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Buddhist Self-Immolation in Medieval China Jan Yün-Hua History Of Buddhist Self-Immolation in Medieval China Jan Yün-hua History of Religions, Vol. 4, No. 2. (Winter, 1965), pp. 243-268. Stable URL: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0018-2710%28196524%294%3A2%3C243%3ABSIMC%3E2.0.CO%3B2-5 History of Religions is currently published by The University of Chicago Press. Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/about/terms.html. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www.jstor.org/journals/ucpress.html. 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For more information regarding JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. http://www.jstor.org Tue Apr 1 09:36:46 2008 Ja)h Yun-hua B U D D H I S T SELF-IMMOLATION IN MEDIEVAL CHINA' Between May and October, 1963, sever1 Buddhist moiiks and a nun soaked their robes with kerosene, lighted fires, and burned themselves to death in protest against the religious policies of the South Vietnam government led by the late President Ngo Dinh Diem. Their actions served as an immediate and major cause for the fall of the Diem regime and also posed a serious problem of academic interest, namely, what is the place of religious suicide in religious history and what is its justification ? "Religious suicide" may more appropriately be termed "self- immolation," for the action of these self-immolated monks was one which brought their lives to an end with a spiritual motivation and a strong sense of determination. Thus self-immolation signifies something deeper than merely the legal concept of suicide or the physical action of self-destruction. Many people consider that self-immolation raises a crucial prob- lem in the history of religion. They ask whether such a violent action is justifiable according to religious doctrine. According to 1 The author wishes to record his thanks to Professor Derk Bodde, Professor of Chinese, University of Pennsylvania, for his kind revision of the manuscript and to Professor K. Woodroofe, formerly Visiting Professor of English, Visva-Bharati University, India, for his suggestions for stylistic improvements of this paper. Chinese characters corresponding to transliterations of Chinese terms are to be found at the end of the article. 243 Buddhist Self-immolation in Medieval China Buddhist teaching, for example, he who shall "deprive a human being of life, or by uttering the praises of death shall incite to suicide," is guilty of the action of Pcrcijikas. To commit such a violation involves permanent expulsion from the Sangha. Thus we find in this context that "suicide is condemned without qualifica- tion." 2 Although it is true that suicide is prohibited as a great sin by Buddhist discipline, it is also true that many instances of such violent action have been recorded in the history of Buddhist religion. For example, the Kao-seng-chuan ("Biographies of Eminent Monks") written by Hui-chiao (497-554), the Hsti Kao- seng-chuan ("Further Biographies of Eminent Monks") by Tao- hsiian (59&667), and the Sung Kao-seng-chuan ("Sung Collection of Biographies of Eminent Monks") by Tsan-ning (919-1001), respectively, record more than fifty monks who have attempted or committed self-immolation.3 Their actions have been classified by the historians as Wang-shen or Yi-shen, terms which literally mean to abandon or lose the body. A few other monks who died in defense of their religion have been classified under the category of protectors of their religion. Although a few of these biographies remind us, in their excess, of the exaggerated kind of moralization found in the Confucian examples of filial piety (which likewise are mostly legendary),4 many of the biographies of these self-immo- lated Buddhists are soberly historical. From this, one can clearly see that the Chinese Buddhist historians regarded such action as virtuous and worthy of emulation. This view was also approved by the Buddhists of Japan5 and is now approved in Vietnam. The object of this paper is a comprehension of the three main aspects of Buddhist self-immolation in medieval China, namely (1) circumstances and motives, (2) sources of inspiration, and (3) historical estimates or the attitude of Buddhist biographers to the subject. These aspects have remained unnoticed until recent times. 2 Cf. Edward J. Thomas, The History of Buddhist Thought (2d ed.; London, 1959), pp. 16-17. 3 See Taish6Shinshti Taiz6ky6 or the Taish6 Edition of the Tripitaka in Chineae (hereafter referred to in this paper as T.), Nos. 2059, 2060, and 2061. All of these three works are included in Vol. L of the collection. 4 For instance, the biographies of Seng-ch'iin, Fa-chin, P'u-an, etc., as men- tioned in this paper, seem to have certain legendary elements. On one hand, these biographies might have been moral teachings written by the biographers; on the other, the events may not be entirely baseless. The question of motivation, authenticity, etc., of Kao-seng-chuanis discussed by Arthur F. Wright, "Biography and Hagiography, Hui-chiao's lives of Eminent Monks," in Silver Jubilee Volume of the Zin-bun-kagaku-Kenyziayo,Ky6t6 University (KyBtB, 1954), pp. 383-432. 5 Biographies of self-immolated Japanese monks are to be found in Hon-cM k6.sb-den ("Biographies of Eminent Monks of Japan"), chap. xxvi. 244 The circumstances and motives of those Chinese monks who immolated themselves by fire have been studied by Professor Jacques Gernet, but the other cases and the inspiring factors causing these self-immolations and their historical estimate have awaited scholarly attention.6 In regard to Part I, it is very difficult to give a clear-cut classi- fication of motives in these cases of self-immolation. 111 fact, many of these seem to be the result of psychological complexes. Their actions were often motivated by multiple factors. Under this circumstance, the division of this paper is only for the convenience of discussion. Similarly, neither is it possible nor is it necessary to have the full translation of these Chinese biographies in a paper such as this. In most cases, I have only narrated stories, some- times quoting and translating from the texts when I have con- sidered them to be significant. In order to show that this practice of self-immolation was a common practice in many parts of China rather than only a localized custom, geographical locations con- nected with these cases have been mentioned in particular. In Part 11, the factors favoring self-immolation have been dis- cussed and different sources of inspiration traced. But these factors and sources do not mean that immolation was more prevalent in China than in India, nor can one claim that Confucian or Taoist teachings always approved and encouraged such violent actions. On the contrary, religious suicides were more popular in India, as shown in a recent research publication.7 There is firm and strong condemnation of self-destruction in Confucian doctrines, and the instructions for loving one's life also exist in Taoist scriptures. One can only assert that so far as this Buddhist practice is concerned, the Chinese attitude seems more clear-cut and positive. These cases have more historical significance than their Indian counter- parts. The passages quoted here from the Confucian classics and Taoist scriptures are only the extracts which influenced Buddhist Earlier references on religious suicides of Buddhists by L. de la VallAe Poussin did not refer to Chinese cases (see Encyclopaedia of Religivn and Ethics [New York, 19551, XII, 24-26). Other references such as the Chinese Readers' Manual by W. F. Mayer only referred to the secular suicides in China. SOfar as I know, there is only one previous reference to certain aspects of this practice, that is "Les suicides par le feu chez les bouddhistes chinois du Ve au Xe sibcle," by Jacques Gernet, in Mdhnges publih par l'lnstitut dea Hautes $tudes Chinoises, I1 (Paris, 1960), 527-58. There is another recent contribution by 3. Filliozat, "La mort voluntaire par le feu et la tradition bouddhique indienne," Jouml aaiatique, CCLI, no. 1 (Paris, 1963). 21-51. Though related to the subjeot, his concern is mainly with the Indian Buddhist. I am grateful to Professor Gernet for sending me a copy of his article. See U. Thakur, The Hietory of Suicidein India (Delhi, 1963), eep. pp. 77-111. Buddhist Self-immolu,tionin Medieval Chiwcc self-immolations. The views opposing self-immolation as found in Confucian and Taoist texts do not fall in the scope of the present paper. The motive and cause of self-immolation in Chinese history varies. Some monks abandoned their lives in imitation of the Bodhisatt- vas, or as an expression of their devotion and gratitude to the Lord Buddha or to a particular scripture or to their own faith.
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