Guangzhou and Its Role In Elite Buddhism During the Maritime Routes of the Six Dynasties

Abstract

Historically Guangzhou has been a trade center in Southern China. Because of its excellent locale on the trade route of South China Sea, Guangzhou has long attracted merchants as well as missionaries across South and Southeast Asia. As early as in 281AD there were records of Buddhist missionary activities in Guangzhou. While the missionaries, the majority of whom were monks, did preach and even had some important Buddhist texts translated during their stay, almost none of them took up residence in Guangzhou at least according to the Chinese Buddhist hagiological records, or turned it into a center of Buddhist learning. Why did they choose not to, despite the financial conditions supported by the trade route? The reasons are twofold. History-wise, the monks were en route to the imperial capital of the time and Guangzhou was but the entry port and one of the stops on the journey. Mission-wise, on the other hand, Guangzhou arguably lacked an intellectual class that could be deployed to translate and communicate Buddhist thought. Unlike Christian missions, which were backed by the Church and the states, there was no equivalent support organized by the foreign Buddhist monks neither was the Saṃgha an important factor of overseas missionary activity. Without the Saṃgha, the Buddhist missions could hardly ever be materialized in foreign land.

Keywords: Buddhist missioner (missioner), Transmitting Culture, Buddhist hagiology, Guangzhou (Canton), Elite Buddhism, translation

I. Canonization and Mission

Although after the Buddha's decease, during the first council the teachings were passed down orally with the agreement of the most qualified Arahat Saṃgha members, the practical texts later formed the written texts especially during the prosecution of the Buddhism in India. The emergence of the practical texts for everyday religions or practical purposes reflect both the content of oral traditions and also the spirit of writing itself. This kind of literature termed 'stream of tradition' by Leo Oppenheim in his research were destined for further use. Accordingly, this 'stream of tradition' is a living (running) river: it shifts its bed and its water contains ebbs and flows. Texts can fall into oblivion, others are added; they are expanded, shortened, rewritten, and even anthologized in a constant flux. Due to certain reasons, periphery texts becomes identifiable structures if not the center texts. Whenever the periphery texts regarded as important ones, they are copied and cited more frequently than others. They are cited to be the classics with the embodying normative and formative values. Hence the development of the school of written texts plays a central role.

One must understand that it is not writing, but the damming up of the 'stream of tradition' by the act of canonization that produces the decisive shift from practice to textual coherence. As in the case of the catalogue or the process of canonization in China can be viewed in the same manner. From late Han to the beginning of Yuan Dynasty, totally about 1200 years of history, there were about 194 translators who translated works for about 1,335 texts of 5396 fascicles (Juan). Without the catalogue to decipher whether the texts were reliable canon or apocrypha, the transmission of a 'stream of tradition' was hard to obtain. Hence over 20 catalogues were compiled starting from 'The Catalogue of Whole Text' (zōng lǐ zhōng jīng mù lù; 綜理衆經目錄) by Dao-an during 374 AD. And the canonization is widely recognized by the Chinese Buddhism as in the Crystallization of the Teachings (PanJiao; 判教) of the Tentai and Huayeng School.

The Chinese Buddhist hagiological record documents Buddhist monks who share emotions, ambitions, and weaknesses; and the tendency to select events that characterize monks as uniquely religious as spiritual eminent were selected from such records. Its sequel, the Continued Biographies of Eminent Monks (Ju Gaoseng Zhuan (JGSZh) chronicle the favorable monks who are recognized to have exemplified the religious ideals of the Chinese Buddhist monastic community.

As we know, the Buddhism assimilates and adapts itself according to indigenous beliefs even in India after the Decease of the Buddha. It has never lost its character as Buddhism, because it has the institutionalized agent which is the Saṃgha. The Samgha needs the patronage both from the masses and the nobles. It does not divorce itself from the common people and simultaneously can influence the political world. In other words, Buddhism changes and at the same time maintains its character as a religion. It was the members of the community of monks who implanted the established religion far and wide. As missionary spirit even in India, during the Buddha's time, Buddhism had spread far beyond its cradle in Magedha as far as Avanti and Sunāparantapa.

II. Guangzhou During The Maritime Phase

According to Tansen Sen, until about the mid-fifteenth century, four broad phases of trade between South Asia and China through Southeast Asia can be discerned from archaeological and textual sources. The first phase, prior to the middle of the first millennium BC, involved the vast maritime networks of Austronesians as well as the trade in countries through Myanmar. The second phase was triggered by the emergence of urban centers in the Gangetic region of South Asia in the sixth century BC and subsequently fostered by the expansion of commercial activity on the Indian subcontinent. The emergence of the Funan policy in Southeast Asia, the establishment of Kuṣaṇa empire in South Asia, and the incorporation of southern China into the Chinese empire seems to have contributed to the formation of new networks of exchange after the first century AD, which constitutes a third phase. (My main focus is on this phase of trade and missionary). Even though Funan activities were predominantly Hindu during fifth to sixth century, Buddhist missionary activity had intensified due to strong followers. Finally, the naval raid by the South Indian Coḷa kingdom (c. 850-1279) on Śrivijaya in 1025 marked the beginning of a fourth phase that lasted until the Ming courts ban on foreign commerce in the mid-fifteenth century.

One key feature of the so-called 'second urbanization' phase (the first being in the Indus Valley), was the connection between urban development, the expansion of trade routes, and the spread of religious ideas (Thapar 2002: 139-173). The Jataka stories about the Buddha's previous births and other literary works of the period reveal increased commercial activity in India and also networks of trade with a distance place called Suvarṇabhumī, generically identified as Southeast Asia.

While Funan (centered in present-day Southern Vietnam and southern Cambodia) was the key player in the maritime commerce between South Asia and China during the first half of the first millennium AD, Ṡrivijaya (a ply-centric polity that included Palembang in southern Sumatra, Java, and extended to the Isthumus of Kra region) dominated the trading activity from about the seventh to eleventh century.

Even until the fifteen century Guangzhou still maintained its status as an important sea hub for merchants and missionaries: 'In 1514, the Portuguese discovery of a sea route to southern China marked the genesis of a new age of Sino-Western relations. Commercial trade between China and Europe developed exponentially throughout the sixteenth century' and according to Lake Coreth, his article 'East-West Crossing: Cultural Exchange and the Jesuit Mission in China', 'with increased contact came heightened exposure to and curiosity of the enigmatic Middle Kingdom. Silk, tea, medicine, spices and jewels were not only the sole commodities transmitted to Europe from China. An exchange of knowledge and information accompanied these goods and moreover, revolutionized the intellectual arena of Europe.' European Powers such as Spain and Portugal during the sixteen century, the dominant sea-faring nations at that time, had highly promoted Christian missionary activity along with territorial expansion. At that time, the monarchs of the Spain and Portugal provided both financial aid and passage for missionaries aboard their ships. To name a few of denomination, Dominican, Franciscans and Jesuits.

In early times, according to several records like 'The Answer of Outer Ridge' (嶺外代答) written in 12 Century by Zhou Cufei (周去非) several countries like Java (闍婆國), Arab (大食國) and Srivijaya (三佛齊國; now Sumantara) were mentioned. Accordingly, among the three countries, Arab is understood as the richest, Java country comes in as the second. However, most common sea route used is through Srivijaya. It further mentioned that how long it takes to travel to Five Ridges area.

III. The Agent of Missionary Work

The term missionary carries the meaning of a person who has been sent to foreign country to teach their religion to the people who live there. The term 'mission' surely is borrowed from the Christian tradition. In Buddhism the term mission cannot be equally understood as it is in Christianity. Missions in Buddhism were geared toward the spreading of the Good Dharma, but not so much in the effort to convert or prohibit people from what they were practicing by the time they started to embrace Buddhism. One clear evidence is from the Aśoka's inscription (circa 270-232 BCE) in his edicts indicating that 'he sponsored Buddhist missions to various area including Greek-ruled areas and foreign countries. He maintained a special interest in the well-being and unity of the Buddhist Saṃgha, that he emphasized the importance of Buddhist texts which dealt with lay morality.' The conversion process can be daunting and complicated and certainly had largely relied on the means of transport. Especially during ancient times, the means of transport were relatively scarce and dangerous. They were the land route and the maritime route. Like other religions, even Buddhism was successfully transmitted to foreign countries with missionary zeal but it was bound to go through either the road or sea route. The sea route and its historical impact is my focus point here.

Missionary activities to Guangzhou via the maritime route can be summed up by looking at two groups of people, one is the merchant and the other is the missionary monk.

III.i. Merchants

It is not difficult to imagine the great role which merchants had in missionary works via the sea route. Tansen Sen, in his article 'Maritime Southeast Asia Between South Asia and China to the Sixteenth Century' (Sen (2014) 44) observes that 'The fact that these merchants also contributed to the transmission of Buddhist ideas can be discerned, for example, from the biography of the Sodgian monk Kang Senghui 康僧會 (280 AD). Kang's ancestors reportedly lived in Tainzhu (天竺) and engaged in commercial activities. His father, a seafaring trader, migrated to Jiaozhi (交趾；present day northern Vietnam), the capital of the Wu kingdom, in AD 247. In China, Kang was closely associated with the Wu ruler Sun Quan (孫權) (222-252 AD) and actively proselytized Buddhism in southern China.'

Merchants, commonly were not learned ones but probably had many more chances to come to contact with the outside world or foreign countries. From the Brahminical tradition as depicted in Dharmaśāstras, Brahmins are forbidden to travel abroad or put it another way, "to leave the soil of Brahma." Thus, the merchant caste was given a better position to go and seek wealth in the yonder lands. Many stories are told like those in the Jātaka and so forth that people in India searching for wealth would travel by sea to seek wealth. The successful returned with great gain but if ship wreckage happened all hopes went to nothing. Interestingly, there are numerous stories of monks' fathers with ill fates changing from fortune to despair.

Beyond a doubt, merchants, in searching for wealth and good lives, would desire to learn new things for their own benefits. Buddhism, being a religion which values the wealth or fortune (puṇṇa) might work well with merchants' mentality and surely the profound teaching of the Buddha might not be able to fully comprehended by them. Nevertheless it does not mean that the merchants by no mean of took part in missionary work at least from commoners' perspective. Gathering information from objects, inscriptions and inscribed seals from India that related to religions, it is not hard to conclude that the real missions came after merchants. In addition, some laymen had demonstrated their profound knowledge of Buddhism was evident in Fa Xian's record. It was also very unlikely that the merchants possessed abundant of knowledge about Buddhism like Buddhagupta Mahānāvika. However their efficiency as missionaries can no longer be excluded since they were not only wealthier than the commoners but also were good at persuasive skills.

III.ii. Monastic Members

For a religion that has really strict rules in administration of the Saṃgha (community of monks in particular), and the application of the rules such as ordination, the establishment of Buddhism requires more than just two monks to implement missionary work. As Gombrich observes:

'We must remember that in Buddhist estimation the Doctrine is only established where the Samgha is established, and, in turn, that is considered to be the case only when a monastic boundary has been duly established, for without such a boundary normal act of the Samgha, whether prātimokṣa or ordination ceremony, can take place. The establishment of a monastic boundary requires lay support: the land has to be given to the Samgha. Alternatively, Buddhism can be considered to have taken root somewhere only when a local recruit has been properly ordained there. These considerations would apply just as much to the spread of Buddhism within India as to its diffusion into foreign land.'

Further as Lal Mani Joshi says, 'The word 'Saṃgha' does not mean merely 'the order of monks… Saṃgha has to be understood to mean the entire community of those human beings who take refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma and the Saṃgha. Saṃgha is the all-embracing universal society of humans wedded to the doctrine and method taught by the Sage of the Śākyas… In Buddhist words, bhikṣus, bhikṣuṇīs, upāsakas and upāsikās, all these four classes of Buddhists are members of the saṃgha.' As Zucher points out too, the introduction of Buddhism into China 'means not only the propagation of certain religious notions, but also the introduction of a new form of social organization: the monastic community, the Saṃgha. To the Chinese Buddhism has always remained a doctrine of monks. The forces and couter-forces which were evoked by the existence of the Buddhist Church in China, the attitudes of the intelligentsia and of the government, the social background and status of the clergy and the gradual integration of the monastic community into medieval Chinese society are social phenomena of fundamental importance which have played a decisive role in the formation of early Chinese Buddhism.'

According to my observation, it was the Saṃgha in particular who did much of missionaries from the start when the new land did not have sufficient knowledge of Buddhism. Thus, the merchants who might have relatively enough knowledge and faith of Buddhism, formed a Saṃgha with the local intelligentsia to propagate Buddhist needs.

IV. Foreign Missionary Monks in Five Ridges (LingNan; 嶺南)

There were quite a large number of foreign missionary monks who visited Guangzhou and some of them were not only doing their missionary works in Southern China but translated influential texts. Table below shows from 281 AD the foreign missionaries who started to implement their missionary ambition in the rich and powerful country through the maritime silk route.

V. Centralization of Buddhism

It is quite obvious that the main research of the Buddhism during Six Dynasties was purposely centralized at the then capital. As mentioned above, at least from the surviving written sources, probably due to kings' or elite group's interests, most of the foreign monks who took part in the projections of translation were summoned to the capital to conduct their projects. Some of which, as I speculate were translation of the teachings while the others were transferring knowledge to Chinese monastic members and social elites.

Another case was the monk Mandra (曼陀羅) of Funan who offered Sanskrit texts to the Chinese emperor in 503 AD and was tasked by the emperor to translate the texts into Chinese the next year. With the help from Saṃghapāla, three texts the Jewel Cloud Sūtra (寶雲經) in seven fascicles, the Dharma-body Without Differentiation Sūtra (法界體性無分別經) in two fascicles and Manjuśrī Preaching Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra (文殊師利說般若波羅蜜經) in two fasciles were translated.

Seemingly from 581 AD, a few Buddhist texts were translated in Guangzhou as well as in Yangzhou (楊州). The monks such as Dharmagathāyasas (曇摩伽陀耶舍), Mahāyana and Saṃghabhadra conducting the translation tasks in Guanzhou individually suggested that an organized group with expertise in translation that could be found in the then capital was probably non exist in Guangzhou and Yangzhou.

VI. Transmitting Cultural Concepts

The process of transmitting one cultural text to another different culture may be complicated, yet the process it can be summed up into four frameworks as suggested by Nicolas Standaert. The first one is called (1) Transmission Framework (傳遞模式), to which the chief concern is how a message be delivered efficiently. As suggested by Jan Assmann, formulating one cultural text needs normative and formative expression, while the formal concerning of transmitting practical knowledge and point the way to right action, the latter helps us to define ourselves and establish our identity. Hence it is not too far wrong to say that when a narration or an idea is given, a missionary monk transmits identity and helps to confirm this shared knowledge.

When foreign missionary monks arrived at Guangzhou, they faced the challenges of not only managing to understand the language spoken, but whether they were good enough to understand the culture for them to deliver messages. This stage of how efficient a messages is delivered is called (2) Reception Framework (接受模式) since the it is concerned with how the messages are accepted or received. It would be impossible job for missionary monks if no locales would extend their hands to help them to do both Transmission and Reception Framework as we can imagine. Reception Framework concerns itself with how the cultural texts are accepted. Some missionary monks like Paramārtha, might have a distinct knowledge to transmit, nevertheless, without consideration of how the knowledge accepted in Chinese culture both the Transmission and Reception Framework cannot be fulfilling.

When it comes to (3) Invention Framework (發明模式), the messages themselves become secondary. All things seemingly real to the missionaries begin to question whether the messages they were given might highly influence by the structure of language. It is clear in the case of all foreign missionary monks especially Chinese were their foreign languages. Most of the foreign monks possessed excellent skill in their own languages including the languages of Buddhism like Sanskrit, Prakrit, Pāli and so forth, a sense of superiority of languages become the objects of investigation. The sense of superiority of foreign monks in their own language and culture might limit their own willingness to deal with the Chinese language. For further break through of one's superiority to mingle with the locals or local culture, it is (4) Interaction and Communication Framework (相遇溝通模式) is needed. The final Framework would shift the attention of identities to another level of identity, since at this stage a missionary would giving up one's own identity as a foreign knowledge with great sense of superiority to the new culture, but a kind of dialogue or interaction takes greater part in their missionary works.

Furthermore, in what way a discourse delivered to impart better meanings and what kind of messages to the land comes around. For this framework, it requires not only times and deep understanding of the culture they lived and furthermore one's identity will turn to multiple in order to assimilate one's culture to another culture.

Conclusion

Foreign missionary monks from the period of Six Dynasties (229-589 AD) risked their lives through the maritime silk road to Guangzhou or vicissitudes Five Ridges, their ambitions might not always be fulfilled. The hagiological records and other sources, implied that they were called to the Chinese capital by the order of emperors or intelligentsia willingly or unwillingly. Ding Bang You (丁邦友) surmises that inhabitant monks at Five Ridges were not at all interested in study of the Buddha's teachings, and they only paid more interest in building temples and performed ritualistic services. It was the main reason why in the Five Ridges area was quite difficult to nurture the growth of Buddhist teachings. Probably one could lay the blame on the submission of emperors' summon of those elite foreign monks to the capitals. Or perhaps the condition had not materialized for foreign monks to transmit their understanding and practices.

Merchants surely take on a significant role in missionary work because they were in a better situation economically and had better contact Buddhist with foreign countries. However, quite a number of them might have only regarded Buddhism as a kind of protective icon for their safety and welfare during the journal as depicted in 'Travel Journal Written at Píng Zhōu' (《萍洲可谈》) around 1119 AD (宣和元年) by Zhū Yù (朱彧) stating 'many merchants paid great respect to foreign monks, because they could help them to overcome dangers via sailing.' It is beyond doubt that it takes a long period of time to transmit one culture to another textually. Elite Buddhism certainly cannot not be regarded simply as ritualistic activities and beliefs, but as sincere dialogue between two cultures through Transmission Framework to Reception Framework. It was only during the Invention Framework and Interaction and Communication Framework that both the missionaries and recipients meet the requirement of being true Buddhist philosophers in the land in which they lived. This modest study thus offers us some preliminary insights on the complex relationship between the Guangzhou region and the propagation of elite Buddhism in relation to the maritime trade routes of the Sixth dynasties.