Editor’s note: Dr. Donart submitted this article from Beijing, China, where he, his wife, and two of their adult children visited in Summer 2012.
In our news media, the Chinese government is often portrayed as being hostile to religion. I think this is primarily due to the fact that only about 3% of the population is Christian, and around half of the Christians are Roman Catholic. What the Chinese government does insist upon is a very strict separation of Church and State. In other words, pray all you want–but don’t be telling us what government policy should be.
About 2% of Chinese are Muslim, and a whopping 30% are mostly Buddhist-Taoist with a little local religion mixed in. The remaining 65% have no religious affiliation and seem to look upon religion as superstition. Indeed, under the rule of Chairman Mao, religious belief and practice was discouraged.
Considering that China’s current population is 1,339,724,852, one might understand why the government has a one-child-per-family policy. If it did not, poverty would be rampant, and they would soon outstrip their resources. Yet this policy is officially opposed by the Catholic Church, which does not approve any form of artificial birth control. It is understandable that the Catholic Church in China may feel persecuted; especially since it is on a collision course with the government.
This is not the case for Buddhism. Some believe Buddhism came to China as far back as 217 B.C.E. There is a legend that the monk Li Fang with 17 disciples came to the then capitol city of Xi’an, and Buddhism spread from there. Today’s scholars feel there is evidence that Buddhism spread by land, through what is now Afghanistan-Pakistan (northwest India) to Han, China. The earliest translations of Buddhist scripture into Chinese seem to have occurred around 148 C.E. Initially, the Mahayana version of Buddhism came to China.
The Lama Temple pictured is also known as “Palace of Peace and Harmony Lama Temple.” Work began on the temple in 1694 C.E. It started out as a residence for the emperor’s eunuchs. In 1772 under the Qing dynasty, half the complex was converted into a Lama monastery. It taught a Tibetan form of Buddhism known as the Galuk School, founded by Tibetan philosopher Je Tsongkapa.
This school follows the Mahayana principle of universal compassion, with an emphasis on cultivating a deep insight into the Buddhist teaching on emptiness. They couple this with a strong desire for liberation, requiring a sense of renunciation.
The temple itself is a great display of Tibetan architecture. Buddhists come there to pay reverence to the Buddha by burning incense sticks and praying. As a working temple, Buddhist liturgy is celebrated, and classes in Buddhist scripture are taught.
