Buddhism 101

Lesson 4: Buddhism Around the World

China and Japan

  Mahayana Buddhism is the current flavour of the tradition that is strongest in modern nations such as China, Japan, Korea and Vietnam. China has been especially successful at producing its own distinct forms of Buddhism, though when exported to Japan they often undergo a variety of new changes.

In China, Buddhism met with the mystical religion of Taoism and the philosophical religion of Confucianism. When first introduced, Buddhists had the most success using Taoist terminology to explain Indian concepts such as karma and reincarnation to the Chinese. These ideas did not already exist in their cultural paradigm. However, Buddhism did not realize its full potential in China until it broke away from being interpreted through a Taoist lens and began promoting itself as a completely new tradition. Adherents of the Confucian tradition attacked Buddhism for its monastic practices, which had children leave their homes and abandon their parents, an especially grievous crime to the Chinese. Buddhists were able to save some face by promoting the Filial Piety Sutra, which stressed the importance of respect for one’s parents. For centuries Taoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism existed side by side, and often all were embraced by the common people – one adage advises that one should “go to work Confucian, retire Taoist and die Buddhist”.

In Japan, Buddhism met with another tradition – Shinto, though Confucianism had taken root to a lesser degree there as well. Shinto is a distinctly Japanese tradition, which has a focus on kami, local deities. Some traditions say that when Buddhism came to Japan, the kami welcomed the newly arriving Buddhist pantheon. The arrival of Buddhism in Japan involved far less friction, and practicing Shinto and Buddhism side by side soon became a normal endeavor and practice.

Many schools flourished and died in China – one that made a large impact and continues to do so today is the Ch’an school, known as Zen in Japan. It is believed to have been derived from Bodhidharma and Hui-Neng, and is sometimes thought of as a religion unto itself. There is little emphasis on sutras in Zen Buddhism – the lineage is believed to be a continuous mind-to-mind tradition of gifted persons, beginning with the Buddha. Legend has it that during one sermon he simply held a lotus flower, thus confusing those listening – only one disciple, Kasyapa, understood, and thus began the Zen lineage. In Japan, short poetic riddles known as koans are used to aid in enlightenment, which in some Zen schools is thought to be instantaneous rather than gradual.

Pure Land Buddhism is also popular in these countries, where Amitabha is more often called Amida. However, there were those who rejected Pure Land, and began their own offshoots – most notably the reformer Nichiren of Japan. While those in the Pure Land school focus on a figure, Nichiren focused on the Lotus Sutra for salvation, elevating it to a point of supreme importance over all other works. He developed his own school, named after himself, which would be the base for various other Japanese schools throughout the ages.

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