The strain of the religion that spread throughout China is known as Mahayana Buddhism, sometimes called Greater Vehicle Buddhism, as opposed to Theravada, or Lesser Vehicle Buddhism, which took root in Southeast Asia. While the latter emphasizes that individuals can reach enlightenment primarily through becoming monks or nuns and devoting their lives to contemplation and other Buddhist practices, the Mahayana school offers the hope of universal salvation—that anyone can achieve salvation through faith and devotion to a Buddha.
Over the centuries, as the hundreds of Buddhist sutras were translated from Sanskrit into Chinese, various groups focused on different scriptures and interpreted them along different lines. This led to the development of dozens of Buddhist sects throughout China.
All of these sects, however, share some basic philosophies. These include the belief that everything in the universe exists or takes place because of a unique combination of conditions or indirect causes. For example, the fact that this article came into existence and is now being read is the result of numerous conditions—including the circumstances of the writer’s life, education, and work experience, the decisions of the editor, and the interests of the reader, to name just a few. Only when all such conditions match in a specific way does a certain result occur. Had anyone condition been different, say had the reader never heard of this magazine, the result would have been different.
This idea of an infinitely changeable and uncertain reality leads to the Buddhist concept that all worldly existence is empty, or without tangible substance. Only those who are able to clearly see this “emptiness,” (also called the Void), can free themselves from the material world and the suffering inherent in it. This is the state of spiritual enlightenment. At this point, they can go on to escape the cycle of reincarnation and proceed to nirvana, or Buddhahood. All beings are capable of eventually reaching this state—in effect, anyone can and eventually will become a Buddha. Enlightenment can be achieved through various means, according to different sects of Buddhism—including studying sutras, meditating, repeating the name of a Buddha, or doing good deeds.
One reason that Buddhism gained such widespread acceptance in China was its similarities with certain beliefs already predominant in the culture, particularly of Taoism. The universal possibility of attaining Buddhahood, for example, is compatible with the Taoist idea that any ordinary human being, using certain practices such as meditation, can become an “Immortal.”
The non-exclusive nature of Buddhism also helped to build acceptance in China. Wherever it has spread, Buddhism has never denied followers the choice to continue other religious practices. They would still be considered Buddhists as long as they believed in the basic tenets of the religion. Chinese, for example, could continue to worship Taoist gods or folk deities, such as the God of Wealth or the Kitchen God, or continue to practice the traditions of ancestor worship and still be faithful Buddhists.
After immigrants from China brought Buddhism to Taiwan in the late 16th century, it continued to co-exist—and often mingle—with other belief systems. Even today, many temples house statues of Buddhist images along with Taoist and other gods, and many templegoers make little distinction among them. They have also adapted many essentially Taoist practices, such as burning spirit money. While scholars refer to this as a “popular” or “folk” form of the religion, its adherents would not usually be excluded by more orthodox followers from the Buddhist fold.
The growth of Buddhism in recent years in Taiwan has been accompanied by a rise in orthodox followers—those who do not simply take part in worship rituals, but who study the teachings of the religion, largely exclusive of Taoist and other practices. Among these, a growing number of people—although still only about 8 percent of all Buddhists—have undergone a ceremony known as “kuei-yi,” in which they become a formal Buddhist follower under the guidance of a specific monk or nun. Many others simply practice according to their own path.
As in Mainland China, Buddhism developed into two major schools in Taiwan, the Pure Land sect and the Chan, or Zen, sect—although a number of smaller schools can also be found. These were also influenced by similar schools of Japanese Buddhism (which also originated in China) during the Japanese occupation of the island in the early 20th century.
The Pure Land sect, the most prevalent in Taiwan, is devoted to the worship of Amitabha, the Buddha of Long Life. The sutras setting forth the career of Amitabha, which made their appearance in India sometime before the 1st century, tell of a Buddha who is characterized by great compassion and whose paradise, the “Pure Land of the West,” is vividly described. This Buddha vowed to bring salvation to anyone who calls his name in sincere faith. Followers thus pray, sometimes using a string of beads, by repeating “namu Amitabha,” meaning essentially, “I pay homage to Amitabha.” Closely associated with Amitabha is Kuanyin, popularly worshiped as a female deity (the Goddess of Mercy), who is a bodhisattva, an enlightened being who has chosen to remain in the material world to help others achieve enlightenment.
The Zen sect adheres to the belief that the teachings of Buddhism can only be understood intuitively. They cannot be grasped through intellectual analysis or rational thinking, which in fact are detrimental to eventual enlightenment, as they only help one to comprehend the finite world. Zen is thus based primarily on the discipline of meditation, which is an intuitive search for the Buddha nature within oneself.
But just as Buddhism does not exclude other religious practices, the various sects are not exclusivistic in their attitudes toward each other. Many believers—even monks and nuns—do not make clear distinctions between the various schools. Some even think it is beneficial to study the ideas of different sects. In fact, while most of the popular masters who are attracting followers today can be considered essentially Zen in their orientation, they often incorporate practices of the Pure Land or other sects, creating in a sense their own unique variety of Buddhism. Still, following the teachings of one master or another is seen as simply a matter of following different roads to the same destination. -Jim Hwang