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Dhyana Buddhism in China, Its History and Teaching PDF

234 Pages·1960·14.078 MB·English
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BY THE SAME AUTHOR A. In Englisk 1. The History of Chinese Buddhism, 2. The History of Chinese Culture, 3. Modern History of China, 4 Political Thought of China, 5. Buddhism and the Chan School^ 6. Commentary on Formless Gatha3 7. su : His Life & Teachings. B. In e 雄 1. General History of Indio^ 2. Vedanta Philosophy9 3. Studies on Bhagaval'GUa, 4. light of Truth (Translation of Swami Dayananda’s book). 5. Newly Born India, 6. Personalities of Indian Independence and their Ideological Background, C In Hindi 1. Chin Buddha-Dharma Ka ttihas. (All Rights Reserved) Price: Rs. 10|- Foreign $ 2|50; Sh. 15|- Published by Chou Sinxning for Indo-Chinese Literature Publications & Printed by The Leader Press, Allahabad. Dedicated To My Gurudeva H. H. Shri Swami Sivananda On. the occasion of his seventy-fourth birthday at Yoga-Yedanta Forest University Rishikesh, Himalayas, India September 8th 1960 SRI SWAMI SIVANANADA Born on the Sth September, 1857, in the illustrious family of Sage Appayya Deekshita and several other re­ nowned saints and savants, Sri Swami Sivananda had a natural flair for a life devoted to the study and practice of Vedanta, Added to this was an inborn eagerness to serve all and innate feeling of unity with all mankind. Though born in an orthodox family, Swazniji was broad-minded and catholic, pious and devout. His passion for service drew him to the medical career; and soon he gravitated to those parts ol the world which most needed his service. Malaya claimed him. He had also commenced editing a Health Journal and wrote exten­ sively on health problems. He (Uscovered that people needed right knowledge most of all dissemination of that knowledge he espoused as his own mission. It was divine dispensation and the blessing of God upon mankind that the doctor of body and mind, renounced fus career and took to a life of renunciation to qualify himself for ministering to the soul of man. He settled down at Rishikesh in 1924, practised intense austerities and shone as a great Yogi, saint, sage and Jeevanmukta. In 1932 he started the. Sivanandashram. In 1936 was born the Divine Life Society. In 1948 the Yoga Vedanta Forest University was organised. Dissemination of spiritual knowledge and training of people in Yoga and Vedanta were their aim and object. In 1950 he undertook a lights ning tour of India. In 1953 he convened the World Parlia­ ment of Religions. He is the author of over 300 volumes and has disciples all over the world, belonging to all nationalities, religions and creeds. To read his works is to drink at the Fountain of Wisdom Supreme and grovr, spiritually to be immortal and eternally peaceful and bliss­ ful. FOREWORM In a world distraught with ideological conflicts, doctri­ naire materialism and swamping of individual ]iberty by monolithic party apparatuses to uphold the omnipotence of the state,it is indeed heartening to note the sincere and humble efforts of a few individuals here and there, the field of propagating spiritual values and promoting mutual understanding among the peoples and t&e nations of the World. Dr. Chou Hsiang-Kuangp who is already the author oi some excellent works on the Chinese philosophical lore, deserves the appreciation and congratulation of the public for having given them another authoritative work on a very fascinating subject, which has lately been holding the attention of the new generation in Western Europe and America,namely,Dhyana (otherwise called Zen) Buddh­ ism. * It is a great irony of history that the relationship be­ tween the two largest nations of the world, which had contributed to the growth of each other's culture in diffe­ rent degrees in Hie past, should come under the distaal cloud of suspicion, animosity and tension,, at a time when there is so much need in this world for a relaxation of cold war and alleviating of the pernicious disease of hatred aiid distrust, of aggression and deceit. Since the early centuries of the Christian era, India and China had exchanged scholars and emissaries of spiri­ tual tradition for hundreds of years. Seekers of truth from China had continually traversed the vast stretches of land and oceans to come to Indian universities and imbibe the spirit of that great religion of universal compassion and amity,Buddhism,to carry back to their country and dis­ seminate there its precious lore, and, likewise, many an Indian scholar and saintly personality had travelled to China to offer to the people there the cream of their leam- ing and spiritual experience, and, while adopting that region as their own home and its people as their kith and kin, they left an indelible impress in the fabric of Chinese thought. Though now working outside his own homeland, Dr. Chou is among few of those who strive to preserve the spiritual and cultural link of these two countries, through dlssiminating the precious elements in the religious and philosophical systems of ancient China. For this he is doubly competent, not only because he is a scholar of the Chinese literature in his own right, but is one of those rare emi­ grants who have deeply imbibed the spirit of Indian tradi­ tion and he is held in warm affection by the people of this country for his great love of India and the Hindu religion in its essential purity. As a professor of Chinese studies in the Allahabad University, while it is his normal task to interpret the Chinese literature to Indian students, it will not be totally otit of context to say that in his own way he has been following in the footsteps of his great predecessors like Hsuan-Tsang and Fa-Hsienprimarily as a spiritual seeker. ’ ,It was a great Indian, Bodhidharma, who introduced D'hjyana Buddhism in China early in the sixth century A. D- His l^ankavatara Sutra is one of the immortal scriptures rahldng among the foremost in the philosophical literature of the world. Mystic and enigmatic in character, and re­ volutionary in spiritual perspective, Dhyana Buddhism has undoubtedly exerted a great influence on the moulding of the Chinese and also the Japanese thought, and, to some extent, left an impress on the characters of the people. Though Indian in origin, the Dhyana school, as such, is unfortunately not so well loiown in this country, except perhaps among the very small, scattered minority of Bud­ dhists and other scholars, but the principles enunciated by it do not altogether produce a strange symphony to the Hindu ear, in some respects, for Dhyana Buddhism was in­ deed an offspring of the ancient spiritual culture of this land. Its echo could easily be traced in the Avadhuta Gita iii batoeyhnf=習 s i^toasrlet找Jo hvndlvea nxludyalol1 afesurfrtaltiodladaes t^s aasdhmsDeegtllroteoen deacarop?! otTllutrgiopite f-nohn teshpo= r re drlriilttec odllyosuil l o.fa tbehlIhd th. l selusg Mtahned Hailnsod uit sseoeur,ng Ddsawl natsttarta rneygae,l yM hcitanh atuknasey awpiatrnh is athide ; te“aPure and : immaculate is tihe natureH of all rsentient t hings. !From the very beginning lthep re is no birth, no death. This body, this mind, phantom -creations they are, and in phantom creations there are neither sins nor merits.” E l k As is the cas e with the Vedanta, only a few could truly imbibe Hie spirit of the Dhyana doctrine and exemplify its c ; spiritual grandeur in practical ilife. It is only those who have completely mastered their lower nature and purified their hearts through the practice of virtues, that can fructify their meditation on the abstruse, mystic Dhyana principles and be thieir true practitioners1. Dhyana demands an extra­ ordinary inner strength, a gigantic will, and absolute self­ discipline. Of course, it is needless to say that just because some bohemians or beatniks thi nk themselves to be intel­ lectually Zen Buddhists by superficially hugging some oi its doctrines, it does not qualify themselves so. When the Dhyana school was founded in China by Bodhidharma, he intended it to serve as a special spiritual bequeathal by the teacher to the disciple who has already prepared himself for the reception of this divine transmis­ sion,—as something directly based on any scripture or upon the words of any saint or prophet outside its purview, but imbibable only tiirough deep inquiry into the nature of one’s own inner mind, the soul within. The following teaching of Bodhidharma to one of his two principSl disciples, who had done so much to foster the gospel of their master, Hui K*o, is true for all times to

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