China

Buddhism in China

When Buddhism was introduced to China, the Chinese civilization was already ancient and had already developed several traditions. Therefore, once the doctrines were introduced, the Chinese quickly translated them. To them, these doctrines were the word of Buddha. The Chinese divided into different sects, Theravada and Mahayana. The Theravada doctrine was canonized first. The Mahayana school composed their text later with a more liberal interpretation. The Mahayanists said,

the Hinayana [Theravada] was not untrue, but was merely a
preparatory doctrine, preached by the Buddha to disciples whose
minds were not yet receptive to the ultimate truth. When he
[the Buddha] had prepared them with the tentative doctrine, he
then revealed to them his final truth. (The Buddhist Tradition,140)

Buddhist philosophy first began to flourish in the fourth century CE. It was interpreted and judged in Taoist terms. Altogether, ten schools formed, divided into two categories, schools of Being and schools of Non-being. The underlying issue which divided the two schools was whether the school affirmed or denied the idea of "self-nature of the dharmas... and the ego." (The Buddhist Tradition, 141) Most of these schools did not last long. The schools which are the substance of Chinese Buddhism are the T'ien-t'ai ,Hua-yen, Meditation , and Pure Land. All of these schools developed distinct Chinese characteristics.

Buddhism began to suffer during the T'ang dynasty, tenth century AD, and continued to do so until the Confucians revived.

The early Vietnamese governed their country in a similar manner as the classical Chinese dynasties, however, their habits and custom differed. The Chinese empires achieved their length of power through their ability to keep track of their family ties. Many Vietnamese families worshipped their ancestors to only the ninth generation. After several wars, the clans have spilt to many families with unknown ties. As a result, the Chinese and Vietnamese governments have never been the same. "The emperors followed the rituals of state... so that time would not flow through the empire, but the 'natural order' of the universe did not hold throughout the society." (Fire in the Lake, 57)

The village was the primary community, though. The village was informally a family. "The village was always the efficient unit of local government, but in the fifteenth century, when the court abandoned the village mandarinate and retired the lowest order of its officials from the villages, it became a quasi-autonomous unit."(Fire in the Lake, 58) This was demonstrated in the Vietnam War since the government failed continually to satisfy the peasants. In a state of confusion, Vietnam was fighting a civil war between the Confucian government and the Buddhist peasants. The Chinese government ruled with a compassion for all of China, since they kept such close ties amongst their families. In China, a whole community could be linked together on a line of heritage, whereas the Vietnamese could not.