Transcript Buddhism in China - Powerpoint Palooza

Religion in China
China Study Tour,2004
Susan Daly
Communism & Religion
• All of our local guides told us that religion was not
acceptable for communist party members who want to
advance but that anyone else could feel free to practice
their religious beliefs openly. The only exception is Falun
Gong.
• In our three weeks traveling across 9 cities from north to
western and southern China we visited many active
temples full of people. One of my fellow teachers
commented, “ For a communist country, there sure are
an awful lot of worshipers”
Buddhism in China
Susan Daly
Buddhism came to China along the Silk
Roads from India where it was started in the
5th century BCE by Siddhartha Gautama.It
brought with it several symbols shown in
many Buddhist images. The most familiar is
the lotus flower, a symbol of purity,
renunciation and divinity. Buddha is often
shown sitting on a lotus.
Another important symbol is the Golden
Wheel. The wheel represents motion,
continuity and change, forever moving
onwards like the wheel of heaven.The eight
spokes point in the eight directions and
symbolize Buddha’s Eightfold Path: right
understanding, right thought, right speech,
right action, right livelihood, right effort, right
mindfulness, and right concentration.
Buddha reaching nirvana with his family
nearby.
Big Wild Goose
Pagoda
Buddha
Big Wild Goose
Pagoda &
Buddhist
monastery in X’ian
Statue of Buddha – X’ian
Buddhist monk,
Xuangzang
leaving X’ian on
pilgrimage to
India and the
sacred places of
Buddhism.
His travels took
him over 25,000
miles.
Leshan carved Buddha- 25 stories tall
Buddha’a hand can
hold 100 people on
it.
Since the Taliban blew up the 2 Buddha’s at
Bamyan, Afghanistan, Leshan is the largest
carved statue of Buddha in the world. It is
mainly visible from the river because it was
carved where 3 rivers converge to stop the
many drownings which took place there and
quiet the water. It did stop the rapids.There
are stairs which circle the statue to allow you
to get several views of it as you climb
around it.
30 foot tall head
Even though this is
an old statue of
Buddha, children
were allowed to
climb on it.
Buddhist Pilgrimage in
western China
Mt. Emei – a sacred Buddhist
mountain
Mt. Emei is over 10,000 feet tall. The act of
climbing it, is also an act of worship. There
are five different Buddhist monasteries at
different levels of the mountain. At each
stage, pilgrims can stop, pray, and rest.
There are four mountains sacred to Buddha
in China.
Lingyan Buddhist Temple
Pilgrims offer incense at this stop along
their journey up Mt. Emei. There were
several large racks like this one to hold
the burning bundles of incense. The
smell was incredible but it was also
smoky.
Lingyan Temple
Bell
All temples have a
large bell which is
part of specific
ceremonies.
Interior painting of a Lion which looks to
westerners like a certain breed of dog.
To reach the next level of Mt. Emei, we
took a cable car but most pilgrims walk
up the mountain as part of the
pilgrimage. It was a cloudy, overcast
day with lots of mist so our trip up the
mountainside was lovely but not
spectacular as a sunny day would have
been.
Wannian
Temple on Mt.
Emei
A fish hanging in this direction says a pilgrim
may stay for free here.
Monastery buildings
Wannian Monastery
• Wannian monastery was a beautiful,
peaceful place to contemplate and study
Buddhism. It had incredible butterflies and
wild monkeys which we never saw. The
monks here were as intrigued by us as we
were by them.
• This place was the first time, I truly felt like
a curiosity since few westerns go here.
A Buddhist monk
A Buddhist stupa
While we visited Wannian, there
was a ceremony which involved
a large group of pilgrims
chanting. It was an incredible
sound but all of us felt it would
be wrong to photograph them in
a religious ceremony.
Beautiful &
peaceful
surroundings
Collecting the days donations
Buddhist prayer
wheel
In every Buddhist temple we visited,
there was a line of prayer wheels. As
people would walk through the temple
grounds, they would give the wheels a
turn so there was always this gentle
sound coming from the row of wheels.
Children loved to get all of the wheels
spinning at one time.
Ladies at worship on Mt. Emei
Huge Buddhist Prayer wheels
As we toured the 2 Buddhist
monasteries on Mt.Emei, we were
a curiosity for many of the pilgrims
we saw along our travels. It was
the most foreign I felt in all of
China. One blonde teacher had
people ask if they could have their
picture taken with her because she
was so different.
John and a
Buddhist monk
at Wannian
Temple on Mt.
Emei
John waited a long time to try on his
monks robe. The shop would not sell
him an actual robe but one made for
tourists. Once he posed for us with it
on, one of the monks came out and
asked us to take his picture with John.
Without a word of Chinese we
communicated with him and took his
camera for the photo.
Mt.Emei is a beautiful natural
environment with 5 monasteries
leading up to its peak. We saw 2 and
along the way saw gorgeous scenery
and many types of butterflies. We did
not see the monkeys who also live on
its slopes. Since they are quite wild, our
group was relieved not to have seen
the monkeys.
Daoism
• We visited several Taoist temples in China.
They were not as brightly colored as
Buddhist temples but were also well
attended by worshipers.
• Daoism is native to China and was
developed during the late Zhou and
Warring States period when much of
China was engulfed in wars.
Laozi is the person associated with Daoism
and his main work is the ,Classic of the
Way. In Daoism, humans have separated
themselves from the Way ( Tao) by plotting,
planning, organizing when they should
instead be accepting and surrendering to
events. Daoists were critical of Confucian
activism. They focused their energy on
reflection so they could learn to live in
harmony with the natural world.
Islam in X’ian
Islam came to China across the Silk
Roads which ended in X’ian. There is still
a small Muslim community in X’ian today.
There are approximately 8,000 Muslims
active in X’ian’s mosques.
Tang courtyard
Incense burners
An ornament for a grave.
Islam in China
• Islam came across the Silk Roads to X’ian.
It stayed and today there is a community
of 8,000 Muslims in X’ian. The Mosque we
visited looked exactly like a Chinese
temple except the writing was done in
Arabic script. We heard the call to prayer
for Friday evening services being sung by
at this mosque.
Arabic Script
X’ian Mosque
An ancient sacred well
Men gathering for Friday Prayers.
A very Chinese looking tablet.
Main entrance to the mosque.
The Chinese government has left
Muslims alone in the X’ian area but has
persecuted Muslims in far western
China because of fears over rising
Islamic Fundamentalism in that area.
We saw no signs that the worshippers
were at all worried about practicing
their faith in public.
Confucian Traditions
• Kong Fuzi,551-479 BCE, looked at social
order and political problems of his era. His
followers knew him as “ Master
Philosopher Kong” but the west knows him
as Confucius. He was born in Lu in
northern China and tried for many years
for a government post at the Lu court. He
was not always easy to get along with.
The most famous work of Kong Fuzi was ,
The Analects.In this book, Confucius
detailed how political and social harmony in
society came from the proper ordering of
human relationships. He advocated placing
people into government positions based on
their being well educated and very
conscientious. The need for a strong sense
of moral integrity was a key part of any
officials character for Confucius.
Confucius is on
the right with a
guardian on his
left.
Our guide is explaining how the son carrying his
elderly parents is an example of Filial Piety.
A Confucian scholar/official
Two grumpy looking officials
Working in harmony with nature.
The Court officials
The artist used the natural flow of the rock to
portray rural life.