Basics Of Chinese Buddhism Essay Research Paper — страница 4

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world for fifteen days. Food offerings are made during this time to relieve the sufferings of these ghosts. On the fifteenth day, Ancestor Day, people visit cemeteries to make offerings to the departed. Kuan Yin Birthday This festival which celebrates the Bodhisattva in Tibet and China. It occurs on the full moon day in March. Buddhist weddings Monks cannot be marriage celebrants but they can “bless” the couple by chanting after the ceremony. Buddhist funerals These are simple ceremonies where the good deeds of the departed are remembered, and a Loving-kindness meditation can be done. 5 How and when Buddhism came to China. Following his Enlightenment, the Buddha instructed his disciples to spread his teaching in all directions of the world. It was not until the early years in

the Christian era that his teaching eventually reached China. Around 520 A.D. an Indian monk named Bodhi Dharma arrived in Canton by sea. He eventually settled in the north of China where he founded the Shaolin monastery. Bodhidharma was also born as a prince between 440 and 470 CE. Although born a Brahmin (a high-caste Hindu), he was converted to Buddhism. His teacher was a monk called Prajnatara who came from Magadha, the birthplace of Buddhism. His teacher told him to go on a mission to China. The actual date of his arrival in China is somewhat confused. The recorded dates vary from 475 to 520. On arrival he was summoned to the capital Emperor Wu-ti who was already a Buddhist who prided himself on his generous support of the religion. Legend has it that, on their meeting the

following conversation took place. Emperor: I have richly endowed the Buddhist religion so how much merit would you say I have gained. Bodhidharma: “No merit whatsoever.” The Emperor was taken aback, having heard that good brings good and evil brings evil – the Law of Karma. What Bodhidharma was trying to show was that the Emperor’s intention was wrong and it is the intention that determines the Karmic effect. The Emperor’s intention was not free giving but for his own gain and to boost his own ego. The Emperor then asked Bodhidharma, “What then is the essence of Buddhism? Bodhidharma replied, “No essence whatsoever” The Emperor, somewhat confused, said, ” Since you say that in Buddhism, all things have no essence, who then is speaking before me now?”

Bodhidharma replied, “I don’t know”. So, China had its first Cha’an teaching, and the thoroughly confused Emperor Wu-ti sent the monk away. Bodhidharma made his way to the north of China where he eventually settled in the Shaolin Temple on Mount Sung in Honan Province. It is said that it was here in a cave on Mount Sung that Bodhidharma spent nine years in meditation. Legend says that Bodhidharma cut off his eyelids to prevent himself from falling asleep. The Shaolin temple has become famous as the first training centre for Kung-Fu. 6 How Chinese Buddhism is different Chinese Buddhism is a mix of Taoism and Buddhism fusing into one, Indian concern with liberation of the self + Chinese focus with nature. As Buddhism entered Chinese life it picked up some of the beliefs of

the other main religions (Taoism and Confucianism). Cha’an is the Chinese form of the Sanskrit word “Dhyana”, which means meditation. It spread to be the main Buddhist tradition in Korea where it is called Son , and later spread to Japan where it was known as Zen. Mahayana (The Great Vehicle) Buddhism is the teaching which is the basis of Ch an Buddhism. Mahayana is an umbrella for a great many Buddhist schools , from the Tantra school (the secret teaching of Yoga) of Tibet and Nepal to the Pure Land sect, found in China, Korea and Japan. Ch an and Zen Buddhism, of China and Japan, are meditation schools. According to these schools, to look inward and not to look outwards is the only way to achieve enlightenment, which is the same as Buddhahood . Cha an emphasises intuition

, its peculiarly Chinese element being that it has no words in which to express itself at all, so it does this in symbols and images. Cha’an comes from an important sermon on meditation made the Buddha himself, which emphasised finding enlightenment from personal effort instead of relying on study of the or the experiences of others. Ch an uses unconventional or unusual ways to wake up the disciple to a sudden and ‘wordless’ experience of Enlightenment, including: puzzling meditation themes; Paradoxes; baffling answers; or even yelling and beating to let ‘the bottom of the tub fall out’ and to throw the student into a state of ‘no-mind’. For example, Chinese Buddhism invented the famous Koan s. These are puzzling questions which seem to have no answers or nonsense