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Voices from the cave
Source: Chinadaily.com.cn
July 13, 2008
A traveler falls into a river and calls for help. A huge stag with a fur of nine colors saves the drowning man. The traveler promises the stag not to tell anyone about it in return for saving his life. The queen of a nearby kingdom sees the stag in her dream and wants its beautiful multi-color fur. She requests the king for announcing a reward to any informant for the information on location of the deer. On hearing the reward for locating the deer, the greedy traveler goes to the palace and breaks his promise made to the stag.
The king goes with his bow and arrows to the area where the stag is. When he is about to shoot the stag, the deer's body emits a dazzling light to protect it from the arrows. Then, the stag tells the king how it has saved the life of a traveler. The king is moved by its story and sets it free. The traveler dies for the greed, and the queen for the lust of beautiful fur.
This Buddhist fable is depicted in the paintings painted in one of the caves of the Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes, one of the most famous Buddhist sites in Northwest China's Gansu province. In Cave No 257, this story is painted in nine sections.
The Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes and a number of other grottoes played an important role in spreading Buddhism in China, and storytelling became one of the strongest tools in spreading Buddhism.
Monks spread Buddhism to the east of China 2,000 years ago, bringing philosophy, literature, music, dance, sculpture, painting, architecture and other art from ancient India. However, they met strong resistance from the local rulers. Many rulers tried to drive Buddhism out of China killing monks, burning temples and scriptures but it managed to survive.
In 64 AD, the Buddhist teachers such as Kasyapa-matanga and Gobharana from the western regions of the today's northwest China and Central Asia were the pioneers in introducing Buddhism to Central China. Emperor Mingdi (reigned 28-75 AD) of the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220 AD) invited the two teachers to translate the Buddhist scriptures at Baima (White Horse) Temple in the capital city of Luoyang, in Henan province.
Chinese traveler Fa Xian of the Eastern Jin Dynasty (317-420 AD) was the first Chinese to reach Lumbini in today's Nepal, where Sakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism was born in 624 BC. He brought back a large number of scriptures. His travelogue: A Record of the Buddhist Kingdoms provided precious information about Buddhism and the history of the areas he visited.
Xuan Zang of the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD) was the most important figure to seek Buddhist teachings in ancient India. From 629 to 645 AD, he covered 50,000 km and brought back 657 Buddhist scriptures. His story inspired the classic novel Journey to the West.
In China, Buddhism blossomed into Han Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism and Pali Buddhism.
Following the tradition of the Han Buddhism, monks and nuns keep celibate, wear robes, shave their heads and abstain from eating meat.
Buddhism entered Tibet from India in the 7th century and spread among the minority and ethnic groups in Tibet and Inner Mongolia, Sichuan and Yunnan provinces.
Pali Buddhism is popular among the Dai, Blang, Achang, De'ang and Va minority ethnic groups living in southern and southwestern Yunnan province.
As Buddhism spread into China, pious believers dug grottoes and niches in the mountains and filled them with huge statues and murals.
