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Buddhism and Buddhists in China

Chapter 1: BUDDHISM AND BUDDHISTS IN CHINA
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About This Book

The work traces Buddhism's arrival and adaptation in China, surveying its institutional growth, integration with ancestor worship, and interactions with Taoist and Confucian ideas. It examines monastic influence on rural life, family practices including devotion to Kuan Yin and funerary rituals, social expressions such as vegetarian sects and pilgrimages, and doctrines about purgatory, heaven, and nirvana. Chapters analyze spiritual values and paths to salvation for different social strata, recent developments in monastic reconstruction and lay organizations, and the stance of Tibetan lamas. A concluding section outlines how Christians might engage with Buddhists, followed by study aids and a brief bibliography.

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Title: Buddhism and Buddhists in China

Author: Lewis Hodous

Release date: June 1, 2005 [eBook #8390]
Most recently updated: January 22, 2023

Language: English

Credits: Lee Dawei, V-M Osterman and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BUDDHISM AND BUDDHISTS IN CHINA ***

BUDDHISM AND BUDDHISTS IN CHINA

by LEWIS HODOUS, D.D.


Contents

PREFACE
CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY
CHAPTER II. THE ENTRANCE OF BUDDHISM INTO CHINA
CHAPTER III. THE ESTABLISHMENT OF BUDDHISM AS THE PREDOMINATING RELIGION OF CHINA
    1. The World of Invisible Spirits
    2. The Universal Sense of Ancestor Control
    3. Degenerate Taoism
    4. The Organizing Value of Confucianism
    5. Buddhism an Inclusive Religion
CHAPTER IV. BUDDHISM AND THE PEASANT
    1. The Monastery of Kushan
    2. Monasteries Control Fêng-shui
    3. Prayer for Rain
        (a) The altar
        (b) The prayer service
        (c) Its Meaning
    4. Monasteries are Supported because They Control Fêng-shui
CHAPTER V. BUDDHISM AND THE FAMILY
    1. Kuan Yin, the Giver of Children and Protector of Women
    2. Kuan Yin, the Model of Local Mother-Goddesses
    3. Exhortations on Family Virtues
    4. Services for the Dead
CHAPTER VI. BUDDHISM AND SOCIAL LIFE
    1. How the Laity is Trained in Buddhist Ideas
    2. Effect of Ideals of Mercy and Universal Love
    3. Relation to Confucian Ideal
    4. The Embodiment of Buddhist Ideals in the Vegetarian Sects
    5. Pilgrimages
CHAPTER VII. BUDDHISM AND THE FUTURE LIFE
    1. The Buddhist Purgatory
    2. Its Social Value
    3. The Buddhist Heaven
    4. The Harmonization of These Ideas with Ancestor Worship
CHAPTER VIII. THE SPIRITUAL VALUES EMPHASIZED BY BUDDHISM IN CHINA
    1. The Threefold Classification of Men under Buddhism
    2. Salvation for the Common Man
    3. The Place of Faith
    4. Salvation of the Second Class
    5. Salvation for the Highest Class
    6. Heaven and Purgatory
    7. Sin
    8. Nirvana
    9. The Philosophical Background
    10. What Buddhism Has to Give
CHAPTER IX. PRESENT-DAY BUDDHISM
    1. Periods of Buddhist History
    2. The Progress of the Last Twenty-five Years
    3. Present Activities
        (a) The reconstruction of monasteries
        (b) Accessions
        (c) Publications
        (d) Lectures
        (e) Buddhist societies
        (f) Signs of social ambition
    4. The Attitude of Tibetan Lamas
    5. The Buddhist World Versus the Christian World
CHAPTER X. THE CHRISTIAN APPROACH TO BUDDHISTS
    1. Questions which Buddhists Ask
    2. Knowledge and Sympathy
    3. Emphasis on the Æsthetic in Christianity
    4. Emphasis on the Mystical in Christianity
    5. Emphasis on the Social Elements in Christianity
    6. Emphasis on the Person of Jesus Christ
        (a) As a Historical Character
        (b) As the Revealer
        (c) As the Saviour
        (d) As the Eternal Son of God
    7. How Christianity Expresses Itself in Buddhist Minds
    8. Christianity’s Constructive Values
APPENDIX ONE, Hints for the Preliminary Study of Buddhism in China
APPENDIX TWO, A Brief Bibliography