Many people believe that Buddhism originated in present-day India. In fact, this is not the case. To be precise, it originated in ancient India. Ancient India used to be called Tianzhu, which was much larger than today's India, including Pakistan, Nepal and many other countries. Therefore, these countries also belong to the birthplace of Buddhism, rather than just referring to today's India.
Buddha Sakyamuni was not an Indian, but a Nepali. In ancient India, Nepal was called Kapilavastu . Therefore, Gautama Buddha is an authentic Nepali and has nothing to do with today's India.
The "Buddha" in Buddhism means "the Enlightened One". What Buddhism preaches is to allow people to transcend life and death through practice and ultimately gain liberation. One of the attractions of Buddhism is that it preaches reincarnation, which can give people hope. Even if there is no future in this life, they can still put their hope in the next life through practice.
At that time, due to social turmoil and people suffering, Buddhism could bring people spiritual comfort and hope, so it quickly spread in ancient India and eventually formed a world-wide religion. Together with Christianity and Islam, it is also known as the three major religions in the world..
There are different opinions on when Buddhism was introduced to China. Some scholars believe that Buddhism was introduced to the Central Plains as early as the period of Emperor Qin Shihuang; some believe that Buddhism was introduced to China after the opening of the Silk Road, and some Buddhists came to China.
There is some truth to these statements, but the current view is that Buddhism was officially introduced to China during the Eastern Han Dynasty Emperor Ming of the Han Dynasty. This is recorded in historical books.
"Book of the Later Han " records that one night in 64 AD, Emperor Ming of the Han Dynasty had a dream. He dreamed of a tall golden man with a shining head flying from the west. It was very spectacular.
Emperor Ming of the Han Dynasty felt very strange, so he told the ministers about the dream and asked them to interpret it. A minister said: "I heard people say that there is a Buddha in the West, just like what your Majesty dreamed about. This dream your Majesty had is auspicious, and it means that the Buddha will protect us."
What the minister said showed that people at that time already had some understanding of Buddhism. Emperor Ming of the Han Dynasty was overjoyed when he heard this and immediately sent an envoy to Tianzhu to consult the Buddha and obtain scriptures. Emperor Ming of the Han Dynasty sent envoys to the West to learn Buddhist scriptures this time, hundreds of years earlier than Chen Xuanzang during the later Tang Dynasty period.
The messenger and his party of more than ten people braved the wind, frost and cold to go to the Western Heaven to learn scriptures. The road to the west was long and difficult. They walked for a long time and still did not reach Tianzhu. Just at this time, they met the eminent monks Shemo Teng and Zhu Flan of Tianzhu in Central Asia, and invited them to go to China to preach. The two eminent monks happily agreed and went to China carrying Buddhist scriptures on their white horses.
In 67 AD, the envoy and the eminent monk arrived at Luoyang . Emperor Ming of the Han Dynasty was very happy and received him personally. In the second year, Emperor Ming of the Han Dynasty ordered a large number of laborers to be organized to build China's first Buddhist temple in Luoyang. In order to commemorate the white horse carrying sutras, it was named "White Horse Temple".
Photos by Moteng and Zhu Falan, two eminent monks from Tianzhu, lived in Baima Temple from then on, and finally passed away in Baima Temple. The two eminent monks preached scriptures in Luoyang and worked hard to spread Buddhism all their lives. They are respected as the originators of Chinese Buddhism .
After the establishment of White Horse Temple, many eminent monks arrived. They taught Buddhism and translated Buddhist scriptures here. White Horse Temple became the first scripture translation monastery in China. In the early days of the spread of Buddhism in China, it had a very close relationship with the White Horse Temple. The White Horse Temple played an extremely important role in the spread of Buddhism in China.
After Emperor Ming of the Han Dynasty introduced Buddhism, it was initially popular among the palace and nobles, and later gradually spread from the upper class to the people. During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, although there were some partial exterminations of Buddhism, Buddhism still developed rapidly and later became one of the most influential religions.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-