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Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c12: Section IX Folk Customs, Health & Fitness

Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c12

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English

Contents

Section IX Folk Customs, Health & Fitness

Overview: Folk Customs

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1st-6th century CE

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China has had records on Indian folk customs in its literature since Han Dynasty (206-220 CE) including *Records of the Grand Historian*, *Book of the Han*, *Book of the Later Han*, *Romance of Three Kingdoms* and so on. Through these records, the Chinese have broadened their horizon and learned about the Indian customs and practices.

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The earliest written record was seen in *Records of the Grand Historian: Dawan Commentary Section*. Zhang Qian (unknown-114 BCE) who served as an envoy to the Western Regions under an imperial

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Ceremony of Bathing Buddha

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'Shiji'

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order in 139 BCE, obtained preliminary information of folk customs about India in Bactriane and said that “its customs were same as Bactriane”, which meant that Indians were farmers relying on land, rather than nomads, and their customs were same as Bactriane. Hereafter, there were more and more records about Indian folk customs. For example, *Book of the Han: Traditions of the Western Regions* recorded many aspects Kophen (Kashmir at present), such as climate, products, food, clothing, shelter and transportation in detail.

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Buddhism was introduced into China in 1st century CE. Only kings, princes and aristocrats believed in it at the beginning, and common people followed later. Hereafter, Chinese folk culture began to get influenced by India and Buddha became the object of worship among people. The Chinese began to hold the activity of bathing the Buddha in 2nd century CE (*Book of the Later Han: Biographies of Tao Qian*).

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In the period of Southern and Northern Dynasties of Wei and Jin (3rd-6th centuries CE), further propagation of Buddhism influenced Chinese folk customs even more. The most important manifestation was Buddhist influence on Chinese folk festivals.

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Firstly, Bathing Buddha Festival. According to Mahayana classics, the eighth day of the fourth lunar month was Buddha’s Birthday which in folk is known as Bathing Buddha Festival. The way of bathing the Buddha originated from India. It is said that when Buddha Sakyamuni was born, two dragons jetted out one spout of warm water and one spout of cool water to bathe him. Therefore, believers would bath the Buddha for commemoration on Buddha’s Birthday. The content of “Parading the Buddha” was added when the activity of bathing the Buddha was held in Jin Dynasty (265-420 CE). “Parading the Buddha” means parading the Buddha image in a carriage. In the period of Southern and Northern Dynasty, the activity of “Parading the Buddha” was held in south and north of China in Bathing Buddha Festival.

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Ullambana Festival was introduced in China besides the Bathing Buddha Festival in this period.

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Under the influence of Buddhism, people named this day as “Ghost Festival”. Ullambana Festival originated from Buddhism and observed the Ullambana Sutra. Moreover, the folk “wore Hu masks” on the eighth day of 12th lunar month or acted as Vajra-warriors to dispel diseases. Therefore, Buddhism had an affinity with China’s traditional Laba Festival and Buddhist Vajra-warrior walked into the palace hall of Chinese folk gods.

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A lot of information of folk customs was related to Buddhism in this period. Relevant examples and proofs can be found from folk beliefs to seasonal festivals and from life rituals to folk entertainments.

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6th-10th century CE

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Many monks went to India to study and bring back Buddhist scriptures. Because of the rise of the Seeking Dharma Movement, many official envoys went to India and recorded Indian customs after they returned to China. But most materials were lost. Among materials which have been preserved till today, the most detailed records were the *Great Tang Dynasty Record of the Western Regions* written by Xuanzang.

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A painting from the Ming Dynasty of Vairocana Buddha and two Bodhisattvas

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'Yulan zhisheng' as preserved in 'Dianshi Zhai Huabao' of the late Qing Period

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in China. There were grass, brick or plank houses. Walls were decorated with lime, floors were coated with cow manure for cleanness and there were various kinds of seasonal flowers.” It introduced local houses suiting local conditions. There were brick, bamboo, wood, lime and cow flog when different building materials were mentioned. It also mentioned India’s convention of opening door to the east and sitting to the east: “Doors were opened to the east, and people sat to the east”. As for the seat, it mentioned lion bed of emperor and rope bed of civilians.

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When recording clothes and ornaments of Indians, Xuanzang recorded different costume styles and dressing ways of common men and women as well as hair and beard styles, different clothes from southern and northern India, various clothing materials, main characteristics of clothes and ornaments of monks, non-Buddhists, king, ministers and merchants. He also recorded the customs of hats, shoes, dyeing teeth and piercing ears which differed from China.

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When recording Indian food, the book wrote that people shall wash hands when eating foods, leftovers will not be eaten any more and dining ware will not be shared. Tile and woodware shall be abandoned after being used. Gold, silver, bronze and iron ware shall be cleaned. After eating, people shall chew willow branches to clean teeth. People will not contact without bathing and cleaning. Bath must be taken after people released themselves.

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When recording Indian caste, it introduced names and occupations of four Indian castes and wrote that these four castes were different, marriages among different castes shall be forbidden and people shall marry within the same caste. Once women marry,

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Xuanzang’s Records on Indian Folk Customs

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Xuanzang specifically listed Indian folk customs in great detail in volume II, such as seasons, urban residence, clothes and ornaments, foods, family names, etiquettes, illness, death and so on.

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When recording Indian seasons, the book introduced India’s time units from “ksana” to day and night, then to month and year. One year was divided into six seasons and Buddhist calendar was divided into three seasons and it was divided into four seasons in some places. Months and seasons had their own names.

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When recording India’s urban residence, the book mentioned: “houses and walls were built in wet places and walls in the city were stacked by bricks, or made from bamboo and wood. Terraces of building and plank houses were made from lime and bricks. Various structures were same as those they shall not re-marry. Although people had different family names, castes perpetuated as people interacted and married with only those in the same castes, and it was hard to record in detail.

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When recording Indian etiquettes, Xuanzang talked about nine kinds of meeting etiquettes: greeting, bowing in worship, bowing with hands clasped above head, folding palms, bending knees, kneeling, putting hands and knees on ground, prostrating and throwing oneself down. He explained occasions on which these nine meeting etiquettes were practised.

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When talking about Indian funerals, the book wrote that people wailed and cried pitifully in funerals, where they tore their clothes, pulled their hair and beat their foreheads and chests. The clothing system was the same and mourning term lasted a long time. In terms of mourning and funeral, there were three rites: firstly, cremation, ie burning the body on fire; secondly, water burial, ie floating body on water; and thirdly, field burial, ie abandoning the body in forest to feed the beast. It introduced that posthumous title and punishment were forbidden after the death of a king and explained folk customs such as bathing of mourners, drowning the dead, funeral of monks and so on. Xuanzang’s records of Indian folk customs were detailed and accurate.

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Though *A Record of the Buddhist Religions as Practiced in India and the Malay Archipelago* by Yi Jing mainly recorded daily practices and rules of Indian monks, there were also some contents related to Indian folk customs, such as clothes, food, bathing, clothes, ornaments and funerals. Apart from this, volume CXCVIII of *Old Book of the Tang Dynasty* recorded Indian customs.

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All these records have promoted mutual understanding between Indians and Chinese.

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Influences of Buddhism on Chinese Folk Customs

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Indian Buddhism had more obvious influences on Chinese folk customs which were marked by the facts that some Buddhist gods became objects of worship for the Chinese and had been sinicised gradually. Some Buddhist etiquettes mingled with Chinese folk festivals closely.

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Among Buddhist gods, the Buddha was the highest god, and with the translation of a lot of Buddhist scriptures, people knew about Sakyamuni Buddha, as well as the Buddha of the past and the Buddha of the future. With translation of tantric classics and Worship of imperial aristocrats, Vairocana was well-known among common people by the 8ᵗʰ century.

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More Chinese worshipped Avalokitesvara than the Buddha. At that time, many new images of Avalokitesvara were imported from India such as Candi Avalokiteshvara and Cintamanicakra Avalokiteshvara, etc. People in China also imagined many new images of Avalokitesvara such as Avalokiteshvara in White and Water-moon Avalokiteshvara, etc.

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Devarajas, especially Vaishravana, were worshipped popularly in China. Indian tantric Buddhism absorbed the god of fortune Kubera from ancient Indian myth and created the image of Vaishravana. The wave of Vaishravana flourished in Tang Dynasty, where the image of Vaishravana was drawn on flags of armies. He was described as the God of War and some common people put his image on their backs as a personal amulet.

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The snake was worshipped in ancient India, an old myth in the epic *Mahabharata* which related about love and hatred between two families ie snake and redpoll. Many stories about snakes were written in Buddhist scriptures but ancient Chinese and Indian translators always translated the snake (*naga*) as a dragon and translated the snake king (*nagaraja*) as dragon king in order to match with dragon worship of China since ancient times. Therefore, the Chinese dragon was apotheosised because of many Indian factors. The dragon king became the master of rivers, lakes and seas and had the mission to make clouds and bring rain. Meanwhile, the stories of dragon king and dragon daughter in Buddhist scriptures were introduced into China and inspired the imagination of Chinese men of letters. There were many legends of love between man and dragon daughter in Tang Dynasty.

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Yamaraja or Yama was also translated as Lord of the Hades. Buddhism absorbed him as the god dominating hell. Since he was introduced from India to China, Chinese also thought that he was the god governing prison under the earth.

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Seasonal festivals such as the Lantern Festival (15ᵗʰ day of the first lunar month), Bathing Buddha Festival (8ᵗʰ day of the fourth lunar month), Ullambana Festival (15ᵗʰ day of the seventh lunar month), etc., were popular in China and they were obviously influenced by Buddhism. The Lantern Festival was traditional Chinese festival and became very popular and lively under the influence of Buddhism. Bathing Buddha Festival and Ullambana Festival were popular among common people because imperial family held them in esteem.

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10ᵗʰ-13ᵗʰ century CE

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Records of Indian Folk Customs

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Since the middle of 10ᵗʰ century CE, two Chinese books recorded Indian folk customs because of the increasing frequency of maritime traffic and trade between India and China. Increasing number of exchanges between people ie Zhou Qufei’s *Answering for the Lingnan Region* and Zhao Rushi’s *Records of Foreign Nations*.

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An image of the northern Vaisravana

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Answering for the Lingnan Region while recording Quilon and wrote that the local people were comparatively dark, white cloths were wrapped on their bodies and they liked wearing red leather shoes. The king also wrapped clothes on his body and he rode an elephant while touring. It also recorded Chola customs that fathers, sons and brothers did not cook food in the same utensils. They not even ate food in the same utensil, as they attached importance to morality. When recording folk customs of Nalīrwāla in the west (it seems that its relics are located in Tamil Nadu). It wrote that people bathed both in the morning and evening, and applied essence on the body. Most of them were from Brahmin caste and thought that they were true descendants of Buddha. The altar was set up at home to make offerings to Buddha and every morning they applied cow manure on the altar, burnt incense and offered flowers as sacrifice. The country had three layers of walls and city gate was closed if there were enemies. The great god of Hinduism was mistaken as Buddha here, but other records were reliable.

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'Zhu Fanzhi', printed edition of Minyoushe (Peoples Friendship Society) dating to the 13ᵗʰ year of the Taisho reign period in Japan

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*Records of Foreign Nations* recorded folk customs of Indian states such as Calicut, Gujirat, Malava, Chola, Malava and so on. It is valuable that the book recorded folk customs of local people of Andaman Islands and related gossips may not be accurate. While recording the folk customs of Calicut it said that people were naked and wore no shoes. They were just wrapped with white cloths and ornaments were worn on arms and feet. It wrote Gujirat folk customs where people were fairer comparatively, men and women pierced their ears and wore heavy earrings. They wore narrow clothes, wrapped yarn around their waist and wore white earmuffs and red leather shoes. People were prohibited to eat meats. There were 4,000 temples and about 20,000 girls offering Buddha rice and flowers twice each day. The offered flowers that were knitted into the shape of ball with thread and were weighted about 300 jin every day. The records were detailed and reliable basically, but Hindu temples were mistaken as Buddhist pagodas.

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History of Song Dynasty also had relevant record, "envoys of Chola and Samboja arrived in the palace, they kneeled and threw pearls, borneol and globeflower, etc., which was named 'throwing

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'Dongjing Meng hua Lu', compilation by Meng Yuan Lao, the Ming Dynasty edition

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in palace'" (volume CXIX). These were southern Indian etiquettes that reappeared in the palace of Song Dynasty. In addition, in History of the Song Dynasty, there are also some folk customs of various areas in India.

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Seasonal Festivals

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With the transformations of the era and society, there were more Chinese festivals in this period, which may be the result of cultural accumulation. There were more books recording folk customs than before in this period and information was richer, such as Meng Yuanlao's *Record of the Dreamlike Prosperity of the Eastern Capital* and Wu Zimu's *Dreams* of *Past Glories of Bianliang*. Buddhism had become the popular belief of common Chinese people and entered into activities of folk customs and festivals in this period. Except the Lantern Festival, Bathing Buddha Festival and Ullambana Festival, there were some new festivals related to Buddhism, such as New Year’s Day (first day of the first lunar month), Nirvana Festival (15ᵗʰ day of the second lunar month), Birthday of the Emperor of the Eastern Mountain (28ᵗʰ day of the third lunar month), Pure Brightness Festival (before April 5 in the Gregorian Calendar), Double Seventh Festival (seventh day of the seventh lunar month), Mid-autumn Festival (15ᵗʰ day of the eighth lunar month), Double Ninth Festival (ninth day of the ninth lunar month), Laba Festival (eighth of the 12th lunar month) and so on.

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13ᵗʰ-19ᵗʰ century CE

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Records of Indian Folk Customs

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Wang Dayuan’s *Brief History of Island Countries* recorded folk customs of Indian states in Yuan Dynasty. For example, the entry on “Maggona” - “Customs were simple. Men and women wore black clothes. People got salt from sea water.” As for the record of Tinnevelly: “Customs were pure. People wore hair in a bun and put on black clothes. They got salt from sea water. They made wine from old leaves and burnt lambs to eat.” The book

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The ethnic/ aboriginal inhabitants of the Andaman Islands in India

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introduced folk customs in India’s different places briefly in this way.

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In Ming Dynasty, three books namely *The Overall Survey of the Ocean Shores*, *The Overall Survey of the Star Raft* and *The Annals of the Foreign Counties in the Western Ocean* recorded local customs in India. Several examples are quoted from *The Overall Survey of the Ocean Shores*.

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It recorded about the local people of Andaman Island that “people lived in caves, men and women were naked like animals. No rice grew and people only ate sweet potatoes, jack fruits and bananas or fish and shrimps caught in the sea.”

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Indian wedding scene from the Medieval Period

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Record of Cochin was rather detailed and it wrote about clothes and ornaments of king and rich people, residence and building and identities of five classes and life of monks, etc. Record of folk customs in Calicut was similar to Cochin and was more detailed.

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While recording the orders of countrymen of Calicut, a difference was noted. Hui people belonged to the first rank which showed that their king may be a Muslim and Muslims occupied the status of ruler here.

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It recorded folk customs of Bangla: “There were Hui people all over the country and folk customs were pure and kind.” Men’s heads were wrapped with white cloths and they wore round-neck gown, fastened various colours of broad towels on waist and wore light leather shoes. All people could speak in Bengali and some people could speak in Farsi, which explained that north India had already been under the control of Muslims. From language to clothes, ornaments, marriage and funeral everything had the characteristics of Islam.

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The above-mentioned records of Indian folk customs showed: firstly, ancient Chinese paid attention to folk customs of different places in India. Secondly, these records reflected that Indian folk customs changed in this period. Thirdly, some folk customs had definite influences on China.

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Influences of Buddhism on Chinese Folk Customs

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In this period, Chinese gradually accepted Buddhist culture introduced from India. They transformed and absorbed it and added new concepts and new idols in their brains. For example, the thoughts such as “the six ways of rebirth” and “retribution for sin” became a common consciousness of the masses, while Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Devaraja, Yama, Vajra and Arhat secured their places in China’s folk pantheon. Because of the establishment of these new concepts and idols, this kind of folk belief has played its roles and standardised conventions of daily life and ethics and morality of many people till now. Three aspects were worth noticing during this period ie seasonal festival, life etiquettes and common sayings.

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In seasonal festivals, Avalokitesvara Fair was to be held on Avalokitesvara’s Birthday (19ᵗʰ day of the second lunar month) in China. According to folk legend, 13ᵗʰ day of the fifth lunar month was the birthday of Guan Yu, so temple fairs were held in all the places. Guan Yu was absorbed as protector Sangharama, was honoured as Master Guan in Daoism and was called Martial Saint by the masses and many professions and societies worshipped him. So temple fair on the 13ᵗʰ day of the fifth lunar month was a national activity. The masses called 24ᵗʰ day of the sixth lunar month as Lotus Birthday. People appreciated lotuses on this day in Ming and Qing Dynasty. China has had lotus since ancient times and it became the Chinese's favourite gradually under the influence of Buddhism after it was introduced into China, because ancient Indians loved lotus and endowed it with many symbolic meanings. This Lotus Birthday Festival was also naturally related to the influence of Buddhism. Chinese common people celebrated Kshitigarbha Festival on 30ᵗʰ day of the seventh lunar month and it was Kshitigarbha's birthday (there was another saying that it was his nirvana day). For example, *Records of the Capital of the Empire: Kshitigarbha Fair*, volume VII of Gu Lu's *Worthy Records of the Qing Dynasty* wrote about this festival celebrated by the people in Qing Dynasty. Moreover, some Buddhist festivals had certain influences on common people such as the 21ˢᵗ day of second lunar month (Samantabhadra's Birthday), 4ᵗʰ day of the fourth lunar month (Manjusri's Birthday), 13ᵗʰ day of the seventh lunar month (Mahasthama's Birthday), 22ⁿᵈ day of the eighth lunar month (Dipamkara's Birthday), 30ᵗʰ day of the ninth lunar month (Bhaisajyaguru's Birthday), 17ᵗʰ day of the eleventh lunar month (Amitabha's Birthday), and so on.

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The grand opening ceremony of Quanzhou Prefecture's cross-strait Guandi cultural festival, at Fujian Province in China

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In the rites of daily life, influences of Buddhism were obvious. For example, people praying to Avalokitesvara and Maitreya for sons, taboos for pregnant women, fostering children in temples after birth, giving children Buddhist names, follow Hetu-pratyaya for marriage, praying to Buddhas and Bodhisattvas when someone is sick, inviting monks to set up bodhimanda, chant *sutras* and release souls from purgatory and so on.

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In terms of folk proverbs, there were a large group of new words and phrases emerged in China because of the introduction of Buddhism. These words and phrases had become a national language in China, and were used extensively in daily life. Some of them were translated from Sanskrit pronunciation such as *Buddha*, *Sangha*, *Dharma*, *Yama*, *Bodhisattvas*, *Arhat*, *Mara*, *Rakshasa*, *Yaksa*, *Ksana* and so on. Some of them were translated from Sanskrit literally. For example world, hetu-pratyaya, cause and effect, dignity, Dharma-treasure, wisdom, role and Riddhi-saksatkriya, etc. Some of them were idioms used by Chinese Buddhism. For example, “founder of a religious sect”, “keep one's mouth shut”, “bread and cheese”, “categorical with grim determination” and so on. A large number of them were folk proverbs related to Buddhism. For example, “luck from triple world”, “visiting monks give better sermons”, “little monks chanted Buddhist scripts without thinking”, “three monks go thirsty”, “small temple cannot hold great Bodhisattva”, “the devil never think ghosts are thin”, “ghosts don't participate in the opening ceremony of the devil”. Apart from that "If one respect his parents, there is no need to burn incense afar", "Keeping vegetarian fast is better than chanting the name of the Buddha for 1000 times, and 10,000 incenses burnt are useless if one does evil" and so on were also used.

Buddhism and Chinese Popular Beliefs

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Buddhism and Chinese Folk Beliefs Buddhism had influenced Chinese folk believes in two aspects - firstly, folk gods and secondly, life etiquettes.

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Folk Gods

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After the introduction of Buddhism in China, some Buddhist gods entered China's folk pantheon. For example, Tathagata, Maitreya, Avalokitesvara, Arhat, Devaraja, Yamaraja, Vajra, Ashta gatyah, and so on. The most important gods included Maitreya, Avalokitesvara, Devaraja, Yamaraja, Nagaraja, etc.

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Maitreya

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Maitreya was the future Buddha in Buddhist legends, which was based on Maitreya-vyakarana and Story of Maitreya mainly. The former said that Maitreya came to the world from tushita heaven, and was born in a Brahmin family in south India. He later became a Buddha under a Mesuna tree and expounded doctrines to gods and people. The latter said that Maitreya returned to tushita heaven after nirvana. Tushita heaven was Maitreya’s pure land with pleasant songs and dances, beautiful clothes and nice food. Many Chinese eminent monks and famous persons wanted to go there, such as Dao An in Eastern Jin Dynasty, Xuanzang and Bai Juyi in the Tang Dynasty. The image of Maitreya was

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The big belly Maitreya Buddha

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Statue of Cross Legged Maitreya

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‘Shuiyue Guanyin’ (Avalokiteṣvara), the mural in the Fahai monastery in Beijing

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similar to *Sakyamuni* originally in India but he was confused with the Cloth Bag Monk in China in the period of Five Dynasties, his image was changed and he became big-bellied and laughed all the time. This image was popular among common people, became the symbol of good luck and happiness and was loved and admired greatly. After Sui and Tang Dynasties, his symbol as dynastic succession was used by hostile forces. For example, Song Zixian from Hebei and Xiang Haiming from Shaanxi “claimed themselves as the rebirth of Maitreya and plotted rebellions,” (volume XXII of *Book of the Sui*) in Sui Dynasty. Wang Ze of Song Dynasty, Han Shantong of Yuan Dynasty, White Lotus Society of Qing Dynasty, contemporary Black and Red Gang and I-Kuan Taoadored Maitreya.

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Avalokesvara was also called Guan Shiyin and Guan Yin and was adored by Chinese Buddhists in the period of Southern and Northern Dynasties of the Double Jin. The introduction to Avalokesvara mainly exists in *Lotus Sutra*. Dharmaraksha translated *Saddharma-pundarika-sutra* in Western Jin Dynasty, and Kumarajiva translated *The Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma* (Lotus Sutra briefly) in post-Qin Dynasty which became the prevailing text for later generations. *The Universal Gateway of Avalokitasvara Bodhisattva* in *Lotus Sutra* introduced Kumarajiva in detail that he could help people in distress. People could get help by chanting his name. He had “thirty three bodies” and could expound doctrines to people in various kinds of identities and he could even change into a man or woman, and was very approaching. Chinese Buddhist believers liked him very much, so various kinds of stories of Avalokesvara showing bodily presence were popular among common people. At that time, Avalokesvara would appear in the body of a man or woman sometimes. Because of translation of a lot of Indian *Tantric* Buddhist scriptures, the image of Avalokesvara changed greatly. There were the 11-faced Avalokesvara, the 1,000-Armed-and-1,000-Eyed Avalokesvara, Hayagriva Avalokitesvara, Candi Avalokiteshvara and Cintamanicakra Avalokiteshvara, Amoghapasha and so on. Because these images of Avalokesvara were enriched in the Tang Dynasty, his name penetrated deeply into the people’s hearts, and he was adored widely. Since 10ᵗʰ century CE, Avalokesvara completed the transformation from a male god to a female god gradually. In the early 13ᵗʰ century, there was a legend that Guan Yin was born in China, and she had a Chinese name, “Princess Miaorong”. There were works such as ‘*Precious Scroll of Fragrant Mountain*’ in about the 16ᵗʰ century which sinicised Avalokitasvara completely.

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The four warriors or guardian deities of the Buddha, to the east there is Dhritarashtra, to the south there is Virudhaka, to the west there is Virupaksa, to the north there is Vaisravana

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Devaraja: According to the *Longer Agama Sutra*, *caturmaharajakayikas* were located on the side of Sumeru Mountain and guarded by people in four directions. The Heavenly King of the East Dhrtarastra led Gandharvas and Pisacas; the Heavenly King of the West Virupaksa led all dragons and Putanas; the Heavenly King of the South Virudhaka led Pretas and Kumbhandas; the Heavenly King of the North Vaisramana guided Yakshas and Rakshasas. They protected Purvavideha people in the east, Aparagodaniya people in the west, Jambudvipa people in the south and Uttarakuru people in the north, respectively. Hereafter, Chinese temples shaped these four heavenly kings as four guardian

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*Mural at the Pilu monastery at Shijiazhuang in Hebei, China, the dragon king of the four seas*

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believed that many unfair things could be judged impartially in hell, and Yamaraja was selfless in their hearts. Therefore, later generations drew a farfetched analogy between fair, honest, majestic and brave people and Yamaraja. Kshitigarbha was related to Yamaraja. According to ‘*Kshitigarbha-pranidhana-sutra*’, Kshitigarbha Bodhisattva was a Brahmin woman formerly, and cultivated herself as Kshitigarbha Bodhisattva. The story of the Brahmin woman wasn’t popular in China, but the story of ‘Mu Lian Saving His Mother’ was more popular. When Mu Lian saw his mother suffering in hell after her death, he made his decision to save his mother. He established an Ullambana Fair and saved his mother from the path of hungry ghosts. Common people said that Mu Lian was Kshitigarbha (Volume 7 of ‘*Collection of Immortals from the Three Beliefs*’). ‘*Record of Kshitigarbha*’ in Volume 20 of the ‘*Song-Dynasty Collection of Biographies of Eminent Monks*’ wrote stories of the Silla monk, Di Zang. Hereafter, he was thought as Kshitigarbha (volume XV of *Historical Records of Immortals*).

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*An image of Yama*

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gods with one object in their hands to timely govern wind and rain and common people called them as “four heavenly guardians”. Among these four heavenly kings, the Chinese attached the greatest importance to Vaisramana in the north and he was worshipped by common people in the Tang Dynasty. Indian Tantric Buddhism absorbed the god of wealth Kubera in ancient Indian myth and shaped the image of Vaisramana. A lot of *tantric* classics were translated in the Tang Dynasty, including Vaisramana Rites translated by Amogha. Therefore, there was a hot trend of worshipping Vaisramana in the Tang Dynasty.

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Yamaraja, or Yama was also translated as Lord of the Hades. In ancient Indian myth, Yama was the god governing souls of people after their death. Buddhism absorbed him as the god dominating hell. After Yamaraja was introduced into China, he was transformed by the Chinese. People believed that many unfair things could be judged impartially in hell, and Yamaraja was selfless in their hearts. Therefore, later generations drew a farfetched analogy between fair, honest, majestic and brave people and Yamaraja. Kshitigarbha was related to Yamaraja. According to ‘*Kshitigarbha-pranidhana-sutra*’, Kshitigarbha Bodhisattva was a Brahmin woman formerly, and cultivated herself as Kshitigarbha Bodhisattva. The story of the Brahmin woman wasn’t popular in China, but the story of ‘Mu Lian Saving His Mother’ was more popular. When Mu Lian saw his mother suffering in hell after her death, he made his decision to save his mother. He established an Ullambana Fair and saved his mother from the path of hungry ghosts. Common people said that Mu Lian was Kshitigarbha (Volume 7 of ‘*Collection of Immortals from the Three Beliefs*’). ‘*Record of Kshitigarbha*’ in Volume 20 of the ‘*Song-Dynasty Collection of Biographies of Eminent Monks*’ wrote stories of the Silla monk, Di Zang. Hereafter, he was thought as Kshitigarbha (volume XV of *Historical Records of Immortals*).

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Nagaraja was believed by common people in China. On one hand, this belief came from dragon worship since ancient times in China; on the other hand, it was influenced by Buddhism. Actually, the Indian dragon was a snake or python, it was naga in Sanskrit, and the dragon king was Nagaraja. Dragons can be divided into good and evil, male and female, and they often come out to fight as subordinates of heavenly gods. After Buddhism was introduced into China, some characteristics of Indian dragons were introduced into China. For example, it is said that dragons jetted out warm and cool water to bathe Sakyamuni when he was born as a prince. Therefore, dragons jetting out water had become a belief of the Chinese common people. Let us take another example. When stories of dragon daughter in Buddhist scriptures were introduced into China, there was the famous dragon daughter stories including the *Legend of Liu Yi* in the Tang Dynasty, and love between man and dragon daughter opened a new chapter for Chinese dragon history. Chinese dragon absorbed many characteristics of Indian dragon, and was more mysterious and dignified. Zhao Yanwei of Song Dynasty wrote in *Cloud and Mountain Record* that "the water god in ancient times was named River God (He Bo). Since scriptures about Sakyamuni were introduced, there was a dragon king in China and the River God had not been heard." The God of the Yellow River was called as River God in ancient China, the Sea God was called Hai Ruo and the world of waters was occupied by dragon kings since the introduction of Buddhist scriptures. Four sea dragon kings appeared in four seas and dragon kings dominated rivers and lakes, which was the systematic creation of Chinese dragon on the basis of Chinese characteristics.

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Life Etiquette: Buddhism has many wonderful discussions and profound thoughts in the aspect of explaining the universe and life. Buddhist values and ethics, doctrines and rites often performed in life etiquettes in ancient Chinese society.

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Fertility: Ancient Chinese had a complete set of etiquettes and various kinds of taboos in the initial life journey from gestation of new life to growth.

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In ancient times, people having no children after their marriage made every attempt to seek sons. There were many ways and some of them prayed to Buddhist gods, including Avalokitesvara and Maitreya for sons. Moreover, there was the folk convention of "praying son by sleeping with the Buddha", in other words, women praying for sons spent one night in Buddhist halls of temples, which often was related to illegal monks in temples in old society.

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Pregnant women had many taboos in ancient time, some of them were scientific and reasonable, but some were superstitious. Pregnant women were forbidden to enter into temples and see Buddhist images, because it was believed that pregnant women were not pure, and it's improper for them to enter into pure land or they feared that their delivery would be affected. Ancient medical science wasn't developed, various kinds of methods were used to hasten child delivery in the case of dystocia. There was a kind of South Sea Potala Panacea Hastening Delivery in Hangzhou in the period of the Public of China, it's said that it was the panacea offered by Avalokitesvara, and pregnant women could deliver children immediately after taking three panaceas in the case of dystocia.

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Naming: As per ancient Chinese etiquettes, the name was given when a child was three months

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[Figure: Escorting a bride, Chinese customs under the paint brush of westerners in the 19th century CE]

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old usually which was called "youth name". A man conducted the capping ceremony when he was 20-years-old and another name was given to him which was called "style name". Girls were allowed to marry when they were 15-years-old and were betrothed. After the introduction of Buddhism, Chinese were influenced in terms of naming. In the Jin Dynasty (265-420 CE), there were words such as "fo" (Buddha) and "seng" (monk) in the names of many people and this was the case in Southern and Northern Dynasties. Yang Jian, Emperor Wen of Sui

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Nianhua Qilin Songzi

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[Figure: Burning incense to drive away calamity and disease]

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Dynasty (541-604 CE) was fostered in a nunnery in his childhood. His teachers were nuns and he was named "Nryana". There were many cases among common people where monks were asked to give names for children after their birth in order to bring up which was known as "adopted Buddhist name"

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Monks at Dalian city chanting hymns for the deceased during Republican period in China

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or children were sent to temples to grow up in order to bless them.

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Marriage: Ancient Chinese marriage had the so-called “six rites” and some Buddhist concepts penetrated in Chinese folk marital rites since the introduction of Buddhism. In terms of “the concept of hetu-prayaya”, whether marriage between a man and woman was proper and it depended on their “hetu”. Moreover, this kind of hetu-prayaya was predestined in previous incarnation which was predestined hetu-prayaya. Therefore, the theory of hetu-prayaya provided support to old Chinese fatalistic marriage concept. In ancient novels and opera works, there were many stories about how current marriages were decided by hetu-prayaya in previous incarnations.

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Buddhist religious assembly

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Diseases: One must have a certain disease in his life and common people often prayed to gods and worshipped Buddha as there were not many doctors and medicines in China. For many people, diseases were a kind of a disaster. They were brought on by evil monsters and that Buddhist chants could relieve these disasters. It was believed that diseases were a retribution of doing evil things. In order to eliminate diseases and disasters, activities such as burning incense, praying and offering sacrifices, making wishes and fulfilling promises, etc., were carried out. These phenomena were rather popular, and there were many relevant written records.

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Funeral: China had formed a complete set of mourning and funeral rites before the pre-Qin Period and Chinese funerals observed old stipulations generally. But many new programmes were added since the introduction of Buddhism. For example, wearing monk clothes, simple burial and chanting sutras, etc. The traditional Chinese burial method was inhumation but cremation had become the folk convention in Song Dynasty and its origin was influenced by Buddhism.

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Under the influence of Buddhism, various kinds of forms were adopted to pray for afterlife blessings for the dead in ancient China including chanting sutras, turning sutras, vegetarian preparation, making images, donating in temples, building temples and so on. Activities pursuing blessing had occurred since Southern and Northern Dynasties which were often reflected in literary works. Till Song Dynasty, fast ceremony of 1,000 monks, fast ceremony of 10,000 monks and Moksha-maha-parishad reduced gradually. But there were many virtues and merits of bodhimanda. Establishing bodhimanda for the dead had developed perfectly and ritualised hereafter, and was known as “water and land bodhimanda”.

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Death Anniversary: It is on the death anniversaries of the dead that ancient Chinese had the convention to remember them. There has existed a certain kind of commemoration till now and common people in some regions in the north go to tombs to burn joss paper for the dead on these days, which is known as “burning anniversary”. This convention has had a long history but it was influenced by Buddhism obviously in Tang and Song Dynasties.

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(*Xue Keqiao*)

Buddhism and Chinese Popular Festivals

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Buddhism and Chinese Folk Festivals

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Buddhism has great influences on folk festivals greatly. From the perspective of Buddhism, Chinese festivals can be divided into three types on the whole: firstly, with the introduction of Buddhism brings new festivals to China such as Bathing Buddha Festival, Ullambana Festival, etc. The contents of these festivals and conventions change with different tendencies in the long-term social transformation from imitating ancient Indian customs to sinicising constantly, while some contents disappear gradually and new contents increase little by little. Secondly, some Buddhist festivals integrate with traditional Chinese festivals and form mixed festivals. For example, Laba Festival combines with the day of winter sacrifice, so that ancestor worship and Buddha worship are integrated. Yuanxiao Festival combines Lantern Festive and Shangyuan Day. Ullambana Festival mixes with Hungry Ghost Festival and has richer contents including Buddha worship, ancestor worship, sweeping tomb and releasing lantern. Thirdly, Buddhism participates in activities of traditional Chinese festivals, and many of them melt into Buddhist contents, eg Double Seventh Festival, Pure Brightness Festival, Double Ninth Festival, etc. On one hand, Buddhism provides appreciation sites or entertainment items for festival recreation; on the other hand, Buddhist ceremonies are held to pray for believers or to form a connection with the masses in other ways.

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The 'Feast of all souls' ceremony celebrated in the renchen year, 15 of the 60 year cycle at Jingan monastery in China

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New Year's Day in the Lunar Calendar, Buddhist pilgrims at the White Horse Monastery at Luoyang in Henan to pray for blessings

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Yuanxiao Festival

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Celebrated on the 15ᵗʰ day of the first lunar month, it is one of the largest traditional Chinese festivals and is also called as Shangyuan Festival and Lantern

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Carnival during the Lantern Festival at Chenghao monastery in Shanghai

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Festival. Its origin was very early and no later than the 1ˢᵗ century CE. However, the Lantern Festival was influenced by India. India celebrated a Lantern Festival, and it was a large national festival. It had influences on Buddhism and affected Chinese Lantern Festival through Buddhism. The Lantern Festival Fair in Tang Dynasty was very lively, both emperor and the common people participated in it actively. It had profound Buddhist colours. Shangyuan Festival had the convention of releasing living creatures in temples in the 10ᵗʰ century, which reflected the Buddhist concept of not killing.

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Lantern Festival in Song Dynasty (960-1279 CE) lasted very long, and its Buddhist contents reduced obviously. After Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), Buddhist colours of Lantern Festival became weaker.

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Bathing Buddha Festival

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Celebrated on the eighth day of fourth lunar month, it is the earliest Indian Buddhist festival accepted by the Chinese. According to Mahayana classics, the eighth day of the fourth lunar month

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A religious assembly of monks from the Donglin monastery at Lushan in Jiangxi, China

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was Buddha’s birthday and its folk name was Bathing Buddha Festival. After Buddhism was introduced into China, Chinese Buddhists began to hold Bathing Buddha Festival in the 2ⁿᵈ or 3ʳᵈ century CE. The action of bathing the Buddha originated from India. The content of “Parading the Buddha” was added when the activity of bathing the Buddha was held in Jin Dynasty (around 4ᵗʰ century CE). “Parading the Buddha” means parading Buddha’s image in a carriage. Shi Hu of Late Zhao in Jin Dynasty (reigned between 335-349 CE) ordered skilled craftsmen to make a sandalwood carriage, which carried the golden image of the Buddha to parade, nine dragons were made to jet out water to bathe the image, which was magnificent and luxurious. In the period between the 5ᵗʰ and 6ᵗʰ century CE, the activity of “Parading the Buddha” was held in the south and north of China in Bathing Buddha Festival, which was learned from India. ‘*Biography of Faxian*’ recorded India’s parading the Buddha in detail.

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In Sui, Tang and Five Dynasties period (late 6th century to mid-10th century CE), celebration activities were held on eighth day of the fourth lunar month. In the spring of 14th year of Xiantong (873 CE), the emperor sent out an imperial decree to order eminent monks to meet bones of the Buddha in Famen Temple of Fengxiang, and they were buried in Chang’an on April 8 in the lunar calendar. Common people lined the streets to hail. Transformation from bathing and parading the Buddha to meeting with the Buddha was a great event in the late Tang Dynasty.

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In the Song Dynasty (960-1279 CE), ceremonies of bathing the Buddha and activities of releasing living creatures were held on the day of Bathing Buddha Festival. Besides releasing living creatures, people worshipped the Buddha and prayed for blessings or did some other good things on the eighth day of the fourth lunar month. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties (1368-1911 CE), the activity of releasing creatures on the day of Bathing Buddha Festival was not very flourishing in the north, and the activity of forming connection with beans replaced it, and the beans were boiled and distributed to the people to eat. In the southern water regions, the activity of releasing

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The end of the summer retreat (a Buddhist practice), chanting sutras and taking care of oneselves

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A scene celebrating the birth festival of the Buddha on the eighth day of the fourth month of the lunar calendar

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Watermelon lanterns on the occasion of the Mid-Autumn Festival in Beijing

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A parade on the occasion of the bathing ceremony of the Buddha at a park in Taibei in Taiwan, China

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living creatures flourished in West Lake particularly.

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**Ullambana Festival** (15th Day of the seventh lunar month) was a traditional Chinese festival and was named “Zhongyuan Festival” by Daoists, and “Ullambana Festival” by Buddhists. Meanwhile, the summer retreat of Buddhist monks was dismissed, and it was also called “Pavarana Day”. Under the influences of Buddhism, common people called this day as “Ghost Festival”. Ullambana Festival originated from Buddhism, and was based on the Ullambana Sutra. Imperial family in the Tang Dynasty attached more importance to it than Buddha’s Birthday Festival on April 8 in order to show filial obedience, and it promoted Ullambana Festival all over the country to propagate filial piety.

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In the period of the two Song Dynasties, both governments and common people paid great attention to Zhongyuan Festival. People worshipped the Buddha and their ancestors, and abstained from eating meat on the basis of filial piety, but they didn’t forget entertainment. They watched a play ‘*Mu Lian Saving His Mother*’. Volume 4 of ‘*Dreams of Past Glories of Bianliang*’ recorded that “ten thousand of lanterns were released on rivers” on the evening of July 15 in the lunar calendar.

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The activity of releasing lanterns in Ullambana Festival was very prominent in the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties. The Chinese were influenced by Indian folk customs through Buddhism, and the convention has been held in India since ancient times.

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New Year's Day

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It is celebrated on the first day of first lunar month. The 'First Lunar Month' in volume I of *Dreams of Past Glories of Bianliang* of Wu Zimu in Song Dynasty wrote that “the first day of the first lunar month was named Yuandan and was called as New Year popularly. It was the first season of a year... No matter poor or rich people visited temples in constant streams.” It talked about New Year’s Day in Lin’an (Hangzhou) which was the capital of Southern Dynasty, and people went to visit temples on this day. Temples can become recreational places at such times because people can pray for happiness throughout the entire year on the first day of New Year, as well as appreciate the view. It is worthwhile to note that Yuandan here was different from New Year today, and it meant the first day of the lunar year, ie Lunar New Year’s Day. According to the statement of *Records of Annual Functions in Jing-Chu Area*, the first day of each month was a day of fast. The record that people went to visit temples on New Year’s Day was consistent with the aforesaid statements. New Year’s Day was traditional Chinese festival, but was influenced by Buddhism.

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Nirvana Festival

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It is celebrated on the 15^th day of second lunar month. According to the record in *On the Second Lunar Month* in volume I of *Dreams of Past Glories of Bianliang*, the 15th day of the second month of spring was Flower Fairy Festival, monks and nuns in temples of Zhangjiang held Buddhist Nirvana Grand Fair on this day, offered various kinds of flowers and fruits, hung calligraphy and painting works of celebrities, displayed precious gadgets and decorated bodhimanda magnificently and many people got together in constant streams. It can be seen that local people celebrated Flower Fairy Festival and Nirvana Festival jointly.

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[Figure: *A painting by Wang Hongli of Song Dynasty* *depictin prayers to the Demon Moharaga during* *the Qixi Festival*]

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*Parade celebrating the “Feast of All Souls” at Zhabei in Shanghai, during the middle of the 20th century*

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Avalokitesvara's Birthday

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It is celebrated on the 19^th day of the second lunar month. It is said popularly that the 19th day of second lunar month was Avalokitesvara’s Birthday, so Avalokitesvara Fair shall be held on this day in China. Commemorating and prayer activities are held in the north and south of China. People pray for sons, peace, promotion and fortune.

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Summer Retreat Day

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It is celebrated on the 15^th day of the 4th lunar month. Zong Lin, in his *Records of Annual Functions in Jing-Chu Area*, wrote that “monks and nuns hung alms bowls in temples, which was named Summer Retreat.” Indian Buddhism stipulates that nuns and monks shall not go out in rainy seasons and avoid harming living creatures, which is called “Rain Retreat”. The climate in China differs from India, and it is stipulated that the period between April 16-July 15 in the lunar calendar is known as “Summer Retreat” or “Summer Mediation”. It is also named Retreat System. This was the internal stipulation of Buddhism originally but was related to the populace, so some believers provided offerings during this period and governmental departments provided funds sometimes.

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*Placing lanterns in the river in the evening on the occasion of the ceremony on the 'Feast of all souls'*

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Eating rice porridge during Lapa Festival

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Double Seventh Festival

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It is celebrated on the seventh day of the seventh month. A traditional festival in ancient China, it was also called “Night of Skills”. This festival was related to an old folk legend closely, ie the story of the Cowherd and Weaving Maid. Because there were prayer activities, like “Praying Skills” in ancient Double Seventh Festival, ie the maids prayed Vega (the moon in another statement) for skills by threading needles, so this day was also named “Maids’ Festival”.

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Recreational activities of Double Seventh Festival were rich in Song Dynasty. A very important programme was held, which was named selling and playing Mohele. Mohele is also called as Mahoraga, and is a kind of clay doll. According to investigation of scholars, the name of this kind of doll came from Buddhism. Some people thought that it was related to Rahula, the son of Sakyamuni, and others thought that it evolved from the great black god Mahakala of Tantric Buddhism. In any case, it’s commonly believed that it was the product of Buddhist influence.

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Kshitigarbha Festival

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It is celebrated on the 15^th day of seventh lunar month. It is said that it was Kshitigarbha’s birthday (there was another saying that it’s his nirvana day). In the Qing Dynasty, in Beijing people went to temples for worship and celebration, and temples held Dharma assemblies. Incenses were burnt and lotus lamps were lighted beside roads at night, and streets were bright as day in the capital.

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Mid-autumn Festival

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It is celebrated on the 15^th day of eighth lunar month. It is one of the traditional Chinese folk festivals, and originated from the myth of Lady in the Moon. It was related to Buddhism later. In the Qing Dynasty, Beijing people cut watermelon into lotus petals and let moonlight shine on them, which symbolised fullness, or they drew lotuses on paper, and person sitting on lotus was named “Bodhisattva of Moonlight”, symbolising happiness and prosperity. Some women even went to Buddhist nunneries to join in on the celebrations.

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