East Asian Buddhism
East Asian Buddhism or East Asian Mahayana is a collective term for the schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism which developed across East Asia and which rely on the Chinese Buddhist canon. These include the various forms of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese Buddhism.<ref>Charles Orzech (2010), Esoteric Buddhism and the Tantras in East Asia. Brill Academic Publishers, pp. 3-4.</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=":26">Jones, Charles B. (2021). Pure Land: History, Tradition, and Practice, p. xii. Shambhala Publications, Template:ISBN.</ref> East Asian Buddhists constitute the numerically largest body of Buddhist traditions in the world, numbering over half of the world's Buddhists.<ref>Pew Research Center, Global Religious Landscape: Buddhists.</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
East Asian forms of Buddhism all derive from the sinicized Buddhist schools which developed during the Han dynasty and the Song dynasty, and therefore are influenced by Chinese culture and philosophy.<ref>Gethin, Rupert, The Foundations of Buddhism, OUP Oxford University Press, 1998, p. 257.</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The spread of Buddhism to East Asia was aided by the trade networks of the Silk Road and the missionary work of generations of Indian and Asian Buddhists. Some of the most influential East Asian traditions include Chan (Zen), Nichiren Buddhism, Pure Land, Huayan, Tiantai, and Chinese Esoteric Buddhism.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> These schools developed new, uniquely East Asian interpretations of Buddhist texts and focused on the study of Mahayana sutras. According to Paul Williams, this emphasis on the study of the sutras contrasts with the Tibetan Buddhist attitude which sees the sutras as too difficult unless approached through the study of philosophical treatises (shastras).<ref>Williams, Paul, Mahayana Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations, Taylor & Francis, 2008, P. 129.</ref>
The texts of the Chinese Buddhist Canon began to be translated in the second century and the collection continued to evolve over a period of a thousand years with the first woodblock printed edition being published in 983. A major modern edition of this canon is the Taishō Tripiṭaka, produced in Japan between 1924 and 1932.<ref>Gethin, Rupert, The Foundations of Buddhism, OUP Oxford, 1998, p. 258.</ref> Besides sharing a canon of scripture, the various forms of East Asian Buddhism have also adapted East Asian values and practices which were not prominent in Indian Buddhism, such as Chinese ancestor veneration and the Confucian view of filial piety.<ref>Harvey, Peter, An Introduction to Buddhism, Second Edition: Teachings, History and Practices (Introduction to Religion) 2nd Edition, p. 212.</ref>
East Asian Buddhist monastics generally follow the monastic rule known as the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya.<ref>Gethin, Rupert, The Foundations of Buddhism, OUP Oxford, 1998, p. 260</ref> One major exception is some schools of Japanese Buddhism where Buddhist clergy sometimes marry, without following the traditional monastic code or Vinaya. This developed during the Meiji Restoration, when a nationwide campaign against Buddhism forced certain Japanese Buddhist sects to change their practices.<ref>Jaffe, Richard (1998). "Meiji Religious Policy, Soto Zen and the Clerical Marriage Problem". Japanese Journal of Religious Studies. 24 (1–2): 46. Archived from the original on November 19, 2014.</ref>
Buddhism in East Asia
Buddhism in China
Buddhism in China has been characterized by complex interactions with China's indigenous religious traditions, Taoism and Confucianism, and varied between periods of institutional support and repression from governments and dynasties. Buddhism was first introduced to China during the Han dynasty, at a time when the Han empire expanded its nascent corresponding geopolitical influence into the reaches of Central Asia.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Opportunities for vibrant cultural exchanges and trade contacts along the Silk Road and sea trade routes with the Indian subcontinent and maritime Southeast Asia made it inevitable that the percolation of Buddhism would penetrate into China and gradually into the rest of East Asia at large.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Such religious transmissions were able to be afforded to enable the inexorable percolation of Buddhism into East Asia over a millennia due to the vibrant cultural exchanges that were able to be made at that time as a result of the Silk Road.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=":26">Jones, Charles B. (2021). Pure Land: History, Tradition, and Practice, p. xii. Shambhala Publications, Template:ISBN.</ref>
Chinese Buddhism has strongly influenced the development of Buddhism in other East Asian countries, with the Chinese Buddhist Canon serving as the primary religious texts for other countries in the region.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=":26">Jones, Charles B. (2021). Pure Land: History, Tradition, and Practice, p. xii. Shambhala Publications, Template:ISBN.</ref>
Early Chinese Buddhism was influenced by translators from Central Asia who began the translation of large numbers of Tripitaka and commentarial texts from India and Central Asia into Chinese. Early efforts to organize and interpret the wide range of texts received gave rise to early Chinese Buddhist schools like the Huayan and Tiantai schools.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In the 8th century, the Chan school began to emerge, eventually becoming the most influential Buddhist school in East Asia and spreading throughout the region.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Buddhism in Japan
Buddhism was officially introduced to Japan from China and Korea during the 5th and 6th centuries AD.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In addition to developing their own versions of Chinese and Korean traditions (such as Zen, a Japanese form of Chan and Shingon, a form of Chinese Esoteric Buddhism), Japan developed their own indigenous traditions like Tendai, based on the Chinese Tiantai, Nichiren, and Jōdo Shinshū (a Pure Land school).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Buddhism in Korea
Buddhism was introduced to Korea from China during the 4th century, where it began to be practiced alongside indigenous shamanism.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Following strong state support in the Goryeo era, Buddhism was suppressed during the Joseon period in favor of Neo-Confucianism.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Suppression was finally ended due to Buddhist participation in repelling the Japanese invasion of Korea in the 16th century, leading to a slow period of recovery that lasted into the 20th century. The Seon school, derived from Chinese Chan Buddhism, was introduced in the 7th century and grew to become the most widespread form of modern Korean Buddhism, with the Jogye Order and Taego Order as its two main branches.
Buddhism in Vietnam
Bordering southern China, Buddhism may have first come to Vietnam as early as the 3rd or 2nd century BCE from the Indian subcontinent or from China in the 1st or 2nd century CE. <ref>Nguyen Tai Thu. The History of Buddhism in Vietnam. 2008.</ref> From the 2nd to the 4th century, Luy Lâu (now Bắc Ninh province, northern Vietnam) - capital of Jiaozhou (then part of the Han, Eastern Wu and Jin dynasties), according to Chinese historical records, was the leading Buddhist center in Southeast Asia, where Indian monks often stopped by sea to translate Buddhist scriptures from Sanskrit to Classical Chinese, before gradually moving up to Guangzhou area.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Vietnamese Buddhism was influenced by certain elements of Taoism, Chinese spirituality, and Vietnamese folk religion.<ref>Cuong Tu Nguyen & A.W. Barber 1998, pg 132.</ref> Buddhism was the state religion of Dai Viet during the Đinh dynasty (968-981), Lý dynasty (1009-1225) and Trần dynasty (1225-1400). Trúc Lâm thiền school was founded by Trần Nhân Tông - 3rd Emperor of Trần dynasty in late 12th century.<ref>Cuong Tu Nguyen. Zen in Medieval Vietnam: A Study of the Thiền Uyển Tập Anh. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1997, pg 9.</ref>
Traditional schools of East Asian Buddhism
East Asian Buddhism has a wide variety of traditions, lineages and schools (Chinese: Template:Transliteration), which developed in China and are also reflected in Korean, Japanese and Vietnamese Buddhism. Traditional Asian Buddhist scholars like Sheng-yen and Gyōnen (1240–1321) enumerated thirteen Buddhist traditions or schools.<ref name=":4">Chan Master Sheng Yen (2007). Orthodox Chinese Buddhism: A Contemporary Chan Master's Answers to Common Questions, pp. 116-119. North Atlantic Books.</ref><ref>Blum, Mark L. (2002). The Origins and Development of Pure Land Buddhism: A Study and Translation of Gyonen's Jodo Homon Genrusho, p. 15. Oxford University Press.</ref> These various traditions changed and evolved over time. Some are now defunct or were absorbed into new traditions while some survived or were revived as living traditions. These "traditions" are not always rigid designations as there has always been considerable intermixing among them. Many temples and communities are influenced by many of these traditions, each consisting of different numerous sub-schools or sects.<ref>Template:Cite web.</ref>
These "thirteen schools" are:<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5">William Edward Soothill, Lewis Hodous (1977). A Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms: With Sanskrit and English Equivalents and a Sanskrit-Pali Index. p. 256. Motilal Banarsidass Publ.</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- The Chengshi school (now defunct), which focused on the study of the Chengshilun ("The Treatise that Accomplishes Reality").
- The Kosa School (俱舍宗, now defunct), based on the study of Abhidharma using the Abhidharmakośa of Vasubandhu.
- The "Three Treatises" school (Template:Zhi; Chinese Madhyamaka), founded by Kumarajiva (344–413 CE).
- The Consciousness Only school (Template:Zhi, Yogācāra), a.k.a. Faxiang ("dharma characteristics") school, founded by Xuanzang (602–664) and based on his Template:Transliteration ("The Demonstration of Consciousness-only").
- The Tiantai school, also known as the Lotus school, due to their focus on the Lotus Sutra. In Japan it is known as Tendai.
- The Huayan school, the school of the Avatamsaka Sutra (Huayanjing).
- The Pure Land tradition, including the Japanese Jōdo-shū and Jōdo Shinshū schools.
- The Nirvana School (now defunct), based on the Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra translated by Dharmarakṣa (c. 233–310); this was later absorbed into the Tiantai school.<ref name=":5" />
- The Dilun school (now defunct) based on the Daśabhūmikā sutra translated by Bodhiruci; this was later absorbed into the Huayan tradition.<ref name=":5" />
- The Shelun school (now defunct) based on Asanga's Summary of the Mahayana translated by Paramartha; it was later absorbed into the Huáyán and Consciousness-only schools.<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":4" />
- The Vinaya school or Nanshan school, a historical tradition which focused on the Dharmaguptaka monastic discipline, established by the monk Daoxuan (596–667).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- The Chan (Dhyana, "Meditation") school, i.e. the Zen tradition attributed to the founder Bodhidharma, which focuses on sitting meditation (Template:Transliteration) and developed numerous sub-schools like Caodong and Linji. This tradition spread throughout Asia. In Japan it is Japanese Zen, in Korea it is known as Seon, and in Vietnam it is known as Thiền.
- The Zhenyan school (Template:Zhi, i.e., Chinese Esoteric Buddhism. Also called Template:Zhp, Template:Zhp, or Template:Zhp. This tradition was transmitted to Japan by Kūkai, where it is known as Shingon.
See also
- Buddhism in Southeast Asia
- Buddhism by country
- Buddhism and Eastern religions
- Filial piety in Buddhism
- Silk Road transmission of Buddhism
- Southern, Eastern and Northern Buddhism
References