Chinese Buddhism
By Jayaram V

Buddhism entered China a few centuries after the passing away of the Buddha, at a time when Confucianism and Taoism were the predominant religions in a country that was as a big as a continent and rivaled India in historical antiquity and cultural pluralism. In the early phases of its entry, Buddhism did not find many adherents in China. But by the 2nd Century AD, aided to some extent by the simplicity of its approach and some similarities with Taoism, it managed to gain a firm foothold and acquired a sizeable following.

The arrival of many new Buddhist scholars from the Indian subcontinent and central Asia, like An Shih-Kao, a Parthinian monk, and Lokakshema, a Kushana monk from Central Asia gave an impetus to the new religion that had many attractive features besides an inbuilt organizational approach to the study and pursuit of religion. During the same period many Buddhist texts were translated from Pali and Sanskrit into Chinese.

The collapse of Han dynasty around 220 AD,  was followed by a period of confusion which continued to trouble Chinese society for the next 350 years. During this period Confucianism and Taoism gradually yielded place to  Buddhism. The new Mongolian rulers of China from the Northern Wei dynasty and some rulers in the south like Emperor Wu found in Buddhism a great opportunity to demolish the old order and establish a new one. As a result by 6th Century AD, China was teaming with millions of Buddhist monks and thousands of monasteries.

During this turbulent period in China, two major developments took place in Buddhism. One group consisting mostly of the sophisticated gentry dwelled on the philosophical and mystical aspects of Buddhism, while the other group dominated by rural folk followed Buddhism in their own superstitious and simple ways imparting to it in the process a peculiar Chinese Character. 

During this period many Buddhist scholars came to China from the east and worked selflessly to make Buddhism a mass religion. Notable among them were scholars like Dharmaraksha (3rd Century AD)  Kumarajiva (4th Century AD), who got a number of Buddhist texts translated into Chinese. By this time China produced its own eminent Buddhist scholars with extraordinary vision like Seng-Chao, Tao-Sheng and Fa-hsien who also contributed richly to the growth of Buddhism China through their translations.

Between the 6th Century AD and 10th Century AD China was ruled by Sui and T'ang dynasties who were also patrons of Buddhism. During this period Buddhism reached its glorious heights in China. At the same time the process of degeneration also began. Many Buddhist monasteries turned to serious business and indulged in farming, trade and money lending for their own benefit neglecting the spiritual side of their responsibilities. Strangely, in a very uncharacteristic way, the Buddhist monasteries cultivated the farm lands, ran mills and oil presses using slave labor and low ranking monks and hoarded vast amounts of precious stones and metals. They also indulged in pawn brokering and money lending.

Many new schools of Buddhism also emerged in China during this period. Each school  derived its authority from some ancient Buddhist text or doctrine. Some of these schools spread to countries like Korea and Japan and contributed to the emergence of Buddhism as the predominant religion.

The fall of Buddhism began during the reign of a Chinese Emperor Wu-Tsung (841-847). Probably noticing the greed that characterized many monasteries, he ordered for the general destruction of all Buddhist establishments and  return of all Buddhist monks and nuns to lay life. This shook the foundations of Buddhism though it did not destroy it. Emperor Wu dismantled the greedy monasteries probably to fill his own coffers, but not Buddhism. However his actions definitely reversed the fortunes of Buddhism in China and sowed the seeds of its decline .

From 11th Century onwards, China witnessed the reemergence of Confucianism and revival of people's interest in their traditional religions. By their own excesses and neglect of their primary duties, the Buddhist monasteries became the contributory factors to the declining popularity of Buddhism. During the same period the Buddhism faced tremendous challenges from the increasing popularity of Brahmanism and the aggressive policies of the Islamic rulers of the Indian subcontinent.

These new developments in the land of the Buddha had a direct impact on the fortunes of Buddhism in China since for a very long period the monks from the subcontinent provided a recurring source of inspiration and information to their brethren in China. This decline contributed greatly to the slackening of standards in the recruitment of monks and  the emergence of some decadent schools of Buddhism. These schools deviated from the original rules prescribed by the Buddha for monastic discipline among the brethren and  emphasized the need for exploring the lighter side of life in the practice of Buddhism instead of sorrow and suffering. One prominent example was the emergence of Pu-Tai, or the Laughing Buddha. He was but a decadent version of the exalted and highly revered Maitreyi Buddha.