Hinduism and Buddhism, An Historical Sketch, Vol. 3Eliot, Charles
Religion
Hinduism and Buddhism, An Historical Sketch, Vol. 3
Eliot, Charles
Asia -- Religion; Buddhism; Hinduism
Of course Buddhist theory and practice felt the influence of their new
surroundings. The ornaments and embroidery of the faith are Chinese
and sometimes hide the original material. Thus Kuan-yin, considered
historically, has grown out of the Indian deity Avalokita, but the
goddess worshipped by the populace is the heroine of the Chinese
romance mentioned above. And, since many Chinese are only half
Buddhists, tales about gods and saints are taken only half-seriously;
the Buddha periodically invites the immortals to dine with him in
Heaven and the Eighteen Lohan are described as converted brigands.
In every monastery the buildings, images and monks obviously bear the
stamp of the country. Yet nearly all the doctrines and most of the
usages have Indian parallels. The ritual has its counterpart in what
I-Ching describes as seen by himself in his Indian travels. China has
added the idea of _fêng-shui_, and has modified architectural forms.
For instance the many-storeyed pagoda is an elongation of the
stupa[582]. So, too, in ceremonial, the great prominence given to
funeral rites and many superstitious details are Chinese, yet, as I
have often mentioned in this work, rites on behalf of the dead were
tolerated by early Buddhism. The curious mingling of religious
services with theatrical pagents which Hsüan Chuang witnessed at
Allahabad in the reign of Harsha, has its modest parallel to-day in
many popular festivals.
The numerous images which crowd a Chinese temple, the four kings,
Arhats and Bodhisattvas, though of unfamiliar appearance to the Indian
student, are Indian in origin. A few Taoist deities may have side
chapels, but they are not among the principal objects of worship. The
greater part of the Chinese Tripitaka is a translation from the
Sanskrit and the Chinese works (only 194 against 1467 translations)
are chiefly exegetical. Thus, though Chinese bonzes countenance native
superstitions and gladly undertake to deal with all the gods and
devils of the land, yet in its doctrine, literature, and even in many
externals their Buddhism remains an Indian importation. If we seek in
it for anything truly Chinese, it is to be found not in the
constituents, but in the atmosphere, which, like a breeze from a
mountain monastery sometimes freshens the gilded shrines and libraries
of verbose sutras. It is the native spirit of the Far East which finds
expression in the hill-side hermit's sense of freedom and in dark
sayings such as _Buddhism is the oak-tree in my garden_. Every free
and pure heart can become a Buddha, but also is one with the life of
birds and flowers. Both the love of nature[583] and the belief that
men can become divine can easily be paralleled in Indian texts, but
they were not, I think, imported into China, and joy in natural beauty
and sympathy with wild life are much more prominent in Chinese than in
Indian art.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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