Buddhism Comes to China

In this lecture, Prof Van Norden discusses some of the cultural and philosophical changes that Buddhism brought to China when it was imported from India, including arguments that Buddhism is superior to Confucianism and Daoism. The readings discussed in this lecture are from Justin Tiwald and Bryan W. Van Norden, eds., Readings in Later Chinese Philosophy (Hackett Publishing). This video was recorded via Zoom on 17 March 2021.
Previous Lecture: How is Theravada Different from Mahayana? • How Is Theravada Buddh...
Following Lecture: Buddhism: One Is All, • Buddhism: One Is All
Part 1: Changes Buddhism Brought to China
1:05 Celibate Clergy
2:14 Veganism
2:56 New Practices of Attire
Part 2: Huiyuan, On Why Buddhist Monks Do Not Bow Down before Kings
5:54 Lay Buddhists
10:26 Buddhist Clergy
Part 3: Zongmi, On Humanity
15:38 Ranking the Teachings
23:33 How does consciousness arise from matter?
26:34 Theodicy
31:22 No-Self in “Hinayana”
38:57 Ethical Consequences of No-Self
40:51 Critique of “Hinayana”
43:14 Superiority of Mahayana
47:27 Solution to Theodicy
50:12 Solution to Problem of Consciousness
54:27 Overview of Lecture

[@thewisetzar5363]

Could you do videos on Chinese Materialism/Economic thought/Logic in the classical age?

[@howardphung281]

How does the story Maudagalyayana's rescuing his mother play in the context of filial piety and the combination of Confucianism and Buddhism? Thank you.

[@BryanVanNordenPhilosophy]

This story helped make Buddhism more appealing to Chinese audiences, who regarded filial piety as a key virtue.

[@ianinjapan2]

Hi Bryan, Thanks for the great talk, and Yup, if you use Google Maps to look at Japan, for example, we still use reversed-from-Nazi swastikas to indicate Buddhist temples here. ^o^

[@BryanVanNordenPhilosophy]

Thanks for confirming about the use of swastikas to mark Buddhist temples!

[@ianinjapan2]

@@BryanVanNordenPhilosophy My pleasure; It's the least I could do, in gratitude for your excellent insightful talks on Chinese and Buddhist philosophy. I must say, by the way, I'm always impressed by your balanced, scholarly-accurate presentations of the material: unlike so much other stuff out there on KZbin... (And it's also so nice to listen to someone who actually knows how to pronounce the Chinese names of the people he discusses! ^o^ )

[@juliocadenas5149]

That is also true for Korean Buddhist temples.

[@waitingforparts57]

Thank you professor for your informative talk . It has helped me sort through the differences I encountered when visiting Chinese culture centers. The story of the swastika is very true and I had the same reaction when seeing so many in Buddhist art. It took me a while to overcome my own views based on the way it was represented when taught to us in school here in the States. Thank you

[@BryanVanNordenPhilosophy]

I'm glad you enjoyed the video!

[@Jhgdub]

What do Buddhists say about how and when the one mind got so confused in the first place?