Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s1.t11: Theravada Buddhism in Yunnan

Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s1.t11

Language: English

Theravada Buddhism in Yunnan

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A school of Buddhism in China. As the followers are mostly the ethnic minority of Dai, it is also known as “Dai Buddhism”.

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Southern Buddhism Temple at Menghan County, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan, China

Theravāda Buddhism is mainly distributed in two parts of Yunnan province. One is Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, Simao, and Lincang areas; and the other is Dehong Dai Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture and Baoshan area. It was disseminated roughly between the 6th and 7th centuries and is popular among the Dai, Blangs, Achangs, some of the Vas and people of other nationalities. Burmese Buddhism was the first school of Buddhism to be introduced in China but went into decline later due to the war. After the 8th century, Han Buddhism also had an impact on this area. In 12th century CE, Thai Buddhism was disseminated into Xishuangbanna area. Soon, Burmese Buddhism found its way into Dehong area which underwent great development after the 15th century and has survived till today.

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Dai Buddhism mainly comprises of two sects due to different dissemination paths: Run and Baizhuang. Each sect is divided into several sub-sects.

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Run spread from the northeast area of Thailand and consists of two subsects of “garden temple sect” and “lotus temple sect”. The former is also named Baisun, popular in the large Menglong, Jinghong, and Menghan regions along both sides of Lancang River. The latter is also known as Baiba which is distributed at the mountainous area of Xiding Bulang, Mengzhe, Menghai, and Menghun barrage areas. Baizhuang, also known as “the temple sect”, belongs to the Buddhism sect disseminated from Myanmar. With relatively early introduction, it is mainly distributed in Dehong Prefecture and the residential areas of Dai, Benglong and Achang minority groups in Baoshan area. Baizhuang and Run have the most monks with the greatest influence and constitute the main body of Yunnan Theravāda Buddhism. Besides the two main sects, there are the Duolie and Zuodi sects that also belong to the Burma Buddhism system. They have four sub-sects of Dagongliang, Suteman, Ruijing and Mianzuo, and are popular in Mangshi, Zhefang, Mengding and other areas with temples but no monks today. These sects, having basically the same doctrines and systems, differ in the degree of strictness with the commandments (such as vegetarian and non-vegetarian etc) and the loudness and speed of reciting incantations.

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Yunnan Theravāda Buddhism is a religion followed by all the residents. Men are obliged to spend some time in a monastery, at least, once in a lifetime. Generally, when serving as monks in the temple, the young aspire to serve Buddhism and at the same time learn Buddhism and culture in the temple. Only those who have served in a monastery would obtain their rightful place in society and gain respect. Theravāda temples are located throughout the Dai-inhabited area, forming the view of “every village has a Buddhist temple, and every family has a Buddhist shrine”. The monasteries are of four levels. At the top is the general temple of an administrative area which is responsible for coordinating Buddhist activities for Buddhists, promulgating related religious regulations, formally approving the promotion of the monks and holding religious ceremonies for newly reported officials and senior chieftains. At the second are the general monasteries of Mengs in charge of their respective religious affairs within the Meng. A number of central uposatha monasteries comprising four temples in the same area or more villages are the third-level monasteries responsible for the monthly Buddhist practice activities on the routine day, the supervision of the monks observing the commandments, the approval and appraisal of monk promotion. At the bottom are the village temples responsible for the daily worshipping and chanting activity courses of the villagers and the Buddhist education and cultural training for young people. The orders of the monks vary with the region and the sects. Run has eight levels while Baizhuang and Duolie have four levels respectively. Theravāda has no bhikkhuni but has female Buddhists who can only be engaged in charity but not host Buddhist activities.

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Yunnan Theravāda Buddhism has its own classic Tripitaka written with the sound of southern disseminated Tripitaka in the Pali language. The texts are written in four languages of Daile, Daina, Daibeng, and Jinpingdai on *pattra* leaves or dogskin paper. The writings of eminent monks and scholars of all ethnic groups and Dai translations of important sutras and notes are also included in the Buddhist scriptures.

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Important Buddhist festivals include the Water-Sprinkling Festival, Yu’anju, Haogan Festival etc during which the people will have a great time.

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Theravāda Buddhism joined the Buddhist Association of China after 1949 which has played an important role in making the Chinese Buddhism integrated from the content to the form.