Transformation of Buddhism in China
1957; University of Hawaii Press; Volume: 7; Issue: 3/4 Linguagem: Inglês
10.2307/1397344
ISSN1529-1898
Autores Tópico(s)Indian and Buddhist Studies
Resumolong and complicated process, but it can be summed up in one sentence, namely, an Indian religion of non-ego, it has become in China a humanistic religion. When Buddhism arrived in China shortly before the Christian era,l humanism had been strongly established there. Confucianism had enjoyed supremacy for over a hundred years. movement to make Confucius' (551-479 B.C.) a god had died out. teachings of Lao Tzib (6th century B.C.) and Chuang Tzui (between 399 and 295 B.C.) were going on strong in both the philosophical and the religious spheres, the latter within the Yellow Emperor-Lao Tzii cult. Taoism is ordinarily described as humanistic. It is often thought of as opposing Nature to man. Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu both taught people to follow Nature, and Chuang Tzui, especially, admonished not to assist Nature with man.2 And yet, Taoism is essentially humanistic, for, like Confucianism, its ideal person is the sage, who brings about social order and good government. Tao-te chingd and the Chuang Tzu3 are both chiefly concerned with how to live in this world and how to govern. It was in this intensely humanistic atmosphere that Buddhism entered China and thrived. Consequently, from the very beginning the Buddha was understood in human terms. In the well-known treatise, The Dis-
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