Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c12.s1.t1: Buddhism and Chinese Popular Beliefs

Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c12.s1.t1

Language: English

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.

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*)

Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c12.s1.t1: Buddhism and Chinese Popular Beliefs

Buddhism and Chinese Popular Beliefs

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