Filial piety in early buddhism

Buddhist scholars like Kenneth Ch’en thought that filial piety was a special feature of Chinese Buddhism. Later John Strong employed “popular Buddhist stories” to show that filial piety was also important in Indian Buddhism as well, but he asserted that it is “a Buddhist compromise with the Brahmanical ethics of filiality operating at the popular level”. On the other hand, Gregory Schopen, who mainly used Indian Buddhist epigraphical material in his research, pointed out the same idea but he could not find definite support from the early Buddhist textual sources. In this essay, from my investigation in the early Buddhist texts and analysis of the relevant passages it clearly shows that filial piety is one of the important aspects of the early Buddhist ethical teachings. Filial piety was practiced by the early Indian Buddhists (1) as a way of requiting for the debt to one’s parents, (2) as a chief ethical good action, and (3) as Dharma, the social order. And on this basis it also shows that the early Indian Buddhists practiced filial piety not as a “compromise with the Brahmanical ethics of filiality” but as an important virtue taught by the master.published_or_final_versio

Buddhist impact on Chinese Language

Conference Theme: Buddhism Without BordersThe Buddhist impact on Chinese language is enormous. This is mainly due to the translation and introduction of Buddhist scriptures from Sanskrit and other Indic languages. The translation of Buddhist scriptures lasted for more than a thousand years in China and there are about 173 known translators who had translated 1700 more scriptures in about 6000 more Chinese scrolls. As the Indian ways of thinking are different from Chinese, so their ways of expression are also different from Chinese. Therefore, the translators of Buddhist scriptures had to invent and introduce many new words in order to express the highly abstract ideas and concepts in Buddhism apart from finding similar words and concepts in Chinese language. Thus these new words and concepts gradually have been integrated into Chinese language and some of them even become part of their daily conversation. The translation of Buddhist scriptures in Sanskrit and other Indic languages greatly influenced the semantic and syntax of mediaeval Chinese as well as enriched the literary genres and rhetoric techniques. The Sanskrit phonetics brought along with Buddhist translation raised the awareness of Chinese people about phonetics in their own language. This triggered an unprecedented interest in linguistic studies, in particular the description and analysis of the phonetic values of Chinese characters. The result is the compilation of numerous rhyme dictionaries which are of great value for the reconstructions of the different stages of the phonetic systems of Middle Chinese.published_or_final_versio

An Enquiry into the Origin of the Mahasamghika Buddhology

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Maritime Transmission of the Monastic Order of Nuns to China

Conference Theme: New Paradigms on Humanities Computing: Linking Knowledge on Human ActivitiesSession: Buddhism 2This short paper is a study of the issues concerning the transmission of the proper Bhiksuni Ordination to China from Sri Lanka. It is reported in Baochang’s 寶唱 (467-534?) Biqiunizhuan (the Biography of Nuns) that an Indian merchant named Nanti 竺難提 came to China by ship in 429 from the sea route in the south. He brought together with him eleven Buddhist nuns to establish the dual ordination for Bhiksunis in China, but three died on the way and eight survived. However the requirement for such dual ordination ceremony is ten fully ordained nuns so the merchant Nanti was asked to go back and bring some more nuns for the purpose. As a result, the merchant Nanti again brought another three nuns headed by Devasara to China in 433. Thus the dual ordination for Bhiksunis was performed and the proper Buddhist Bhiksuni Order was established in China. This story demonstrates first the close relationship between merchants and Buddhism and without the help of merchants Buddhism might not be so successfully transmitted to other part of Asia. This is particularly true for the sea route from India to China. Second the importance of the maritime trade route from South Asia through South East Asia to China and Far East

Quantum correlation measure in arbitrary bipartite systems

A definition of quantum correlation is presented for an arbitrary bipartite quantum state based on the skew information. This definition not only inherits the good properties of skew information such as the contractivity and so on, but also is effective and almost analytically calculated for any bipartite quantum states. We also reveal the relation between our measure and quantum metrology. As applications, we give the exact expressions of quantum correlation for many states, which provides a direct support for our result.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures. Comments are welcom

Is Amitabha a Sambhogakaya?

Some scholars following the ancient Chinese masters believe that Amitābha is a sa bhogakāya. However, after an analysis, Amitābha should be considered as a nirmāakāya, not as a sabhogakāya, on three grounds. First, as Śākyamuni did, Amitābha also made vows to liberate beings in his land, and he created a land and attained Buddhahood there. Śākyamuni is considered a nirmāakāya, so is Amitābha. Second, only the nirmāakāya, not the sabhogakāya, makes a display of parinirvā a, but Amitābha attains parinirvāa. Third, the sabhogakāya brings only bodhisattvas to maturity, but the nirmāakāya brings to maturity the śrāvakas as well as bodhisattvas in their initial stage.published_or_final_versio

淨土經典概論

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The Concept of the Buddha in Early Buddhism

Some scholars of Buddhist studies consider the Buddha as a mythological figure. This is especially true at the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth centuries. Later on, rational Buddhist scholars argue that the Buddha is a historical personage and the miraculous stories are actually later additions. In this paper, the author has reexamined the identity of the Buddha by using the earliest Buddhist scripture, namely the Pāli Nikāyas and the Chinese Āgamas. An analysis of the descriptions of the Buddha in these early scriptures reveals two aspects of the concept: a human identity and a superhuman character. These two identities may have co-existed from the inception of Buddhism.published_or_final_versio

The Problem of the Buddha’s Short Lifespan

The Buddha's lifespan is discussed in many Mahāyāna sūtras and śāstras. An analysis of these texts shows that it became a problem when the Mahāyānists emphasized more and more the merit of the Buddha as a result of Bodhisattva practice. The authors of these texts tried to solve the problem by saying that the lifespan of the true Buddha in fact is infinite. The historical Buddha is only a manifestation for the sake of sentient beings through skilful means. These discussions finally contributed to the formulation of the sa bhogakāya, the reward body of the Buddha.published_or_final_versio

佛陀不搞個人崇拜

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