Organizer: David W. Pankenier, Lehigh University
Chair: Paul J. Smith, Haverford College
Mahayana and Hinayana in Central Asian Buddhist History: The Nature of Buddhism
in Chinese Turkestan
Mariko Namba Walter, Harvard University
Until the Islamization in Central Asia around the tenth century, the oasis kingdoms in Chinese Turkestan, Shan-shan, Khotan, Kucha, and Turfan were the major Central Asian centers of Buddhism. Each kingdom had its own history of the development of Buddhism with its own language and scripts. Buddhism was initially transmitted by the Central Asian monks to China and later they became recipients of the Chinese Buddhism, especially during the T'ang dynasty period. Hsüan-tsang in the seventh century reported on the nature of Buddhism in these oasis city states, e.g., Khotan as a Mahayana state, Kucha as Hinayana and so on. According to him, there were twenty-five Mahayana states, sixty Hinayana (or various Nikaya schools such as the Sarvastivadins) and fifteen states where both Mahayana and Hinayana were studied. Despite such classification, the fact is that most of city states had both Mahayana and Hinayana elements, sometimes in different sanghas or even within a single school. The co-existence of Mahayana and Hinayana sometimes manifested as a source of conflict and at other times they co-existed in peace. As India, China, Japan, and the Southeast Asian countries do not provide vivid historical experience for the simultaneous existence and interactions of both schools, the Central Asian examples provide an insight not otherwise available into the possibility for conflict and co-existence between these schools. As Mahayana and Hinayana are problematic and controversial categories of Buddhism, I would like to examine whether these categories are valid or not for the history of Buddhism in Central Asia. The kingdoms to be discussed in this paper are mainly the four city-states mentioned above, using textual sources both in indigenous languages and Chinese, such as the Buddhist Records of the Western World and Bibliographies of Eminent Monks, as well as art historical evidence.
With Bridle, Reins, and Halter: Tang Attempts to Locally Administer the Nomadic
Tribes on its Northwestern Frontier During the Reign of Xuanzong
Jonathan K. Skaff, University of Michigan
A fairly substantial number of studies exists concerning premodern Sino-nomadic relations. Most pertain to diplomatic relations and warfare. Relations at the local level receive little attention because sources for this type of study are scarce. The Tang northwestern frontier presents a rare opportunity to learn about Chinese local administration of the nomads who lived on the margin between settled and pastoral-nomadic civilizations. Tang era documents from the Turfan oasis in northwestern China, which have been excavated in the twentieth century, preserve information about how the local Chinese officialdom, military and general populace interacted with the various nomadic groups who visited their oasis in war and in peace. With higher-level diplomatic relations as a backdrop, this paper describes the nature of Chinese local administration and how it was shaped by the indigenous economy and ecology, as well as by political maneuvering at a higher level.
The paper concludes that coexistence on the frontier created tensions that led to periodic outbreaks of conflict. Politically, although the Tang offered military protection to tribes that nominally submitted to its rule, its presence in the northwest was often resented because it restrained the customary independence of the nomads living there. Economically, restrictions on traditional nomadic wealth-generating strategies, such as raiding, probably were only partially offset by expanded opportunities to trade with the Tang. Ultimately Tang military and diplomatic superiority ensured the continued existence of the relationship on terms disadvantageous to nomadic groups.
Revisiting the Laughing Buddha: A Study of the Metamorphosis of Maitreya in China
Wen-jie Qin, Harvard University
The metamorphosis of Maitreya in China from the lofty Future Buddha into the earthly Laughing Buddha has often been construed as a typical result of the "sinicization" of unworldly Indian Buddhism by the worldly Chinese. This view implies that in China, Indian Buddhism suffered a vulgarizing process-a "tragic" degeneration, as Joseph Kitagawa characterized it.
This paper identifies the weakness of this view, which merely applies to Chinese Buddhist history the now discredited "two-tier" folk/elite model formerly used in interpreting Christian history. The paper challenges the old model's operating assumption that the adaptation of Buddhist symbols, ideas, and practice to new cultural environments should be seen primarily as a form of corruption and mutilation, and recognizes the dynamic role of cultural flexibility and adaptability in Mahayana Buddhism.
Based on research in the primary texts, the paper shows that the cult of the Laughing Buddha co-existed with other forms of Maitreya cults in Chinese history, and did not oppose or supplant them, as the standard interpretation assumes. Through a comprehensive examination of the historical figure Budai-the prototype of the Laughing Buddha-the paper argues that the cult of the Laughing Buddha embodies a radically different understanding of the Maitreya myth. The fact that the rise of the cult of the Laughing Buddha was intimately associated with the spread of Chan Buddhism, is clear evidence of the interprenetration of the "elite" Buddhism of the Chan people and the "folk" Buddhism of the ordinary Chinese.
T'ai-chou School and the Popularization of Tao-hsueh: A Religious
Perspective
Yu-Yin Cheng, University of California, Davis
Historians of the late Ming period have noticed the important relationship between the rise of religious pluralism and the T'ai-chou school-a school which believed that everyone, regardless of social background, is potentially a sage and able to comprehend the meaning of the Tao. Nonetheless, there is yet no systematic study regarding how the school's religious belief evolved. By examining the thought and activities of four important T'ai-chou leaders including Wang Ken (1483-1541), the founder of the school, as well as Yen Chün (1504-96), Lo Ju-fang (1515-88), and Yang Ch'i-yuan (1547-99), who were Wang's disciples of the second to fourth generations, a four-stage religious development popularizing the Tao may be discerned.
(1) Wang Ken, the patriarch, went through a mystical experience at being a savior and adopted a religious mode of master-disciple transmission.
(2) Yen Chün initiated a seven-day cycle of meditation and special prayers to guide members to a vision of "control heaven."
(3) Lo Ju-fang further developed a set of religious ceremonies for the T'ai-chou congregation, and, moreover, integrated Buddhist reincarnation, Taoist spontaneity, and popular religious beliefs into his new formulation of a Confucian belief in "child-like conscience."
(4) Finally, the idea of unifying Three Teachings into One was proclaimed by Yang Ch'i-yuan.
Through these four stages, the T'ai-chou scholar-activists had much success in popularizing Tao-hsueh and transforming Neo-Confucian philosophy into a religious belief, centered on the ultimate concern of sagehood, to be attained by everyone.
Gesar of Ling: Tibetan Epic and the Panditry of the People
Robin Kornman, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
The Tibetan oral epic Gesar of Ling exists in over a hundred volumes of transcriptions of oral performances and original compositions. Because it is still performed and is still being composed. we can see precisely the way it embodies the culture of the Tibetans, Mongolians, and Chinese who still take it to be their own story. The edition I am translating mixes classical and folk verse, the classical verse probably coming from the Tibetan editor and the folk poetry from the songs of bards who sang it.
The folk poetry documents in rich detail the existence of a non-epic literature which embodies the non-literate learning of Tibetan lay people. This learning takes the form of myriad two-line aphorisms composed in parallel prose. Those who memorize these aphorisms and use them extensively in their conversation show forth a distinct and well-defined folk erudition. It is an entirely oral scholarship with no written previous text. The most interesting thing about these proverbs is that they are in a sort of code language and, like a code, they hide their meaning from the uninitiated: they make little sense to people who have not received them orally from the previous generation.
This is a study in paroemiography-the writing of proverbs and maxims. There is an ancient written tradition regarding Greek, Latin, and Slavic aphorisms, but in Central Asia and China we can still observe the full-blown operation of oral proverbs as the panditry of the people.