Reflections Before the Buddha (Excerpt)

By Eryue He

Trans. by Han Ziman（韩子满）

Read a Chinese history book, and you will find something interesting, i.e., Buddhism seems to have always come along with poetry. Which came earlier, or whether they prospered one after another, no one knows. But one thing is for sure. They have flourished together, and so have they declined. It was so in the Han and Tang dynasties, and almost so in the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties.

There is something else also interesting in the world: religions tend to leave where they were founded. Saints founding religions were either ostracized by their own country-folks, or repeatedly rejected. Sakyamuni, founder of Buddhism, was luckier, but India failed to retain the religion in its homeland. It went over to China.

It is said that Shaolin Temple shot to fame thanks to the movie of its namesake. There is only half truth in such a claim. I am of the view that the root cause of the temple’s prosperity is its own cultural tradition.

Shaolin Temple became well known not because of Zen worshipped there, but the Kung Fu practiced by its monks. Most visitors to the temple would have a look at the pits left by monks practicing their Kung Fu; only book worms would be lost in thinking before the Lixue Pavilion. But the monks’ Kung Fu was very powerful, their fists very hard. It is recorded in history, and in some paintings as well, that thirteen Shaolin monks who were cudgel masters once saved the life of Li Shimin, who later became one of the greatest emperors of the Tang Dynasty. Such a great feat ensured full support for Buddhism from the central government, and the religion became even more influential. We now know that the great monk Xuanzang went to India for Buddhist sutrasin secret without the government knowing it, but was received with an extravagant ceremony by the government on his return. Before that, many government ministers thought that Buddhism should be banned, or it should not get any official favor. But as the table turned, the two (Buddhism and the government) got closer and closer, showing the good cultural taste and tolerance of the Tang government. Two cultures finally joined hands after repeated misunderstandings and compromises.

Such a union resulted in numerous imposing and spectacular temples, and as if predestined the beautiful and immaculate Tang poetry, as another part of the culture, came into being at the same time.

I love such a fascinating culture.