Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c5.s2.t1: Bodhi Tree
Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c5.s2.t1
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Bodhi Tree
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The Bodhi Tree is a kind of arbor from the species *ficus microcarpa* of the Moraceae family of plants, and its scientific name is *Ficus religiosa*. The Sanskrit name of the bodhi tree is *pippala*, which is transliterated in Chinese as Biboluo (毕钵罗, 卑钵罗 and 庫钵罗). It is said that the Sakyamuni was enlightened on the Diamond Throne under a bodhi tree outside Gaya, Magadha (in present-day Bihar, India). The tree was called bodhi, and its free translations were ‘the tree of the Way’, ‘enlightenment tree’, ‘bodhimandala tree’, ‘thinking tree’, etc. ‘*Juan*’ 8 of the Chinese work *Traveling Notes on the Western Regions in the Great Tang Dynasty* recorded that the original bodhi tree had a yellowish white stem and green leaves, and that it did not wither away, but thrived both in winter and summer. When the Buddha lived, the tree was supposed to have been one hundred *chi*¹ in height, and its height was four or five *zhang* even after having been cut several times. Kings in later generations conducted Buddhist ceremonies around the Bodhi tree, and collected its leaves as auspicious relics, while many Chinese monks who visited India to seek Dharma, including the famous Xuanzang, visited the holy relic of the tree. Envoys from China in the reign of Zhenguan of the Tang Dynasty displayed sacrificial offerings and "kasayas" (robes worn by monks) in the temple beside the tree. Tang envoys also erected a monument in the temple in the 5ᵗʰ Year of the Xian Qing reign (660 CE). *Juan* 18 in Book One of Duan Chengshi's *Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang* cites relevant passages from *Traveling Notes on the Western Regions in the Great Tang Dynasty*, as well as pointed out that there were two Sanskrit names of the bodhi tree, in which ‘阿湿曷吔娑力叉’ (*A shi he ta suo li cha*) was the transliteration of *Asvattha-vrksa* in Sanskrit.
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*Book made out of Bodhi leaves in Ming China*
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Since the bodhi tree was connected with the enlightenment of the Buddha, a part of this tree was transplanted in China. It is said that Tripitaka Zhi Yao came from India by sea in the first year of Tianjian of the Liang Dynasty, planted a bodhi tree in front of the altar of Guangxiao Temple, Guangzhou and predicted that later generations would have real Bodhisattvas (meaning Hui Neng, the sixth Patriarch of the Chan sect) to enlighten the people there. Thereafter, bodhi trees were planted in places such as Guangdong and Yunnan in China and elsewhere. Pi Rixiu, a poet in the Tang Dynasty wrote a *Poem on Tiantai Guoqing Temple in Qi and Liang Style*. In it, he wrote, “I walked 10 *li* on Guoqing Road of Songmen and fed monkeys on the platform beside the Bodhi tree. I wondered why it rained on such a sunny day, it turned out that the sea wind brought the waterfall.”
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Bodhi trees and their leaves from India were often offered as tribute or presents. *Juan* 54 in the *Book of the Liang Dynasty* recorded that the Panpan kingdom dispatched envoys to present true relics and painted pagodas of the Bodhi kingdom and offered bodhi leaves and the plant Lindera thunbergii Makino in August of the sixth year of the middle Datong (534 CE). The *Old Book of the Tang Dynasty juan* 198 recorded that King Silajita of Magadha sent envoys to offer fire balls, tulips and bodhi trees in the 15^th year of Zhenguan. According to the *General History of Chinese Buddhism*, monks of Kaibao Temple returned from India and offered Sanskrit sutras, a pagoda of Buddha’s relics, bodhi leaves and peacock tail brushes in March of the third year of Taipingxingguo (978) of the Northern Song Dynasty. Similarly, the *sramana* Guangyuan of Chengdu, on his return from the western paradise, went to the royal house of the prince of western India named Motunangbiao to offer as presents a seal of the Buddha’s head crown (skull bone relic), palm tree leaves and leaves of the Bodhi tree in December of the seventh year of Taipingxingguo (982 CE). Indian monks, including Niweini, came to China and offered to the court Buddha’s relics, Sanskrit sutras, bodhi leaves and bodhi prayer beads in the first year of Xianping in the Northern Song Dynasty (998 CE). The monk Mulasiji from Kashmir is also recorded as having offered Sanskrit sutras and bodhi leaves in March of the second year of Jingde (1005); while five years later, the Indian monk Juejie came to China and brought relics, palm-leaf scriptures, a genuine *bodhimanda* and bodhi leaves in the third year of Dazhongxiang. Huaiwen who had gone to the West three times, returned from the Indian kingdom of Magadha bringing fragments of the Buddha’s bone, *pattra*-leaf sutras, *pattra*, bodhi leaves, ashoka leaves, bodhi prayer beads and 19 texts based on the monument of the western paradise.
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The bodhi tree had influence on ancient Chinese literature. In the *Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch*, Shen Xiu wrote a *gatha* in which he said, “The body is the wisdom tree. Your heart is a stand of a mirror bright. Frequently wipe it. Don't let it be dusty.” In turn, Hui Neng wrote the *gatha* saying, “There is no wisdom tree nor a stand of a mirror bright. Since all is void where can the dust alight?” They were the most famous *gathas* related to the Bodhi tree in the history of Chinese Buddhism. Thus, the Bodhi tree is important in the transfer of plants between China and India as well as an important article in Chinese and Indian Buddhism and diplomatic intercourse.
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(Chen Ming)
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[1 *chi* is approximately equal to one foot in length; 10 *chi* make up 1 *zhang*]