Ancient Chinese Philosophy and Religion.pptVIP

One Buddhist doctrine is that everything in the world is changing, transient (暂时的) and unreal. The cornerstone (基本观点) of Buddhist philosophy is the view that all life is suffering. The doctrine of Four Noble Truths (四谛): life is suffering, the cause of suffering is sin, sin can be exterminated, and suffering can be alleviated by the right path of understanding, meditation and endeavour (following the Eight Right Ways八正道). The Theory of Buddhism It is commonly believed that Buddhism was first introduced into China in the first century. During the Sui and Tang dynasties, Buddhism entered its golden age. Abundant Buddhist temples were built nationwide. In India Buddhism was declining at that time, so China became the center of the Buddhist world. Buddhism has always co-existed with Confucianism and Daoism. Buddhism in China Xuan Zang’s contribution to the development of Chinese Buddhism After many hardships, Xuan Zang finished his pilgrimage journey from Chang’an to India in order to study Buddhist classics and learn the Buddhist doctrines from Indian monk scholars. He returned with volumes of precious Buddhist scriptures, and together with many other monks and scholars. Xuan Zang devoted himself to translating the scriptures into Chinese. Xuan Zang’s achievements greatly promoted the development of Chinese Buddhism and enriched Chinese culture. Buddhist Temples Chinese Buddhist architecture includes pagodas, temples and grottos. Earlier Buddhist temples usually combined pagodas and a courtyard-style temple. Later they had a lot in common with the residences and palaces. They adopted the method of group combination with the courtyard as the centerpiece, which makes them different from the temples in India or other Buddhist countries. The First Buddhist temple—the White Horse Temple The White Horse Temple, located 21 kilometers east of the Luoyang City, Henan Province, was the first officially built Buddhist temple in China in the Eastern Han Dynasty. It was named