Santaraksita
(725-788) Indian Buddhist who disseminated Buddhism in Tibet
Santaraksita was a major figure in the histories of Indian and Tibetan Buddhism. He was an important scholar of Indian Buddhist philosophy and played a pivotal role in the early transmission of Buddhism to Tibet. According to Tibetan sources, he was born into an aristocratic family in Bengal. Very little is know about his activities in India; his activities in Tibet are better known, because of the survival of Tibetan records. During the middle of the eighth century, the Himalayan region of Mang-yul, then part of Tibet but now within the borders of Nepal, was governed by a Tibetan named Ba Salnang, who traveled to India and met Santaraksita there. At his instigation, King Trisongdetsen (742 c.E.-c. 797 c.e.) invited Santaraksita to Tibet. He traveled to Tibet twice, first in 763 c.e., and again shortly thereafter, and remained there for the rest of his life.
In Tibet, Santaraksita was responsible for the design of the first Buddhist monastery at Samye and the ordination of the first Tibetan monks. At Trisong Detsen’s request, he designed a monastery to be built at Samye. His design was based upon the Odantapuri monastic complex in India. According to Tibetan accounts, the king encountered supernatural obstacles in his attempts to build the monastery at Samye. At Santaraksita’s suggestion, he invited the great saint Padmasambhava to Tibet to serve as an exorcist. Together they completed the monastery in 779 c.e. Tibetans see this as a landmark moment in their history, and see Santaraksita and Padma-sambhava as founding figures in the establishment of their tradition. He also ordained the first seven Tibetan monks, according to the monastic discipline tradition of the Mulasarvastivada (Sarvastivada), a tradition that had flourished in northwest india and is still followed by all of the Tibetan monastic orders.
Santaraksita was accompanied to Tibet by his disciple Kamalashila, who was an important scholar in his own right. According to the Tibetan tradition, Kamalashila defended the indian "gradual" approach to Buddhist theory and practice in a great debate with the Chinese master Heshang ("monk") Moheyan, who advocated the Chinese Chan "sudden" approach. This debate lasted for three years, from 792 to 794 C.E., and the king ultimately ruled in Kamalash-ila’s favor.
Santaraksita was the founder of the Buddhist Yogacara-Madhyamaka philosophical tradition, so called because it advocated a synthesis of the positions of Yogacara Buddhism and the Madhy-amiaka. This approach was extremely influential, and it appears to have been the dominant position advanced at major indian Buddhist institutions such as the Nalanda and Vikramashila monastic complex for several centuries. This synthesis seems to have been supplanted by the Prasangika-Madhyamiaka school by the 11th century, at least in Tibet. He authored a number of philosophical works, the most important his massive Gathering the Elements of Reality (Tattvasamgraha) and Ornament of the Middle Way.
Santi Asok
Santi Asok is a major contemporary Buddhist movement in Thailand. it grew up in the 1970s, a period of political tumult in Thai culture and politics. The founder, Bodhiraksa (1934- ), believed the Thai sangha was too lax. Beginning in 1970, he attracted followers who were popularly known as the "Asoka Group," or Santi Asok. Santi Asok followers live a life of relative austerity, eating one meal per day. They eat only vegetarian food, an unusual practice in Thai Buddhism. There are also no Buddha statues in Santi Asok temples. They then established a center at Nakorn Pathom, near Bangkok, called "Asoka’s Land." Under pressure to disband his center, Bodhiraksa resigned from the monkhood in 1975 and formally established Santi Asok.
Santi Asok has so far remained critical of mainstream Buddhism and Thai society in general. This stringent criticism has led to problems with authority. in 1989 Bodhiraksa and 79 followers were briefly arrested under charges of falsely claiming to be Buddhists. They were then banned from preaching. in 1995 several followers were also put on trial.
Santi Asok’s troubled relationship with Thai authorities is to some extent related to politics. A follower, General Chamlong Srimuang, was elected governor of Bangkok in 1992 and his party, Phalang Dhamma (Power of Dhamma), is a force in the Thai parliament. Chamlong leads an austere lifestyle reminiscent of that of Santi Asok.
Santideva
(c. 650 c.e.) Indian interpreter of the bodhisattva path
Santideva was a monk in the famous Buddhist monastery-university of Nalanda. He wrote two extant works, one of them the Bodhicharyavatara (Entering the path of enlightenment). This work traces the path of the six paramitas (perfections), a path all bodhisattvas were expected to follow. He also explains two refined methods of meditation through which a bodhisattva can keep focus on helping others attain enlightenment.
San Yuan Gong
San Yuan Gong is a long-established Daoist temple in Guangzhou, the largest city in China’s south. San Yuan is purported to be the site where three Daoist adepts riding rams descended from the sky and founded the city. Three rams are the symbol of Guangzhou to this day. The temple today is well preserved but not an active center of worship.
Sariputra
(c. 500 b.c.e.) early disciple of the Buddha
Sariputra, one of the Buddha’s primary disciples, appears in many sutras, in which he is known for his wisdom. Sariputra was highly respected, second in the sangha only to the Buddha himself. Saruputra represents the force of monastic development. His impressive powers were developed through effort in accord with the rules of Buddhist monasticism. He was, in other words, a representative of settled spiritual development, the renouncer, as opposed to the ascetic, forest-oriented individual in early Buddhism.
Sariputra was the force behind the Abhidharma school. He was very analytical and arranged knowledge in easily taught groupings. As the modern scholar Conze notes, Sariputra’s approach had "a certain soberness and dryness" that we feel even to this day. other groups within the sangha preferred Maudgalyayana, who had psychic power, or Ananda, the Buddha’s personal attendant.
Sariputra was born in Magadha of a Brahman, upper-caste family. Sariputra was originally a follower of the ascetic Sanjayin. While traveling in the city of Rajagrha, Sariputra met a follower of the Buddha and converted to the Buddha’s path, taking with him Maudgalyayana and the other followers of Sanjayin, who soon died.
Sariputra went on to become identified with scholarly learning and an understanding of doctrine. In such texts as the Mahavastu he is said to have a Brahman background and to have been highly literate before he met the Buddha. His abilities in memorization were prodigious. Sariputra was in later years focused on clarifying the correct understanding of doctrine and teachings. He fought heretical views and was able to expound on the meanings of the original teachings. In a word, he was an abhidharmic scholar not unlike the later figures Vasubhandu and Nagarjuna. In fact, he is said to have expounded on the Abhidharma along with the Buddha, in heaven.
Nevertheless, Sariputra continued to be seen as a paradigmatic ascetic in some later depictions in the Buddhist canon. After the development of Mahayana Buddhism literature Sariputra became a symbol for a certain kind of learning, a programmatic as opposed to a scholarly approach. in the prajnaparamita, Lotus Sutra, and Avatamsaka Sutra Sariputra represents an inferior form of wisdom, one who is slow and not bright, unable to "understand" the essence of the Buddha’s teachings. in other words, the Mahayana writers associated Sariputra with the Hinayana form of Buddhism, a good but limited version in comparison with Mahayana Buddhism.
Sarira
Sarira are relics of the Buddha. The word sarira had the meaning of "body," in the singular, but in the plural form meant "relics." Sarira were an important subject of debate in early Buddhism and remain important objects of veneration today.
There is still debate on the Buddha’s injunction to his disciple Ananda, in the Mahaparinibbana-sutta, not to perform sarira-puja, worship of his remains, after his death. One interpretation is that sangha members should not attend to such rituals, which could, however, be handled by lay followers. This interpretation implies that veneration of Buddha relics was not practiced by monks at all, at least not at first, and was primarily a lay phenomenon. However, other scholars have concluded the Buddha’s statement referred only to participation in the funeral rites, not in relic veneration.
Regardless, by the second century b.c.e., during Asoka’s time, in rock monasteries of Sanci and Bharhut, the stupa and veneration of the stupa occupied the center of monastic life. The worship halls by that time were built around the stupas.
Sarnath (Isipathana, Deer Park)
Sarnath, located around 10 miles from the holy city of Varanasi (Benares), is the place where the Buddha gave his first lectures after achieving enlightenment. it is therefore seen by Buddhists as the birthplace of Buddhism. Sarnath is not the place where he achieved enlightenment, however—that was at 135 miles away at Bodhgaya. Sarnath, also called Deer Park, was the site of the gathering of the first group of Buddhist monks and the formation of the initial Buddhist monastic community.
The Buddha is said to have taught two important lessons at the Deer Park, now recorded in the form of two early sutras: the Dhammacakkhapa-vathana Sutta and the Anattalakhana Sutta. Asoka, the third-century b.c.e. emperor who converted to Buddhism, helped expand the monastic life at Sarnath. The community, which grew to include more than 1,000 monks, flourished through the ninth century but declined after the establishment of Muslim rule in the area. Eventually everything Buddhist would be destroyed. in the late 19th century, the British launched archaeological work in the area. They uncovered a number of the old Buddhist sites. Control of the Buddhist ruins has been placed in the hands of the Mahabodhi Society, which has expanded its initial concern with recovering Bodhgaya and again placing it in Buddhist hands.
The visitor to Sarnath today can see Asoka’s pillar and several archaeological remains. The Dharmarajika Stupa was built by Asoka to hold some relics of Gautama Buddha. Only the base of the Nulghandhakuti Shrine, an elaborate building used by the Buddha for meditation, remains.
At the beginning of the 1930s, the Mahabo-dhi Society erected a modern temple, the Mula-gandhakuti Vihara. It is decorated with scenes of the Buddha’s life, but its main attraction is a silver casket found in the Punjab in 1913. On it is an inscription dated to 79 C.E. that claims the casket holds some relics of the Buddha. Given to the society in 1935, it was subsequently taken to Sarnath. The Deer Park is near the Mulagandha-kuti temple. There are also many new Buddhist temples built nearby in the styles of various Buddhist cultures—Thailand, Tibet, Japan, Burma, China, and Korea.
Sarvastivada
(Sarvastivadin) school
Sarvastivada, the "All Things Exist" school, is one of the 18 schools of early Buddhism. The Sarvas-tivadins propounded the doctrine of the existence of matter. This did not extend to the self however; the Sarvastivadins did not refute the anatman concept whereby the Buddha taught that the atman, or "self," had no substance. Vasubandhu, one of the founders of Yogacara Buddhism, wrote the great Sarvastivadin-inspired work the Abhidharma-kosa before he renounced the Sarvastivadin premises.
Sarvodya Shramadana
This Sri Lankan self-help movement, a prime example of engaged Buddhism to Buddhists outside Sri Lanka, began in 1958 and is based on the use of Buddhist principles as a cure for the problems of modern urban life. Sarvodya conducts training programs in villages, covering infrastructure, education, women’s issues, health, and welfare. its work depends on volunteers. The founder, T. T. Ariyaratne, interprets his movement as an extension of Buddhism’s teachings of liberation. Liberation here means individual liberation, freedom from one’s defilements, as well as freedom from socioeconomic restrictions. Sarvodaya is an example of an active reinterpretation of Buddhist principles for the modern condition. While the movement does accept financial assistance from international sources, it has declined support from the Sri Lankan government.
Sasaki, Ruth Fuller Everett
(1893-1967) pioneer American Buddhist leader
Ruth Fuller, one of the first Americans to study Zen Buddhism in Japan, developed an interest in Asian religion as a young woman. She married a Chicago attorney, Charles Everett (d. 1940), and the two spent time in the ashram on Long Island founded by Pierre Arnold Bernard (1875-1925), an early American teacher of Hinduism. In 1930 the two took a world tour, and while stopping over in Japan, met Daisetsu Teitaro Suzuki. He gave her some initial instructions in Zen meditation. She returned to Japan several years later and Suzuki arranged for her to study at Nanzen-ji with the abbot Nanshinken Roshi.
In 1938, she settled in New York and discovered the existence of the Buddhist Society of America (later the First Zen Institute of America) and became a student of its founder, Shigetsu Sasaki Roshi (1882-1945). She was soon editor of the society’s periodical, Cat’s Yawn. Meanwhile her daughter met and married Alan Wilson WATTS, who had recently migrated to the united States from England. After their marriage he pursued studies for the priesthood of the Episcopal Church.
In 1942, Shigetsu Sasaki was moved into an internment camp, as were most Japanese Americans. Everett arranged for his release and since she was now a widow, in 1944 she married him. He died the next year. To fulfill his wish that she finish the translation of the writings of Rinzai Zen, she moved to Japan to further her own study and to learn Japanese and Chinese. She settled in at Daitoku-ji to sit with Zuigen Goto Roshi, the abbot. She eventually became Daitoku-ji’s abbess. In 1965 she organized a Japanese branch of the First Zen Institute of America to help Americans to study Zen Buddhism in Japan. Among the many people whom she assisted in their travel to Japan was Gary Snyder.
Sasaki Roshi, Kyozan Joshu
(1907- ) Japanese American Rinzai Zen master
Joshu Roshi, founder of Rinzai-ji, an association of Rinzai Zen centers in the United States, was born in Miyagi, Japan. He became a Buddhist novice at the age of 14 at a temple in Hokkaido under the oversight of Joten Soko Miura Roshi. He was ordained a priest at the age of 21, at which time he took the name Kyozan. At the age of 40, he received authority as a roshi. From 1953 to 1962, he served as abbot of Shoju-an, a temple in Iiyama, Nagano Prefecture. In 1962 Joshu Roshu arrived in America and the following year established the Rinzai Zen Dojo Association in Southern California. The name was later changed to Rinzai-ji, Inc. As it expanded, centers were founded in various locations in California North Carolina, New York, and New Mexico. The first Canadian center opened in 1979. For a period of nearly 10 years, he held regular sesshins for Trappist monks at St. Joseph’s Abbey in Spencer, Massachusetts.
As of November 2005, Joshu Roshi, age 98, continued to teach. Meanwhile, his students now lead Zen centers in places as diverse as Redondo Beach, California; Vienna, Austria; Puerto Rico; Vancouver, British Columbia; Ithaca, New York; Miami; Mt. Cobb, California; and Princeton, New Jersey.
Sasaki Roshi, Shigetsu
(1882-1945) pioneering Japanese Zen monk in America
Shigetsu Sasaki Roshi, better known as Sokei-an, founded the Buddhist Society of America, one of the first Buddhist associations in the New York City metropolitan area. As a young man in Japan, Sasaki became a part of a lay Zen Buddhism practitioner group. in 1906 he accompanied his teacher Sokatsu Shaku in a missionary effort to spread Zen in the West. The group found little initial response, and only Sasaki stayed in America. He made his way to New York City and worked as an artist through the years of World War i.
After the war, he returned to Japan to complete his training, which was finished in 1928. He subsequently settled permanently in the united States. He founded the First Zen Institute of America and found a small but growing number of students.
Sokei-an was briefly interned as a Japanese national in 1942. He subsequently married one of his students, Ruth Fuller Everett Sasaki, an American, part of an effort to get him released. He was able to return to New York in 1944 but eventually died of an illness he acquired while in the camp. His widow emerged as his successor and went on to become a notable Zen leader in her own right.
Sastra
Sastras are a category of Buddhist literature. Meaning literally "rule," a sastra is a commentary or essay on some aspect of Buddhist thought or practice. The sastras are contrasted to the sutras, which are in all cases said to be the actual words of the Buddha. An example of a sastra is Vasubandhu’s Abhidharmakos-sastra basyam, his commentary (basyam) on the treasury (kosa) of the Abhidharma. Although the concept is found in Theravada literature as well, the comparable term in Pali (sattha) is not often used.
Sawaki Roshi, Kodo
(1880-1965) Japanese Soto Zen Master
Kodo Sawaki Roshi, one of the most outstanding Soto Zen masters in 20th-century Japan, was born in Tsu-shi, Mie Prefecture. Orphaned at an early age, he was adopted by Bunkicki Sawaki, a professional gambler. As a youth, he developed a desire to become a Zen monk, and in 1896 he moved to Eihei-ji. He was ordained the next year and took the name kodo from his teacher, Kodo Sawada, the abbot of Soshin-ji.
In 1900, Sawaki was drafted into the army and in 1904-05 he fought in the Sino-Japanese War in China. He recovered from a near-fatal wound and after the war resumed his practice. In 1912 he became the instructor of monks at Yosen-ji in Mie Prefecture and held several similar positions at different locations over the next years. Then in 1923 he began to travel around Japan lecturing and leading meditation sessions for what he termed the "moving monastery." It is during his wandering years that he acquired a student, Taisen Deshimaru, who would remain with him for the rest of his life.
In 1935, Sawaki’s accomplishments were recognized when he was appointed as a professor at Komazawa University. He would continue to teach for almost 30 years, while holding different positions at nearby Zen monasteries, initially as the overseer of practice at Soji-ji (1935-40).
In 1940, with World War II in full force, he became the head of another temple, Tengyo Zen-en. After the war, he again assumed a wandering life and became known for his activities teaching lay people and holding zazen sessions in typical places such as jails. He continued this activity until 1963, when illness forced him to resign his professorship and to cease his travels. He died two years later. Shortly before his death, he ordained Taisen Deshimaru, a married man, as a monk and commissioned him to go to the West to spread Zen. Deshimaru subsequently established the Association Zen Internationale, one of the West’s largest associations of Zen centers.
Scandinavia, Buddhism in
Though beginning the 21st century while experiencing growth, Buddhism remains a small religious community in Scandinavia (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden), yet to claim even 1 percent of the population. That does not seem likely to change in the near future given its low-key proselytizing methods and the slowing of immigration from Asia.
The Scandinavian countries were, through the 19th century, home exclusively to the Christian faith. During the 16th century, the countries moved from Roman Catholicism in adopting Lutheranism as the state religion. In the 19th century, various alternative forms of Protestantism developed, but not until the early 20th century did forms of spirituality other than Christianity appear.
Asian religions in general and Buddhism in particular found individual advocates through the 20th century but only after World War II did worshipping communities begin to appear. In a few cases, individuals traveled to Asian countries, where they discovered Buddhist teachers, teachings, and practice. Then, in the 1960s, Asians began to move to Scandinavia, especially Denmark and Sweden, and the first Buddhist meditation halls and temples appeared. By the end of the century, a network of Buddhist groups had emerged across Scandinavia. One study estimated that the Buddhist community in Denmark had grown from approximately 2,000 adherents in 1980 to around 17,000 in 2004.
Important to the growth of Buddhism have been those Scandinavians who have traveled to other countries to gain leadership skills and credentials and returned home to head their own organizations. of these, none are as important as Ole Nydahl and his wife, Hannah. In 1969 they traveled to India and became the first Western students accepted by the 16th Gyalwa karmapa. After three years of meditation and study, Nydahl was commissioned to return to the West and spread Kagyu Karma Tibetan Buddhism. He returned to his native Denmark and as Lama Ole Nydahl has been most aggressive in founding centers and training teachers for what he terms Diamond Way Buddhism. Centers associated with Lama Nydahl can now be found across Scandinavia.
As in North America, Zen Buddhism has been the most attractive form of Buddhism in many Scandinavian nations. A number of Zen centers have emerged across Scandinavia, one group associated with the Association Zen Internationale (AZI) headquartered in Paris, France.
After Zen, Tibetan Buddhism has been most successful. A variety of Tibetan groups have opened centers representative of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism and a few of the lesser schools such as the Aro gTer (a subschool of the Nyingma tradition). Several of the international associations of Tibetan centers are active,including the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition, the Dzogchen Community, and the New Karmapa Tradition, and the Dalai Lama has made periodic visits.
Immigrants from Taiwan, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Japan, and Thailand have established temples in Scandinavia. The Vietnamese have possibly the largest network, with some 15 temples, primarily in Norway and Denmark. The Taiwan-based Foguangshan has opened a temple in Sweden and has affiliated centers in Norway and Denmark. Soka Gakkai International has centers across Scandinavia and is one of the few organizations with an affiliated group in the rather isolated iceland. The socially active Order of Interbeing has also found support among native Scandinavians.
Schools of Chinese Buddhism
Chinese Buddhism is traditionally divided into 10 schools, all of which flourished during the Tang dynasty (618-907). The early ones were reinterpretations of existing teachings from india. However, over time the Chinese began to reinterpret Buddhist teachings in their own way, leading to new channels of thought. The four major schools of Tian Tai, Hua Yan, Pure Land, and Chan are original Chinese contributions to Buddhist thought.
These schools of the Tang period were not always distinct and separate. it has been argued they were simply polemical vehicles used by different groups of monk-scholars to put forward their ideas. As such it is a mistake to assume that the division into schools is the major characteristic of Chinese Buddhist practice. Chinese Buddhism is found in the monasteries and temples, in popular literature, in ritual, and in the very phrases and idioms of the spoken language. These forms care little about schools and narrow distinctions. At the same time the major Chinese schools such as Tian Tai and Chan have left behind a strong image of proper Buddhist practice, a cultural memory of ideals, rituals, and ways of seeing the world, that survives wherever Buddhism is found in China.
THREE STAGES SCHOOL
This school was established by a Chinese monk, Xin Xing (540-594), to teach the idea of three stages. Such works as the Lotus Sutra and the Avatamsaka Sutra contain the theory of the three stages. This holds that the Buddha’s teachings will go through three stages: one of the true Dharma, when the teachings are followed closely; one of the counterfeit Dharma, when the true Dharma is hidden, and similar but false teachings prevail; and one of decay (in Japanese, mappo), when the Dharma will be ignored and disappear. The stages will last for between 500 and 1,000 years each, depending on which version is followed. The most popular version taught that the first, true stage would last 500 years, and the second, counterfeit one 1,000. Most Chinese of Xin Xing’s period felt the third stage would begin in their time, in 550 C.E.
This sect was important as an example of Buddhist donation practice. A large storehouse, the inexhaustible Treasury, was set up in the Huatu Temple at the Tang dynasty capital, Chang An. Donations poured in to support it. The treasury was finally appropriated in 713 c.e. by the emperor Xuan Zong, who also proscribed the sect. The Three Stages school did not survive the general persecution of 845.
DISCIPLINARY (LU) SCHOOL
This school was started in the Tang by Tao Xuan (596-667). The school’s purpose was to remind followers that adherence to rules was as important as understanding of Buddhist concepts; it emphasized the 250 rules for monks and the 348 rules for nuns. These rules are found in the Vinaya, the section of the Buddhist canon dealing with monastic discipline.
KOSA SCHOOL
The Kosa (or Realist) school was stimulated by the translation of the Abhidharma-kosa, the work written by Vasubandhu and translated into Chinese twice, once by Paramartha in 563-567 and later by Xuan Zang in 651-654. This school considered that dharmas (events) were facts, and that things had their own existence. Such dharmas include notions of time, such as the past, the present, and the future. Although things were impermanent, a kernel of their nature was transmitted into the future.
This school, with its SARVASTiVADA-leaning (so-called Hinayana) teachings, was by 795 absorbed into the Fa Xiang, or Idealist, school.
SAN LUN SCHOOL
San Lun means "Three Sastras." The sastras, or commentaries, are three well-known works by Nagarjuna and Aryadeva: the Madhyamika Sastra and Dvadasanikaya Sastra by Nagarjuna, and, by Aryadeva, the Sata Sastra. These three sastras were translated by Kumarajiva (fifth century). These three texts form the core of Madhyamika philosophy. Madhyamika taught followers to distinguish and find the middle ground between extremes. Although it did not last as an independent movement, Madhyamika has survived as a well-established branch of traditional Mahayana Buddhism. In the modern period the Chinese monk Yin Shun (1906-2005) was known as an advocate of Madhyamika thought.
TIAN TAI
This syncretic school was established around the figure of Zhi Yi (538-597) and held that the Lotus Sutra is the highest teaching of Buddhism. In Japan it was known as the Tendai school.
HUA YAN
The Hua Yan masters promoted the Avatamsaka Sutra as the most profound of the Buddha’s teachings. The last patriarch was Zongmi (780-841), who died just before the Hui Chang persecution of 845, and the school did not generate additional masters later.
FA XIANG
Fa Xiang means "characteristics of the dharmas." It came into existence after the writings of Vasubandhu and Asanga (fl. fourth century c.e.) became popular, beginning with Paramar-tha’s translation of the Mahayanasamgraha in 563. This stimulated the Kosa (She Lun) school, which became absorbed into the Fa Xiang. The great Chinese translator Xuan Zang’s return from India stimulated even more translation work.
The key philosophical emphasis of the Fa Xiang (also called the Dharmalaksana, or Mind-only, school) is an idealistic picture of the universe. The mind contains the alaya-vijnana, storehouse consciousness, which holds and mixes all ideas. The outside reality is simply a manifestation of the storehouse; in Vasubhandu’s words, "All this world is ideation only."
This school was popular during Xuan Zang’s time (602-664 c.e.), but with his death it declined. It was heavily criticized by the Hua Yan school as being too "Hinayana" and overly philosophical.
TANTRA
The Tantra school, which first developed in India in the seventh and eight centuries c.e., refers to the vast number of deities and sees them as creations of mind. The world is characterized in fact by sunyata, or emptiness. This interpretation married the Hindu Tantric elements with core Mahayana teachings on emptiness. The Tantric school put great emphasis on mantras, mudras (hand symbols), and mandalas, cosmograms showing the universe.
PURE LAND
The Pure Land school focuses on the Sukha-vativyuha, the Pure Land Sutra, which describes the Pure Land, the paradise in the west where the Buddha Amitabha resides. Followers to this day are strongly attracted by the images of a peaceful afterlife accessible to all. Therefore, Pure Land remains a strong branch of contemporary Buddhist practice.
CHAN
The Chan school began with the entry into China of Bodhidharma, who in traditional accounts arrived there in 520 (or 526).
Chan was able to flourish in Tang dynasty China (618-906) because it fit the overall epoch. Artistic expression and experimentation reached a new peak during the Tang, and Chan fit well with that milieu. it also mixed well with Daoism and did not focus excessively on philosophical speculations. Chan’s rejection of the traditional scriptures and images of the Buddha was radical, but it fit the personality of the Chinese well.
