At the Second Buddhist Council held at Vaisali, lOO years after the Buddha's Mahaparinibbana (about 443 B.C.), a schism occurred in the Sangha, because a group of monks tried to have certain Vinaya rules changed. These monks later formed their own sect called the Mahasanghikas, who were the forerunners of the Mahayana brand of Buddhism. The orthodox monks who did not agree to the change were known as Theravadins. The Mahasanghikas continued to preach the cardinal principles of Buddhism such as the Four Noble Truths, the Noble Eightfold Path, the theory of Kamma and Rebirth, the theory of Paticca Samup-pada and the 37 Bodhipakkhiya (Factors of Enlightenment). In a few decades, they grew in power and popularity. Certain new Vinaya rules were introduced and a good number of suttas were canonized, which they claimed to be preached by the Buddha to only a selected group of disciples. An important new development of the Mahayana was the Trikaya theory which later gave rise to the concept of the Bodhisattvas. This concept later led to the deification of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Two sects rose out of the Mahayana - the Madhyamika and Yogacara, the former having Nagarjuna (2nd. century A.D.) as its chief exponent, while Asanga and Vasubandhu (4th. century A.D.) were the founders of the latter. To the Madhyamika Sect, Sunyata (Voidness) was the absolute and there was no difference between samsara (the phenomenal world) and nibbana or (sunyata). Its philosophy was designated as Sunyatavada. In the case of the Yogacara Sect, they emphasized on the practice of yoga (meditation), and they taught that thought alone was real. Vyna-navada was the name given to their philosophy.
Between 200 B.C. and 200A.D., many Buddhist sects came into existence. The Sthaviravadins or the Theravadins began to decline in its influence in India, while the Mahayanists were on the ascendancy. They flourished in India in the Punjab and the N.W. Frontier Province (now in Pakistan). The emperor Kaniska (1st. century A.D.) was its great patron. The Greeks in the north of India also adopted Buddhism as their faith, with King Menander as their champion. It was during this period that Buddhism began to spread to Central Asia and China. The first period which saw the ascendancy of Buddhism in China was during the Eastern Han dynasty (25-221 A.D.) with the arrival of the first Indian monks Kasyapa-matanga and Dharmaranya at Luoyang (67 A.D.) at the invitation of the Han emissary of their country. Although they worked among the ^Chinese and translated many Buddhist texts into Chinese, Buddhism met with stiff resistance from the indigenous religious systems -Confucianism and Taoism - which had by then been deeply entrenched in the culture of the Chinese people. The scholars and nobles looked down on Buddhism as a barbaric religion. However, the people soon began to realize that Buddhism was a much richer religion than Confucianism, and possessed a profounder philosophy than Taoism.
Around 401 A.D., the great Mahayana translator, Kumarajiva, was brought to China as a war prisoner. With the help of his Chinese disciples, he translated many of Nagarjuna's works into Chinese, which were greatly honoured in China. Kumarajiva was regarded as the foremost authority on the Buddhist scriptures in China. It was between 420-557 A.D. that China witnessed the second ascendancy of Buddhism, starting with the first emperor of the foreign Wei dynasty, who made Buddhism a state religion. The Chinese began to adopt Buddhist monastic rituals, and between 401-410 A.D. the famous monk Fahien, a disciple of Kumarajiva, went to India to make a deep study of Buddhism under Indian teachers and returned with precious Buddhist scriptures which were highly worshipped by the people. The Confucian teachings on human conduct and relationships and Lao-tzu's teachings on human character were excellent for the day-to-day life during the present existence, but they did not provide spiritual comfort during the times of trouble and distress, and they did not provide answers to what came after death. Buddhism provided just the right spiritual food and comfort that|the Chinese people needed, with its clear teachings on kamma and rebirth, and the assurance of a better life, in the present existence and in the next, through the performance of meritorious deeds.
Venerable Bodhidharma came to China about 470 A.D., and founded the esoteric school which came to be called the Ch'an school with its particular emphasis on meditation. This school became so popular that by the time of the late Tang period, it virtually became the only Buddhist sect in China. The Tang dynasty (618-907 A.D.) saw the third period of Buddhist ascendancy in China, and it was during this time that the learned monk Xuan Zhuang surmounted all kinds of difficulties on his journey to India in search of Buddhist scriptures (Si Yu Ki). It was also during this third period that the Pure Land Sect (the Sukhavativyuha) was founded, which became so popular that it surpassed all the other sects and has remained popular among the overseas Chinese, particularly in South-east Asia, until the present day. The doctrine of this sect was simple, and its creation of the Western Paradise (Sukhavati) where Amitabha Buddha was believed to reside, proved to be very attractive to the common people, who found the Ch'an-style of meditation beyond their ability or comprehension. The Pure Land Sect followers believed that by the constant chanting of 'Namo Omi-To-Fo| (homage to the Amitabha Buddha), accompanied by tranquil contemplation, a person had the opportunity of being reborn in the Pure Land where he could be assisted by Amitabha Buddha in eradicating all defilements from his mind and finally attain Buddhahood.
Thus when Mahayana Buddhism spread to China, it had to adapt itself to conform to the simplicity of the common people who were in great need of its assistance. It could not be denied, however, that if the Buddhist monks of old had not seen the necessity of modifying it into a religion of faith and devotion, Buddhism might have died out in China, in view of the challenges from the other two religious systems, Confucianism and Taoism, which continued to flourish albeit not on so wide a scale as before the advent of Buddhism. In fact, Taoism began to borrow some of the practices from Buddhism and many of the gods worshipped by the Buddhists were also to be found in Taoist temples. Similarly, popular Buddhism became considerably tinged with Taoism in many Buddhist temples, images of deities of Taoist origin could be found side by side with images of Buddhist deities. In time, a new phenomenon began to appear in some temples, where magical and shamanistic practices were carried out, not by Buddhist monks but by laymen who the common devotees believed to possess certain supernatural powers. Simple forms of divination were|introduced in which small bamboo fortune sticks and kidney-shaped blocks of wood were used. This is one way of communicating with the deities to seek guidance from them in times of troubles and distress.
Tang Tein Beng
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