(49) A reliably factual representation of the history of Buddhism in China is apt to bring to light the fact that it was “the traditional etiquette-oriented culture” which originated in regions inhabited by the Han-nationality in China under the Qin Dynasty and the later dynasties that took the initiative in eagerly imbibing and assimilating Indian Buddhism and Indian Buddhist culture. It is precisely due to the traditional Chinese etiquette-oriented culture’s active assimilation of Indian Buddhist culture that Chinese Buddhism which is a hybrid of traditional Chinese culture and Indian Buddhist culture was created. Therefore the emergence and survival of Chinese Buddhism is an amplification and extension of traditional Chinese culture. Therefore it is only proper to aver that although embellished with quaint features of Indian Buddhist culture, the essence of Chinese Buddhism remains an enriched legitimate derivative from traditional Chinese etiquette-oriented culture which did flourish in China’s very ancient days. In most of the large monasteries and temples of Chinese Buddhism or Taoism in China proper is kept almost intact the quintessence of traditional Chinese etiquette-oriented culture. Votaries living in such monasteries or temples are inheritors of the quintessence. The everyday routine observed in and the way of life going on in such a monastery or temple embodies the quintessence. And the quintessence governs all sorts of interpersonal relationship in such a monastery or temple. Even the diet, cuisine, and apparel in any of such monasteries or temples are all under the jurisdiction of the quintessence, not to say the martial-arts training, everyday worshipping rites, etc. Thus the quintessence not only normalizes the behavior of any of such votaries but conditions their outlook. Such votaries are not only practitioners of self-cultivation but also inheritors of traditional Chinese etiquette-oriented culture. This differentiates Chinese Buddhism and Taoism from Islam and Christianity. As Chinese Buddhism is capable of functioning as an inheritor of traditional Chinese etiquette-oriented culture and also as a mollifier of civil unrest in China, it is not only possible but obligatory for Chinese Buddhism to play an important role in helping the Central Government with molding China into a socialist country thriving on its nationwide harmony.
(32) According to Buddhism, so long as an individual would cling to a sound outlook on life and see the world from the perspective of a Buddhism-conditioned mental horizon, he or she can be always in the right frame of mind to treat everyday occurrences rationally and to act reasonably. As a result he or she would not be exasperated by afflictions or tormented by sorrow. A great number of the lay people tend to consume their lives either by wasting their time and energy in striving to capture goals that are completely unattainable or by following some wrong methods in pursuing their goals. Thus they are bound to be frustrated and may even go forlorn and desperate. The origin of their failures is in their wrong outlook on life. Although some people can be very successful in bringing their careers to the acme of overwhelming splendor, yet they may not be smart enough to avert the intrusion, upon their awareness, of saddening ennui and unanchoredness in the private hours of their life. However there are those who, though earning their honest livelihood by doing very humble jobs, can enjoy a very meaningful life. That is why Buddhism would hold that to attain enlightenment necessitates neither a monastic life nor a dignified occupation. Carrying on self-cultivation has nothing to do with a practitioner’s trade or occupation, so long as he or she would sincerely and diligently fulfill his or her obligations and responsibilities to benefit others. Dutifulness and sense of responsibility on the part of an individual indicate that he or she has owned the right and mature outlook on life.
(25) I reckon the most valuable service Buddhism and all the Buddhist institutions in our country have provided to our contemporary society can probably be summarized as follows: Buddhist votaries have been exerting to the utmost for imparting to the people the awareness that, as a human being, an individual ♦ needs to have his or her own right and mature outlook, ♦must have faith in the expectation that he or she can broaden his or her mental horizon, and ♦must have the firm belief that the world will change for the better. This service rendered by Buddhism is of fundamental importance. A clarion call to action, which is very popular with Buddhist votaries, is that “do everything in your power to purify the social life and do everything in your power to purify every individual’s life”. The clarion call is thoroughly at one with the awareness Buddhist votaries have been exerting to the utmost to impart to the people. In history, generations of Buddhist votaries have been carrying on the aforesaid clarion call with determination, while pushing on with their own self-cultivation schemes. If an individual lives without a decent and mature outlook, he or she would have no respect for anything. In that case he or she would be capable of anything because he or she would not harbor a fear of anything. According to Buddhism, such an individual would be inevitably condemned to suffer in “the three evil paths” in his or her afterlife. A decent and mature outlook is the prerequisite for a righteous life. An individual with decent and mature outlook knows whom to venerate and what to fear. In that case he or she would be able to hold in check the evil in him or her. A legal religion can function to instill the decent outlook into an individual. All the activities of a religion are intended for instilling the momentum for exercising self-control into an individual. All the activities of Buddhism are no exception.
(19) In the past decades the best part of our monastic life included only the three types of religious activities which were <1> performing sitting meditation, <2> conducting the practice of “koan”, and <3> fulfilling buddha-karya (Buddha-work). The three are all traditional dharma-gates. However from what I have learned from my personal experience in the past twenty years, I should like to point out that pursuing one’s self-cultivation in the milieu of everyday life in the mundane world can be established as a very reliable and down-to-earth mode suitable for carrying on Chan-oriented self-cultivation. And such a mode of self-cultivation is especially conducive to amplifying the already-secured accomplishments of such practitioners as have already succeeded in consolidating, in their psyches, their acquisition of full compliance with sila and vinaya, of Samadhis, and of prajna. According to some Buddhist Scriptures, all life-improving undertakings belong in the category of Buddha-work. Buddhism calls on all Buddhist votaries to evolve their self-cultivation programs not only in the milieu which is in the mundane world but in the context of their everyday life. Moreover to conduct self-cultivation in the milieu which is in the mundane world can yield the extra benefit of cultivating in a Buddhist votary the initiative to establish or strengthen close contacts with the masses. Although a practitioner needs to have the spiritual momentum that motivates him or her to feel a deep-seated aversion to the mundane life, yet he or she should have the verve to join the mundane life and to identify himself or herself with the masses in the drive to further the cause of Buddhism. As a matter of fact, to have a practitioner to identify himself or herself with the masses in the drive to further the cause of Buddhism is a practice completely in line with the long-established tradition of the Buddhist Chan Order. In the last decade or so there emerged in Buddhist circles in mainland China a religious movement aimed at establishing in China a new Buddhist sect bearing the name of “the Sect of Secularized Buddhism”. The Chan proposition that calls upon all practitioners to identify themselves with the masses is theologically in agreement with the doctrine that gave birth to the aforesaid religious movement pushing for the establishment of “the Sect of Secularized Buddhism” in China. Being kept aloof for a long time from the mainstream of everyday life, or completely isolated from the mainstream of everyday life, a practitioner is apt to stray away from the right path of self-cultivation or can hardly consolidate the progress made by him in his or her self-cultivation career. The failure in self-cultivation befalling even if only one practitioner would inevitably bear adversely upon the cause of Buddhism in China as a whole.
(12) Buddhism is a religion but not a field of academic study. Trying to convert Buddhism into an academic subject would, in the last analysis, emasculate Buddhism. Such an emasculation—if there were someone really desiring to impose it on Buddhism—is sure to kill Buddhism and, at the same time, to fatally harm the public.
(44) The philosophic kernel of Buddhism, as an element bearing significantly on Chinese culture, is completely in line with the concept underpinning the call by the Central Government to make Chinese society harmonious. Therefore Chinese Buddhism is going to play an important role in the government’s campaign to create a harmonious society in China.
