of human nature and life? What China accomplished during the
heyday of Chinese Buddhism  in the T'ang Dynasty has changed
irrevocably  not only Chinese thought  and culture  but also
touched  the lives  of contiguous  countries, such as, Korea
and Japan, including the Southeast Asian countries. It was a
singular feat not to be duplicated anywhere in the world. At
this  point  in time, Far Eastern  culture  took  on its own
distinctness  aided by Korean and Japanese contributions  in
their  own  respective  ways.  What  then  are  the Buddhist
doctrines  or  essentials  which  the  Chinese  absorbed  so
readily ?
   As one would expect, the first attraction  to Buddhism is
the  psychological  factor: the  nature  of universal  human
suffering(苦).  It covers  every phase of a human being from
birth  until  death, the  only  exception  being  the  utter
eradication or conquest of the elements that gave rise to it.
Since volumes have been written concerning  the nature, rise
and  conquest  of  suffering, especially  dealing  with  the
Four-fold Noble  Truth, the discussion  will gloss over this
area  and merely  state  that  this important  psychological
factor gave the Chinese mind a better look at how human
experience functions.  Heretofore, human behavior was looked
upon,  generally  speaking, from  an  externally oriented
metaphysical　　 framework--the　　  familiar　　 triadic
heaven-earth-man   relationship,  the   Tao,  the   yin-yang
phenomenon,   dynamics   of   change,   humanity, propriety,
non-action, vacuity  and harmony.   But now the focus turned
from the  external  to  the  internal  constitution  of man.
Buddhism inverted the situation  such that  it was all in  a
person's power to solve one's own problem of suffering.  The
power of course came   ultimately   from   systematic　　 and
disciplined meditation. This is not to say that  the Taoists
did  not engage  in meditation  in order  to achieve
 
　　　　　　　　　　  P.372
 
quietude  and  vacuous  existence.  Perhaps, because  of the
meditative   factor,  the  early   Taoists   were  attracted
initially to Buddhism.  Be that as it may, the crucial point
here is that Buddhism  now presented  to the Chinese  mind a
truly   exciting   and   absorbing   metaphysics   of  human
experience. Within this metaphysical context, we are able to
appreciate the Buddhist principles or essentials in action.
   The Buddhist structure of perception consists in the five
aggregates  (pa~nca   skandha,  五蕴),  namely  corporeality
(ruupa,  色  ),  feeling  (vedanaa,  受  ) ,  primary  image
(sa.mj~naa, 想 ), run of imagery (sa.mskaara,行), and  clear
conscious  thought  (vij~na~na,识).  The soundness  of  this
structure  of perception  lies  in the  continuous  flow  of
perceptual  data from the corporeal  realm to consciousness.
This  is  no  surprise  since  Buddhist  psychology  follows
closely  the discipline  of yoga from start  to finish.  The
historical Buddha's enlightenment  was but an obvious result
of perfecting  a unique  form of yoga.  Thus the yogi starts
with self-examination  of one's defiled  nature, understands
and arrests it, and finally eradicates it. This process must
heed to the continuity  of perception  from contact with the
outside  world, through the bodily processes, and eventually
to the conscious realm.  Otherwise, any meditative  exercise
would quickly  prove ineffective  by being disjointed  where
the organic  nature  of being would  not only be soiled  but
warped with gaps or lacunae everywhere.
   This basic Buddhist psychological  ground appealed to the
Chinese,   especially   the   Taoists,  who   proceeded   to