India in the Chinese Imagination
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Buddhism Dukkha Samudaya Nirodha Magga Key Vocabulary the Buddha
Buddhism Key Vocabulary The Buddha Buddhists live by five rules: There are no gods in • Never take the life of The teacher and Buddhism. It was created Buddha a living creature. creator of Buddhism. by a man called Siddhartha Gautama, who was born • Do not steal. into a noble family. He lived When Buddhists • Be faithful to your partner. a sheltered early life, but close their eyes and when he was older he went • Do not lie. Meditate breathe deeply, trying out into the world and saw to empty their minds • Do not drink alcohol. that sickness, age and death of thoughts. come to everyone. After seeing Buddhism originated Breaking the Buddhist this, Gautama meditated and in Northeast India and Enlightenment cycle of rebirth and found the answer to life. This now has followers from reaching Nirvana. made him the Buddha. This was called enlightenment all over the world. The The rules laid out by and the Buddha decided to Dharmachakra is a Eightfold Buddha which will teach others how to reach it. symbol used in Buddhism. Path lead to Nirvana. Dukkha Samudaya Nirodha Magga ‘The Wheel Dharmachakra Everyone The cause of To end the suffering, To end the suffering of Dharma’. suffers in life. suffering is a life must be lived for good, people craving for things one day at a time. must follow the Perfect peace with no and wanting to You must also let go Eightfold Path Nirvana suffering. control things. of cravings. created by Buddha. View more Buddhism planning resources. visit twinkl.com Buddhism Key Vocabulary Special Shrines Buddhists can worship from home or at a temple, which are puja The Buddhist act of worship. -
The Song Elite's Obsession with Death, the Underworld, and Salvation
BIBLID 0254-4466(2002)20:1 pp. 399-440 漢學研究第 20 卷第 1 期(民國 91 年 6 月) Visualizing the Afterlife: The Song Elite’s Obsession with Death, the Underworld, and Salvation Hsien-huei Liao* Abstract This study explores the Song elite’s obsession with the afterlife and its impact on their daily lives. Through examining the ways they perceived the relations between the living and the dead, the fate of their own afterlives, and the functional roles of religious specialists, this study demonstrates that the prevailing ideas about death and the afterlife infiltrated the minds of many of the educated, deeply affecting their daily practices. While affected by contem- porary belief in the underworld and the power of the dead, the Song elite also played an important role in the formation and proliferation of those ideas through their piety and practices. Still, implicit divergences of perceptions and practices between the elite and the populace remained abiding features under- neath their universally shared beliefs. To explore the Song elite’s interactions with popular belief in the underworld, several questions are discussed, such as how and why the folk belief in the afterlife were accepted and incorporated into the elite’s own practices, and how their practices corresponded to, dif- fered from, or reinforced folk beliefs. An examination of the social, cultural, * Hsien-huei Liao is a research associate in the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University, U.S.A. 399 400 漢學研究第20卷第1期 and political impact on their conceptualization of the afterlife within the broad historical context of the Song is key to understand their beliefs and practices concerning the underworld. -
Conservation of Ancient Sites on the Silk Road
PROCEEDINGS International Mogao Grottes Conference at Dunhuang on the Conservation of Conservation October of Grotto Sites 1993Mogao Grottes Ancient Sites at Dunhuang on the Silk Road October 1993 The Getty Conservation Institute Conservation of Ancient Sites on the Silk Road Proceedings of an International Conference on the Conservation of Grotto Sites Conference organized by the Getty Conservation Institute, the Dunhuang Academy, and the Chinese National Institute of Cultural Property Mogao Grottoes, Dunhuang The People’s Republic of China 3–8 October 1993 Edited by Neville Agnew THE GETTY CONSERVATION INSTITUTE LOS ANGELES Cover: Four bodhisattvas (late style), Cave 328, Mogao grottoes at Dunhuang. Courtesy of the Dunhuang Academy. Photograph by Lois Conner. Dinah Berland, Managing Editor Po-Ming Lin, Kwo-Ling Chyi, and Charles Ridley, Translators of Chinese Texts Anita Keys, Production Coordinator Jeffrey Cohen, Series Designer Hespenheide Design, Book Designer Arizona Lithographers, Printer Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 © 1997 The J. Paul Getty Trust All rights reserved The Getty Conservation Institute, an operating program of the J. Paul Getty Trust, works internation- ally to further the appreciation and preservation of the world’s cultural heritage for the enrichment and use of present and future generations. The listing of product names and suppliers in this book is provided for information purposes only and is not intended as an endorsement by the Getty Conservation Institute. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Conservation of ancient sites on the Silk Road : proceedings of an international conference on the conservation of grotto sites / edited by Neville Agnew p. -
Transformation of Capital City in Tang and Song China, Ca. 700-1100
From Closed Capital to Open Metropolis: Transformation of Capital City in Tang and Song China, ca. 700-1100 Hang Lin [email protected] Abstract. Chang’an of the Tang dynasty (630-907) and Kaifeng of the Song dynasty (960- 1127) represents two major stages in the development of the capital city in premodern China. In contrast to Chang’an, a semi-autonomous walled “urban village” separated by wide expanse of transitory space, Kaifeng was a dense city criss-crossed by ad hoc commercial streets filled with a variety of urban activities during days and nights. Indeed, during this period, a number of significant changes took place, which helped to erode the Tang urban structure and to give birth to a new, one in which the closed walled city transformed into an open market city. Based primarily on textual and material evidence, this paper outlines the characteristics of the layout and structure of the two cities and examines various aspects of the daily life in both cities. This comparative analysis sheds light on the unique pattern of transformation of cities in medieval China. Keywords: Chinese capital city, city transformation, Chang’an, Kaifeng, Tang dynasty, Song dynasty. Introduction Historians of premodern Chinese urbanism have long assumed that the origins of the Chinese imperial city plan stem from a passage in the Kaogong ji (Record of Artificers) section of the classical text Zhouli (Rituals of Zhou), which describes the city of the King of Zhou (Fig. 1): ‘When the artificer build the capital, [the city should be] a square of nine li on each side, with three gates on each side. -
The Meaning of “Zen”
MATSUMOTO SHIRÕ The Meaning of “Zen” MATSUMOTO Shirõ N THIS ESSAY I WOULD like to offer a brief explanation of my views concerning the meaning of “Zen.” The expression “Zen thought” is not used very widely among Buddhist scholars in Japan, but for Imy purposes here I would like to adopt it with the broad meaning of “a way of thinking that emphasizes the importance or centrality of zen prac- tice.”1 The development of “Ch’an” schools in China is the most obvious example of how much a part of the history of Buddhism this way of think- ing has been. But just what is this “zen” around which such a long tradition of thought has revolved? Etymologically, the Chinese character ch’an 7 (Jpn., zen) is thought to be the transliteration of the Sanskrit jh„na or jh„n, a colloquial form of the term dhy„na.2 The Chinese characters Ï (³xed concentration) and ÂR (quiet deliberation) were also used to translate this term. Buddhist scholars in Japan most often used the com- pound 7Ï (zenjõ), a combination of transliteration and translation. Here I will stick with the simpler, more direct transliteration “zen” and the original Sanskrit term dhy„na itself. Dhy„na and the synonymous sam„dhi (concentration), are terms that have been used in India since ancient times. It is well known that the terms dhy„na and sam„hita (entering sam„dhi) appear already in Upani- ¤adic texts that predate the origins of Buddhism.3 The substantive dhy„na derives from the verbal root dhyai, and originally meant deliberation, mature reµection, deep thinking, or meditation. -
The University of Chicago Practices of Scriptural Economy: Compiling and Copying a Seventh-Century Chinese Buddhist Anthology A
THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRACTICES OF SCRIPTURAL ECONOMY: COMPILING AND COPYING A SEVENTH-CENTURY CHINESE BUDDHIST ANTHOLOGY A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE DIVINITY SCHOOL IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY BY ALEXANDER ONG HSU CHICAGO, ILLINOIS AUGUST 2018 © Copyright by Alexander Ong Hsu, 2018. All rights reserved. Dissertation Abstract: Practices of Scriptural Economy: Compiling and Copying a Seventh-Century Chinese Buddhist Anthology By Alexander Ong Hsu This dissertation reads a seventh-century Chinese Buddhist anthology to examine how medieval Chinese Buddhists practiced reducing and reorganizing their voluminous scriptural tra- dition into more useful formats. The anthology, A Grove of Pearls from the Garden of Dharma (Fayuan zhulin ), was compiled by a scholar-monk named Daoshi (?–683) from hundreds of Buddhist scriptures and other religious writings, listing thousands of quotations un- der a system of one-hundred category-chapters. This dissertation shows how A Grove of Pearls was designed by and for scriptural economy: it facilitated and was facilitated by traditions of categorizing, excerpting, and collecting units of scripture. Anthologies like A Grove of Pearls selectively copied the forms and contents of earlier Buddhist anthologies, catalogs, and other compilations; and, in turn, later Buddhists would selectively copy from it in order to spread the Buddhist dharma. I read anthologies not merely to describe their contents but to show what their compilers and copyists thought they were doing when they made and used them. A Grove of Pearls from the Garden of Dharma has often been read as an example of a Buddhist leishu , or “Chinese encyclopedia.” But the work’s precursors from the sixth cen- tury do not all fit neatly into this genre because they do not all use lei or categories consist- ently, nor do they all have encyclopedic breadth like A Grove of Pearls. -
Buddhism and Development: a Background Paper
Religions and Development Research Programme Buddhism and Development: A Background Paper Emma Tomalin Department of Theology and Religious Studies, University of Leeds Research Associate, Religions and Development Research Programme Working Paper 18 - 2007 Religions and Development Research Programme The Religions and Development Research Programme Consortium is an international research partnership that is exploring the relationships between several major world religions, development in low-income countries and poverty reduction. The programme is comprised of a series of comparative research projects that are addressing the following questions: z How do religious values and beliefs drive the actions and interactions of individuals and faith-based organisations? z How do religious values and beliefs and religious organisations influence the relationships between states and societies? z In what ways do faith communities interact with development actors and what are the outcomes with respect to the achievement of development goals? The research aims to provide knowledge and tools to enable dialogue between development partners and contribute to the achievement of development goals. We believe that our role as researchers is not to make judgements about the truth or desirability of particular values or beliefs, nor is it to urge a greater or lesser role for religion in achieving development objectives. Instead, our aim is to produce systematic and reliable knowledge and better understanding of the social world. The research focuses on four countries (India, Pakistan, Nigeria and Tanzania), enabling the research team to study most of the major world religions: Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism and African traditional belief systems. The research projects will compare two or more of the focus countries, regions within the countries, different religious traditions and selected development activities and policies. -
Ancient Chinese Constellations Junjun Xu Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics Room 424, Apartment 20, No
The Role of Astronomy in Society and Culture Proceedings IAU Symposium No. 260, 2009 c International Astronomical Union 2011 D. Valls-Gabaud & A. Boksenberg, eds. doi:10.1017/S174392131100319X Ancient Chinese constellations Junjun Xu Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics Room 424, Apartment 20, No. 37 Xueyuan Street, Beijing, China email: [email protected] Abstract. China, a country with a long history and a specific culture, has also a long and specific astronomy. Ancient Chinese astronomers observed the stars, named and distributed them into constellations in a very specific way, which is quite different from the current one. Around the Zodiac, stars are divided into four big regions corresponding with the four orientations, and each is related to a totem, either the Azure Dragon, the Vermilion Bird, the White Tiger or the Murky Warrior. We present a general pattern of the ancient Chinese constellations, including the four totems, their stars and their names. Keywords. China, constellations, mansions 1. Introduction Three enclosures, four symbols and twenty-eight mansions characterise the ancient Chinese constellations. This division of the starry sky began to appear in China before the Zhou and Qin dynasties. The three enclosures refer to three areas around the North celestial pole: the Purple Forbidden enclosure, the Supreme Palace enclosure and the Heavenly Market enclosure. The four symbols are distributed near the ecliptic Zodiac and the lunar orbit and are represented by four totems: the Azure Dragon of the East, the Vermillion Bird of the South, the White Tiger of the West and the Black Tortoise of the North. Every symbol was divided into seven sections which were know as mansions. -
A Comparative Study of Bhavacakra Painting
Historical Journal Volume: 12 Number: 1 Shrawan, 2077 Deepak Dong Tamang A Comparative Study of Bhavacakra Painting Deepak Dong Tamang Abstract The Bhavacakra is a symbolic representation of Samsara, a powerful mirror for spiritual aspirants and it is often painted to the left of Tibetan monastery doors. Bhavacakra, ‘wheel of life’ consists of two Sanskrit words ‘Bhava’ and ‘Cakra’. The word bhava means birth, origin, existing etc and cakra means wheel, circle, round, etc. There are some textual materials which suggest that the Bhavacakra painting began during the Buddha lifetime. Bhavacakra is very famous for wall and cloth painting. It is believed to represent the knowledge of release from suffering gained by Gautama Buddha in the course of his meditation. This symbolic representation of Bhavacakra serves as a wonderful summary of what Buddhism is, and also reminds that every action has consequences. It can be also understood by the illiterate persons not needing high education and it shows the path of enlightenment out of suffering in samsara. Mahayana Buddhism is very popular in Asian countries like northern Nepal, India, Bhutan, China, Korean, Japan and Mongolia. So in these countries every Mahayana monastery there is wall painting and Thānkā painting of Bhavacakra. But in these countries there are various designs of Bhavacakra due to artist, culture and nation. Key words: Bhavacakra, wheel of life, Mandala, Karma, Samsāra, Sukhāvati bhuvan, Thānkā Introduction In Buddhism, art has been one of the best tools to understand the Buddha teaching. The wheel of life is very famous for walls and cloth painting. This classical image from the Tibetan Buddhist tradition depicts the psychological states, or realm of existence, associated with an unenlightened state. -
252 Index Index Index
252 Index index Index afterlife. See Buddhist hells; heaven; Baopu zi [The Master who Embraces netherworld; netherworld adventure Simplicity] 133, 145n223, 215n125 motif Bao Zhao (c. 414–466): biography of 20– Aina jushi, Doupeng xianhua [Chatting under 21, 37–38; “Cong deng Xianglu feng” the Bean Arbor] 172 [Accompanying (Prince of Linchuan) to Amitayus (Buddha of Infinite Lifespan) Ascend the Xianglu Incense Burner Peak], 11, 139–141, 143; Guan wuliangshou jing 40; “Fo ying song” [Eulogy on a Buddha [Amitāyurdhyāna Sutra; The Sutra of Statue], 74; writing style of, 30–31, 31n48 Visualization on Amitayus Buddha], Bassnett, Susan 175n1 73n57, 77. See also Buddhism; Chinese Beidou, see Northern Dipper Buddhism; popular Buddhism; Pure Land Bensheng jing [Jātaka] 205 School; savior figures Bianji (635–713), 205 animals: Buddhist anti-killing beliefs 14, Bianzong lun (On Differentiation of 74n61, 75n65, 80, 97–102; distinguished Sects) 71; See also Daosheng from humans in traditional China, 101–102, Biqiuni zhuan [Bhikshuni Biograph ies] 101n74; repayment of debts of gratitude, 70n41, 160, 161 99–102, 146; retribution for killing of, 80, Bokenkamp, Stephen R. 6n23, 102 97–98, 97n56, 123, 146 Book of Changes. See Yijing (Classic of An Shigao (or An Qing fl.148–171) 119; Changes) “Prince of Anxi” (tale 254 in Youming lu), Bowu zhi 49 104–106, 151, 154–159 Brandauer, Fredrick P. 208n100 Asvaghosa 185 Buddha, as a savior 7–8, 14, 139–144, 147, 225 Avalokiteśvara (or Guanyin): as a savior in the Buhhayawas 120 Lotus Sutra 141–142, 225; Buddha and Buddhism: Ba jiezhai (Eight Command- Amitayus conflated with, 143; the ments) 170n70; and daoshu (Daoist Guanshiyin yingyanji [Records of Miracles techniques), 61; dhyāna meditation, 66, Concerning Avalokiteśvara], 3, 77, 78–79; 66n28, 67, 69; Five Precepts, 14, 75, 122, as a man in A Sequel to the Records of 122n148; introduction to China, 61–65; life Miracles Concerning Avalokiteśvara, 79. -
Joseph Elacqua
Citragupta: A Case Study in Esoteric Buddhist Appropriation1 Introduction For several decades, the Mahākaruṇā-garbhodbhava-maṇḍala2 大悲胎藏生曼荼攞, an iconographic, visual, and ritual device characteristic of Japanese Shingon 眞言 Buddhism, has been a rich source for academic scholarship on Esoteric Buddhism. First appearing in the Mahāvairocanābhisambodhi-sūtra,3 variants of the Garbhodbhava-maṇḍala are discussed in seven of its chapters as well as in a wealth of supplementary literature.4 For lack of a better term to refer collectively to these texts, I have employed the term “Garbhodbhava cycle.” Several studies relating to the Garbhodbhava-maṇḍala have blazed new trails, constructing a wholly new framework for present maṇḍala scholars. Toganoo Shōun’s 栂尾祥雲 study of maṇḍalas5 provided a crucial framework for the field of maṇḍala studies. Tajima Ryūjun 田嶋隆純 analysed both the Garbhodbhava- 1 I would like to express my deep and profound gratitude to Bernard Faure and Michael Como, each of whom provided invaluable assistance as the seeds of this project first began to sprout. I am also heavily indebted to Rolf Giebel for his unending assistance in the restoration of potential Sanskrit text titles. Sanskrit terms in this paper are romanized according to the IAST system, but with one slight variation. Rather than utilizing the Sanskrit anusvāra using the vague “ṃ” of IAST, I have elected to romanize this sound more strictly. When occurring before a plosive consonant, the anusvāra is romanized as the appropriate class nasal (ex: “saṅgraha” rather than “saṃgraha.” In all other cases—such as occurrence before non-plosives or at the end of any morpheme—the anusvāra is romanized as “ṃ.” 2 The Maṇḍala Arising from the Matrix of Great Compassion. -
The Symbol of the Dragon and Ways to Shape Cultural Identities in Institute Working Vietnam and Japan Paper Series
2015 - HARVARD-YENCHING THE SYMBOL OF THE DRAGON AND WAYS TO SHAPE CULTURAL IDENTITIES IN INSTITUTE WORKING VIETNAM AND JAPAN PAPER SERIES Nguyen Ngoc Tho | University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University – Ho Chi Minh City THE SYMBOL OF THE DRAGON AND WAYS TO SHAPE 1 CULTURAL IDENTITIES IN VIETNAM AND JAPAN Nguyen Ngoc Tho University of Social Sciences and Humanities Vietnam National University – Ho Chi Minh City Abstract Vietnam, a member of the ASEAN community, and Japan have been sharing Han- Chinese cultural ideology (Confucianism, Mahayana Buddhism etc.) and pre-modern history; therefore, a great number of common values could be found among the diverse differences. As a paddy-rice agricultural state of Southeast Asia, Vietnam has localized Confucianism and absorbed it into Southeast Asian culture. Therefore, Vietnamese Confucianism has been decentralized and horizontalized after being introduced and accepted. Beside the local uniqueness of Shintoism, Japan has shared Confucianism, the Indian-originated Mahayana Buddhism and other East Asian philosophies; therefore, both Confucian and Buddhist philosophies should be wisely laid as a common channel for cultural exchange between Japan and Vietnam. This semiotic research aims to investigate and generalize the symbol of dragons in Vietnam and Japan, looking at their Confucian and Buddhist absorption and separate impacts in each culture, from which the common and different values through the symbolic significances of the dragons are obviously generalized. The comparative study of Vietnamese and Japanese dragons can be enlarged as a study of East Asian dragons and the Southeast Asian legendary naga snake/dragon in a broader sense. The current and future political, economic and cultural exchanges between Japan and Vietnam could be sped up by applying a starting point at these commonalities.