Patterns and Reformulations

1. Pattern in Chinese History

   • Feudal period after Zhou, intellectual and political creativity

   • 300 years of feudal principalities competing and warring

2. Pattern in Global History

   • Same situation in Rome; downfall of the Han sped the downfall of Rome, succeeding Mongol invasions; foreign universal religions (Christianity and Buddhism) fill the growing void. (Part of  Teggart's thesis)

   • Influence of the Silk Road
      Main road for invading Mongols (Xiongnu, Huns) on which they lost their economic livelihood.
      Greek and Indian influence evident at *Dun Huang, the historical Buddhist art gallery

3. Foreign Religions Transform

   • Like Christianity in Hebrew, Israel, Buddhism leaves its culture of origin (Hindu, India) and transforms in a new land. 

   • Christianity absorbs elements of the Greek and Roman world, and Buddhism takes on Confucian and local Chinese, Taoist traits.

4. The Appeal and Reformulations

   • Aristocracy

     • Frustration with existing system -- *9 Rank System, corruption, incompetence (see Ge Hong's Autobiography reflects this)

     • Concern for afterlife; tradition of alchemy

   • Peasants

     • Overcoming hardships of social class (numbers of destitute farmers and slaves increase)

     • Women (so they don't have to come back a woman)

   • North (see Cultural Differences Between the North and the South)

     • Foreign rule, Western forms of Buddhism from Silk Road as evidenced by the caves of Dun Huan

     • Geographic legitimacy

     • Women have more direct power (nomadic tradition)

   • South

     • Han Chinese emphasis on ritual appearances

     • Symbolic, hereditary legitimacy (the Qin seals)

     • Women have more indirect power (elite tradition)

5. Buddhist elements: *Shakyamuni (Buddha), *karma (actions, good and bad), *sutra (scriptural passages), *colophon (dedication/offering prayer), *sambha (local Buddhist community/monestary)

   • Reconciled filial piety through Greater Good -- concern for all life -- including ancestors past, present, and future (see Zhu Seng Du in Lives of Eminent Monks)

   • Miracles and prophecy, like Christianity, (see Seng Baozhi in Lives of Eminent Monks)

     • Fire walking, snakes do not bite (snake handling), tigers den (lion's den), control of physical form

   • *Bodhisattvas represented local gods and legendary heroes as saints in the Buddha pantheon

6. Concluding patterns before the new unification, or All Under Heaven, Sui/Tang Dynasty

   • Land Reform -- continuing theme of protecting farmers

     • State controls allotment of land, equal taxation, *equal fields system, 486 CE

   • Literati culture continues -- Confucian classics are still the foundation of the literate elite (contrast with Europe's Middle Ages)

   • Taoism absorbs Buddhist elements

Questions to consider:

We should begin to discern some patterns in Chinese history forming -- within the dynastic cycle. We should think about these cycles, however, not in terms of something uniquely Chinese, but something representative of any civilizations. The Etruscan empire, or dynasty, in Greece, suffered as the Zhou did in China, and the literati responded appropriately. Herodotus wrote a history of the Peloponnesian War and became the "Father of History" in the West, as Confucius did in the East. Socrates questioned authority as Taoists did in China. Correlations could also be made with Israel as the five books of the Torah were canonized as the Chinese five classics were becoming accepted as revealed truth. In India, the Buddha responds to an inefficient and corrupt class society. In Persia, Zoroaster responds to similar circumstances. The list could go on. The example of China, then, should be viewed in the context of human civilizations facing problems around the world and responding creatively. What might we conclude about Chinese history that is revealing of the predicaments of civilization. Are there any lessons, warning signs, things to beware of in a civilization that are even applicable today? In the first test, we already considered the pros and cons of early Chinese philosophy: Taoism, Legalism, and Confucianism, as guides for civilization. What of Buddhism? What sort of function does it have in civilization? Are there pros and cons to be discerned in its application in Chinese civilization too. Can it be compared to functions of Christianity?

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