Buddhism was introduced into China in the Eastern Han Dynasty. After more than two thousand years' development, it formed a Chinese Buddhism with China characteristics. Today, Han Buddhism is still the largest branch of Buddhism, which has far-reaching influence and goes deep into East Asian countries. After Buddhism was introduced to China, it first spread on the Korean peninsula and then to Japan. The history of Japanese Buddhism is later than that of China and the Korean Peninsula.
However, Buddhism in Japan has developed rapidly, which is mainly attributed to the great contribution made by two great monks in ancient China to the popularization of Buddhism after they arrived in Japan. Master Jian Zhen traveled to Japan and became the ancestor of Japanese Legalism School. Master Yuan Yin traveled to Japan and founded Huang Baizong, the mainstream Buddhist Sect in Japan. Both the two masters experienced many difficulties and obstacles when traveling in Japan.
One of the most difficult is Master Jian Zhen, who crossed the East six times and failed five times. I was blind during the period, but I still didn't change my mind. The last crossing finally succeeded.
Do you still remember the materials donated by the HSK Affairs Bureau of the Japanese Chinese Proficiency Test to Hubei universities at the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak? All these materials are marked with eight characters on the outer packaging label: "The mountains and rivers are different, and the weather is the same." The short eight Chinese characters touched many Japanese netizens, because there is a story of Sino-Japanese friendly exchange behind these eight characters, and the protagonist is the master Jian Zhen mentioned in this article.
During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, China's territory was unprecedented, and both literacy and martial arts reached its peak. All the countries came to Korea, and all the oceans surrendered. At that time, 100 countries paid tribute to Sui and Tang Dynasties. At the same time, in Japan, Wang Hua began to decide that it was rare that he could not compare with Sui and Tang Dynasties in any respect.
China, Japan's neighbor in East Asia, has unlimited vision. It has sent more than a dozen envoys from Sui Dynasty and Tang Dynasty to China. Because the Sui Dynasty was established for a short time, the envoys sent by Japan were mostly concentrated in the Tang Dynasty. These envoys came to the Tang Dynasty with sincere study of the kingdom of heaven and absorbed many laws, regulations, culture, art, science and technology, customs and habits of the Tang Dynasty. He made great contributions to Japan's economic and social development and friendly exchanges between China and Japan.
What prompted Jian Zhen's eastward crossing to Japan actually originated from an incident in Japan. In Japan in the seventh century, there was a prince who was obsessed with Buddhism. His name is Prince Nagaya. This Prince Nagaya is the grandson of Japanese Emperor Tianwu and the eldest son of Prince Takashi. Although the prince has never been to Datang, he is very yearning for Datang, which was the center of Buddhism in the world at that time.
As a devout Buddhist, Prince Nagaya once ordered people to make 1000 cassock and give it to the monks in the Tang Dynasty thousands of miles away, and embroidered four words on the cassock intimately: "The mountains and rivers are exotic, the sun and the moon are in the same wind, and all buddhas are sent."
Prince Nagaya expressed his expectation for Sino-Japanese friendly exchanges with poems, but he failed to come to the Tang Dynasty in person. In 729 AD, the powerful Japanese royal family Prince Nagaya was framed and rebelled by his sworn enemy Fujiwara, and Prince Nagaya was forced to commit suicide. His wife, Wang Ziyi De, and his son, Chef Wang, Morita Wang, Gemu Wang and Fishing Wang all hanged themselves. This event is called the change of Prince Nagaya.
(Prince Nagaya, Japan)
Prince Nagaya's yearning for the Tang Dynasty was written in four sentences he gave to the monks of the Tang Dynasty. It happened that the monk Jian Zhen in the Tang Dynasty was very moved after seeing these four sentences, and he became interested in Japan across the sea.
Master Jian Zhen was born in Jiangyang, Guangling (now Yangzhou, Jiangsu). He has been a monk since childhood, and has traveled to Luoyang, Chang 'an and other places to study the Buddhist Sanzang. After traveling, he taught in daming temple, Yangzhou. During the Tang Dynasty, the spread of Buddhism in the Han Dynasty developed greatly, and several emperors of the Tang Dynasty, including Wu Zetian, actively promoted the development of Buddhism in China.
During the reign of Emperor Taizong Zhenguan, Master Xuanzang came to Nalanduo Temple, an Indian Buddhist center in Shecheng, King of Mojiatuo Kingdom, China, not far from Wan Li, to obtain the true scriptures. After his successful return to China, he caused a sensation throughout the Tang Dynasty and had a great influence on Jian Zhen. During the Tianbao period of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, Jian Zhen was already a very famous monk, but his ambition to spread Buddhism was great, so he turned his attention to Japan, where the Buddhist foundation was not stable and the Buddhist atmosphere was not strong enough.
In the 21st year of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty (733), Japan sent monks Rong Chui and Pu Zhao to Japan with the envoys of the Tang Dynasty. The two monks visited daming temple, Yangzhou, hoping that daming temple monks could send representatives to Japan to spread Buddhism and preach precepts.
At that time, because of the unknown psychological effect on the dangerous foreign country going to the sea, all the monks in daming temple were silent, and no one agreed. Only Master Jian Zhen stood up and said with firm eyes, "Why not cherish your life for the sake of Buddhism", and decided to accept the invitation of Japanese monks and go to Japan to preach Buddhism.
(Jian Zhen monks cross the East)
In the second year of Tianbao (743), Jian Zhen and his disciples Daoxing, Xiangyan and others built a boat and decided to cross the sea from Yangzhou to Japan. However, before the departure, a monk falsely accused Jian Zhen of collaborating with pirates. As a result, all the monks who were ready to leave were restricted by the government, and Jian Zhen's plan to cross Japan for the first time fell through.
Since then, in ten years, Jian Zhen has organized five trips to Japan. The first four trips were all due to typhoons, waves, rocks, shipwrecks and other accidents, and all of them were forced to return soon after departure. During this period, Jian Zhen became blind due to excessive anxiety and serious illness. Zuo Rong, a Japanese monk accompanying him, died in longxing temple, Duanzhou (now Zhaoqing, Guangdong), and so did his great disciple Xiang Yan.
Until the 13th year of Tianbao (754), Jian Zhen once again led a group of more than 40 monks to visit Japan for the sixth time. Eleven years have passed since he first left. Perhaps Jian Zhen's firm determination to spread Buddhism touched God, and Jian Zhen's visit to Japan was relatively smooth. At the end of this year, he landed in Sakurajima, his wife's home in southern Kyushu.
As soon as Jian Zhen landed, it caused a sensation all over Japan. The arrival of the monk Dade in the Tang Dynasty, for the Japanese who are eager for Buddhism, is like rain from heaven, which moistens this barren land of Buddhism. The following year, Jian Zhen was welcomed to Dongda Temple in Nara, the capital of Beijing. The Japanese emperor, queen, prince and others were awarded the Bodhisattva amulet by Master Jian Zhen. Awarded commandments to more than 440 people, including Misha Zheng Xiu; Master Jian Zhen was welcomed and respected by Buddhists all over Japan for teaching new precepts to more than 80 monasteries.
During his ten years in Japan, Master Jian Zhen not only brought Buddhism, but also brought many advanced technologies from the Tang Dynasty.
(Japanese national treasure cultural relic, world cultural heritage Tang Zhaoti Temple)
Jian Zhen is a great monk and virtue of Buddhist legalists, but before Japan, Buddhist culture never formed a mainstream Sect. After Japan, the reason why legalists became the mainstream Sect of Japanese Buddhism for a long time was inseparable from the spread of Buddhism in Jian Zhen, so Jian Zhen was honored as the ancestor of Japanese legalists.
The Tang Dynasty was the political, economic and cultural center of East Asia at that time. Japanese people admire China and make unremitting efforts. Dozens of them sent envoys to the Tang Dynasty to study the culture of the Tang Dynasty, and Jian Zhen travelled eastward, which also brought the culture of the Tang Dynasty to Japan. He and his disciples adopted the most advanced technology in the Tang Dynasty in architecture, statues and murals, which added luster to the formation of the artistic climax in the Tianping era in Japan.
As a Japanese national treasure, the Tang and Zhao style buildings are masterpieces left by Jian Zhen and his disciples. This magnificent imperial Japanese temple has typical architectural features of the Tang Dynasty, and it is the largest and most beautiful building in Tian Ping era in Japan.
Calligraphy is the quintessence of China, and most of Jian Zhen and his disciples are good at it. He went to the East and even took the original works of Wang Xizhi and Wang Xianzhi with him at any time. After the exhibition in Japan, it caused a sensation in the whole country, which triggered a nationwide craze for learning calligraphy and has continued to this day. Japanese emperors, prime ministers and senior government officials all write well in Chinese calligraphy.
Japanese Buddhism was introduced from North Korea, but there are few Buddhist classics, and most of them are spread by dictation and hand-copying, which inevitably leads to mistakes. According to the Japanese History, the Emperor once entrusted Jian Zhen to correct the classic mistakes. Jian Zhen's most outstanding contribution to the Japanese people is the teaching of medical knowledge, and he is honored as the ancestor of medicine by the Japanese people. Japan's tofu industry, catering industry, brewing industry, etc. I also believe that their industry skills are all awarded by Jian Zhen.
Master Jian Zhen went to Japan six times to preach the Dharma, which lasted eleven years. After all kinds of difficulties and twists, he finally arrived in Japan. He not only brought profound Buddhist teachings, but also brought cultural communication, which greatly changed the social outlook of Japan and showed the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty. For more than 1000 years, the Japanese people have always sincerely respected Master Jian Zhen, regarded him as the "father of legalism" and "father of culture" in Japan, and became a great messenger of cultural exchanges between China and Japan in ancient times.