Chinese Buddhism. Buddhism and Chinese culture

Buddhism was the only foreign element in Chinese culture that penetrated all strata of society, determined their appearance for many centuries and became an integral part of the national civilization. The political history of China can be conditionally divided into feudal and imperial periods, while religious history can be divided into Buddhist and pre-Buddhist eras.

The new creed not only changed China's religious system; it introduced the Chinese to pre-Buddhist Indian philosophical and religious teachings, and in the sphere of art it served as the connecting thread along which the Hellenistic influence spread eastward through Central Asia. Such a versatile and powerful force as Buddhism could not help changing Chinese civilization, but in the end it was Buddhism, and not Chinese culture, that underwent a great transformation. The achievements of Indian philosophy were widely discussed in the West, where they found zealous supporters, but the Chinese, a people for whom practicality is almost the most important trait of character, proved immune to the boundless and vague Indian speculations. As time passed, the Chinese began to interpret Buddhist doctrine in terms of moral virtue, familiar to them from the time of the Chou philosophical schools. Under the influence of such significant local transformative forces, Chinese Buddhism took on a form that only outwardly and very faintly resembled the Indian system from which it emerged.

Chinese artists, called upon to illustrate episodes from the life of the Buddha, naturally depicted Indian sage in environments and surroundings familiar to them, just as Italian artists painted Christian saints in Renaissance robes.

Mahayana Buddhism came to China in 65 under the Emperor of the Later Han Ming-di. The Hinayana system, although known to the Chinese, was never widespread in the Far East and disappeared there by the 10th century. Both branches of Buddhism disappeared in India, where they suffered severely due to Muslim conquests and opposition to the ancient Hindu religion. According to Chinese history, Emperor Ming had a dream that there was an all-powerful deity in the west and sent an embassy to bring his cult to China. The ambassador reached India and returned with Buddha images and Sanskrit books, which were translated into Chinese at Luoyang by two Indian monks who accompanied the ambassador. These two Indians were Aranya Kashyapamatanga and Dharmaratna (Dharmaranya), named among the authors of the Chinese Tripitaka, a collection of Buddhist writings, the first to translate the sutras into Chinese. They worked at the White Horse Monastery near Luoyang, so called because the sacred books were brought from India to China on a white horse. This Baimasy monastery, or built on the same place, still exists.

It is possible that some idea of ​​Buddhism was received by the Chinese envoys in Central Asia and Bactria, for this region, now exclusively Muslim, was one of the earliest and most active Buddhist centers. It is possible that the first Buddhist mission came from these countries and not from India itself. The Han emperors, as mentioned above, were supporters of religious innovations and were always ready to welcome a new deity. However, the cordial welcome given to Buddhism at the court did not generally have any effect on the nation during the Han era.

Buddhism remained a curiosity in the capital, its teaching was in the hands of foreigners, and it passed by and populace, and a heavily Confucianized educated class.

The fall of the Han empire and the ensuing division of the country and the invasion of the barbarians opened the way for Buddhism and stimulated the religious revolution, which became the most significant event of the era. While Indian translators, with the help of an increasing number of Chinese assistants, continued the enormous work of translating Sanskrit originals into Chinese, the northern barbarian dynasties patronized Buddhist monks in the conquered provinces. The new rulers, who needed the support of an educated class, found in the face of Buddhists and Taoists opponents of orthodox Confucians, devoted and faithful scientists.

In the 4th and 5th centuries, Buddhism spread throughout northern China. These lands, thanks to the Central Asian trade route through which communication with India was carried out, enjoyed the primary attention of Indian missionaries. The small kingdoms of Northern China during the short-lived Tungus and Hun dynasties went down in history only thanks to the abundance and fruitful work of the Buddhist schools that existed under them. In 401-412, the famous Kumarajiva, a monk of Indian origin, who was born in Central Asia, worked and taught in Chang'an, which was then the capital of the state of the Later Jin. He preached the teachings of new schools of Buddhism, previously unknown in China.

Although Buddhism experienced temporary persecution, they could not contain the progress of the new religion. Historians testify that in 405, nine out of ten families in the northern empire were embraced by this faith. The masses of the people, seeing in Buddhism a religion that promised them in the next life what they were deprived of in the present, accepted it, not understanding either theory or dogma.

One hundred years later, in the year 500, according to sources, all of China, both North and South, became Buddhist. And this means that Buddhist rituals and ceremonies were followed everywhere, temples and monasteries arose in every region, numerous clergymen and monks were highly revered. But it would be a mistake to present such a universal conversion as a complete break with the religious past that distinguished the Roman Empire after the adoption of Christianity. One of the most striking manifestations of the Chinese national predisposition towards cosmopolitanism is the ability to believe, or at least revere, several apparently incompatible teachings.

Buddhist emperors continued to make sacrifices to Heaven, the deities of the earth and the harvest. The Taoist pantheon included Buddhist and Hindu deities. “Three paths lead to one goal,” they say in China, but this attitude should not be considered just a simple materialistic desire to always be afloat and insure against trouble three times. The religions of the Far East, in contrast to the Western religions that emerged from Judaism, have never asserted their categorical exclusivity. Neither Buddha, nor Confucius, nor any of the Taoist sages could say: "There are no gods but me."

One hundred years later, the Liang Wudi, the most famous emperor of South China, took Buddhism under his patronage. By his decree and under his personal supervision, the first Tripitaka was compiled and published in 517. Ten years later, the emperor, despite the protests of the court, became a monk in the capital's monastery. With great difficulty, he was returned to the throne and he insisted that the monks be paid a large ransom for leaving their monastery. Two years later, in 529, he again renounced the world, and again he was persuaded to leave the monastery by paying an even larger sum. In 533, Xiao Wu, the ruler of Wei, then the dominant state in the north, issued a decree on the second edition of the Tripitaka, shortly after Empress Hu, an ardent Buddhist, spent huge sums on the construction of monasteries and temples.

Bodhidharma. Founder of the Chan school (jap. Zen)
More and more works were translated from Sanskrit into Chinese by new generations of monks and laymen, both Indian and Chinese, and thanks to the improved knowledge of Sanskrit, the literary quality of translations, initially very low, increased. Chinese monks began to better understand the teachings of the various schools into which Buddhism had long been divided. Many of these schools also appeared in China, and sometimes new directions arose under the influence of Chinese specifics. The most significant of these was the Chan school, the Chinese term for dhyana (concentration, contemplation), founded by the Indian monk Bodhidharma, who lived in Luoyang between 516 and 534.

The Ch'an school emphasized contemplation as the only and necessary path to enlightenment. Man had to discover in himself, through contemplation, the germ of the Buddha-nature hidden in everyone. The school was very concerned with theology and eschewed written texts, relying on oral communication between teacher and student. She was vehemently condemned by other schools, considering her teachings to be heretical. Nevertheless, the Chan school flourished in China, and later in Japan (in Japanese it was called Zen; this school also flourished in Korea (Son) and Vietnam (Thien)). There can be no doubt that while some of the doctrines of Chan were of Buddhist origin, much of the theory and practice came from Chinese Taoism.

Indeed, if Ch'an is cleansed of Buddhist terminology, then something very reminiscent of the Taoist teachings of the Tao Te Ching and Chuang Tzu will be obtained.

In 563, the Indian monk Paramartha founded the only flourishing school of philosophy in China. This school, known in India as Sarvastivada and in China as Ju She Zong, was conservative and adhered to the Hinayana doctrine, which was considered the most authentic tradition of the teachings of Gautama. The school, which appealed to scientists and intellectuals, did not win universal support and died in the 10th century, when the appearance of the cult of the Buddha Amitabha, which actually became a new religion, changed the whole face of Chinese Buddhism.

At the end of the period of fragmentation, the Chinese monk Zhi-yi founded a purely Chinese school called "Tiantai", in Japanese "Tendai". Zhi-yi tried to reconcile the contradictory interpretations of the Buddha's teaching in a kind of compromise unity, which considered the text to be a system, and each teaching to make sense only in a certain context. The apparent discrepancies could then be explained on the basis of an interpretation of the supposed cause of the text and its content. Perhaps it was because of this compromise approach that the school was welcomed by many Chinese and became one of the most prosperous in the Far East. Only in the 14th century, when Amidaism practically replaced early Buddhism, did the Tiantai school begin to decline. Its founder Zhi-yi, an able and prolific author, died in 597 shortly after the unification of the empire by the Sui dynasty.

Amidism appeared in China at this time, but at first it was not welcomed. It was not until the monk Kumarajiva translated the Amitabha Sutra into Chinese that the new teaching began to spread. Other works translated a few years later helped to popularize the cult of Amitabha, which soon took possession of the minds of people, because the incomprehensible transcendental philosophies of other schools seemed too complicated to them.

Amidaism replaces the original and historically authentic Gautami personality with Amitabha (Japanese reading "Amida"), a deity born from a lotus in the magical paradise of Sukhavati. Originally, Amitabha was a man, a Dharmakara monk, who lived in a world parallel to ours. He transformed his votive world into the Pure Land of Sukhavati (Chinese "si tian", "Western Sky") and became Buddha Amitabha, which means Buddha of Boundless Light.

The path of salvation no longer lay through the austere life of abstinence preached by Gautama. To escape the horrors of hell and be reborn in the Western Paradise, one need only invoke the name of Amitabha. For those who considered such a rule of life too easy, a higher ideal was offered. This ideal was not nirvana, the destruction of desires and liberation from suffering, but the promise of becoming a Buddha himself, if all earthly life dedicate to humane service to people. Thus, Kuan Shiyin, or Kuan Yin, the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, turned into a deity of mercy, “Hearing the Cry of the World”, which means his Chinese name. This compassionate bodhisattva, before becoming a Buddha, turned around to hear the cry of suffering rising from the earth and decided to postpone his eternal deification until all sentient beings had attained the exalted state of himself.

In addition to Kwan Yin (who has been depicted as a woman since the Middle Ages), three other main bodhisattvas are also worshiped, qualitatively and functionally they do not differ too much from the first. Ditsang (Ksitigarbha), just like Kuan Yin, refused to become a Buddha and devoted himself to alleviating the suffering of those doomed to hellish torment. Ditsang has power over Yan-wang, the ruler of hell, and is free to deliver or relieve the torment of the doomed. Wenshu (Manjushri) and Puxian (Samantabhadra) are connected in China with the sacred mountains of Emeishan in Sichuan and Wutaishan and Shanxi. They are also bodhisattvas who renounced Buddhahood in order to assist imperfect humanity in the long ascent to the divine state. Maitreya, in Chinese Milefo, often called the "Laughing Buddha", is not, strictly speaking, either a Buddha or a bodhisattava. He is the Buddha to come, who will be born for the last time on earth by a Bodhisattva and, like Gautama, will reach the highest state in this world.

Amidaism, in which the cult of these bodhisattvas plays a prominent role, did not become widespread until several centuries after the era of fragmentation. Having won the sympathy of the common people, at first he was not perceived by scientific circles, and only in the 10th century, at the end of the Tang, did the cult of Buddha-Amitabha surpass all others.

Tao-hsuan, who died in 667, founded Lu Zong, a purely Chinese school that returned to the position of original Buddhism. Philosophical speculation was denounced as contrary to the true teachings of the Buddha. Leaving theory aside, Tao-hsuan and his students focused on the practice of humanity. The duty of a true Buddhist, they declared, is first to purify one's heart and then one's actions, to engage in charity, and to gain faith in universal humanity. These ideas bear a clear imprint of Confucianism. Maybe that's why "lu zong" always appealed to Chinese Buddhists and succeeded in resisting the all-consuming influence of Amidism, which allowed it to survive. In connection with the decline of other schools under the onset of Amidaism, this teaching gradually gathered around itself all the most intellectual that was in Chinese Buddhism.

By the end of the Tang Dynasty, Buddhism, greatly modified by Chinese ideas and beliefs, took a place in Chinese culture that it never lost again. Despite the fact that Confucian scholars in the Tang period and many others in subsequent centuries opposed the new religion, the majority of people accepted Buddhism and revered the Buddha along with national heroes and deities. Although the court was sympathetic to Buddhism and provided large funds for monasteries and temples, the Buddhist church, perhaps because of internal divisions and weak organization, did not acquire political power and dominance comparable to the Christian churches of Europe. Even at the peak of Buddhism, political power remained in the hands of lay people who received a Confucian education, even if they were sympathetic to Buddhism and were Buddhists in everyday life.

The oldest of the world's religions - Buddhism. Buddhism arose in the VI-V centuries. BC e. in North India. Its appearance was caused by important changes in Indian society: the destruction of tribal ties and orders, the strengthening of class oppression and the emergence of large slave states. The old tribal religions no longer corresponded to the new social conditions. Considered the founder of Buddhism Siddhartha Gautama- a semi-legendary Indian prince who became disillusioned with life and voluntarily renounced the pleasures and luxury of the royal court. The main provisions of Buddhism are set forth in the "sacred" books - the so-called Tripitaka, or, in the Pali language, Tipi-taka. Arising, in all likelihood, as one of the sects of Brahmanism, Buddhism adopted a number of provisions from this religion, in particular the doctrine of karma and samsara.At the same time, Buddhism criticized the caste system and banned the sacrifices practiced by Brahmanism.The Buddhist religion teaches that life in all its manifestations is a chain of suffering, deliverance from which can be achieved by righteous people in nirvana - complete non-existence. non-resistance to evil by violence, as well as calls for patience, renunciation of the struggle for a better life on earth, disarmed the working people in the struggle against the exploiters.

Buddhism began to break up into sects quite early. By the 1st century n. e. Religion split into two branches - Theravada and Mahayana. Theravada, or Hinayana (small vehicle), which originated in Eastern India, preaches a "narrow path of salvation." According to this teaching, only a narrow circle of people - monasticism - can achieve nirvana. Theravada, by its nature, is closer to the early schools of Buddhism and requires a refusal It is characteristic that in Theravada the Buddha does not yet act as a god, but as a man of exceptional moral purity, a great teacher who showed other people the path to salvation.

Mahayana (great vehicle) promises "a broad path of salvation". To achieve nirvana, according to this teaching, not only a monk, but also a layman can. In contrast to Theravada, which recognizes only the Pali canon, the Mahayana also adopts a number of later Buddhist theological works written in Sanskrit.The Buddha in this teaching is no longer a man, but a god, and instead of one Buddha appear several buddhas (in addition to Buddha Sakya Muni, also Buddha Amitaba, Buddha Ochirvani, etc.) Bodhisattvas are also highly respected - persons who deserved the transition to nirvana, but decided to stay on earth to save other people. Judgments about paradise also appear in the Mahayana and hell, which were absent in early Buddhism.

Buddhism entered China from India, predominantly in its northern Mahayana form, in the 2nd century BC. The process of its strengthening and development in China was complex and lengthy. It took many centuries and huge efforts of generations of preachers and translators of texts to develop and come into use the Chinese equivalents of Hindu-Buddhist concepts and terms. In addition, much in Buddhism, with its perception of life as suffering and evil, contradicted the Confucian norms of ethics and principles of behavior widespread in China; only the assistance of the parallel religious Taoism, which, in turn, generously drew from the treasury of Hindu-Buddhist wisdom, helped the Buddhists to gain a foothold on Chinese soil. It is not surprising that the first Buddhist communities were perceived in China only as one of the sects of Taoism.

Gradually, Buddhism strengthened its positions, which was greatly facilitated by the general historical situation of the era of the Southern and Northern dynasties (III-VI centuries) with its crises, civil strife and instability of life. In such an environment, the calls of Buddhists to renounce earthly vanity and take refuge behind the high walls of the monastery could not help but seem attractive. In the III-IV centuries. around the capital centers, Loyang and Chang'an, there were about 180 Buddhist monasteries, temples and kumiren, and by the end of the 5th century. in the state of Eastern Jin there were already 1800 of them with 24 thousand monks.

Free from taxes and harassment by the authorities who patronized them, Buddhist monasteries attracted both peasants, or fugitive citizens expelled from their land by nomads, and rich aristocrats who sought peace and solitude. Buddhism was becoming a force, and many emperors of both the southern (Chinese) and especially the northern non-Chinese, "barbarian") dynasties sought its support, and some recognized it as the official state ideology. Sinicization

Spreading and strengthening, Buddhism was subjected to significant sinicization. In general, the Chinese Confucian civilization is unique in terms of stability, adaptability, ability to regenerate and resistance to external influences. Any foreign ideology, no matter how powerful and all-encompassing it may be, when penetrating China, inevitably underwent such a strong transformation and Sinicization that in the end a rather original system of ideas and institutions arose, adapted to the usual Chinese principles, concepts and norms, and only in the most in general terms reminiscent of the original ideology. This property of Chinese civilization manifested itself in the example of Buddhism.

Already in the IV century. Chinese Buddhists such as Sun Cho tried to prove that the Buddha is the embodiment of the Tao. Emphasizing that the main thing in their teaching is high moral standards (kindness, patience, virtue), they were very respectful of the Confucian principle of xiao. Accordingly, individual lines from the sutras changed, often unconsciously, automatically: for example, instead of the phrase “the wife takes care of the conveniences for her husband,” they wrote, as the Japanese scientist H. Nakamura drew attention to, more natural for the Chinese - “the wife honors her husband.” It is significant that Chinese Buddhists, who used their money to erect stupas or statues in honor of Buddhas and body satvas in cave temples, as a rule, accompanied these gifts with inscriptions in a typically Chinese-Confucian spirit (for example, “we pray for the salvation of the souls of our precious ancestors such -then").

Changes also affected other parties. Thus, those ideas, principles and Buddhas came to the fore in Chinese Buddhism that most of all corresponded to traditional Chinese norms, ideals and ideas. The famous Dao-an (312-385), the first known Chinese patriarch of Buddhism, the founder of the monastery in Xianyang, laid the foundation for such changes. An educated Confucian, he became interested in Buddhism and soon became its brilliant connoisseur and active preacher. On the basis of the commandments of the Vinayapitaka, many texts of which Tao-an himself translated into Chinese, he personally compiled an exemplary monastic charter. Many translations and commentaries on Chinese Buddhist texts are associated with his name, and the compilation of the first catalog of translated sutras. He introduced for Chinese Buddhist monks the surname Shi - from the Chinese transcription of the Gautama clan (Shakya). However, the pinnacle of Tao-an's activity lies elsewhere. He founded the cult of the Buddha of the coming Maitreya (Milepho), with the advent of which many generations of Chinese Buddhists linked their hopes for a better future and general prosperity, just like Christians with the second coming of Christ, and Muslims with the Mahdi. More than once, the leaders of Chinese peasant movements declared themselves or their sons to be reborn Maitreyas, and the cult of Milefo in China was central to the ideology of many secret societies.

The second authority of Chinese Buddhists after Tao-an was Hui-yuan (334-417), also a Confucian who went through a passion for Taoism and then joined Buddhism. The Donglin-si monastery founded by him in the province of Jiangxi enjoyed great fame and influence, gathering the best minds of the country within its walls. However, unlike Tao-an, Hui-yuan was more of a brilliant popularizer of Buddhism than a scholarly expert on it. Sinicization of Buddhism in his activities was manifested in the establishment of the cult of the Buddha of the West - Amitaba, the patron of the "Western Paradise", "Pure Land", which was the beginning of Chinese and then Japanese amidism. The cult of Amitaba, like the cult of Maitreya, in China has always been closely associated with dreams of bright life and heavenly future. In cooperation with the followers of Maitreya, the Chinese Amidists, primarily supporters of the Jingtu (“Pure Land”) sect, participated in the activities of secret societies and in revolutionary peasant uprisings.

The transformation of Buddhism on Chinese soil forced this religion to adapt to the social structure of China, to the norms and demands of the traditional Chinese society. In particular, this manifested itself in the fact that this teaching, like other religious doctrines of China, acted in its various guises in relation to the educated upper classes and the peasant lower classes.

Grassroots (folk) Buddhism quickly became a kind of Chinese Taoism. A Buddhist monk, side by side with a Taoist, performed simple rites, took part in rituals and festivities, guarded Buddhist temples and shrines, served the cult of numerous Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, who increasingly turned into ordinary gods and saints. In addition to the Buddhas Maitreya and Amitaba, who became central figures in Chinese Buddhism, the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, the famous Chinese Ku-an-yin, the goddess of mercy and virtue, the patroness of the suffering and unfortunate, was especially popular in China. This goddess in her popularity and functions can be compared with the Virgin Mary in Christian countries. Around the 8th century, acquiring female form(Earlier in China, as in India, the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara was considered a man), Kuan-yin turned into the patron goddess of women and children, motherhood, the goddess-giver of children. This played a significant role in her fame. Temples in her honor began to be created throughout the country, and they were never empty, and the altars in these temples were always full of gifts and offerings.

Having enrolled numerous Buddhas, body-satvas and Buddhist saints in their pantheon, the common people in China accepted the main thing in Buddhism - that which was associated with the relief of suffering in this life and salvation, eternal bliss in the life to come. The basic norms and cults related to them, Buddhist holidays and readings of the funeral sutras, as well as many elements of magic, even eroticism (Tantrism) - all this, together with an army of poorly educated monks and novices, familiar only with the most elementary principles of the teaching, easily strengthened in life China, became its natural integral part and fully satisfied the needs of ordinary Chinese.

The tops of Chinese society, and above all its intellectual elite, drew much more from Buddhism. Emphasizing the philosophy of this teaching, its metaphysics, they often neglected its ritual side and magical practice. In secluded cells and large libraries of large Buddhist monasteries, they immersed themselves in half-decayed texts, studied sutra after sutra, trying to find something new, important, intimate, secret, to apply it in new conditions, to adapt it to Chinese reality. Based on the synthesis of ideas and ideas extracted from the philosophical depths of Buddhism, with traditional Chinese thought, with Confucian pragmatism, one of the most interesting and deep, intellectually saturated and still enjoying considerable attractiveness of the currents of world religious thought arose in China - Chan Buddhism ( yal. - zen).

CHAN

Chan Buddhism (Zen)

This trend arose in the form of an esoteric sect. The name "chan" comes from the Sanskrit "dhyana" (concentration, meditation). The ancient Buddhist direction - the Dhyan school - called on its followers to renounce more often outside world and, following the ancient Indian traditions, dive into oneself, concentrate one's thoughts and feelings on one thing, concentrate and go into the endless depths of the existent and mysterious. The goal of dhyana was to achieve trance in the process of meditation, because it was believed that it was in a state of trance that a person could reach the hidden depths and find insight, the truth, as happened with Gautama Shak-yamuni himself under the Bo (Bodhi) tree.

The dhyana sutras were translated into Chinese by Tao-an. Subsequently, they became widely known in Chinese Buddhist monasteries. The legend tells that Chan Buddhism arose in China after it moved there from India at the beginning of the 6th century. the famous patriarch of Indian Buddhism, Bodhidharma. When asked by the well-known patron of Buddhism, Emperor Wudi of the Liang dynasty, who accepted him, how his merits would be evaluated (construction of monasteries and temples, copying sutras, providing benefits and donations to Buddhists), Bodhidharma allegedly replied that all these deeds were worthless everything is dust and vanity. After that, the patriarch left Wudi, who was disillusioned with him, left with a group of followers and laid the foundation for a new sect - Chan.

Chan Buddhism focused on a person free from duties and attachments, ready to renounce worldly concerns and devote himself entirely to the ability and art of living, but living only for himself (in this, the Indian tradition in Chan Buddhism decisively triumphed over the Chinese). It was not easy to learn the truths of Chan Buddhism and accept its principles; this required special long-term training. Preparation and initiation usually began with paradoxes. The first of these was a resolute denial of knowledge, especially bookish, canonical. One of the main doctrines of Chan said that intellectual analysis based on written dogmas does not penetrate into the essence of the phenomenon and does not contribute to success in comprehending the Truth. Why strain the mind, let alone load it with bookish wisdom, when you can give full scope to intuition and self-expression and completely reject the canons and authorities?! This is how one should understand the testament of the famous master of Chan Buddhism Yi-hsuan (IX century), which has become a textbook: “Kill everyone who stands in your way! If you meet a Buddha, kill the Buddha; if you meet a patriarch, kill the patriarch!” In other words, nothing is sacred in the face of the great concentration of the individual and his sudden insight and enlightenment, his comprehension of the Truth.

How to comprehend the Truth? Ch'an Buddhism solved this eternal question of thinkers surprisingly simply and paradoxically. Truth is illumination. It descends upon you suddenly, like an intuitive impulse, like an inner enlightenment, like something that cannot be expressed in words and images. To comprehend and accept this insight, you need to prepare. However, even a trained person is not guaranteed that he will comprehend the Truth. He must patiently wait in the wings.

Chan Buddhism had a huge impact on the development of Chinese, Japanese and the entire Far Eastern culture. Many outstanding masters of literature and art were brought up on the paradoxes, koans and ideas of this sect. However, for all its great importance in the life of China, Chan Buddhism has always remained a relatively small esoteric sect, with only a few well-known centers-monasteries. Moreover, over time, Chinese Chan Buddhism gradually lost its original originality and extravagance. Submitting to the general style of monastic life, Buddhist monasteries-schools of Chan in late medieval China tightened disciplinary norms and sought to more strictly regulate the lifestyle of Chan monks, which ultimately brought Chan noticeably closer to other sects-schools of Buddhism that functioned in China.

TIANTAI

Tiantai (Chinese 天台宗) is one of the schools of Chinese Buddhism, later transferred to Japan as the Tendai school, where this school developed and gained great popularity. The school is also called the "Lotus School" because of the high reverence for the Lotus Sutra. The school was founded by the monk Zhiyi (Chinese 智顗, 538-597) during the Sui era.

The philosophy of the school is based on the Mahayana doctrine of "emptiness", combining the Indian philosophy of the Madhyamika with the Chinese doctrine of tathagatagarbha. The teaching combines the theories and practices of many schools.

Buddha Shakyamuni, after gaining awakening, was in the samadhi of the "sea reflection", where he saw the whole world as the absolute unity of the infinite Mind. The Buddha outlined his vision in the Avatamsaka Sutra, and then in the form of the Lotus Sutra. Before the final departure to nirvana, the Buddha also preached the Mahaparinirvana Sutra, which in the Tiantai school is considered a confirmation of the highest truth of the Lotus Sutra.

The Avatamsaka Sutra, according to the Tiantai school, is accessible only to people with a developed intellect, while the Lotus Sutra is accessible and understandable to both educated and ordinary people.

The two most important ideas of tian tai are the doctrine of "three thousand worlds in one act of consciousness" and the concept of "one mind".

In one mind - three thousand worlds

Both the doctrine “in one act of consciousness there are three thousand worlds” and the doctrine of a single Mind are closely connected with the cosmological ideas of Buddhism, primarily with the view that each type of living beings and its “residence” can be considered in two ways: as a special level of deployment of consciousness and as the corresponding world.

There are ten such worlds. First of all, these are the six worlds of samsaric beings: the worlds of hells, hungry ghosts, animals, people, titans - asuras and deities. To these worlds of samsara are added four more worlds of "noble personalities" (arya pudgala): the world of shravakas, pratyekabuddhas, bodhisattvas and the world of Buddha.

Each of these worlds is present in any other world, the worlds seem to penetrate each other, the world of hells is present in the world of the Buddha (which means that not only good, but also evil is inherent in the nature of the Buddha), but also the world of the Buddha is present in the hells; multiplying ten by ten gives one hundred worlds. Each world is considered in three more respects, each of which also receives the status of a special world:

The world of creatures (consideration of each world in the aspect of the creatures inhabiting it);

The world of five skandhas (consideration of each world in psychological aspect as the level of unfolding the consciousness of beings)

World-country (consideration of each world as a container of living beings).

More one aspect of the teachings of the Tiantai school- her theory of threefold truth.

In form, this teaching goes back to the theory of two truths of Nagarjuna, however, in essence, it is radically different from the latter, although a certain continuity of ideas, of course, is preserved.

The first truth of the Tiantai school says that since any phenomenon is causally conditioned, it is devoid of self-existence and is in fact essenceless, being a kind of manifestation of the totality of causes and conditions that gave rise to it. This "truth of emptiness" is generally in line with the teachings of Nagarjuna.

The second truth is called the truth about false or conditional truth (jia di). It boils down to the fact that all phenomena are devoid of a true essence, an unchanging and permanent basis, and therefore are like illusory images or creations of fantasy.

The third truth is called the “truth of the middle way,” that is, the path between two extreme points of view. It lies in the fact that in reality all phenomena are endowed with the same "dharma nature", they are not born and do not die, being eternal manifestations of the eternal Buddha.

In essence, the Tiantai school considers only the third truth to be true in the strict sense of the word, while the first two are only a consequence of incomplete or inadequate knowledge of reality.

Tiantai school practice

The practice of the Tiantai school is first of all revealed in the treatise Maha Shamatha Vipashyana. This text states that the methods of contemplation were inherited by the Tiantai school through the secret oral transmission of two methods of yoga: the “golden oral instruction” method transmitted from Buddha Shakyamuni, and the “current teacher method” transmitted from Nagarjuna.

HUAYAN fuck

Huayan (Chinese 華嚴, pinyin: huáyán, Skt. Avatamsaka, Jap. Kegon, Kor. Hvaom), literally a flower garland, is a tradition of Mahayana Buddhism philosophy that developed in China during the Tang Dynasty. The tradition is based on the Sanskrit work Huayan-ching (Avatamsaka Sutra) - a collection of several sutras brought together at the beginning of our era (apparently, in Central Asia). The most important of these for the Huayan school was the Gandavyuha Sutra.

The founder of the school is the monk Fazang (Chinese 法藏), or Xianshou, 643-712, whose ancestors came from Sogdiana, although he himself was born and lived in China. He is considered the third patriarch of Huayan, since the monk Dushun (Chinese 杜順, 557-640) began to comment on the Avatamsaka Sutra for the first time, who during his lifetime was considered, however, more of a miracle worker than a thinker, the second patriarch was Zhiyan (Chinese 智儼).

The Huayan school is one of the most philosophically oriented branches of Chinese Buddhism. This caused her to be criticized by other schools, who accused Huayan of neglecting Buddhist religious practice.

Li (“principle”, “rule”, “norm”, “rationality”, “reason”) and shi (“business”, “serve”) were important categories of Huayan philosophy. The concept of li expressed the idea of ​​some eternal and unchanging principle, and shi - its temporary, fluid and changeable manifestation or expression.

Based on the Mahayana position on the fundamental identity of Nirvana and Samsara, the philosophers of the Huayan school consider the “principle” and “things” (phenomena) as not only connected, but also essentially identical beginnings: phenomena are manifestations of the “principle”, its discovery; it is, as it were, the "exit" of the "principle" from its existence into the world of causally determined factors.

The Huayan school, as an independent branch of Chinese Buddhism, declined in the second half of the 9th century, but the Chan school borrowed its philosophy as the theoretical basis for its contemplative practice, which was prepared by Zong-mi. Within the framework of Chan, the teachings of the Huayan school have survived to the present day.

The Huayan school had a limited distribution in Korea (Hwaom) and Japan (Kegon). Now in China and Japan there is one Huayan monastery each, but Huayan philosophy continues to be carefully studied in numerous monasteries of the Chan (Zen) school.

"Look into your nature and you will become a Buddha"

In Thien (Zen), the main attention on the path to achieving satori is paid not only (and not so much) to the Holy Scriptures and sutras, but to direct comprehension of reality based on intuitive insight into one's own nature.

According to Thien (Zen), anyone can achieve satori.

The four key distinctions of Thien (Zen):

Special teaching without sacred texts.

Transmission through direct reference to reality - in a special way from heart to heart.

The need for awakening through awareness of one's own true nature.

According to legend, the beginning of the Thien (Zen) tradition was laid by the founder of Buddhism himself - Buddha Shakyamuni (5th century BC), who once raised a flower in front of his students and smiled (“Flower Sermon of the Buddha”).

No one, however, except for one person - Mahakashyapa did not understand the meaning of this gesture of the Buddha. Mahakashyapa answered the Buddha by also holding up a flower and smiling. In that moment, he experienced awakening: the state of awakening was given to him by the Buddha directly, without instructions, verbal or written.

The main principle of Chan is formulated as follows: "Look into your nature and you will become a Buddha."

The meaning of this statement lies in the fact that every person is already here and now a Buddha, and he only needs to realize this. And a person can achieve this awareness only with the help of an awakened (enlightened) Teacher, who by various means (conversation, Chan paradoxes*, remarks about sutras or just verses) seems to cause a brief experience of his own enlightened consciousness in the student, imposes a “seal of awakening” on his heart. And the student in his further practice strives to realize this once felt by him state, which is his initial, natural state, a state that is always implicitly present behind the illusory haze of samsaric defilement.

Pure Land Buddhism- also Amidaism, Amitoism - the school of Mahayana Buddhism, a branch of Far Eastern Buddhism. This school primarily focuses on "faith" and related ritual, and is also popular among the general populace.

The appearance of the Pure Land School was preceded by the White Lotus Society (Chinese 白蓮社, Bai lian she, Japanese, hyakurensha), established in 402 by Huiyuan to honor the Buddha Amitabha and jointly take birth in the Western Pure Land - his "paradise". After Huiyuan's death, the activities of the society ceased.

In the 5th-6th centuries, the monk Tanluan became an active preacher of the cult of the Buddha Amitabha, but Tanluan's activities were forgotten soon after his death. Much later in Japan, his writings were rediscovered, and Tanluan was proclaimed the first patriarch of the school.

In 641, the monk Shandao (613-681) met with the mentor Daocho, who for the first time preached to him the sutras dedicated to the veneration of the Buddha Amitabha. Shandao founded his own school in the Guangmingsy monastery in the capital of Chang'an (Xi'an).

Gradually, the Jingtu school became more and more popular. Her philosophy was formed on the basis of the Tiantai school. The Jingtu school was not exclusively monastic, it actively involved the laity in religious activities.

The teachings of the Pure Land school are based on the general Mahayana cult of Buddha Amitabha, which took shape in China as a special school that preaches this cult as the only possible means of salvation in our era.

From other Buddhist schools, the school Pure Land is different that liberation from samsara was achieved in it not on your own, and thanks to the saving power of the other - Buddha Amitabha, therefore it was called the "school of the forces of the other", in contrast to other schools - schools of "own forces". The need to rely on the forces of the Buddha Amitabha was explained by the followers of this school based on the principle of the fading of the abilities of beings in the era of the “end of the Teaching”; according to the doctrine of this school (and some other branches of Buddhism in China), the entire history of Buddhism rests on the periods of "true Teaching" (the first 500 years after the nirvana of the Buddha), "Teachings only similar to the true one" (the next 500 or 1000 years) and Teachings” (next 1000 years). In the last of these periods, people are no longer able to understand the complexities of Buddhist philosophy and practice the sophisticated techniques of yoga. The only way is to place all your hopes in the saving power of Amitabha's compassion. The Japanese monk of the 13th century Nichiren, one of the main opponents of the Pure Land school, also substantiated the exceptional importance of repeating the Lotus Sutra mantra.

The main form of religious practice of the Jingtu school was the constant repetition of the mantra "Namo Amito-fo" (in the Japanese tradition - "Namu Amida butsu" (Jap. 南無阿弥陀仏), "Adoration of Buddha Amitabha"), (in Vietnam Nam Mo A Zi Da Fat Nam Mô A Di Ðà Phât) , which was called "remembrance of the Buddha" (Chinese 念佛, nian fo, Japanese 念仏, nembutsu) and was considered, with complete faith, the main way to gain birth in the Pure Land.

In the monastic practice of China and the Jodo school in Japan, "remembrance of the Buddha" was supplemented by sixteen types of contemplation of the Pure Land for gaining birth in it, according to the "Amitabha Sutra of Contemplation". In general, the Jingtu school was not purely monastic: the simplicity of doctrine and practice, consonance with the ideas of folk Buddhism made it a mass direction not only of monastic, but also lay Buddhism.

The teachings of the Buddha (Chinese fo jiao), adapted to the Chinese mentality, religion and ancient Chinese culture. The teaching penetrated China at the beginning of our era. At first, merchants who transported goods along the Great Silk Road told about it.

Then there were translations of Buddhist texts made by An Shigao, Kumarajiva, Xuanzang, who, after returning from India, developed a dictionary that allows translating Buddhist texts into Chinese. Missionary preachers arrived in China from India. Some founded small monasteries, shrines, prayer houses. The Buddhist teaching did not contradict Chinese ideas, was regarded as advanced and quickly gained popularity both among the educated elite of society and among ordinary people. In contrast to the Indian tradition of writing texts on palm leaves, in China, the prajnaparamita sutras (Chinese bozho xue, bozhopolomido) were written in hieroglyphs on long narrow plates of split bamboo (vertical writing), which were fastened together with a cord and rolled into rolls. One work occupied several wagons. At first, schools were created that served as analogues of Indian schools, but gradually the original directions of Chinese Buddhism were formed. The rapid spread of the teaching was facilitated by the effectiveness of Buddhist spiritual practice and martial arts, which allowed the monks to successfully defend themselves from bandits and enemies. Buddhism has become one of the three religious and philosophical systems in the country, along with Taoism and Confucianism. In 1912, the first Association of Chinese Buddhists was established. It ceased its activities during the Chinese Revolution, but revived after 1953. Through China, Buddhism spread to Korea, Japan and other countries of the Far East. In the teachings (Chinese jiao) of the Chinese schools (Chinese zong), Mahayana Buddhism was further developed, Ways of Adaptation. There is an opinion that Buddhism “entered” China on Taoism. The philosophy of Buddhism, which does not contradict the tenets of this teaching, was considered as its development. Sun Cho (4th century) called the Buddha (Chinese pho) the incarnation Dao. Karma(Chinese e) is considered a manifestation of the Tao. Of particular interest was the new psychotechnics, which allows one to achieve the highest state of consciousness. Inconsistencies were resolved with ease. The Chinese did not give up some of the attachments that Buddhist traditions demanded, including family ties. They retained respect for the body, bestowed by heaven, ranked metal and wood as primary elements of matter, which are absent in classical Buddhism. Emptiness, emptiness (Chinese kun, Xu kun), corresponding to the Taoist teaching about filled emptiness, was interpreted as unformed being, preceding the formed one, and as what is ahead ( absolute).

The idea of ​​the soul as a heavenly substance (Chinese hun) was identified with the idea of ​​consciousness (Chinese xin). Kang Senghui (3rd century) argued that Buddhism reveals the secret that is contained in the books "Zhou Yi" ("I Ching", "Book of Changes") and "Shi Ching" ("Book of Songs"). Buddhism became the dominant ideology and maintained this position until the 10th century. His ethics did not contradict the Confucian one, the teaching was recognized as humanistic, and the unity of Taoism, Confucianism and Buddhism was depicted in the form of diagrams. The Liang Wudi, who ruled in the 6th century, converted to Buddhism and became known as Emperor Bodhisattva Huang (Chinese: Huangdi Pusa), and Empress Wu-Hou (3rd century) was declared the incarnation of the Buddha Maitreya (Chinese: Mile), meant to save mankind. Buddhas and bodhisattvas entered the Chinese pantheon, having acquired a new sound of names and new elements of iconography. Buddhist monasteries, judging by the surviving documents, received huge donations. Ordinary people, lay people (Chinese fanzhen) were attracted in Buddhism by the opportunity, with the help of a saint (Chinese pusa), to receive liberation from suffering, i.e. enter nirvana (Chinese nepan), “to cross over to the other side” (Chinese bi an). Close to the Chinese was the idea of ​​karma as a fair reward for merit (Chinese fu de, gong de), the hope to achieve liberation, if not in this, then in some next life. The most revered in Chinese Buddhism are Buddha Shakyamuni (Chinese Shijiamuni), Buddhas Amitabha (Chinese Amitofo) and Maitreya (Chinese Mile), Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara (Chinese Gunyin, Guanshiyin).

Literary genres were popular in China short story(Chinese xiaosho) about the life of monks and the miracles they perform, and the genre of bianwen, a work intended to be read in the form of a sermon in a temple, containing a description of events from the life of the Buddha, teachings in prose and poetic fragments. Great importance in China, it was attached to votive, cult objects that were believed to have magical properties: statues of Buddha, buddhas and bodhisattvas, stupas with relics, rolls of sayings, calligraphically made on silk, etc., Lu school (Chinese lu zong). "School of the charter." Another name: "School of the Southern Mountains" (Chinese "Nanshan Zong"). Formed in the III century. as an analogue of the Indian school of the charter (ss. vinaya). According to the teachings, liberation can be achieved by strictly observing the precepts, methods, vows, etc. The whole life of a monk is strictly regulated. The theorist of the Daoxuan school (VI-VII centuries) created the doctrine of metamorphosis (Chinese hua jiao) of consciousness through reflection and meditation. The main objects of reflection: the emptiness of the world and the transcendental essence of objects. The transition of consciousness to each level in the process of its transformations, metamorphosis depends on the fulfillment of the rules and is accompanied by certain signs, the School of mi (Chinese mi zong). "Secret School". Other names: "School of True Words", i.e. mantras(Chinese zhenyan zong), "Secret teaching" (Chinese mi jiao). Chinese version of Vajrayana, the Indian school of Tantric Buddhism. Founded after the 5th century. When persecuted Tantrism(XII-XIII centuries) practically ceased to exist. In Japan, ss. an analogue (jap. shingon, shingon shu) exists at the present time. In the practice of the school, great importance is attached to mantras (Chinese zhenyan), dharani(Chinese toloni), mandalas(Chinese manchalo, mantalo), etc. In the doctrine of immortality (Chinese xian xue), the absolute is personified as the Buddha Vairochana (Chinese Dazhi), an analogue of Adibuddha Man (Chinese jen) in the aspect of consciousness is its likeness. Objects meditation five dhyani-buddhas, tathagatas (Chinese julai) serve. The practice of the adept includes the transformation of sexual energy into creative energy. The school recognizes the model of the eight-unit consciousness (ss. astayavijnana, Chinese bashi) of the Indian Vijnanavada school, supplementing it with the ninth type of pure consciousness (Chinese “jing xin, wu xin), Sanlun School (Chinese sanlun zong). "School of three treatises". Founded in the 5th-6th centuries. Research problem: emptiness, emptiness of the world (Chinese kun xu, xu kun, kun). An analogue of the Indian school of Madhyamika.

Teaching contains doctrines of emptiness dharm(Chinese fa), the interdependence of their existence, the presence of two truths, relative and absolute, the middle path (Chinese zhong dao). The possibility of a quick, sudden, spontaneous enlightenment (Chinese dun wu, yuan dun) or gaining nirvana (Chinese nepan) is allowed. It is argued that the absolute truth is comprehended only through intuition, the School of Tiantai (Chinese Tiantai Zong). "Support of Heaven". Founded by Zhiyi in the 6th century. It has no direct analogue in India. The spiritual patriarch, the main authority is Nagarjuna. The doctrine states that there is no fundamental difference between living and non-living. In everything there is dharma, dharmata (Chinese fa xing), true Buddha nature (Chinese fo xing), suchness (Chinese zhen ru, shi xiang). The world of dharmas, dharmadhatu (Chinese fa jie), is interpreted as ten worlds-states that exist simultaneously and are mutually permeable. The suppression of all these states, except for the highest state of the Buddha, the absolute, dharmakaya (Chinese fa shen, zhulai tsang) occurs with the paired, simultaneous improvement of wisdom and trance (Chinese zhi guan). As a result of this practice, the agitation of dharmas (Chinese fa) stops in the mind of the adept, who acquires the nature of a Buddha. Trance, samadhi (Chinese sanmei) can come at any time and in any place. It is seen as enlightenment. Zhiyi introduced the technique of "thinking about the Buddha" (Chinese nian fo), which consists in constant re-quoting, repeating the name of the Buddha Amitabha (Chinese Amitofo).

According to the Tiantai teachings, there is a harmonious trinity, a “round harmony” of three truths: conventional, worldly truth (Chinese Jia Di), middle (Chinese Zhong Di) and absolute (Chinese Kun Di). The world, perceived at three levels, as a whole forms harmony (Chinese He). Everything interpenetrates each other. Behind the illusory mundane existence stands a single consciousness (Chinese and xin), pure consciousness (Chinese jing xin). The school proposed the concept of a single teaching integrating all the tenets of Buddhism, the model of a "single vehicle", supported by schools Chan and Huayan? In the Tiantai school, great importance is attached to the abilities of the adept, symbolism and the achievement of sudden, instantaneous enlightenment (Chinese dun wu, yuan dun). The cosmic buddha Vairochana (Chinese Dazhi), School of Fasin (Chinese Faxing Zong) is considered to be the highest personified principle. This name refers to the ideological commonwealth of three schools: Sanlun, Tiantai and Huayan, which equally interpret the essence of dharmas, dharma, dharmata (Chinese fa xing), Buddha nature (Chinese fo xing) and emptiness (kun, kong xu, xu kun, xu) dharm (Chinese fa), School of faxiang (Chinese faxiang zong). "School of the True Essence of Dharmas". Another name is “School of Consciousness Only” (Chinese Weishi). Analogue of the Indian school vijnanavada. It is assumed that Fa Xiang and Weishi were two different schools, which has not been proven. As in the case of vijnanavada ( yogachara), two names emphasize two aspects of the school's activities: the practice of working with consciousness, the achievement of its higher states, and the creation of a concept based on the results of this practice. The Vijnanavada teaching was introduced into Chinese Buddhism by Xuanzang in the 7th century. It contains the concept of astayavijnana, the eightfold consciousness (Chinese ba shi), in which the highest form of consciousness is alayavijnana, treasure-house consciousness (Chinese aliye-shi, tsang-shi). Faxiang considers the goal of practice to be the destruction of karma (Chinese e) through the destruction of the seeds of impressions (Chinese zhong tzu) and the achievement of a state of pure consciousness (Chinese jing xin, wu xin). At the same time, karmic activity stops and there is a transition to the state of nirvana (Chinese nepan). The teaching denies the emptiness of dharmas. The existence of six unconditioned dharmas (Chinese: wu wei fa) is recognized, which are not subject to being in the world and are not connected with the consciousness of the worldly level. It is believed that Buddha nature (Chinese fo xing) is present in every person and in every living being. Like Vijnanavada, the Fa Xiang school deals with the problems of logic (Chinese Yinming), which is designed to establish a connection between the results of practice and the way they are comprehended, interpreted and described, the Huayan School (Chinese Hua-yan Zong), “Garland of Flowers”. It was founded by Fatzang in the 7th-8th centuries. It has no direct prototype in India. Combines elements of Vijnanavada and Madhyamika. He develops the doctrine of true, true reality, suchness (Chinese zhen zhu), the absolute, tathagatagarbha (Chinese zhulai tsang), the single substratum of consciousness. Examines the law of universal causality. Explores philosophical terminology. According to the teachings of Huayan, consciousness (Chinese shi) simultaneously causes all things and phenomena and itself depends on them. It perceives an object, forms its image and projects this image outward. The whole world is likened to a garland of precious stones-mirrors. Each of them reflects the others and is itself reflected in them. The idea goes back to "Indra's network" ("Avatamsaka Sutra"). It is argued that individual consciousness is connected with the cosmic one, which is constantly present in the consciousness of a living being as its highest form, like Buddha nature. Consciousness has its own nature (Chinese ti), which is defined as a substratum, a body, a carrier, a substance. The Path to Enlightenment (Chinese: bojo path, jue, sanmei) contains four stages. At the first stage, the world is perceived by the adept from the position of a falsely perceived “I”. On the second, he gains knowledge using discursive way of thinking. On the third - comprehends the identity of everything in the world of true reality through intuition. On the fourth, he reveals the identity of all aspects of Buddha nature (Chinese fo xing). The adept instantly passes into the state of the absolute (Chinese zhen zhu). Huayan has developed a doctrine of six signs of each thing (whole, part, identity, difference, formation, destruction). The formation of pairs (part and whole, etc.) indicates an essential unity in which one does not exist without the other. The Huayan teaching about the categories of empirical, phenomenal (shi) and absolute, transcendental (li) corresponds to the idea of ​​samsara and the absolute. Li is the principle of an ideal, spiritual, non-material beginning. Shi is a concrete phenomenon, event, phenomenon, factor of diversity, plurality of the world. Li corresponds to a single consciousness, shi - to individual consciousnesses. The world acts as a field of manifestation of li and shi, which form a single system. Cheng Guan, developing the doctrine of shi and li, singled out four aspects of the world: empirical (Chinese shi), absolute (Chinese li), dharma (Chinese fa jie), in which there are no barriers between shi and li, and the aspect of identity shi and whether, i.e. absolute and phenomenal reality, manifested and unmanifested. The Huayan school created a classification of Buddhist teachings. the highest level it recognizes the teachings of Huayan, the School of Jingtu (Chinese Jingtu Zong). - "School of the Pure Land". Another name: "School of the Lotus" (Chinese lian zong). Formed in the 7th century based on the White Lotus Society (Chinese bai lian she). The teaching is associated with the cult of the Buddha Amitabha (Chinese Amitofo). A form of Chinese Amidism. It is believed that the Buddha created the Pure Land (Chinese Jing Tu), an analogue of the Indian Sukhavati, which can be visited by anyone who leads a righteous life, constantly thinks about the Buddha, contemplates his image and calls him, repeating his name, Chan School (Chinese chan zong). School of Meditation. Other names: “Buddha Consciousness School” (Chinese: Fo Xin Zong), “Buddha Consciousness Seal Transfer School” (Chinese: Zhuan Fo Xin Yin Zong). The first patriarch is the Indian missionary preacher Bodhidharma (Chinese Putidamo, Damo), who in the VI century. arrived in China. Appearing before the emperor (Lyan Wu-di), he struck him with paradoxical answers. After settling in a monastery, Bodhidharma practiced static meditation while "contemplating the wall" for nine years. What at first seemed strange, illogical and even ridiculous, has developed into a highly effective practice of working with consciousness. Paradoxes, "living words" and other devices introduced by Bodhidharma facilitate the direct transmission of experience and knowledge and the perception of complex doctrines. They were further developed both in the Chan school and in Japanese Zen Buddhism. The four principles of this trend are: recognition of the direct transmission of experience "outside the teaching", rejection of reliance on verbal methods, words and signs, direct appeal to consciousness, gaining Buddhahood through the comprehension of one's own nature. According to Chan, the nature of living beings is primordially pure (Chinese Ching), but ignorance (Chinese Wu Ming) hides this. The practice of contemplation reveals the true reality to the adept (Chinese zhen zhu). Methodological disagreements led to the division of the school into two branches. The northern direction was headed by Shenxiu (606-706). Static meditation and gradual enlightenment (Chinese jian wu) were practiced. Southern direction led Huineng(638-713), preaching instantaneous spontaneous enlightenment (Chinese dun wu, yuan dun) and dynamic meditation in combination with other means to achieve it. Dynamic meditation goes back to the Taoist practice of non-action in action, when the adept performs intuitive, spontaneous actions while in a meditative state. Some types of martial arts are based on it. Sudden enlightenment is also facilitated by paradoxical dialogues (Chinese: wen da), in which the answer to a question seems meaningless, but forms a certain unity with it, unexpectedly evoking a strong experience and revelation in the mind. Reflections on texts-tasks (Chinese gong'an) that bring the adept into a state of insight, shock in the form of a blow with a stick or an exclamation at the moment of maximum concentration are also techniques that help to gain enlightenment. Such techniques were practiced most consistently in the Linji school (9th century). The Chan teaching recognizes the existence of a single consciousness (Chinese and xin), in which the past, present and future are simultaneously present. zhen zhu). Of great importance is the experience of a mentor who owns skillful means, tricks (Chinese fanbian). In Chan monasteries, daily work, training, breathing exercises, etc. are obligatory. They say: “Neat, like a Chan monastery.” Upon enlightenment, a state of “imaginary death” may occur, after which the adept experiences stormy joy, accompanied by uncontrollable “Chan laughter”. “Living words” (Chinese huo ju) appear in his language, which means the emergence in the mind of new connections that make the language expressive, able to influence others and reveal higher truths to them, which distinguishes it from “dead words” (Chinese. si ju), performing the functions of everyday communication. Personality change is irreversible. Chan humor is devoid of conventions and hypocrisy. Great mental stress sometimes leads to a breakdown, to a "Chan disease" (Chinese Chan bing), which is associated with a literary character - a crazy monk wandering through the villages. In the philosophical aspect, the teachings of Chan contain elements of the teachings of the Indian schools of Vijnanavada and Madhyamika, but the main achievement of Chan is the unsurpassed results of spiritual practice. Chan Buddhism is more commonly known as Zen Buddhism.

The imperial court got acquainted with Buddhism, as evidenced by the sacrifices to Laozi (the founder of Taoism) and the Buddha, performed by Emperor Huan-di in . According to legend, the first Buddhist sutras were brought on a white horse to Luoyang, the capital of the Later Han empire, during the reign of Emperor Ming-di (58-76); here later appeared the first Buddhist monastery in China - Baimasy (Temple of the White Horse).

Among the schools of religious practice, the Jingtu ("pure land") school, which declares salvation by faith in the Buddha Amitabha, the lord of the Buddhist paradise - "pure land", enjoys the greatest influence to this day. At the heart of the worldview and practice of this school was the doctrine of "thinking of the Buddha" (nyan-fo), suggesting that the prayers of Amitabha and even the mere pronunciation of his name can bestow rebirth in the blissful realm of the "pure land".

The name of another widespread school of Buddhist practice - Chan - goes back to Sanskrit. Dhyana means contemplation, meditation. The latter has always occupied an important place in the practice of Buddhism, but for the adherents of Chan it has become an end in itself. This school, founded, according to legend, by the Indian preacher Bodhidharma (Chinese Damo) in the middle. VI century, rejected the study of sutras and any ritual. Chan mentors interpreted meditation in a new way - as a spontaneous self-disclosure of the "true nature" of a person in his empirical. existence. Unlike other Buddhist schools, Chan teachers highly valued physical work especially work in a team. As the most sinicized form of Buddhism, the Chan school had a huge impact on Chinese art.

For a long time. time Buddhism enjoyed the patronage of the imperial court, but in Emperor Wu-zong initiated severe persecution of Buddhism, the purpose of which was to undermine the economic. independence of the sangha and the reduction of its numbers. In the middle of the 9th century, the position of the Sangha was undermined as a result of governments, repressions, and soon its slow but steady decline begins. The Buddhist tradition has largely lost its former creative energy and its special place in social and cultural life. On the one hand, the sangha becomes an instrument of state policy, under the strict control of the authorities: the state administration set quotas and even exams for those who wished to take monastic vows, attached monks to a particular monastery, and the most deserving of them were granted special insignia: there was a network of administrative bodies, overseeing monasticism. On the other hand, Buddhism almost merged with folk religion, and Buddhist institutions began to serve the interests of individual social organizations and groups - influential families, village communities, professional associations, etc. Buddhist religious practice, "remembrance of the Buddha" ( prayer addressed to the Buddha Amitabha) and the Chan doctrine of "instantaneous enlightenment".

With another. On the other hand, at the level of folk religion, Buddhism enters active interaction with popular beliefs, making a significant contribution to the development of Chinese religious syncretism, and a number of characters of the Buddhist pantheon (Amitofo-Amitabha; Guanyin - the female form of Avalokiteshvara) turn into the most revered deities among the people. In the late Middle Ages, elements of Buddhist teachings are included in the worldview systems of a number of religious sects(especially the eschatological motives for the coming of the Buddha Milefo - Maitreya).

national forms of Buddhism.

The victorious march of Buddhism through the countries of Asia began even before the new era. From the 3rd century BC e. Buddhism appeared on the territory of Central Asia (present-day Tajikistan and Uzbekistan), from the 1st century BC. n. e. - in China, from the II century. - on the Indochina peninsula, from the 4th c. - in Korea, from the VI century. - in Japan, from the 7th century. - in Tibet, from the XII century. - in Mongolia. Using its main principle - not to violate the established cultural traditions of different countries and peoples and, if possible, grow together with them - Buddhism quickly took root everywhere and, grafted onto the tree of local culture, gave new shoots.

Each region developed its own Buddhist symbolism and Buddhist rituals - the veneration of holy places, calendar holidays, life cycle rituals, fueled by local traditions. Buddhism entered the blood and flesh of many, many peoples, became part of their daily lives. He changed local traditions, but he himself underwent changes. Buddhism contributed to the flourishing of the culture of these countries - architecture (the construction of temples, monasteries and stupas), visual arts(Buddhist sculpture and painting), as well as literature. This is clearly seen in the example of poetry inspired by the ideas of Zen Buddhism.

Chan Buddhism is one of the most interesting phenomena not only in the Eastern, but also in the world religious tradition. Chan is a Chinese name, although the Japanese reading of the hieroglyph denoting this direction of Buddhism turned out to be more widespread in the world - zen.

Chinese word " Chan" comes from the Sanskrit term dhyana(in Chinese - channa). Literally, it means "contemplation", "meditation", which quite accurately conveys the nature of Chan practice. The contemplative direction arose in the Indian schools of Buddhism, where it was called dhyana. Basically, dhyana was based on complex yogic practice, which sometimes lasted for long hours. But in China, dhyana acquired a slightly different character: having transformed into Chan Buddhism, it also became an applied direction of Buddhism. In other words, Chan followers did not limit themselves to silent self-reflection in seclusion. They roamed the country, practicing calligraphy and martial arts, cultivating the land and teaching literature, maintaining inner silence in the midst of life. Gradually, Chan became the most massive non-monastic branch of Chinese Buddhism. It turned into a special type of worldview, where the worship of the Buddha was combined with the desire for intuitive comprehension of the truth. And this, in turn, opened up space for artistic creativity; it is no coincidence that Chinese culture since the 8th-9th centuries. and Japanese samurai culture were the living embodiment of the postulates of Chan Buddhism.

Buddhism came to China from India as early as the 2nd century. According to one version, it was brought there by the Buddhist pilgrim and translator of Sanskrit texts An Shigao (3rd century). His religious practice consisted of a quiet stay in solitary "sitting meditation" (whale.« zochan», Japanese« zazen”), during which a person cleansed his consciousness and joined the highest wisdom of the Buddha - prajna.

In China, the practice of "sitting contemplation" was quickly transformed into a kind of new teaching that arose at the junction of Chinese Taoism and Indian dhyana. This direction was called "Chan Zong" - "School of Chan", and in European literature it began to be called Chan Buddhism. True, a single school as such never existed, there were only a number of schools in different parts of China, the number of which grew over time.

What did Chan Buddhism offer as a religious trend to its followers? First of all, the Chan teaching provided the opportunity to "become a Buddha in this body", that is, even in the present life, and not in the next incarnations. For this, it is enough, "looking at one's own original nature, to become a buddha." Thus, the main emphasis was placed on meditative practice, although there were other ways leading to the "awakening" of consciousness.

Strictly speaking, the teachings of Chan are not limited to either religion or philosophy. And although it includes certain complex rituals of worship, theoretical reasoning about the nature of a Buddha, observance of ritual prohibitions, it is rather an external form, a decoration behind which the true essence of Chan is hidden. To a greater extent, Chan is a special type of world experience, a holistic perception of the world. Hence the increased attention paid by the bearers of Chan truth to the aesthetic perception of the world. This was expressed in calligraphy, painting, poetry, and eventually formed a special Chan style of life - outwardly natural and simple, but full of deep wisdom and the desire to purify one's own consciousness. The essence of such a view of the world is accurately conveyed by the famous Ch'an phrase: "One should live easily, like a leaf smoothly falling from a tree." The leaf in its fall is obedient to any gust of wind. So the Chan "master of life", accepting any life upheavals, remains supple, mobile, ready at any moment to change himself. This is the Ch'an understanding of "natural life."

But if Chan, including features of religion, philosophy, and aesthetics, at the same time is not reduced to any of these concepts, what is it? Faith? Or some way of life? No, Chan, as the followers of this trend say, is life itself. In the folklore of Chan Buddhists there is a funny parable about this.

One day a little fish asked a big fish:

I have often heard people talk about events at sea. Sea - what is it?

What surrounds you is the sea!

So why can't I see it?

The sea is both inside you and around you. You are born and you die in the sea. The sea covers all of you, and therefore it is like your body!

Chan Buddhists have repeatedly said that Chan is like the sea, and a person is like a fish living in its depths. Chan truly exists precisely because people never think about it. He does not interfere and does not help to live, because he himself represents the natural course of life - calm, bright, clean, allowing you to see being sometimes from the most unexpected side. In the Chan tradition, the method of proof by contradiction is adopted. For example, the Chan monks, trying to understand what true silence is, screamed heart-rendingly for several minutes, raising the surrounding villages with a cry, and then suddenly fell silent. After that, everyone could enjoy true silence.

By the way, the parable of the fish is in many ways reminiscent of the plot used by the Taoists to explain the essence of the Way (Tao). For example, the great Taoist Chuang Tzu said: "The fish forgets about the rivers and lakes, and the man forgets about the art of Tao."