even thereafter it remained in-
fluential throughout the Southern dynasties.
14
(12) Tung-an-ssu ("The Tranquil Monastery to the East"). Though it is not known
who built it, in view of the notice that Emperor Ai (r. 362-365) invited Chih Tun
from K'uai-chi to this monastery to give readings in the prajniipiiramitii,
it must by that time have been an already well-established monastery. At the time of
his accession to the throne as the first sovereign (kao tsu) of a dynasty replacing the
Eastern Tsin, namely, the Sung, Liu Yli was intimately connected with this monas-
tery, which is why it housed Hui-yen and Hui-ch'ih, two monks especially favored
in early Sung, and why it prospered through its contacts with the Sung court.
Celebrated in the popular adage, "Tou-ch'ang (i.e., the Tao-ch'ang-ssu) is a cave of
dhyana-masters, Tung-an(-ssu) a forest of doctrinal discussion" (tou ch' ang ch' an shih
k'u tung an t' an yi lin), it gained fame as the scene of vigorous doctrinal scholarship
and of the oral presentation and discussion of Buddhist doctrine.
15
Through its con-
nection with the establishment of the Sung court, it eventually became one of the
centers of Chien-k'ang Buddhist scholarship.
(13) Ch'i-yi.ian-ssu (]etavanavihiira, also known as Po-t'a-ssu, "Monastery of the
White Stilpa"; situated west of Phoenix Hall, Jeng huang lou, i.e., west of New
Bridge, hsin ch'iao). A subsidiary of the Chien-ch'u-ssu, it is probably the one re-
ferred to in Fan T' ai' s biography in roll 60 of the Book of Sung in these terms: "Late
in life, in his devotion to the Buddha he became most zealous, constructing a Jeta-
vana tabernacle (Ch'i yuan ching she) to the west of his home." Hui-yi's biography
says that he was invited to the monastery, which was built by Fan T'ai in Yung-ch'u
1 ( 420), and that the name Ch'i yuan (Jetavana) became attached to it because their con-
temporaries likened Hui-yi to Sariputra and Fan T'ai to Sudatta (i.e., Anathapil).ga-
da). The source goes on to say that at Hui-yi's suggestion his patron further donated
sixty mou of fruit and bamboo orchards, so that the monastery became a focal point
for many distinguished members of the metropolitan sarp.gha. (It is included here in
spite of the fact that it belongs, chronologically speaking, to the period of the early
Sung-)1
6
(14) Wa-kuan-ssu. Originally the graveyard of Shan Wan of Ho-nei, situated in
the "small ravine" (hsiao ch' ang kan, i.e., Flower Basket Hill, hua lu kang). As it
chanced, the homes of such distinguished gentlemen as Chang Chao and Lu Chi
were right beside it. Early under the Eastern Tsin, Wang Tao made it into a kiln. The
sramal).a Hui-li, arriving sometime in Yung-ho (345-356), begged for his food and
lived an otherwise ascetic life there. Then, in Hsing-ning 2, during the reign of
Emperor Ai (364), the official kiln was moved to the north of the river Huai, while
the pottery grounds on the southern bank were donated to Hui-li for a monastery.
In T'ai-yi.ian 21 (396) the stilpa was burnt down, but it was rebuilt at imperial
command. It housed five images fashioned by Tai An-tao, as well as a golden statue
sixteen feet high, the work ofTai Yung, and a jeweled icon from Ceylon. When Chu
Fa-t' ai made his home there, he gave readings in the Fang kuang po-jo ching (Pancavif!1-
satis.p.p.), and it is through his effectiveness at teaching and converting that the
monastery developed into a major center.
The Record of Metropolitan Convents (Ching shih ssu chi) tells an interesting story
regarding the inauguration of this monastery: The resident monks convoked a re-
ligious assembly, then asked the courtiers present to draw up a list of contributions.
When Ku Ch' ang-k' ang noted down a million cash, the others said he was exaggerat-
ing. He thereupon painted on the wall a scene from the Vimalakirtinirdea and,
miraculously enough, collected the entire sum for it!
The annals of Emperor Kung, the last of the Tsin sovereigns, say of him, "A pro-
found believer in the teachings of the Buddha, he melted down a hundred thousand
coins to construct a golden image sixteen feet high, which he personally accompanied
to the Wa-kuan-ssu, walking on foot more than ten leagues."f The said image is
said to have been fashioned by Seng-hung, a monk of the Wa-kuan-ssu at a time
when the ban on copper was strict (cf. Seng-hung's biography).
17
g
Since the monastery also housed some renowned icons and frescoes, distinguished
gentlemen would come to render their homage, and it remained a well-known
Buddhist site throughout the Southern dynasties. On the other hand, the image of
Buddhism toward the end of the Eastern Tsin, when the decay of government and
the evils inherent in the triumph of aristocratic Buddhism were so obvious, is visible
in the construction by no less a person than the emperor himself of an icon made of
melted coin at a time when the use of copper was strictly prohibited.h
(15) Po-t'i-ssu ("Monastery of Bhadraka"). Built by Emperor Chien-wen in
Hsien-an 2 (372), shortly after his accession.
(16) Lin-ch'in-ssu ("Monastery Facing the Ch'in-huai"). A monastery built by
Wang T' an-chih, who held the title of shih chung and the rank of chung shu ling and
who was a devout believer in Buddhism, facing the north of the river Ch'in-huai.
(17) An-lo-ssu. Situated beside the Lin-ch'in-ssu just mentioned, it was, like it,
built by Wang T' an-chih. Shih Hui-shou, a monk originally from An-lo (now Han-
chiang hsien in Szechwan), having come to the capital sometime in Hsing-ning (363-
364), was living a religious life there when one day he passed by Wang T'an-chih's
garden and that night he had a dream in which he was building a monastic residence
in the garden. Accordingly, he wished to petition Wang T'an-chih for his permission
to build a hut on his property and live in it, but the opportunity never presented it-
self. When he mentioned this to the keeper of the garden, the latter said that his
master would probably never consent. Hui-shou, thinking that he might move him
with his sincerity, went to Wang T'an-chih personally and put the request up to
him. The devoutly Buddhist Wang T'an-chihjoyfully consented. It all began with
a tiny hut, but at length Wang T' an-chih donated the whole garden for the con-
struction of a monastery, which was named An-lo-ssu (after Hui-shou's place of ori-
gin).i To the east of it was the home ofWang Ya, magistrate ofTan-yang; to the
west was that of Liu Tou, governor of Tung-yen; to the south, that of Fan Ning,
governor ofYii-chang. All three of these were eventually donated to the monastery
and later, when redecorated and refurbished by Tao-ching, Tao-chiao, and others,
it became at length one of the most distinguished monasteries under the Southern
dynasties. Among its residents were not a few members of the whose names
are recorded in the Lives of Eminent Monks, as well as the learned Buddhist layman
Chou Hsii-chih, who once studied under Hui-yiian's tutelage; it also had a dragon
fresco painted by the Liang artist Chang Seng-yao.
(18) Hsin-t'ing-ssu (to have its name changed under the Liu-Sung to Chung-hsing-
ssu, "Monastery of the Restoration," under the Liang to T'ien-an-ssu, "Monastery
in Which the Gods Feel at Home"). Emperor Hsiao-wuinNing-k'ang 2 (374) invited
Chu Fa-yi from Mount Pao in Shih-ning to the capital, where he gave readings and
expositions, but in T' ai-yiian 1 (380) he died. The emperor thereupon bought for a
hundred thousand cash a hill named hsin t'ing kang ("hill of the new inn"), where he
constructed his tomb and erected a three-storied stilpa. It is there that his disciple,
T'an-shuang, erected a monastery, which he named Hsin-t'ing-ssu (after the hill).
The Kao-tso-ssu mentioned above and the present monastery are examples of monas-
tic residences whose grounds developed into monastic cemeteries, in addition to the
monasteries constructed by descendants on the grounds of mausoleums to the mem-
ory of their ancestors (such as the Ch'i-yiian-ssu, again Jetavanavihiira, on the
grounds of Wang Tao's mausoleum). In the florescence of the Buddhist monastery
in conjunction with Chinese ancestor-worship can already be seen the source for the
development of Buddhism in the Far East with its intimate connection with the care
for the spirits of the departed. Emperor Hsiao-wu of the (Liu) Sung stayed in this
monastery after triumphing over a rebellion, and after his accession changed its name
to Chung-hsing-ssu in commemoration of the event. Shih Fa-ying, a resident of this
monastery, was appointed tu yi seng cheng (more or less "metropolitan archbishop")
by imperial decree, and the courtiers observed the fast known as pa kuan chai at this
monastery on the anniversary of Emperor Wen's death. In all, it was a monastery
closely associated with the court of the Liu-Sung, and as such it flourished.
(19) Chung-ssu ("Central Monastery"). Built in T'ai-yiian 15 (390) by Ssu-ma
Tao-tzu, prince of K'uai-chi (cf. the stone tablet to the Chung-ssu, inscribed by
Wang Seng-ju under the Liang, in Classified Arts and Letters [Yi wen lei chu]).
(20) Yeh-ch' eng-ssu ("Smithville Monastery"). The site of this monastery was
originally that of a smelter, which Wang Tao moved elsewhere to convert the place
into the Western Park (hsi yuan). The monastery itself was built in T'ai-yiian 15 (390)
by Tao-tzu, the same prince ofK'uai-chi as the one mentioned in the previous entry,
for Chu Seng-fa, a monk skilled at chanting sacred formulas.
18
For a time, after
Huan Hsiian's entry into Chien-k'ang, the monastery was profaned and its grounds
made into a park, but restoration was made after Hsiian's defeat. Throughout the
Southern dynasties, from Sung onwards, it was a residence for learned monks.
(21) T'ai-hou-ssu ("Convent of the Empress Dowager"). Probably built by one of
two empresses, either the Lady Ch'u or the Lady Ho. Although it was a nunnery, in
view ofits proximity to the Yeh-ch'eng-ssujust mentioned, when Huan Hsiian pro-
faned the latter and turned its grounds into a its monks were moved to this
convent.
(22) Fa-wang-ssu (Dharmariijavihiira). Built in Lung-an 3 (399).
(23) Ch'i-yiian-ssu (]etavanavihii_ra). Built by Wang Shao, generalissimo of chariots
and horse (chu chi chiang chun), north of the mausoleum of Wang Tao, his grand-
father. Shao's great-great-grandson Huan, who held the rank of shang shu p'u yeh
and who was also ta chung cheng of southern Hsii-chou, gave up part of his official
salary to build a five-storied stilpa (cf. Shen Yiieh's inscription at the foot of the
monastery, entitled Ch'i yuan ssu ch' a hsia shih chi). According to the biography of
Chih-yen, a (Liu) Sung monk of the Ch'i-yiian-ssu, at the time ofLiu Yii's attack on
Ch'ang-an, Wang K'uei, duke of Shih-hsing, invited Chih-yen to reside in the
Shih-hsing-ssu, then built for his residence in the eastern suburb a new monastery,
named Ch'i-yiian-ssu, since Chih-yen was fond of quiet and isolation.
19
(24) Yiieh-ch' eng-ssu ("Monastery ofYiieh City"?). It is not known who built this
monastery, but it is known that Shih Fa-hsiang made his home in it after coming
south. Late in Yiian-hsing (402-404) he died at the age of eighty. Possibly because of
a political connection with Ssu-ma T'ien, Prince Ching and generalissimo for the paci-
fication of the north (chen pei chiang chun, d. T' ai-yiian 15, i.e., 390), the latter tried
to kill him by poisoning him, but Fa-hsiang is said to have amazed T'ien by taking
the poison nonchalantly.
20
(25) Kuei-shan-ssu ("Monastery of Reversion to Good"). A monastery built
during Tsin times in front of the upper orchard (shang lin yuan) east of Mount Chi-
lung ("Chicken Basket").
(26) Tou-ch'ang-ssu (Tao-ch'ang-ssu).i Built by the ssu k'ung Hsieh Shih (younger
brother of Hsien An). At the end of the Chinese version of the Avata'!'saka in sixty
rolls ( Ta fang kuang Fa hua yen ching, translated under the Eastern Tsin by Buddha-
bhadra) one finds the following notice: The text brought back by Chih Fa-ling from
Khotan was translated at the Tao-ch'ang-ssu, a monastery built in Yi-hsi 14 (418) by
Hsieh Shih, the ssu k'ung ofYangchow, the lay sponsors being Meng Yi, the nei shih
of Wu commandery, and Ch'u Shu-tu, general of the right guard (yu wei chiang
chun; both confidants of Emperor Wu of the Sung), then finally published in Ytian-
hsi 2 (420). (Chih Fa-liug had left in 393 at Hui-ytian's request for Central Asia in
quest of religious texts, then returned to China in 408 with many Sanskrit manu-
scripts. Cf. Hui-yiian' s biography, the preface to the translation of the Sarvastivada-
vinaya, and Seng-chao's answers to the letters of Liu Yi-min.
21
) It goes without
saying that the Avataf!lsaka, once translated, became an important scriptural work
in opening up new avenues for a Chinese Buddhism until then concentrated on the
study of the Prajfiaparamita.
It is also at this monastery that the Mahasarpghikavinaya, brought back from
his Indian pilgrimage by Fa-hsien, was translated. The same monastery is also the
very place that became the center for newly translated Buddhist scriptures of a
tendency markedly different from that of the Prajfiaparamita series, to which the Chi-
nese had become accustomed since the end of the Eastern Tsin, the scene of the activi-
ties ofBuddhabhadra, the devout dhyana-practitioner, and his fellows, who, having
run afoul of Kumarajiva's followers, with their Prajfiaparamita orientation, at
Ch'ang-an under the Former Ch'in, were expelled from that city, only to become
objects of faith and attachment to the aristocracy south of the Yangtze. It has already
been pointed out that there was a current byword about "Tou-ch'ang's cave of
dhyana-masters and Tung-an's forest of doctrinal discussion."
(27) Ch'ung-ming-ssu ("Monastery of the Exaltation of Knowledge," situated
within Ching-an fortress). A popular Buddhist edifice, no more than a grass-be-
strewn barnlike thing at the beginning, built by Shih Seng-hui in collaboration with
Hsi.i Ch' ang-sheng of Ch' ang-an.
(28) Yen-hsien-ssu ("Monastery of the Propagation of Wisdom"). A monastery
built during the same Yi-hsi era (405-412) by Shih Fa-yi on a small piece of land
given him by remnants of the followers of Sun En, adherents of t'ien shih Taoism
who had fled to Mount Chung. Fa-yi was very active in late Tsin in both the lay
apostolate and temple-building, so much so that he actually constructed fifty-three
monasteries.
22
From the circumstance that rebels united by their belief in t'ien shih
Taoism could give a piece ofland to a Buddhist monk for the construction of a relig-
ious edifice that would serve the lay apostolate, one may deduce that the violent en-
mity that was to characterize relations between Buddhism and Taoism had not yet
come into the open.
(29) Ch'ing-yi.ian-ssu ("Green Park Monastery," to be renamed Lung-kuang-ssu,
Monastery of Dragon Glow," under the Liu-Sung). Situated at the foot of Mount
Fu-chou ("Overturned Boat") and built by the Lady Ch'u (daughter of Ch'u Shuang,
governor of Yi-hsing), consort of Emperor Kung (r. 419), last sovereign of the
Eastern Tsin, it was the residence of Chu Tao-sheng, who was expelled from Chien-
k'ang for having presented the Buddhist community of that city in (Liu-) Sung times
with some new dogmatic theories. In Yi.ian-chia 5 (428), Tao-sheng, seeing the copy
of the Mahayana Mahiiparinirviil'}asutra brought back with him by Fa-hsien, advanced
the theory that even extremely evil persons, those said to have "cut off their roots of
wholesomeness" (tuan shan ken, ucchinnakusalamulab?), should all achieve Buddha-
hood, for which he was expelled from the monastery as a heretic by the other monks,
who were attached to the older doctrines. That year the rumor became rife that a
thunderbolt hit the Ch'ing-yi.ian-ssu, and that a dragon was seen mounting to Heav-
en. This, so it is said, is the reason for which the name was changed to Lung-kuang-
ssu.
(30) Hsin-lin-ssu ("Convent of the New Grove"). A convent built by Emperor
Chien-wen (r. 371-372) for the nun Tao-jung, whom he even served as a teacher,
and who was an object of veneration to Emperor Hsiao-wu as well, dying sometime
in T' ai-yi.ian (376-396). This nun was very effective in the conversion of the ruling fa-
mily at the end of the Tsin (cf. Lives of 1).
(31) Chien-ching-ni-ssu ("Convent of Simplicity and Quietude"). Built in T' ai-
yi.ian 10 (385, the year of Tao-an's death) by Tao-tzu, the above-mentioned prince
of K' uai-chi, who also held the rank oft' ai Ju, for the trusted nun Chih Miao-yin.
This nun had the run of the court, and her recommendations and other remarks were
extremely influential with regard to anyone seeking advancement in the political
world. Even Huan Hslian, by leaving it in the hands of this nun, contrived to have
Yin Chung-chan appointed censor of Ching-chou after the death of the incumbent,
Wang Ch'en. One reads, for example, as follows concerning this convent after the
appointment of Chih Miao-yin to the post of abbess:
Her followers, numbering more than a hundred, persons of ability and intellectual
subtlety, both religious [nei, "internal") and secular [wai, "external"), owed their
success to her, so that the offerings made to her were inexhaustible, the riches
enough to fill a metropolis. The noble and the base both served her, so that there
were always horse-drawn carriages in her gateway, every day more than a hun-
dred equipages.
23
From this it is evident that there was an unending stream of persons currying favor
with this nun. Here is blatant evidence of at least one aspect of an aristocratic Bud-
dhism linked with the political corruption in Chien-k'ang at the end of the Eastern
Tsin, and it was only a matter of time before attacks on Buddhism on the part of
the intellectual class, as well as advocacy of a cleansing of the church, were to
be put forward. (Cf. section E, below.)
(32) Ching-fu-ssu ("Convent of Resplendent Merit"). A convent established
southeast of the above-mentioned Yeh-ch'eng-ssu early in Sung, namely, in Yung-
ch'u 3 (422), for the nun Hui-kuo by Fu Hung-jen, censor ofCh'ing-chou, who gave
the eastern part of his own home for the purpose. It is here that, under the Liu-Sung,
in Ylian-chia 9 (432), two nuns belonging to this convent, Ching-yin and the above-
mentioned Hui-kuo, received the sila at the hands of Gul).abhadra very shortly after
his arrival (c Lives of 2).
The K'uai-chi Convents. Finally, as evidence of temple-building in K'uai-chi, let
us cite two convents built by Hsli Hslin, namely, Hsli Hslin's Ch'i-ylian-ssu (]etava-
navihiira) and Ch'ung-hua-ssu ("Monastery of the Veneration of Conversation").
Hsli Hsiin was a well-known scholar, an associate of Chih Tun, Hsieh An, Wang
Hsi-chih, and others, an accomplished "pure talker" and "dark learner" of the
first rank. He is famous for attending one of Chih Tun's readings of the Vimalaki-
rtinirdea, at which the arguments and counterarguments of the two men flowed like
water, winning sighs of admiration from all the gentlemen in attendance. In Hsien-
ho 6 (331) he donated his two K'uai-chi residences, which became in due course the
monasteries named Ch'i-ylian and Ch'ung-hua. The names were conferred by Em-
peror Mu.
In Hsien-ho 6 (331), Hsli Hslin donated two mansions, those of Shan-yin ["North
of the Mountains") and Yung-hsing ["Eternal Prosperity"), remaking them into
monasteries. Emperor Mu handed down a decree, saying that the older residence,
Shan-yin, was to be renamed Ch'i-ylian, the newer one, Yung-hsing, to be called
Ch'ung-hua. (Cf. the K'uai-chi Gazetteer.]
For his newer residence, now the Ch'ung-hua-ssu, Hsli Hslin built a four-storied
stUpa, in the making of which he exhausted his means before he could equip it with
a dew-pot or a wheel. These, so we are told (in roll 8 of the Real Record of Chien-
k'ang), were never provided.
His faith in Buddhism was such that he had no hesitation in exhausting his for-
tune. This act of extreme sacrifice of one's property for the Buddhist faith was, how-
ever, attacked by an outsider, and the time was to come when Buddhism was to be
considered the enemy of the national economy, something that recklessly spent the
nation's wealth.
Popular Buddhist Edifices. The above-mentioned convents are almost all religious
edifices constructed by royalty, aristocracy, or upper bureaucracy, for such was the
nature of the literary sources of this information that its principal concern was with
the famous convents of the Southern dynasties, built by aristocrats, while tiny edi-
fices constructed by commoners, or Buddha-halls that were in the nature of popular
shrines, went unrecorded. Among these latter are some Buddhist convents dating to
Wu times and others dating to the end of the Eastern Tsin, fifth-century convents
such as (27) the Ch'ung-ming-ssu and(28) the Yen-hsien-ssu, which may be regarded
as popular Buddhist temples. This is particularly true of the Yen-hsien-ssu, whose
founder, Fa-yi, is said to have built as many as fifty-three convents. Among them,
what one may call popular Buddhist temples, whether large or small, built with
popular donations-the tiny ones, rather, whose very names have vanished-must
be the most numerous.
These were times when, in the political world, all security was being eaten away
by the ambitions of men such as Huan Hsi.ian and Liu Yi.i, who were seeking to
snatch the throne from robot emperors; when men like Sun En were in back of up-
risings that, with the Taoist faith as a binding cord, were playing havoc with the
whole area south of the Yangtze, all the way from K'uai-chi east of the Che to the
vicinity of Chien-k'ang, throwing aristocratic society and the general population,
gentry as well as commonalty, into confusion and panic; when, finally, in the Bud-
dhist world the glowing reports of a religious community headed by Hui-yi.ian on
Mount Lu, far from Chien-k'ang, were gaining ever more and greater respect and
admiration. They were times when the upper social strata as well as the lower, in the
midst of a feeling of crisis, were seeking something or someone to which or to whom
to address their prayers.
When the Buddhist community was burgeoning at such a rate, in addition to the
great convents built by the aristocracy, there is room to suppose that there was a
great increase in the number and variety of small temples and prayer halls, in the na-
ture of popular shrines; that there was another Buddhism flourishing, one that
attracted believers from the general ranks of society and that overlapped with pop-
ular beliefs; that there was also no lack of popular, even magic-working, evangelist-
monks. If it is true that in the aristocratic convents a Buddhism tinged with Taoism
in the spirit ofLao-tzu and Chuang-tzu was presented in the public readings, to the
delight of scholarly aristocrats, it is surely conceivable that in the popular Buddhist
edifices, on the other hand, for the benefit of persons whose life was premised on
traditional popular beliefs long cultivated by people racially and culturally Chinese,
gentry as well as commonalty, there was preached, as it were, a sort of Taoistic Bud-
dhism of a piece with their own beliefs, and that there coexisted there an Indian religion
of cause and effect, or retribution, of transmigration and rebirth, and a Buddhism
that was accepted by, and spread among, the people on a wide scale on the basis
of a Chinese faith in spirit shrines which were the objects of prayer accompanied by
religious practice, shrines connected with a real life in which prayers for the aversion
of disaster, the healing of sickness, the gift of good fortune, and the like were ad-
dressed to Buddhas and bodhisattvas.
Taoistic Buddhism of the Popular Temples. On the other hand, it is worthy of note
that it is not only Buddhism that flourished at this time, for even among the aristoc-
racy there were some distinguished families that had "for generations worshiped the
Heavenly Master's teaching of the Way" (t'ien shih tao chiao), to say nothing of the
common people, among whom there was a powerful tendency to rely on magicians
and on a combined faith in both gods and Buddhas. It bears repeating that the
founding of (28) the Yen-hsien-ssu was made possible by the gift of a small piece of
land from partisans of Sun En, believers in t'ien shih Taoism who had taken refuge
on Mount Chung, for in Tsin times Buddhism and t'ien shih Taoism were equally
widespread on all levels of society, aristocracy, gentry, and commonalty, there being
as yet none of the violent enmity or mutual intolerance that was to characterize them
later. The two together were proselytizing on a wide scale while making the era of
the Eastern Tsin into one in which the converting powers of religion were extremely
great. However, faith in the Taoist adept became a force for uniting the commonalty
in movements that opposed the government of the time, fomenting mighty rebellions
that gave government and aristocracy, gentry and commonalty, nothing but
trouble.
Two features of Buddhism, by contrast, may be said to have created for the tri-
umph of Buddhism under the Eastern Tsin and the Southern dynasties, when the
aristocracy were the bearers of both government and culture, conditions much more
favorable than those enjoyed by Taoism. These were, first, that there were few such
rebellious tendencies among the shaven-headed, ascetic, celibate, foreign-born mem-
bers of the Buddhist sarp.gha and, second, that they had many canonical scriptures
rich in sophisticated literary, even philosophical, expressions, some of them of a piece
with the ideas ofLao-tzu and Chuang-tzu. This is why the Taoist community, which
did not have much of a scriptural corpus apart from Lao tzu and the Scripture of the
Great Calm (T'ai p'ing ching), was at such pains to create, as it did in time, a Taoist
canon. The triumph of a Buddhism backed by the power of the aristocracy was
also accompanied by negative features, and that of popular Buddhism, for its own
part, as seen from the position of the ruling class, was by no means a desirable thing
in terms of traditional Chinese notions of political morality. Finally, the development
of nunneries (to be mentioned in section E), the increasing number of nuns, the
heightened Buddhist devotion among laywomen and their frequent visits to con-
vents could also easily become the objects of attacks launched from the point of view
of traditional morality. These are the reasons that from Hui-yiian's time forward,
in the latter half of the era of the Eastern Tsin, anti-Buddhist policies and arguments
again made their appearance.
Evils Inherent in Aristocratic Temple-Building. As must surely be evident from the
examples cited above, the majority of the most influential Buddhist convents built
under the Eastern Tsin in the Chien-k'ang area that also maintained themselves as
powerful religious centers for the whole region into the era of the Southern dynasties
were established by contributions from the ruling family and/or the aristocracy.
Through the pious Buddhist acts, such as the building of convents, of powerful
Buddhist aristocrats, frequently the lower bureaucracy and the common people
tended to be exploited. To give but two examples, where the Buddhist piety of
Ho Ch'ung and his younger brother is concerned, the former being a man whose
power and authority carried the whole age before them, his biography says, "His
repair of Buddhist monasteries and his offerings to the sramal).aS were hundredfold,
but, based as he was for a long time in Yang-chou (Chien-k'ang), he would conscript
clerks and commoners, and the praises for his achievements amounted to the tens
of thousands. For this reason he was cursed by all, both far and near."
24
The other
example is Wang Kung, who conscripted common folk to build elegantly appointed
convents, so that he became the target of popular resentment.
25
In their temple-
building they would "donate all of their household property and precious and
unusual objects to the convents," going so far as to reduce their own holdings to noth-
ing. 26 A case of this is Wang T'an-chih, who, for the building of the An-lo-ssu,
donated his own garden and prevailed on three of his aristocratic neighbors to
donate their own homes as well, or so we are told.
27
At any rate, one can deduce for
oneself the grand scale of these aristocratic convents.
The temple-building activity of the Eastern Tsin aristocracy was one in which
each edifice vied with its fellows for magnificence at a cost to be borne by many,
laying the foundation for the "four hundred and eighty convents of the Southern
dynasties" (nan ch'ao ssu po pa shih ssu) sung of by the T'ang poet Tu Mu while,
the same time, betraying many inherent faults for which it invited attacks on the
part of knowledgeable persons. In the same connection, it is worthy of note that
this was accompanied by a pronounced development in the Buddhist arts, marking,
in fact, an epoch in the history of art and craft throughout the whole Far East.
Development of Buddhist Art. In conjunction with the building of sarp.gharamas,
there were inaugurated at this time, and on a grand scale, the casting of Buddhist
images and the painting of Buddhist portraits, providing the world with a whole
series of distinguished artists.
As early as Wu times, during the reign of Sun Hao, there was found buried in the
garden by the ladies' quarters of the palace a standing gold image several feet in
length, then, in Ch'ih-wu 10 (247), K'ang Seng-hui, on his arrival in Chien-k'ang
from the Chiao-chih (Giaokhi) area, is reported to have built a grass shack in which
he "fashioned an image and trod the Path" ;
28
but it is only under the Eastern Tsin
that the making of icons came into its own. At the time, Chinese monks returning
from westward pilgrimages would bring icons as well as scriptures,
29
early in Yi-
hsi (405) the king of Lion Land (shih tzu kuo, i.e., Sirp.hala, Ceylon) presented an
image made of white jade,
30
and in other ways Buddhist figures would come over-
land from the west. Then there are such tales as the one connected with the "stilpa
of Asoka" belonging to the Ch' ang-kan-ssu, according to which a pearl fisherman of
Chiao-chou acquired an icon at the bottom of the sea and brought it to the Ch' ang-
kan-ssu, where he left it for safekeeping,
31
or another anecdote that tells how,
when T'ao K'an was serving at Kuang-chou (Canton), a fisherman, seeing a super-
natural glow in the water, retrieved an Asoka image, which he sent to the Han-hsi-
ssu in W u-ch' ang,
32
both stories indicating that apart from the land route leading
through Central Asia into North China there was another, by which Buddhist icons
came to China by way of the South Seas.
At the same time, the Chinese themselves were beginning to vie with one another
in the making of statuary. Sometime in Hsing-ning (373-375) Chu Tao-lin fashioned
an image of the Amitayurbuddha,
33
while in T'ai-ylian 2 (371) Chih Hui-hu cast a
gold image ofSakyamunibuddha, sixteen feet high, at the Shao-ling-ssu in Wu com-
mandery.34 There are many historical facts recorded,
35
such as the one concerning
Emperor Kung, who in Ylian-hsi 2 (420) melted down ten million coins for the
casting of an image sixteen feet high, which he then lodged in the Wa-kuan-ssu.
36
Another matter of historical fact is the existence ofTai K'uei (d. 396, courtesy name
An-tao) and his son, both famous sculptors of icons. Among K'uei's creations were
a sixteen-foot wooden image of the Amitayurbuddha, lodged in the Ling-pao-ssu
north of the K'uai-chi mountains, and five "walking images," clothed in garments
lined with Indian mallow(? chia chu). At such pains was he to approach the "extreme
of reality" in the execution of these images that he thought of them concentratedly
for several years, then would study and refashion them, listening secretly to the criti-
cal comments of others as he heard them through a curtain, so that it took him no
less than three years to finish a single image. "For subtlety in fashioning images, they
have never had their like in our eastern (land of) Hsia (i.e., China)." "The image-
making of the two Tai stands alone throughout the ages." And, in fact, distinguished
image-making begins in China with those two men, father and son.
37
Not one of
their creations survives, however.r
While there were among the Buddhist icons of the time some of wood and others
of chia chu, the majority were still of gold and copper. The quantity of copper used
was by no means small, and great care was taken in the use of it.
"He [i.e., Seng-liang) wished to fashion a golden image sixteen feet tall, but
the copper to be used would not be slight, not the kind that could be provided hy
begging a bit at a time." (C Seing-liang's biography in roll 13, Lives of Eminent
Monks.) In addition, in late Tsin there was in effect a ban on the use of copper,
violation of which was punishable by death, which meant that anyone who cast
images had to do so at the risk ofhis life.
Having a connection with leadership and conversion, he fashioned a gold image
sixteen feet high. When the melting was just finished and before a shape had been
formed, the time was the end of the Tsin, when the prohibition against the
use of copper was very strict and offenders were invariably put to death. Emperor
Wu of the Sung was at the time prime minister. Seng-hung, accused of the
crime, was imprisoned in the minister's headquarters, ... [Seng-hung's biog-
raphy in roll13, Lives of Eminent Monks.]
Seen from one point of view, this is an important reason for which the casting of
Buddha-figures was effected by the reckless use of the nation's resources even in
violation of a ban, and why it was charged by the world with "reducing the precious
treasures of the people, holding unjustified expenditure in high esteem, exhausting
the yearly income of private households, and depleting the material resources of the
army and the State" (c the Essay that Demolishes Attacks [Shih po lun]).
38
Buddhist Painting in the Six Dynasties. In the history of Chinese painting, the Six
Dynasties represent a huge advance over all earlier periods, for its area extended
into portraiture and landscape painting, under the influence of the world of ideas
an internal depth was sought even in painting, and some Buddhist ideas were also
absorbed. Among Eastern Tsin artists who did Buddhist paintings are Wei Hsieh,
the portrait artist who did a painting of the Seven Buddhas ;
39
his disciple Chang
Mo (among whose works is a statue of Vimalakirti) ;
40
Ssu-ma Shao, the Emperor
Ming ;
41
and Wang Yi ;
42
while the no less celebrated Ku K' ai-chih is known for a
number of creations, chiefly for the Vimalakirti image in the Wa-kuan-ssu.
43
Tai
K'uei, for his part, was a skilled landscape painter and, as to Buddhist art, there was
to his credit a painting of Five Divine Arhants (wu t'ien lo-han t'u); toward his
middle years, he became a skilled sculptor of"walking images."
44
Buddhist sculpture
and paintings of the sort described, lodged in the convents, attracted the concern
of the metropolitans, whether as objects of faith or as works of art. In particular,
the golden statue from Ceylon lodged in the Wa-kuan-ssu, the five images executed
by Tai K'uei, and Ku K'ai-chih's painting of Vimalakirti were dubbed the "three
ultimates" (san chiieh).
45
Famous, for instance, were the stories of Yi.i Liang, who,
upon seeing a reclining Buddha, i.e., an image of the Nirval).a, delivered an ex-
clamation that was to gain fame, "The Sage is tired of the fords and bridges [of
life] !,"
46
and of Chang Hsi.ian-chih and Ku Fu, who, when not yet ten years old, saw
an image of the Nirval).a and had a brilliant exchange of remarks,
47
both of which
lead one to suppose that through these paintings and sculptures the aristocrats ac-
quired an affectionate familiarity with Buddhism, which, in turn, presumably served
as an avenue to lead them to the Faith.
Material Aid to the Convents from the Aristocracy. Toward a religious community that
was growing with speed and vigor, battening on lavish material assistance from the
aristocracy, toward a monastic fellowship that, housed in palatially appointed
convents and rubbing elbows with these same aristocrats, was immersed in a way
of life that was, in effect, secular, critical attacks from that secular world were
virtually certain to come. In cases in which offerings from the aristocracy were made
at the expense, even at the sacrifice, of the common people, the church became the
D :ADVANCE AND DECLINE AT CIDEN-K'ANG 405
target for attacks from the world at large, attacks that not infrequently were aimed
at individual Buddhists.
Two examples of merciless criticism are Ku Chung,
48
who was constantly annoyed
by the outlays made for religious purposes by that celebrated Buddhist Ho Ch'ung
and who once, when on a drive with the latter, refused to go with him into a mon-
astery, and Hsi.i Jung, who has already been mentioned as the author of a protest
which, addressed to Emperor Hsiao-wu, said, in effect, "That whole lot, immersed
in this Buddhist mire, outdo one another in the service they render and the deference
they display, yet they assault the people by treating them as if they were fish to be
caught. They may take treasure to confer it (as offerings on the church), but they are
as far as ever from the Path of Gift-giving [pu shih, dana, tyiiga]." As for the sarpgha,
whose members lived a life of plenty on the donations of the aristocracy, the Essay that
Rectifies Attacks (Cheng wu lun) says, "The gentlemen of the Path (i.e., the
sarpgha), by robbing the common people, build stilpas and convents on a large scale,
resorting to ostentation and extravagance, but all to no valid purpose."
49
Tao-heng,
in his Essay that Demolishes Attacks (Shih po lun), puts the following words into the
mouth of a critic: "Why, they are no different from farmers and merchants! They
tend fields and orchards, they garner profits, they amass property, at their convo-
cations they feast on the finest of delicacies, their convents and temples are the
extreme of elegance! The sarpgha are themselves one of the five wrongs of which
they accuse the world, for, if one looks at today's sramat).as, one sees that none of
them has any [monastic] capabilities, that there is not a distinguished person among
them."
50
Clerical degeneration of the sort just described became pronounced by the end of
the Eastern Tsin, for, given Ssu-ma Tao-tzu's extravagance, the political decay, and
the activities of the Buddhist church, i.e., of monks and nuns, at court, principally
in the ladies' quarters, considerable latitude was gained by the monks and nuns who
with their connections at court were leading a life of extravagant luxury and seek-
ing to enhance their own power. In extreme cases, this ate away at the very vitals
of the Eastern Tsin and became one of the reasons for which "from this point on the
fortunes of the Tsin took a turn [for the worse]."
51
Imperial patronage continued with unabated zeal through a whole series of gener-
ations, particularly notable examples of the extremely profound connection between
reigning family and Buddhist church being the construction by Emperor Hsiao-wu
within the palace of a Buddhist tabernacle (ching she, equivalent to vihiira), to which
he then invited sramat).as, and the construction by the empress of convents, where
she would be on very intimate terms with the nuns (cf. section E). The worship of
the Buddha within the imperial palace easily attracted its own sort of abuses. Flagrant
instances that one might cite would have to do with relations between the Buddhist
church on the one hand and Ssu-ma Tao-tzu, prince ofK'uai-chi, and the powerful
ministers who surrounded him during his regency on the other.
Buddhism and Ssu-ma Tao-tzu. During the reign of Emperor Hsiao-wu, politics
degenerated and omens of the imminent Tsin collapse made their appearance.
Ssu-ma Tao-tzu, the emperor's younger brother and prince of K' uai-chi, after the
passing of such giant statesmen as Hsieh An (d. 385), assumed effective political
power and behaved rather as he pleased, spending the whole day and well into the
night carousing and sporting in the company of the emperor, who had just attained
his majority. Wang Kuo-pao, appointed to the post of chung shu ling, eager above
all to enjoy the favor of Ssu-ma Tao-tzu, also neglected his political duties, and in
addition appointed persons to desirable posts in return for bribes. In sum, the political
world of the Eastern Tsin began to be marked by the symptoms of illness that
herald an approaching death.
Ssu-ma Tao-tzu's biography (in roll 64 of the Book of Tsin) says that Emperor
Hsiao-wu, who took no interest in the duties of political administration, was totally
immersed in the pursuits of carousing and sporting in Tao-tzu's company, that his
old nurse, as well as the nuns who stood between him and the court, began to toy
with power and authority, and that, as a consequence, flatterers from families of the
lower bureaucracy were appointed to positions of consequence, most of them rising
to be chiefs of commanderies (chun) and districts (hsien). However, since Tao-tzu's
power, as recorder-general (tsung lu) ofYangchow, was "enough to overturn All-
under-Heaven," court and countryside had no choice but to win his favor if the goal
was appointment to an enviable post. Wang Kuo-pao (son of Wang T'an-chih, a
believing Buddhist who declared his discipleship to Chu Fa-yang and who, as
already mentioned, was a builder of convents), by nature a mean currier of favor,
took bribes, hand over fist, from seekers after political office and from condemned
persons hoping to evade punishment, behavior that earned the comment that
"government and punishment became irregular and confused." (Wang Kuo-pao's
biography is appended to that of Wang Chan in roll 75 of the Book of Tsin.) When
it comes to the Buddhist piety and unrestrained conduct of the chancellor (tsai
hsiang) Ssu-ma Tao-tzu who was his superior, the latter's biography says:
He revered and believed the doctrine of Budho. His expenditures were extrav-
agant, and he could not bring himself to give orders to his inferiors. [?] From
T'ai-yi.ian [376-396] onward, he was given to feasting late into the night. He
would get tousleheaded and bleary-eyed, and his government suffered a great
deal.
Scarcely the sort of behavior one would expect of a Buddhist. The political world
of the Eastern Tsin in the latter half of the fourth century reached the extreme of
corruption. In the midst of all this, it is worthy of note that there was a nun named
Chih Miao-yin, who had the run of the court, who had won the faith of Ssu-ma
Tao-tzu and his fellows, and that she had enormous say in determining how things
were done. She became the abbess of the Chien-ching-ni-ssu ("Convent of Simpli-
city and Purity"), a convent built by Ssu-ma Tao-tzu, where there were riches
enough to fill a city, where both the noble and the base rendered service, and in
front of whose gate there were carriages and horses to the number of more than a
hundred equipages day in, day out (c roll 1, Lives of the Hsi.i Jung, a
minister of State unable to hold his peace in the face of the Buddhist religious abuses
connected with the slovenly and corrupt government of the powerholders who held
office when the central government was in the control of Ssu-ma Tao-tzu and his
clique, memorialized the throne in the harsh language that follows :
52
At the present time, among those appointed to posts in the central government and
in the provinces there are outright criminals and persons by no means of the
highest lineage, some of the latter going so far as to become provincial chiefs,
leaving the actual affairs of government in the hands of petty clerks. This happens
for two reasons, the first being that monks, nuns, and nurses have been vying with
one another to advance their own cherished favorites, the second being that
bribery is rampant. Now the Buddha was, supposedly, a pure deity, remote, ob-
scure, and free of preconceptions, one whose doctrine consisted of the five re-
straints, a total abstainer and totally chaste, yet the Buddhists of the present day
are a lot who both defile and despise the nannies [i.e., the nuns] and are addicted
to drinking and fornication. The monks and nuns constitute a veritable herd, all
wearing their religious habits, yet they cannot keep even the rough prohibitions
of the five restraints, how much the less put into practice those of the Buddhist
orders! Yet that whole lot, astray as they are, render homage and service [to the
Buddha]! They also assault the common people, as if they were so many fish to be
caught, and take their property as offerings, which means that they are as far as
ever from the Path of gift-giving ....
At a time when the situation of the central government was as just described,
within the Chien-k'ang aristocracy a force from the ranks of the military opposed
to the central government, that ofHuan Hstian, was steadily augmenting its power
and advancing its preparations to usurp the Eastern Tsin, while in the countryside
the uprisings led by Sun En and Lu Hsiin, who, having united many believers under
the banner of a Taoist faith, were driving them to make war on the government,
were playing havoc with the districts of K'uai-chi and Chien-k'ang.
Wang Kung's Veneration of Buddhism. Now at Chien-k'ang, in 396, Hsiao-wu, the
wine-soaked emperor, was killed by one of his own favorites, Chang Kuei, to be
succeeded by his idiot son (Emperor An), but the power went to Ssu-ma Tao-tzu,
another drunkard and a man with no sense of duty, and to his principal follower,
Wang Kuo-pao, and his whole clique. At the same time, decay and disorder through-
out the Eastern Tsin were becoming evident on all sides, and there were times when
peace and security would be unknown for a year at a time. Most important of all,
at the center of things Wang Kung, who detested Wang Kuo-pao, joined Yin
Chung-k'an of Ching-chou in raising an army ostensibly for the elimination of
Wang Kuo-pao, and the latter and his whole following were in fact killed (in 397).
The following year, 398, Wang Kung lured Huan Hstian into a military alliance,
but this time his scheme failed and he lost his life as well. This Wang Kung was
the grandson ofWang Meng, a man famous for his "pure talk" and his grand style,
and brother to the consort of Emperor Hsiao-wu. Like Wang Kuo-pao, Ssu-ma
Tao-tzu, and Emperor Hsiao-wu himself, he was a fanatical Buddhist. His biography,
in fact, has the following to say :
53
Having a most pronounced faith in the Path of the Buddha, he conscripted the com-
mon people to build and repair Buddhist convents, his principal concern being stern,
impressive beauty. Gentlefolk and commoners groaned in resentment.
It was, in other words, building and repair work on a grand scale, in the style of
an aristocracy that never took any thought for the sufferings and agonies of the
people beneath them. On the other hand, the same source says this as well:
Even when he faced execution, he still intoned the Buddhist scriptures, he shaved
himself, and his spirit seemed unruffied by fear.
The image one gains is that of a well-educated aristocrat whose whole life was
permeated by his Buddhist faith, an image further reinforced by the comment that
"his house contained no valuables, merely books and nothing else." One can deduce
from this the degree to which the aristocrats of the ruling class during the reign of
Emperor Hsiao-wu had been transformed by Buddhism, but one deduces at the same
time that the accompanying oppression of the people by this overripe aristocratic
Buddhism was also acute, that there had been a great increase in the number of
gentlefolk and commoners who, joining the Order in these lavishly appointed
aristocratic convents, were seeking an escape and a life of ease divorced from reality.
Eventually Huan Hsi.ian, who became the real powerholder in the political world,
attempted a rectification and a purge of the religious community (in 398) and came
into a confrontation with Hui-yi.ian-inevitably, as one might suppose. By this
time, a man like Fan Ning, Wang Kuo-pao's father-in-law, insistently demanded
rule on the basis of the Confucian doctrine of propriety, while persons of the stamp
of Wang Pi and Ho Yen, who took rather a casual view of Confucianism and who
were responsible for the spread of "dark learning," were characterized by him as
men "whose offenses were more grave than those of Chieh and Chou."
54
Ssu-ma
Tao-tzu and Wang Kuo-pao contrived to have him removed and made governor
of Yi.i-chang, but even there he devoted himself to a reform of political thinking
within his area of jurisdiction on the basis of a Confucian revival.
The Uprising of Sun En. For his opposition to Ssu-ma Tao-tzu, Wang Kung, the
loser, paid with his life, yet Huan Hsi.ian was building up, in and around Hsi.in-yang,
which faced the river at the foot of Mount Lu, a military force of increasing strength,
poising himself to crush Chien-k' ang downstream. As if this were not enough, at the
center of things there were within the ruling family endless squabbles for power and
authority, and at this very time, southeast of Chien-k' ang, came the uprising of Sun
En, a devoted believer in t'ien shih Taoism who, taking advantage of the widespread
belief in the superhuman sylph to weld a popular mass suffering under an in-
effectual government into an armed force bound together by a na"ive religious
faith and utterly heedless of its own life, stormed like a cyclone through the im-
portant metropolitan centers and through the country's rich breadbasket.
It has already been mentioned that the area ofK'uai-chi and the commandery of
W u, from as early as the end of the Han, had been the scene of a widespread, defer-
ential belief in the allegedly divine powers of Kan Chi, a fervid belief that embraced
men and women of both the gentry and the commonalty. This sort of belief con-
tinued to permeate the social life of the region. Ko Hung, author, early under the
Eastern Tsin, of the Pao p'u tzu, was a pronouncedly Confucian scholar, yet at the
same time he was a breed of intellectual firmly convinced of the existence of super-
human sylphs and of the possibility of becoming one by the concoction and con-
sumption of certain elixirs and, secure in this belief, he was also a "practitioner of the
Way." In a society in which even thoroughly schooled intellectuals could live by the
traditional belief in the arts of the superhuman sylph, the uneducated mass of
commoners was widely and deeply permeated by a jumble of traditional beliefs,
including faith in magicians, faith in the prognostication and aversion of disaster,
and faith in the possible existence of superhuman sylphs and the attendant vener-
ation and aspiration that accompanied that faith. The Szechwan-based "t'ien shih
Taoism of the three Changs," which, from late Han onwards, had taken on the
trappings of an organized religion, was in the process, during Wei and Tsin, of per-
meating the entire nation.
Late in the Han, in the Szechwan area, Chang Ling, allegedly with the aid of the
spirit world, acquired a large number of believers in his powers, as a superhuman
sylph, to heal the sick and to ward off disaster. The status thus gained passed on to
Chang Hsiu and from him to Chang Lu. The believers ("ghostly troops," kuei tsu)
steadily increased in number, and, organizing them along ecclesiastical lines, he
called himself the "divine teacher" (t'ien shih), appointing above the "ghostly
troops," to give them leadership and to keep them under control, a whole series of
ranks, viz. (in ascending order), "ghostly sergeants" (kuei li), "sacrificiallibationers"
(chi chiu), "captains" (chih t'ou), and "grand sacrificiallibationers" (ta chi chiu), and
thus contriving to convert the Szechwan area into a full-blown theocracy. Another
event previously mentioned is the fact that, similarly at the end of the Han, Chang
Chtieh, who laid claim to healing powers based on sylphic skill, building up and
welding together a body of believers in the eastern part ofN orth China, fomented the
uprising of the Yellow Turbans, whose aim was to bring the Han to an end. The
uprising of the Yellow Turbans did shake the Han to its very foundations and did
hasten its eventual collapse, but at that it was suppressed in almost no time. The
relationship, if any, between the t'ien shih Taoism of Chang Ling and Chang Lu,
on the one hand, and the doctrine of the Way of the Grand Calm (t'ai p'ing tao
chiao) of Chang Chtieh, on the other, and, in particular, the relationship, if any, that
may have existed among their respective leaders are far from certain, but to the
mass of the people, to their plebeian adherents in particular, the beliefs must have
seemed very much the same. This may be deduced from the fact that there were
Yellow Turban uprisings in three other commanderies as well, viz., those of Pa,
Shu, and Kuang-han.
The Spread oj"t'ien shih" Taoism. Now Chang Chueh was put down, but in the
Szechwan region, on the other hand, in which, separated as it was from the mad
power-struggles that marked the end of the Han, it was possible to maintain a
separate power, the movement gained believers among the local people. It per-
fected an ecclesiastical organization complete with a ceremonial for stimulating an
awareness in the practitioner of his own sinful thoughts and for penance. It required
its adherents to make offerings of five bushels of rice (whence the name, the "Way
of the Five Bushels of Rice," wu tau mi tao), and at the same time provided free
lodging for wayfarers, as well as rice and meat, thus giving them free time to engage
in religious reflection. In this and in other ways it secured its base, in terms both of
economy and of social mission, and expanded its effectiveness as a religion. It took
no act.ive part in any campaigns whose target was the central government; rather,
it adopted a policy of compromise with the existing political power. In the contest
among the Three Kingdoms, the movement sided with the ultimate victor, Ts'ao
Ts'ao, who controlled the Middle Plain, and the sons and daughters of the Chang
clan were comparatively well treated by him.
Thanks to all this, t'ien shih Taoism in Wei and Tsin times crossed the borders
of Szechwan to spread into the Middle Plain, but also into the lower reaches of the
Yellow River and of the Yangtze in Central China, the one-time base of Kan Chi
and Chang Chi.ieh, where it gained adherents not only among the general run of gen-
try and commonalty but among distinguished families and powerful clans as well.
Believers in Taoism made their appearance in such clans as the Wang and Sun of
Lang-yeh; the Hsi of Kao-p'ing; the Yin of Ch'en commandery; the K'ung of
K'uai-chi; the Chou of Yi-hsing; the Shen of Wu-hsing; the T'ao, Hsi.i, and Ko
ofTan-yang; the Pao ofTung-hai; the Yang ofT'ai-shan; the Tu ofCh'ien-t'ang;
and the Hsieh, also of Ch' en commandery: among these were some whose members
had been devoted Taoists for generations on end. In Chang Lu's religious organiz-
ation, all officers of the rank of "sacrificiallibationer" and above, whose function
it was to guide the believers, had committed to memory Lao-tzu's text of five thou-
sand words, presumably a handy device for gaining adherents from the ranks of the
gentry at a time when the study of Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu was so fashionable.
About the time the Eastern Tsin got its start, not a few of the Taoists of North
China fled southward in the manner of their Buddhist counterparts, thus presumably
furnishing an excellent opportunity for the spread and triumph of Taoism in the
Kiangsu and Chekiang regions, where a lively faith in ghosts and spirits was already
well established.
Uprisings of Sun T'ai and Sun En. Now under the Eastern Tsin, during the reign
of Emperor Hsiao-wu (r. 373-397), a man named Tu Tzu-kung of Ch'ien-t'ang,
gaining the respect usually accorded the head of a church who enjoys the faith of
masses ofbelievers, won an important adherent, Sun T'ai, uncle of Sun En. The Sun
clan was an important one in Ch'ien-t'ang, a clan devoted to t'ien shih Taoism. This
devotion continued even after the clan's southward flight. Sun T'ai was not only
Tu Tzu-kung's pupil but, after the latter's death, his successor as well, head of a
religious organization with many believing adherents. The people worshiped him
as a god, offering him all their goods and chattels without stint, going so far as to
give him their sons and daughters, in the hope of getting some blessing in return.
Ssu-ma Tao-tzu, the prince ofK'uai-chi, banished him to Kuang-chou (Canton) on
the advice ofWang Hsi.in (courtesy name Yi.ian-lin, childhood name Fa-hu), but the
censor on duty in the latter place, succumbing to faith in him, treated him very
grandly, so that even here his adherents increased in number and his new place of
residence became a secure base for Sun En's brand of t'ien shih Taoism. At length,
Emperor Hsiao-wu, as devoted as ever to neglect of duty and to all-night carousals,
hearing that Sun T' ai was adept at recipes for enhancing sexual desire and for leng-
thening life, invited him to the capital and went so far as to appoint him governor
of Hsin-an. With his special skills, he gained followers both gentle and common,
and persons of standing became believers in his alleged magic powers, notably
K' ung Tao, whose rank was huang men lang; Huan Fang-chih, the governor of P' a-
yang; Chou Hsieh, whose rank was p'iao ch'i tzu yi; and, most important of all, Ssu-
ma Yi.ian-hsien, heir presumptive to the post of prince ofK'uai-chi, who was already
appropriating the real power of the central government. Wang Kung's uprising fi-
nally made it possible for Sun T' ai to see the signs of the Tsin' s decline. Fanning the
common people into action and having his base in the gentry and commonalty of the
"three Wu" (i.e., Wu commandery, Wu-hsing, and K'uai-chi), he himself led an
uprising, the ostensible purpose of which was to chastise Wang Kung, but he was
defeated and put to death.
Yet his followers, convinced that Sun T' ai had but shed his mortal frame and
become a sylph, rallied round Sun En as his successor. At the center of things Ssu-ma
Tao-tzu, prince of K'uai-chi, who held the posts of ssu t'u and recorder-general of
Yangchow, and who by now is said not to have passed a single day sober, was suffer-
ing encroachment on his position at the hands ofYi.ian-hsien, his heir presumptive.
In the mutual confrontation, both exerted themselves to gather their respective
confidants and partisans, with increasingly dire results where the operation of govern-
ment was concerned.
In 399, once Ssu-ma Yi.ian-hsien, a man of cruel temperament who reputedly
would kill a man or let him live in obedience to the mood of the moment, moved to
the capital and recruited into military service some former slaves whom the aristocrats
of the eastern corrunanderies had manumitted and organized into new households
of free men, those same eastern commanderies fell into chaos. Scarcely had the slaves,
until then condemned to a life of filth and cruel mistreatment on the estates of
the powerful clans, been added to the ranks of free commoners when they were
impressed into military service by a corrupt government; their tolerance reached
its limit, and their anger, as was surely inevitable, exploded. Seizing the moment,
Sun En's party, in flight at sea, killed the magistrate of Shang-yi.i (part of K'uai-
chi commandery) and advanced on K'uai-chi itsel The senior official at K'uai-chi
was Wang Ning-chih, son of Wang Hsi-chih, the latter a believer in t'ien shih
Taoism. His subordinates tried to insist on the necessity of some defense measures,
but he refused to take any, his reply being, "Defense measures? There is no need for
defense measures! I have already prayed to (the God of the) Great Way to send his
ghostly forces to our aid. Those bandits will simply be smashed!" K'uai-chi was
very soon attacked, and Wang Ning-chih, this passionate believer in t'ien shih
Taoism, together with many subordinate functionaries and his whole family, was
killed by the army of Sun En, a man who professed belief in the same doctrine of t'ien
shih Taoism.
55
Everywhere east of the Che there were many who met Sun En with supporting
troops, so that his rebel army very soon swelled to several hundred thousand,
and everywhere the aristocratic officeholders of the Hsieh and other clans that
held senior posts such as that of governor (t' ai shou) were killed. The "three W u"
at the time were accustomed to peace and security and unpracticed in war, which
made it possible for Sun En's army to wreak as much havoc as it chose, while the
local belief in superhuman sylphs and their arts only furnished grist for the mills
of the rebel forces, increasing both the size of their forces and the violence of their
attacks. (There is, traditionally, a difference of opinion as to the identity of the
"three Wu." According to the Commentary to the "Water Classic" [Shui ching chu],
they are K'uai-chi, Wu commandery, and Wu-hsing. According to the T'ung tien,
the second is not Wu commandery but Tan-yang. In either case, the reference is to
the residential center of the distinguished families and the aristocratic clans, a bread-
basket close to the capital, a political and economic center as well.) Sun En's party
are said to have called themselves "the long-lived ones" (ch' ang sheng) and to have killed,
down to and including children and grandchildren, all who refused to join them.
Their ferocious cruelty is said to have been such that, for instance, they made mince-
meat of the body of a district magistrate and fed it to his widow and his children,
beheading all who refused to eat it. Those who did join them are said to have been
ordered to gather at K' uai-chi. Women who could not take their children with them
would throw them into the water and say, "Bless you, my darling! You go to heaven
first, I shall follow after."
When the rumor got about that some of Sun En's party were in hiding in the
capital, there was panic, while in the upper reaches of the Yangtze was the huge
military force of Huan Hstian, his eye on the imperial throne: in short, the Eastern
Tsin was one step this side of collapse. By putting up a stiff fight, Liu Lao-chih and
Liu Yti (later to be Emperor Wu of the Sung) defeated Sun En at sea at the end of
400, but in 401 Sun En's forces bounced back again to create more havoc, once more
to be defeated at sea by Liu Yti at the culmination of a whole series of battles. The
success of this campaign against Sun En and his party, whose binding cord was
t'ien shih Taoism, furnished Liu Yti with the basis on which he put down Huan
Hstian, the up-river (Yangtze) warlord, and founded a dynasty that was to replace
the Tsin, that of the Sung, first of the Southern dynasties. Due note must be taken
of this fact in any consideration of the connection between the Sung dynasty and
the Buddhist church. Sun En made a third and final attempt at military conquest on
the seashore in 402, where he met both defeat and death. His partisans, for all that,
revered him as a "water sylph" (shui hsien) and continued to wage rebellion, this
time under the command of Lu Hslin, husband of his younger sister, until finally,
in 403, Liu Yli defeated him too and put him to flight over the southern seas.
56
Buddhism Confronts Confucianism and Taoism. Now at just this time the Chien-
k' ang region, struck by famine, was on the verge of starvation, and Huan Hslian's
army, bent on usurping the Eastern Tsin, was pressing hard on Chien-k'ang itself.
In Lung-an 2, during the reign of Emperor An (398), the confederation formed by
Wang Kung, Yin Chung-k' an, and Huan Hslian for the overthrow of the govern-
ment was jolted by the crushing defeat visited on Wang Kung's forces and the
consequent flight of Yin Chung-k' an and Huan Hslian to Hslin-yang. The court
at Chien-k'ang got a reprieve, but Yin Chung-k'an and his confederates, still
acknowledging the chieftaincy of Huan Hslian, remained on the lookout for an
opportunity to attack Chien-k' ang. In addition, Sun En's attack on K' uai-chi and the
brutal pillage of Chien-k'ang's southeastern corner, both mentioned above, had
court, aristocracy, and society, gentle as well as common, quaking in their boots.
It was just the time to look for a god, a non-Taoist one, that could rescue them
from these troubles and dangers. This is why belief in A valokitesvara (Kuan-shih-
yin, Kuang-shih-yin), a Buddhist object of worship, moved south and began im-
mediately to spread with such very great speed under the Eastern Tsin and the
Sung.
57
In the rebel army led by Huan Hstian and his confederates, which had come
down the Yangtze and was now menacing Chien-k' ang, two chiefs could not pos-
sibly exist side by side. Shortly, in fact, after Wang Ning-chih, the K'uai-chi chief-
tain and believing Taoist, had been killed by Sun En, whose own forces were held
together by the same Taoist cement, Huan Hslian attacked Yin Chung-k'an of
Chiang-ling and destroyed him (in 399). As another example illustrative of how, at a
time when Buddhism was widespread in aristocratic society, Taoism also had com-
mitted believers in that same society, let us merely cite the fact that Yin Chung-k'an,
a believer in t'ien shih Taoism, prayed to the spirits (kuei shen) and personally attend-
ed the sick by taking their pulse, administering medicine to them, and so on. Further-
more, the army ofHuan Hslian and Yin Chung-k'an frequently treated Hslin-yang,
facing the Yangtze at the foot of Mount Lu, on which Hui-ylian maintained his
religious community, as a base of vital importance, from which they would visit
Hui-ylian on his mountain and argue with him, or seek his help, at any rate take
care not to have this renowned monk among their enemies. Hui-ylian's stubborn
refusal, once he had taken up residence on his mountaintop, to break his vow never
to leave it, his equally stubborn refusal to yield even in the face of two warlords, and
his maintenance throughout of the strict attitude of a practicing recluse, particularly
in view of the mood of effeteness and decay that permeated the Buddhist church of
Chien-k' ang, increased the prestige of his community more and more as a fellow-
ship of unsullied religious practitioners, endowed that community with a sense of
tranquillity, and enhanced the effect and the influence that it was to exert on later
generations. This shall be retold in detail in a later chapter. Even here, however,
it bears comment that there was nothing at this time like the violent opposition
between Buddhism and Taoism that was to become so intense during the very next
historical epoch, that of the division between north and south.
A Buddhist Emperor Hopes for Rebirth in Human Form. Now Huan Hstian, who
had emerged as the victorious warlord, sailing down the Yangtze, in 403 (the
twelfth lunar month of Ytian-hsing 2) forced Emperor An to surrender his throne
and, moving him to Hstin-yang at the foot of Mount Lu, installed himself, with all
due ceremony, on the throne in his stead, taking whatever he chose in the way of gar-
dens and orchards, books and paintings, pearl and jade, and anything else he pleased,
the better to display the outward majesty of a Son of Heaven. By the fifth month
of the following year, however, he was dead, having been killed after half a year
of imperial reign by the loyalist army under the high command ofLiu Yti. Emperor
An resumed his throne and returned to Chien-k'ang, to be sure, but Liu Yti, this
commander-in-chief of a loyalist army, was busy with his own plans of usurpation.
Killing Emperor An (in 418), he then compelled Emperor Kung, whom he had
put in his place, to write an edict of abdication, becoming (in 420) Emperor Wen
of the Sung and the inaugurator of the Southern dynasties at the culmination of an
intrigue that was, to all outward appearances, a peaceful dynastic change in the
tradition-hallowed form of voluntary surrender of imperial prerogatives (shan
jang). Emperor Kung, having abdicated, was given poison, which he refused to take,
saying, "The Buddha has taught that a human being who takes his own life can never
be reborn as a human being." Thereupon he was smothered in his own bedclothes. 58
The extent of the conversion to Buddhism of the ruling house in late Tsin, in the
face of a dynastic change under the tragic conditions just described, should be
obvious. At the same time, one can detect the tenacity of peculiarly Chinese, man-
centered ideas and emotions in the emperor's wish to be reborn in human form, not
to "achieve Buddhahood," which is surely the goal ofBuddhism. Thus, setting aside
persons with a profound understanding of Buddhist doctrine, one may say that,
in general, the spread of Buddhism was as yet the spread of a religion that had
by no means reached the point of converting a human-centered Chinese nation to
an Indian Buddhism whose most pious wish was the attainment of Buddhahood, in
which rebirth in the spinning round would be severed and the person would not
be reborn even as god or man. In other words, one might just as easily say that under
the Eastern Tsin, whether for the intellectual aristocracy, for the gentry, or for the
commonalty, the rapid spread of Buddhism docs not gainsay the fact that it was
received within a framework of traditional thought, in which man was central and
the greatest weight was attached to the present. However, the idea indigenous to,
and very widespread in, ancient India, that the human spirit is immortal, and that one
spins about, being reborn in the so-called Five Courses (wu tao, panca gatayab), which
include not only man but Hell (ti yu, naraka), "hungry ghosts" (o kuei, i.e., preta),
and kept beasts (hsu sheng, i.e., tiryagyonigata), throughout the three time periods in
accordance with the good or evil of one's deeds, was accepted as the fundamental
teaching of Buddhism by all, religious and secular, noble and base, implanting deep
within them a belief fearful of rebirth in the next life.
A typical picture of the manner in which a Chinese might accept Buddhist doctrine
is the following statement about Buddhism, made by YUan Hung under the Eastern
Tsin:
Though a man may die, his spirit does not perish. Consequently, it again takes on
a form. For the good and evil one did during one's lifetime, there is in every case
a retribution. . .. Even princes, dukes, and nobles, when they observe and
consider the limits of birth, death, and retribution, do not fail to lose themselves
to terror. [Quoted from the Catalogue of the Latter Han (Hou Han chi).]
The uncertainty of rebirth in the spinning wheel seized the hearts of men living in an
age in which, what with the disturbances caused by the likes of Huan Hsiian and
Sun En, one could not get on except by killing and maiming others, or by deceiving
them and tripping them up. Furthermore, another cause of ecclesiastical degener-
ation was the war and the pillage, as well as the social insecurity and harshness of
life that they occasioned, which motivated people of no religious faith, a lot with no
positive qualities whatsoever, to enroll themselves on the sarp.gha lists for the sole
purpose of evading tax and corvee,
59
with the result that the ranks of the order
swelled and the quality of its members dropped.
Expansion and Degeneration of the Buddhist Religious Community. Now there is no
positive evidence, for the Eastern Tsin, concerning the establishment of a body of
clerical officials as an agency for the control of the swelling religious community.
If one confines oneself to attested historical fact, the only known case for this time is
that of the northern state ofCh'in, ruled by the Yao clan, in Hung-shih 7 (405). On
the other hand, in the biography of Seng-ch'ien, a Liang monk (contained in roll 6
of the Sequel to the Lives of Eminent Monks [Hsii kao seng chuan]) , one reads that
"in former times the ruling family of the Tsin were the first to appoint officers in the
sarp.gha." From this notice, as well as the fact that Seng-kung became "bishop of
Shu commandery" (Shu chiin seng cheng, cf. Hui-ch'ih's biography in roll 6, Lives
of Eminent Monks), it would seem that, in part at least, such officials were provided,
but the existing evidence points rather to the inauguration of a system of clerical
officers south of the Yangtze only under the auspices of the next dynasty, the Sung.
Rules governing the religious community, the Vinaya which was the standard for the
way of life of monks and nuns, were at the time not completely available in China.
This is the reason that the celebrated Tao-an and Hui-yiian hoped so for the com-
pletion in their own lifetimes of a set of monastic institutions based on the Vinaya,
why they took such pains to help achieve it, and why the principal aim of most
Chinese Buddhist pilgrims to India was the acquisition, and the conveyance back to
China, of the canonical monastic code.
Once the religious community expanded and the fellowship of monks and nuns
increased to the point of wielding great weight in the society, the State as a state
could no longer ignore their existence. This was particularly true in view of the fact
that Buddhism was a religion born in a foreign country, a doctrine whose goal was
escape from the world, thus inevitably certain to be in contradiction, if not in
in outright conflict, with the State power. There was also the no less inevitable con-
frontation with China's own time-hallowed and tradition-hallowed ideas, i.e., with
Confucianism. It is at this point that the Law of the King and the Law of the Buddha
must somehow take a position each vis-a-vis the other, the first evidence of which
is the essay entitled A Monk Does Not Bow Down before a King (Sha-men pu ching
wang che lun). It is also the point at which Buddhism now harmonizes, now locks
horns, with the two other principal systems of thought, Confucianism and Taoism.
Now, when a Buddhist community centered about the Eastern Tsin capital was
simultaneously increasing and degenerating, there was another Buddhist com-
munity housed on Mount Lu, separated from its fellows in the capital, who, during
the latter half of the Eastern Tsin, were the butt of the world's criticisms. The latter
community was the one led by Hui-yiian, who, shutting himself away on his
mountaintop, inherited from his master, Tao-an, an earnest religion of study, of
practice, and of religious quest, who also, as a man well trained in such Confucian
classics as the Rites of Chou (Chou li), attracted as disciples a large number of no less
earnest seekers and who, as their teacher and chief, performed all of the duties of
leadership. The mere presence of this community attracted a special regard from
the society, a fact easily understood. It is also not difficult to understand Hui-yiian's
attitude of refusing to leave his mountain in the face of importunate invitations from
the most powerful sources, as well as his recluse attitude of consistently and per-
sistently refusing to "bow down before kings" (pu ching wang che). Before proceeding
to a description and discussion of how these two religious communities, untiring in
their study of doctrine and cultivation of the pious life and led by two giants both
far removed from Chien-k'ang, the Hui-yiian just mentioned and Tao-an, Hui-
yiian's teacher and guide, now resident at Hsiang-yang, come to occupy so impor-
tant a position in the history of Chinese Buddhism, we wish first to devote a section
to the subject of feminine devotion to Buddhism, which was on the increase from
Tsin time onwards, particularly to the development of a community of nuns, to
those women who had given up domestic life for religious life and whose numbers,
from Eastern Tsin time onwards, were on the increase.
E. Development of a Community of Nuns
In the first period following the transmission of Buddhism into China, the ma-
jority of Buddhists were persons of foreign birth or those descended of such persons
but now settled and naturalized in China. The number of specifically Chinese
Buddhists in their ranks had gradually increased, but under the Han and the Three
Kingdoms (i.e., as of ca. 265) the number of Chinese in orders appears still not to
have been all that great. Under the Western Tsin (265-317) the number gradually
increased, then, under the Eastern Tsin (317-420), the number of Buddhists, lay and
clerical, in China, north as well as south, grew quite suddenly. This is due, princi-
pally, to an increased representation in the ranks oflay Buddhists of the upper classes,
including princes and nobles, aristocrats and members of powerful families, to
E :A COMMUNITY OF NUNS 417
a growing number of convents, and, connected with this latter, to gifts, from power-
ful believers, of food, clothing, and shelter, which provided the clergy with the
material security indispensable to the conduct of a religious life. Simultaneously with
this, Taoism was developing and becoming a prop in the spiritual life of the common
people, for whom social insecurity was mounting in scope and intensity, and, in close
parallel with it, a popular, Taoistic Buddhism, received as the religion of the divine,
sylphic Buddha, whose divinity and sylphdom were of a piece with Taoism, was
gaining both in the numbers and in the social diversity of its adherents.
As the number of believing Buddhists increased, the proportion of women in the
household who took to the religion presumably exceeded that of the men. This was
particularly to be expected of a family structure in which the women were, by
comparison with the men, more emotional, less intellectual, and less well educated,
and in which the father was the lord of the household. It was doubly true in the
extended, polygynous families of the upper classes that the womenfolk, more
often than not, would throw themselves wholly on some vulgar religious belief.
Most particularly, in those cases where the women, being without any independent
means oflivelihood, found themselves flung, by the death of a husband or-a most
common event in an era of social upheaval-by the disintegration of the family, into
a world of misery in which they had nothing on which to rely, they would seek
emotional support, through Taoism or Buddhism, in superhuman gods (among
whom Buddha and bodhisattvas are included). However, the increase in the number
of monasteries, which housed the male members of the safTlgha, and the frequency
with which women visited the monasteries, as well as the degree to which they
might fraternize with those same persons, tended to come under strong attack from
the vantage-point of the traditional Chinese morality, in which the woman was
supposed to stay at home, and in which there was supposed to be an unambiguous
dividing line between the sexes. For instance, early under the Eastern Tsin, that is,
at the beginning of the fourth century, Ko Hung composed the Pao p'u tzu, whose
"external volume" (wai p'ien) contains a chapter entitled "Lament for Error" (Chi
miu), one that bewails the decline of propriety. In it one finds the following com-
ment:
Such are the customs nowadays that the women now spend the night within
another's gate, now brave the dark of night to come home, or indulge in sport in
the Buddhist convents, . . .
Added to the degenerate manners of the times, the women's "indulgence in sport
in the Buddhist convents" (which probably includes persons going for worship and
for religious instruction at the hands of the safTlgha) is singled out for attack as one
evidence of moral decline. By Tsin times, once Buddhism had seeped into both upper
and lower society, once the religious community expanded, and once the Chinese
members of the order increased in number, it was inevitable that there should also
be an increase in the number of women in orders, particularly of women who had
lost husbands or children and who shaved their heads and left their households to
assuage their unhappiness. Under the Liang, the Lives of Renowned Monks (Ming
seng chuan) and the Lives of Eminent Monks (Kao seng chuan) were joined by the
Lives of the (Pi-ch'iu-ni chuan), the work of Pao-ch'ang, which records the
biographies of sixty-five distinguished nuns ranging from the Western Tsin to the
T'ien-chien era of the Liang (502-520).
Now, according to the Lives of the the first Chinese nun was Ching-
chien, who dates to the Western Tsin.
1
Ching-chien was originally a member of the
Chung clan of P'eng-ch'eng. P'eng-ch'eng had been Buddhist mission territory
since the time of Prince Ying of Ch'u, and Ching-chien's father was governor
(t'ai shou) ofWu-wei, a key point in the Kansu corridor along which Buddhism was
coming into China. She was obviously a person of upper-class origins, for, when as
a widow she became obliged to support herself, she did so by giving instruction in
lute-playing and calligraphy to the sons and daughters of the aristocracy who were,
in any case, her regular social contacts. Sometime during Chien-shing (313-316),
however, when the sramal).a Fa-hsing came to Lo-yang and set up, by the western
gate of the palace wall, a Buddhist edifice in which he propagated the Dharma, hear-
ing him preach opened her eyes to the Buddha's teachings. Next, since there was as
yet in China no complete religious code for she had the Ten Restraints
(shih chith, dasa administered to her by an upadhyaya, i.e., by a male
member of the sarp.gha, then, shaving her head and becoming a full-fledged nun,
she constructed the Convent of the Bamboo Grove (chu lin ssu) in the company
of twenty-four colleagues and practiced the religious life with them there. The
who functioned as upadhyaya, administering was a foreign
sramal).a appearing in the Chinese sources as "the upadhyaya Chih-shan," a resident
of Kashmir who late in Yung-chia (i.e., in or before 313) had come to China, but
who in 317 returned to his former country. Then, during the Hsien-k'ang period of
the Eastern Tsin (335-342, corresponding to the Chien-wu period of the northern
states of the Latter Chao ruled over by Shih Hu), the nuns were on the point of
being ordained at the altar set up in Sheng-p'ing 1 (357) by the foreign sramal).a "T' an-
mo-chieh-to" (Dharmakartr ?) according to the Karmavacana and the
of the Mahasarp.ghikas, brought back from Yiieh-chih country by Seng-chien, when
the "Tsin (i. e., probably Chinese) sramal).a" Shih Tao-ch'ang, leveling the charge
that, according to the Chieh yin yuan ching, the ordination ceremony was not a valid
one, moved the ceremony to a boat on the Ssu and ordained four nuns, including
Ching-chien, there. They were thus the first nuns to be ordained in China. Late in
Sheng-p'ing under the Eastern Tsin (357-362, by which time in North China the
Latter Chao had ceased to exist and the new state was that of the Former Ch'in, ruled
over by Fu Chien), at the age of seventy, she died, but while she lived the spread of
her teaching and conversion throughout North China had been like a wind bending
the grass. In particular, the expression that she "cultivated a fellowship and nurtured
a multitude" makes it clear that not a few aspirants to the fellowship of nuns were
trained by her.
One who deserves to be singled out is An Ling-shou, a pupil of hers whose aspira-
E :A COMMUNITY OF NUNS 419
tion to the religious life was of very early date and quite intense, whose father had
been a civil servant under the Latter Chao, itself a state devoted to the Buddhist
faith. Then, aided by the encouragements ofFo-t'u-ch' eng, she did in fact become a
nun, in which capacity she won the esteem and veneration of both Shih Lo and Shih
Hu and built a number of convents, the best known being the Chien-hsien-ssu
("Convent for the Establishment of Excellence"), herself seeing to the ordination of
. more than two hundred nuns. She enjoyed the esteem not only of the kings of the
Latter Chao but of Fo-t' u-ch' eng himself, who was also the object of the highest
respect on the part of everyone, high and low, in the kingdom of Chao, and whose
esteem for her was, no doubt, due in part to the high hopes he had in her.
Now, when the Lives of the mentions Ching-chien as the first Buddhist
nun on Chinese soil, it means it in the sense of a nun who had undergone formal
ordination, for before her there had been not a few women who had gone to the
simple extent of leaving household life, shaving their heads, vowing to keep the
Five Restraints or the Ten Restraints as the case might be, and becoming nuns in
that limited sense. In fact, the psychopathic tyrant Shih Hu is said to have taken a
beautiful nun into his palace, where, after debauching her to his heart's content, he
killed her (c roll106 of the Book of Tsin). Of course, not too many conclusions may
be drawn from the behavior of a psychopathic tyrant, yet it is clear from this that
there were already not a few female members of the sarp.gha in the North China of
the time, but that there was as yet no strict or formal ordination that,
consequently, there were no fully binding regulations governing the solemn religious
life for a community of nuns. For these reasons, it was impossible for the entire
community of nuns to adhere to a uniform set of rules based on the Vinaya. In
addition, there was a steadily increasing number of women who shaved their heads
and took orders to escape the upheavals of war or the hardships of forced labor and to
live a quiet, stable life. All of this makes it likely that an atmosphere of decay made
itself felt even in the order of nuns. (For details, see the account in Fo-t'u-ch'eng's
biography of Shih Hu's proposal to screen the sarp.gha.d) This, at the same time, is
probably why Tao-an and Chu Fa-t'ai, two of Fo-t' u-ch'eng's disciples who were
also zealous practitioners of monastic discipline, were so exercised about the procure-
ment of a complete code for nuns, to say nothing of monks. (C Ch'u san tsang chi
chi 11 for the titles of documents having to do with the monastic code.)
In the period spanning the end of the Latter Chao and the reign ofFu Chien of the
Former Ch'in (roughly 330-385), Chih-hsien, a nun from Ch'ang-shan, which was
also Tao-an's place of origin, in the face of oppressive opposition from the local
governor who was a believer in Huang-Lao Taoism, and who detested the Buddhist
clergy, was so successful at proselytization that she gained over a hundred adherents.
When Fu Chien ascended the throne, her religious activity was aided by his own
profound faith and religious commitment, which were such that he conferred on
her the gift of an embroidered Later she engaged in evangelistic work at the
Western Convent (hsi ssu) in Ssu-chou, dying some time in T'ai-ho (366-370) at the
age of seventy.
Another nun, Tao-hsing, whose residence was the Eastern Convent (tung ssu) in
Lo-yang, who had an ability for "pure talk," and who was particularly well versed
in the is regarded as the first to give public readings of
Buddhist scriptures. In fact , under her influence some persons who, in devotion to
a female adept of the time, had become believers in the "Huang-Lao" techniques of
breath control are said to have abandoned this belief.
Above we have told of nuns who achieved renown about the middle of the fourth
century in North China. South of the Yangtze, on the other hand, in the lands of the
Eastern Tsin, as early as the reign of Emperor Ming (r. 323-325), Tao-jung, who
made her home in the Wu-chiang-ssu ("Crow River Convent") at Li-yang (the
present Ho hsien in Anhwei), southwest of Chien-k'ang, was an able diviner who
knew the happy or unhappy outcome of things well in advance, and who, we are
told, was so honored by the world at large that she was known as a "saint" (sheng),
but there is no grounds for supposing that she was a fully and formally ordained
Still, by the time of Emperor Chien-wen (r. 317-372), she was invited to
court, where, commanded to divine the origin of certain portents, she recommended
a seven-day fast, complete with the Eight Abstentions, at the end of which the
portents were exorcised. The emperor, in his profound belief and in the esteem in
which he held the lady, built for her the Convent of the New Grove (hsin lin ssu),
which he endowed lavishly, and his successor, Emperor Hsiao-wu (r. 373-395), had
even greater faith and veneration for the lady. During T'ai-yi.ian (376-395), no one
knew where she was, but the emperor commanded that her robes and alms bowl
be buried by the side of the convent. Whereas before the reign of Emperor Chien-
wen Taoist practitioners had been employed at court for purposes of exorcism and
divination, "thereafter," so the biography tells us, "the Tsin glorified and venerated
the Path of the Buddha, which was the doing of (Tao-)jung." She is one of the
persons who opened the way for the expansion at court of the power of Buddhist
nuns during the reigns of emperors Chien-wen and Hsiao-wu, but it is worthy of
note that she was a Taoistic member of the (cf. roll 1, Lives of the

During the reigns of the next two sovereigns, emperors K'ang (r. 343-344) and
Mu (r. 345-361), partially with the aid of the piously Buddhist Ho clan, which was
related by marriage to the reigning family, the community of nuns in Chien-k'ang
increased at great speed. When K'ang Ming-kan, whom "sons and daughters north
of the River revered as a teacher (with the same confidence) as (they might have
when) going home," who was devoted to the Avalokitesvara scripture, and who was
a strict and stern observer of the religious code, crossed the Yangtze with Hui-chan
and others, ten in all, and paid a visit to the zealously Buddhist minister of state, Ho
Ch'ung, the latter at a glance held her in the gravest esteem. Since at the time there
were no nunneries in Chien-k'ang, he is said to have donated his own home, which
became the Chien-fu-ssu ("Convent for the Establishment of Merit"), their new
residence. It is from this time that the activities of Buddhist nuns at Chien-k'ang
become noticeable, as do, gradually, the abuses connected with those activities.
E : A COMMUNITY OF NUNS 421
In Yung-ho 10, during the reign of the succeeding sovereign, Emperor Mu (354),
there appeared the first nuns native to Chien-k'ang, such as T'an-pei, who was
praised both by Emperor Mu and by his consort, the Lady Ho, as one with whom
"few in the capital can compare," for whom Empress Ho built the Yung-
an-ssu ("Convent ofEternal Tranquillity," more commonly known as the "Convent
of Empress Ho" [ ho hou ssu]), to which three hundred gathered from far and near, and
who in 396 died at the age of seventy-three (or, possibly, -two). Her pupil, T'an-lo,
following in her mistress's footsteps, built a four-storied stupa, a lecture-hall, and
cells, also fashioned a supine imagee and a hall to the Seven Buddhas, complete with
niches. (For both, c rolll, Lives of the
By the time of emperors Chien-wen (r. 371-372) and Hsiao-wu (r. 373-396), the
numbers and activities of the nuns had become increasingly evident. As was true of
the the fellowship of nuns south of the Yangtze experienced a sudden
growth about this time, benefiting from the material aid of the devout aristocracy,
beginning with the reigning family and the Ho clan, but it is particularly true of the
nuns that they owed a great debt to the Buddhist faith of empresses. The Lady
Ch' u, who was consort to Emperor K' ang, built the Y en-hsing-ssu in Chien-yiian
2 (344), and it is also reported of her that she "burnt incense in a tabernacle of the
Buddha."
2
The Lady Ho, this one the daughter of Ho Chun who became the
consort of Emperor Mu, probably under the influence of her thoroughly Buddhist
family, built the "Convent of Empress Ho" for T'an-pei, as has already been
said.
3
The Lady Wang, consort to Emperor Hsiao-wu, in her admiration of the
superior conduct of the nun Tao-ch'iung (originally ofTan-yang, thoroughly versed
in classics and histories in her earlier years), "performed all manner of auspicious
ceremonies in this convent, and the wives and daughters of the rich and high-
born vied with one another to associate with her,"
4
or so it is said. Since of the
nuns of the time most were scions of "good families," women with a high degree
of education,
5
they maintained a lively association with the whole stratum ofladies
ofhigh birth, not excluding the empress herself, thus infusing the breeze ofBuddhist
devotion into the women's quarters of the imperial palace. On the other hand, the
case ofTao-jung is one of a nun-magician who, by exorcising an evil omen in the
palace, gained the respect and faith of Emperor Chien-wen and prevailed upon the
reigning family to transfer its religious allegiance from Taoism to Buddhism.
"Thereafter the Tsin plainly venerated the Buddha, which was the doing of Tao-
jung."6
About the time the community of nuns was expanding, at court the great wielders
of power, men such as Hsieh An, passed on, as did the Lady Ch'u, the Dowager
Empress Ch'ung-te, who as dowager had been the power behind the throne through
five reigns and who died in T'ai-yiian 9 (384). After their deaths, Ssu-ma Tao-tzu,
younger brother of Emperor Hsiao-wu, assumed the reins of government, reaching
the point where "his power was enough to overturn All-under Heaven." Since,
however, as was already pointed out in the previous section, both the emperor and
brother Tao-tzu were addicted to wine and women to the utter neglect of their
political duties, government itself was disrupted and the court was saturated with
the atmosphere of decay. Given the nature of the times, the nuns who had the run of
the palace were corrupted by the same extravagant style of life, and there were
many who could not even keep the Five Restraints (wu chieh, paficasila). Also, as
Tao-Tzu appointed base types to high posts, there were even among the clergy
a fe,w who recommended their own favorites and who manipulated the corrupt
government from behind the scenes.
7
Chih Miao-yin was in that sense a model

Miao-yin, gaining the adherence of the Emperor Hsiao-wu and his brother Tao-
tzu, acquired such power that "there was no limit to the presented her,
and her wealth would have been enough to fill cities and towns."
8
Taking advantage
ofher position, when Wang Kuo-pao, who by now was Tao-tzu's right arm, wield-
;ng an overwhelming authority, was attacked, at Kuo-pao's request she pleaded his
loyalty and his devotion to Ch'en Shu-yuan, the crown prince's mother, and saved
him from dismissal.
9
Further, when it came to the appointment of a successor to a
key post, that of censor ofChing-chou, the local warlord, Huan Hsiian, who opposed
the court's nominee, Wang Kung, under the guise of holding him in great vener-
ation, wishing instead to get the censorate for Yin Chung-k' an, a man of slight
ability whom he thought he could easily sway, sent a messenger in haste to Miao-
yin to leave the matter in her hands. When, at length, Miao-yin was questioned on
this point by Emperor Hsiao-wu, she is said in fact to have recommended Yin
Chung-k'an and to have succeeded in her purpose. The nun Miao-yin, therefore,
was a person whose "authority was enough to overturn a dynasty, her imposing
might effective within and without [the church)."
10
It is evident that this
who had the run of the palace because she was a religieuse, and who was able to be in
constant communication with both the emperor and the ladies' quarters, became
an object of manipulation on the part of ministers whose motives were less than pure,
then, herself operating behind the scenes of a corrupted political world, wielded
enough power to affect decisively the government of a whole State. This is why loy-
al and upright public servants, concerned for the realm and bemoaning the political
disarray, found themselves obliged to remonstrate about the submersion of every-
thing and everyone in the Buddhist faith and to cry out for the purging of the
religious community.
Such are the conditions under which the community of nuns expanded on Chinese
soil, but that community's greatest concern remained the acquisition of a code for
As already stated, when the first Ching-chien, first went to
Fa-shih to request ordination at his hands, (Fa-)shih said to her, "In the Western
Regions there are two fellowships, one of men, one of women, but in this land
[of China) the rules [governing the are not yet complete," going on to
remark that, according to what he had heard from a foreigner, the code of the
consisting of five hundred restraints, was different from that of the
then bidding her put the question to a Kashmiri monk, the upadhyaya "Chih-shan."
Since the latter told her that "a nun is subject to ten restraints, which a senior monk
may administer to her," she had the Ten Restraints (shih chieh, dasa
administered to her by him, the first woman to do so.
However, she was still not, from the accepted Buddhist point of view, a fully
ordained Full ordination was not to take place in China until later, in
Sheng-p'ing 1 (357), when, on the basis of the Saq1ghinikarmavaca and
obtained, as chance would have it, during Hsien-k'ang (335-343) by Seng-chien in
Yi.ieh-chih country, the foreign sramai).a Dharmakartr (?) attempted to erect an
altar. However, the Chinese monk Tao-ch'ang repudiated his attempt, saying, "This
Dharma is incomplete!" and he had no choice but to set a boat afloat on the Ssu and
to administer the ordination aboard it. Ching-chien, ordained at the altar on this
boat, became thus the first on Chinese soil.
11
One may deduce for oneself
the lengths to which the nuns of the time, when the church was just beginning
in China, went to get the code. The brought back
with him by Seng-chien, according to one source, was translated at Lo-yang in
Sheng-p'ing 1 (357),
12
but there is no evidence of its spread, and, after no less than
before, many members of the saq1gha were at considerable pains and much effort
to acquire the nun's
In particular, as already indicated above, in the Buddhist community of the
Eastern Tsin, south of the Yangtze, from the latter half of the fourth century onwards,
what with the ordination of local women and the southward trek of nuns from
North China, the was on the increase. When this happened, not
only did it come under attack as an undesirable manifestation from the standpoint
of traditional Confucian morality, but in addition both monks and nuns allied
themselves with the aristocracy, or unlettered commoners would enter the saq1gha
to escape the corvee, the end result of all of which was the appearance within the
Buddhist religious community of tendencies toward decay, bringing on attacks
from intellectuals and statesmen both.
Since, in particular, the familiarity and the alliance between the
on the one hand and the reigning family and the ladies' quarters on the other hand
led, inevitably, to a variety of abuses and, in turn, to attacks on them, the quest on
the part of the strict practitioners occupying positions of leadership within the
Buddhist community itself for a code not only for monks but also for nuns, as well
as the demand on their part for the self-reform of the religious community in keep-
ing with the Vinaya, was a vigorous one. Chu Fa-t'ai (320-387), a colleague of the
celebrated Tao-an who parted with him to come to Chien-k'ang, there to engage in
teaching and conversion, was one such person. In the preface to a complete account
of the translation of the (Pi-ch' iu-ni chieh pen so ch'u pen mo hsu),
presumed to be a work dating to about 382 or 383, when he was already past sixty,
he mentions that adherence to the religious code on the part of is harder
and stricter than for male members of the saq1gha, then goes on to tell of his own
prolonged but fruitless efforts to obtain a code that was both accurate and
complete. At last, however, he was delighted to obtain the
translated in Ch' ang-an late in the 370s.
Yet, the heart of woman is weak and much given to caprice. The Buddha, under-
standing perfectly that the minute measures taken to counter it must be precise,
therefore established restraints [chieh, Sila], in every case double those for men.
Since the Great Dharma flowed higher, it is now more than five hundred years.
[This calculation is based, presumably, on the assumption that the introduction of
Buddhism to China dates to 126 B.C., the year in which Chang Ch'ien returned
from his expedition, or to 121 B.c., when the statue of the "golden man," used in
sacrifices to Heaven, was brought back from the court of Hsiu-ch'u, king of the
Hsiung-nu.] The great restraints of the were now complete with this
text. [In fact,] to judge by it, it would have been difficult to find such a person
even among gentlemen of the Path in foreign countries.i [C Ch'u san tsang chi
chi 11.]
Chu Fa-t'ai proceeds: "Recently, in the capital at Chien-k'ang, I attained the
position of teacher, giving instruction in Buddhist doctrine. At the same time,
observing that there was no code for the in this land, I sought one but was
never able to find a complete one. Once before, seeking the code of the
ta lu ching,k by mistake I got the medical prescriptions [yao fang,
instead, and[, mistaking them for a code,] kept them in my possession more
than twenty years, for there was no one to translate them. More recently, when
attempting to get them translated, I became aware that they are not the
code. This made me more poignantly aware than ever before of how difficult it is to
procure Buddhist scriptures from the west and to get them translated."
1
Such are
the words of infinite regret he has left behind for us.
13
Fa-t'ai's fellow-pupil, Tao-an, tells us in his preface to the Dasabhumika (Chien pei
ching hsu, preserved in Ch'u san tsang chi chi 9) that, when he heard from Hui-ch'ang
of Liang-chou (Kansu) that there was a code of five hundred silas for he
eagerly hoped to have it brought to China: "I have no idea why this has never come
[to China]. Its [procurement] is of all matters by far the most urgent. Unless all
four fellowships are present in full force, the Great Conversion [sc. to Buddhism]
will have gaps."
14
n This will give one an idea of the urgent necessity ascribed by the
leaders of the Buddhist community under the Eastern Tsin to the procurement of a
The one with the five hundred silas of which Tao-an had
heard the rumor that it was available in Liang-chou was probably sent later by Hui-
ch'ang to Fa-t'ai, then in Chien-k'ang, through Tao-an, who at the time was at
Hsiang-yang, just as happened to the Kuang tsan ching (a partial translation of the
PaiicaviYJ1Satis.p.p.). Hui-ch'ang's copy, however, which was not complete came to
be regarded by subsequent generations as a forgery.
Of course, under these conditions of increase in the numbers of the
saip.gha, whether for the ordination of fully qualified as Buddhist nuns
and formally recognized as such by the Buddhist community or merely for the
purposes of the upavasatha (a convocation at which the fellowship would recite the
Vinaya and reflect on whether or not they had themselves been guilty of violations),
a was an absolute necessity. This, no doubt, is why there was
one current, five hundred Silas under the title Pi-ch'iu-ni chieh pen, even in the Chien-
k' ang area. The translation was said to be the work of Ni-li, a ch' ang tao shih (in-
structeur religieux), presumably a popular mass homilist and the disciple of the
"Dharma-master who occupied the high throne" (kao tso fa shih), i.e., of Srimitra,
who, though he knew no Chinese, won the allegiance of such aristocrats of first
rank as Wang Tao. It is allegedly thanks to the instructions ofSrimitra that the "In-
die chants," intoned with a loud voice (kao sheng fan-pai) and learned by Mi-li,
became current in the lands ruled over by the Southern dynasties. (The comment
in the Lives of Eminent Monks on the instructeurs religieux says that the instructeurs
are called by the name "ch' ang tao because, in sum, they propagate the Truth of the
Dharma, thus opening up and guiding the hearts of many.")1
5
Since, however, this
in five hundred articles, said to have been translated by Mi-li,
came under severe attack from such first-ranking scholar-monks as Chih Tun and
Chu Fa-t'ai as something not conceivably instituted by the Buddha Himself, it never
circulated; on the contrary, it eventually became extinct. Even Tao-an did not regard
it as a genuine for in his catalogue he lists it among the "spu-
rious scriptures" (yi ching) with the following comment: "Great [Code of]
Restraints (Ta pi-ch'iu-ni chieh), transmitted by Mi-li. One roll. Lost."
16
Chu Fa-t' ai goes on to say, "Last year I asked a foreign gentleman to translate
it, but, as it turns out, the translation was not a perfect one, having gaps. The cat-
alogue of five hundred silas obtained in Liang-chou by Hui-ch' ang and sent on by him
was also, if it comes to that, a forgery, shallow and unimaginative, scarcely the
work of the Buddha."
17
What Chu Fa-t'ai got to his delight after a not very long
wait-though in his eagerness for it he had felt like a man waiting for water in a
drought-was the obtained by Seng-ch'un, during
his stay as a student in Kucha, from Buddhajanman (?), a monk of the highest rank
in the latter country, who was charged with the control and guidance ofboth monks
and nuns, then translated late in 379 at Ch' ang-an by Dharmaji (?), Chu Fo-nien,
Hui-ch'ang, and others. That was the very year in which Tao-an, Chu Fa-t'ai's re-
spected colleague, was brought, upon the fall ofHsiang-yang, to Ch'ang-an, where
he functioned as an advisor in religious matters to Fu Chien, king of the Former
Ch'in, whose respect and veneration he enjoyed. A person as committed as Tao-an
was to the strict control of the religious order presumably did not neglect to send the
newly translated to his comrades Tao-yu and Chu Fa-t'ai in
Chien-k'ang. The likelihood is that the latter, about the year 380, obtained from the
Buddhist community in Ch'ang-an and read, with a delight bordering on insanity,
a copy of the newly translated the arrival of which was for him
an occasion for a joy surpassing all others. Already past sixty, he had what amounted
to a position ofleadership in the Buddhist community of Chien-k' ang as well as the
unqualified faith of the court.
In Chien-k'ang, as the convents, and the nuns inhabiting them, gradually in-
creased, a majority of the latter presumably desired for themselves formal ordination
in strict keeping with the code of the At the same time, this was the very
midst of a historical period in which, in the closeness of their contacts with the
court and its powerful servants, the nuns' attitude toward life, in terms of the relig-
ious code, became pronouncedly more degenerate and this, in turn, brought on the
adverse comments of intellectuals. This must have seem.ed a gift from the Buddha
Himself, at least in the view of Chu Fa-t' ai, a rigorous practitioner of the Path of the
Buddha, whose practice combined adherence to the monastic code (Sila, chieh),
concentration (samadhi, ting), and wisdom (prajnii, hui), and who had come to be
looked up to as the leader of the Buddhist community of Chien-k'ang. To repeat
some of the remarks cited above,
Since the Saint[ed Buddha] is skilled at saving others, it is unlikely that He should
reject anyone at all. Yet, the heart of woman is weak and much given to caprice.
The Buddha, understanding perfectly that the minute measures taken to counter
it must be precise, therefore established restraints, in every case double those for
men. Since the Great Dharma flowed hither, it is now more than flve hundred
years[, although the code in flve hundred articles was for a long time
not available here], and the great restraints of the are now complete with
this text. In fact, to judge by it, it would have been difficult to flnd even among
gentlemen of the Path in foreign countries anyone whose conduct and under-
standing could match this code.
18
In these words one may deduce the intensity of his regrets, the depth of his joy,
and the extent of his expectations for the rectiflcation of the religious community
by recourse to a valid religious code.
Translation and Dissemination of Hlnayiina Scriptures. As there will be occasion to
say again in a later chapter, there took place about this time an epoch-making event
endowing the Buddhist community with a totally new flavor. About the time of
Tao-an's arrival in Ch' ang-an, there began a stream of Hinayana masters coming
into Ch'ang-an, principally from the Kashmir area, and the translation of the
Hinayana Tripitaka-Vinaya, Sutra, and Abhidharma-proceeded apace. Before
long, Hinayana Buddhism was being propagated south of the Yangtze as well,
creating its own believers and damning the Mahayana scriptures, including the
Prajiiaparamita, as the work of the Devil, preaching also that the sole justifled object
of worship was the Sakyabuddha and He alone, that worship of the Buddhas of the
Ten Quarters, as advocated by the Mahayana, was improper. This attitude and its
corollary, the argument that the Mahayana is not the Word of the Buddha, created,
at the very least, waves in a Chinese Buddhist community plainly leaning toward,
and already guite well advanced in, Mahayana belief. This whole development,
coupled with the impatient dismissal of the Hinayana on the part of the Mahayana
scholar (and Hinayana convert) Kumarajiva, made clear the distinction, even the
rivalry, between Hinayana and Mahayana to a community that until about Tao-an's
time had regarded the two as but shadings of the same Buddhist religion. To name
only one Hinayana scholar who evangelized south of the Yangtze, Sarp.ghadeva
(whose name appears occasionally in Chinese translation as chung t'ien, the "god of
the multitude"), a Kashmiri monk who, coming to Ch' ang-an when Tao-an was liv-
ing there, delighted the latter with his translations of the Agamas and of treatises
ofSarvastivada tendency, then, when Tao-an was dead and North China in turmoil
after the collapse of the Former Ch'in, fled for a time as a refugee to the Lo-yang
region, later went at Hui-yiian's invitation to Mount Lu, where he translated the
Abhidharmahrdaya among other things (in 391), proceeding thence to Chien-k'ang
(in 397), where, under the sponsorship of such influential aristocrats as Wang Hsiin,
he fostered Hinayana scholarship on a broad scale and, toward the end of the Eastern
Tsin, laid the foundations for the Hinayana south of the Yangtze.
Next, there was another Kashmiri specialist in Hinayana scholarship, Dharma-
yasas, who came to Kuang-chou (Canton) to evangelize, then, sometime in Yi-hsi
(405-418), entered Ch'ang-an, where he also evangelized and engaged in scriptural
translation, winning the allegiance of the Yao clan, the rulers of the Latter Ch'in,
next went south again, this time to the Hsin-ssu in Chiang-ling, where again he
preached, finally, under the (Liu-)Sung, sometime during Yiian-chia (424-453),
returned to Central Asia. Already in his Canton days Dharmayasas was eighty-five,
bringing in tow the same number of disciples, one of whom, Fa-tu, son of a non-
Chinese merchant engaged in commerce in and around Canton, preached to monks
and nuns after Dharmayasas's return to the land of his origin, forbidding them to
read the Mahayana scriptures and requiring them to study the Hinayana exclusively,
telling them there were no Buddhas in the ten quarters and ordering them to wor-
ship the Sakyabuddha alone, making them use copper alms bowls for their meals,
and otherwise spreading practices indigenous to the homeland of Buddhism but alien
to China. Among his adherents in Sung times were the nuns Fa-hung and P'u-ming,
the former being the daughter ofYen Chiin, one-time magistrate ofTan-yang, the
latter the daughter of Chang Mu, censor of Chiao-chou (Kiaochow). Even in Liang
times such metropolitan nuns as Hsiian-yeh and Hung-kuang put into practice the
instructions left behind by him, and in this way his believing adherents spread
throughout the entire community of Buddhist nuns in the east country.
19
South of the Yangtze late in the Eastern Tsin, there was a growing demand in the
community of nuns for a valid religious code, a demand that was eventually to be
fulfilled, and there was also an active Hinayana evangelism. The two combined to
produce Hinayana adherents, who, whether monks or nuns, in their zeal to be loyal
to a religious code that they believed to have been devised by the Buddha Himself,
chose an organized religious group life on the Indian model, something radically
different from the Chinese way of life and likely, on that account, to bring them
into conflict with traditional Chinese society where the "doctrine of propriety"
was concerned. This tendency was particularly pronounced among the nuns. Also,
the nuns came to occupy a wide area in the region of Canton.
With the arrival of the Liu-Sung era, the numbers of the in-
creased even more, so that even the Lives of the can record the biographies
of twenty-three for this period, as against thirteen for both Tsin combined. The
community of nuns also takes organized shape, and it is from this time that the
historical sources speak of nuns in officially designated positions in the
sarp.gha and of the three highest, State-appointed officials (san kang) among nuns as
well. Also, in Yiian-chia 6 (429) and 10 (433) a foreign sea-captain named Nandi
brought with him more than ten nuns from Lion Land (shih tzu kuo, sirJ1halii, i.e.,
Ceylon).
20
Until then China's nuns south of the Yangtze, having had no
upiidhyiiyikii until the arrival of these foreign had felt uneasy about being
ordained as by as an expedient and because they had no other
choice. Such nuns as Hui-kuo and Ching-yin, both of the Ching-fu-ssu ("Convent
of Great Merit"), put the matter up to GuQ.avarman, a foreign monk thoroughly
versed in the Vinaya: "Last year, the sixth [ofYiian-chia, i.e., 429], eight
came to the capital, saying to us upon arrival, 'If there have been no in the
land of Sung, how has the ordination of the two fellowships (of monks and nuns)
been possible?' We very much fear that the ordination of is imperfect."
GuQ.avarman told them that, in that case, there could be no objection to their ordi-
nation at the hands of However, when the entreated him, saying
that they wished to be reordained, GuQ.avarman agreed, saying that their wish to
reassure themselves was most commendable, and the result was an increase in the
number of properly qualified members of the However, he died
before he could fulfill the request.
21
These are the circumstances under which Ceylonese came to China in
Yiian-chia 10 (433). After his death, his disciple Sarp.ghavarman succeeded him,
and the number of monks and nuns ordained by this latter mounted to several
hundreds, so it is said.
22
Since reordi11ation "improved their disciplined moral
quality," candidates for reordination vied with one another to place themselves
under his tutelage. On this account monastic institutions became disarrayed, and
the religious authorities had no choice but to place strict limits on reordination.
23
In this way, the ordination of nuns became a widespread phenomenon and
the number of nuns also increased, producing from within their ranks certain
ones significant enough to be singled out for praise in the Lives of the
Still, in China, where the position of women is subservient to that of men, whatever
anyone may say, there were, even among the nuns, a certain number who could be
used by male powerholders to their own advantage, as well as others who would
curry favor with the latter, and, finally, some nuns who might even be used by
unscrupulous men as playthings. For instance, in Liu- Sung times, it is said that
Ts'ai Hsing-tsung took as his concubine a beautiful nun from the Convent of
Empress Ho (Ho hou ssu). For another, Yi-hsiian, prince of the southern com-
mandery (nan chun) is said to have "kept many palace ladies, having more than a
thousand in the rear apartments and several hundreds of nun-biddies." For a third,
Liu Tao-ch'an is reported to have driven in his carriage with a nun passenger, for
which he was censured by some officials.
24
This is one of the reasons for which the
increases in the in a society in which women were expected to be
subservient to men brought on, thanks to these same men, a deterioration in the
manners and morals of the itself.
At any rate, the fellowship of the which began in China quite
suddenly late under the Western Tsin, became firmly established in the period
spanning the latter half of the Eastern Tsin and the Sung dynasty of the Liu clan.
A religious code in writing, the very standard by which they lived, was put in
proper order, they had opportunities to associate with from the homeland
of Buddhism itself, and the result was a genuine, meaningful development, as well
as a presentation to aristocratic society of the whole question of the moral standards
of the For the history of the development in China of a community
of formally ordained Buddhist nuns, the period of the Eastern Tsin is one of vital
importance to the whole process.
F. The Westward Pilgrimage of Chinese Buddhists
in Quest of the Dharma
Beginning with the late Western Tsin, by which time Buddhism, which had come
from abroad, had already maintained itself in China until into the fourth century,
the acceptance and worship of Buddhism on the part of persons etlmically Chinese
had at length become more common, and there was also an increase in the number
of intellectuals among them who took an interest in the foreign religion. Then, once
the court of the Eastern Tsin was established south of the Yangtze, with its capital
at Chien-k'ang, Buddhist proselytization spread at great speed in China both north
and south. South of the Yangtze in particular, Buddhism began to pervade the
society of the intellectual aristocracy, whether as a matter of abstract doctrine or as
a matter of living faith, and it is an indisputable fact that by the late Eastern Tsin,
that is, by the latter half of the fourth century, a Buddhism now hand-in-glove with
the aristocracy was plainly and simultaneously characterized by both glory and
degeneracy, while, also at the same time, devout faith in Buddhism was steadily and
speedily mounting.
Another contemporaneous development, this one in North China, was the spread
of Buddhism throughout the society, Chinese as well as non-Chinese, gentle as well
as common. This was due to three circumstances, viz., (1) the deep Buddhist faith of a
succession of non-Chinese hegemons, the Shih of the Latter Chao, the Fu of the
Former Ch'in, and the Yao of the Latter Ch'in; (2) the predominantly Buddhist
character of the foreigners coming into China, even from earlier times, by way of
Central Asia; (3) the continued and vigorous Buddhist activities consequent upon
the above, those of translation and dissemination of new Buddhist scriptures. (In
connection with the second of these, it would probably not be out of place to
surmise that there were not a few Buddhists among the Chinese-born children and
grandchildren of foreigners settled and naturalized in China and at home both in
Chinese and in the language of their ancestors.) It is from the midst of this rapid rise
of Buddhism in China over a broad area, both north and south, that there emerges
a group of Buddhists who set out for Central Asia and India on pilgrimage and for
religious study.
As has already been stated, as early as the third century, about the time of the
initial triumph of Prajfiaparamita scholarship in China, Chu Shih-hsing, of the
kingdom of Wei, spent some time studying in Khotan (having set out in 260),
whither he had gone to get a complete text of the original scripture. As has also been
stated, the Paficavi1J1atis.p.p. sent back by him was translated in 291 by Chu Shu-lan
and others (under the title Fang kuang po-jo-po-lo-mi ching), and thus was established
the scholarly vogue that was to lead to the eventual triumph of Prajfiaparamita
scholarship. As has also been told in quite some detail, for a period of forty-some
years, overlapping with this translation of the Paficavi1J1atis.p.p.
1
in such cultural
centers of the Western Tsin as Ch'ang-an and Lo-yang, a Yueh-chih
born in Tun-huang, effected such colossal and unprecedented achievements in
scriptural translation that he is praised in these words: "The wide spread of Buddhism
throughout China was the work For all that he was himself born
in Tun-huang, that is, in China's western marches, to a family of naturalized non-
Chinese, still he set out on pilgrimage for Central Asia, where he spent a period of
time in study, and whence he brought back a large number of scriptures, achieving
with his broad knowledge of the languages involved, both Chinese and non-Chinese,
his great work of translation. These achievements are probably what made the
Chinese Buddhists themselves aware of the necessity of pilgrimages to Central Asia
and of extended study in that area and what inspired in them. the determination to
volunteer for a heroic feat that at the time could be performed only at the risk of
one's life.
No less of a role in exciting the future enthusiasm for the study of Buddhism in
its original homeland and for the acquisition of Buddhist scriptures in the original
languages on the part of committed scholar-monks during the fourth century,
when Buddhism was experiencing a triumph in China, was played, presumably, by
Tao-an, who, as the most committed Chinese Buddhist scholar ofhis age, making his
home first in North China, then in Hsiang-yang under the rule of the Eastern Tsin,
assumed the leadership of several hundred disciples united by the study of the
Prajiiaparamita and exerted a most inspiring influence on ruling families and aristoc-
racies, Chinese and non-Chinese, in China both north and south and, beyond them,
on broad layers of the population, both religious and secular. For, it is most to be
noted, he warned against ko yi Buddhism, against the vogue of understanding and
expounding the Buddhist scriptures in Chinese translation through the medium of
ideas and vocabulary drawn from the Chinese tradition, stressing the particular
importance of taking the originals seriously in the study of scriptures translated
out oflanguages so different in character from Chinese, whether spoken or written.
(For more on Tao-an, see the next chapter.)
From the era of the Eastern Tsin in the fourth century through that of the Sung
in the fifth, there was an uninterrupted stream of Chinese members of the sarpgha
on pilgrimage to Central Asia and India. A majority of these came from the Bud-
dhist community living in North China under non-Chinese rule, a minority from
south of the Yangtze. The probable reasons for this are the simple airs and manners
F : THE WESTWARD PILGRIMAGE 431
of the people who made up these non-Chinese soctetles, the effeteness of the
aristocracy south of the Yangtze, the fact that the avenue of communication with
Central Asia led from the Kansu corridor, in North China, to Kansu, and the
consequence of all these facts, namely, that the impact of the foreign sarp.gha and
of the foreign religion on the north was also very strong.
Three examples are the monks Hui-ch' ang, Chin-hsing, and Hui-pien, of whom
Tao-an says in his preface to a summary commentary to two Chinese versions of the
Paficavi!J1satis.p.p. (Ho Fang kuang Kuang tsan luch chieh hsu) that, when they "were
about to go to T'ien-chu (India), on the way they made a copy of the Kuang tsan
po-jo ching, translation of the Paficavi!J1satis.p.p. , which they had been
seeking since they had first passed through Liang-chou (in Kansu) and which was thus
enabled to spread throughout the Middle Plain, reaching Hsiang-yang in 376,"
and affording great joy to Tao-an himself.
1
Also, in an anonymous colophon to the
Sura!J1gamasutra (Shou-leng-yen hou chi, contained in Ch'u san tsang chi chi 7) one
reads that, when in 373, under the sponsorship of Chang T'ien-hsi, censor of Liang-
chou, Chih Shih-lun, a Mahayana scholar ofYlieh-chih descent and a layman, trans-
lated the Sura!J1gama and the SuriiWapariprccha, the sramai).as Shih Hui-ch'ang and
Shih Chin-hsing participated.
2
Almost nothing is known about these three monks, even whether or not they did
in fact go on their own initiative from Liang-chou to India. In view of the adopted
surname Shih (ancient pronunciation approximately siek), in view also of the fact
that while in Liang-chou they copied and sent to Tao-an translations of such Ma-
hayana scriptures as the Paficavi!J1satis.p.p. (Kuang tsan), the Sura!J1gama, the
pariprccha, and the Dasabhumika (Chien pei; cf. Ch'u san tsang chi chi 9 for a preface
to that translation, preceded by a catalogue of the names of the Ten Stages, Chien
pei ching shih chu hu ming ping shu hsu), they may well have had a connection with
Tao-an's school; they may also have been personally committed to him in their
religious faith; they may, finally, have resolved upon a pilgrimage to Central Asia
and to India under his inspiration.
Hui-ylian, one of Tao-an's disciples, unhappy over the imperfect state of the
scriptural canon in Chinese translation, in T' ai-ylian 17 (392) sent two of his own
pupils, Chih Fa-ling and Fa-ching, to Central Asia in quest of scriptural texts, a
fact recorded in Hui-ylian's biography. The evidence leads one to believe that the
two men, Tao-an and Hui-ylian, master and disciple, great teachers both, were equal-
ly exercised over the procurement of canonical texts from Central Asia and equally
insistent on its necessity. As Seng-chao says in his letter to Liu Yi-min, Chih Fa-ling,
sent to Central Asia by Hui-ylian, brought back with him to Ch'ang-an, then the
capital of the Latter Ch'in, more than two hundred Mahayana texts, all of them
unknown to the Chinese, and this at a time when Buddhist scriptures were being
translated on a large scale by a State-sponsored project on an unprecedented scale,
a project in which the central figure was Kumarajiva.
3
However, when the docu-
ments say that Chih Fa-ling brought back from the Western Regions (hsi yu) more
than two hundred "new" scriptures of the Great Vehicle ("new" in the sense that
they were still not known to the Chinese), it is not possible to know immediately
whether the Western Regions mentioned in those sources include India or whether
his successful quest for Mahayana canonical literature, not getting as far as India,
was concentrated, for example, on the already very Buddhist lands of Central Asia
east of the Pamirs, particularly on such countries as Khotan along the southern route
of the Silk Road, where Mahayana Buddhism was moving into a position of absolute
triumph.
As is clear from the journal kept by Fa-hsien, to be mentioned below, there were
numerous sarp.gha living in the countries north of the Taklamakan desert, countries
such as Shan-shan, Yen-ch'i (Karashahr), and Kucha, the last-named being in par-
ticular a land in which Hinayana Buddhism, supported by everyone from the reign-
ing family on down, was at the height of its glory, being guided, furthermore, by
learned Sarvastivada monks constantly coming in from India. However, while in
the countries just mentioned, Kucha in particular, the Hinayana was triumphing to
the exclusion of everything else, it deserves to be pointed out that the countries
along the southern route, of which the most important was Khotan, were marked
by the advance of the Mahayana, and that the reedition, the rearrangement, and
even the expansion of Mahayana scriptures, in some cases old and established, in
others recent arrivals, seem to have been taking place. This is why persons who left
China in quest of Buddhist canonical writings were able to achieve their goal of
religious quest among the Buddhist communities of such lands as Kucha and Khotan,
countries relatively close to China both in geography and in dealings. A monk such
as Seng-ch'un, who brought the back to China with him,
obtained that original during a period of study in Kucha, and it is thanks to his
observations that one is so well aware of the astounding successes of Hinayana
Buddhism in that land. (Cf. Ch'u san tsang chi chi 11 for the preface to the complete
account of the translation of Pi-ch'iu-ni chieh pen so ch'u pen
mo hsu; for Tao-an's preface to the Pi-ch'iu fa chieh hsu; and for
the three colophons to a volume of "recent appearance" in the Ch'ang-an region,
one that combined two sets of materials pertinent to the ordination of nuns, one a
miscellany of twelve having to do with the retreat during the rainy season, the
other the Kuan chung chin ch'u ni erh chung t' an wen hsia tso tsa shih erh
shih ping tsa shih kung chuan ch'ien chu1tg hou san chi.)
There can be no doubt that in Central Asian countries close to China, such as
Kucha and Khotan, prosperous trade and a vigorous va-et-vimt, as well as the
evident triumph of Buddhism having the characteristics of both Hinayana and
Mahayana, attracted Chinese Buddhists to go to those countries in quest of the
Dharma and to remain for a time as students. When all is said and done, however,
for China's Buddhists the most natural thing was a torrent of enthusiasm to go to the
India of their dreams, there to seek out holy scriptures not yet available in their
own country or, for those available but imperfect, complete originals, to benefit
by the direct instruction of Indian teachers, and to make pilgrimages to places once
hallowed by the Buddha's presence. To cite two obvious cases, one from the begin-
ning of the Eastern Tsin, the other from its end, the former would be the pilgrimage
of K'ang Fa-lang, a North Chinese, and his four companions to the many holy
places, while the latter would be the voyage to India of Fa-hsien, a renowned
pilgrim and likewise a North Chinese, in quest of the Dharma, which for him
meant canonical texts.
The Journey of K'ang Fa-lang. K'ang Fa-lang, originally of Chung-shan, early in
life conceived a profound longing for the holy places associated with the Buddha,
and vowed to go to India. At length, in the company of four colleagues, he went
west, proceeding from Chang-yi across the "running sands" (liu sha) and encounter-
ing extraordinary hardships. On the advice of an upadhyaya living in an old mon-
astery, his four companions stopped at another monastery near the "running sands,"
where they studied for a bit, then went home. K'ang Fa-lang, however, true to his
vow, went alone through many countries, studying scriptures and treatises wherever
he went and ultimately returning to Chung-shan, where he propagated the faith,
gathering tens of thousands of disciples and becoming one of the most powerful and
influential leaders of the Buddhist community in North China, to the point that
even Sun Ch'o composed a eulogy in his honor.
4
The Chung-shan region was an
important Buddhist center for the country north of Lo-yang, and this was the
place of origin of Tao-an among others.
The Journey of Yu Fa-lan. South of the Yangtze as well there were monks who
went south (by way of the Indo-Chinese peninsula) determined to seek the Dharma.
From the K'uai-chi area, Yii Fa-lan and his companion, Yii Tao-sui, about the year
350, lamenting the incompleteness of the Buddhist canon in China, set out on a
southward journey in quest of the Dharma. However, when they got to Chiao-
chou (around Hanoi), they fell ill, and upon arrival in Hsing-lin first Fa-lan died,
then Tao-sui followed, and they were unable to fulfill their resolve.
5
The appearance
in the K'uai-chi area, the breeding ground of "pure-talking" aristocratic Buddhism,
of seekers after Dharma at the risk of their very lives shows that the degenerate
aspect of the church of the time was not the end and all of South Chinese Buddhism,
but that it was also an era of Buddhist triumph, one that produced earnest seekers '
after the Path as well.
As can be seen from the cases just mentioned, one of the purposes of westward
pilgrimage was visits to holy places, as prescribed in the scriptures. Another was
study in India. In the majority of cases, however, the purpose was to bring Sanskrit
texts back to China. Already many canonical scriptures had made their way into
China and been translated there, but they were the copies, not infrequently deficient
ones, that happened to be available in Central Asia, for the translation into Chinese
of Sanskrit manuscripts of genuinely Indian provenance was rare. Furthermore,
as Hui-chiao notes in his comments (fun) appended to roll 3 of the Lives of Eminent
Monks, the canonical scriptures able to make their way into China and to be trans-
lated there represented but a tiny fraction of the total canonical corpus, for, in the
course of transmission, they would cross deserts and run risks, with the result that
eight or nine out of ten would never reach China at all. Virtually all of the Chinese
pilgrims to India, men such as Fa-hsien, Chih-meng, Chih-yen, and Fa-yung, set out
as members of groups, but returned alone. It is therefore said of them that the
one canonical scripture brought back to the Middle Land by the particular pilgrim
was what lengthened his life-span beyond what it would otherwise have been.
6
Now customarily the majority of the pilgrims would halt their journey in places
like Kucha and Khotan, oasis countries in Turkestan, for, apart from K'ang Fa-lang
early in the Eastern Tsin, the number of persons who got as far as India and contrived
to come into active contact with Buddhism in the land of its birth, and who went
back to China to function there as religious teachers, was tiny. Even in his case,
if it comes to that, there is no knowing how far in India he actually got, for he may
conceivably have stopped somewhere between Central Asia and Northwest India.
By the end of the Eastern Tsin, there did em.erge one man who went overland
through Central Asia, then cut vertically down India to the sea, sailing back safely
to China, to exert enormous influences on the development of Chinese Buddhism
in the realm of translation and evangelism and even on that of the study of Asia in
the twentieth century. That man was Fa-hsien.
The Journey of Fa-hsien. Fa-hsien, whose secular clan name was Kung, came
originally from Wu-yang within the P'ing-yang area (now in Shansi). Since three
brothers born before him had all died in early childhood, his father, afraid that
misfortune would overtake him too, gave him to the monastic order at the age of
three. He received full ordination at twenty, but then, constantly grieved at the fact
that China had no complete monastic code, vowed that he was determined to get
an originaF There was, at the time, a large number of voices bewailing the i1Kom-
pleteness of canonical codes, so much so that any member of the foreign sa!Tlgha
who was proficient in the Vinaya would, upon arrival in China, become the object
of veneration and expectation simultaneously.
8
Tao-an's efforts, before this time,
to secure a canonical code, as well as his drawing up of a set of regulation_s for the
sramal).as,
9
finally Hui-yiian's dispatch of Chih Fa-ling and others to Central Asia
was in every case motivated by the same considerations. The lacuna was filled
somewhat by the translation activities ofKumarajiva and his fellowship, but as early
as Lung-an 3 (399), two years before Kumarajiva's entry into Ch'ang-an, Fa-hsien
set out from that same city in the company of four colleagues, one of them being
Hui-ching, in quest of the Dharma (i.e., of canonical texts). Proceeding to Kansu,
that is, to the kingdom of the Western Ch'in, ruled over by a Hsien-pi king whose
name appears in Chinese as Ch'i-fu Ch'ien-kuei, the group went into
for three months. In the light of their mission, that of a quest for valid texts of the
religious code, it is to be noted that they actually practiced the Next, detained
for a bit by civil war at Chang-yi (now in Kansu), capital of the (Hsiung-nu) king-
dom of the Northern Liang, he had a chance meeting with the party of Chih-yen
and Pao-yiin, who were on a mission similar to their own, and together they left
Tun-huang, passing Shan-shan and "Wu-yi" (i.e., Yen-ch'i or Karashahr), to the
southern route of the T'ien-shan, which goes through Khotan. In Shan-shan they
found four thousand members of the sa!Tlgha, all of the Lesser Vehicle, and the
same in Karashahr. Then, however, there followed a period of one month and
five days in which they tasted bitterness that no words can describe, in which there
were "above no birds flying, below no beasts running," where the landmarks
were human bones left behind on the sands.
At the end of this time they contrived to reach Khotan, a land most delightfully
acceptable to Fa-hsicn and his fellows, for "the realm is pleasant and prosperous,
the people well to do, all without exception worshiping the Buddhadharma and
taking their pleasure in it. The saq1gha numbers several tens of thousands, most
of whom study the Great Vehicle." When in the latter half of the third century,
Chu Shih-hsing stopped there for a period of study, it had been a place in which the
Lesser Vehicle and the Greater Vehicle were in competition, the former actually hav-
ing the upper hand, so much so that, when Chu Shih-hsing attempted to send Prajfia-
paramita scriptures back to China, the Hinayanists hindered him, on the grounds that
those writings were "not Buddhist." By Fa-hsicn's time, however, the Lesser
V chicle had been overwhelmed by the Greater.
The Buddha's Birthday and the" Walking Image." Fa-hsicn, in order to see with his
own eyes the greatest celebration in the Khotanese year, that of the Buddha's birth-
day and the festival of the "walking image" that marked it (a sort of float parade),
delayed his departure for India by as long as three months, staying in a Mahayana
monastery. His journal has a detailed account of the fourteen great convents of the
country, as well as of the elaborate ceremonies attending the festival just mentioned.
Later he parted with his companions, all of them going at different times-sometimes
meeting, sometimes not-over the Pamirs through Udyana and other North Indian
countries into Central India, then, after an extended pilgrimage to the holy places
ofBuddhism-such as the Jetavanavihara-he spent three years in what is now Patna.
This is because he found there the Vinaya texts which were the very reason of the
pilgrimage. Since throughout North India the Vinaya was transmitted by word of
mouth alone and never written down, his tireless quest for manuscripts had brought
him as far as Central India.
During his sojourn, he obtained copies of the Mahasaq1ghikavinaya, said to have
been in use during the Buddha's own lifetime; of the Sai'J'Iyuktabhidharmahrdaya, in
use in the Sarvastivada school; of the Mahayana Mahaparinirvar:zasatra; and of the
Mahasaq1ghikabhidharma. He spent his three years learning first the Sanskrit
language, then the script, and finally making his own copies. Tao-cheng, who had
remained his companion until now, was so struck by the grand monastic institutions
of the land that he made up his mind to spend the rest of his life there, but Fa-hsien,
in order to fulfill his vow to "give currency to the Code of Restraints throughout
the land of Han," set out on the return journey quite alone.
After spending two years more in the kingdom of Tamralipti, where he made
copies of scriptures and icons, he boarded a commercial vessel that took him to
Lion Land (Ceylon). Here too he spent two years, contriving to get Sanskrit texts
of the MahiSasakavinaya, the Dirghagama, the Sai'J'Iyuktagama, and the tsa tsang ( k ~ u d
rakapi{aka?). Having done all of these things, he set out by sea for Canton, but
storms blew the ship to Ch'ing-chou (in Shantung) instead (in Yi-hsi 8, i.e., 412).
His landing place, formerly part of the kingdom of the Southern Yen, had in Yi-
hsi 6 (410) been restored to the sovereignty of the Eastern Tsin by the northern
expedition of Liu Yi.i. Also, Buddhabhadra and Pao-yi.in, who had been banished
from Ch'ang-an by Kumarajiva's followers (after their master's death), had them-
selves gone south of the Yangtze. Fa-hsien' s original intention was, presumably, to
get to Ch'ang-an and there to translate the canonical scriptures he had brought back
with him, but, given the situation, he too went south, arriving the following year,
the ninth of Yi-hsi (413), at Chien-k'ang, where he terminated a grand tour that
had taken fourteen years (399-413), bringing him to more than thirty different
countries.
Once at Chien-k'ang, he proceeded without delay to write a description (in Yi-
hsi 12, i.e., 416) of his travels, including everything he had seen and heard, and, in
collaboration with Buddhabhadra, to translate (in the same year) the scriptures he
had brought back with him. His journal goes by a variety of names, among them
being Record of a Buddhist Pilgrimage to India (Fo yu T'ien-chu chi), Record of a Passage
through India (Li yu T' ien-chu chi), Record of Buddhist Kingdoms (Fo kuo chi), and the
Tradition of Fa-hsien (Fa hsien chuan). An indispensable source for an understanding
of the conditions in the India and Central Asia of the time, the minute account
contained in Fa-hsien' s journal, together with that of Hsi.ian-tsang, which followed
it by some two centuries, is highly prized in the study ofboth history and geography.
Beyond that, its role has been that of a valuable guide for exploratory expeditions
into Central Asia since the late nineteenth century.
If one adds the number ofFa-hsien' s companions to that of those who both preced-
ed and followed him by slight intervals in time, the total comes to as many as ten,
of whom, however, some turned back midway, others (like Hui-ching) died of
illness en route, while others yet-such as Tao-cheng-remained in the homeland of
Buddhism, so that, in the final upshot, Fa-hsien was left to himsel Some of the
monks who returned to China midway brought back with them the Sanskrit
texts they had obtained in Central Asia. According to Fa-hsien's account, Hinayana
scholarship went out in waves from Kashmir, its then source, as far as the region of
Shan-shan, while the sramal:).as themselves practiced the Dharma as it was practiced
in India and learned both the script and the language of that country.l
0
This means
that their goal was achieved without their having to reach their destination.
The Journey of Chih-yen and Pao-yiin. Chih-yen,
11
being from western Liang-chou,
presumably had a certain affection for Central Asia. Setting out on pilgrimage with
four companions, including Pao-yi.in, he fell in with Fa-hsien's party at Chang-yi
and went together with them as far as Tun-huang, but the two parties arrived in
Kashmir at two different times. Staying there for three years, and serving the
eminent Buddhasena as his teacher of dhyana, he happened to meet Buddhabhadra,
whom he entreated to go to China as a missionary and whom he actually accom-
panied back to Ch'ang-an. Faced with the expulsion ofBuddhabhadra from Ch'ang-
an, he himself fled to Shantung. Then, in Yi-hsi 13 (417), when Liu Yi.i was on his
F :THE WESTWARD PILGRIMAGE 437
way home from his Ch'ang-an expedition, Chih-yen, on the advice of Wang
K'uei, duke ofShih-hsing, was taken along to Chien-k'ang, where he made his home
first in the Shih-hsing-ssu, then in the Ch'i-yiian-ssu (jetavanavihara). Late in life
he again took ship to make a pilgrimage, but this time he died in Kashmir (aet. 78).
Pao-yiin (376--449),
12
who set out together with Chih-yen, stayed with Fa-hsien
after the parting at Tun-huang, proceeding from Khotan to P u r u ~ a p u r a (Peshawar),
whence he returned home in the company of Hui-ta and Seng-ching. At Ch' ang-
an he served Buddhabhadra as his master, going with him to Chien-k'ang and
participating in the work of translation at the Tao-ch'ang-ssu.
Apart from the men named above, there were not a few who late in Tsin and
early in Sung went west on pilgrimage in quest of the Dharma. Noteworthy are
Hui-ch'ang, Chin-hsing, and Hui-pien, who brought back the Pancavii'J'Isatis.p.p.
text on which the Kuang tsan was based;
13
Hui-jui, who, after passing through many
countries, went as far as "the border of southern India," then, after his return to
China, did the rounds of Mount Lu and Ch'ang-an, ultimately stopping at the Wu-
yi-ssu ("Monastery of the Craw's Plumage") in Chien-k'ang;
14
Chih-meng, who,
leaving Ch'ang-an in Hung-shih 6 (404), got to India after a heartbreaking journey
in which he had lost ten of his original fifteen companions through death or deser-
tion, then, having acquired such Sanskrit texts as those of the Mahayana Mahiipari-
nirviitza and the Mahasarp.ghikavinaya, returned to Shu (Szechwan) thirty-four
years later (in Yiian-chia 14, i.e., 437) ;
15
and Dharmodgata (Fa-yung), who, in
jealous emulation ofFa-hsien's pilgrimage, set out in Yung-ho 1 (424), then returned
from Western India to Canton by sea.
16
The last named lost all but five of his original
twenty-five companions. All of the men just mentioned published journals of their
travels, in the manner of Fa-hsien, after their return to China. One might cite such
titles as Chih-meng's Narration of Travel to Foreign Countries (Yu hsing wai kuo chuan),
in one roll,
17
or Pao-yiin' s Narration of a Passage through [Many] Countries (Li kuo chuan
chi),
18
but those works are long since lost, all that is known to us now being their
names.
Sanskrit Texts Brought Back and Translated. The seekers after the Dharma (i.e.,
religious texts) who made journeys of anywhere from ten to thirty hardship-filled
years mastered the Buddhist learning they acquired in Buddhism's homeland and
brought back Sanskrit texts, mostly to Ch'ang-an or Chien-k'ang. Then began,
in collaboration with some of the above-mentioned foreign members of the sarp.gha
now resident in China, the work of translating into Chinese the Sanskrit texts they
had acquired. Chien-k'ang was the point of assembly for Buddhabhadra, Fa-hsien,
Chih-yen, and Pao-yiin, all of whom dwelt at the Tou-ch'ang-ssu (i.e., the Tao-
ch' ang-ssu). This monastery, built by Hsieh Shih, the ssu k' ung ofY an gchow (biography
in roll 79 of the Book of Tsin) and younger brother of the chancellor Hsieh An, was
the subject of a common byword: "Tou-ch' ang is a cave of dhyana-masters, Tung-
an is a grove for the discussion of doctrine" (tou ch' ang ch' an shih k'u tung an t' an yi
lin).
19
The byword tells us that the Tou-ch'ang-ssu was a gathering point for the
dhyana-master Buddhabhadra and for Chih-yen and Pao-ytin, both of whom served
him as a master, while at the Tung-an-ssu there dwelt such theoreticians of Buddhist
doctrine and exegesis as Hui-yen and Hui-yi. Many Sanskrit texts were translated
into Chinese in an area of which these two monasteries were the center.
The canonical scriptures brought back by Fa-hsien were almost all translated in
collaboration with Buddhabhadra, who, as just stated, made his home in the Tao-
ch'ang-ssu, beginning with the Mahasarpghikavinaya in Yi-hsi 12 (416) and the six-
roll the following year ( 417, the translation taken down in writing
by Pao-yi.in), both of which translations were completed the year after that, the
fourteenth ofYi-hsi (418). Apart from these, other texts translated in collaboration
with Buddhabhadra are the Tsa tsang ching the
and the Tsa a-p'i-t' an hsin fun ( Sarrryuktabhidharmahrdaya ?) , of which the last named
had been translated once before.
The Sanskrit texts brought back by Fa-hsien but unable to be translated at that
time, such as the Dirghiigama, the Sarrryuktiigama, and the Mahisasakavinaya, were
translated later by Gul).abhadra (Sarrryuktiigama) and Buddhajiva (Mahisasakavin-
aya), both of whom came to China during the Liu-Sung, and completed by Chih-
yen and Pao-yi.in, whom they met when the latter were on their way west. The
Sanskrit text of the Avatarrrsaka, brought back from Khotan by Chih Fa-ling, was
also translated by Buddhabhadra between Yi-hsi 14 and Yung-ch'u 2 (418-421).
Of Pao-yi.in, who functioned as "scribe" (pi shou) in the translation of the Mahii-
parinirvii!Ja, it is said that, since he had studied and mastered sounds, letters, and
meanings in India, since he thus combined a mastery of Chinese with one of Sanskrit
as well, he was able, as a translator, simply to hold the Sanskrit text in hand and read
offits interpretation in Chinese, the sounds and their meanings being absolutely right,
gaining for his translations the faith and admiration of all.
20
Among his translations
are the Scripture of the Buddha's Former Actions (Fa pen hsing ching, a sort of Buddhacarita
in seven rolls, done some time during Yi.ian-chia, 424-454) and the New Scripture
of the One of Immeasurable Life (Hsin Wu liang shou ching, a version of the Sukhii-
vativyuha in two rolls, done at the Tao-ch'ang-ssu in Yung-ch'u 2, i.e., 421), in addi-
tion to the following, done in collaboration with Chih-yen: the Pure Scripture of
Broad Adornment (Kuang po yen ching ching, Avaivartyasutra), the Scripture of the
Four Divine Kings ( Ssu t' ien wang ching, Caturdevariijasutra ?) , the Scripture of the Sam-
iidhi of the Pure Land (Ching t'u san-mei ching), and the Scripture of Universal Glow
(P'u yao ching, Lalitavistara). (The next to the last is, however, a forgery, the "transla-
tion" of which is falsely ascribed to Chih-yen and Pao-yi.in.)
Finally, Fa-yung is responsible for the translation of the Scripture of the Receipt
of Prophecy by Him Who Observes the Sounds of the World (Kuan shih yin shou chi
ching, Miiyopamasamiidhi), a translation that circulated in Chien-k' ang. Thanks to
translation work of this sort, central to which were persons who had returned from
pilgrimage abroad, there appeared in China some new scriptures (i.e., scriptures
which until then had never been translated into Chinese) that played a vital role in
the later unfolding of Buddhism in China, scriptures such as the Avatarrrsaka, the
Sukhiivativyuha, the and the Mahasarpghikavinaya. One might
say that this was their reward for the pilgrimages that they had made at such pain
and sacrifice.
Fa-hsien finished his life at the age of eighty-two at the Hsin-ssu in Ching-chou,
while Buddhabhadra died at the Tao-ch'ang-ssu in Yiian-chia 6 (429). About that
time, Chih-yen made a second passage to India and Pao-yiin left Chien-k' ang to
take up residence at the Liu-ho-shan-ssu, so that the foreign missionaries who had
come to China and the Chinese pilgrims who had returned to China, both of whom
had been functioning since late Tsin, left the capital in early Sung to go their several
ways. The active translation of Buddhist scriptures, however, did not flag, for the
Yiian-chia period (424--454) saw the uninterrupted arrivals of such foreign members
of the sarp.gha as Kalayasas, Gui).avarman, and Gui).abhadra. In addition, the learned
monks ofKumarajiva's school passed back and forth between Ch'ang-an and Chien-
k'ang, endowing the religious life of the latter city with an added freshness.
G. Problems Posed by the New Buddhist Arrivals
in Eastern Tsin
As stated above, thanks to the succession of Chinese monks going west on pilgrimage
and of western monks coming to China, there was a sudden spurt in the translation
of Buddhist scriptures, both in North China and south of the Yangtze, in the latter
half of the Eastern Tsin. It was particularly vigorous under both the Former Ch'in
and the Latter Ch'in in and around Ch'ang-an, a North Chinese city that had
direct ties with the Central Asian traffic (and about which more shall be said in the
next chapter). South of the Yangtze, on the other hand, in and around Chien-k'ang,
the translation into Chinese of a quite different sort of Buddhist scripture, although
the vigor that characterized it was no match for that of Ch'ang-an, was enough to
shake the Prajfiaparamita scholarship that was all-powerful elsewhere. Leaving aside
for the moment the new translations being done in and around Ch'ang-an, as well
as the influence they were exerting throughout North China, what we will do here
is to give a general presentation of something quite different, typified by the enor-
mous influences exerted on the Buddhist community of the Eastern Tsin, be it the
influences coming south from North China or those coming north to Chien-k'ang
from the Kwangtung-Kwangsi area and the Indo-Chinese peninsula, and by three
problems posed by the new translations done in and around Chien-k'ang, viz.:
(1) the transmission and dissemination ofHinayana Buddhism, as well as the rise
of the notion that the Mahayana is "not theW ord of the Buddha" and the confusion
caused by the latter;
(2) the study of Buddhism in the tradition of Nagarjuna thanks to the southward
move of scriptures translated in a new tradition, inaugurated by Kumarajiva;
(3) the translation of a new type of Mahayana scripture and the influence it exerted,
this time stressing an aspect different from that ofNagarjuna and the Prajfiapararnita
as propagated by Kumarajiva and made possible by the southward move of Bud-
dhabhadra, who was himself one ofKumarajiva's rivals.
The problems just outlined remained problems throughout the Eastern Tsin and
into the (Liu-)Sung, developing in scope as time went on. What we wish to do here,
however, is to give a general description of them, with a focus on the Eastern Tsin,
and to make it clear how Chinese Buddhism in the fifth century (in the period of
time spanning the end of the Tsin and the beginning of the Sung) arrived at a vital
turning-point.
1. THE SUCCESSION OF HINAYANA TRANSLATIONS
Tao-an, who lived at Hsiang-yang under the Eastern Tsin, and who had devoted
himself exclusively to the study and exposition of the Mahayana scriptures going by
the name of PrajiUparamita, was brought to Ch' ang-an through the occupation of
Hsiang-yang in 379 by the army ofFu Chien of the Former Ch'in, entering the city
about the time that that kingdom was at the height of its glory, when culture was
flourishing in the city itself, and when, most important for Tao-an personally, there
was a gathering of persons both Chinese and non-Chinese who knew the important
foreign languages and who, to his delight, were busy with the systematic translation
of the treatises (Abhidharma) of the Sarvastivada school and of the Agamas that
constituted their basis, two bodies of Hinayana literature of which Tao-an had a
decidedly inadequate knowledge, as well as of Vinaya texts that Tao-an and Chu
Fa-t'ai were zealously seeking. (For more on this, cf the next chapter, which deals
with Tao-an.)
Of course, Tao-an was not totally ignorant of Hinayana scholarship, since a part
of it, at least, in the form of Agamas and Abhidharma, had been brought into China
as early as the Latter Han through the activities of such translators as An Shih-kao,
a man whom Tao-an held in the profoundest admiration and in whose translations
he had a particular interest. However, as we have said before, and as we shall have
occasion to say again later, he did not regard the Hinayana canon as the doctrinal ex-
pression of a rival school, to be sharply set off from the Mahayana, as typified by the
Prajiiaparamita scriptures; rather, he looked upon them both as Dharma preached
by one and the same Buddha. It is a peculiar feature of the Ch'ang-an Buddhist
community that Tao-an encountered at Ch'ang-an many Hinayana scholars and
their translations, and that the translation ofHinayana writings continued even after
his death.
It bears reflection that the Former Ch'in conducted a successful campaign against
Chang T'ien-hsi, who behaved toward the Tsin as a loyal vassal while actually
maintaining in Liang-chou (Kansu) the position of a virtually sovereign king, then
moved him to within the Barrier, where they treated him with special favor (in 376).
In this way Liang-chou and all of its commanderies and districts (chun hsien) became
Ch'in territory; Liang Hsi became censor of Liang-chou, his headquarters being at
Ku-tsang; he moved more than seven thousand households of the most powerful
families ofLiang-chou to within the Barrier, where he cared for them most solici-
tously; and he went to the greatest lengths to maintain trade and other contacts with
G :PROBLEMS POSED BY NEW ARRIVALS 441
the countries of Central Asia. Taking advantage of Fu Chien's combined policy of
kindness and sternness (en wei ping shih) toward the whole Kansu region, he permitted
the return to their original homes of the Yung-chou gentry temporarily domiciled
in Ho-hsi (likewise in Kansu) as refugees from the one-time disturbances in the
Ch' ang-an area. The Buddhist religion, flourishing as it did over the whole area
from Liang-chou to Tun-huang, flowed into the Ch'ang-an region together with
its adherents, lay as well as clerical, presumably on a considerable scale, a circum-
stance which must also have facilitated the passage into Ch'ang-an of Central Asian
Buddhism by way of Kansu.
Now the Chang clan, the real powerholders in Liang-chou, were a powerful
family of W u-shih in An-ting (northeast of what is now P'ing-liang fit in Kansu),
one of whose members as early as Yung-ning 1, during the reign ofEmperor Hui,
toward the end of the Western Tsin (301) , had distinguished himself as the senior
official in Liang-chou, and another of whose members, Chang Chiin (r. 324-345),
expanded his power to where he was able to style himself "king of Liang." From
then, through the reign of his son, Ch'ung-hua, down to the time when Chang
T'ien-hsi capitulated to the Former Ch'in, a period of seventy-six years encompass-
ing the reigns of eight princes, members of this clan were the actual governors of the
Liang-chou district, known to history as the kingdom of the Former Liang. The
Book of Wei has this to say:
Liang-chou had from Chang Kuei onward for generations believed in Buddhism.
Tun-huang touches upon the Western Regions, and the clergy and laity both
acquired the old fashions. The villages, one after the other, had many reliquaries
and convents. [Quoted from the "Treatise on Buddhism and Taoism."]
As one gathers from this, it was from the very outset a clan of devoutly Buddhist
rulers, holding sway over an important center in the Kansu corridor for the Bud-
dhism that was coming in through Tun-huang. Liang-chou was also a place that,
in terms of its geographical position, was obliged to treat the Central Asia trade
as an important source of wealth. It was, further, a place in which there was a
continuing contact, already of long duration, between China and Central Asia,
hence a place through which the material culture of the west was coming into China,
together with the Buddhist religion, from Central Asia. During the era of upheaval
in the Middle Plain, the flow of Buddhism from Central Asia continued at least into
the Liang-chou area, and there were not a few Chinese Buddhists and scholars in
general who came to that place in order to escape the turmoil on the Middle Plain.
Not only did Fu Chien, the devoutly Buddhist sovereign of the Former Ch'in, upon
occupation of this area provide a secure dwelling within the Barrier for the Chang
clan and all the other powerful families of the area, the majority of whom were
Buddhist, and permit the Chinese living within the Barrier, who had taken up
residence in the Kansu area as refugees from civil upheaval, to return to their original
homes, but he also extended the effect of his might to neighboring Central Asian
countries such as Shan-shan and Chii-shih-ch'ien-pu (Turfan), whose kings before
long were sending tribute to Ch' ang-an.
Fa-hsien, who left Ch' ang-an in 400, records the following: The land of Shan-
shan (the Lou-lan of Han times), in which he and his companions arrived after having
performed Buddhist religious practices (such as the all over Kansu,
having also received offerings from local powerholders, and having crossed a
frightening desert, in which "above there were no birds flying, below no beasts
running, the only landmarks being the dried bones of the dead," was a stark country.
Yet
the king of the land venerates the Dharma, having a sarp.gha of possibly more than
four thousand members, all students of the Lesser Vehicle. . . . those who had left
the household cultivated Indian script and the Indian language.
Thus it was a Hinayana country on the model of India. From there he proceeded,
after fifteen days' march, to "Wu-yi" (Karashahr), where also
the sarp.gha numbers more than four thousand persons, all students of the Lesser
Vehicle. Their Dharma is so well regulated that no Chinese sramal).a who reaches
them can bring himself to follow their example.
Thus it too was a Hinayana country on the Indian model, in which there was a disci-
plined strictness in marked contrast with the life-style of China's Buddhist com-
munity. (Quoted from Fa-hsien's Record of Buddhist Kingdoms.
1
)
The "scholarship of the Lesser Vehicle" ascribed to all of the countries bordering
on China was probably something already in effect by the fourth century. Proceed-
ing west from these modest kingdoms, one comes to Kucha, a land well favored
and well endowed both geographically and economically, where, at Tao-an's time,
the Lesser Vehicle was also at the height of its glory, being subject to the guidance
of eminent monks of the Sarvastivada, a school in full bloom in and around Kashmir.
There were in Kucha some Chinese monks who had gone to study (such as Seng-
ch'un, who brought back a religious code for nuns), and there were also Kuchean
Buddhists who had gone to Kashmir to study Abhidharma, Hinayana doctrine, and
the like (such as the young Kumarajiva, taken by his mother turned nun). Finally,
there were not a few Kuchean monks who had come to China as missionaries. Since
later chapters devoted to Tao-an (Former Ch'in) and Kumarajiva (Latter Ch'in)
shall tell of the large-scale mission to North China of foreign Hinayana adherents,
principally in Ch'ang-an and the vicinity during the latter half of the Eastern Tsin,
namely, in the kingdoms of the Former Ch'in (Fu clan) and the Latter Ch'in (Yao
clan), herein we will tell only of the Hinayana Buddhism that came into the Yangtze
basin, under the effective rule of the Eastern Tsin, there to be propagated, to have
its scriptures translated, and to raise new questions.
Sa1J1ghozdeva. As has already been said, the era of the Eastern Tsin was, for the Bud-
dhist church, one that saw the triumph of two studies, that of Lao-tzu and Chuang-
tzu on the one hand and of the Mahayana, specifically the Prajfiaparamita, on the
other. At the same time, it was a period marked by a widespread belief in Buddhas
G : PROBLEMS POSED BY NEW ARRIVALS 443
other than Gautama, most notably by belief in Amita. Into this Buddhist community
south of the Yangtze, brought by Hinayana Buddhists who doubted that the Prajiia-
paramita scriptures, or indeed any of the Mahayana canon, was the Word of the
Buddha, and who rejected belief in any Buddhas other than the Sakyabuddha alone,
came the latter's doctrines (satra, abhidharma) and rules oflife (vinaya), first transmit-
ted, then evangelized, finally raising a host of new problems. In the first wave
was a Kashmiri named Sa111ghadeva (whose name sometimes appears in Chinese as
chung t'ien, "god of the multitude"), who went first to Mount Lu (in T'ai-yiian 16,
i.e., 391), then to Chien-k'ang (in Lung-an 1, i.e., 397). The whole area along the
north of the Tarim basin, from Kashmir to Kucha, was one in which, at the time,
the Lesser Vehicle was in full bloom, and authoritative spokesmen for it were foreign
members of the sa111gha who came to the lands of the Former Ch'in, men such as
Sa111ghabhadra and Dharmanandi, in addition to the Sa111ghadeva just mentioned,
all of them engaged in the translation and dissemination of the Hinayana canon.
Tao-an, the giant of Prajiiaparamita scholarship in the Chinese sa111gha of his own
day, was delighted at the arrival of these Hinayana scriptures, urging his juniors to
study them carefully. (For details, cf. the chapter on Tao-an.) Sa111ghadeva, after
Tao-an's death, left a Ch'ang-an marked by the collapse of the Fu clan and its state
of (the Former) Ch'in, which followed shortly, and the civil disturbances that
ensued, moving to Lo-yang in the company ofTao-an's colleague, the sramal)a Shih
Fa-hoof Chi-chou, and the disciples they both had collected.
After four or five years of study and lecturing, he at length became quite at home
in the Chinese language, to the point where he could propagate the doctrines of the
Sarvastivada, which stood in sharp contrast to those represented by Kumarajiva,
and to where he became aware of errors in some of the earlier Chinese translations,
errors which he then resolved to correct. With the establishment of the Latter Ch'in,
he parted company with Fa-ho, who went to Ch'ang-an, while Sa111ghadeva betook
himself to Mount Lu, where Hui-yiian was dwelling. Presumably because he had
heard through his beloved teacher, the aged Tao-an, of the arrival of a new corpus
of Hinayana scholarship, Hui-yiian was himself delighted by the arrival at his
mountain of this great Hinayana authority. Directly, in the year 391, he requested
of his new guest translations of the Abhidharmahrdaya (four rolls) and the San fa tu
lun (Dharmaskandhatraya? three rolls), himself proofreading the translations and
composing prefaces to them.
2
Sa111ghadeva's sojourn on Mount Lu, however, was brief, for he went down river
almost immediately to Chien-k'ang (in 397). Here too his activities as an evangelist
won the respectful adherence of many princes, nobles, aristocrats, and others, both
religious and secular. Among them, that of the army officer (wei chun) and marquess
ofTung-t'ing, Wang Hsiin (courtesy name Yiian-lin) was particularly keen, for the
latter invited Sa111ghadeva to a tabernacle of his own construction, where, in the
company of his younger brother Seng-mi and many eminent members of the
sa111gha, he heard expositions of Abhidharma, i.e., of the Sarvastivada doctrine which
is the object of such sharp attacks on the part of the early Mahayana scriptures typi-
fied by the Prajiiaparamita, the entire audience being delighted by Saq1ghadeva' s clear
expositions.
3
The doctrines of the Abhidharma are based on the Agamas, and the translation
of the Madhyamiigama which followed, achieved through the sponsorship of the
same Wang Hsiin and through the collaboration of Saq1ghadeva with about forty
learned Chinese monks, including Hui-ch'ih, younger brother of Hui-yiian, only
endowed Abhidharma study with further authority. A man who knew the Mad-
hyamiigama thoroughly was like Saq1ghadeva a native of Kashmir
and likewise the recipient of offerings from Wang Hsiin. The "scribe" (pi shou) was
Tao-tz'u, a sramal).a ofYii-chou, who has left a record of the whole process in his
preface to the Madhyamiigama. Between the eleventh month of Lung-an 1 (397) and
the sixth month of the following year a rough manuscript of sixty rolls was prepared,
but at that very time there took place the disturbances contrived by such men of
power as Huan Hsiian, Yin Chung-k'an, and Wang- Kung, the result of which was
that a final, proofread copy did not circulate until401. (C Tao-tz'u's preface.
4
)
Hui-ch'ih, the learned Chinese monk who participated in this translation, came
to Chien-k'ang (about 396), squiring his aunt, the nun Tao-yi, whose home was
in Chiang-hsia (An-lu in what is now Hupei) and who said she wished to go to the
capital (c her biography in roll1 of the Lives of the where she is identified
with the Ho-hou-ssu). It is to be noted that Hui-ch'ih, who had already become
acquainted on Mount Lu with Saq1ghadeva's Abhidharma scholarship, took a
profound interest in the doctrine and in the translator himself. One hears next of
Hui-ch'ih that he returned to Mount Lu, where, at the invitation ofFan Ning, gover-
nor ofYii-chang, he gave readings on the "Flower of the Dharma" (Saddharmaput;z4-
arika) and on Bidam (Abhidharma), attracting listeners from all four quarters (cf.
his biography in roll6, Lives of Eminent Monks). In reply to a letter from Wang Hsiin,
asking him which of the two brothers, Hui-yiian and Hui-ch'ih, was superior, Ning
replied, "They are, truly, a superior senior and a superior junior."
5
There is every
reason to believe that Hui-yiian's brother, by giving readings in "Abhidharma
learning," was thus working enormously for the propagation ofHinayana doctrinal
scholarship south of the Yangtze toward the end of the _Eastern Tsin. About the
translator Saq1ghadeva himself, for that matter, one reads the following in his
biography (Lives of Eminent Monks 1) :
6
Cet hiver-la [de 397], Wang Siun rassembla les sramanes-exegetes de la capitale
tels que Che Houei-tch' e, en plus de quarante personnes et in vita encore Saqlg-
hadeva de retraduire le Tchong a han [T26: Madhyamiigama, 1.421a-809c] et
d'autres textes. Un sramane du Cachemire, tint en mains le texte
indien [du Madhyamagama] et Saq1ghadeva le traduisit en chinois. La traduction
fut seulement terminee 1' ete suivant [en 398]. Les textes sacres qu'il avait publies
dans les vallees du Fleuve [Yang-tseu]a et de [la riviere] Lob totaliserent plus de
cent myriades de mots.
11 avait circule partout en Chine et a 1' etranger, et connaissait parfaitement les
moeurs. Il etait naturel et attentif; il excellait dans la conversation et les plaisan-
teries. Son influence morale et sa reputation etaient connues universellement.
Plus tard, on ne sait pas quelle fut sa fin.
From this one concludes that he evangelized in Chien-k' ang after having mastered
the qualifications that alone would have enabled him to leave the stamp of his
not inconsiderable teaching and conversion on the Chinese, particularly on their
intellectual aristocracy, and one would not be wrong in saying that he laid the
foundation for what was to be the eventual triumph of Hinayana doctrinal scholar-
ship in China.
For instance, Fan T'ai, in a letter to the two Dharma-masters Sheng and Kuan
{presumably Tao-sheng and Hui-kuan) , says the following:
When Sarpghadeva first arrived, the likes ofYi [probably Hui-yi] and Kuan had
unreserved faith in the Doctrines of the Lesser V chicle, propagated by him, and
aspired to live up to them. For all that it was a Dharma of the Lesser Vehicle,
they said that it was the ultimate of Universal Truth, and that the likes of the
Scriptures of "no limit" that preach "no birth" [i.e., the Mahayana scriptures,
such as the SaddharmaputJ4arika and Vimalakirtinirdesa, that preach emptiness]
are all diabolical writings, not a Dharma preached by the Buddha.
7
Whereas before this Kumarajiva in Ch'ang-an had taught Hui-ytian (in their cor-
respondence on the Great Doctrinal Meaning of the Greater Vehicle [ Ta sheng ta yi
chang]) that the true Buddhism is that of the Greater Vehicle, as typified in the
Prajfiaparamita scriptures, while the Abhidharma doctrines of the Lesser Vehicle
represent a mistaken transmission of the Buddha's meaning, the time had now
come when the very contrary was being publicly preached in Chien-k'ang, namely,
that the true Doctrine preached by the Buddha was that of the Lesser Vehicle, and
that the Mahayana scriptures such as the Prajfiaparamita are the ones that are to be
dubbed diabolical writings, not the Word of the Buddha.
As it chanced, the time of dynastic change, from Tsin to Sung, was very near,
and the tremors in the political and military spheres were violent. The Hinayana
movement that shook up, at this very time, a Buddhist community concentrated on
an indigenous tradition ofPrajfiaparamita scholarship was itself further agitated by
another Hinayana impulse coming up from the south. Another Kashmiri, Dharma-
yasas by name (a name sometimes appearing in Chinese translation under the some-
what misleading guise of fa ming, "clarity of Dharma"), arrived in Canton at the
advanced age of eighty-five sometime during Lung-an (397-402), i.e., late in Tsin
times, taking up residence in the Po-sha-ssu ("Monastery of the White Sands").
Being thoroughly versed in the Samantapiisiidikii, he was dubbed the "Great
[Master]," i and had a personal following of as many as eighty-five. Chang P' u-ming,
a woman devotee, had him translate the (1 roll). Going north early
in Yi-hsi (i.e., in or shortly after 405) to Ch'ang-an, which at the time was the
capital of the Latter Ch'in, he was accorded favorable treatment by the reigning
Yao clan, who were themselves zealous promoters of the Buddhist cause. Finding
himself to be in perfect harmony with the Indian sramaxp Dharmagupta, who
happened to be there at that very time, he remained from the ninth to the seventeenth
year of Hung-shih (407-415), translating the Abhidharma ascribed to Sariputra.
(Cf. Tao-piao's preface in Ch'u san tsang chi chi 10.
8
) This was already after the
death ofKumarajiva, who had dismissed the Abhidharma impatiently as a misunder-
standing of the Buddha's true meaning. The Abhidharma specialist Dharmayasas
eventually went south himself, coming to Chiang-ling, a key spot in the middle
reaches of the Yangtze, where, in a monastery by the name of Hsin-ssu, he prop-
agated the Dharma of dhyana, himself taking the lead in the performance of it and
gathering to himself followers in a number exceeding three hundred. Concerning
this aged Master" there circulated miracle tales as of one who had gained
the enlightened intuition of an arhant. Dharmayasas went back to Central Asia not
long after the establishment of the (Liu-)Sung, early in Yiian-chia (i.e., ca. 424),
and he left behind a disciple named Fa-tu, a zealous Hinayanist, who urged on his
own pupils a set of religious practices completely at variance with the Chinese
ways, and who also made anti-Mahayana propaganda, saying, in effect, "Worship
only the Sakyabuddha, for the 'Buddhas of the Ten Quarters' of whom the Maha-
yanists speak do not exist, and you arc neither to read nor to recite their scriptures !"
9
His followers among the male members of the sa111gha, in view of the dominance of
Mahayana scholarship, appear not to have been numerous, but he had many believers
in the outstanding women typified by two nuns both daughters
of Sung officials, the fonner being Fa-hung of the Hsiian-yeh-ssu, daughter of Yen
Chiin, governor of Tan-yang, the latter being P'u-ming of the Hung-kuang-ssu,
daughter of Chang Mu, censor of Chiao-chou.
10
It is said, in fact, that his influence
was at work in the into Ch'i and Liang times. (Cf. Ch'11 san tsang
chi chi 5 for a record of how Chu Fa-tu, "led astray by the learning of the Lesser
Vehicle, established a heterodox set of manners," Hsiao sheng mi hsiieh Chu Fa tu
tsao yi yi chi, as well as Dharmayasas's biography in roll 1, Lives of Eminent Monks;
seeR. Shih, Biographies des moines eminents, p. 57 ff).
What is to be noted here is that in the Buddhist community of the late Eastern
Tsin, already enthralled by a style of Prajfiaparamita scholarship that obtained the
sympathetic response of aristocracy and gentry, there gradually grew up a movement
of insistent observance of the code and of the dhyana of the Lesser Vehicle, a whole
movement of counterattack directed against the Mahayana. It is not only the bhi-
whose members were impelled by Hinayana doctrine to a set of on-
Chinese practices. As already stated, in the circles of religiously committed Chinese
in the latter half of the Eastern Tsin, both Tao-an and Chu Fa-t' ai, to mention but
two examples, were eagerly seeking a complete translation of the religious code. The
desire was to be fulfilled-in Chien-k' ang, at least-by texts brought back by Fa-
hsien, a Chinese monk, at the end of the Tsin. Fa-hsien, lamenting the incomplete-
ness of the available codes, decided on a voyage to India in quest of Dharma. The
Mahasa111ghikavinaya that he brought back from his successful pilgrimage, the mo-
nastic code of one of the Hinayana schools, he translated late under the Eastern Tsin,
in 418, at the Tao-ch'ang-ssu, a celebrated monastery in Chien-k'ang, in collabora-
tion with Buddhabhadra, who, having been banished from Ch'ang-an by Kumar-
ajiva's school, went south, by way of Mount Lu, to Chien-k'ang. The community
headed by Hui-yi of the Ch'i-yiian-ssu (]etavanavihiira), falling heir to this code,
translated it into action in a way oflife on the model of that of the Indian religious
community. In particular, they did not shrink from eating with their hands, squat-
ting on the ground, and doing other things that could bring nothing but adverse
comment from Chinese gentlemen, nationals of the land of the doctrine of propriety,
who turned up their noses in disgust at these goings-on. In fact, they would oc-
casionally be attacked by these gentlemen, some of whom might even be Buddhist,
and thus loom as a social problem, constituting an element that supposedly disturbed
Chinese manners and propriety.
It is worthy of note that this community was a powerful one, enjoying the special
favor of Liu Yii (Kao-tsu, Emperor Wu of the Sung), successful engineer of the
dynastic change from the Eastern Tsin to the Sung. It is the monk Hui-yi who, as a
preparatory measure for effecting the transfer of power from the Tsin household,
went to Mount Sung, bringing back a supposedly divine talisman which he actively
employed in his campaign to hasten the passage of imperial power from Tsin to
Sung. Hui-yi (372-444), who aided Liu Yii both in his usurpation of the Tsin throne
and in his establishment of the Sung dynasty, was especially favored by Yii (Emperor
Wu of the Sung), taking up residence in 420 (Yung-ch'u 1), the year of the latter's
accession, in a celebrated monastery built for him by Fan T'ai (courtesy name Po-
lun), an aristocrat of "pure faith" (ch'ing hsin, i.e., an upasaka), who, holding the
rank of chu chi ch' ang shih, was appointed a preceptor in the Sung national academy.
The monastery is said to have acquired its name, Ch'i-yiian-ssu (]etavanavihiira) from
the people of the time, who likened its construction to that of the original Jetava-
navihiira in India, matching Hui-yi to Sariputra and Fan T'ai to Anathapii).qada.
Among the monastery's permanent residents were many foreign members of the
sarp.gha, who had come to China from abroad, and, with the imperial family in the
background, that community became the most powerful religious community in
Chien-k' ang, endowed with great wealth and holding sway over the clergy of the
entire capital.
It is also interesting that Fan T'ai's father, Fan Ning, had already, as censor of
Yii-chang, had Abhidharma read to him by Hui-ch'ih, who in turn had received the
instruction of Sarp.ghadeva. This clearly means that the aristocratic and devoutly
Buddhist Fan household was becoming infected with the newly arrived Buddhism
of the Lesser Vehicle. At the same time, as mentioned above, Hui-yi's fellowship,
taking the newly translated Mahasarp.ghikavinaya literally, took its meals in the
Indian manner as prescribed by that code, i.e., in a squatting position, thereby
dumbfounding the gentlemen of China.
11
Cheng Hsien-chih (courtesy name Tao-tzu) was an expert on the Rites (li). While
he was prepared, to a certain extent, to concede a difference between the proprieties
of the laity and those of monks, he objected that "practices such as that of eating
in a squatting position," observed by the fellowship of Hui-yi, the occupant of the
first rank in the Buddhist community of the metropolis, were "absolutely intolerable
in China." Even Fan T'ai, Hui-yi's lay sponsor, asked him to reconsider. It is scarcely
surprising that what they called chu shih-the practice of squatting on the ground and
picking up the food in one's bare hands, eating it in imitation ofindian practices-
should have startled China's gentlemen, trained as they were in the Doctrine of
Propriety, quite out of their wits. However, Hui-yi, in the name of fifty monks
resident at the Ch'i-yiian-ssu, composed a rejoinder to Fan T'ai, in which he main-
tained the following:
Such is the Dharma of the sramal).a that he must piously keep to the scriptures
and the code. We here have long accepted the MahasafTlghikavinaya, in which it
is plainly written that there are "eight discussions of the rule of eating in a crouched
position" [? p'ien shih fa fan pa yi], hence it is normal for us to eat squatting.
In Fan T'ai's letter to "Masters Sheng and Kuan" (Tao-sheng and Hui-kuan?), to
which there has been casual reference above, one reads as follows:
Even foreign customs are not necessarily consistent. When SafTlghadeva first
came, of the likes ofYi [probably Hui-yi] and Kuan [Ch'in ?] there was none who
did not bathe himself and look up in hopeful emulation. Yet his Dharma was,
after all, merely that of the Lesser Vehicle, nothing more. Still, imagining them
to be the logical end of Universal Truth, they said that the broad scriptures of
no-birth were all the writings of Mara. . . . Fa-hsien later arrived, and the
Mahayana Mahaparinirviil}asutra was first proclaimed. They then said that the
words about the permanency of Nirval).a were the ultimate in Universal Truth,
and that the Prajiiaparamita doctrines, even at their peak, were all inferior to
them. . . . One thus knows that the foreign code is not a fixed Dharma. Still,
Hui-yi and his fellows will not alter their practice of eating in a squatting position.
Surely there can be no valid objection for persons living in China, even sramal).as,
to bring themselves round to Chinese ways of doing things!
Fan T'ai also appealed to the emperor to prevail upon the Chinese monks at the
Ch'i-yi.ian-ssu to exchange their Indian life-style for something Chinese. Such
monks as Hui-yen, Tao-sheng, and Hui-kuan seem also, for a time, to have been
in harmony with Hui-yi's strict and literal observance of the monastic code, but,
persuaded by Fan T' ai and his friends, the first two appear to have experienced a
change of attitude. Hui-yi, however, who, as the engineer behind the assumption of
power by the Sung, was the most powerful member of the Buddhist community in
Sung times, appears to have maintained his position stubbornly to the very end.
In this way, in an atmosphere ofHinayana evangelism, the MahasafTlghikavinaya
was translated and propagated south of the Yangtze, exerting an enormous influence
on the life of the safTlgha. At the same time, the Sarvastivadavinaya (known in
Chinese as Shih sung lu, the "Code in Ten Lessons," dasadhyayavinaya?), translated
by members of that school from Kashmir, also by Kumarajiva, was brought to
Shou-ch'un, Liu Yii's base before he overthrew the Tsin, by who had
come to Ch'ang-an in 406, and the Shih-chien-ssu, a monastery in the former city,
became a center at which "multitudes (concerned with the) code gathered like
clouds to propagate the code." Next, read and propagated the Sarvastiv-
adavinaya at Chiang-ling, where he was profoundly venerated by Hui-kuan of the
Tao-ch'ang-ssu. This foreign scholar-monk, propagator of the Sarvastivadavinaya,
known to his contemporaries as the "Blue-eyed Code Master" (ch'ing yen lu shih),
composed an original work, in two rolls, on the religious code and sent it to the
capital, where monks and nuns vied with one another to copy it and put it into
practice. The work appears to have been revised by Hui-kuan, for there was a
byword that spoke of outlandish (i.e., un-Chinese) words and
Hui-kuan's skillful recording" (Pi-lo pi yu Hui kuan ts'ai lu). People in the capital
are said to have made so many copies of it that on the one hand the price of paper
shot up to where "paper was as precious as jade," while on the other copies of it
were circulating into Ch'i and Liang times. (Cf. biography in roll 2,
Lives of Eminent Monks; see Shih, Biographies, p. 84 f.)
12
Almost immediately after the establishment of the Sung, the rise of Hinayana
scholarship was backed up by the translation and propagation of the religious codes
of the Lesser Vehicle. At any rate, the propagators of Hinayana Buddhism and the
mounting vigor of their activity as translators made great waves in the Buddhist
community toward the end of the Tsin, when the only things current were the
ideas attributed to Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu and the study of the Prajfiaparamita.
In addition, as Fan T' ai says, the doctrine of "permanence" (ch' ang chu), preached in
the MahiiparinirviitJasiitra brought back by Fa-hsien, constituted an attack on the
position of Prajfiaparamita scholarship, which belonged no less to the Greater
Vehicle, an attack the effect of which was still felt in the Buddhist community of the
(Liu-)Sung. Yet, the Prajfiaparamita scholarship south of the Yangtze was enabled
to proceed in a new direction by benefiting, through the intermediacy of members
ofKumarajiva's school who had come south, from a powerful leadership that was
breaking with the study ofLao-tzu and Chuang-tzu.
2. KUMARAJIVA's BUDDHISM GOES SOUTH FROM CH'ANG-AN
Kumiirajiva's Buddhism Goes South. Kumarajiva's welcome entry into Ch'ang-an
took place, in the chronology of the Eastern Tsin, in the twelfth month of Lung-an
5 (late 401 or, more likely, early 402), during the reign of the idiot Emperor An.
That was a time at which the court of the northern state of Ch'in, ruled over by the
Yao clan, had invited learned members of the sarp.gha from everywhere to partici-
pate in a State-sponsored project, adequately staffed and adequately endowed, to
translate first and foremost those Mahayana scriptures of which Chinese translations
already existed and which were of the greatest importance to the Chinese Buddhist
community, being widely circulated and much studied, scriptures such as the
Prajiiaparamita, the Vimalakirtinirdesa, and the Saddharmaput:4arika. This was done,
as has been said, by collecting scholars from all over the realm, by reading and
commenting, then retranslating, thus producing a definitive edition, and at the same
time spreading the authoritative interpretation by giving it to learned Chinese
monks. Where the new translation of the Prajfiaparamita was concerned, the first
work with which he became involved, he published in conjunction with it the Ta
chih tu lun, a minute commentary ascribed to Nagarjuna. He further translated in
rapid succession the Middle Treatise (Ch11ng lun, Madhyamakasastra) and the Treatise
of the Twelve Gateways (Shih erh men lun, Dvadasanikayasastra?), both of which
clarify Nagarjuna's doctrine of "emptiness" (k'ung, Sanyata), based on the study of
the Prajfiaparamita, and the Hundredfold Treatise (Po lun, Satakasastra ?) ofNagarjuna' s
disciple Deva (three treatises that were later to become the sacred texts of China' s
School of the Three Treatises, san fun tsung). He also translated the biographies of
Nagarjuna and Deva, and told the learned monks assembled from all over the realm
that the true doctrine of Buddhism was none other than Nagarjuna's Mahayana,
based on the Prajfiaparamita scriptures.
These translations ofKumarajiva and his learned doctrines rapidly made their way
to Mount Lu, which at the time enjoyed the highest respect throughout the lands of
the Eastern Tsin, and Kumarajiva's fellowship and the community on Mount Lu
maintained a close connection in terms both of doctrine and of personalities. There
shall be detailed treatment of this in the chapter dealing with Hui-yi.ian. In addition,
Tao-sheng and Hui-yen, who had studied under Kumarajiva, came to Chien-k'ang
to become influential leaders. Furthermore, about the time-after the death of
Kumarajiva, to be sure-that Liu Yi.i campaigned against Ch'ang-an and occupied
it (in 416), then mounted the throne as emperor of the Sung, a large number of
Kumarajiva's disciples or members of his school, most notably Seng-tao, came
south from Ch'ang-an to gather in the protective shadow ofLiu Yi.i (Emperor Wu
of the Sung) . In this way, the Prajfiaparamita study that had always, under the
Eastern Tsin, coexisted with the study of Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu, with the result
of a vigorous and confusing exchange of conflicting opinions, could not do anything
but resolve itself in Prajfiaparamita scholarship in the tradition of Nagarjuna and
Kumarajiva. Since this will be dealt with under the Sung, there shall not be much
said about it here, but, at any rate, Kumarajiva's activities as translator and evan-
gelist in Ch'ang-an early in the fifth century gave a great turn, in a period of time
ranging from late Tsin into Sung, to the Buddhist scholarship of the Eastern Tsin
with its Prajfiaparamita focus.
3. THE EFFECT OF NEW MAHAYANA TRANSLATIONS
ON THE BUDDHIST COMMUNITY
New Mahayana Translations by Kumarajiva's Opponents. In considering the influence
exerted on the Chinese Buddhist community by the newly translated canonical
works, one would do well to bear three facts in mind: (1) these scriptures, contain-
ing two highly important sets of doctrines, were translated by groups centering about
Buddhabhadra, a foreign monk thoroughly conversant with the scriptures of the
"anti-Kumarajiva faction" in the sense that he had come south of the Yangtze after
having suffered the extreme penalty prescribed by the monastic code, that of ex-
pulsion (in this case, from Ch'ang-an); (2) the originals of these scriptures had been
brought to China not by foreign missionaries but by Chinese pilgrims, who had
gone to Central Asia (or even to India) to get them, the Mahiiparinirvii7Ja in six rolls
by Fa-hsien, the AvataY!'saka by Chih Fa-ling, one of Hui-yi.ian' s disciples; (3) the
translations were made with the participation of Chinese pilgrims who themselves
had gone on pilgrimage to Central Asia.
Buddhabhadra the Translator. Apart from this, his biography says that Buddhabhadra
(whose name is sometimes rendered in Chinese with chiieh hsien, "the enlightened
worthy") was originally of the Sakya clan, a native ofKapilavastu, and a descendant
of the king ''ofthe food of sweet dew.''k This means that he was a native ofGautama's
homeland and a lateral descendant of the Buddha Himself, being a lineal descendant
of His father, a kinsman of that person whom the Buddhists worship with the
highest honors. Whether or not the story is true, the fact remains that for the Chinese
these were times in which there was a steady stream back into China of pilgrims,
such as Fa-hsien, who had themselves toured the holy places of India, and thanks
to whom Chinese knowledge of those holy places was quite suddenly enhanced.
The heightened interest in India and in the Buddha personally, a consequence of the
circumstances just described, was an excellent condition for increasing the credibility
of these men and their effectiveness as teachers and evangelists. According to the same
account, Buddhahhadra's family had lived in India since his grandfather's time.
Losing his parents at an early age, he joined the Buddhist religious community,
distinguishing himself through his pursuit of learning. After receiving complete
ordination, he made a name for himself as a member of the sarpgha particularly
distinguished in dhyana and Vinaya, that is, in religious practice and religious
experience. When his biography says that he went to T u ~ i t a to render homage in
person to Maitreya, or when it tells other superhuman tales about him, such as his
achievement of the "fruit of the non-returner" (pu huan kuo, aniigiimiphala, i.e., of one
who shall never be reborn in our world, the Sphere ofDesire or kiimadhiitu, yii chieh),
the presumable effect, if not the intention, of this, in a society, the Chinese Buddhist
society of the Eastern Tsin, in which t'ien shih Taoism was already very current, and
in which the gentry already numbered many believers in the superhuman sylph,
was to win for him a special respect and veneration.
Chih-yen, who at that very time left for Central Asia in company with Fa-hsien,
but who then left him to go to Chi-pin (the Kashmir area) in the northwest oflndia,
where he was taught the Dhyanadharma by Buddhasena (whose name is transcribed
now Jo-t'o-hsien, now.fo-ta-hsien) and spent ten years practicing it under his tutelage,
hearing then that Buddhabhadra was the best teacher and guide in this discipline,
also its most enthusiastic promotor, invited him to accompany him back to Ch'ang-
an. For Ch'ang-an this was an unexampled hour of glory, for scriptures were being
translated by a group whose central figure was Kumarajiva, there were groups of
visiting monks from Kashmir and elsewhere, the Chinese pilgrims to Central Asia
were returning, and there was large-scale translation and propagation of Buddhist
scriptures, monastic codes, and treatises of both vehicles, the Greater and the Lesser.
However, while monks ofKumarajiva's school had the run of the palace, being ap-
pointed to ecclesiastical offices and enjoying worldly honor and glory, Bud-
dhabhadra, being fundamentally at odds with Kumarajiva on points of doctrine,
and being, in particular, a person who had come to China to give concrete, practical
guidance in Buddhist meditation, parted company with Kumarajiva's school and,
as the teacher and head of a community of strict practitioners of that meditation,
was respected and admired by large numbers of seriously, religiously committed
monks. In Buddhabhadra's biography one reads as follows: "Le Souverain des
Ts' in, Yao Hing, etait tout devoue au bouddhisme et soutenait plus de trois mille
moines. Ces derniers frequentaient le palais et recherchaient avidement la gloire
humaine; seul Buddhabhadra gardait le recueillement, et ceci ala difference de tous
les autres .. . . A Tch'ang-ngan, Buddhabhadra propagea grandement le dhyana.
Et des quatre coins du monde, ceux qui aspiraient au calme, l'ayant appris, vinrent
[se mettre a son ecole]." Seng-chao also, in a letter to Liu Yi-min, then resident on
Mount Lu, writes as follows: "The teacher of meditation [Buddhabhadra] in the
Palace Monastery [Hsiao-yao Park] is teaching and practicing meditation. He has
several hundred disciples who work without rest day and night. They are reverent
and harmonious. It is very gratifying." (Quoted from Seng-chao's reply to Liu
Yi-min, contained in the Chao lun.)
However, Buddhabhadra, on account of the behavior of one of the members of
his school, was convicted of violation of the monastic code by two clerical officials
whose hour of glory had come, namely, Seng-liieh and Tao-heng, both one-time
disciples ofKumarajiva, and banished from Ch'ang-an. Going south with Hui-kuan
and some forty others, he was welcomed first on Mount Lu, where (in 411) he trans-
lated some dhyanasutras, of which his rendition of the Fang pien ch' an ching (Dhyiino-
piiyasutra?) had an enormous influence in the religious practices of Hui-yiian's
entire community. The following year, or the year after that (412 or 413), he left
Mount Lu, and, meeting Liu Yii, who was then campaigning against Chiang-ling,
he accepted the latter's invitation to to to Chien-k'ang, where he took up residence
at the Tao-ch'ang-ssu and set in motion that city's very important work of scriptural
translation. While at the Tao-ch'ang-ssu, Buddhabhadra enjoyed the high esteem
of China's lay Buddhists. His biography says of him, "Buddhabhadra avait pour
regie Ia grande simplicite, a la difference de la coutume chinoise; ses intentions
etaient pures, profondes et sublimes." On his sublime and profound attitude toward
life, the same source makes the following comment: "Un maitre de la Loi de la
capitale, Seng-pi, dans sa lettre au sramane Pao-lin, dit: 'Le maitre du Dhyana du
Teou-tch'ang sseu, [Buddhabhadra,] possede un grand esprit. C'est un Wang [Pi]
[226-249] ou un Ho [Yen] de l'Inde, un homme distingue !' Telle etait son admira-
tion !"
13
It was to this Indian monk, this influential teacher and evangelist resident
in Chien-k' ang, that a whole series of Indian Buddhist texts, obtained in India by
Chinese pilgrims, were brought.
Texts Brought Back to China by Fa-hsien. It was just about this time that Fa-hsien,
getting back by sea from his long Indian pilgrimage to the eastern part of Tsingtao,
off the coast of Shantung (in 413), proceeded by way ofCh'ing-chou to Chien-k'ang.
He directly petitioned Buddhabhadra to translate the scriptures and monastic codes
he had brought back with him, and at the same time wrote the journal ofhis pilgrim-
age, known alternately as the Tradition of Fa-hsien (Fa hsien chuan) and the Record
of Buddhist Kingdoms (Fo kuo chi), in which he introduced Chinese readers to the
Buddhist realms he had traversed, "noting down with bamboo on cloth the places
he had gone through, wishing to share with his worthy readers what he himselfhad
heard and seen." At the end of the journal, one reads as follows :
In Tsin, in the twelfth year ofYi-hsi [416], the year being under the constellation
shou hsing [Canopus], when the summer [ v a r ~ a ] retreat was at an end, Fa-hsien,
the man [devoted to] the Path, was invited. When he had arrived, he stayed and
shared the winter fast. Taking advantage of the [time] left over when the lecture
assembly [was terminated, some of the monks] again questioned him about his
travels. Since those men were deferential and acquiescent, everything he said
[to them?] was based on fact. [?] On this account, he was urged to set down in de-
tail whatever he had abridged before.
As one can see from this, the Buddhist community of Chien-k'ang extended an in-
vitation to Fa-hsien to tell of his travels, which, as they listened to the account,
only heightened their veneration for the Buddhist lands and their interest in them.
It is probably on this account that the Records of Buddhist Kingdoms were augmentedY
Then, in the eleventh month of that same year (late 413 or early 414), began the
translation of the Mahasarpghikavinaya, for acquisition and translation of the
religious code had been the principal motive behind Fa-hsien's pilgrimage; the work
took until the second month in Yi-hsi 14 (418). The influence of the Mahasarpghi-
kavinaya has already been described, but what made possible the new unfolding of
Buddhist doctrine in China was the translation of the Mahiiparinirviit;za and the
Avataf!lsaka. Where the former is concerned, Ch'u san tsang chi chi 2 contains the
following entry: "Great Parinirviit;za Scripture (Ta po-ni-huan ching). Six rolls. Trans-
lated under the Tsin, in Yi-hsi, thirteenth year (417), eleventh month, first day,
at the Tao-ch' ang-ssu." Roll 8 of the same source contains a colophon to the six-
roll version of that scripture (Liu chuan Ni-huan-ching chi), in which one reads as
follows:
In Magadha land, in Papliputra city, by the stapa ofKing Asoka, by the tabernacle
of the Divine Kings [t'ien wang ching she, devariijavihara], in front of the upiisaka-
ghara, m he saw a man of the Path from the land of China, Shih Fa-hsien, who had
come to this land from afar for the purpose of seeking the Dharma. Profoundly
moved by that man, straightway he copied for him this Great Parinirviit;za Scripture,
this secret treasure-house of the Thus Come One, for it was his wish to cause this
scripture to spread throughout the land of China and thus to enable all living
beings without exception to achieve the undifferentiating Dharma-body of the
Thus Come One.
The above is an account of how the text was acquired from a pious layman at the
Devarajavihara (?) at Pataliputra (Patna) in the kingdom of Magadha, also of the
importance attached to that scripture as the Buddha's "secret storehouse," conclud-
ing with a remark indicative of what was supposed to be the peculiar excellence of
this particular work, "for it was his wish. . . to enable all living beings without
exception to achieve the undifferentiating Dharma-body of the Thus Come One."
15
This notice, while not proof positive, nevertheless leads one to suppose that the
time in question was not very long after the very origin of the Mahayana Mahiipa-
a scriptural work of the "new Mahayana" that was not yet fully
current in the sa111gha of Central India.
The same source then goes on to say the following about the translation itself:
In the thirteenth year of Yi-hsi [471), in the tenth month, on the first day, at the
Tao-ch'ang-ssu, a monastery built by Hsieh Shih, who held the rank of ssu k'ung,
this scripture of broad scope, that of the Great [fang teng ta po-ni-huan
ching, was brought out, then, by the fourteenth
year [418), in the first month, on the second day, it was examined and completed.
The dhyana-master Buddhabhadra took the foreign text in hand, while Pao-ylin
interpreted. At the time there were two hundred and fifty persons present.l
6
From the fact that one of the collaborators was Pao-ylin, one of Fa-hsien's com-
panions who returned to China separately, also from the fact that two hundred
and fifty participated in the project, one deduces that this newly arrived scripture,
regarded as the last, hence the most important, pronouncement of the Buddha on
earth, attracted general attention as soon as it had been translated, at least in the Bud-
dhist community of Chien-k' ang. Of course, one does read the following in Seng-
jou's Clarification of Doubt (YU yi):
This scripture of the Great was obtained by Fa-hsien, a man of the Path,
who went to far-off India in quest of it, and who brought it back to Yang-tu,
where he held a great gathering of the learned members of the metropolitan
sa111gha, more than a hundred persons. The master held the original, examined and
translated it, verified it and put it out.
From this latter notice one would conclude that a bit more than a hundred learned
metropolitan monks gathered for the translation of the The
two notices are in disagreement as to the number of participants, but there can be no
doubt that this newly translated scripture came immediately to the attention of most
of the Buddhist scholars in the capitaL The peculiarity of this new scripture is de-
scribed in the Clarification of Doubt in the following terms: "NirvaQ.a is unperishing,
and the Buddha has a real Sel All living beings are possessed ofBuddhahood. Since
they all possess Buddhahood, they can all learn to realize it."
17
Without any doubt
at all, this was an alarming pronouncement for anyone used to the preachments of
non-being (wu) and emptiness (k'ung, anyatii) contained in Lao tzu and Chuang tzu
or in learned Prajfiaparamita writings. Besides, there are certain things that merit
attention, regarding the relationship between the assertions of this scripture on the
one hand and the era and the society, on the other, that witnessed its translation.
(1) The lineage-based system of the Nine Ranks, which since the Wei and Tsin had
developed and become quite brittle, by the end of the Tsin had come to reinforce a
social and political class inequality based on descent and by now quite unshakable,
and the society had become one in which this state of affairs was universal and taken
for granted. Wang Ch'en's biography, contained in a group of literary biographies
(wen yuan chuan) in roll 92 of the Book of Tsin, says that "in the houses of princes there
are princes, lords in the houses oflords," while the biography ofLiu Yi in the same
source says that "in the upper ranks there are no cold houses, in the lower ranks no
powerful clans." Wang Ch'iu, in response to a request from Emperor Wen of the
Sung to come to court in the company of a certain Yin Ching-j en (his inferior in so-
cial station), said curtly, "The distinction between gentry and commonalty is the
mark of the State. Your subject makes bold to disobey Your command." The
emperor, so it is said, went so far as to apologize. (C Wang Ch'iu's biography in the
History of the South (Nan shih], roll 23.) "The division between gentry and com-
monalty is wider than that between Heaven (and earth)," so it was said (in Wang
Hung's biography in the Book of Sung [Sung shu]). Such was the sharp cleavage in
social station between gentry and commonalty, in some cases within one and the
same aristocratic clan. In addition, the time-hallowed Confucian idea, going back
to earlier than the Han, that "any man can be a Sage" had, by Tsin times, been
changed to read, "Sagehood is inaccessible." Into such a world comes the Mahayana
Mahaparinirviir:zasatra with its insistence that all mankind without distinction is
possessed ofBuddhahood, consequently that anyone, gentleman or commoner, even
a slave, may become a Buddha, leading, in Chinese terms, to the conclusion that all
men have the possibility of being sages or worthies (sheng hsien).
(2) The time of completion of the translation of the Mahiiparinirviir:zasutra in six
rolls was the time at which Liu Yii, an upstart of very humble origin, had over-
thrown the Ssu-ma clan, reigning family of the Eastern Tsin, who stood on the very
pinnacle of the aristocracy, and had just taken Lo-yang and Ch' ang-an, the last steps
preparatory to his assumption of imperial prerogatives, but had not yet returned to
Chien-k'ang. Some of the publicity work preparatory to this dynastic change had
been done by the monk Hui-yi, as has also been stated already. Liu Yii's assumption
of power was already a matter of certainty, and in the year 420 the whole matter was
concluded with the establishment of a new dynasty, named Sung, and the change of
the reign title to yung ch'u ("the beginning of forever"). This was a severe shock for
the maintenance of their personal security on the part of the aristocracy and the
powerful families, but in the face of a Liu Yii who decided matters by letting his
armed might speak for him, for all that he might be an upstart, aristocratic society
found itself the victim of a contradiction that it could not resolve, having no choice
but to capitulate if it was to regain its accustomed posts and preserve its personal
security.
Tao-sheng and His New Message. A person who betook himself immediately to the
study of the MahiiparinirviitJasutra in six rolls, brought back to China by Fa-hsien and
issued in Chinese at a time such as has just been described, and who was subsequently
unfrocked by the Chien-k'ang community, which was hand-in-glove with the
aristocratic power, for his espousal of a variety of new theories, but chiefly for his
unequivocal statements that all living beings arc possessed ofBuddhahood, that even
the icchantika, said to have severed all roots of wholesomeness, may become a
Buddha, that consequently dignity is equally the property of all mankind, was Tao-
sheng. All the same, the views that he espoused, far from vanishing from the Chinese
Buddhist community during the period of division between north and south, be-
came a guiding force in the development of Chinese Buddhism.
Tao-sheng is a person who, after a period of diligent study under Hui-ytian's
tutelage on Mount Lu, went north with Hui-jui, Hui-yen, Hui-kuan, and others as
soon as Kumarajiva had been welcomed into Ch'ang-an, participating with Kumara-
jiva in the translation of such scriptures as the Vimalakirtinirdesa and the Saddharma-
pu1J4arika, and who then, having benefited from all this instruction, returned to the
south in 409, functioning in the Buddhist community while residing south of the
Yangtze at the Ch'ing-ylian-ssu ("Monastery of the Green Park," later the "Monas-
tery of Dragon Glow," lung kuang ssu) in the city of Chien-k'ang. Tao-sheng was a
dedicated scholar of scriptures and treatises, who even for the seven years that he was
cloistered on Mount Lu maintained that "the essence of entry upon the Path is based
on wisdom and understanding." In particular, placing himself on his guard against
the possibility of so becoming the prisoner of textual and philological analysis of the
scriptures as to lose the fundamental religious meaning that may lie concealed behind
the written word, he paid close attention and gave deep thought to the issues them-
selves, being thus a thinker and a seeker simultaneously. He once said, "While it is
true that truths are expressed in words, once one has the truths the words are not
needed. Where the Buddhist scriptures in Chinese translation are concerned, a
majority are the captives of the words, while only a minority see the true meaning of
the scriptures. Still, the only person who can be said to have got the Way is the one
who catches the fish and forgets the trap."
18
The newly translated Mahayana MahiiparinirviitJasutra, in six rolls, far from preach-
ing "knowledge of emptiness," as does the Prajtl.aparamita, states positively that the
realm of enlightened intuition is "permanent, pleasant, personal, pure," that all
living beings are possessed of Buddhahood, that all men have the possibility of en-
lightened intuition. It may be understood in a number of ways, one of them being
a warning addressed to a Buddhist church wholly dependent on the aristocracy. The
common people may well have been in a position too low even to receive the mes-
sage of this doctrine, but for the impoverished lower gentry, for whom the way to
high social position was barred, this was probably a doctrine welcome to the ears.
However, in the six-roll translation of the MahaparinirviitJa one reads as follows:
"Just as a good physician can heal all men, enabling all to escape illness, so the Buddha
also can rescue all men from disease, with the one exception of the icchantika (the
person who has severed all wholesome roots)." One also reads, "There is no possibil-
ity that the icchantika, who has no thought to aspire to the good, who is like a do-
nothing, a lie-about, can ever achieve Buddhahood."
19
Tao-sheng, however, dug
out the allegedly real meaning concealed behind these words and presented it pub-
licly. What he posited was that a scripture that states flatly that all living beings are
possessed of Buddhahood is clearly trying to say that even a mean wretch who has
severed all wholesome roots, if he can but produce wholesome thoughts, pure
thoughts, can also achieve Buddhahood.
For a class-ridden society in which there was no moving from one station to an-
other, a rigid society based on lineage and social status, this constituted an opening, at
least a spiritual one, for it was something that affirmed the equal dignity, in the
religious sense, of all mankind, that placed gentry and commonalty in the same posi-
tion as nobility and aristocracy in the sense that enlightened intuition, "permanent,
pleasant, personal, pure" for all without distinction, was also equally available to all.
Not only that, but Tao-sheng appears to have been engaged in a profound search
for what the preachments of the Buddhist canon are ultimately seeking to enable the
religious seeker to embody in direct experience and to have proclaimed, even before
the appearance of the MahaparinirviitJa in six rolls, a new Buddhist doctrine tran-
scending the surface meaning of the words of the scriptures as well as the accepted
theories of the Chien-k'ang Buddhist community. As the biography says,
Thereupon he critically examined the true and the conventional, sharply thinking
about cause and effect. He then said that goodness reaps no reward, and that one
may have a sudden experience of enlightened intuition and achieve Buddhahood
forthwith. He also published the Essay on the Two Truths, an essay that says that
Buddhahood must exist, Essay That the Dharma Body Is Immaterial, Essay that the
Buddha Has No Pure Land, Essay That There Must Be Connections, etc.
"Yet," says the biographer, "the lot that keep to the written word in most cases re-
sented him, and the voices for and against him arose in conflict, creating a confusing
din."
20
The likelihood, in the midst of all of this propagation of Lao-Chuang non-being
and PrajfHiparamita emptiness is that these new theories ofTao-sheng were the result
of several things, viz., (1) the encounter with doctrinal expressions that were, at
first sight, opposed to the Prajfiaparamita scriptures, as had been true first of the
new Mahayana doctrines that he had learned under Kumarajiva at Ch'ang-an, then
of the Hinayana doctrines, most notably those of the Sarvastivada, that had been
recently and uninterruptedly brought in and propagated; (2) the many doubts that he
himself felt; (3) his quest, as a committed believer and thinker, for a solution to the
problems raised by the apparent contradictions within what was, after all, the
1
teaching of one and the same Buddha. The presentation of new theories was due also
to the production and study of the Mahiiparinirviit:zasutra, a scripture which be-
longed no less to the Mahayana but whose mode of expression and of posing emphasis
differed from those of the sunyaviida as represented by the Praji'iaparamita scriptures.
The tradition-bound, aristocratic community of Buddhist scholars, those said
to be bogged down in the written word (chih wen), whose chief desire was to be faith-
ful to the surface wording of the scriptures, eventually attacked Tao-sheng for
sacrilege against the Holy Word and banished him from the Chien-k'ang religious
community. He, however, convinced of the validity of his views, refused to change
them. According to his biography,
Tao-sheng, assuming a solemn mien in the midst of the fellowship, took a vow,
saying, "If what I have said be in conflict with the doctrine of the scriptures, then
let this body be affiicted with a pox. If there be no conflict with the Marks of
Reality, then, when I have cast off this life, may I approach the lion throne [on
which the Buddha sits]."
With strong words such as these, he left Chien-k'ang, going to Mount Hu-ch'iu
("Tiger Hill") in Wu (one of the famed beauty spots of Soochow in Kiangsu). Since
it was Tao-sheng and his colleagues who requested of Buddhajiva the translation of
the "Code in Five Divisions" ( Wu fen lii, i.e., the Mahisasakavinaya, brought back
to China by Fa-hsien), a translation known to have been completed at the Lung-
kuang-ssu (Ch'ing-yiian-ssu) in Yiian-chia 1 (424), the event must have taken place
early in Yiian-chia, but no earlier than this year. In spite of his banishment, Tao-
sheng, after taking up residence on Mount Hu-ch'iu, was joined within about ten
days by several hundreds of disciples, so it is said. All the same, after a sojourn of a
few years at the Hu-ch'iu-ssu ("White Tiger Monastery") Tao-sheng left again, in
Yiian-chia 7 (430), for Mount Lu.
The "Mahiiparinirviit:zasutra" Moves South. Quite independently of these develop-
ments, in the state of the Northern Liang, which maintained itself in what is now
Kansu, translated (in 421) a version of the Mahiiparinirviit:za much
more extensive in scope than the one done by Fa-hsien, a version in forty rolls as
opposed to the latter's six, stimulating pious interest and study on a broad scale and
reaching Chien-k'ang very soon, immediately after Tao-sheng's departure, in fact.
Tao-sheng, who by this time was on Mount Lu, coming at last into possession of a
version of the Mahiiparinirviit:za (the one in forty rolls) that plainly says that "even
icchantikas are all endowed with Buddhahood," gave readings of the latter version
with ever deeper confidence in a view that he had been propounding all along. One
day, in Yiian-chia 11 (434), he mounted the cathedra to give a reading and died when
he had finished. As soon as Chien-k' ang also had copy of the Mahiiparinirviit:zasutra
in forty rolls, Tao-sheng's colleagues, Hui-yen and Hui-kuan, with the collaboration
of the eminent Buddhist layman Hsieh Ling-yiin, compared this version with
Fa-hsien's in six rolls, revising the latter and producing the so-called "Southern
text" of the Mahiiparinirviit:zasutra (nan pen Nieh-p' an ching). (In Yiianchia 7, 430,
Hsieh Ling-yiin was in Chien-k' ang, but the following year or thereabout he left
that city, and in the ninth year, 432, he was taken captive.) In this way, the study of
the MahiiparinirviiiJa south of the Yangtze became all the more active in 430 and
after, and there proceeded a new development in Buddhist doctrinal scholarship in
the wake of the new doctrine, but this shall be left for the volume dealing with the
period of division between north and south, since it belongs, properly speaking, to
Sung, Ch'i, and later.
u Avata'!"saka." The next scripture to be treated is the Avata'!"saka, the original of
which was brought back from Khotan by Chih Fa-ling, who went on pilgrimage
from Mount Lu to Central Asia at Hui-yiian's behest. The translation was begun,
with Fa-yeh as the scribe, late under the Eastern Tsin, in the third month ofYi-hsi
14 (418, the year following Hui-yiian's death), then, in the second year of the reign
of Emperor Wu of the Sung, Yung-ch'u 2 (419), in the twelfth month (i.e., early
in 420) the translation was completed and proofread. Thus, the study of it and belief
in it do not become vital matters until the period of division between north and
south.
However, and whatever else may be said, the arrival of two Mahayana scriptures,
the Avata'!"saka and the MahiiparinirviiiJa, together with the body of Hinayana schol-
arship in late Tsin and early Sung in a China in which Prajfiaparamita scholarship
was at the height of its glory, inevitably affected the development of Chinese Bud-
dhism with a new complexity and presented it with new tasks. The Avata'!"saka and
the MahiiparinirviiiJa are two huge Mahayana scriptures, the former conceived as the
first sermon preached by the Buddha, without even rising from His seat under the
Bodhi tree, immediately after His achievement of enlightened intuition, the latter
as the Buddha's final sermon, preached immediately before His death. It is evident
that both date to an epoch later than the one that produced the Prajfiaparamita
scriptures. While it is not possible to determine in what place or in what century they
came into being, the Chinese Buddhist community, taking the translated word of the
scriptures at face value, believed them with literal piety to have been the very first
and very last sermons preached by the Buddha. Thus they had no choice but to ac-
cept the Prajfiaparamita scriptures and the Agamas, which had already been current
in China for some time, and the Saddharmapu1J4arika and Vimalakirtinirdea, recently
retranslated by Kumarajiva, as sermons preached sometime during the interval.
The inevitable task was to arrange these scriptures in such a way as to give a ra-
tional answer to the question of how the scriptures were preached, with what sort
of interconnection, from the Buddha's achievement of enlightened intuition until
His attainment This is why Chinese Buddhism had no choice but to de-
velop as a multiple Buddhism, one that picked and chose among the scriptures,
arranged them and systematized them, in the unquestioning belief that they were the
sermons of one and the same Buddha, although they were in fact compilations put
together severally by the several schools that had developed over a long history and
a broad area in India, and possibly in Central Asia as well.

Tsukamoto Zenryu Ch. 6 A History of Early Chinese Buddhism

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Tsukamoto Zenryu Ch. 6 A History of Early Chinese Buddhism

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

6

THE RISE OF BUDDHISM

You might also like