II)Zhou Wudi’s persecution 北周武帝滅佛

1.The conflict and strugglebetween Buddhism and Daoism continued and some of them reflected in ideology too. For instance, emperor Xiao Wendi 孝文帝organized a debate between Buddhism and Daoismatthe court, but the Daoist priest lost in the debate so the emperor ordered to killed him. It was only with the interference of Bodhiruci the emperor stopped.

2.During the northern Qi, there were also debates between the two religions and this led finally to another persecution, Zhou Wudi’s persecution.

3.Emperor Zhou Wudi 周武帝 (西元560-578年在位)advocated Confucian state doctrine and even showed that he was a worthy rulers of China by expelling the foreign religion. Since Daoism was a Chinese religion and the Daoist Zhang Bin 張賓 was good at preaching while the Wei Yuansong 衛元嵩 criticized Buddhism, so the emperor inclined more towards Daoism and denounced Buddhism.

4.So both the emperor Tai Wudi 太武帝 andemperor Zhou Wudi 周武帝 had strong Chinese cultural background since they both fervently advocated the Confucian state doctrine.

5.In 567, Wei Yuansong 衛元嵩, a local official from Sichuan, wrote to the emperor that before the coming of Buddhism the society was peaceful and the southern states of Liangand Qi had so many monasteries but they had problems.

6.《廣弘明集》卷7:「國治豈在浮圖，但教民心合道耳，民合道則安，道滋民則治立。是以齊、梁競像法，而起九級連雲，唐、虞憂庶人，而累土階接地。然齊、梁非無功于寺舍，而詐不延，唐、虞豈有業於浮圖，而治得久，但利民益國，則會佛心耳。」(CBETA, T52, no. 2103, p. 132,a4-8)

7.So he suggested to establish“Pingyan” 平延寺 monastery which did not have a boundary, but it included all thelands of the state. The emperor was the Tathagata, the subjects were the priests. Thus he advocated the central power of the state based on Confucian teachings.

8.Therefore, by the end of 577onwards, within ten years, emperor Zhou Wudi 周武帝 organized seven debates between Confucianism, Buddhism and Daoism. In these debates only Buddhism competed with Daoism for Confucianism was supported by the emperor.

9.In 570, a Buddhist monk Zhen Luan甄鸞 wrote a work entitled Xiaodaolun (笑道論 Laughing at Dao) in three fascicles, listed 36 items to ridicule Daoism. Daoan 道安 of Great Zhongxing monastery大中興寺, wrote the Two Religions (二教論) which included twelve articles to criticize Daoism and depreciated Confucianism.

10.Daoan 道安 said that Buddhism is the ultimate teaching which should be treated as the root while his criticism of Daoism was influenced by the southern dynasty and his criticism of Confucianism was inherited from Huiyuan of Lushan.

11.Thus, in 577, Emperor Zhou Wudi周武帝 started his elimination of Buddhist faith on the reason that the religion exhausted the wealth of people, harmful for people and immoral to follow. Huiyuan of Jingyin monastery and other monksprotested but it was no use.

12.All the monasteries and stupas were destroyed and all Buddhist ures were burned. All the monasteries were given to princes and kings for their living. The number of monks returned to lay life was about 3 million.

《歷代三寶紀》卷11:「毀破前代關山西東數百年來官私所造一切佛塔，掃地悉盡。融刮聖容，焚燒經典，八州寺廟出四十千，盡賜王公，充為第宅。三方釋子減三百萬，皆復軍民，還歸編戶。」(CBETA, T49, no. 2034, p. 94, b24-28)

13.Daoism was suffered to certain extent since Zhou Wudi 周武帝 advocated only Confucian teaching. Only the Confucian classics were preserved.

14. Comparing with Tai Wudi’s persecution, Emperor Zhou Wudi 周武帝also had the similar reasons for hispersecution: (1) to increase finance for his military campaign and (2) to consolidate his power. But the method ofpersecution is quite different.

15.Zhou Wudi’s 周武帝persecution: (1) There were many debates between Buddhism and Daoismbefore it happened so that both sides had mentally prepared. (2) Zhou Wudi didnot kill Buddhist monks and Daoist priests, but let them become ordinary people or join his army or even ask those educated and eminent monks and Daoist priests to join the government as officials. For instance, Yitan以曇became Grand Master for SplendidHappiness光祿大夫, Fazhi法智became Governor 太守of Yangchuan洋川, Puguan普曠 became Retainer 從事 in Qishan county岐山郡. (3) Zhou Wudi also did not order to destroy the monasteries, but to bestow them to the princes.

16. Zhou Wudi’s 周武帝established an office for religions 通道觀 to absorb all the Buddhist and Daoist clergies who had been ordered to return lay life. Thus, it paved the way to the syncretismof Buddhism, Confucianism and Daoism.

17. After the persecution, NorthernZhou obtained much money and also got more than three million families to work on farm to support the governments. Thusit is said the state got more income every year and the number of army increased. This laid down the foundation for the SuiDynasty to unite the entire China.

VII. In Search for Dharma

1.There were mainly two routes along which Buddhism was introduced into China: the overland Silk Road and the oversea Silk Road.However, the latter was not well known before and by this time, the two routes became clear.

2.From Jin to Northern and Southern dynasties, many monks came from Kashmir such as Sanghadeva僧伽提婆, Dharmayasas曇摩耶舍, Punyatara弗若多羅, Buddhajīva 佛陀什,Dharmak?ema曇無讖, Dharmamitra曇摩密多 etc.

3.There were also from India such as Bodhiruci菩提流支, Ratnamati勒那摩提, Buddha?anti 佛陀扇多, Gautama Prajñāruci瞿曇般若流支 etc.

4.There were also monks from other parts of Central Asia and India.

5.From the sea route to China,there were monks from Kashmir, Sinhala, and India passing Indian Ocean, South China Sea to Jiaozhi, Guangzhou and even to Qingdao 青島in the north such as Gunavarman 求那跋摩from Kashmir, Devasara from Sinhala (Today Sri Lanka), Gu?abhadra 求那跋陀羅from India etc.

6.There were also monks who came from the overland route and went back to India from sea route such as Sanghavarman 僧伽跋摩.

7.So both the oversea and overland Silk Roads were opened and there was an increase of monks who came to China from Central Asia or India and Chinese monks alsowent out in search of Buddhist ures.

Chinese Monks

1.From the time the first Chinesemonk Zhu Shixin 朱士行went to Khotan in search of Buddhist ures in the third century, there were many Chinese monks who went to Central Asia and India with the purpose of either to search Buddhist sūtras or for pilgrimage. But in the time of Liu Song, there came another climax.

2.Huirui 慧叡left China and traveled to many kingdoms and even visited south India. After returning, he taught Sanskrit phonetics to Xie Lingyun 謝靈運 who wrote the philology of fourteen symbols (十四音訓敘) which listed Sanskrit and Chinese examples. This is because Huirui was learned in Sanskrit and Central Asian languages.

《高僧傳》卷7: 說慧叡是「音譯誥訓，殊方異義，無不必曉。…陳郡謝靈運，篤好佛理，殊俗之音，多所達解。迺諮叡以經中諸字并眾音異旨，於是著十四音訓敘，條列梵漢，昭然可了，使文字有據焉。」(CBETA, T50, no. 2059, p. 367, b13-17)

3.Then Zhimeng智猛together with another 15 monks set out in 404, crossed the desertand traveled to Central Asian kingdoms and even visited the Buddha’s birthplace from where he got a version of the Nirvā?a sūtra and a Vinaya text. In 424 they returned to China. He also wrote his travel account.

4.Inspired by Zhimeng智猛, Daotai 道泰together with 29people travelled to India.

5.Fayong法勇together with 25 people travelled to Kucha, Kashgar and Kashmir and from where they entered India and went to south India. Then they came back to Guangzhou by sea route.Since he believed in Avalokitesrava so he translated a sutra on Avalokitesrava(《觀世音受記經》).

6.There were also many others,but Faxian法顯,Zhiyan智嚴and Baoyun寶雲 in the south and Songyun宋雲 and Huisheng惠生 in the north are well known.

Faxian’s search for Dharma

1.Faxian法顯(337?-422) went to India in search of Buddhist texts because there was no complete text of monastic discipline. He together with other four fellows set out from Changan in the year 399 at the age around 60 and on the way another two, Zhiyan智嚴andBaoyong寶雲, joined them.

2.They travelled along the southern silk road, passed the oasis kingdoms such as Shanshan and Khotan and arrived north India from where they visited many Buddhist pilgrimagesites including the birth place of the Buddha, Sravasti舍衛城 of Kosala拘薩羅國.

3.Then Faxian arrived at Pataliputra 華氏城where he stayed for threeyears (405-407) and visited Rajagrha 王舍城.Afterwards, he went to the country of Sinhala(Now Sri Lanka) and stayed there for two years (410-411) copying the Mahī?asakā 化地部Vinaya《彌沙塞部和醯五分律》 (T22, No.1421, K 895).

4.Hereturned to China in 412 by way of the sea route passing Java where he stayed for five month because of the storm.

The pilgrimage route of Monk Fa Xian in Eastern Jin Dynasty

《高僧法顯傳》卷1:「復隨他商人大舶上亦二百許人。齎五十日糧。以四月十六日發。法顯於舶上安居。東北行趣廣州。一月餘日夜鼓二時遇黑風暴雨。商人賈客皆悉惶怖。法顯爾時亦一心念觀世音及漢地眾僧蒙威神祐。得至天曉。曉已諸婆羅門議言。坐載此沙門。使我不利遭此大苦。當下比丘置海島邊。不可為一人令我等危嶮。法顯檀越言。汝若下此比丘亦并下我。不爾便當殺我。汝其下此沙門。吾到漢地當向國王言汝也。漢地王亦敬信佛法重比丘僧。諸商人躊躇不敢便下。于時天多連陰海師相望僻誤。遂經七十餘日。糧食水漿欲盡。取海醎水作食。分好水人可得二升。遂便欲盡。商人議言。常行時正可五十日便到廣州。今已過期多日將無僻耶。即便西北行求岸。晝夜十二日到長廣郡界牢山南岸。便得好水菜。」(CBETA,T51, no. 2085, p. 866, a15-b2)

5. Faxianleft China in 399 and returned in 413 so he spent fifteen years on the way and visited 29 kingdoms.He is the first person who went to India from the overland route and came back from the sea route.

6.He brought back with him many texts which he translated into Chinese.

Mahī?asakā Vinaya《彌沙塞律》

Dīrgha Agama《長阿含經》

Sa?yukta Agama《雜阿含經》

Ksudhaka 《雜藏》

Mahasā?ghika Vinaya《摩訶僧祇律》Sarvāstivāda Vinaya《薩婆多律》

Sa?yukta Abhidharmahrdya《雜阿毗曇心》

Vaipulya Mahāparinirvā?a sūtra,《方等泥洹經》

Mahasā?ghika Abhidharma《摩訶僧祇阿毗曇》

7. In Daochangsi 道場寺in Jiangkang 建康, Faxian and Baoyong together translated 6 texts in 63 fascicles. The Mahāparinirvā?a sutra, T376《佛說大般泥洹經》after translation caused much debate and interest. He also translated another version of the Mahāparinirvā?a sūtra, T7《大般涅槃經》which is a Hīnayāna version.

8.Faxian also left us an account of his travel the Foguoji《佛國記》(A Record of the Buddhist Kingdoms), which recorded all his travel and what he had seen and heard. This is a very important work for the study of the culture and geography of Central and Southeast Asiain the fifth century.

You can download James Legge’s English translation of Faxian’s A Record of the Buddhist Kingdoms at https://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/f/fa-hien/

9.Faxian’s travel to India is full of danger and difficulties. Amongst his fellow monks, Huijing 慧景died in the snow mountains,Baoyun 寶雲returned half way, Daozheng 道整 stayed in India without return, only Faxian completed his journey.

10. Following Faxian’s foot steps, Zhimeng 智猛together with 15 people left China, but 9 returned at Chonglin 蔥嶺. Others went to India and visited Kapilavastu and Pataliputra. Four died on the way and only Zhimeng and Tanzuan 曇纂two returned. They spent 21 years on the way. (求法的历程是多么的艰辛！）

11.After Faxian many people went to west either in search of Dharma or for the purposeof pilgrimage so that Chinese monks were frequently seen on the Silk Road.

Other travellers

1.After nearly a century in 518, the empress Hu 胡太后of Northern Wei sent Huisheng惠生and Songyun 宋雲to Central Asia in order to search Buddhist ures. This is the first official delegation.

2.They set out from Luoyang, passed the dessert and oasis kingdoms such as Shanshan鄯善, Zhuomo左末 (新疆且末),Khotan于闐, entered Bohe 缽和 (now Afghanistan) and cameto Parthia, Miguo彌國 (nowPakistan), Udyana 烏萇國and Gandhara乾陀羅國.

3.They visited many Buddhist sites and stayed in Udyana 烏萇國 for two years and returned to China in 522. They altogether spent four years and brought back with them 170 texts.

4.Their travel is different from Faxian and Zhimeng who left China out of personal faith.Huisheng惠生and Songyun 宋雲 were the representatives of a state, so they had the purpose of spreading the Chinese culture as well.

5.Therefore,when they set out the empress gave them five hundred incense bags,a thousand five-coloured long narrow flags幡, and other princes gave them two thousands small flags.

6.They,started from Khotan, offered these things to Buddhist sites in all the countries or kingdoms they visited.They also offered four slaves for pilgrimage sites. So we can guess the size of their group.

7.In Udyana 烏萇國, Songyun 宋雲discoursed to the king the virtues of Zhougang, Confucius, Laozi and Zhuanziand told him the Daoist mountain of Penlai and immortals. He also told the king Guanhe 管輅 who was specialized in prediction, Huatuo 華陀who was specialized inmedicine and Zhuoci 左慈who was specialized in rituals.

8.The king sincerely worshipped the east thinking the Wei was a Pure Land so he vowed“I vow to be born there after death.”

9.Huisheng惠生 and Songyun 宋雲 also went to the cliff southeast of the capital where it is said to be the place where the Buddha offered himself to a hungry tigress. They built apagoda and inscribed in praise of the Buddha.

10. This is typical record of Chinese culture spreading to the west.

VIII. Translation of Buddhist ures

1.The northern and southern dynasty is a fruitful period that so many translators came to China and translated various texts. According tothe Kaiyuan Buddhist Catalogue《開元釋教錄》, there were 67 translators who translated 750 texts in 1750 fascicles between 420 to 589.

Translation during the Northern and Southern Dynasty

經錄名稱

歷代三寶記

大唐內典錄

開元釋教錄

貞元新定釋教目錄

Liu-Song 劉宋

210部490卷

210部496卷

465部717卷

465部717卷

Southern Qi, 南齊

48部341卷

47部346卷

12部33卷

12部33卷

Liang 梁

88部875卷

90部780卷

46部201卷

47部217卷

Chen 陳

50部247卷

50部247卷

40部133卷

40部133卷

南朝總譯經

396部1953卷

397部1869卷

563部1084卷

564部1100卷

Wei魏

87部355卷

87部302卷

83部274卷

83部274卷

Northern Qi北齊

8部53卷

8部53卷

8部52卷

8部52卷

Northern Zhou 北周

34部106卷

32部104卷

14部29卷

14部29卷

北朝總譯經

129部514卷

127部459卷

105部355卷

105部355卷

南北朝總譯經

525部2467卷

524部2328卷

668部1439卷

669部1455卷

Total

522 texts

524 texts

668 texts

669 texts

2.This climax started from Kumārajīva and spread to other parts of the country. In the north Dunhuang敦煌, Guzang姑臧, Changan長安, Luoyang洛陽and Yecheng鄴城 were the centers and in the south apart from Jiangkang, there were Guangzhou廣州, Yuzhang豫章, Xiangyang襄陽and Lushan廬山 etc.

3.The area of translationis so wide and it includes the Mahāparinirvā?a Sūtra 《大般涅槃經》, the Avata?saka sūtra 《華嚴經》, the Srimala sūtra《勝鬘經》, the Lankavatara sūtra 《楞伽經》, the Sandhinirmocana sūtra《深密解脫經》which are different from the Prajñāpāramitā sūtras in nature.

4.Thus some new Buddhist thoughtswere introduced such as Buddha nature 佛性論 and consciousness only 唯識論, which became the center of study in Sui and Tang dynasties.

5.At the same time, the Yogācāra 瑜伽 works of the great Indian Buddhist scholars Asanga 無著and Vasubandhu 世親were translated and introduced into China for the first time such as the Da?abhūmisūtra ?āstra 《十地經論》, and Mahāyānasa?graha 《攝大乘論》etc.

6.The early Buddhist texts, the ?gamas阿含經were mostly introduced. The texts of Sarvāstivāda school were also translated and introduced such as Abhidharmah?dya ?āstra 《阿毗曇心論》, Abhidharma Vibhā?ā?āstra 《阿毗曇婆沙》, Abhidharmako?a 《俱舍論》, etc.

7.There were also texts of Sammitiya School 正量部such as the Sammidiya Sastra《三彌底部論》, texts of Theravada such as the Vimuttimagga《解脫道論》, the Nagasena Bhiksu Sutra 《那先比丘經》.

8.Abhidharma 阿毗曇uses the method of defining terms and discussion to explain Buddhist thought. So it is highly systematic and lucid that attracted many monks of exegesis.

9.Pure Land thoughtwas also introduced with the translation of ures on Maitreya,

Guan Milepusa shengdoushuitian jing《觀彌勒菩薩生兜率天經》Avalokitesrava,

Guanyin pusa shouji jing《觀世音授記經》(Māyopamasamādhi Sūtra),

Samantabhadra,

Guan puxianpusa xingfa jing《觀普賢菩薩行法經》

Amitabha

Guanwuliangshou fo jing 《觀無量壽佛經》(Amitāyur-buddhānusm?ti-sūtra).

10. The Pure Land belief and practices were already widely spread in this time as the well known master of this school Tanluan was active in northern Wei.

11. Tantrayanagot popular and influential during the Tang dynasty but the texts of this school were introduced quite early,as early as the Eastern Jin. There were texts such as

the Kongquewang Tuoluoni jing《孔雀王陀羅尼經》,

the Bajixiang jing《八吉祥咒》,

the Qifoshengzhou《七佛神咒》,

the Siyimian guanyin zhou《十一面觀音咒》,

the Hufa Tongzi Tuoluoni zhou《護法童子陀羅尼咒》etc.

12. Tantrayana practices were already in China by this time, but not influential.

13. There were many Vinaya texts, the monastic discipline,that were translated and introduced into China and

the Sarvāstivāda Vinaya 《十誦律》

the Dharmagupta Vinaya 《四分律》

the Mahāsanghika Vinaya 《摩訶僧祇律》

the Mahisasaka Vinaya五分律（《彌沙塞律》）,

the Theravāda Vinaya 《善見律毗婆沙》, and

the Vatsiputriya Vinaya《律二十二明瞭論》.

14. Mahayana vinaya texts were also introduced and translated such as Bodhisattva precepts菩薩戒本and Upasaka precepts優婆塞戒經.

15. This reflected the situation of the Buddhist community in which confusion and undesired elements were found. Therefore, discipline was needed.

16. There were also texts on Buddhist logicsuch as

the Fangbianxin lun 《方便心論》,

the Huizhenglun 《回諍論》,

the Rusilun 《如實論》,

Buddhist historysuch as

Vasumitra’s Early Indian Buddhist schools《十八部論》,《部異執論》,

the transmissionof schools 《付法藏傳》,

the biography ofAsvaghosa 《馬鳴傳》,

the biography ofNagarjuna 《龍樹傳》,

the biography ofAryadeva 《提婆傳》,

the biography ofHarivarma 《訶梨跋摩傳》,

the biography ofVasubandhu 《婆藪盤豆傳》, etc.

17. Those monks who traveled to Central Asia and India left their accounts of the places they visited including the tradition and culture.

18. There were four centers of translation at this time. We discuss them respectively.

恭敬经典 南无阿弥陀佛 合十