Tang Religion

Intellectual pluralism ＝ religious pluralism Major league:

• Confucianism• Daoism• Buddhism• Sinism

Minor league: • Zoroastrianism• Nestorianism• Manichaeism• Judaism• Islam

Buddhism—institutional, devotional Tiantai Buddhism Huayan Buddhism The Sect of the Three Stages Chan/Zen (Ch’an) Buddhism Pure Land faith

Daoism (Taoism)—talismanic, alchemical Orthodox Unity (Zhengyi) Mt. Mao (Maoshan) Supreme Purity (Shangqing) Numinous Treasure (Lingbao)

Popular Level—shamanic, magical, therapeutic, paramedical, ritualistic Heavenly Heart (Tianxin) Thunder Magic (Leifa)

Chan BuddhismChan Buddhism

A genuine Chinese A genuine Chinese Buddhism, but whose Buddhism, but whose advocates traced its advocates traced its origin back to the origin back to the Mahākāśhapa as its Mahākāśhapa as its first patriarch in India, first patriarch in India, and Bodhidharma as its and Bodhidharma as its first patriarch in China.first patriarch in China.

 

Bodhidharma, Anonymous, date unknown,

In Myoshinji, Kyoto

The legend of “Flower Sermon”The legend of “Flower Sermon”– Shakyamuni Buddha held up a lotus flower,

Mahākāśyapa smiled– Śākyamuni Buddha said to Mahākāśyapa

I possess the true Dharma eye, the marvelous mind of Nirvana, the true form of the formless, the subtle dharma gate that does not rest on words or letters but is a special transmission outside of the scriptures. This I entrust to Mahākāśyapa.

The Bodhidharma legendThe Bodhidharma legend

The Sixth Patiarch legendThe Sixth Patiarch legend

The body is a Bodhi tree,The body is a Bodhi tree,

　　

The mind a standing The mind a standing

mirror bright.mirror bright. 　　

At all times polish it At all times polish it

diligently,diligently,

And let no dust alight.And let no dust alight.

身是菩提樹，

心如明鏡臺。

時時勤拂拭，

勿使惹塵埃。

Bodhi isBodhi is fundamentally fundamentally without any tree;without any tree; 　　The bright mirror is also The bright mirror is also not a stand.not a stand. 　　Fundamentally there is not Fundamentally there is not a single thing —a single thing — 　　Where could any dust be Where could any dust be attracted?attracted?

菩提本無樹，

明鏡亦非臺。　

本來無一物，

何處惹塵埃。

 

Huike begged Bodhidharma to accept him as his discipleLiang Kai, Southern Song

 

Chan/Zen Teachings ►Claimed to have a long and

unbroken tradition handed down by a succession of patriarchs, from the 1st to the 28th in India, and from the 1st to the 6th in China

►Recognized the theory of universal Buddhahood

►Advocated the direct apprehension of the Buddha nature that exists in the mind of each individual

 

The First

ChineseChan

Patriarchby

Muxi,Southern

Song

The Platform Sutra and the Sixth Patriarch

• The Sixth Patriarch refers to Huineng (Hui-neng), who was established as the sixth leading master of the Chinese Chan tradition and the founder of the Southern School of Chan– Huineng’s sermons were

compiled into a book titled The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch

The Chan tradition clamed uniqueness through its idea of an extra-textual transmission passed from mind to mind through its multi-generation charismatic patriarchs.

This tradition of “outside received texts” helped formulate the rhetoric of “burning the scriptures,” or “killing the Buddha,” making it known as “anti-institutional institution” and “anti-textual textual tradition.”

Methods of direct apprehension

• Masters used provocative and sometimes violent language to inspire disciples

• Master-disciple dialogues were used as contemplation objects

• Reading and comprehending scripture gave way to intensive but non-restricted forms of meditation

• Scriptures were no longer sacred • The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch

emerged as a guiding text

Huineng’s Notion of Merit

• Emperor Wu of the Liang’s mind was depraved; he did not know the right Dharma.

• Emperor Wu of Liang’s understanding of merit:– Building temples and giving sanction to the Sangha– Practicing giving and arranging vegetarian feasts

• Huineng: – Liang Wu’s act is called ‘seeking blessings’; Do not

mistake blessings for merit and virtue.– Merit and virtue are in the Dharma body, not in the

cultivation of blessings."

Huineng’s mummified bodyHuineng’s image gilded

With gold

The Southern School of Chan

• The Southern School of Chan split into five houses, each was named after its founder whose sayings were also compiled into book– The Linji lineage

• The Recorded Sayings of Chan Master Linji Yixuan (Lin-chi I-hsuan)

• Spread to Japan, called Rinzai

– The Caodong lineage• Spread to Japan, called Sōto

– The Fayan, Kuiyang, and Yunmen flourished in early to mid-Song and declined later

The Mind-to-mind Transmission of the Dharma

• Chanists claimed that the Chan tradition was

based on the understanding of :

– A separate teaching outside of doctrines

– No dependence on or establishment of letters

– Transmission of the dharma [directly] from [master’s] mind to

[disciple’s] mind

– Seeing [one’s inherent Buddha] nature and attain Buddhahood

The mind-to-mind transmission of the Dharma was

conducted through master-disciple dialogues

– Master’s language used in the dialogue tended to be thought-

provoking, illogical, paradoxical, and oftentimes violent

Wisdom or insight resulted from dialogues and

meditation led to ultimate enlightenment

Tang Rulers and Religion

• Tang rulers generally supported Buddhism and Daoism, even though they also tried to revitalize Confucianism

• Buddhism:– Some emperors wanted to curb the influence of

Buddhism because it was too powerful– Others were devout patrons of Buddhism

• Their piety found its expression in building imperial monasteries

• the reception of the bone of Buddha.

• Buddhist order assisted in state affairs– Monks of imperial monasteries were ordered to

chant a sutra called The Scripture of Humane King ( 仁王經 Rén wáng jīng )

– Monasteries in Mt. Wutai served the state• Monasteries here were associated with the cult of the

Bodhisattva Manjusri

• Buddhism expanded its influence– Monasteries offered popular lectures in large

cities and small towns– Literary monks composed poetry and prose,

engaged in calligraphy and painting, and befriended Confucian intellectuals

• Han Yu’s “Memorial on the Bone of the Buddha” – A criticism of the overwhelming and unrestrained

imperial patronage of Buddhism, which he thought was equivalent to the cultic folk practice of the religion

– Represented Confucian intellectuals’ attack on Buddhism and intellectuals’ self-reflection when facing the challenge of a foreign religion

• Han Yu and his cohort called for a “return to antiquity” as the model of writing.– Launched “Classical prose movement”– Combating Buddhism “Finding the Origin of the

Way”

• Daoism:– Most emperors favored Daoism for two basic

reasons:• Daoism was state cult and Laozi was the

projenitor of the Tang ruling family.• Quest for immortality/longivity for which

Daoists claimed to have expertise

– Daoism expanded its influence• Informed emperors of divine support for the

ruling house• The Zhai ritual feasts performed on Daoist

festivals• Daoist scholars and thaumaturgists proliferated.

Emperor Xuangzong and Daoism

• Invited leading Daoist scholars to court as personal advisors

• Wrote commentary on the Laozi and canonized Daoist classics: the Daode jing (the Laozi) , the Nanhua jing (the Zhuangzi)

• Apotheosized Laozi

• Built state-sponsored Daoist temples and consulted with Daoist priests, scholars, and thaumaturgists.

– Ordered Daoist canon be compiled and the Daode jing (Canon of the Way and Its Power) be included in the imperial examinations as a compulsory text.

– Dedicated the Tang ancestral temples in Chang’an and Luoyang to Daoist worship

– Ordered Daoist clergy at all state-sponsored institutions to perform rituals

• Ordered the inscription of the Daode jing on stone in three different styles of Sima Chengzhen’s calligraphy– Had Sima Chengzhen perform the Golden Register ritual.

• Changed traditional rituals dedicated to the five sacred peaks into Daoist ceremonies devoted to the Five Perfected Ones dwelling on those peaks.

• Called Daoist priests to conduct “spirit summoning” of the spirit of Yang Guifei. – Bai Juyi’s “A Song of Unending Sorrow” indicated that the

Daoist was brought to the imperial palace to summon the spirit of Yang Guifei

• Impacts of imperial patronage:– Daoist notion of immortality and immortals spread

widely, and Daoist nuns and priests proliferated– Many Tang poets were devotees of Daoism and

wrote poems repleted with references to Daoism

Eight Daoist ImmortalsBy Huang Shen, Qing Dynasty

Taizhou Museum

Daoist Temple, Yuxu guan, Anhui

Buddhists and Daoists as Healers and Exorcists

• Tang rulers, particularly Emperor Xuanzong, paid close attention to health care.– Established positions for professors of medicine in

public schools

• Medical students were trained in schools

• Many Buddhist monks and Daoist priests were knowledgeable physicians

• Daoist priests and Buddhist monks were also expert exorcists

Popular Deities

• Local deities– Originated from local cults, often regarded by

Confucians, Buddhists, Taoists as illicit deities, not worthy of public worship

• Confucian officials were busters of these deities• Local cults and their representative deities were suppressed• Deities worshiped were said to have attained the Way when

they were living as mortals• Local cults often survived suppressions

– Many new deities and cults were introduced in Tang • There were defined as “beneficent, clean, vegetarian” gods.• Kuan-yin (Guanin, Avalokitesvara), Ti-tsang (Dizang,

Ksitigarbha) and the god of Mount Tai (T’ai)

The Cult of P’i-sha-men (Pishamen, Vaisravana)

• One of four Buddhist Heavenly Kings from India– Often pictured

carrying a halberd, money bag, or mongoose

– Associated with walls and gates in India, Central Asia, and China

• In China: protector of cities– Statue or image

always appeared on wall towers, often in the northwest corner of city wall

– Held a spear or trident in his right hand and a stupa in his left

Monastic Guardians• Pishamen (Pi-sha-men) in

China– became monastic guardian

and wall-and-moat god– Its popularity encouraged the

spread of other monastic guardians and wall-and-moat gods

• Other monastic guardians– Guan Yu (Guan Yu, Lord

Guan)– Gu Yewang

• Wall-and-moat gods (Ch’eng-huang; Cheng-huang): appeared all over China by the 8th and 9th centuries

• Four Deva-Kings (Heavenly-Kings; Tianwang) : Guardians of the

world. Each dwells on one side of Mount Sumeru. From right to left:•east: Dhrtarastra (Duoluozha; Chiguo), south: Virudhaka (Zengzhang), •west: Virupaksa (Guangmu), north: Vaisravana (Pishmen;Duowen).

Lord Guan,By Wu Daozi

Tang