Hinduism and Buddhism, An Historical Sketch Volume III Part 23

Thus all the chief features of Amitbha's paradise are Persian: only his method of inst.i.tuting it by making a vow is Buddhist. It is true that Indian imagination had conceived numerous paradises, and that the early Buddhist legend tells of the Tus.h.i.ta heaven. But Sukhvat is not like these abodes of bliss. It appears suddenly in the history of Buddhism as something exotic, grafted adroitly on the parent trunk but sometimes overgrowing it[552].

Avalokita is also connected with Amitbha's paradise. His figure, though its origin is not clear, a.s.sumes distinct and conspicuous proportions in India at a fairly early date. There appears to be no reason for a.s.sociating him specially with Central Asia. On the other hand later works describe him as the spiritual son or reflex of Amitbha. This certainly recalls the Iranian idea of the Fravashi defined as "a spiritual being conceived as a part of a man's personality but existing before he is born and in independence of him: it can also belong to divine beings[553]." Although India offers in abundance both divine incarnations and explanations thereof yet none of these describe the relationship between a Dhyn Buddha and his Boddhisattva so well as the Zoroastrian doctrine of the Fravashi.

S. Lvi has suggested that the Bodhisattva Manjusr is of Tokharian origin[554]. His worship at Wu-tai-shan in Shan-si is ancient and later Indian tradition connected him with China. Local traditions also connect him with Nepal, Tibet, and Khotan, and he is sometimes represented as the first teacher of civilization or religion. But although his Central Asian origin is eminently probable, I do not at present see any clear proof of it.

The case of the Bodhisattva Ks.h.i.tigarbha[555] is similar. He appears to have been known but not prominent in India in the fourth century A.D.: by the seventh century if not earlier his cult was flourishing in China and subsequently he became in the Far East a popular deity second only to Kuan-yin. This popularity was connected with his gradual transformation into a G.o.d of the dead. It is also certain that he was known in Central Asia[556] but whether he first became important there or in China is hard to decide. The devotion of the Chinese to their dead suggests that it was among them that he acquired his great position, but his rle as a guide to the next world has a parallel in the similar benevolent activity of the Zoroastrian angel Srosh.

One of Central Asia's clearest t.i.tles to importance in the history of the East is that it was the earliest and on the whole the princ.i.p.al source of Chinese Buddhism, to which I now turn. Somewhat later, teachers also came to China by sea and still later, under the Yan dynasty, Lamaism was introduced direct from Tibet. But from at least the beginning of our era onwards, monks went eastwards from Central Asia to preach and translate the scriptures and it was across Central Asia that Chinese pilgrims went to India in search of the truth.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 459: See Lders, _Bruchstcke Buddhistischer Dramen_, 1911, and _id., Das Sriputra-prakarana_, 1911.]

[Footnote 460: See Senart, "Le ms Kharosht?h du Dhammapada," in _J.A._, 1898, II. p. 193.]

[Footnote 461: Lders, "Die Sakas und die Nordarische Sprache,"

_Sitzungsber. der Kon. Preuss. Akad_. 1913. Konow, _Gotting.

Gel. Anz_. 1912, pp. 551 ff.]

[Footnote 462: See h.o.e.rnle in _J.R.A.S._ 1910, pp. 837 ff. and 1283 ff.; 1911, pp. 202 ff., 447 ff.]

[Footnote 463: An old Turkish text about Maitreya states that it was translated from an Indian language into Tokhri and from Tokhri into Turkish. See F.K.W. Mller, _Sitzungsber. der Kn. Preuss. Akad_.

1907, p. 958. But it is not clear what is meant by Tokhri.]

[Footnote 464: The following are some words in this language: Kant, a hundred; rake, a word; por, fire; soye, son ???s; suwan, swese, rain ?e? h?et?s; lyek, another; okso, an ox.]

[Footnote 465: The numerous papers on this language are naturally quickly superseded. But Sieg and Siegling Tokharisch, "Die Sprache der Indoskythen" (_Sitzungsber. der Berl. Ak. Wiss_. 1908, p. 815), may be mentioned and Sylvain Lvi, "Tokharien B, Langue de Kouteha," _J.A._ 1913, II. p. 311.]

[Footnote 466: See Radloff Tisastvustik (_Bibl. Buddh._ vol. xii.), p.

v. This ma.n.u.script came from Urumtsi. A translation of a portion of the Saddharma-pundarka (_Bibl. Buddh._ xiv.) was found at Turfan.]

[Footnote 467: Laufer in _T'oung Pao_, 1907, p. 392; Radloff, _Kuan-si-im Pursar_, p. vii.]

[Footnote 468: See especially Stein's _Ancient Khotan_, app. B, and Francke in _J.R.A.S._ 1914, p. 37.]

[Footnote 469: Chavannes, _Les doc.u.ments chinois dcouverts par Aurel Stein_, 1913.]

[Footnote 470: See especially Chavannes and Pelliot, "Trait Manichen" in _J.A._ 1911 and 1913.]

[Footnote 471: Hsan Chuang notes its existence however in Kabul and Kapisa.]

[Footnote 472: See for these Fergusson-Burgess, _History of Indian Architecture_, I. pp. 125-8.]

[Footnote 473: _J.R.A.S._ 1909, p. 313.]

[Footnote 474: _E.g._ Grnwedel, _Altbuddhistische Kultsttten_, fig.

624.]

[Footnote 475: Stein, _Ancient Khotan_, plates xiii-xvii and xl, pp.

83 and 482 ff.]

[Footnote 476: See Grnwedel, _Buddh. Kultsttten_, pp. 129-130 and plate. Foucher, "L'Art Grco-Bouddhique," p. 145, _J.R.A.S._ 1886, 333 and plate i.]

[Footnote 477: See Wachsberger's "Stil-kritische Studien zur Kunst Chinesisch-Turkestan's" in _Ostasiatische Ztsft._ 1914 and 1915.]

[Footnote 478: See Grnwedel, _Buddh. Kultsttten_, pp. 332 ff.]

[Footnote 479: _Ancient Khotan_, vol. II. plates lx and lxi.]

[Footnote 480: Le Coq in _J.R.A.S._ 1909, pp. 299 ff. See the whole article.]

[Footnote 481: For some of the more striking drawings referred to see Grnwedel, _Buddh. Kultsttten_, figs. 51, 53, 239, 242, 317, 337, 345-349.]

[Footnote 482: In _Geog. Journal_, May 1916, p. 362.]

[Footnote 483: Chavannes, _Doc.u.ments chinois dcouverts par Aurel Stein_, 1913.]

[Footnote 484: These of course are not the Osmanlis or Turks of Constantinople. The Osmanlis are the latest of the many branches of the Turks, who warred and ruled in Central Asia with varying success from the fifth to the eighth centuries.]

[Footnote 485: That is Kashgar, Khotan, Kucha and Tokmak for which last Karashahr was subsequently subst.i.tuted. The territory was also called An Hsi.]

[Footnote 486: See for lists and details Chavannes, _Doc.u.ments sur les Tou-kiue Occidentaux_, pp. 67 ff. and 270 ff.]

[Footnote 487: The conquest and organization of the present Chinese Turkestan dates only from the reign of Ch'ien Lung.]

[Footnote 488: Thus the pilgrim Wu-K'ung mentions Chinese officials in the Four Garrisons.]

[Footnote 489: See for this part of their history, Grenard's article in _J.A._ 1900, I. pp. 1-79.]

[Footnote 490: Pelliot also attributes importance to a Sogdian Colony to the south of Lob Nor, which may have had much to do with the transmission of Buddhism and Nestorianism to China. See _J.A._ Jan.

1916, pp. 111-123.]

[Footnote 491: These words have been connected with the tribe called Sacae, Sakas, or Sk.]

[Footnote 492: See Klaproth, _Tabl. Historique_, p. 166, apparently quoting from Chinese sources. Specht, _J.A._ 1897, II. p. 187. Franke, _Beitr.-zur Kenntniss Zentral-Asiens_, p. 83. The pa.s.sage quoted by Specht from the Later Han Annals clearly states that the Yeh-chih made a man of their own choosing prince of Kashgar, although, as Franke points out, it makes no reference to Kanishka or the story of the hostages related by Hsan Chuang.]

[Footnote 493: Fa-Hsien's Chieh-ch'a has been interpreted as Skardo, but Chavannes seems to have proved that it is Kashgar.]

[Footnote 494: About 643 A.D. He mentions that the inhabitants tattooed their bodies, flattened their children's heads and had green eyes. Also that they spoke a peculiar language.]

[Footnote 495: At Bamian the monks belonged to the Lokottaravdin School.]

[Footnote 496: Beal, _Records_, II. p. 278. The pilgrim is speaking from hearsay and it is not clear to what part of Persia he refers.]

[Footnote 497: See Chavannes, _Doc.u.ments sur les Tou-kiue Occidentaux_, pp. 121, 125. The inhabitants of K'ang (Samarkand or Sogdiana) are said to honour both religions. _Ib_. p. 135.]

[Footnote 498: Known to the Chinese by several slightly different names such as Ku-chih, Kiu-tse which are all attempts to represent the same sound. For Kucha see S. Lvi's most interesting article "Le 'Tokharien B' langue de Koutcha" in _J.A._ 1913, II. pp. 311 ff.]

[Footnote 499: _J.A._ 1913, ii. p. 326.]