Chinese Buddhism 中国佛教 温海明 Prof. WEN Haiming Associate Professor, School of Philosophy Renmin University of China 中国人民大学哲学院副教授 Ph.D. University of Hawaii 夏威夷大学哲学博士   Prof. Haiming Wen, School of Philosophy, Renmin University of China 11

History of Chinese Buddhism  Took place in first half of the 1 st Century CE  1 st, 2 nd Centuries: considered occultism  Daoist story of Buddha as Laozi’s disciple  Designed to imply sutras were foreign variant of the Daodejing  Originally interpreted by analogy  5 th Century: analogy abandoned, terminological similarity used  synthesized Buddhism and Daoism

General Buddhist Concepts  Several schools (Hinayana, Mahayana, etc) but agree on basics  The theory of karma  Thoughts and deeds have effects on the Samsara, or Wheel of Birth and Death  Sufferings are rooted in ignorance of true nature of things (Avidya, Wu-ming)  Hope lies with Enlightenment, or Bodhi, and emancipation from rebirth cycle, Nirvana

Mahayana School on Universal Mind  Mahayana school believed in ‘universal mind’  Nirvana means individuals’ identification with the universal mind  AKA the ‘Buddha-nature’  School of the Middle Path described Nirvana differently

School of the Middle Path on Theory of ‘Double Truth’  “Double truth” means common sense and higher sense truth  Three levels of double truth (you=being, wu=non-being)  Saying things are you is common sense, saying they are wu is higher truth  Saying things are both is common sense, saying they are neither is higher  Saying they are neither is common sense, saying they are neither you nor wu, neither not-you nor not- wu, and the middle path is neither one-sided nor not one-sided is higher

End Results - Zhuangzi  School of the Middle Path, all things must be denied, for they are unreal  When all is denied, including the denial of the denial of all, one is enlightened  Similar like Zhuangzi’s “Sitting in forgetfulness”  A state of nirvana ?

Seng Zhao  Great Middle Path thinker  Kumārajīva - Indian, born in what is now Chinese Turkistan  Seng Zhao: Things are in constant flux  A thing of one moment is an entirely new thing  The story of Fan Zhi

Dao-sheng  A monk so learned rocks nodded in agreement  “A good deed entails no retribution”  Following wu-wei=having no cravings,  Karma is due to cravings, therefore no retribution  Buddhahood by Sudden Enlightenment  Everyone has the Buddha-nature  Realizing this through learning, practice frees you  There is no ‘Pure Land’ – Buddha is here already  Icchantika can achieve Buddhahood

Chan or Zen Buddhism  Dao-sheng and Seng Zhao had laid philosophical groundwork for Chan Buddhism  Northern-Southern school split  Hui-neng succeeded Hong-ren as patriarch  Writing the best poem summarizing Chan Buddhism

Teaching of the First Principle  “First Principle” (same as ‘double truth-3 rd level’)  Unspeakable and unnamable  Asking about the First Principle elicited no response, hitting, irrelevant answers  No scriptures or sutras have real connection to the First Principle

Cultivation  Best way to cultivate is to not cultivate  To cultivate oneself is to have effort, or you-wei  Do things without effort or purposefulness  Act without effects and Karma will be exhausted  Don’t worry about institutionalized religion  Original ignorance and naturalness are gifts of nature  knowledge of un-knowledge and cultivation through non-cultivation are products of spirit  Sudden Enlightenment is result of non-cultivation

Attainment of Non-Attainment  Nothing further than Enlightenment  The mountain is the mountain, the river is the river  The story of riding the ass

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