Brahman's China Literature Record

Buddhism is the only religion introduced into China from India. In the eyes of ancient people in China, Buddhism was almost an alias of Indian culture, and everything from India was often entrusted to Buddhism. Things with Indian elements are generally regarded as Buddhist terms and ideas, but this is not correct. Brahma was introduced to China before Buddhism, which is the embryonic form of Buddhism.

Buddhism was introduced into China during Yongping period in the Eastern Han Dynasty. As many Buddhist monks came to China to preach, some Brahmins also came to China. According to the Biography of Eminent Monks, there are several eminent monks with Brahman status who have surnames to test:

"Buddha is Buddha, this cloud is clear. It is a guest, a brahmin and a stranger. " [3]

"Anaputuo Luo, this cloud merits, Tianzhu people, learn Mahayana, Mahayana Yan, this Brahmin species. Children should learn the Five Classics of the Ming Dynasty, calculate the heavenly books and spell out medical prescriptions. Later, I met Adamo with mixed feelings. I was shocked by reading, but I deeply admired Buddhism. His family is a layman, forbidding the shaman, but he abandoned his family and fled, seeking for a famous teacher, that is, investing in learning, specializing in learning, and learning Sanzang by precept. ..... Yuanjia went to Guangzhou in the twelfth year. " [4]

"In the Yuan Dynasty, the Brahmin of Borneo was named Gotama, and his name was Prajna Liuzhi, also known as Wei Yan Xi Zhi. From the first year of Yuanxiang to the end of Xinghe, he translated the Confucian classics such as Buddhism, Sanctity, Living Well, Awakening and Knowing Only in Yecheng, with fourteen volumes and eighty-five volumes. " [5]

The three people listed above were originally Brahmins and later converted to Buddhism. Because all the stories in Biography of Eminent Monks are Buddhist monks, they are not interested in Brahmins. So did pure Brahmins come to Middle-earth during the Han and Tang Dynasties? The answer is yes. We found a poem "Farewell to Brahma" written by Qingjiang in "All Tang Poems", which said: "Wu Shan is satisfied with the independence of Jinhe. Today, Bai Shou township is exhausted, and Wan Li dreams. " [6] Poets have contacts with Brahmins in the distance.

Liu Yuxi, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, suffered from an eye disease, probably a cataract, which was cured by a Brahman monk with a golden comb, so he gave a poem to a Brahman monk. Sanqiu was so sad that he looked into the distance and cried all day. Today, my eyes are black, and my middle age looks like an old man. Seeing that Zhu is becoming a green flower, I can't help feeling ashamed. How can I be confused when I have a gold comb? " [7]

Brahman's medical skills were in the leading position in the world at that time and were introduced to China. Sui Shu contains 20 volumes of Brahma's immortal prescription and five volumes of Brahma's immortal prescription, which is the best evidence. It can be inferred from this that there are by no means one or two Brahmins who have come to China successively.

There are some classics named "Brahman" in the Annals of Sui Shu Classics, which are called "Brahman Sutra" here. They are mainly distributed in the sub-department, the classics department and the history department of Jing Ji Zhi, namely:

Book of Brahmins [1] Volume;

Brahma Astronomical Classics >:>2 1 Volume, Brahman said;

Thirty volumes "Brahman Exhausted Astronomy";

A volume of Brahman astronomy;

"Brahman algorithm" three volumes;

Brahma's lunar calendar >:> Volume 1;

Three volumes of Sanskrit;

Twenty volumes of Brahma's immortal prescription;

Five volumes of Brahman's Side;

Five volumes of Biography of Brahman Master in the Great Sui Dynasty;

Nanzhao once believed in Brahmanism.

Nanzhao was a local regime established by Yi and Bai ancestors in Dali, Yunnan from the middle of 7th century to the beginning of 10 century. Nanzhao's religious belief is very complicated, with primitive witchcraft, and later it was introduced into Buddhism, Tantric Buddhism and Taoism. Recently, some people found evidence that Nanzhao once believed in Brahmanism from Nanzhao Dehua Monument and Nanzhao Tu Wen Zhuan Volume.

Nanzhao Dehua Monument has Dali South 15 Litaihe Village, which was built in the first year of Tang Dali (766). The monument is 3.02 meters high, 2.27 meters wide and 0.58 meters thick. There is an inscription on the front, about 3,800 words, and the title and name on the back, about 1000 words.

"Nanzhao Dehua Monument" says: Ge Luofeng, when he was the Crown Prince, "did not read evil books, but tasted the skills of the scribes." Mr. Wen Yucheng thinks that "human" should be the "immortal" or "primitive man" translated from modern Buddhist scriptures. The skill of "educating people" refers to the fourth of the four Vedas of Brahmanism. There are two clouds in Xuanzang's "Records of the Western Regions in Datang": "His Brahmanism" Four Vedas ",when it comes to longevity, is health preservation; Second, temples, that is, enjoying sacrifices and prayers; Third, harmony means ritual, divination, art of war and military formation; These four skills refer to power, geisha skills, curses and prescriptions. " Therefore, Grofong also studied the Vedas of Brahmanism.

"Nanzhao Dehua Monument" said: Ge Luofeng sent troops to defeat the envoys of the Tang Dynasty, rarely in Zhongtong, but it was "blessed by the first spirit, cheered by the torch, the harmony between man and nature, and the withdrawal of the army and county." Among them, the phrase "refueling with a torch" is particularly worth studying. Those who "lit the gods" were also blessed by fire. According to Brahmanism's "omnipotent theory of sacrifice", holding a "ritual sacrifice" (one of the "fire sacrifices") can "subdue" the enemy and get the help of Vulcan.

The Nanzhao Dehua Monument said: In the third year of Zambezi (754), when Ge Luofeng ordered the defeat of Mina Lee, the county magistrate and imperial envoy of Yunnan, he "buried the body all over the Vishnu wilderness". Vaisya, the third caste in India's caste system, is second only to Brahman and Shatri, and generally refers to farmers, businessmen and craftsmen. The language of this inscription strongly suggests that Nanzhao was deeply influenced by Brahmanism.

"Nanzhao Dehua Monument" says: After Ge Luofeng decided on the overall situation (in 765), "Sit in the south as an orphan and unify the east. Then practice martial arts, set up a hundred official departments, rank high and low, rank nine. Interpretation of the three religions, guest four doors, ... ". Among them, those who "expound the three religions" regard the elucidation of Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism and Brahma as a national policy in the construction of etiquette system. [ 10]

In addition to Nanzhao Dehua Monument, Nanzhao Tu Zhuan is another important historical relic in Nanzhao period. It was painted in the second year of Zhongxing in Nanzhao (898) and is now in the adjacent museum in Tokyo, Japan. The first half of Nanzhao Tu Zhuan is a picture scroll, and the second half is a text. The content of the picture can be divided into three parts: first, the cause of Weishan, that is, the story of monk fasting. Second, the story of the iron column, that is, the story of sacrificing the iron column. Third, the story of Xi Erhai Lake, Hue Town is the cause of Wang Ba, "Rewarding Xi Erhai Lake with a sacrificial prison".

Some people think that Weishan, the holy monk in Nanzhao Tuzhuan, is a Brahmin. Because Brahma monk wears a "red lotus crown" and has a beard, he doesn't look like a Buddhist. Moreover, when the Brahma monk "remembers" his wife and daughter at the top of the towering mountain, "there is a white horse with Zhu mane on the left and an iron bar between the clouds; There is a white elephant on the right, a golden mirror in the cloud, a waiter and a green sand cow. " This should be a fictional scene of Brahmanism sacrifice. Dadhikra, the horse god, and Ganesa, Shiva's son, all appeared as waiters. Shiva's Niu Jiao Nanda is represented by Qingsha Niu. [ 1 1]

In the fourth edition of Nanzhao Tuzhuan, the murdered Brahma monk wore a leucorrhea around his neck, which was worn by a scholar (Ban Qian) who was familiar with "Five Ming" in Brahmanism middle school. "True wax customs" said: "Call it forbidding Confucianism, and ... tie a white line around your neck. ..... the line around the neck will never go away. " Ban Qian, pronounced Pandit, comes from Sanskrit, and its pronunciation is used to refer to learned people in Thai today. During the Zhenla period, most of them were Brahmins, because knowledge was monopolized by Brahmins at that time, and ordinary people had no chance to receive education. Therefore, Zhou Daguan said in the "Records of the Customs of Zhenla": "Those who enter the official from the class are the people on the top." Because they are Brahmins, the white line around their necks that marks the identity of Brahmins will never go. [ 12]

In addition, the widespread worship of the great black gods in Dianchi Lake and Erhai Lake during Nanzhao period also proved that Brahmanism was once introduced directly into Yunnan from India through the poisonous road of Shu State. Brahma's name is Mahakara, Mohoda and Kalohei, so Brahma is a free translation. His prototype is Shiva, the free monarch worshipped by Brahmanism. Bai and Yi people regard the black god as the "master" or "master", that is, the "master of the homeland" and "master of the homeland", and they are the land gods who protect the environment and people. At present, there are still many main temples and local temples dedicated to black gods in Dianchi Lake and Erhai Lake. This is evidence of the integration of Brahmanism and local witchcraft.

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The above proves that many components of Brahmanism had spread to the East before the Sui Dynasty, and illustrates their existence in ancient China. Of course, it can't be compared with contemporary Buddhism in scale. So can this situation be regarded as the spread of Brahmanism to China? This involves how to treat the spread of religion and how to understand the standard of religious existence.

The spread of religion is a gradual process, and the process from entering a new area to gaining a firm foothold is often long, including twists and turns. Take Buddhism as an example. At the beginning of the spread, historians either dictated the "Fautu Sutra" to Dr. Lu Jing in the second year of Yuanshou in the Western Han Dynasty (the first two years), or dreamed of the Golden Man one night in the seventh year of Yongping in the East Han Dynasty (64 years) and sent Dr. Cai Qiao and others to the Western Regions, or Cai Qiao and others brought the Buddhist monks in Tianzhu back to Luoyang to live in the temple. Regardless of the above statement, it has become common academic knowledge that Buddhism was introduced into China between the Western Han Dynasty and the Eastern Han Dynasty. If we regard this as a symbol of China, the existence of Brahmanism in China before Sui Dynasty has far exceeded this standard. It can even be said that there are few historical materials about whether Buddhism existed in China before Wei and Jin Dynasties, at least not more than the historical materials of Brahmanism in central China before Sui Dynasty listed in this paper. Moreover, just as the boundary between Brahmanism and Buddhism in ancient China was unclear, "Buddhism and Taoism in the Han Dynasty could have been interlinked, but people were often confused" [45]. It is a common phenomenon in religious communication to enter a new cultural area with other religious colors. Therefore, even if Brahmanism did not gain a foothold in China for various reasons and formed an overall scale, it should be regarded as having been introduced to China before the Sui Dynasty. Otherwise, according to the same standard, China, the successor of Buddhism, can only be postponed until the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, or even between the Jin Dynasties, because it was not until the unrest in the end of the Western Jin Dynasty that Han people were allowed to become monks.

In fact, after Brahmanism was introduced into China, it was not a flash in the pan before the Sui Dynasty. Brahmanism's music, painting, sculpture, medicine, astronomy, numerology, divination and incantation have exerted a great and lasting influence on China culture. Although these are often confused with the cultural influence of Buddhism, they can still be distinguished. For example, many Dobby statues in grottoes or temples originated from Brahmanism, although they later appeared in the name of Buddhism. As for the Sanskrit sutra that we see in the Annals of Sui Shu Classics, it is even clearer. Hundreds of years later, the book History of the Song Dynasty Art and Literature:> In this book, we can also find the existence and spread of books such as Brahman's Monk's Dress and Curculigo Prescription, which proves that Brahmanism still stubbornly maintains some of its characteristics.

Even from a religious point of view, Brahmanism enveloped Buddhism in China, but it also changed Buddhism itself to a certain extent, at least played a great role in the spread of tantric Buddhism in Middle China. As for the connection between Buddhism and Brahmanism, it became an important reason why Buddhism was absorbed by Hinduism at home. Although it is beyond the scope of this paper, it is enough to show the potential influence of Brahmanism in religious belief. Therefore, the existence of Brahmanism in China can be compared with Manichaeism and Zoroastrianism and should not be ignored.