The Spread of Buddhism During the Tang Dynasty

Buddhist temples and shrines popped up throughout Tang China. Lay people could accrue earthly and spiritual rewards by donating to monks and temples.

The Tang era saw the development of Pure Land Buddhism, which focused on a Western Paradise where practitioners believed they could be reborn. The various schools of Buddhism also developed theoretical concepts such as li and shi, which incorporated Daoist ideas.

Buddhism

Buddhism became highly assimilated into Chinese culture during the Tang Dynasty. The religion was a major influence on the arts, particularly calligraphy and painting. Buddhist stories entered popular culture, such as Journey to the West and Dream of the Red Chamber. Monasteries insinuated themselves into everyday life, offering schools for children and lodging for travelers as well as spaces for gatherings and parties. They also were large landowners, which allowed them to act as moneylenders and pawnbrokers. The monk Xuanzang made several pilgrimages to India and brought back many Buddhist texts, contributing greatly to the study of Indian Buddhism during this period.

The Buddhist religion taught that humans are fundamentally good and teachable, improvable, and perfectible by virtue of personal and community endeavors. The religion discouraged the development of egotism, promoted the cultivation of ethics and family and social harmony, and stressed the importance of a morally awakened life. The Buddha’s teaching is embodied in the Tripitaka, which contains five books describing the doctrines and practices of the Buddhist religion. The first basket, the Sutta Pitaka, is a collection of discussions and conversations that teach basic principles of the faith; the second, the Vinaya Pitaka, describes the rules for monastic living; and the third, the Abhidhamma Pitaka, discusses epistemological, metaphysical, and psychological issues of interest to trained philosophers.

Buddhist beliefs emphasized metta, or universal love and affection, for all living beings, regardless of their color, class, or sex. The religion also teaches aversion to desire, hatred, and jealousy. A Buddhist seeks to overcome these tendencies through meditation, self-control, and devotional practice.

In addition, the Tang dynasty saw the emergence of Vajrayana, which was influenced by gnostic and magical currents and taught that human beings could become enlightened more quickly than previously thought. This movement, which eventually spread to Tibet, is characterized by strict rules, initiation rituals, and meditation.

Despite these positive trends, some Buddhists feared that their religion was being undermined by Confucian and Daoist rivals. They were also alarmed at the growing power of Buddhist monasteries, which acquired large tracts of land through the concessions granted by pious emperors. The resulting influence of these institutions threatened to upend the established order of China and its traditional values.

Taoism

The Tang emperors were not as supportive of Buddhism as their predecessors, and they sought to rein in its growth. The dynasty’s constant political crises and short reigns had weakened the state, and concessions made to Buddhist monasteries by pious emperors left much of the countryside beyond the reach of the government and, more importantly, the tax man. In addition, many Confucian and Daoist opponents of Buddhism saw it as a threat to their own beliefs and practices.

Unlike Indian Buddhism, Han Chinese Buddhist teachings were deeply influenced by local folk religion and incorporated elements such as ancestor worship. Buddhists also borrowed ideas from Daoism and from Chinese philosophical traditions such as the Tao Te Ching and the Zhuangzi. These concepts helped the Buddhists to understand and explain their own beliefs more fully, and it gave them a lexicon that would make it easier for them to teach their religion to Chinese students.

The fusion of Buddhism and local belief systems had positive results for the development of Chinese culture. Its influence is seen, for example, in the development of religious architecture and the art of calligraphy. The development of printing contributed to the spread of Buddhism and other religious writings.

In the religious realm, it sparked the debate between the Pure Land and Mahayana schools of Buddhism that ultimately resulted in a reformed form of Buddhism known as Zen in Japan. It is also credited with contributing to the growth of poetry in China and helping to develop a distinctive style of Chinese painting.

Buddhism also had a large impact on the Tang’s cultural and intellectual life. During this time, the great Chinese poet Li Bai and the philosophers Xie He and Zhang Zai produced works of enormous beauty and depth. In the sciences, the great Daoist alchemists developed gunpowder and the first block-printed books on a scientific subject. The blending of Buddhism and local belief systems also contributed to the flourishing of symbiotic cultural exchange between China and Central Asia. For most common believers, the distinctions between different religions were fluid, and it was not uncommon to attend a Buddhist temple in the morning and a Taoist one in the afternoon or to pray to both Buddha and Laozi simultaneously.

Confucianism

During the Tang period, Buddhism flourished in a cultural milieu with long-established philosophical and religious traditions. Confucianism provided guidelines for governance, education and family life, while Taoism offered mystical, proto-scientific ideas about health, procreation and longevity. Buddhist teachings, on the other hand, dealt primarily with the afterlife and the consequences of good and bad deeds, while offering spiritual guidance to help people deal with their personal suffering.

The Tang emperors were open to foreign influences and encouraged the spread of Buddhism. The empress Wu Zeitian (712-756 CE) elevated the religion by inviting Buddhist and Taoist clerics to her court, where they influenced Chinese music and painting, especially those of horses. Similarly, her grandson Emperor Xuanzong (756-805 CE) embraced Buddhism and Taoism and established the Imperial Music Academy to make use of this new international influence.

Confucianism, however, faced its own challenges in the Tang era, as waves of criticism and vilification swept through the empire. These attacks revealed that the philosophy did not adequately promote virtue and order, as its proponents claimed. It also appeared to be a sectarian teaching that separated people into different classes with different religions and beliefs.

As a result, many Confucians began to question the teachings and sought alternative sources of inspiration.

Despite this, Confucianism remained a major influence on society during the Tang dynasty and beyond. The teachings continue to shape East Asian societies and countries where Chinese culture is the dominant one.

The scholarly work of the Tang period produced numerous books and articles on various topics, including history, philosophy, political science and law. The Tang era also saw the development of woodblock printing, which made it easier to produce books for the masses. The sculptural arts flourished during this time, as well, thanks to the influence of Buddhist ideas on aesthetics.

The Tang era was also marked by the appearance of new forms of Buddhism, such as Chan (Zen) Buddhism and Esoteric Buddhism, which involved intense physical and mental exercises in order to achieve enlightenment. This type of Buddhism influenced the Tang dynasty’s art, especially that involving the depiction of spiritually advanced hermits, or arhats.

Other Religions

During the Tang dynasty, Buddhism had become an intrinsic part of Chinese culture. However, it had not always been easy to incorporate Buddhist ideas into a Chinese context. Buddhism was, after all, a religion that was imported from abroad. In addition to the teachings of the Buddha, it also brought with it an Indian worldview that differed from early Chinese cosmology, and the societal structure of a celibate priesthood supported by a lay community was at odds with traditional Chinese social mores.

Moreover, Buddhism was surrounded by other religious traditions that competed for the same audience of people. Along with Tibetan, Mongolian, and Korean Buddhism, it faced Chinese branches of the Christian Church of the East and Manichaeism. It was in close contact with the Jewish and Zoroastrian traditions as well, which would later influence Chinese Buddhism as well.

As a result of all this competition, a variety of different Buddhist styles emerged within China. Buddhist ideas and practices were adapted to suit the needs of each region, making it easier for them to spread. This flexibility contributed to the continued success of Buddhism as a global religion.

It was during the Tang dynasty that the most radical transformation of Buddhism occurred in China. During the late 8th and early 9th centuries, as the dynasty fell into decline, Buddhist monasteries and temples that had been exempt from taxation began to be subjected to regular state taxation. In 845 Emperor Wuzong closed 4,600 monasteries and 40,000 temples, thereby forcing many Buddhists to leave the monastic life.

Although these events have been interpreted by some scholars as an attempt to curb the influence of Buddhism, they are hardly the whole story. Rather, Buddhism merged with Confucian and Daoist traditions to form a complex ethos within which the Three Religions (sanjiao) were more or less comfortably accommodated.

A classic work on the history of Buddhism in China is Kenneth Ch'en's, Buddhism in Transition, published in 1964. It explains how the early Indian religion gradually became a natural part of Chinese religious and cultural life. It is an indispensable source for anyone studying the development of Buddhism in China.