1. What is Theravada Buddhism?
Theravada Buddhism, also known as Theravada Buddhism, Theravada Buddhism, Pali Buddhism, etc., but compared with these terms, domestic friends may be more familiar with another name of this Buddhist school, "Theravada Buddhism". In fact, the names are interchangeable, but "Theravada Buddhism" seems to some Theravada Buddhists to have a contempt from Mahayana Buddhism, so it is most appropriate to call it "Theravada Buddhism" or "Theravada Buddhism" out of respect for local customs.
Here, why is there a special emphasis on "Southern Transmission"? This brings us to the question of the history of Theravada Buddhism. It is generally believed that more than a hundred years after the fall of the Buddha, the monastic community of primitive Buddhism held a second assembly, in which disputes arose over the "ten precepts" of primitive Buddhism, some monks believed that "ten things were illegal" and some believed that "ten things were legal", so there was a huge disagreement, and primitive Buddhism was divided into two parts: "mass division" (later some evolved into Mahayana Buddhism) and "Theravada Buddhism".
Schematic diagram of the spread of Buddhism
Theravada Buddhism, which is now widely spread in Southeast Asia, claims to be the orthodoxy of Theravada Buddhism and considers its Buddhist teachings to be closer to primitive Buddhism. But in fact, Theravada Buddhism is only a branch of Theravada Buddhism that spread and developed southward (from the historical point of view, the Great Temple School in Sri Lanka is due to the Theravada part of the copper sect transmitted to Sri Lanka, and it is also said to belong to the Theravada lineage of the Dharma Tibetan southern school), which does not represent the whole picture of Theravada Buddhism, so it is most appropriate to call it "Theravada Buddhism" or "Theravada Buddhism".
According to the Theravada Buddhist scriptures, during the Ashoka period in the third century BC, Ashoka sent the prince Elder Mamada to Sri Lanka via South India to spread Buddhism and meet the Emperor Xu, who ruled the kingdom at that time. His first statement was converted by the king, Theravada Buddhism was promoted in Sri Lanka, and Mahavihara was built in the capital to house the monastic community, thus founding the "Great Temple School", which had the most profound influence in the history of Buddhism in Southeast Asia.
Sri Lankan stupas
Unlike today's Theravada Buddhist countries, which believe in almost one religion, the early Theravada Buddhist countries were not purely popular in Theravada Buddhism, and it was a more common mode of existence to accommodate various schools of Buddhism and even other religions. For example, Sri Lanka, as the birthplace of Theravada Buddhism, also had a Fearless Mountain Temple school of the Ministry of Mass Affairs in the early days. That is, with less political involvement, early Theravada Buddhism and popular Buddhism (Mahayana Buddhism) were in a state of relatively peaceful coexistence; It was not until later when politics intervened strongly and made it the state religion to support royal rule that these schools of Theravada Buddhist countries became monolithic.
Although Theravada Buddhism was introduced to Sri Lanka in the time of Ashoka in the third century BC, it was not carefully sorted out for a long time, and it was not until around the fifth century AD, when Elder Kyawyin reorganized, annotated and translated the Theravada Buddhist texts handed down, that Sri Lanka's Theravada Buddhism was finally perfected, and Theravada Buddhism, which had a major influence in Southeast Asia for more than a thousand years, was finalized at this time.
During the first thousand years after AD, the state of Theravada Buddhism in Southeast Asia and South Asia can be described as tepid. Except for the orderly Sri Lankan monastic school, only some small countries in Southeast Asia and South Asia (such as the Mon kingdom of Fallabadi and Burma) have practiced Theravada Buddhism, but in 1044, a new chapter in the history of Theravada Buddhism was opened.
The ancient city of Bagan
In this year, for the first time in the history of Southeast Asia, a powerful unified kingdom revered Theravada Buddhism as the state religion. After Anurudha established the Bagan Kingdom in 1044 (the first unified kingdom in Burmese history, roughly equal to that of the Qin and Han dynasties in China), he welcomed Southern Buddhism into the southern Mon kingdom and made it the state religion, outlawing Mahayana Buddhism, which had prevailed during the Pyu period.
Tha Luang, the symbol of the Laotian state, is said to contain the relic of the Buddha's true body
After the precedent of Myanmar, a series of important kingdoms established in Southeast Asia in the 11~14th century, such as Sukhothai, Lanna, Lancang, etc., began to respect Southern Buddhism as the state religion, and began to spread to the Banna and Dehong regions of Yunnan. By the end of the 14th century, a Theravada Buddhist cultural circle that occupied most of the Indochina Peninsula was formally formed, and profoundly influenced the history of the Indochina Peninsula for nearly a thousand years.
Indochina Peninsula in the 16th century
Nanchuan Buddhist Temple - transcending ethnic and regional identity
Since ancient times, the Indochina Peninsula has been one of the most ethnically complex regions in the world, with ethnic groups from South Asia, East Asia and other parts of Southeast Asia colliding and blending here, making it one of the most culturally diverse regions in the world. Before the popularity of Theravada Buddhism, Brahmanism, Hinduism and Mahayana Buddhism were popular in the Indochina Peninsula, and it was only after a long period of evolution that it was finally unified into Theravada Buddhism. The complex religious and ethnic situation has made the architecture of the region extremely diverse, but there is a high degree of consistency in the construction of Theravada Buddhist temples due to the influence of fixed paradigms.
(1) Temple layout
The buildings that any Nanchuan Buddhist temple must have are the Buddha hall and the monk's room, that is, the most basic buildings in the religious area and the living area, which is no different from the Han Buddhist temple we are familiar with, even the most humble Han temple will have a Buddhist hall and a monk's dormitory. On this basis, the configuration of Nanchuan Buddhist temples in various places began to have different ways. For example, the larger Buddhist temples in the Jinggu area generally have Buddhist halls, monks' rooms and ordination halls; The Buddhist temple in Xishuangbanna will also have a drum room on this basis; Among the Buddhist temples in Dehong Prefecture, the "Splashing Pavilion" is the setting.
Let's turn our attention to Laos and Thailand, south of Yunnan, where the monasteries are configured differently. In Luang Prabang, Laos, temples of a certain size tend to have Buddhist halls, dharma halls, monks' rooms, drum rooms, sutra buildings, and small stupas are generally built behind the Buddha halls.
Near the surrounding wall of the temple are pagodas for the ashes of the faithful. Some riverside temples also set aside a spot to build a simple boat canopy for the dragon boats used in the annual dragon boat race.
Thailand, as the second most powerful Theravada Buddhist country in the history of the Indochina Peninsula (the other being Myanmar), has larger temples and a wider variety of buildings.
In Thai temples, the status of stupas is particularly prominent, generally located in the center of the temple, the pagoda is surrounded by Buddhist halls, sermon halls (equivalent to Dharma halls), meditation halls, sutra pavilions, monks' houses, classrooms and other buildings, and the planning method of the temple is also the most rigorous in the architecture of the Southern Buddhist Temple in Southeast Asia.
(2) The way of planning the monastery
The monastic planning method refers to how to arrange the position of each building in a temple and control the overall spatial form. Taking the Han Chuan Buddhist temple we are familiar with as an example, the Han Chuan Buddhist temple often adopts a symmetrical and progressive spatial planning method in the central axis, such as the temples in the Ming and Qing dynasties often used the mountain gate - the hall of the heavenly king - the bell and drum tower - the hall of the Daxiong treasure - the hall of law (the Tibetan scripture building, the ancestral master hall) as the most basic axis.
In the architecture of Theravada Buddhism, except for some large-scale and multi-architectural temples in Thailand and Myanmar, there is often no clear axis plan.
When planning Nanchuan Buddhist Temple, the most concerned thing is the relationship between the Buddhist hall and the stupa. For example, in Lao temples, the stupa is generally located behind the temple, and occasionally there are stupas before and after the temple. The large temples of the Sukhothai Dynasty and the Ayutthaya Dynasty in Thailand generally have a clearer central axis planning, after entering the temple gate, there will generally be a Buddhist hall, and the Buddha hall is connected to the cloister, and the center of the cloister is the core building of the temple - the stupa, followed by the ordination hall or the next level of the Buddhist hall, from which it can be seen that the Thai Southern Buddhist Temple respects the stupa.
Typical Buddhist temple layout in Thailand
Although due to the difference in development level, some of the Nanchuan Buddhist temples in Southeast Asia have a loose layout, and some have a more clear central axis and center.
But in general, it is more liberal than Han Buddhist temples, and from this point we can feel the great "vitality" of Southern Buddhism.
(3) Architectural features
Although the distribution area of Han Buddhism in Yunnan and the distribution area of Southern Buddhism are seamless, and even the two show the state of you have me and I have you in some areas, the difference in architectural style between the Han Buddhist Temple in Yunnan and the Nanchuan Buddhist Temple in China is much larger than the gap between the Han Buddhist Temple in Yunnan and Northeast China, and even greater than the difference between the Han Chuan Buddhist Temple and the transmission mosque.
When we enter a Nanchuan Buddhist temple, the most intuitive difference we can feel from our inland temples is the Buddha hall. The Buddhist halls of Theravada Buddhism basically adopt a longitudinal plane with a width less than the depth, and the mountain with the roof of the mountain/hanging mountain faces outward, facing the visitor, and enters the hall from the short side of the rectangular plan, which is architecturally called "mountain entry". Most of the religious buildings we see in China (not limited to Buddhism) have a long horizontal plan with a width greater than the depth, and the two slopes of the mountain/hanging mountain roof are facing the visitor, and the entrance is from the long side when entering the hall, which is architectally called "flat entry". Even if the depth is larger than the width, it is rare to see the mountain facing the visitor.
Nanchuan Buddhist Temple (Yamain)
Hanchuan Buddhist Temple (Pingin)
There are many reasons why the hall of Nanchuan Buddhist Temple is deeper than wider, one of which is the object of worship. Nanchuan Buddhist Temple only honors Shakyamuni Buddha as the Buddha master, so in a Buddhist scripture, no matter how many Buddha statues of different sizes and shapes, it is Shakyamuni Buddha (in some parts of the country, Nanchuan Buddhist temples will also enshrine Chinese Buddhist Buddha statues, which is a compromise with other national cultures in recent years), and the largest Buddha statue will only have one. In this way, the Buddhist hall of Nanchuan Buddhist Temple does not need to adopt a horizontal and long plan to accommodate multiple large Buddha statues of equal size like the Han tradition.
Visun Temple in Luang Prabang
Kunming Yuantong Temple
In Nanchuan Buddhist Temple, the distinctive building roof is also eye-catching. We can find that in these temples, multi-layered roofs are often used, and the number of roof stacked layers symbolizes the level of the temple to a certain extent.
In the large-scale buildings in Southeast Asia, there is generally no real sense of the summit (referring to the top of the mountain containing the beam frame of the mountain), those buildings that look like the top of the mountain can actually be divided into two parts, hanging mountain (upper eaves) and four slopes (lower eaves), stacked up and down to form a shape similar to the top of the mountain. However, more common in Southeast Asia are discontinuous, cascading hanging mountain roofs.
In some square buildings, cross-hilltops and spires can sometimes be seen.
In terms of architectural decoration, the most distinctive part of Nanchuan Buddhist Temple is the golden water leakage printing color painting and various Naga.
"Jinshui" is called "drip ramming" in Dai, and it is a decorative painting made from engraving and leakage. The production method is to first trace the pattern on cardboard paper, and then use a knife to hollow the solid part of the picture to form a paper template, and according to the size of the required decorative part, first brush black primer, and then dry and then brush red paint to make a deep dark red base.
Then the cardboard hollowed out in the form of the pattern is repressed, and the board brush is covered with slightly dry gold paint, and the graphics and patterns are photographed and printed layer by layer. Or paste the bottom surface of the pattern with the method of stereotype leakage, and then paste gold or brush gold powder on the hollow part, dry and remove the cardboard to obtain the pattern.
Gold or silver dust can also be used to paint graphics onto pre-made walls with different colored bases. This method is similar to the leakage printing method of folk blue printed cloth, which can use several copies as units to make the two-party continuous and four-sided continuous and repeated appearance on the wall.
The subject matter of gold watercolor paintings is very free, from various Buddhist themes, to local deities, to the lives of ordinary people, as well as various flowers, birds, fish and insects in nature, as well as geometric patterns, can be included in the painting, showing vigorous vitality. Although the climate of Southeast Asia is extremely unfavorable for the preservation of color paintings, the facsimile of gold watercolor can be preserved for a long time, and can be reproduced exactly as the copy when repainted in the future, and the gold water painting ground style we see may predate the age of the existing building itself.
The interior of the temple is relatively dim, and if you use other colors of color painting, you will inevitably see it clearly, but gold water painting perfectly solves this problem. Even in dim light, the gold paintings on a black or red background are still clearly visible, and they shine brightly when the light hits them, which brings out the solemn and sacred atmosphere of the Buddha hall.
Naga is a serpent god that originated in Hindu mythology. This creature resembles a giant snake in appearance, with one head or seven heads; Its image is often found in Brahmanic, Hindu, and Buddhist scriptures. In Southeast Asia, there are various variations of Naga, such as Naga in Thailand, which is considered the patron saint of the Mekong River, and the image has evolved over the long term.
In the Nanchuan Buddhist temple in Southeast Asia, we can see that the shape of the naga changes very frequently, some are close to the ichthyosaurus, some will have shark fins on the body, and some are very similar to the Chinese dragon. In fact, there are indeed some ancient Chinese texts (including some contemporary ones) that directly translate naga as dragon, and if we explore the original origin, all dragon-like animals in the world are also homologous.
(4) Etiquette and taboos
When visiting Nanchuan Buddhist Temple, we should also follow the customs and respect the local etiquette and taboos. Generally speaking, as long as the etiquette is respected, Nanchuan Buddhist temple will not turn away visitors, and even when performing ceremonial activities, visitors are generally allowed to enter.
Before entering the Nanchuan Buddhist Temple, you should first pay attention to dress, generally not allowed to wear too revealing clothing to enter the temple, some Buddhist temples have a special notice board at the door of the dress to warn foreign tourists. When entering the temple, be sure to take off your shoes before entering, and wearing shoes to enter the temple is probably the biggest offense for Nanchuan Buddhist temple.
Some Buddhist shrines with stricter rules, such as the Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon, even require you to remove all your shoes and socks before entering the Shwedagon Pagoda Square.
Anabola Buddhist temples (except for a few temples used as museums or extremely sacred temples) generally allow visitors to take pictures inside the temple, and even monks are happy to take pictures with visitors, but the taboo is not to touch the Buddha statue.
This may have something to do with animism that remains in Southeast Asian religions. On a superstitious level, Southeast Asians believe that touching Buddha statues may be psychic, or may be contaminated with something bad; From the level of cultural relics protection, even if the Buddha statue is not blocked by a fence or glass cover, long-term touch is a kind of destruction, and it is more related to the quality of civilization.
Nanchuan Buddhist temples generally do not have a canteen, so almsgiving has become a very important custom in the cultural circle of Nanchuan Buddhism. In Luang Prabang, when dawn is still dark or dark, the temple bells ring punctually as a procession of golden-clad monks slowly arrives to receive alms from the residents.
Generally speaking, the food given to the monks is inexhaustible, so they will instead distribute it to poor children who wait on the side of the road and cannot afford to eat, which is actually a kind of people-led redistribution of living materials. It is also because of the tradition of Theravada Buddhism that we hardly see beggars in Lao cities.
In the evening, Nanchuan Buddhist Temple usually holds evening classes, i.e. chanting Buddhist sutras as part of the day's practice, after which the temple is closed and the monks return to their respective monastic residences. Even if you don't understand any local language, listening to a chant in a sacred Buddhist hall is a cleansing of the mind, and the body and mind that are tired from playing during the day are relaxed.
The Dharma Array of the Jinggu Nanchuan Buddhist Temple Ordination Hall
On certain Buddhist festivals, such as Songkran, monks preach in Buddhist halls or halls. The ordination halls, which are common in Nanchuan Buddhist temples in Yunnan and Thailand, are also generally opened during festivals, where monks chant, and ordinary people are generally not allowed to approach or enter.
The way Theravada Buddhism offers Buddha statues is also different from ours. When we enter Nanchuan Buddhist Temple, we can find that people here rarely burn incense in the temple, let alone burn incense to pray, but instead offer flowers to the Buddha. The selection and placement of flowers are also quite exquisite, such as Laos will make banana leaves into the shape of a tower, and insert marigolds at the top to make a small and exquisite "flower tower";
Larger ones will pile flowers, banana leaves, wax strips, fruits, etc. into a luxurious version of the flower tower for offering to the Buddha. Compared to burning incense, this way of offering Buddha is obviously more environmentally friendly.
All in all, as long as the visit is respectful of local customs, the Theravada Buddhist temples are basically very tourist-friendly. The author hopes that this guide will help you overcome cultural barriers and provide some practical guidance for your future visit to Nanchuan Buddhist Temple.
Author: Hongci Yonghu, Source: Tracing Culture