ABSTRACT
One of the greatest wonders in the history of world civilization perhaps is the meeting of Buddhism from India with distinctive and advanced Chinese culture represented by Confucianism and Daoism in China in the turn of the first century ce, and thus creating a rich and multihued culture neither the same nor different from the predecessors. Once Buddhism entered China it vigorously sought matching up with Chinese culture through self-adjustment and self-modification willingly undergoing the process of Sinicization by actively absorbing ideas and practices from Confucianism and Daoism, which in return while resisting Buddhist infiltration, also readily adopted certain Buddhist doctrine and practice for self-enrichment. The phenomena of such mutual competition and reciprocal learning continued for more than a thousand years as they could still be seen in the later Ming dynasty (1368–1644). This chapter first briefly introduces the history of Chinese Buddhism and then examines major features of Chinese culture which were deeply influenced or rather shaped by Buddhism. Being aware of its long history of about 2,000 years and its massive contents, the introduction and examination will be concise; only important events and major culture features will be highlighted here. Nevertheless, for the sake of better understanding of Chinese Buddhism in general it is indeed necessary to provide a succinct background of Buddhism in India.
