Daoism (Dao Jiao) as religion is generally regarded by intellectuals as a corruption of its essence as philosophy. Having evolved originally from a mystic search for truth, Daoism has gradually degenerated into practices of secular alchemy aiming to achieve the transformation of metals into gold, and to discover cures for diseases and formulae for longevity and secrets to immortality. The historical justification for this censorious view of Daoism as religion gone awry comes from Daoist movements such as Yellow Turbans Disturbance (Huangjin Huo). It is so labelled by the contemptuous Confucian establishment. Four and a half centuries before the founding of the Tang dynasty, beginning around the year 170, shortly before the final collapse of the Han dynasty (B.C. 206-220 A.D.), roaming bands of disaffected peasants mounted a decade-long disruption of the peace in the provinces. Eventually, in 184, exploiting aggravating dislocations caused by floods along lower Yellow River (Huanghe), a messianic mass movement of social revolution developed in areas between modern-day Shandong and Henan provinces. Historians call the movement Yellow Turbans Peasant Rebellion (Huangjing Minbian) because its peasant members identified themselves by wearing yellow turbans around their heads. It was the first major peasant revolt in Chinese history. The leader of Yellow Turbans Peasant Rebellion (Huangjin Minbian) was Zhang Jiao, chief patriarch of the Daoist sect of the Way of Celestial Peace (Taiping Dao). Zhang Jiao had been an unsuccessful candidate in keju (public examinations) for officialdom. While gathering herbal medicine in the mountainous wilderness, he allegedly met an old sage named South China Ancient Sage (Nanhua Laoxian) from whom he received the 3-volume Celestial Peace Methods (Taiping Yaoshe). A talented propagandist and messianic faith-healer, Zhang Jiao proclaimed himself pope of a new religion based on a synthesis of Huangdi (Yellow Emperor), primeval mythical sovereign, and a deified Laozi. Huangdi is the ritual appellation adopted by the first monarch in Chinese history, a man named Gongsun, allegedly born on the celestial star Xuanyuan. Legend has it that Huangdi established the first kingdom in history at Youxiong, around Zhengzhou, modern-day Henan province. During his reign, language, costume, architecture, money, measure, medicine and music were professedly invented. All Chinese consider themselves descendants of Huangdi. Huang (yellow) is the color of ripe wheat. The concept of yellow commands a mythical meaning in Chinese culture, signifying regality, prosperity and civilization, all symbolized by the color of golden harvest. The Yellow Turbans, with a theocratic organization of over 500,000 zealous cadres leading an army of 360,000 at the height of its influence in the year 184, were ruled with supreme power by Zhang Jiao and his two brothers. The three brothers, as the Trinity of Lords of Heaven, Earth and Men respectively, were supported by a hierarchy of militarized clergy. Communal living was practised with regular public confessions, mass participation in spiritual trances and orgiastic ceremonies in which men and women engaged in prolonged kisses to "balance their vital vapor (luoji)". Diseases were considered consequences of sin and were believed to be curable by healing amulets applied to affected parts of the body and therapeutic charms worn around the neck or waist. The Yellow Turbans Rebellion was finally suppressed by renegade army commanders of the falling Han dynasty who became independent warlords that kept China fragmented for three more centuries, since 220, before Yang Jian reunited the country by founding the Sui dynasty in 581. Martin Luther (1483-1546), in placing theological protest under the protection of secular power politics, would exploit the political aspirations of budding German principalities in the sixteenth century. In return, he would conveniently provide the German princes with a theological basis for political secession from the theocratic Holy Roman Empire. In like manner, Buddhism (Fo Jiao) in China provided the petty kingdoms that had sprung up during the dissolution of the Han empire four centuries before the birth of Wu Zhao, since the year 220, with a convenient theology for transition from ancient feudalism under a centralized authority to a fragmented political order of independent regional sovereign states. Analogous to the rise of European nationalism which would be a facilitating vehicle for the religious movement known as the Reformation which in turn would give birth to Protestant national states as political by-products, the fall of the Han dynasty (B.C. 206-220 A.D.) had not been independent of the growth of Buddhism in China. In fact, recurring official persecution of Buddhism in China throughout history has been motivated by the religion's persistent involvement in secular dissident politics. The corrupt impact of Buddhist politics on the ruling authority was deemed responsible for the tragic fate of the disintegrated Han dynasty. Luther would exploit the political aspirations of German princes to be independent of the Holy Roman Emperor to bolster his theological revolt from the Roman Catholic Church. But he would come to denounce peasant rebellions when the peasants would rebel against the same Protestant German princes. He would do so even though such peasant uprisings against the German princes would claim inspiration from the same theological ideas of the Reformation that had motivated the revolt against the Holy Roman Emperor by the same German princes for independence. Such radical ideas had been advocated by Luther. However, even Luther's professed personal sympathy for peasant demands for improved treatment from their oppressive princes would not persuade him to endorse peasant uprisings. In fact, Luther could be considered a Stalinist. Or more accurately, Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (1879-1953) would in fact fit the definition of a Lutheran diehard, at least in revolutionary strategy if not in ideological essence. Like Luther, Stalin would suppress populist radicalism to preserve institutional revolution, and would glorify the state as the sole legitimate expeditor of revolutionary ideology. Early Protestantism, like Stalinism, would become more oppressive and intolerant than the system it would replace. Ironically, puritanical Protestant ethics celebrating the virtues of thrift, industry, sobriety and responsibility, would be identified by many sociologists as the driving force centuries later behind the success of modern capitalism and industrialized economy. Particularly, ethics as espoused by Calvinism which in its extreme would advocate subordination of the state to the Church, diverging from Luther's view of the state to which the Church is subordinate, would be ironically credited as the spirit behind the emergence of the modern Western industrial state. Early Buddhism, after its initial grass-root political successes in Tang China, would adopt similar Stalinist postures against further social revolution in following centuries, and it would always stop pragmatically short of demanding subordination of the state to religion.
Unlike Christianity in medieval Europe, Buddhism (Fo Jiao) in China would not seek to establish a central ecclesiastical authority, nor would it seek direct temporal power. Over its long history, Chinese Buddhism would develop into ten major separate schools of complex, subtle and frequently esoteric differences. Unavoidably, even centuries before early Tang time (618-907), Buddhism has become engulfed in the protracted political contest between guizu (the aristocracy) and the dragon throne. After the break-up of the reunified empire of the Han dynasty (B.C. 206-220 A.D.), Buddhism also became intricately enmeshed in the cultural conflict between Northern and Southern social systems in the fragmented political landscape of the era of North-South Dynasties (Nan-Bei Chao 420-589). By taking sides in politics to facilitate its own ecclesiastical expansion, Buddhism has allowed itself to be used in underpinning opposing political ideologies and in serving the interests of ambitious rulers and secular special interest groups. By Tang time, Buddhism had become irretrievable entangled, albeit unwittingly and reluctantly, in the escalating power struggle between an increasingly powerful huangdi (emperor) and a declining guizu.
Near Luoyang, sixty-five kilometers southeast, in Songshan, epicenter of Chinese Buddhist geo-cosmology, is situated the legendary Shaolin Si (Young Forest Temple). Shaolin Si is the birthplace of Chan Buddhism (Zen in Japanese) and the epic cradle of Chinese martial arts. The warring skills of the sengs of Shaolin Si has been famous since the 4th century and would remain so up to modern time 16 centuries later. Even in modern time, tourists from the world over would flock to this monastery to visit this center of wushu, the martial arts known popularly as gongfu. Shaolinquan (Young Forest Style Boxing) is the illustrious style of martial arts which traces its origin to Shaolin Si at the time of its founding. Shaolin Si (Young Forest Temple) was founded by an Indian prince of Persian-Samarkand root named Boddhidharma (D'amo in Chinese) during the Bei Wei dynasty (Northern Wei 386-534) in the fourth century. Boddhidharma was the founder of a sect (zong) of Buddhism known as Chan, later known as Zen Buddhism in Japan and the West.
Chan (Zen) is a Chinese transfiguration of the Sanskrit word dhyana meaning contemplation for truth, while Zen is its Japanese pronunciation and Yoga is its equivalent in Sanskrit. Chan precepts assert that intellectual effort, good work, performance of rituals and other traditional Buddhist practices are not only of little inherent merit but also are often hindrances to the quest for true insight into the enlightened meaning of reality. Spiritual salvation can only be found by introspective inquiries into one's inner soul. Purity surpasses all. After its import to China from India through the arrival of its founder, an Indian prince named Boddhidharma (Da'mo), during the Bei'wei dynasty (Northern Wei 386-534), who established a sect at Young Forest Temple (Xiaolin Si) at Songshan, 65 kilometers southeast of Luoyang, Chan Buddhism in Tang China derived an anti-scholastic, anti-textual and anti-exegetical bias from the mystic teachings of Daoism (Dao Jia Xuanxue).
Shortly after his death, Boddhidharma was reportedly seen in person at Mount Cong (Congling) of Songshan by Song Yun, an official of the court of Bei'wei. The disciples of Bodhidharma excavated their master's grave after the miraculous incident, only to find his discarded burial clothes but sans body. Something similar happened to a man named Jesus. Ascension to Heaven for the pure of soul while alive is an ancient notion in Daoist concepts, although ascension after death is more a Christian notion than a Daoist one. The Virgin Mary is declared by Pope Pius XII's 1950 bull Munificentissimus Deus, as an article of faith, to have been "assumed" directly into heaven in the body. Imperial Prince Jin, a Daoist holy prince, the pious son of Emperor Lin of the ancient Zhou dynasty (1027-256 B.C.) who ruled from 571 to 546 B.C., was reported to have ascended to Heaven before death, riding a white crane.
Chan (Zen) teaching stresses spontaneous oral instructions, Socratic in style, through the use of mystical paradoxes to reach beyond the rigid limits of deductive logic. It also derives from Daoist mystical teaching (Dao Jia Xuanxue) a love of nature and a preference for the rustic, ascetic life. Simplicity and purity are the highest goals of Chan spiritual attainment. The key concept in Chan philosophy is xu (void). Voidness is the fullest attainment from existence. Nothingness is all and all is nothingness: the ultimate nihilism. Chan Buddhism in time splits into the Northern and Southern Sects, headed respectively by Chenxiu and Hui'neng. Chenxiu and Hui'neng are both disciples of the late Master Hongren, the 5th patriarch after the founder of Chan Buddhism, Boddhidharma (Da'mo) of Songshan. The late Master Hongren was been an honor guest 72 years ago at the Full Month Feast of the new-born Wu Zhao, now known as the female Heaven Decreed Golden Wheel Holy Divine Emperor (Tiance Jinlun Shengshen Huangdi) of the new Zhou dynasty. When quizzed by the late Master Hongren at his deathbed, in a test to select the master's successor, about the extent of their respective enlightenment, Chenxiu, the master's protege, proclaimed that his enlightenment is comparable to the sacred banyan tree and his heart is as calm as an alter mirror. To his fellow monk's flowery assertion of having attained an immaculate state of xu (void), Hui'neng dispassionately proclaimed the famous counter-remark: "Fundamentally, there is no significance in the banyan tree; and there is no magic in a mirror. To be truly enlightened, these material things ought to have no meaning."
After the death of Master Hongren in 647, Chenxiu went south to Jingzhou, modern-day Hubei province, leaving their master's legacy at Young Forest Temple (Xiaolin Si) in Songshan to his more enlightened fellow seng (Buddhist monk). But Hui'neng, in keeping with true enlightenment, elected to retire further south with his counter-culture sect to Shaozhou, modern-day Hunan province, to shun the undesirable pollution of unsolicitated celebrity, thus becoming known as the Southern Sect (Nanzong). Headed by Chenxiu, the Northern Sect (Beizong), so named becaused Hui'neng's sect has gone further south, places emphasis on teachings and gradual, incremental enlightenment. By contrast, the Southern Sect, headed by Hui'neng, places emphasis on inspiration rather than teaching, and emphasizes insightful flashes in place of gradual understanding for attaining enlightenment. The Southern Sect would spread widely in subsequent centuries without organized evangelism. After Hui'neng, master of the Southern Sect (Nanzong), settles at Shao Mountain in Shaozhou, legend has it that all the wild tigers and leopards, which previously have roamed the wilderness and menaced the nearby population, miraculously disappear, causing his reputation of holiness to spread. Modern-day wildlife preservationists would not have found Hui'neng's achievements admirable. Chenxiu repeatedly petitions to invite Hui'neng to court, but the Master of the Southern Sect, true to his Chan (Zen) principles, declines each time. Chenxiu finally writes personally to Hui'neng to implore him to come to court, but Hui'neng continues to decline steadfastly and is reported to have said dispassionately to the messenger sent by Chenxiu: "My form is ugly. When the northern soil sees it, I am afraid no respect for my methods would be forthcoming. Besides, my master felt that the Southern Sect and I are of the same destiny. It should be not altered." Hui'neng would die without ever going north. The Southern Sect of Hui'neng would flourish in succeeding centuries while the Northern Sect of Chenxiu, despite imperial sponsorship, would wither into a minor, esoteric cult. The history of these 2 sects illustrates that glory is ephemeral while enlightenment endures. Hui'neng's Southern Sect would be later divided into Qingyuan (Pure Spring) and Nanyue (South Mount) movements. The Qingyuan movement would evolve into 3 branches, Cao'dong (Cave of Cao), Yunmen (Gate of Cloud) and Fayan (Method's Eye). The Nanyue movement would further evolve into 2 branches: Linji (Reach Charity) and Weiyang (Active Respect). Chan (Zen) Buddhism would be introduced to Japan by returning Japanese monks who would visit China, particularly Eisai (1141-1215) who would bring back the Linji sect (Rinzai in Japanese) in 1191, and his disciple Dogen (1200-1253) who would import the Cao'dong sect (Soto in Japanese) in 1277.
In Japan, Zen emphasis on personal character and discipline, combined with commitment on worldly activism, would become the spiritual ideals of the medieval Samurai class. Zen monasteries, such as those in Kyoto and Kamakura would become religious, intellectual and artistic centers. Zen Buddhism would be suppressed in Japan after the Meiji Restoration (1867-68), when nationalistic Shinto religious movements would officially be encouraged. Nevertheless, Zen Buddhism would remain in modern time the most popular Buddhist sect in Japan. General MacArthur would compel Emperor Hirohito to disavow divinity in the historic 1946 New Year rescript, temporarily dismantling the fundamental foundation of state Shintoism. The deification traditionally implied in the title of Heaven Emperor (Tianhuang), in use since the 7th century by all Japanese monarches, the same title originally used by the High Heritage Emperor (Gaozong) of the Tang dynasty of China, is permanently forsaken, though the use of the title itself is preserved. To many traditional Japanese, despite intellectual disavowal, the Heaven Emperor is still a godly figure, as the title literally suggests. MacArthur also would forbid occupied Japan to use public funds for the support of state Shintoism, which had been identified with Japanese militarism. In less than a decade after the defeat of Japan by the Allies, Shintoism would experience a revival in Japan, particularly in right wing politics, while Rinzai Zen (Linji Chan in Chinese) would gain considerable following in the United States since the Second World War, largely due to the devotion of returning Americans favorably exposed to the ascetic sect.
Chan (Zen) Buddhism would become influential in China only after the 10th century, together with the other popular Buddhist movement known as the Pure Land (Jingtu) sect, which would practise the invocation of the name of Amita Buddha (Emituofo) as an expression of the acceptance of fate and the rejection of futile secular anxiety. Amita Buddha (Emituofo) is the supreme master of a class of Mahayana deities who supposedly reside in the Western Paradise known as Jingtu (Pure Land). Along with other Mahayana sects, the Jingtu sect believes that any individual, if he or she devotes his or her life to doing good, can become a Boddhisattva, a deity worshiped in Mahayana Buddhism who, having achieved enlightenment, compassionately refrains from entering nirvana in order to save others. However, the Jingtu sect, with branches named Shandao (Good Way, Jodo in Japanese) and Ci'min (Merciful Union, Shin in Japanese), promises a heavenly salvation in Jingtu, the Western Paradise of Amita Buddha, for the devotee of unshakable faith which supersedes good works in importance. The true believer could even eat meat, indulge in sexual pleasure and maintain secular families without compromising their holiness, a practice condoned by the Japanese Shin sect for its priests in modern time. While in its most vigorous form, Jingtu Buddhism encompasses the ultra sophistication of the Daoist concept of the necessary function of temptation, the absence of which negates the possibility of virtue, it is also a concept most vulnerable to unprincipled abuse by those less than vigorous in piety and by outright charlatans. For while the ordeal of temptation may provide the opportunity to manifest commitment to holiness, the surrender to temptation itself cannot be proof of having achieved holiness.
Dostoyevsky (1812-1881) would assert in a fearful warning: "If God does not exist, everything is permitted." To that, Jingtu Buddhists would respond: "Only if God exists that everything is permitted." Voltaire is right: if God does not exist, both Dostoyevsky and the Jingtu Buddhists would have to invent him. The atheists' denial of the existence of God, maintained with equal disregard for rationality as their believer opponents, is not as dangerous as their corollary claim of God's irrelevance. Atheists would suffer the penalty of being the sure loser of Pascal's wager. Blaise Pascal (1632-1662), French mathematician, scientist, founder of the theory of probability, and religious philosopher, an anti-Jesuit Jansenite who, following Antoine Arnauld of the Sorbonne, would run afoul of the Church for his controversial predestinarianism. Pascal would argue that while the inadequacy of reason cannot resolve questions of divinity, it is safer to bet on the possibility of the existence of God, because the penalty for error would be minor and the reward of being right would be infinite. Believing in a non-existent God would do us no harm, and believing in an existent God would grant us the grace of Heaven. Conversely, denying a non-existing God would win us nothing while denying an existent God would land us in Hell. One could argue, however, that believing in something not true is not harmless, and God, being omnipotent and all knowing, would sympathize with an intelligent man's honest obligation to reject blind faith, and would discount a calculating faith based on opportunism. So a Cartesian doubt appears an intelligent option for an unknowable question. It would lead Rene Descartes (1596-1650) to his famous conclusion: cogito ergo sum (I think, therefore I am), which proves the existence of the thinking mind but leaves the question of God not satisfactorily answered. Descartes would invert the Aquinas claim made 3 centuries earlier that the experience of God is implied by the general facts of the universe, by claiming that these facts could not be known without a knowledge of God. The less than satisfactory assertions of both Aquinas and Descartes would issue an invitation 2 centuries later to agnosticism, a term coined by Thomas Henry Huxley (1825-1895), English biologist and educator. Aspects of agnosticsm are in fact classic Daoist prepositions, certainly the parts concerning doubts, if not the parts placing faith in rational inquery and scientific methods. Thomas Huxley, grandfather of Adous Huxley (1894-1963) of Brave New World fame, would doubt all things not immediately open to logical analysis and scientific verification, and held up truth as an ideal state, scientific methods as the tools of truth and evolution as the fruit of truth. Ironically, Adous, the grandson of Thomas, after 3 generations of conspicuous Huxleyan scientific piety, would write an earth-shaking novel on the horrors and futility of scientific progress. The Daoist notion of life going in full circles is once again demonstrated in the Huxley saga.
Confucian scholars throughout the ages would remain ambivalent towards Chan (Zen) Buddhism. Liu Zongyuan (773-819), the neo-Confucian author of a classic apology for feudalism entitled: Discourse on Feudalism (Fengjian Lun), would compose a famous poem entitled: Studying Chan Sutra (Du Chan Jing), expressing his skepticism of Chan mysticism and his admiration for Daoist enlightenment (translated by HCKL):
"Drawing from a well to rinse cold chattering teeth,
With a pure-hearted casting off secular trappings;
Leisurely holding the Buddhist sutra,
Pacing from the east den for studying.
The fundamental truth not being understood,
Absurd claims become society's pursuits;
Wishing for depth from past writings,
Can nature be affected by memorizing?
The garden of the Daoist is placid,
Green moss links verdant bamboo;
The sun pierces through the morning mist,
The green firs appear coated with ointment,
Insipidly hard to verbalize,
Sanguine perception replenish a heart self-gratified."
Sorry, I have to stop now. Its getting too long even for me. I have something to say about Confucianism as well, but it will have to be another posting, assuming someone is interested.
Henry C.K. Liu