Decline of Buddhism in China
Zhang, now known as Yin Shun, noticed that Buddhism in China was waning. The Buddhist scriptures, the lectures and teachings of the Buddha ought to be studied, understood, and above all practiced in daily life by Buddhists. But in China, the scriptures were nothing more than chanting materials for funerals.
In his hometown, monks only chanted sutras for the dead, while their major duty of expounding the Buddha's teachings to those who were still alive was completely ignored. The decline and lack of dedication of the contemporary Sangha worried young Yin Shun deeply. He, too, was overwhelmed with questions and doubts.
Furthermore, ruthless criticism and reprimands could be heard in society. "Buddhism ruins the country!" "Monks and nuns are useless!" "Abolish monasteries!" Derogatory slogans like these were shouted almost every day by some educated people.
This harsh critique made a strong impact on Yinshun. Was it true that the Buddha Dharma had become useless in dealing with people and events in the lives of the people? Yin Shun felt that Buddhism seemed to have been transformed into a paper bag flying in the sky of 2,500 years ago—it could easily be blown away in a gust of wind.
Read more about this topic: Yin Shun
Famous quotes containing the words decline of, decline, buddhism and/or china:
“The chief misery of the decline of the faculties, and a main cause of the irritability that often goes with it, is evidently the isolation, the lack of customary appreciation and influence, which only the rarest tact and thoughtfulness on the part of others can alleviate.”
—Charles Horton Cooley (1864–1929)
“Or else I thought her supernatural;
As though a sterner eye looked through her eye
On this foul world in its decline and fall,
On gangling stocks grown great, great stocks run dry,
Ancestral pearls all pitched into a sty,
Heroic reverie mocked by clown and knave....”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“A religion so cheerless, a philosophy so sorrowful, could never have succeeded with the masses of mankind if presented only as a system of metaphysics. Buddhism owed its success to its catholic spirit and its beautiful morality.”
—W. Winwood Reade (1838–1875)
“In a country where misery and want were the foundation of the social structure, famine was periodic, death from starvation common, disease pervasive, thievery normal, and graft and corruption taken for granted, the elimination of these conditions in Communist China is so striking that negative aspects of the new rule fade in relative importance.”
—Barbara Tuchman (1912–1989)