Handbook of the History of Religions in China II

ibidem-Press, Stuttgart

Contents

Preface

About the authors

About the translator

Major Dynasties in Chinese History

Chapter Six Religions in Liao, Song and Jin Dynasties and Western Xia (the Tangut Empire)

An Overview

Primitive Religions and Flourishing Buddhism in Liao

1) Traditional Khitan beliefs and the tendency of Sinicization

2) The prevalence of Buddhism and its characteristics

Religions in Song Dynasties: Syncretism and Evolution

1)Revising and perfecting the sacrificial codes applicable to the state religion

2) The equal importance of meditation and doctrine in Buddhist practice and the syncretism of Buddhism and Confucianism

3) Thriving Daoism

4) Manichaeism, Islam, Judaism and Zoroastrianism

Religions in Jin dynasty

1) Conventional customs of the Jurchen people and the creation of institutions with respect to the Jurchen state religion

2) The growing popularity of Buddhism

3) The emergence and growth of new Daoist schools in areas north of the Yellow River

Religions in the Western Xia Dynasty

1) Primitive sorcery and the cult of spirits

2) The introduction and growth of Buddhism

3) The Tangut Tripitaka and its significance

The second diffusion of Buddhism in Tibet and the formation of Buddhist sects

1) Well-known Buddhist figures and their contributions in the Houhong (Second Diffusion) Period

2) Sects of Tibetan Buddhism and their theories

Chapter Seven Religions in Yuan Dynasty: A Boom in Faith

An Overview

The Reconstruction and Characteristics of Official Religious Rituals

1) The grand ceremony of offering sacrifices to Heaven

2) The (Royal) Ancestral Temple

3) The Imperial shrine for Earth and Grain gods

4) The Imperial ceremony advocating the Kingship of Confucius

5) Offering sacrifices to gods of mountain, river and sea

6) Traditional Mongol customs

The development of Chinese and Tibetan Buddhism and the practice of the “Imperial Preceptor”

1) The Mongol aristocrats’ adoration of Buddhism

2) The development and administration of Buddhism in Yuan

3) The unique practice of the Imperial Preceptor in Yuan

4) The growth of Buddhist sects in the Central Plains

5) Buddhism and Yuan culture

The Introduction and Growth of Theravada Buddhism in Yunnan

1) The introduction of Theravada Buddhism into Yunnan

2) Theories and sutras of Theravada Buddhism

3) The sects, monastic hierarchy and monasteries in Theravada Buddhism

4) Theravada Buddhism and the Dai society

The Prevalence and Popularity of All Truth Daoism in the Lower Reaches of Yangtze River

1) Qiu Chuji and the rise and fall of All Truth Daoism

2) The flourishing Way of Orthodox Unity in the lower reaches of Yangtze River

3) The growing popularity of Jingming Dao in the lower reaches of Yangtze River

The Resuscitation of Yelikewen (Erkeun/Arkagun), Islam and Judaism

1) Yelikewen (Erkeun/Arkagun): The re-introduction of Christianity into China

2) The rapid growth of Islam in Yuan

3) The development of Judaism in Yuan

The Rise of the White Lotus Sect and Social Changes in Late Yuan Dynasty

1) The birth and growth of the White Lotus Sect

2) The White Lotus rebellions in the late Yuan

Chapter Eight Religions in Ming Dynasty: The Pluralistic Syncretism and Popularization

An Overview

Development and Perfection of Rituals and Ceremonies of the Patriarchal Religion

1) The grand ceremony of sacrificing to Heaven and Earth

2) Sacrifices to the Earth and Grain gods, the Sun and Moon, the Divine Farmer, the Goddess of Silkworms and the God of Matchmakers

3) Altars of various deities and Earthly and Celestial gods

4) Sacrifices to Emperors, holy Masters, men of virtue and outstanding Ministers of all ages

5) The Royal Ancestral Temple

6) Funerals and related dressing codes

Buddhism in the Syncretism of the Three Great Teachings

1) Ming’s religious policies and administration of Buddhism

2) Tsongkhapa’s religious reform of Tibetan Buddhism

3) Two great branches of the School of Meditation and their representative figures

4) Other Buddhist schools

5) The Great Four Buddhists in the late Ming dynasty

The Secularization of Daoism and the Growing Prosperity of the Daoist School of Fulu (Mysterious Symbols, Drawings and Incantations)

1) The royal family and Daoism

2) Two major Daoist schools: The Way of Orthodox Unity and All Truth Daoism

3) Zhengtong Daozang 正统道藏 and万历续道藏 Wanli xu Daozang

The Reintroduction of Christianity into China and Clashes with Traditional Chinese Culture

1) Missionaries entered China in every possible way

2) Matteo Ricci’s strategy of Confucianizing Catholicism

3) Nanjing Incident: The first conflict between Christianity and Chinese culture

4) The revival of Christian churches in the late Ming

The Growth of Islam in Ming

1) Islam and the Ming dynasty

2) The emergence of “Scripture-Hall Education”

3) The production of Chinese editions of Islamic writing

The Great Development of Popular Religions in Ming

1) The prosperity of popular religions and the evolution of White Lotus Teaching

2) The Luo Sect and its derivatives

3) The Yellow Heaven Sect and the Red Sun Sect

4) The Three-in-One Teaching

5) General characteristics of popular religions in Ming

Chapter Nine Religions in the Qing Dynasty: Differentiation, Development and Decline

An Overview

Sacrifices in the State Religion

1) Imperial Codes regarding state sacrifices

2) Changes in state sacrifices in the late Qing dynasty

3) The veneration of and sacrifice to Confucius

4) The preservation and evolution of traditional Manchu religious customs

5) The decline and persistence of traditional patriarchal religion

The Development and Decline of Buddhism in Qing

1) The Emperor’s adoration of Buddhism and the Imperial administration of Buddhism

2) The decline of Buddhist schools

3) The predominance of lay Buddhists

4) Secular scholars’ Buddhist studies

5) Tibetan Buddhism in Qing

The Continuity, Diffusion and Decline of Daoism

1) The decline of Zhengyi 正一 Daoism or the Way of Orthodox Unity

2) Quanzhen 全真 Daoism in Qing

3) Daozang jiyao 道藏辑要 and new Daoist writings

4) The continued diffusion of Daoism in the Chinese society

Popular Religions in Qing

1) The Ba’gua 八卦 (Eight-Trigram) Sect

2) Popular religions in the late Qing

The Growth of Islam in Qing

1) Chinese Tariqas

2) Chinese translations of Islamic writings

3) Chinese translations of the Koran

Christianity in Qing

1) A great progress of missionary work in the early Qing

2) The Controversy of Rites and the change of Kangxi’s policy on Catholicism

3) Stricter bans on Catholicism and missionary incidents in three reigns

4) Christianity in the late Qing

5) Christianity in the early modern China: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Chapter Ten Religions in the Republican China (1912–1949)

An Overview

The Resuscitation and Reformation of Buddhism

1) The efforts to modernize Buddhist organization

2) The efforts to modernize Buddhist activities

3) The Grotto of Storing Scriptures in Dunhuang 敦煌

4) Buddhist gurus in modern China

5) Prominent Buddhist scholars’ remarkable achievements

6) Tibetan Buddhism in Republican China

The Fall and Rehabilitation of Daoism in Republican China

1) Political situations and the fate of Daoism

2) Efforts to rehabilitate Daoism

3) The rise of secular scholars’ studies of Daoism

New Growth of Islam in the Republican China

1) The birth and growth of Islamic social organizations

2) The vivid development of Islamic scholarship and culture

3) Eminent Chinese Muslim scholars and their contributions

4) Yang Zenxin 杨增新 (1864–1928) and Xinjiang

Rapid Growth of Christianity and its influence in Chinese society

1) The internal and external conditions for the rapid growth of Christianity

2) The growth of Christian orders

3) Christianity and Republican politics

4) Contributions Christianity made to Chinese society

Preface

Overall Description

Digging into the long history of China, this highly-acclaimed book investigates a variety of religions in a comprehensive and systematic way. These religions include: primitive religions and worship; archaic patriarchal religions; traditional Daoism; popular religions; and non-indigenous religions such as Buddhism, Christianity and Islam. Furthermore, the book discusses in detail the origin, growth, introduction—as well as dissemination—of religions in China. With insightful analysis, the two authors illuminate sects, doctrines, rituals and disciplines of Chinese religions, along with exchanges and interactions between religions, thoughts and cultures. To put it in a nutshell, this revised two-volume General History of Religions in China pulls together vast knowledge and understanding of the cultural roots, characteristics and impact of religions throughout Chinese history.

About the authors

Professor Mou Zhongjian 牟钟鉴 was born in 1939 in Yantai, a beautiful coastal city of Shandong Province. He studied in the Department of Philosophy at the prestigious Peking University. He devoted himself to the history of Chinese philosophy and was awarded his Master of Arts degree. Then, he spent more than 20 years (1966–1987) at the Institute of World Religions at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), where his research focused on the Chinese philosophy and religions. In November 1987, he began teaching at Minzu University of China (i.e. Central University for Nationalities). Mr. Mou has been appointed to the highest level of professorship and is responsible for supervising Ph.D. programs in the University’s Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies. He has been rewarded with prestigious titles such as the National Outstanding Teacher Award. Prof. Mou’s major publications include: Lüshi Chunqiu yu Huainanzi sixiang yanjiu 《吕氏春秋》与《淮南子》思想研究 (An intellectual inquiry into The Spring and Autumn of Master Lü and The Master Huainan); Zoujin Zhongguo jingshen 走进中国精神 (Walking into the Chinese spirit); Ruxue jiazhi de xin tansuo 儒学价值的新探索 (Ground breaking explorations of the value of Confucianism), and so forth.

Professor Zhang Jian 张践 works for the famous Renmin University, or the People’s University of China. He is also a Guest Research Fellow at the MOE’s Research Center for Buddhism and Theories of Religious Study and a Guest Professor at Minzu University. The International Confucian Association offered Prof. Zhang membership of Council and Directorship of the Committee of Dissemination. In addition, he serves as the Vice President of the China Society for Practical Learning. Prof. Zhang is a leading scholar in the fields of history of religions in China and history of Chinese philosophy. He has published numerous monographs such as: Zongjiao, zhengzhi, minzu 宗教·政治·民族 (Religion, politics, and ethnicity); 中国民间宗教史 (History of popular religions in China); and Dexing yu gongfu—Zhongguo ren de xiuyang guan 德性与功夫——中国人的修养观 (A priori virtues and a posteriori moralities: Chinese ideas of self-cultivation).

About the translator

Chi Zhen, Ph.D. (2007), National University of Singapore, is Associate Research Fellow at Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences (SASS). He has published monographs and articles on Chinese intellectual history. He devotes himself to the English translation of academic works authored by highly intellectual Chinese scholars. His latest translation work was Marxism and Religion (Brill, 2014).

Major Dynasties in Chinese History

Chapter Six Religions in Liao, Song and Jin Dynasties and Western Xia (the Tangut Empire)

An Overview

The historical period that will be discussed in this chapter begins with the founding of Northern Song dynasty in 960 A.D. and ends with the Southern Song’s tragic collapse in 1279. In over than three centuries, the Middle Kingdom sadly experienced another extremely turbulent era, in which central political authority declined, separatist regional regimes flourished, ethnic conflicts worsened, and wars between ethnic groups continued uninterrupted. It is a generally held view that the Song regime outshined the regimes of Liao辽, Jin 金and Western Xia夏, all of which were considered “barbarian.” Such a biased view of history should be abandoned. These so-called “barbarian” regimes were separatist local governments and, to be fair, they did contribute to the development of Chinese nation. Against the backdrop of predominance of Han Chinese culture, they were merely ethnically, culturally, politically, and economically different from the Han people. Examining the history of these “barbarians,” an egalitarian mentality was more useful. In the revisionist perspective, Liao was a Khitan society that occupied vast areas of north China and created a feudal state in imitation of the central authorities in the Central Plain. Jin was a Jurchen state, which rose in present-day Manchuria; it then occupied the lower eastern Liaoning in a southern expansion, annexed the Liao regime, extended down to Hebei and Henan, and finally was annihilated by the Mongol army. Western Xia was a Tangut regime that ruled in the northwest of China for 190 years and finally surrendered to the Mongols. Where the two Song dynasties were concerned, they were economically and culturally advanced, though both were militarily quite weak. Faced with the powerful troops of “barbarian” regimes, the territories under the Songs’ effective control were much smaller than those in the Tang Empire, due to their passive defense and rapid geographical shrinking from the Northern Song. The Northern Song still controlled the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River to the border with the Southern Song dynasty, which ruled over merely the tiny lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

As for the religious faith in the “barbarian” regimes, Liao, on the one hand, preserved the indigenous primitive religions, and on the other hand, exposed itself to the culture—religions included—of the Han Chinese. The traditional patriarchal religions and Buddhism exerted the most far-reaching influence on Liao. Following the example of the central authorities, rulers of Liao created their own institutionalized system of ancestral temples and used them as the divine bases for their rule. Of course, such institutions embraced some indigenous Khitan components. Buddhism prevailed in the Liao regime. Nevertheless, the Meditation School was not very popular due to the cultural backwardness and lack of Buddhist philosophers. Unlike Zen Buddhism, the schools of Avatamsaka, Esotericism and Pure Land enjoyed a much greater popularity among the Khitan people. The reputable Buddhist enterprises in Liao included the compilation of Khitan Buddhist sutras and continuous effort to inscribe Buddhist canons on steles in Fangshan of present-day Beijing.

Shamanism dominated the spiritual world of Jurchen people, who founded the Jin regime. Despite this, the ruling monarchs of Jin held Confucianism in high esteem and earnestly studied the orthodox institutions of building ancestral temples and sacrificing to deities at suburban altars. As a result, they created their own state academics and religions. In the meantime, Buddhism was not left unnoticed but given appropriate support, which ensured it could play a leading role in the religious life of ordinary people. Zen, together with schools of Avatamsaka, Vinaya and Pure Land, were all favorite pets of the Jurchen people. The Jin (Jurchen) collection of Buddhist sutras that was excavated in Zhaocheng County of Shanxi in the 1930s was invaluable to the scholarships of the history of Chinese Buddhism. Daoism was another important player in the spiritual world of Jin. The Daoist schools of Quanzhen (Completeness and Truth), Taiyi (Grand Unity) and Zhenda (Truth and Greatness) rose to prominence in Hebei, which was under the Jurchen regime’s control at that time. It is particularly worth mentioning that the Quanzhen School, a brainchild of Wang Zhe 王喆, gradually developed into the mainstream Daoism in north China and marked the new stage of growth for the Daoist faith.

The Western Xia almost exclusively embraced Buddhism. The Tangut regime occupied the Gansu Corridor, which played an important role similar to the Silk Road in bridging the Middle Kingdom and West Asia. It was in this Corridor that the branches of Buddhism of Western Region and China acted upon each other. Thanks to these interactions and exchanges Buddhist culture flourished greatly among the Tangut people. The earlier prosperity of Buddhism in Western Xia was still discernible in the preserved Dunhuang and Yulin 榆林 grottoes, where we can reflect on the Tangut devoutness to Buddhism and the beauty of Xia’s Buddhist artworks.

Inheriting the great cultural capital accumulated in Han and Tang empires, the two Songs enjoyed amazing cultural attainment. The Song states paid great attention to the adoption and revision of the traditional patriarchal religion and tried their best to perfect the institutions regarding sacrificial ceremonies held in ancestral temples and at royal suburban altars. The Emperor Zhen of Northern Song presided over the grandest ceremony of offering sacrifices to Supreme Gods at Feng and Shang altars at Mount Tai. It was the last “Feng-Shan” ceremony in the Chinese history. In Song, Zen Buddhism, represented by the Linji 临济School, took the leading role among the various Buddhist sects. A quite significant change did take place in Zen Buddhism. Historically, Zen Buddhists refrained from writing doctrines in eras prior to Song. Now, they began composing Zen scriptures in an unrestricted way. Both talking Zen and teaching sutras were attached great importance. It was in the time of the two Song dynasties that the three great teachings—Confucianism, Buddhism and Daoism—theoretically complemented each other and achiever an unprecedented integration. Among the Buddhists, Qihao 契蒿 and Zhiyuan 智圆 were the representatives promoting the trinity of three teachings. The brothers of Cheng Yi 程颐 and Cheng Hao 程颢, Zhu Xi 朱熹, and Lu Jiuyuan 陆九渊, who were the greatest Confucians in the two Song dynasties, were greatly influenced by Buddhist philosophies. Centering on the orthodox Confucian doctrines, they absorbed Buddhist intellectual wealth, in spite of their open verbal criticism against Buddhist thinking. Consequently, Confucian philosophy was brought to a new level. Some Song Emperors—the Emperors Zhen and Hui, for example—promoted greatly Daoism and enabled the indigenous Chinese religion to grow more powerful and influential. The teaching of External Alchemy had declined in Song dynasties and the School of Internal Alchemy became much more advanced and developed. The systematic doctrines of nurturing the life by Internal Alchemy had been formally formulated by Chen Tuan 陈抟 and Zhang Boduan 张伯端, who also exerted significant influence on the Songs’ symbolic Confucian “Lixue 理学,” i.e. the Learning of Principle.

The political confrontation and military conflicts among the orthodox Song regimes and “barbarian” regimes of Liao, Jin and Western Xia are undeniable facts. Nevertheless, culturally, the Middle Kingdom was still well and solidly integrated. The four regimes were all firm proponents of Confucianism, Buddhism and Daoism. The religious exchanges between them was never cut off. In this regard, the religious culture and Confucianism played a great role in spiritually uniting various ethnic groups across the vast land of China.

Apart from traditional religions, Islam, Judaism, Manichaeism, and some popular religions also prevailed in China and they made contributions to the religious and cultural pluralism of the two Song dynasties.

In the case of Tibetan Buddhism, the Houhong (Second Diffusion) Period commenced as soon as the very long silence of Buddhism had been broken. Several major Buddhist sects emerged in the Plateau. Consequently, Buddhism became the mainstream Tibetan ideology and the most popular belief among Tibetans.