Chinese Buddhism
| Chinese Buddhism | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Traditional Chinese | 漢傳佛教 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 汉传佛教 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Chinese Buddhism or Han Buddhism (traditional Chinese: 漢傳佛教; simplified Chinese: 汉传佛教) is a Chinese form of Mahayana Buddhism and is the largest institutionalized religion in mainland China.[1] As of 2017, there are an estimated 185 to 250 million Chinese Buddhists in the People's Republic of China.[1] It is also a major religion in Taiwan, Singapore, and Malaysia, as well as among the Chinese diaspora.[2]
Buddhism was first introduced to China during the Han dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE). It was promoted by multiple emperors, especially during the Tang dynasty (618–907 CE), which helped it spread across the country.[3] The translation of a large body of Indian Buddhist scriptures into Chinese and the inclusion of these translations (along with Taoist and Confucian works) into a Chinese Buddhist canon had far-reaching implications for the dissemination of Buddhism throughout the East Asian cultural sphere, including Korea, Japan, and Vietnam. Chinese Buddhism also developed various unique traditions of Buddhist thought and practice, including Tiantai, Huayan, Chan, Pure Land, and Esoteric Buddhism.
From its inception, Chinese Buddhism has been influenced by pre-existing Chinese religions and philosophy, especially Confucianism and Taoism, but also Chinese folk religion. The Chinese Buddhist canon[4] also draws from those traditions and their rituals.
- ^ a b Cook, Sarah (2017). The Battle for China's Spirit: Religious Revival, Repression, and Resistance under Xi Jinping. Archived 2021-08-08 at the Wayback Machine Freedom House Report. Rowman & Littlefield.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
:8was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Six facts about Buddhism in China". Pew Research Center. 2023-09-21. Retrieved 2023-09-21.
- ^ Jiang Wu, "The Chinese Buddhist Canon" in The Wiley Blackwell Companion to East and Inner Asian Buddhism, p. 299, Wiley-Blackwell (2014).