Buddhism and Buddhists in China by Lewis Hodus
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Lewis Hodus >> Buddhism and Buddhists in China
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_(b) The Prayer Service._--The ceremonial is opened by a chant as
follows:
"Pearly dew of the jade heavens, golden waves of Buddha's ocean, scatter
the lotus flowers on a thousand thousand worlds of suffering, that the
heart of mercy may wash away great calamity, that a drop may become a
flood, that a drop may purify mountains and rivers.
"We put our trust in the Bodhisattvas and Mahâsattvas that purify the
earth."
The chant ended, a monk takes a bowl of water and repeats thrice: "We
put our trust in the great merciful Kuan Yin Bodhisattva." Then follows
the chant:
"The Bodhisattva's sweet dew of the willow is able to make one drop
spread over the ten directions. It washes away the rank odors and dirt.
It keeps the altars clean and pure. The mysterious words of the doctrine
will be reverently repeated."
This chant ended, the monks intone incantations of Kuan Yin, quite
unintelligible even to them, but of magical value. While these are being
uttered, the presiding monk and his attendants walk around the altar,
while one of them with a branch sprinkles water on the floor. This
symbolizes the cleansing of the altar and of the monks from all
impurities which might render the ritual ineffective. When the
perambulating monks have returned to their place, while the sprinkler
continues his duties, the monks repeat the words: "We put our trust in
the sweet dew kings, Bodhisattvas and Mahâsattvas."
The Bodhisattvas have now come to the purified altar and while the abbot
offers incense to them, the monks repeat the words:
"The fields are destroyed so that they resemble the back of a tortoise.
The demons of drought produce calamity. The dark people [Footnote: A
term denoting the Chinese.] pray earnestly while crops are being
destroyed. We pray that abundant, limpid liquid may descend to purify
and refresh the whole world. The clouds of incense rise."
This plaint is repeated thrice and is followed by an invocation:
"Wholeheartedly we cast ourselves to the earth, O Triratna, who dost
exist eternally in the realm of _dharma_ of the ten directions."
The leader remains quiet a long time with his eyes closed, visualizing
the Buddhas, the Bodhisattvas, the dragon kings, and the saints, all
with their heavenly eyes and ears knowing that this region is afflicted
with drought, that an altar has been constructed and that all have come
to make petition. This meditation is regarded as of chief importance. It
is followed by an announcement to the effect that the sutra praying for
rain was given by the Buddha, that a drought is afflicting the land,
that the altar has been erected in accordance with the regulations and
that prayer is being made for rain. But fearing that something may have
been overlooked, the magic formula of "the king of light who turns the
wheel" is read seven times so as to remedy such oversight.
The altar having thus been cleansed of all impurities, the rain sutra is
opened and the one hundred and eighty-eight dragon kings are urged by
name in groups of ten to take action. The formula is as follows:
"We with our whole heart invite such and such dragon kings to come. We
desire that the heart and wisdom which knows others intuitively will
move the spirits above to obey the Buddha, to take pity on the people
below and to come to our province and send down sweet rain."
When the dragons have all been duly invited, the monks chant suitable
magical formulas, while the leader sits in meditation visualizing these
dragon kings and their tender solicitude for the people in distress. The
monastery bell is sounded and the wooden fish is beaten, while drums and
cymbals add their effect. The whole is intended to draw the attention of
the dragon kings to the drought. Then the fifty-four Buddhas are invited
in a similar manner in groups of ten, the sixth group consisting of
four. A similar form of address is used and similar magical formulas are
recited with the noisy accompaniment. The ceremony concludes by the
expression of the hope that the three jewels (Buddha, the Law and the
Community of Monks) and the dragon kings will grant the rain.
Upon the altar are four copies of an announcement to the dragon kings
and Buddhas. On the first day three copies are sent to them through the
flames, one to the Buddhas, one to the dragon kings and one to the
devas. One copy is read daily and then sent up at the thanksgiving
ceremony. The announcement is as follows:
"We put our trust in the limitless, reverent ocean clouds, the dragons
of august virtue and all their host, all dragon kings and holy saints.
Their august virtue is difficult to measure. In accord with the command
of Buddha they send liquid rain. May their quiet mercy descend to the
altar; may they send down purity and freshness, spreading over the ten
directions. We put our trust in the company of dragon kings of the
clouds, the saints and the Bodhisattvas."
The offerings are made only in the morning inasmuch as the Buddhas,
following ancient custom, are not supposed to eat after the noonday
meal. Great care is taken that the altar shall not be desecrated by any
one who eats meat or drinks wine. The magic formulas of great mercy are
uttered or the name of Kuan Yin is repeated a thousand times. The monks,
take turn in these services which continue day and night until rain
comes.
_(c) Its Meaning._--In the religious consciousness of the people is
the idea that the drought is a punishment for sin. The altar is made
pure and acceptable and sin is removed in various symbolic ways. This
fits in with the idea that man is an intimate part of the world order.
His sin disturbs the order of nature. Heaven manifests displeasures by
sending down calamities upon men. Men should cease their wrongdoing
which disturbs the natural order and should also wash away the effects
of their sins. The services for rain with their magic formulas help to
clear away the consequences of sin and to predispose Heaven to grant its
blessings again.
_4. Monasteries Are Supported Because They Control Fêng-shui_
The prayers for rain are an important part of the Chinese peasant's
world order. Drought is the manifestation of Heaven's displeasure at the
infraction of Heaven's laws. It calls for self-examination and
repentance. Thus the monastery opens up the windows of the universal
order as this touches the humble tiller of the soil.
The Buddhist monasteries not only hold services in time of drought, but
also in time of flood and at times when plagues of grasshoppers afflict
the land, or when diseases afflict human beings. Their adoption of
Chinese customs led them to have special ceremonies at the eclipse of
the sun and moon, although they knew the cause of the eclipse. Peasants
and officials support the monastery because of these services regulating
the wind and water influences and through them bringing the people into
harmonious relation with the great world of spirits.
BUDDHISM AND THE FAMILY
One of the criticisms of the Chinese against Buddhism is that it is
opposed to filial piety. According to Mencius the greatest unfilial act
is to leave no progeny. In spite of this charge Buddhism has done much
for the family. It has taken over the ethics of the family, filial
piety, obedience and respect for elders, and has made them a part of its
system. Transgression of these fundamental duties is visited by dire
punishments in the next world. The faithful observance is followed not
only by the rewards of the Confucian system, but results in the greatest
rewards in the future life.
_1. Kuan Yin, the Giver of Children and Protector of Women_
Buddhism has done more. Out of its atmosphere of love and mercy toward
all beings has developed Kuan Yin, the ideal of Chinese womanhood, the
goddess of Mercy, who embodies the Chinese ideal of beauty, filial piety
and compassion toward the weak and suffering. She is especially the
goddess of women, being interested in all their affairs. Her image is
found in almost every household and her temples have a place in every
part of China.
A brief history of this deity will enable us to understand the
significance of the cult. Kuan Yin started as a male god in India,
called Avalôkitêsvara, who was worshipped from the third to the seventh
century of our era. He was the protector of sailors and people in
danger. In the course of time, either in China or in India, the god
became a goddess. Some think that this was due to the influence of
Christianity. In China both forms survive, though the goddess is better
known. A Buddhist once said that a Bodhisattva is neither male nor
female and appears in whatever form is convenient.
Kuan Yin is a very popular goddess. Her experiences in Hades are
dramatically presented by traveling theatrical companies. Her deeds of
mercy are portrayed in art. Her well known story runs as follows:
Kuan Yin was the daughter of the ruler of a prosperous kingdom located
somewhere near the island of Sumatra. Her birth was announced to the
queen by a dream. The little girl ate no meat nor milk. Her disposition
was very good. Her intelligence was most extraordinary. Once she read
anything she never forgot it.
At the age of sixteen her father tried to betroth her to a young prince.
She refused and decided to give herself to a life of fasting and
abstinence. Angered b-v her obstinacy the father ordered her to take off
her court dress and jewels, to put on the garb of a servant and to carry
water for the garden. The garden never looked so beautiful. The daughter
also looked well and showed no signs of weariness, because the gods
assisted her in her work.
Relenting a little the king sent an older sister to urge Kuan Yin to
accept the husband he had found for her. When she refused, he sent her
to a monastery and charged the abbess to treat her harshly, so that she
might be forced to return home. Expecting to win the king's favor, the
abbess put the most unpleasant tasks on the girl. But again the gods
assisted her and made her work light, so that her tasks were always well
done and the young woman was cheerful.
One day the report came to the king that his daughter was associating
with a young monk discussing heterodox doctrines and that she had given
birth to a child. This news so enraged the king that he burned the
monastery, killing many monks. The princess was captured and brought
before him. Inasmuch as she was obdurate, the king ordered her to be
executed. The executioner's sword, however, broke into a thousand pieces
without doing her any injury. The king then ordered her to be strangled.
A golden image sixteen feet high appeared on the spot. The princess
laughed and cried: "Where there was no image, an image appeared. I see
the real form. When body flesh is strangled, then appear the lights of
ten thousand roads." She went to purgatory and purgatory at once changed
into paradise. Yama, in order to save his purgatory, sent her back to
the world. She appeared at Puto, an island off the coast of Chekiang
near Ningpo. Here she rescued sailors and performed many miracles for
people in distress.
In the meantime the father, who had committed many sins, became sick.
His allotted time of life had been shortened by twenty years. Moreover,
an ulcer grew on his body for every one of the five hundred monks he had
killed when he burned the monastery. A miserable, loathsome old man, he
came to an old monk, who was really the princess in disguise, and asked
for help. The monk told him that an eye and an arm of a blood relative
made into medicine was the only cure for his trouble. The two living
daughters were willing to make such an offering, but their husbands
would not permit them to do so. The old monk urged the monarch to take
up a life of abstinence, to rebuild the monastery he had burned, and to
provide money for services to take the five hundred monks whom he had
killed through purgatory. He also said that a nun in the convent would
offer an arm and an eye. When the monarch entered the monastery, he
found hanging before the incense burner an arm and an eye. These were
boiled, mixed with medicine and rubbed on the king's body. He soon
became well. Further inquiry revealed that these members belonged to his
daughter.
This is the story of the most popular goddess in China. She is
worshipped by her devotees on the first and fifteenth of every month, on
the nineteenth of the sixth month, when she became a Bodhisattva, and on
the nineteenth of the ninth month, when she put on the necklace. A month
after marriage every young bride is presented with an image of the
Goddess of Mercy, an incense-burner and candlesticks.
This goddess is worshipped whenever trouble comes to man or woman. Her
names signify her willingness to listen to all prayers. She is the "one
who regards the voice," i.e., prayer; "one who hears the prayers of the
world;" "one who regards and exists by himself as sovereign;" "the
ancestor of Buddha who regards prayer;" "one who frees from fear;"
"Buddha the august king;" "the great white robed scholar;" "great
compassion and mercy."
_2. Kuan Yin, the Model of Local Mother-Goddesses_
This conception is the creation of the social and religious
consciousness of the women in China. It reveals their aspirations for
mercy, compassion, filial piety and for the beauty that crowns a well
developed character. Such an ideal does not mean that these have been
realized in all the numerous homes of the Chinese, but it manifests
their sense of such an ideal to be realized in life and their ardent
longing for its realization.
Mother-goddesses are found all over China and they have all of them been
influenced by Kuan Yin. Some of them have originated with actual women
who were deified after death. Here is the story of one of these
goddesses who presides over the censer in a small temple in Formosa. She
was born in the province of Kuangtung. At the age of seven she was
adopted by a family as the future wife of their eighteen-year-old son.
One day while crossing a river he was drowned. This was a great blow to
her. When she was fourteen years old the father of the family died. The
two women, thus left alone, wept bitterly day and night. The comfort of
relatives was of little avail. The mother was becoming emaciated with
grief. The daughter, unable to bear the strain any longer, washed
herself, burned incense before the ancestral tablet of her betrothed,
and then took this vow:
"I am willing to remain a virgin, to apply myself to carrying water and
working at the mortar and to serve my mother-in-law. If I cherish any
other purpose and change my chastity and obedience, may Heaven slay me
and earth annihilate me."
When the mother heard this vow she stopped her weeping. Inasmuch as they
had no uncle to look after them, they worked day and night. A relative
of her future husband gave her one of his sons as an adopted son. The
child died after a few months. This was a great grief. Then the mother
died. The daughter sold her possessions to obtain money for a proper
burial. She had only a coarse mourning cloth for her dress. After a
while she adopted a child as her son. When he grew up she found him a
wife who served her as faithfully as she had served her mother-in-law.
When she was eighty years old, she dreamed that the golden maid and jade
messenger of Kuan Yin stood beside her saying: "The court of Heaven has
ordered you to become a god (shên)." She died soon after this. She said
of herself:
"Shang Ti took compassion upon me during my life, because with a firm
heart I kept my chastity and served my mother-in-law with complete
obedience. Therefore he gave me the office of Kuan Pin. I have performed
my duties in several places. Now I am transferred to Formosa."
This story and many others like it mirror the moral ideals of the women
of China in the midst of their struggles for help and light and
guidance.
_3. Exhortations on Family Virtues_
The Buddhists issue a large number of tracts. These are very commonly
paid for by devotees who make a vow that, if their parent becomes well,
they will pay for the printing of several hundred or thousand of these
tracts for free distribution. In these tracts are usually many stories
illustrating the rewards of filial piety. The story is told in one of
them about a Mrs. Chin whose father-in-law being ill was unable to
sleep for sixty days. His condition grew worse. Mrs. Chin knelt before
Kuan Yin's altar, cut out a piece of flesh from her arm and cooked it
with the father's food. His health at once improved and he lived to the
age of seventy-seven. Another story is told in the same tract of a woman
who cut out a piece of her liver and gave it as medicine to her
mother-in-law.
These Buddhist tracts take up all the moral habits which make the family
and clan strong and stable and surround them by the highest sanctions. A
tract picked up in a Buddhist temple at Hangchow purports to be the
revelation of the will of Buddha. It urges sixteen virtues. The first is
filial piety. The tract says:
"Filial piety is the chief of all virtues. Heaven and Earth honor filial
piety. There is no greater sin than to cherish unfilial thoughts. The
spirits know the beginning of such thoughts. Heaven openly rewards a
heart that is filial."
The second one mentioned is another important family virtue, namely,
reverence:
"The saints, sages, immortals and Buddhas are the outgrowth of
reverence. The greatest sin is to lack reverence for father and mother.
When brothers lack reverence for one another, they harm the hands and
feet. When husband and wife lack reverence, the harmony of the household
is ruined. When friends do not have reverence, they bring about
calamity."
Then follow similar exhortations on sincerity, justice, self-restraint,
forbearance, benevolence, generosity, absence of pride, covetousness,
lying, adultery, mutual love, self-denial, hope for the consolations of
religion and for an undivided heart ruled by peace. These are virtues
quite essential to the integrity of the family. They are taught, not in
the abstract but by the exhibition of shining examples, by vivid
representations of the rewards both here and hereafter, and by pictures
of awful punishments. So by precept and example, by threat of punishment
here and hereafter and by declaration of reward in the future Buddhism
has tried to maintain the family virtues of the Confucian system and has
attempted to permeate them by the spirit of sacrifice. Still it has
always been the sacrifice of the weak for the strong, of the young for
the aged, of the low for the high, of women for men.
_4. Services for the Dead_
Buddhism very early took over the relatively simple services for the
dead and developed them into an elaborate ritual which made very vivid
the spiritual universe which Buddhism introduced. In the sixth century a
service was held in behalf of the father-in-law of Emperor Ning Ti
(516-528 A. D.) for seven times every seven days. He feasted a thousand
monks every day, and caused seven persons to become monks. On the
hundredth day after the death he feasted ten thousand monks and caused
twenty-seven persons to become monks.
Since that time services on every seventh day after the decease until
the forty-ninth day, when a grand finale ends the ceremonies, have been
very popular.
The object of such services is to conduct the soul of the dead through
purgatory, in order that it may return to life or enter the Western
Paradise. This is done by making a pleasing offering to the guardians
and officers of purgatory, and to the gods and Bodhisattvas whose mercy
saves people. Numerous missives are consigned to the flames, informing
the rulers of the nether world about the soul of the dead; offerings of
gold and silver, of various articles of apparel, of trunks, houses, and
servants are made, all, however, made out of bamboo frames covered with
paper. Various powerful incantations are recited which force open the
gates of purgatory and let the soul out.
The services may be crowded into one day or they may be held on every
seventh day until the forty-ninth day, i.e., seven sevens. Various
explanations are given' for these services.
During the first week the soul of the dead arrives at the "Demon Gate
Barrier." Here money is demanded by the demons on the ground that in his
last transmigration the deceased borrowed money. Accordingly large
quantities of silver shoes [Footnote: The silver used for this purpose
is molded, in accordance with ancient usage, in the shape of shoes and
carried about in that form by merchants.] must be sent to the dead so
that he may settle all claims and avoid beating and inconvenience.
During the second week the soul arrives at a place where he is weighed.
If the evil outweighs the good, the soul is sawn asunder and ground to
powder. In the third week he comes to the "Bad Dog" village. Here good
people pass unharmed, but the evil are torn by the fierce beasts until
the blood flows. In the fourth week the soul is confronted with a large
mirror in which he sees his evil deeds and their consequences, seeing
himself degraded in the next transmigration to a beast. In the fifth
week the soul views the scenes in his own village.
In the sixth week he reaches the bridge which spans the "Inevitable
River." This bridge is 100,000 feet high and one and three-tenths of an
inch wide. It is crossed by riding astride as on a horse. Beneath rushes
the whirl-pool filled with serpents darting their heads to and fro. At
the foot of the bridge lictors force unwilling travelers to ascend. The
good do not cross this bridge, but are led by "golden youth" to gold and
silver bridges which cross the stream on either side of this "Bridge of
Sighs."
In the seventh week the soul is taken first to Mrs. Wang who dispenses a
drink which blots out all memories of the earthly life. Then the
individual enters the great wheel of transmigration. This is divided
into eighty-one sections from which one hundred and eight thousand small
and tortuous paths radiate out into the four continents of the world.
The soul is directed along one of these paths and is duly reborn in the
world as an animal or as a human being or passes on into the Western
Paradise.
In imitation of this bridge a bridge is built of tables in front of the
home of the dead. At the end the tables are placed upside down and a
lantern placed on each table-leg. At night this bridge is illuminated. A
company of monks repeat their prayers and incantations, while others
mount upon the bridge to impersonate devils. The pious son with the
tablet of his deceased parent comes to take his father over the bridge.
When his way is disputed by the demons, he falls on his knees and begs
and gives them money, negotiating the passage at last with the aid of a
large quantity of silver.
Another ceremony is the breaking through purgatory. Five supplications
duly signed are addressed to the proper authorities, four being
suspended at each of the four sides of the table and one at the center.
Tiles are then placed over the table or on the ground. After
incantations have been repeated to the accompaniment of the sounding of
the bell and the wooden fish, the supplications are burned and the tiles
are broken as a symbol of breaking through purgatory and of releasing
the soul.
Thus Buddhism has taken over the most important function of ancestor
worship, has extended it and made it more significant to each individual
as well as to the family.
VI
BUDDHISM AND SOCIAL LIFE
_1. How the Laity is Trained in Buddhist Ideas_
A common way of emphasizing moral ideas among the people by Buddhist
teachers is the use of tracts purporting to have a divine origin. The
following gives the substance of such a tract:
Not long ago in the province of Shantung, there was a sharp and sudden
clap of thunder. After the frightened people had collected their wits,
they discovered a small book written in red in front of the house of a
certain Mr. Li. Mr. Li picked up the book, copied it and read it
reverently. He gave a copy to Mr. Ma, the prefect, but Mr. Ma did not
believe in the book. Thereupon Maitrêya, the Messiah of the Buddhists,
spoke from the sky as follows:
"These are the years of the final age. The people under
heaven do not reverence Heaven and Earth, they are not
filial to father and mother, they do not respect their
superiors. They cheat the fatherless, impose upon the
widow, oppress the weak; they use large weights for
themselves and small measures for others. They injure the good.
They covet for their own profit. They cheat men of money,
use the five grains carelessly, kill the cow that draws the
plow. This volume is sent for their special benefit. If
they recite it they will avoid trouble. If they disbelieve,
the years with the cyclical character _Ping_ and _Ting_ will
have fields without men to plant them and houses without
men to live in them. In the fifth month of these years
evil serpents will infest the whole country. In the eighth
and ninth months the bodies of evil men will fill the land.
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