On the left was a statue of Buddha that was made when Buddhism first made its way into China. The statue was sitting upright. Legs folded in a meditating position. His expression was solemn.
On the right was a statue of Buddha that was made well after Buddhism was established in China. This Buddha was sitting in a very relaxed position with one leg propped up. He was obese, bald, and had a huge smile on his face. He looked very happy.
300 years after Buddhism arrived in China, a thin solemn meditating Indian dude becomes a fat bald happy-go-luck Chinese dude.
What happened?
Buddhism initially faced plenty of challenges when trying to get a foothold in a culture that was and still is entrenched in Confucianism and Daoism. One of the core teachings of Buddhism is to give up all possessions and attachments to find enlightenment. This was in direct conflict with the teachings of Confucianism because it focuses on the importance of social relationship between family, elders, and the people you regularly associate with. Buddhism was also in conflict with Daoism because it focuses on finding harmony, balance, and the "Middle Way" versus going to extremes to achieve enlightenment.
So Senor Buddha was going around China preaching his fire-and-brimstone message and not getting any traction.
He would walk into Confucius's neighborhood and tell fathers, "Dude, your kids, total brats. Give them up to foster care and you'll save yourself a lot of grief. This is your path to Nirvana." That ticked off a lot of Chinese dads because they were already eating up Confucius's message about living in harmony with your king, father, mother, children, dog, barista, and the white couple next door who look like they belong in a JCrew ad. Confucius would tell a dude, "Never let the wife know about the mistress no matter how guilty you feel. Ignorance is bliss. Happy wife, happy life. Everyone wins." No sane Chinese man would ever question such advice.
Buddha would then walk a couple blocks over into Laozi's (who pretty much founded Daoism) neighborhood and tell a bunch of rich dudes, "Your money. Not really yours. You inherited it from your dad. Donate it to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to become dirt poor in order to find enlightenment." That really turned off the trust fund brigade because Laozi was already brainwashing them with stuff like, "You must be balanced. You must find the Golden Mean. Find the Middle Way so that your energy will be in harmony with the universe." as usual no one really understood what Laozi was talking about, but all the blah blah blah about gold, harmony, and balance made the rich dudes happy.
Buddha, the new kid on the block, is struggling to get his message across because he's contradicting Confucius and Laozi, established rockstars, who were teaching happy thoughts to everyone in China.
So something must've happened that turned everything around for Buddha.
He must've hit rock bottom and started heading back to India when he ran into Laozi and Confucius at a Starbucks along the Silk Road. This is probably what transpired....
Confucius: Buddha, You're raw. You have potential, but you're "give-up-everything" message is too fire-and-brimstony for us Chinese folks.
Buddha: But it's the truth. This stuff works. I've found the truth doing what I'm teaching...
Laozi: No one cares. One thing you gotta understand about the Chinese. You don't assimilate us. We assimilate you.
Buddha: So what are my options?
Confucius: Change your message. Change your tone. Drop the "give up possessions and attachments" portion of the message. We Chinese draw too much happiness from our money and families.
Buddha: But that's the core theme...
Laozi: Got to drop it. Family and money are awesome. Work around it. You can keep the Karma and Reincarnation stuff. Confucius and I are willing to sign off on those...
Buddha: What else?
Confucius: Kick back and relax. Be happy. Smile more often. Smile all the time.
Laozi: ...and the bushy curly Indian hair doesn't resonate with Chinese folks. Get rid of it.
Buddha: Get rid of it?
Laozi: Yeah. Shave it all off. You'll look more vibrant as a bald man.
Buddha: oookay...
Confucius: Gain a lot of weight. Being overweight is a sign of success in Chinese culture. People will listen to you if you look successful
Buddha: Anything else?
Laozi: Yeah, been thinking about this one for couple of weeks. I think you should give it a try. See how it goes; Carry around a big gold boullion.
Confucius: That's a good one Laozi. You always think up the craziest stuff, but this one actually might work. That's a good look for you Buddha. It'll make you look really really successful.
Laozi: Confucius and I think you've got talent. Just need to clean up some rough edges. Follow our lead and you're gonna be a big hit. Guaranteed.
Buddha: I got nothing to lose since I've already given up all everything to achieve enlightenment so I'm in. Let's do this.
And just like that Buddhism starts taking off in China. In the present, almost 3000 years later, it's still going strong across all cultures that traces its origin back to China.
No comments:
Post a Comment