Ven. Dr. Wei Shan
Institute for Studies of Buddhism and Religious Theory, Renmin University of China
Venerable Fang-zhang Da He-shang (abbot, or high priest),
Members of the Mahasangha,
Distinguished Guests，
Friends of dharma!
I am, indeed, greatly honored to stand here today to deliver this speech. First of all, I would like to thank the Leaders of Buddhist Association of China and China Religious Culture Communication Association for extending the invitation to me to participate in this gathering.
My intention now is to explore some ideas about the world oriented Chinese Buddhism. When I say Chinese Buddhism, I mean Buddhism in China, which includes Mahāyāna and Theravāda Buddhism as a whole, not just Buddhism promulgated in the Chinese language. China probably is the only country where all of the three major traditions of Buddhism were introduced and well established at their fairly early stage. I choose the term “TheravAda” instead of “Hīnayāna” to denote Buddhism of Pali language tradition, as the latter has been abandoned since 1950 when The World Fellowship of Buddhists was held in Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka.
Some say that the 21st century will be a China century. Is it really so? It may not be difficult to answer this question. In so far as economy is concerned, we have shown the world rapid and continuous growth since 1978. It is now the fourth largest economy in the world (with a GDP of $ 3 trillion). Some even reckon China as the second largest economy after the US with a GDP of over $ 7 trillion (2007) when measured on purchasing power parity (PPP) basis. Nevertheless, is our country already one of strongest countries? Honestly, we have achieved only little success overall and still have a long way to go to match the developed countries. To be a powerful country, we need not only economy, science and technology, national defense, military and so forth to be strongest in the world, but also other areas such as culture, religion and so on to be rich，diverse and dynamic. Chinese Buddhism as one of the five major religions recognized and protected by the government has to play an important role in promoting peace, stability, prosperity and development in our country and as well as in the world in the 21st century with wisdom, loving kindness and compassion.
Since Buddhism was introduced to China from India approximately in the first century C.E., it has started to assimilate Chinese culture and local religions. In due course, Chinese culture and its local religions were also greatly enriched. In history, Chinese Buddhism has made considerable contributions in preserving social harmony and world peace. It surely can and should continue to do the same now and in the future. What is the spirit of Chinese Buddhism? It can be seen from great masters of the past who would sacrifice their lives for the sake of the Buddha-dharma, for the sake of nation’s prosperity, social harmony and world peace. Among these great masters, the most representative are Ven. Fa-xian (?~422 ?), Ven. Xuan Zang (600~664) who had visited India in search of Buddha-dharma on foot, and Ven. Jian Zhen（688~763）who had made six attempts to cross the sea to Japan for spreading Buddhism. It was not until upon his sixth attempt, was he able to set his foot on Japanese land, and achieved his dream of spreading Buddhism to Japan despite unimaginable difficulties and hardships. He made the most significant contribution in the history of Sino-Japanese cultural exchanges. These Buddhist masters have been inspirations and pride of our county and the world. They are excellent examples for Buddhists like us to follow today.
As Chinese Buddhists, we ourselves should seek development on the basis of the rich traditions that we have already established. It is a duty for our nation and our Buddhists, whether we are Buddhist clergy or lay disciples, to spread our unique Buddhist tradition to the world. As the world is more connected every day in every way, our Country’s stability, prosperity and progress require us to lead in the world. At this remarkable moment in history, more people live in wealth and freedom than ever before, thanks to advances in communication technology. In this electronic era, the message of Buddhism gets to be heard more easily, with the result that more and more people around the world adopt Buddhism as their personal faith. They believe that Buddhism can indeed guide them to cultivate inner peace and security in the tumultuous and challenging times our world faces today. In a way, Buddhism is offered a big window of opportunity for reaching out to the world. But we must bear in mind that opportunity is always accompanied with challenge. While we are now enjoying more technological convenience in introducing Buddhism of our tradition to other people, we must also face competition and challenge from them. Are we ready to face these challenges? Are we well-equipped not only with linguistic proficiency, computer literacy, and intellectual understanding of our Buddhist teachings, but more importantly the spiritual capacity to skillfully address the modern-day emotional, psychological and spiritual needs with the Buddha-dharma?
Here in our Country, Buddhist groups are beginning to engage in many types of Dharma works. All the dharma works we have to do as a Buddhist community, including every bodhisattva’s vow we make, every good action we do, have one sole aim, that is, to provide all people with a righteous way and spirit of peace in our nation and the world so that we can achieve the future of our dreams, we can build a good society, with a strong economy, a cleaner environment, and a freer, safer, more peaceful and prosperous world.
As we reach out to the world on one hand, we have to preserve our precious Buddhist spirit and culture on the other. In our times, Chinese Buddhism cannot and must not disentangle itself from the world. But as we meet with non-Buddhists as well as Buddhists of other traditions in the world-stage, some kind of exchange and fusion will take place. If we want the world to embody our shared Buddhist values, then we must assume a shared Buddhist responsibility. We must remember that Chinese Buddhism cannot lead in the world unless here at home we have the international vision, with ability and skills of international communication. As the world becomes ever more diverse, we must work harder to unite around our common goal and our common values so that the unique tradition and legacy of Chinese Buddhism will not be lost as we adapt to the wider spiritual environment outside of China.
My personal experience as a lecturer in Renmin University of China may be a humble example to the general forward-looking sentiment among Buddhists today in our Country. Since teaching there，I have become more idealistic and hopeful than when I was a student ten years back. I witness the positive changes in society and the support we receive from our Government, which are very important for the re-vitalizing of Buddhism in our Country. Therefore I am more confident than ever that the best days for Chinese Buddhism are just ahead of us. We could bring about another golden era of Chinese Buddhism which was last seen in the Tang Dynasty.
Once again I would like to emphasize that when we succeed in bringing the Buddha-dharma out of temples, out of our nation, our Country will be more harmonious and the world will become more peaceful. No doubt, the 21st century will be surely dominated by China. The 21st century will be surely a century of Buddhist prosperity and development in the world.
Thank you for listening. May you all be well and happy!
