Turbulent China

The instability in life had made the people yearn for some kind of divine blessing that would bring peace. The warlords also feared for their lives, since they were at war all the time, and they too hoped for the intervention of some divine power. These major factors helped to foster the growth of Buddhism in China. Tao An's master, Fotucheng, had already arrived in China and had started to preach Buddhism. [See the story of Fotucheng in the Spring 2002 issue of the Tzu Chi Quarterly.] More and more Buddhist sutras were being translated, more and more temples were being built, and more and more people were being converted to Buddhism or even shaving their heads and becoming monks and nuns.

At the beginning, Chinese Buddhist monks blended Buddhism with Taoism, which had long been widespread throughout China, and used magic as a way to entice believers. Buddhism, therefore, was popularly thought to be the same as Taoism, except that it originated in India. Even Tao An's mentor, Fotucheng, used magic to get believers like Shih Le, the ruler of Houchou, to allow Buddhism to flourish in their kingdoms. This method might be acceptable among the common people during a time of chaos, but the intelligentsia focused more on logic and theories. Taoists generally looked down on Buddhism as just a folk religion. Tao An, however, was well versed in the Chinese classics and he also had a deep understanding of the Buddhist doctrines, so he later helped to elevate Buddhism from a folk cult to a higher spiritual practice which the literary class was also willing to join.

The birth of a sage

Tao An was born in Hebei Province in northern China in 312, but shortly after he was born, both of his parents died and he was raised by a relative. Although very ugly, he was rather intelligent and liked to study. He was able to memorize everything he read, so his neighbors believed that he would one day be very successful. He started studying the classics when he was seven years old, and before long he had memorized all of them. This would later help him to explain the Buddhist doctrines to the Chinese.

Tao An entered a monastery when he was twelve years old. Because he was so ugly, his master thought little of him and simply sent him to work in the fields.

Although the work was very strenuous, Tao An labored diligently in the fields for three years. One day he asked his mentor if he could study the scriptures. The monk felt that the young man had worked very hard, so he handed him a sutra to read.

The following day, Tao An took the book with him to the fields and read it during his breaks. This sutra, which ran over five thousand words, talked about the karma and how it affected the lives of the common people.

That night, he returned the book to his mentor and asked for another sutra. The monk suspiciously asked Tao An, "Why do you want another sutra? Have you finished this one?"

Tao An replied, "Yes, I have finished reading this one, and I have even memorized it."

His mentor was surprised, but he didn't ask any more questions. He gave Tao An another sutra.

The second sutra was much thicker than the first one, with more than ten thousand words. It taught people how to meditate and what they would see once they entered into deep meditation. Tao An again read the sutra only during his breaks, and he returned it to his mentor that night after he returned from work.

In order to test whether Tao An had truly memorized this second sutra, his mentor ordered him to recite it from memory. Tao An repeated the whole sutra from beginning to end without missing a word. The monk was awestruck. He now knew that Tao An was indeed extremely intelligent, and so he changed his attitude towards him. From then on, Tao An did not have to work in the fields; he could browse through all the sutras in the temple library.

When Tao An was twenty years old, he received the full precepts and was officially ordained as a monk. He went to visit other eminent monks, because his mentor knew that it was the best way for Tao An to study Buddhism. Besides, there were no more Buddhist sutras available for him to read, since he had finished them all.

At that time, Fotucheng was a very important Buddhist figure in China, so Tao An went to see him. Fotucheng and Tao An talked all day long. It brought satisfaction to both of them, because they knew that they had found each other--Tao An had found his guru and Fotucheng had found a pupil who could spread the teachings of the Buddha. None of Futocheng's disciples, however, liked Tao An very much, simply because of his unsightly appearance. One day after Fotucheng had finished lecturing, he told Tao An as usual to repeat what he had just said. The other disciples raised all sorts of questions, hoping to embarrass Tao An. Nevertheless, he was poised and answered all their questions calmly and professionally, as though he were a knowledgeable master. Even though he was still so unattractive, all the disciples were overwhelmed by his eloquence and talent.

Not long after Shih Hu, the new ruler of Houchou, died, the state again fell into chaos. Tao An left the others and went to what is now Linfen County, Shanxi Province, central China. The place was quiet, and Tao An could concentrate on his studies. But he found out that studying alone was not helpful, since no one could answer his questions on the doctrines. Fortunately, some other eminent monks soon joined him in Linfen, and they were able to help him with his studies of Buddhism.

Nothing is permanent. In 351, Linfen was embroiled in civil war, so Tao An and the other monks moved again. This time they moved to Mount Feilong, where Tao An's friend Tseng Hsien resided.

The two monks had wonderful chats, but as they discussed their studies of Buddhism their views began to drift apart over the explanations of many Buddhist terms. When Buddhism was first introduced into China, monks generally used Taoist terms to explain special concepts so that the Chinese people would be able to understand Buddhism better. The Taoist terms, however, had their limitations and connotations which were not always appropriate for Buddhism, and misunderstandings thus occurred. Tao An had also used Taoist terms before, but as he learned more about Buddhism, he came to realize that this method should not be used to teach Buddhism. Tseng Hsien, however, insisted on using it.

In 354, Tao An left Mount Feilong and went to what is now Hebei Province in northern China to propagate Buddhism. He was already popular and many people went to him for advice or to become his disciples. One of those people was Hui Yuan [see the Fall 2000 issue of the Tzu Chi Quarterly]. Hui Yuan later founded the famous Pure Land sect.

Rising fame

More and more people joined Tao An, but he still could not find a permanent place to settle down because of the constant feuds between rival warlords. While Tao An and his disciples were again fleeing to Henan Province in central China, he decided to disperse his disciples to other places so that Buddhism could become more widespread. The priority was to receive official support from local governments. Tao An could still remember that when his master, Fotucheng, was preaching, he was highly received by Shih Le and Shih Hu, the two kings of Houchou. Their support allowed Buddhism to flourish as hundreds of temples were built and hundreds of people became monks and nuns. Fotucheng told his disciples that without that official support, he would not have been able to spread Buddhism and make it thrive in China. Therefore, Tao An instructed his disciples to gain official support as soon as they arrived in each area.

Tao An reached the city of Xiangyang, in modern Hubei Province, in central China in 365. During the Eastern Chin Dynasty, many literati had gathered in this prosperous city. At the same time, Buddhism had become quite popular among the upper class. Such factors might have influenced Tao An to travel to Xiangyang to propagate Buddhism. To gain support, he gave many public lectures, spent time discussing Buddhist theories with the literati, and visited local officials.

Tao An's success in Xiangyang can be seen in his decision to build another temple. The new temple was built to house the ever-growing number of monks living under his tutelage in the White Horse Temple, where he too was living. Many people, including governors, pitched in financially to help him accomplish this task.

A new life

Tao An lived in Xiangyang for fifteen years, and his fame spread to other parts of China. Fu Chien, the king of Chien Chin in north-central China, heard of the monk as well. He ordered his subordinates to deliver a seven-meter tall golden statue of the Buddha and many other presents.

Fu Chien wanted to have Tao An come to his kingdom because of the monk's knowledge and popularity, but he knew that the Eastern Chin dynasty would never allow Tao An to go to his state. The only way was to raid Eastern Chin and snatch Tao An away. In 378, Fu Chien ordered his soldiers to attack Xiangyang. Initially, Tao An wanted to lead his followers out of the city, but the governor refused because he believed that as long as Tao An was in town, Fu Chien's army wouldn't do much damage to the city. Tao An ordered each of his disciples into his room and told each one what he should be aware of and where he should go. After a year, Fu Chien's soldiers finally overran the city and brought Tao An to Changan (modern Xian), the capital of Chien Chin.

Fu Chien was very happy to have Tao An as a resident in his country and he treated him with a high level of respect. The monk not only became the greatest Buddhist leader in northern China, but also Fu Chien's political advisor.

Tao An's contributions

One of Tao An's greatest contributions to Buddhism was his first Buddhist bibliography, Tao An Record. The bibliography was seen as the first of its kind and helped those after him to accomplish similar tasks. Although it has been lost, some of its contents are still available in another book written by a monk named Tseng Yu in the Liang Dynasty.

In his bibliography, Tao An recorded the sutras he had actually read; he would not write down the titles of sutras that he had only heard about. He also tried to find the translator's name. Not all the Chinese sutras told who had translated them. The translator's name might appear in the prefaces of other versions of the same sutra, so Tao An would try using other versions to get hold of a translator's name. If he really couldn't find the name, he would compare the writing styles in other sutras to find out if any of them was also from the same translator.

Tao An also tried to determine whether a sutra was authentic. Undetermined or falsified sutras, he felt, were a great shame for Buddhists, so he listed twenty-six falsified sutras in a separate section of his bibliography.

The second most important thing Tao An did was to organize the precepts in order to help monks rectify their behavior. When Buddhism was first introduced into China, the precepts were not complete, so many monks took up "part-time" jobs. Some engaged in divination, some went into business, and some became politically active and strove for fame and position, among other unlawful things. For Tao An, the organization of the precepts was much easier said than done. First of all, not many books on the Buddhist precepts were available, so it was not easy to find a foundation for the proper precepts. Secondly, even when some monks had access to the precepts, they abided by them too strictly and refused to adapt the precepts to their living environment. Eventually, Tao An stipulated new rules for temples based on the precepts that were currently available.

The rules focused on three aspects of congregation. The first one was about ceremonies and methods for lecturing, the second was about the daily life of the monks, and the third one was about the semi-monthly repentance ceremony and the rules regarding the repentance ceremony at the end of the summer retreat. These rules, which greatly influenced all of the temples in China, were the beginning of monastic regulations in China.

Furthermore, Tao An set a rule for monks' surnames in China, which is still followed by monks and nuns in China and Taiwan today. During his time, some monks from India took up their Chinese names, they used "Chu," the Chinese abbreviation for "India," as their surnames. Thus, most monks from abroad used a Chinese word that meant their countries and their surnames. Chinese monks did not have a set rule about their surnames either. Some used their own surnames, while some might use their mentors' surnames as theirs. Tao An felt that since the master of all monks was actually Sakyamuni Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, they should all use the word "Shih" as their surnames. "Shih" comes from "Shih-chia-mo-ni-fo," the Chinese transliteration of "Sakyamuni Buddha." Monks and nuns in China and Taiwan still carry out this practice today.

During his time in Changan, Tao An also organized translations of the Buddhist sutras. He helped translate 183 volumes with more than a million words. These sutras were mostly Hinayana sutras. Although it was Mahayana Buddhism that later became popular in China, Hinayana sutras were very good at explaining the basic concepts of Buddhism, so they were quite important as well.

Tao An heard of an eminent monk named Kumarajiva in today's eastern India [see our Fall 1999 issue]. He asked Fu Chien to invite that monk to China to help him do the translation. Unfortunately, Tao An died more than ten years before Kumarajiva was finally able to come to China.

Maitreya's Pure Land

When Tao An was still in Xiangyang, he and several other monks started a new belief: rebirth in Maitreya's Pure Land.

Maitreya Bodhisattva is seen as the next buddha, who will appear on earth 5,670,000,000 years from now. He now resides in the Tusita heaven, where he gives lectures to his retinue. In Buddhism, the whole universe is divided into three realms: Desires, Form and Formlessness. The human world and the Pure Land are located in the Realm of Desires, the lowest level of the three. Tao An and the others vowed to reach the bodhisattva's Pure Land in their next reincarnation.

Tao An chose his next rebirth in the Maitreya's Pure Land because the Pure Land was the closest to the human world, since both were in the Realm of Desires. Furthermore, he hoped to better understand the Buddhist scriptures. Very few Buddhist scriptures had been translated into Chinese, and those had many errors, thus making them difficult to truly comprehend. To fully understand the sutras, Tao An and his followers would meditate and ascend to Maitreya's Pure Land and ask the bodhisattva their questions. Being able to meet the bodhisattva and ask him questions gave the monks much joy and great pleasure.

Changan

After Tao An was captured and sent to Changan, he was placed in Wuchung Temple. Thousands of monks lived there, and Tao An thus became the Buddhist leader of northern China.

Changan was quite different from Xiangyang. After Fu Chien became king, he promoted Confucianism and banned Taoism. Fu Chien also built many schools and ordered many talented scholars to teach the classics at schools. Thus, he created an atmosphere of great prosperity and learning. This also influenced Tao An, who spent much of his time reading the Confucian classics instead of Taoist scriptures, in addition to organizing and translating Buddhist sutras.

Chien Chin had become very strong under his rule and occupied almost all of China. Fu Chien now aimed at Eastern Chin in the southeast. Although Fu Chien had attacked Xiangyang before, Eastern Chin was still very strong. All the ministers, except a few, asked Fu Chien not to attack that state because although Eastern Chin was small, it was prospering under a good ruler. Fu Chien, nevertheless, persistently intended to overrun Eastern Chin so that he could rule all of China. Not knowing what else to do, several ministers asked Tao An to persuade Fu Chien to give up the idea. Tao An was also opposed to war, so he went to see Fu Chien. His attempt proved futile as Fu Chien himself led his soldiers into war.

The "Feishui War" determined the future of central China. Fu Chien's army, led by his military commander Yao Chang, was defeated and his kingdom collapsed into small realms. In 385, Yao Chang killed Fu Chien and took over Changan. Central China once again fell into chaos.

In the year before Yao Chang conquered Changan, Tao An had sensed that he would soon die. He called all his disciples and told them that even after his death, they should all follow the Buddha's teachings. He then took a bath to cleanse himself, sat facing northwest, and chanted the name of Maitreya Bodhisattva. He died at the age of seventy-four, and his disciples buried him in Wuji Temple in Changan.

"Never judge a book by its cover" is perhaps the best description we can apply to Tao An. Tao An was well known for his ugly looks, but his teachings greatly influenced later generations of Buddhists. A monk might not have much chance to learn the Buddhist doctrines during a time of war, since it was more important to get on with daily life. However, Tao An was very fortunate to be born during the time of a great master, Fotucheng. Through him, Tao An's wisdom was able to shine far and wide, and it influences monks even today.

Tao An helped to list all the available Buddhist books in his time, so that people in later periods could know which scriptures were authentic and which ones were falsified. He lay down several precepts regarding the functions of temples, and he furthermore stipulated that all Chinese monks take "Shih" as their surnames, thus unifying the chaotic customs of that time. In addition, he helped to translate large volumes of sutras. Tao An contributed greatly to Chinese Buddhism and significantly influenced later generations.