The Distinctive Characteristic of Chinese Buddhism

By Venerable Sheng Yen

Historically, one of the attributes of Chinese Mahayana Buddhism has been its ability to integrate itself with Confucianism and Taoism. For example, many Chinese Buddhist masters and thinkers had deep understandings of the classics of Confucianism and Taoism and appropriated them to aid the promotion of Buddhadharma (even though there were Confucian and Taoist adherents who opposed Buddhism). As a result, their teachings were well received. Confucianism was a set of worldly moral teachings, inter-twined with the familial, social, and political lives of the people. Taoism was comparatively otherworldly, and focused on practices of transcendence, immortality and longevity. The world-transcending and world-engaging tendencies parallel the main difference between Hinayana and Mahayana teachings: The former centres on individual liberation; the latter focuses on universal liberation through purifying the society and maturing sentient beings, the principle teaching of Mahayana being the practice of the Bodhisattva path.

THE EXPANSION OF MAHAYANA BUDDHISM

Chinese Buddhism embodies the fully developed form of Mahayana Buddhism. Of course, the Bodhisattva path of the Mahayana is founded on the teachings that lead to positive rebirth in the human and god realms, and the teachings of liberation from the cycle of birth and death in Samsara. The former set of teachings refers to the Five Precepts and Ten Virtues. The latter set of teachings is common to all Buddhism. Yet, while this teaching is shared in both Hinayana and Mahayana Buddhism, the difference is that in the Mahayana tradition the transcendence of birth and death is realised in the midst of birth and death. That is, liberation can be found in the here and now. There is no Nirvana apart from Samsara. There is a central message of the Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch: "Buddhadharma is found in the world; and Enlightenment is inseparable from the world." The word "Bodhisattva" consists of two words: bodhi or "enlightening" and sattva or "sentient being." Thus, bodhisattva means Enligthened Being, which points also to a Bodhisattva's purpose: enlightening self and others. Enlightenment here refers to insights into the nature of vexations and of the Samsaric cycles of birth and death. In the Chinese commentarial tradition, a Bodhisattva is also called "a sentient being with a great mind for the path." A person with a great mind is one who encourages all sentient beings to neither attach to birth and death nor fear it. Being unbound by these two attachments is the great liberation of the Mahayana Bodhisattva. This understanding of liberation from birth and death is very different from that of Hinayana Buddhism.

Early Buddhism stipulates that it takes from three lifetimes to sixty kalpas or aeons for a Sravaka (e.g. a "voice-hearer" of the Buddha's teachings) to reach liberation, a longer period for a Prateykhabuddha (e.g. a self-enlightened being) from four lifetimes to one hundred kalpas or aeons to reach liberation, and an even longer period of three great innumerable kalpas to reach Buddhahood. Even though many schools in Chinese Buddhism, including the Chan School, speak of attaining Buddhahood, it is by no means an easy task. According to the scriptures, there are 1000 buddhas in Bhadra Kalpa, the current kalpa we're living in, where Sakayamuni Buddha is the fourth Buddha, to be followed by the future Buddha, Maitreya.

The so-called "Buddhahood in one's lifetime" in Tibetan Buddhism refers to the attainment of the merit of great compassion and wisdom that accord with one's yidam, or meditation deity. This process requires the empowerment from one's guru (teacher) and the cultivation of various special practices. In Chan Buddhism, we have expressions such as "illuminating the mind and seeing one's nature" and "Seeing the nature, and attaining Buddhahood." These expressions refer to the direct experience of the Buddha-nature that is identical to all past, present and future Buddhas.

The reason that Chinese Buddhism has not been well recognised and accepted today is because Chinese Buddhism has not focused on educating and training capable practitioners who not only understand but also have deep experience in the teachings of Chinese Buddhism. This is because few really spend time studying the wealth of our tradition. Nowadays even Chinese Buddhists are critical of Chinese Buddhism. In the future, Dharma Drum Mountain (DDM) members will continue to come in contact with great practitioners of Tibetan and Theravada Buddhism. It will be easy to become enchanted by their elaborate systems of doctrine and practices, and how these teachings can benefit people's lives. Other people's lawns will always seem "greener." If we are clueless to the depth of Chinese Buddhism, naturally we will not be able to discuss or experience the Buddhadharma as they do. Naturally, we will be converted to other forms of Buddhism and lose our own identity. If this happens, then perhaps DDM will become a global Buddhist education centre that encourages the study of all forms of Buddhism. On a positive note, this could be a good thing. DDM might even become an important center for the study of Indian, Tibetan and East Asian Buddhism. This would not be unlike the Nalanda University of ancient India where Buddhist monastics studied different forms of Buddhism including the Middle Way and the Consciousness-Only all under one roof. Yet, wouldn't it be a pity to witness the decline of Chinese Buddhism? How can the potential disappearance of Chinese Buddhism be good news for global Buddhism? The worse scenario would be that Chinese Buddhism ceases to be the practice for the Chinese, and that the humanistic and socially engaged teachings of Chan Buddhism at DDM begin to fade away. Thus, I must reiterate that DDM needs to stand firmly behind Chinese Buddhism. If we fail to do so, then those who wish to study Chinese Chan could only turn to Japan, Vietnam, and elsewhere.

I also need to reiterate that my teachings are grounded in Indian Buddhism. My book "Orthodox Chinese Buddhism", which I wrote many years ago but published recently in English, is based on the teachings from the Agamas. I have also given various lectures in Taiwan and United States on the Madhyamaka and Consciousness-Only teachings. These teachings are now published; the most recent one is my commentary on the "Verses on Eight Consciousnesses." My studies of these doctrines have deepened and broadened my own understanding of Buddhism as a whole. In my efforts to make Buddhism accessible to more people, with an eye on developing humanistic form of Buddhism that would address the needs of our society, I have been promoting Chinese Chan Buddhism under the banner of "inheriting the past, inspiring the future." My endeavour is not to compete with other Buddhist schools, but to fully develop Chinese Chan Buddhism.