Buddhism in Chinese society

[inddef]

i am interested to learn more about the role of buddhism in chinese society from the chinese members.

ps: i am named after the buddha and am something of a fan

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

My family is mostly Buddhist.

Buddhism as a belief system is a fundamental part of Chinese culture. It is usually "mixed" in with Confucianism and Taoism.

For example, East Asian (Confucian) societies tend to do something called "Ancestor-worship" and this is often practised alongside Buddhism.

This is a statue of Guanyin (觀&#38899 in Hainan:

Guanyin is a bodhisattva that is venerated by East Asian Buddhists, and represents compassion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guan_Yin

 

[inddef]

so how does it influence culture and individual lives?

for laypeople, are there some buddhist rituals typically done? shrines to be visited? calendar based festivals?

what about monasteries. are they in operation?

as a sidenote, i had a couple of fantastic buddhist friends from ladakh and bhutan in university. cool dudes.

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

so how does it influence culture and individual lives?

for laypeople, are there some buddhist rituals typically done? shrines to be visited? calendar based festivals?

what about monasteries. are they in operation?

as a sidenote, i had a couple of fantastic buddhist friends from ladakh and bhutan in university. cool dudes.

Buddhism has had an enormous cultural impact on Chinese culture, similar to the influence of Christianity on British culture or Hinduism on Indian culture. Read Ancient Chinese literature like "Journey to the West"... these stories are about travelling West to India, to gain sacred Buddhist scriptures.

It's not just China either... Buddhism has made a large cultural impact on almost all of the East Asian nations like Japan, Korea, etc.

Here is the biggest statue in the world, it's a statue of the Buddha in Henan province, China.

Here is a list of all the biggest statues in the world, most of them are of the Buddha, and most of them are in China.

List of statues by height - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[inddef]

wow, those statues are giant and recent. is buddhism resurgent and popular lately?

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

wow, those statues are giant and recent. is buddhism resurgent and popular lately?

I think it might be resurgent, but I'm not too sure.

Buddhism is actually VERY widespread in China, most people don't realise this because it is "mixed" with Confucianism and Taoism.

Therefore, many Chinese may practice traditional Chinese "ancestor-worship" without realising that their belief system, and Chinese culture itself, has been greatly influenced by Buddhism.