CHINESE SUPERSTITIONS - University of Oregon

— X —
teacher, unci example of the Buddhist Law, but has little ruling-
power (1). The reader is offered a list of the 28 Indian patriarchs,
and the 6 who lived in China. A few of the former, especially
Kasyapa and Ananda, are found in several Chinese temples.
Among those who lived in China, Bodhidharma. Tah-mo ta-
shi j¥ |f -X 0jjj, occupies a prominent place (2). He was of Hindu
origin, and according
to Buddhist Annals reached China A. U. 527.
Passing through Nanking, he was received by Wu-ti fEv, $?,
of the
Liang ^ dynasty, but later on proceeded to the Wei ^ kingdom, and
lived in a monastery at Lohyang j& %^ sitting during :» years in
silent meditation, the face turned towards the wall, hence the people
called him the " Wall-gazing Brahman". Bodhidharma was a sectarian
within the ranks of Buddhism. Scorning books, reading (3), the use
of images, and the performance of outward rites, he founded in China
the " Contemplative School", known as Shen-men |p p^. Here,
monkish energy was concentrated in mental abstraction from all
objects of sense, and even one's own thoughts, thus developing a
state of dreamy stillness, mental inactivity, and ecstatic somnolence,
falsely called by the adherents of the School, "enlightenment and
right thinking". The system resulted in a general decay of learning
and religious zeal, and in a development of laziness and inertia,
which gradually led Chinese Buddhism into a state of decadence and
torpor, from which it never since recovered (4).
(1) Edkins. Chinese Buddhism, p. 61-62. — Chinese Superstitions. Vol.
VII. p. 422. note I.
(2) Eitel. Sanscrit -Chinese Dictionar}-. p. 24. — Edkins. Chinese
Buddhism, p. 86 - Hackmann Buddhism as a Religion, p. 80. — Giles
Chinese Biographical Dictionary, p. 6. — Chinese Superstitions. Vol. VII p.
i25-43l.
(3)
Tin' reading of books was the life and soul of many monasteries.
Bodhidharma despised book-reading. His system made the monasteries much
less educational and much more mystical and meditative than before. Edkins.
Chinese IJiiddhism ,
p. 86
1) Chnus.' Superstitions. Vol. Vll. p. 430-431. — Edkins. Chinese
Idbism. P- 8G, and 158. — Johnston. Buddhist China, p. 83