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Brief History Of Buddhism
1. India
One of the greatest epoch-making events in the spiritual history of mankind was marked when the "Light of Asia" was set out brightly in the central part of India, or, in other words, when the Spring of Great Wisdom and Compassion gushed up there, which, in the course of time has come to enrich the human mind over many centuries up to the present day.
Buddha Gautama, who came to be known by later Buddhist followers as Shakyamuni or the "Sage of the Shakya clan," abandoned His home, became a mendicant and turned His steps toward the south, to Magadha. It is believed to have been in the middle of the 5th century B.C., that He finally attained Enlightenment under a Bodhi-tree there. He continued His untiring efforts for forty-five long years, from this time on to His "Great Death" by which He entered Maha-pari-Nirvana, all the while preaching the teaching of Wisdom and Compassion. As a result, great Buddhists steadfastly continued to appear in the kingdoms and various tribes in mid-India.
During the time of King Asoka (reigning: 268-232 B.C.), the third ruler of the Maurya Kingdom, the teaching of Buddha Gautama spread throughout the whole of India and was also being propagated beyond the boundaries of the country.
Maurya had been the first of the consolidated kingdoms in India. This kingdom at the time of its first ruler, Chandragupta (reigning: 316-293 B.C. or thereabouts,) was already occupying a vast domain, extending from the Himalayan mountains in the north, to the Bay of Bengal in the east, to the Hindu Kush mountains in the west, and beyond the Vindhya mountains to the south. King Asoka further expanded this domain to the Deccan Plateau, by conquering Kalinga and others.
This King is said to have been very furious in nature, being called by his people Chandasoka (the Furious Asoka); but his character showed a complete change when he witnessed the disastrous conditions caused by the war in which Kalinga had been conquered. He became an earnest devotee of the teaching of Wisdom and Compassion. After that, he did many things as a Buddhist believer, among which the following two undertakings are most noteworthy.
First was the "Asoka's carved edict," or the administrative concepts based on the Buddhist teaching carved onto stone pillars, or on polished cliff walls, which he ordered done at numerous places, thus spreading the teaching of Buddha. Secondly, he sent missions beyond his kingdom to countries in all directions conveying the teaching of Wisdom and Compassion. Especially remarkable is the fact that some of the missions were sent out to such places as Syria, Egypt, Kyrene, Macedonia and Epeiros, spreading Buddhism far and wide to the western world. Moreover, Mahendra (in the Pali language Mahinda), the envoy sent to Tamraparni or Ceylon, was successful in "Establishing the beautiful teaching on the beautiful Lankadvipa (Paili, Lankadipa)", and thus founded the starting point of the Buddhist teaching for its successful propagation on the island.
2. The Rise Of Mahayana Buddhism
The "Eastward Movement of Buddhism" has often been spoken of by the Buddhists of the later years. But during the B.C. centuries, the face of Buddhism was evidently turned toward the West. It was sometime around the beginning of the Christian Era that this "face" of Buddhism began to be turned toward the East. However, before we refer to this matter, we must speak of the great change that was occurring in Buddhism. This change was none other than the "New Wave" which is known as Mahayana Buddhism, or Greater Vehicle Buddhism, that was taking strong root and appearing as a conspicuous element in the teaching of the time.
When, how and by whom was such a "New Wave" started? Nobody is as yet able to definitely answer these questions. All we know is: First, the trend must have been brought about in the so-called thought-genealogy constituent of the Mahasamghika school by the progressive priests of the time; Second, the fact is that there had already existed some of the important elements of the Mahayana scriptures during the period from one or two centuries B.C. to the first century of the Christian Era. And when the superb thought of Nagarjuna, backed by the Mahayana scriptures, developed, Mahayana Buddhism vividly presented itself in the foreground on the stage of the history of the religion.
The role that was played by Mahayana Buddhism was very great in the long history of Buddhism. Now, as to China and Japan, Buddhism in these countries through almost all their history has developed under the influence of the Mahayana teaching. This does not seem strange because there was already worked out a new ideal for the salvation of the masses, envisaging living saints in the form of Bodhisattvas to practise this ideal; moreover, to support them, the intellectual results in the metaphysical or psychological domains that were brought about by the Mahayana thinkers were really magnificent. In this way, although it was linked with the teaching of Buddha Gautama on the one hand, many new phases of Wisdom and Compassion were added. With these new additions, Buddhism became full of ardor and energy and came to enrich the countries in the East like the rushing stream of a great river.
3. Central Asia
It was through the Central Asian countries that China came to learn of Buddhism for the first time. Therefore, to tell of the teaching spreading from India to China, it is necessary to speak of the Silk Road. This road passed through the boundless territories in Central Asia to connect the West and the East, and it was during the age of King Wu of the Han dynasty (reigning: 140-87 B.C.) that this trade route was opened. At that time, the domain of Han extended far westward, and in such adjoining countries as Ferghana, Sogdiana, Tukhara and even Parthia, the spirit of mercantilism which had formerly been inspired by Alexander the Great was still vigorously active. Along this ancient route that ran through these countries silk played the most important role, hence the name Silk Road. From the time a little before or after the beginning of the Christian Era, India and China started their cultural contacts first by means of the trade route. Thus, the road can be said to have been the route for Buddhism as well.
4. China
The history of Chinese Buddhism starts from their acceptance of the Buddhist scriptures and translation thereof. The oldest work from the ancient times is said to be the "Ssu-shih-er-chang-ching (Sutra in Forty-two Sections Spoken by Buddha)" a translation done by Kasyapamatanga and others during the Ying-p'ing Era (58-76 A.D.) of King Ming of the Latter Eastern Han, but it is today regarded as a doubtful legendary story. The corroborated opinion now gives the credit to An-shin-kao who was engaged in translation at Lo-yang from about 148 to 171 A.D. From this time to the time of the Northern Sung Dynasty (960-1129 A.D.), the translation work continued for nearly one thousand years.
During the earlier years, those who played pivotal roles in the introduction of the scriptures and in making translations thereof were mostly the priests from the Central Asian countries. For instance, An-shin-kao, mentioned above, came from Parthia; K'ang-seng-k'ai, from the Samarkand region came to Lo-yang in about the 3rd century and translated "Sukhavativyuha" (the Book of Limitless Life). Moreover, Chu-fa-hu or Dharmaraksha, who is known as the translator of the "Saddharmapundarika," came from Tukhira and stayed in Lo-yang from the latter part of the third century to the early part of the fourth century. When Kumarajiva, who came from Kucha, appeared in the early part of the fifth century, the translation work in China reached a high point.
From about that time priests began visiting India from China to learn Sanskrit. The pioneer of such priests was Fa-hsien (339420? A.D.). He left Ch'ang-an in 399 for India and returned home fifteen years later. The most distinguished of these priests visiting India was Hsuan-chuang (600-664 A.D.) who left for India in 627 and returned home in 645, after nineteen long years. Further, I-thing (635-713 A.D.) (not to be confused with the book 1-thing) left for India by sea in 671 and returned home by the same route twenty-five years later.
These priests visited India by themselves to learn Sanskrit and brought home those scriptures they had chosen, playing the leading role in the scriptures translation work. The linguistic ability that Hsuan-chuang showed was especially outstanding, and by his energetic work, the translation of the scriptures in China reached another peak. The works of the former days done by those represented by Kumarajiva are called the "Old Translations" and the works by Hsuan-chuang and the later translators are called the "New Translations" by Buddhist scholars in later periods.
Based on this enormous number of volumes which they had translated from Sanskrit, the tendency of thought and religious activity of these learned men gradually but strongly turned toward Sinicism. There appeared plainly the racial nature, needs and confidences. That the priests in the early stages turned their minds metaphysically towards "Non-substantiality" especially, which is dealt with in the Prajna of the Sutras, was a manifestation of this tendency. Later, they cast away the so-called "Hinayana", or the Lesser Vehicle, and turned their attention exclusively toward "Mahayana", the Greater Vehicle. Moreover, this tendency gradually became notable in the Tendai Sect and may be said to have reached its height when the Zen Sect appeared.
It was in the latter half of the sixth century that the Tendai Sect saw its completion in China, which was perfected by Tendai Daishi, Chih-i (538-597 A.D.), its third patriarch. He was one of the most outstanding figures in Buddhist thought, and the critical classification of Buddha's teaching into the Five Periods and Eight Doctrines worked out by this saint have long maintained a wide influence on the Buddhism of China as well as of Japan.
A review will show that in China the various sutras were brought in without regard to the order of the time of their origins and were translated as they were taken in. In the face of the enormous number of these sutras, the problem was how to understand their origin and evaluations. It was necessary to appreciate Buddhism as a whole and to show how one should stand according to one's own understanding of it. As to the evaluation of the sutras, the trend of the Chinese thought, first of all, comes to the fore. Above all, that of Chih-i was most systematic and, therefore, splendidly persuasive. But, with the appearance of the Buddhist research work of modern times, even such a dominating influence was to come to an end. In the history of Buddhism in China "The one that came last" was the Zen Sect. Its founder is said to have been Sramana, of a foreign country, or Bodhidharma (-528 A.D.); but the seed sown by him had seen its glorious flower only after the time of Hui-neng (638-713 A.D.), the sixth patriarch of the line. After the eighth century, the sect in China had sent out many priests of talent in succession, bringing about the prosperity of Zen for a period of several centuries.
It can be seen that there was a new way of thinking in Buddhism, which was deeply rooted in the nature of the Chinese people. It was nothing other than a Buddhism colored by the Chinese way of thinking. And yet the stream of the teaching of Buddha Gautama, with this fresh current added, had grown into a still larger river and came to enrich the countries to the east.
5. Japan
The history of Buddhism in Japan began in the sixth century. In 538 A.D., the King of Paikche (or Kudara, Korea) dispatched his envoy to present a Buddhist image and scroll of sutras to the Imperial Court of Emperor Kinmei. This marked the first introduction of Buddhism into this country. The history of the religion in Japan is therefore more than 1,400 years old now.
In this long history, we can think of Japanese Buddhism in connection with three foci. The first can be placed on the Buddhism of roughly the seventh and eighth centuries. To show this materially we can refer to the Horyuji Temple (607 A.D.) and the Todaiji Temple (752 A.D.), which were constructed during this period. In looking back to this time, the one thing that can not be overlooked is the fact that the tide of culture rose unusually high throughout the whole of Asia during this period, while the civilization of the West was shut up in deep darkness. The East was developing an astonishingly active and magnificent movement. In China, in Central Asia, in India and in the South-sea countries, the activities in the intellectual, religious and art fields were going on strongly. Joining these movements, Buddhism was washing the Eastern world with its vast tide of humanism. And this new movement of the Japanese culture as witnessed by the construction of the brilliant Horyuji and the magnificent Todaiji, and also in the colorful religious and art activities that came about in connection with these events, shows this absorption at the extreme eastern end of the general cultural tide that was covering all the vast area of Asia.
The people of this country, which had been in an uncivilized state for a long time, now bathed in the current of a great culture; the flower of civilization opened up all of a sudden. Such was the good turn of fortune that favored Japan in those centuries. And the chief champion responsible for the rise in this culture was none other than Buddhism, the Buddhist temples of the time became very important social centers, and the priests were the leaders of the new learning. There developed a wide and great culture rather than just a religion. This was the actual state of Buddhism that was first transplanted to this country.
In the ninth century, two great priests, Saicho (Dengyo Daishi, 767-822) and Kukai (Kobo Daishi, 774-835) appeared on the scene and founded two Buddhist denominations usually referred to together as Heian-Buddhism. This was the establishment of a purely Japanese Buddhism. They grasped Buddhism in its original standpoint and practice, and founded the central monasteries on Mt. Hiei and Mt. Koya respectively. During the three hundred years after their founding, until the Kamakura Period, these two esoteric denominations, the Tendai and the Shingon, prospered chiefly among the aristocrats and in the imperial courts.
The second of the foci can be placed on the Buddhism of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. There appeared such great priests as Honen (1133-1212 A.D.), Shinran (1173-1262 A.D.), Dogen (1200-1253 A.D.) and Nichiren (1222-1282 A.D.). When we talk of the Buddhism of Japan we can not do so without mentioning the names of these great priests. Why then did only those centuries in question produce such outstanding men? It is because of the fact that a common problem was facing them all at that time. What was this common problem, then? Perhaps it was the fact that Buddhism was being accepted, but in a unique Japanese way.
This might lead to the question, "Why? Was it not true that Buddhism had been introduced to this country long before that time?" It is so historically. But it is also true that several hundred years were needed for the people of this country to sufficiently digest and remodel the imported religion so as to make it completely their own. In short, it was in the seventh and eighth centuries that the efforts in this country for the acceptance of Buddhism began, and as a result of these efforts, the religion bloomed through those Buddhists of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.
After this, Buddhism in Japan, based on the foundation built up by those prominent priests, has kept up its work to this day. Since the time those distinguished men appeared, no more of the brilliancy of those centuries has ever again appeared in the history of Japanese Buddhism. However, it seems to the present writer that there is another thing that attracts our attention and that is the fruit of the research into original Buddhism made in our modern times.
Since the time of its first acceptance, practically all of Buddhism in Japan, was Mahayana, under the influence of Chinese Buddhism. Especially after the appearance of the great teachers during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the Mahayana teaching formed the main current with the sect founders as its center; this view has continued to this date. In the history of Buddhism in Japan as such, the study of original Buddhism was started after the mid-Meiji Era. The figure of Buddha Gautama vividly reappeared before those who were apt to forget that there was also the founder of Buddhism besides the sect founders, and it was made plain to those who did not heed anything other than the Mahayana teaching that there was also the systematic creed of Buddhism. These new phases still remain within the sphere of scholastic learning and as yet are not strong enough to awake religious enthusiasm among the masses. But it seems that the knowledge of the people of this country in regard to Buddhism appears to be taking a turn. The writer would like to put a mark on this phase, to make it the third or tic, last of the three foci referred to above.
Transmission Of Buddha's Teaching
Buddhism is a religion which is built up on the teaching Shakyamuni had preached for forty-five years of his life. The words he used in his teaching, therefore, have absolute authority in this religion, and in spite of the fact that there are 84,000 dharma gates and a large number of schools, all of them are related to the scriptures of Shakyamuni. Those books in which the Buddha's teaching is recorded are known as the Issaikyo or the Daizokyo, that is, a complete collection of the sacred scriptures.
Shakyamuni strongly advocated the equality of human beings and preached his teaching in the plain and simple words of everyday usage so that everyone could fully understand them. He continued his preaching for the benefit of multitudes of people up to the very minute of his death at the age of eighty.
After the demise of Shakyamuni, his disciples preached the gospel according to what they had heard. However, as the teaching was transmitted and retold, there might possibly have occurred some variations due to unconscious errors on the part of the disciples as to what they thought they had heard or understood. And, yet, the words of Shakyamuni must always be transmitted precisely and correctly, and opportunities of hearing the teaching must be afforded to every and all people without discrimination. Therefore, many of the senior priests got together for the purpose of adjusting and consolidating the words and teaching by mutually reciting what each thought he had heard, and they spent many a month on their discussions. -The work that resulted in this way is known as the Ketsuju or regimentation. This shows how piously and deliberately they had tried to transmit the very words that had been spoken by the great teacher.
The teaching thus adjusted had come to be put into writing. To the teaching recorded in a written form were added the comments and interpretations made by the learned priests of the - 282
later ages, which came to be known as Ron or comments. The Buddha's teaching itself, the comments added in later ages and the Buddhist precepts all came to be called as the Sanzokyo (Three Sections of Buddhist Scriptures) or Tripitaka in Sanskrit.
Sanzokyo or Tripitaka includes Kyozo, Ritsuzo and Ronzo; the word Zo means a receptacle or container. Kyo refers to the Buddhist scriptures, Ritsu to the precepts for the Buddhist Brotherhood, and Ron to the comments written by the high priests.
According to tradition, Buddhism is said to have been introduced in China in 67 A.D. during the reign of King Ming of the Latter Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220 A.D.). But, actually, it was eighty-four years later that the Buddhist scriptures were introduced to and translated in China (in 151 A.D.) by King Huan of the same dynasty. For over a period of more than 1,700 years since then, efforts in the translation of the scriptures into the Chinese language continued. The number of books and volumes thus translated reached 1,440 scriptures in 5,586 volumes. Efforts toward the conservation of these translated scriptures were begun as early as the Wei Dynasty, but it was about the time of the Northern Sung Dynasty that their printing was started. However, from about this time the works of the high priests of China came to be added to the Buddhist scriptures and it was no longer appropriate to call these books Tripitaka. When the era of Suei came, the title of Issaikyo or a complete collection of all the sacred writings was given to the books, and in the era of Tang they came to be called by the new title of Daizokyo or the collection of all the Buddhist scriptures, laws and treatises.
Buddhism was introduced into Tibet around the seventh century A.D., and for about 150 years during the ninth through eleventh century, A.D., efforts in the translation of the Buddhist scriptures continued, and practically all of them had been translated by that time.
In view of the fact that the scriptures had been translated into not only the Korean, Japanese, Ceylonese, Cambodian, Turkish and almost all of the Oriental languages but also into the Latin, French, English, German and Italian tongues, it may safely be said that the blessing of the Buddha's teaching has now spread to every corner of the world.
But, on second thought, in reviewing from the standpoint of the quality of the translations, and the history of the religion's development and origin during more than two thousand years, with ten thousand or more translations of the books having been written, it still seems difficult to grasp the true meaning of the words spoken by Shakyamuni, even with the aid of "Daizokyo". It is, therefore, indispensable to pick out those essential points from the "Daizokyo" and make them the criteria or foundation upon which one can base one's faith in the religion.
In Buddhism the supreme authority are the words uttered by Shakyamuni. Therefore, the teaching of Buddhism must be the teaching that is closely linked to and intimate with the realities of our everyday life; otherwise, it will but fail in inspiring the human mind from its very depths toward a belief in the teachings. In this sense, for the teaching to be one that we can make our own, it is desirable to be plain and simple, impartial in its quality, sufficient in representing the whole and yet accurate and familiar in the words that are used in our daily life.
This book has come into being under the above considerations, inheriting the "stream" of the Daizokyo with its history of more than two thousand and several hundred years. Of course, this publication can not be taken as perfect in its contents. The words of Buddha are infinitely deep in their meaning and His Virtues are so boundless that one can not easily appreciate them.
It is sincerely wished, therefore, that this book will be improved into a still more truthful and valuable one as the revised editions come out in the future, as is intended.
History Of "The Teaching Of Buddha"
This Buddhist text was compiled and revised on the basis of the Japanese edition of the Newly Translated Buddhist Text published in July, 1925, by the Association for Spreading "Newly Translated Buddhist Text" headed by Rev. Muan Kizu. This first Japanese Edition was compiled by Prof. Shugaku Yamabe and Prof. Chizen Akanuma, in cooperation with many Buddhist scholars in Japan, taking almost five years to publish.
In the Showa Era (1926-), the Popular Edition of the Newly Translated Buddhist Text in Japanese was also published by the Association and distributed widely throughout Japan.
In July, 1934, when the, Pan-Pacific Buddhist Youth Meeting was held in Japan, The Teaching of Buddha, the English translation of the above Popular Edition of Buddhist Text was published by the All Japan Buddhist Youth Federation, with the assistance of Mr. D. Goddard, as one of its works. In 1962, commemorating the 70th anniversary of the introduction of Buddhism to America, Mr. Yehan Numata, founder of the Mitutoyo Corporation, published an English edition of The Teaching of Buddha.
In 1965, when Mr. Numata founded the Buddhist Promoting Foundation in Tokyo, the popularization of this English text all over the world was planned as one of the activities of the Foundation.
In order to realize this plan, a committee to revise this Teaching of Buddha was organized in 1966. Members of the committee were Professors Kazuyoshi Kino, Shuyu Kanaoka, Zenno Ishigami, Shinko Sayeki, Kodo Matsunami, Shojun Bando, and Takemi Takase. Prof. Fumio Masutani, Mr. N. A. Waddell, and Mr. Toshisuke Shimizu also worked on the revision. Thus, an English Japanese edition of The Teaching of Buddha was published on modern principles.
In 1972, on the basis of this English Japanese edition, Professors Shuyu Kanaoka, Zenno Ishigami, Shoyu Hanayama, Kwansei Tamura, and Takemi Takase undertook the compilation of an English version, which was published in the same year.
Next, a committee consisting of Professors Ryotatsu Shioiri, Takemi Takase, Hiroshi Tachikawa, Kwansei Tamura, Shojun Bando, and Shoyu Hanayama (Editor in Chief) was organized to recompile the Japanese version of The Teaching of Buddha, and this was published in 1973.
Again, in 1974, a committee consisting of Professors Kodo Matsunami, Shojun Bando, Shinko Sayeki, Doyu Tokunaga, Kwansei Tamura, and Shoyu Hanayama (Editor in Chief) was organized to recompile the English version of The Teaching of Buddha, which they did with the cooperation of Mr. Richard R. Steiner. This was combined with the Japanese version (published in 1973), resulting in the publication of the English-Japanese edition of The Teaching of Buddha.
Since 1978, with the addition of Professors Shigeo Kamata and Yasuaki Nara as members of the compilation committee, annual meetings have been held in order to ensure the book's appeal for the modern reader, and it is intended to continue these efforts into the future.
May, 1986
