White house temple Luoyang

China local life travel agency based in Xi'an city, China.

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Buddhism, Christianity and Islam are the three major religions in the world. Buddhism originated from ancient India, but developed and flourished?in China. About 2500 years ago, Prince Siddhatha Gautama founded Buddhism, he was called Sakyamuni by later generations, which means Saint of the Sakya Clan. The main doctrines of Buddhism are the Four Noble Truths(四谛): Buddhism suffering, the cause of suffering, the extinction of suffering and the way leading to the extinction of suffering（苦、因、灭、道）， which means the?life of human is full of various sufferings caused by different desires, happiness can only be achieved if these desires are overcome. In the 1st?and 2nd?Century A.D., Buddhism broke into two schools: the Hinayana (小乘) and the Mahayana（大乘）. Hinayana advocates “Self Release”?while Mahayana advocates not only “?Self Release”?but also “release all the living creatures”?so they are also called “Lesser or Smaller Vehicle”?and “Greater or Bigger Vehicle”?which can send all the living to the other bank of the world, a land of boundless happiness.

Buddhism spread to the whole world mainly by two routes , the South Route to present Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia and China’s Yunnan Province, this route is featured by the Hinayana; The other one is the North Route, during the Western Han Dynasty, it was introduced to Central Asia Region like Persia and Iran, and then to China’s Western Regions in present Xinjiang?Uygur Autonomous Region, later to Central China in the 1st?Century A.D. and then spread to Vietnam, Korea and Japan from China, North Route is featured by Mahayana. Some scholars divide from the North Route into the third route ---- the Tibetan Buddhism, which was formed much later during the King Songtsen Ganpo’s reign and is quite popular in China’s Tibet, Nepal and Buthan.?China is the only country who possesses the three language systems of Buddhism. ????Today we will visit the very first Buddhist Temple in Chinese history ---- the White Horse Temple in Luoyang.

About the earliest records of how Buddhism was introduced to the inland of China, the most reliable one being: in 2 B.C., at the end of the Western Han Dynasty, the King of Darouzhi (present Afghanistan) sent an envoy to Chang’an (some say Luoyang), a Chinese scholar Jinglu (景卢) used to learn the “Futu Sutra”?from the envoy, but no religious activities were recorded in history. The mark of the formal introduction of Buddhism to China is the establishment of the White Horse Temple in Luoyang.

According to historical records, during the years titled Yongping of the Eastern Han Dynasty or 64 A.D., Emperor Mingdi dreamed of a golden deity coming from the west and flying in the palaces, he was very surprised, the next morning, he summoned all the high-ranking officials and asked them, “I dreamed of a golden deity with a surprising height and his two ears were so long to reach the shoulders, and also a giant light circle shone around his back, what was it?”?A learned scholar Fu Yi (傅毅)said, “?Your Majesty, I heard there is a God called Buddha in the west, which is the same as what you dreamed of.”?Emperor?Mingdi believed and decided to send out a team of 18 (some say 12) officials led by Cai Yin and Qin Jing to the West Regions to search for Buddhism. The next year in 65 A.D., the team of the Han envoys bid a farewell to the capital of Luoyang and started their long journey to the west via the Silk Road. When they arrived at Darouzhi (what is now Afghanistan), they happened to meet two eminent Indian monks who were propagating Buddhism, the Han envoys invited them to disseminate Buddhism in China, so they carried a lot of Buddhist scriptures back to China’s capital ---- Luoyang, Emperor Mingdi treated them with the highest state courtesy and arranged them to stay at the highest government structure ---- Honglusi. The next year in 68 A.D., Emperor Mingdi ordered the establishment of a Buddhist ?monastery in Luoyang, which was the first Buddhist monument in China ----- this is the Baimasi. Why so called? Baima means “?White Horse”, it is a white horse who carried back to China numerous Buddhist classics and a strange religion; Secondly, “si”?means Buddhist temple in modern Chinese, but in Chinese history, “si”?originally?referred to government structures, like “Honglusi”?is equal to today’s Foreign Ministry, “Taichangsi”?like today’s Ministry of Culture, “Dalisi”?equals today’s Ministry of Justice. So it is not hard to understand the temple’s name: the earliest Buddhist classics stayed first in the Honglusi, so later the Buddhist temples were also called “si”, and in order to memorize the white horse’s contributions to Buddhism, the first Buddhist temple in Chinese history was named after it.

Although during the long period of development, Buddhism had many schools and sects, and numerous Buddhist?temples were established?in different places of China, Chinese Buddhist disciples still revere the White Horse Temple as the “Ancestral Hall”?and “Origin of Buddhism”. This makes the White Horse Temple different from any Buddhist monasteries in China, and the White Horse Temple plays a unique role in the history of Chinese Buddhism.

After Buddhism was introduced to China, it has been influencing greatly the cultures, thoughts and lives of Chinese people, and also spread to the neighboring countries of Vietnam, Korea and Japan from China, so the White Horse Temple enjoys the same esteem in these countries.

Buddhism is an important composing part of the super-structure of Chinese feudal society. It greatly influenced and enriched the literature, music, paintings, sculptures, architectures and the other sorts of art of our country. Even now, many Chinese everyday expressions came from Buddhism, such as 三生三世 （three generations）, 生死轮回（circle of life）, 缘分（destiny），天花乱坠(a perfect talk)，志同道合(same career). So it is why in Luoyang we must visit the White Horse Temple, which used to play a very important part not only in the dissemination and development of Buddhism, but also in the cultural exchanges between China and other countries.

Buddhism originated in India but developed greatly in China. Now in India, only 1% people believe in Buddhism, but in China., over 50%, that is why the White Horse Temple is still the Mecca for Chinese Buddhist followers.

The combination of Buddhism and Chinese-style architectures formed Chinese Buddhist temples. Now the main buildings of the White Horse Temple were constructed chiefly in the Ming and Qing Dynasties Its original layout used to influence?all the later Chinese temples.

The main buildings of the temple must be on an axis generally from south to north. The Shanmen Gate (or Mountain Gate), the Hall of Heavenly Kings, the Hall of the Great Buddha, the Hall of Great Hero, the Receiving Hall, and so on.

Shanmen:?Shanmen means the Mountain Gate, it is because many Chinese temples are in the peaceful mountains and the gates face the mountain. The two stone horses were excavated from the tomb of a princess’s husband of the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127 A.D.) and moved here in front of the Shanmen Gate. It seems more suitable to put them here instead of in museums.

Hall of Heavenly Kings: Facing us is the Maitraya Buddha. Buddhism says billions of years after the death of Sakyamuni, Maitraya will come down to earth and become the new Buddha. It is also said that Maitraya Buddha has no worries and sorrows, when he comes down, the world will be peaceful with timely winds and rains, good harvests and great happiness will be everywhere. In the Buddhist temples of the Han people-populated areas of China, Maitraya is generally enshrined in the first hall. In the early phase, Maitraya is a thin Buddha with Indian style, later in the Sui and Tang times, a fat image with a big belly appeared, During the Five Dynasties, in the Yuelin Temple in Zhejiang Province, a monk called Qici was regarded as the personification of Maitraya Buddha, he usually carried a cloth bag and went everywhere as a beggar, it is said his cloth bag was a precious one with everything inside. Later, Maitraya Buddha was molded after his image with a big belly and a cloth bag, and always a pleasant smile on the face, it is so shaped and put in the first hall of a temple to create a sense of warmth to all the people.

On the two sides of the hall, always four Heavenly Kings are placed, they are the guards of the four directions, according to what they hold in hands, we can learn they symbolize “timely winds and rains”?which expresses the good wish of Buddhism.

On the back of Maitraya Buddha is Skanda, who is a general of the Southern Heavenly King. Buddhism says that each of the four Heavenly Kings possesses eight generals, while Skanda is the leader of the 32 Heavenly Generals of Warriors, so he is regarded as the “Guardian of Buddhism”?and always put behind Maitraya Buddha. Facing Sakyamuni and the whole temple, Skanda keeps the Buddhist rites safe from any disturbance.

Hall of Great Buddha:?This is the main hall of the temple, important Buddhist rites and activities are held here. In the middle of the hall is the founder of Buddhism, Sakyamuni. It is said the statue of Sakyamuni here is the image of his last teaching during which he said nothing but held a flower in hand and asked all his disciples to guess his meaning. On the left side of Sakyamuni stands Kasyapa, it is said, during the last teaching, only he understood?Skyamuni’s mind, and he smiled slightly to the Buddha, who then gave his precious bowl to him and died. Kasyapa was regarded as one of the 10 greatest disciples of the Buddha and the first ancestor of the Zen Sect of Buddhism. After Sakyamuni died, Kasyapa also collected 500 monks to compile the words and deeds of Sakyamuni who hadn’t left any recorded writings.

On the right side of Sakyamuni is Ananda, who was Sakyamuni’s cousin and also disciple. He served and learnt from Sakyamuni for over 20 years, and had a good memory and profound learnings. He was also one of the 10 greatest disciples of Sakyamuni and regarded by Chinese Zen Buddhism as the second ancestor. After Sakyamuni’s death, he gathered and led the followers to recite Buddhist classics, in Chinese translated Buddhist sutras, “如是我闻”?---- “As what I saw and heard”?is said to be the words of Ananda.

On the left side of Kasyapa is the seated Manjusri or Wenshu Bodhisattva, with a profound learning, he is the personification of wisdom, some of his images ride a green lion.

On the right side of Ananda is the cross-legged Puxian Bodhisattva or Bodhisattva of Universal Benevolence. Some of his images ride a white elephant.

Sakyamuni and the two Bodhisattvas of Manjusri and Puxian are called the “Three Saints of Sakya”.

On the back of the statues, facing north is another seated Bodhisattva, Guanshiyin or Goddess of Mercy. He is the most famous Bodhisattva in China, Guanshiyin means “listening to the sounds of the secular world”, whenever and wherever there is a suffering or disaster, people just call his name, and he will come to the rescue, so in many temples, his image may be with numerous eyes and hands, he is so designed to be the great savior of whole people who need a hand. Ladies and gentlemen, some maybe say I am wrong, it?seems I mistook “She”?for “He”, originally, all the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas were all male images, but in China, people?wanted to attract more and more women to believe in ?Buddhism, they changed almost all the Bodhisattvas into females, so actually I am not wrong！

The Hall of the Great Hero: In this hall are housed three main Buddhas. In the middle is Sakyamuni who is regarded as a great hero with boundless magical power and unrivaled courage. On the left side is the Medicine Buddha who is in charge of the Eastern Pure World. Buddhism believes he can cure various diseases and prolong human lives. On the right side is Amitabha Buddha who is in charge of the Western Paradise. In front of the Three Main Buddhas stand two guadians ---- Skanda (Weituo) and Weili, one is gentle and mild, the other is rough and ferocious, forming a sharp contrast, this style is rarely found in China.

On the two sides of the walls are enshrined the Eighteen Arhats. Arhat is the?highest ideal position that Hinayana Buddhism seeks, there are different ways of saying ---- 16 Arhats, 18 Arhats, 500 Arhats and 1250 Arhats, among which 18 Arhats and 500 Arhats are most popular. The saying of 18 Arhats came from the 16 Indian Arhats originally, with the widespread of Buddhism in the world, Xuanzang(玄奘) ---- a Chinese?monk and Qingyou (庆友)---- a Sri Lankan monk were added to the 18 Arhats approximately in the Northern Song Dynasty. But some people advocate the two added monks are Bodhi Darma and the Monk of Cloth Bag.

In a broad sense, Buddhism?also regards the enlightened monks as Arhats. Pursuing practicing, and Arhat can become a Bodhisattva, and still pursuing, Bodhisattva can become a Buddha. Buddha is the highest position that Buddhism followers seek. The Three Treasures of Buddhism are “Buddha, Buddhism and Monks”.

All the three Buddhas, two guardians and 18 Arhats housed in the Hall of the Great Hero are all the masterpieces of the Yuan Dynasty, they were made by a lost technique called Jiazhu which used to be quite popular in the Tang Dynasty, this kind of sculptures?are rarely seen in China now, so the sculptures here in this hall are really national treasures. The process of “Jiazhu”?technique is: First, shaped by mud and sand, and then wrapped by sackcloth, silk and palm fibre, later a coat of painting is applied, after several such wrapping and painting, a coat of guilding and colorful painting is applied, at last, the original clay mold is removed away, a Jiazhu ware is completed. The Jiazhu technique was spread to Japan in the Tang Dynasty, the disciples of Jianzhen Monk made his seated sculpture?which is preserved intact now in Japan, and as the?national treasure of Japan, it enjoys a high popularity in the whole world.