Chinese Buddhist Sutras

In ancient China, Buddhist sutras were translated into Chinese by Buddhist monks, including those of Han and other nationalities and India. They were certainly familiar with the Rāmāyana , but only mentioned the story or its name in the Chinese translations of the sutras, probably because the Rāmāyana , in their opinion, had little to do with disseminating Buddhism. Chen Zhendi (陈真谛) translated a biography of Vasubandhu , saying the abbot went to Kashmir to attend lectures and behaved like a lunatic, talking and laughing strangely. He attended a discussion of vibhasa where he asked about the Complete Rāmāyana . He was despised and others looked down on him. Asvaghoza translated On Da Zhuan Sutras in the later Qing dynasty, saying in the fifth volume, "At that time there was a gathering of many brahmins and some who were close to the head of the gathering told him of the biography of Rama and the book of Brahmanism. " He was told that the man in the book died in battle, ending his life but ascending to a place in heaven. Here the Complete Rāmāyana is the Rāmāyana . Only the name of the book is mentioned here. What is the story in the book like? This problem should be divided into two parts for discussion. The first part concerns the main story of the Rāmāyana ; the second part concerns the digressions inserted into the story, including many fables and tales.

First we will look at the main story. As mentioned above, it is rather simple. In volume 46 of Tang Xuanzang's (唐玄奘) translation of Abhidharma mahavibasasastra , he says, "the Rāmāyana has 12,000 couplets and two stories. One is about the kidnapping of Sita by a monster, and the other is about the return of Sita. " Stories similar to these can be found in some Chinese translations of sutras. Here are two of them. Dasarathavadana , the first volume of the Samyuktaratna pitaka －sutra :

In ancient times there was a king named Dasaratha of Jambudvipa. His first queen gave birth to a son named Rama. The second queen also had a son who was named Laksmana. Prince Rama knew a special kind of kungfu and also had a magic fan; he had no peer. The third queen had a son, his name was Bharata. The fourth queen gave birth to Janaka. The third queen was the favorite of the king who told her, "I will begrudge you no treasure; you can take whatever you want from me. " The queen answered, "I will ask nothing of you now and I will tell you if I have some demands later. " The king contracted a fatal disease and then made. Prince Rama his substitute, who dressed and gave orders like the king. At this time the queen came to the king when he was feeling a little better. As the king's favorite, the third queen envied Rama because he was heir to the throne. She asked the king to fulfill his earlier promise. She said, "I want my son to be heir and Rama exiled. " The king was in a dilemma. He had made Rama heir but he had also promised the queen to satisfy any demand. The king never broke his promises and the code he set for himself allowed for no breaking of promises. He thought the matter over and finally he asked Rama to relinquish the throne. The brother of Rama told him, "You know a special kungfu and you have a magic fan. Why not make use of them instead of being insulted?" Rama replied, "I do not want to go against the wishes of my father and be an unfilial son. Though the mother of Bharata is not mine, my father respects her, so I will regard her as my mother, and furthermore, Prince Bharata is very amiable and bears no ill will for me. Though I know special kungfu and have a magic fan, I prefer to bear the wrongs of my father and brother than to revenge myself on them. " When he heard this, Rama's brother said no more. Then Dasaratha exiled the two sons, sending them to a big remote mountain, allowing them to return after 12 years. The Rama brothers obeyed their father and bore no ill will in their hearts. They went into the mountains after saying good-bye to their parents. At this time, Bharata was in a foreign country and was called back to assume the throne. He had always been on good terms with his brothers and respected them. After Bharata returned to his country, the king died and he came to know how his mother had exiled his two brothers and made him king. He thought his mother was wrong and refused to kneel before her. "How wrong you are," he said, "it is harmful to our family. " He respected his brother's mother more than ever. He took an army to the mountains where his two brothers lived. He left the army behind him and went alone to meet his brothers. Laksmana said to Rama, "Our dead father said our brother Bharata is filial, respectful and amiable, but today he has come with soldiers intending to kill us. " Laksmana asked Bharata why he brought an army. He answered that the journey was a long one and that there might be robbers on the road, "I brought the army in self-defence and have no ulterior motive. I hope you will return to court and become king to rule over the country. "Laksmana answered, "We have come here according to our father's will. How can we return before the exile is over. If we do we will break our loyalty. " Bharata tried hard to persuade his brother, but all in vain. Knowing that his brother had a strong will, Bharata asked him to give him a pair of leather shoes and returned, full of disappointment, to resume his rule. Whenever he was in court he would put the leather shoes beside him, as if they were his councilor, and regarded the shoes as if his brother were standing in them. He sent messengers to the mountains and kept asking his brothers to come back. The two brothers would not return before the 12 years of exile set by their father was over. When the term of exile came to an end, the brothers returned to court, seeing that Bharata had asked them so earnestly, time and time again, to return, and especially because they knew how much he respected the leather shoes. The younger brother again offered up the throne but Rama declined again saying, "Father made you the king; I would not have it changed. " Then the younger brother said, "You are the eldest and should be king to carry on our father's course. " Again and again he asked his brother. The older brother finally accepted and became king. The brothers'beneficent example helped to increase the morality of the country. The customs of the country were moral and both special and ordinary people benefited. Loyalty and filial piety were practiced by everybody. All of the brothers still respected the mother of Bharata even though she had done some heinous evil. Because they were so loyal to their parents, the weather was very good. The land enjoyed good harvests and there was no plague. Everybody in the country prospered.

From the Saiparamita －sannipatasutra , vol. 5, the 46th story:

Once upon a time there was a Bodisatva who was king of a big country. He was very benevolent to his people and was famous for his wisdom and kindness. His uncle was also a king in another country. This uncle was greedy and infamous. He was proud of his reputation as a bully. He made excuses to attack the country of the Bodisatva. The ministers of the Bodisatva all said that it would be preferable for the people to live as robbers under a benevolent king than as dignified men under a despot. The people of the country said that it was preferable to be animals with morals than to be subjects with no morals. The whole country was aroused and they chose some strong men to be armed. The king inspected the army and was moved to tears by the spirit of the army and people, saying, "My life will be saved at the expense of yours. If the country is conquered it won't be easily liberated again, and the lives lost can't be regained. If I flee, the whole country will be spared damage. " So the king and the queen left and the country was invaded and conquered by the uncle. He ruled with cruelty, killing loyal officials and promoting flatterers and slanderous officials. His policies were very cruel and the country became poor. The people had grievances and shed tears when they thought of their old king, as do children when they miss their parents. The king and queen went into the mountains to live. At that time there lived an evil dragon in the sea who was attracted to the beauty of the queen. The dragon changed into the form of an image of a Buddha, pretending to be in meditation with his hands folded and his head bent. The king was glad to see this Buddha and often went to make offerings to it. One day, seeing that the king was away, the dragon abducted the queen to his mansion in the sea. On their way, passing through a valley between two mountains, they met a giant bird. The bird's wing was so big that the valley was spanned and blocked so that the dragon could not pass through. The bird and the dragon began to fight. The dragon sent out a bolt of lightning which broke off the bird's right wing, so the dragon passed through and took the queen home. On his return from picking fruit, the king found the queen missing. He was greatly distressed, asking, "Has this happened because I have done harm to my neighbors by living here?" He took up a bow and arrows and set off to search for the queen. He came across a river and traced it to the source, where he saw a doleful monkey. The king questioned the monkey, who answered, "I used to rule with my uncle, but he took my monkeys away by force and I have no place to ask for help for he was stronger than I. And why are you travelling among these mountains?" The Bodisatva answered, "I have the same grievance as you, and furthermore, I have lost my queen and do not know where she is. " The monkey said, "You help me to fight my uncle and then I will command my monkeys to search for the queen and you can be sure to get her back. " The king agreed to this. The next day the monkey fought with his uncle and the king drew an arrow in his bow. On seeing this, the uncle was fearful and took to his heels. The army of monkeys turned to follow their new leader. The monkey king ordered his monkeys: "You monkeys go to search for the queen of the man king!" and they set out on the search. They came across the wounded bird who asked, "What are you looking for?" The monkeys replied that the man king had lost his queen. "We are looking for her. " The bird said, "It is the dragon who took her away and I could not stop him and now he would be on his island in the sea. " On saying this, the bird died. The monkey king took his army to the sea but could not cross the sea. At this time Indra changed into the form of a monkey with a skin disease and came to tell both the man and monkey kings, "We have so many monkeys that we can outnumber the grains of sand on the earth. Why worry about crossing the sea?You can command them to carry stones to fill the sea. The stones would be enough to become a mountain, let alone join the island to the land. " Upon hearing this suggestion, the monkey king named him supervisor of the project and the monkeys followed his idea and carried stones to fill the sea and succeeded in crossing. The dragon sent out a poisonous fog among the monkeys, who all became ill and fell down on the ground. The two kings were very worried. The god monkey again suggested, "I can cure the sick monkeys, your Majesties need not worry. " He placed some heavenly medicine into the nostrils of the monkeys and it was a matter of moments before they all became livelier than ever before. The dragon then called up winds and clouds to darken the sun and sky. There was lightning and huge waves upon the sea and thunder which shook the whole earth. The god monkey said, "The man king is skilled at archery. The lightning in the sky is the dragon himself. If you shoot the lightning, the devil will be killed and it will be a blessing for the people and welcomed by the gods. " The man king shot his arrow when the lightning flashed and the arrow hit the dragon's breast and he was killed. The monkeys shouted "Hurrah!" and unlocked the door of the dragon's mansion and let the queen out. The gods in heaven and the monkeys were happy. The two kings returned to the mountains;they were thankful and respectful to each other. At the same time, the uncle of the man king died and left no successor, so the officials and people of the country looked everywhere for their former king and found him in the mountains. The king and the people were tearfully happy at their reunion. When the king returned to the throne the whole nation was joyful and they wished their king a long life. The king released all of the prisoners. This was welcomed by the people and they were very happy. Then the king said to the queen, "When a woman is away from her holy dwelling place, even for one night, people can suspect her of wrong doing, and you have been away for nearly a month. According to our customs, we must send you away. " The queen replied, "Though I spent some time in the monster's filthy cave, I remained like a lotus in the mud. If my words are true then a gap will appear under my feet. " The moment she said this a chasm appeared underneath her. She said, "This proves my words are true. " The king said, "Good, your behavior has been in keeping with our ways. " After that, throughout the country, merchants were not so greedy, officials were not so ambitious, people in high positions did not despise those in lower positions, the strong did not bully the weak, prostitutes changed their behavior and honored the chaste again, liars and hypocrites became reliable again. All this was due to the queen's example. Such were the words of the Buddha Sakyamuni, "The king was myself, the queen was Zhenyi, the uncle was Devadatta and Indra was Maitreya. "

Such is the behaviour and example of our Buddha.

Now I will compare the Indian Rāmāyana by Valmiki with the above two stories. First we shall look at the structure of the two stories. One of them only concerns Dasaratha's three wives and four sons and explains the intrigues in court and the twelve years of exile of Rama and his younger brother Laksmana. Here, Laksmana is written as Luoman, Bharata is written as Poluoduo, and Janaka is transcribed liberally. The content of the story is completely the same as the Sanskrit version in every detail, for example, the Sanskrit Rāmāyana has a character like Likui (李逵) which is described here too. Bharata's leading an army into the forest where Laksmana has doubts about his motives is also clearly described. There is an astonishing similarity between the details in these two stories. Feudalist ideologies, such as filial piety, honesty and loyalty can also be seen, though not much description is devoted to them. Nevertheless, they are complete in their presentation and were probably welcomed by the aristocracy and intelligentsia in old China.

The second story tells of a king of a large country who gave up his throne in order to avoid confrontation with his enemy, taking his queen to the mountains where the queen was kidnapped by an evil dragon in the ocean. The king allied himself with a monkey who suffered the same misery and fate. Together they succeeded in crossing the ocean and killed the evil dragon and rescued the queen; the story ends happily. The characters in this story are quite different from those in the Sanskrit version but for the most part the stories are the same, even in their details. The evil dragon corresponds to Raksasa in the Sanskrit version, and the bird to the vulture. If we change the king's name to Rama, the queen's to Sita, and the uncle's to the third queen Kebayi, then we could make the story the same as that of Rama and Sita.

If we combine the two stories we come up with the complete Rāmāyana in its original Sanskrit version. This implies that the ancient Indian Rāmāyana epic is a combination of these two stories. We should not forget that the central story has many varieties in India. Each minority and each kingdom has its own version of the Rama and Sita story. The contents sometimes differ greatly. The Rāmāyana by Valmiki occupies an important place among these stories, probably because of its ideology and artistic achievements, but it isn't the only version. In Chinese translations of sutras, these two stories are almost the same as those in the Rāmāyana by Valmiki. They belong to the same original story, a point which deserves our attention.

So far I have discussed the general idea of the whole book. Now we come to the second part of my analysis and I shall take up the digressions inserted into the story.

There are a surprisingly large number of these digressions. It isn't possible to deal with all of these here and I shall confine my discussion to a few representative ones, given here in the order of presentation in the Rāmāyana . The German Sanskrit scholar Lüders has written an essay discussing this topic: Die Saga von Rsya 'srnga and Schlingloff has written another, Unicorn on the same topic. In the Rāmāyana this story appears in chapters eight and nine of the first section. Dasaratha wants to offer a sacrificial rite to assure his getting a son when an advisor, Sumantra, tells him the story of the immortal with deer horns. "This goes roughly as follows: a son of a brahmin lived in a deep forest. He knew nothing of sexual or sensual pleasures. At that time there was a king who was given to making mistakes; the heavens punished him for this by sending a drought over the land. He was greatly worried by this. A brahmin advised him that the rains would come again when the child had been enticed into the city from the forest. The king sent prostitutes into the forest but the child didn't even recognize the difference between men and women and was moved only to think that the prostitutes were lovely. Finally, however, he was seduced away from the forest and came to the city. This story doesn't tell us why he had deer horns. The same story appears often in Chinese translations of sutras. I will offer just one example from volume 1 of Mahasanghika －vinaya , 22, 232－233. I will only sketch briefly the plot in order to make a comparison with the preceeding story. The story first tells that a doe drank from where an immortal urinated and she became pregnant. The boy borne by the deer had spots on his skin like a deer. The immortal told the boy that there is nothing more frightful than a woman. The child with deer spots began to cultivate his religious spirit so that he would become immortal and the heavens feared that he might one day seize power so they sent some fairies down to earth to harm his religious cultivation. Comparing these two stories we can see some differences. The first difference is between deer horns and deer spots; the second concerns the cause of the spots; the third concerns the purpose of harming the child's religious cultivation, rather than praying for rain, on account of heavens' fear of the spots.

The second story I want to discuss is about Syama. It appears in the second section of the Rāmāyana (2. 56. 2; 2. 57. 8－39; 2. 58; 1－46) , and goes roughly like this: Dasaratha regretted having sent his son into exile. He told the first queen when he was young that he could shoot an object by sound without seeing it. Once he went on a pleasure outing by the river Sarayu and heard the sound of a bottle being filled in the dark. Mistaking it for an elephant, he shot and killed a monk who was fetching water for his blind parents. The parents asked the king to take them to the body of their son. They cried in vain and put a curse on the king, saying that he too would lose a son in the future. In Chinese translations of sutras this story appears very often. Here is only one example from Sasparamita －sannipata －sutra (《六度集经》), 43 (3, 24b－25a):

Once upon a time there was a Buddha named Syama. He was a kind man whose love extended to all. He felt very sorry that generally the people didn't practise the three pieties. He and his old blind parents lived in the mountains. When speaking of them, his sadness moved him to tears. He took good care of his parents and was a filial and loyal son; his piety was well-known throughout the country. He believed in Buddhism and practised its ten commandments; he did not kill and would not take what wasn't his. He didn't marry; nor did he quarrel, curse, boast, or use dirty or evil words. He eschewed slander and hypocrisy, and slips of the tongue. Envy, avarice and ill will all left him. Those who are benevolent are blessed while those who are irreverent suffer. He lived in a thatched hut with only a mattress to sleep on, and desired nothing more. He wished only that there might be lotus flowering in the mountain springs. He rose early to go pick the delicious lotus seeds, though he was never the first to taste them. He was so kind that even the animals were tame around him. One day his parents were thirsty so he went to fetch water for them. It happened that the king of Jiayi had come to the mountain to hunt. He saw a deer and shot at it, hitting the breast of the son. He cried aloud in pain from the arrow's poison, "Who has shot me, and killed three with one arrow? My parents are old and blind, without me they are sure to die. People kill elephants for ivory, rhinoceros for its horn and the peacock for its feathers, but I have neither tusks nor horns nor shining feathers. Why kill me?" The king heard his moaning and asked him "Why are you in these mountains?" He answered, "I live with my parents in these mountains in order to cultivate my religious spirit and avoid secular temptations. " The king wept when he heard this, and despaired, "I have hurt you and killed the best piety of the land, what is to be done?" All of the king's retinue shed sad tears. The king said, "I would save your life at the expense of my kingdom, if I could. Please show me where your parents live so that I may confess before them what I have done now. " Syama told him to follow along a path where he would find a thatched hut not far away, "My parents live in it. Please tell them I will depart from them forever. Fortunately I bear no regrets from my past. " Saying this, he was overcome by pain and soon died. The king and his men sadly followed the path according to directions and found the hut. The parents were surprised to hear the steps of the king and his men and asked who was coming. "I am the king of Jiayi. "The parents said, "It is kind of you to come here. We have mats for you to sit and cool off on, and sweet fruits for you to eat. Our son has gone out for water and will soon return. " Seeing the parents were so king to their son, the king and his men became even more sad and wept more. The king told the parents, "I am moved by your kindness to your son and all the more regret and mourn his death. Your son has been killed by myself. " The astonished parents asked, "What crime has my son committed for you to kill him? My son had so kind a heart that if he stamped his heel onto the ground he would be moved by the pain he caused unto the ground. Why did you, the king, kill him?" The king said, "Your son is very filial and he is a saint indeed. I killed him by mistake when I shot at a deer. " The parents said, "Our son is dead, who can we depend on? We will die too. We wish only that you take us to where our son's body lies. We want to see the last of him, to see if he has died and become dust. " Upon hearing this the king began sobbing again. He took the hands of the parents himself and led them to the place where the body lay. The father put his head on the son's, the mother took his foot right into her arms and kissed the foot of the son. Each of them caressed the wound and thumped the breast of the son, shaking their heads and crying to heaven: "Gods of Heaven, Earth, Fire and Water, listen! Our son believes in Buddhism, respects the saint and is filial to his parents and loves everything including the grass and the trees. If my son is sincere in his belief in Buddhism, loyalty to his parents and heaven knows it, then the arrow should be pulled out, the poison should leave his body and life should be sent back into him so that he can carry on his cultivation of his religious spirit. If our son has not been sincere and our praise of him is not true, then he should turn into dust. " The four kings of heaven, the god of the Earth and the dragon in the sea all heard the mourning of the parents and believed their words. All were moved. God himself came down and said to the parents, "I can save your most filial son. " He took medicines from heaven and put them into his mouth. Suddenly he came alive again. The parents, the son, the king and his men had confused feelings of sorrow and happiness. The king said, "This is the best example of loyalty to Buddhism and parents. " He ordered his men and people at court from that day on to practice Buddhism and follow the sage's example of piety. Afterwards the country became prosperous and the people became wealthy and there was peace all over. Buddha told that all of his words lead to Buddhism. Buddhists are filial and have high standards of piety and are blessed. So our heaven is the heaven of heavens and is the best heaven He said, "The son at that time was myself. The king was Ananda. The father of the son was my father and the mother of the son was mine. Cod was Maitreya. Such is ourteaching. " This is how our Buddha teaches.

Comparing the Rāmāyana and Sasparamita －sannipata －sutra , we find that the two stories are very alike and the similarity of the contents is revealed. The king's names are different but that is not a serious problem. The main difference is that the Rāmāyana is a tragedy but in Sasparamitasannipata －sutra the story ends happily. The son got protection from heaven and came to life again. We don't know if this change was made in order to please the tastes of Chinese readers.

Besides the Sasparimit －sannipata －sutra , this story is also found in the following: Sasigharaks －sancaya －buddhacarita －sutra (《僧伽罗刹所集经》, 4. 116c－117a); the Fo Shuo Pu Sa Shah Zi Jing (《佛说菩萨睒子经》3. 440) Shan Zi Jing (《睒子经》, Qifuqinshengjian's translation of the Shan Zi Jing (《睒子经》, 3. 436－438), and Yaoqinshengjian's translation (3. 442); the Fo Shuo Shah Zi Jing (《佛说睒子经》, 3. 438－442) ; the Samyutaratna pitaka sutra (《杂宝藏经》, vol 1, 2), Wang Zi Yi Rou Ji Fu Mu , Yuan (《王子以肉济父母缘》, 4. 447c－449a). The Rāmāyana and the sutras of Buddhism probably all originated in Indian folk literature. Of course it is not the case that this story came to China through the Rāmāyana itself, but it's a fact that the same story is also in Chinese translations of sutras, Is it too farfetched to establish a literary relationship between them?

In the Pali Jataka 540, there is also such a story which we will not examine here. Besides the above two stories we can also find many fables and short tales in Chinese translated sutras which are contained in the Rāmāyana , for example, the fables about cutting off one's flesh to buy pigeons and sacrificing one's body to feed the tiger, etc. Here I want to mention in passing the main character in Journey to the West , Sun Wukong (孙悟空, the monkey in the novel). This monkey, at least in part, resembles the main monkey in the Rāmāyana . This is undeniable, regardless of how the matter is considered. If we respect the facts, we must admit that the Rāmāyana in this respect influenced Chinese literature, but I will not discuss this matter here in detail. I will only mention the relation between Sun Wukong and the city of Quanzhou in Fujian Province (福建泉州). Few people in the past knew of this. Recently a Japanese scholar, Prof. Nakano Miyoko sent me an essay titled Fujian Province and The Journey to the West . I think it is an original essay. Here is a brief introduction to her essay:

At Kaiyuan temple in Quanzhou there was a pagoda built in the time of the Southern Song dynasty's Jia Xi (嘉熙) (1237 AD). On the wall of the fourth floor of the West Pagoda there is a relief of a monkey wearing a golden ring with a string of beads around the neck. On his vest hangs a roll of sutras. On his right shoulder there is an image of a monk. Whether the image is of the monk Xuan Zang (玄奘) is not certain. In another temple there is a big pole with a relief of a monkey whose tail is very long and in whose hand there is something like grass. This reminds us of Hanuman (哈奴曼) in the Rāmāyana who set Lankapura on fire with his blazing tail. This monkey is also carrying a big mountain on his hand to bring magic grass which saved Laksmana and Rama. This shows definitely that the story of the Journey to the West during the Southern Song dynasty is not as complete as in later versions. Prof. Nakano Miyoko made a study on the origin of Sun Wukong, saying the Rāmāyana came through the South Sea route to Quanzhou during the Song dynasty. Quanzhou was China's biggest port at that time and had a lot of contact with Arabia and India through the maritime routes. It is plausible to say that Sun Wukong didn't come directly from India but rather through the South Sea routes. I would guess that the story of this magic monkey had a prior source in Wuzhiqi (无支祁), and Hanuman spread to other places in China from India. Sun Wukung in Quanzhou wasn't the only monkey immigrating. In the eighth and ninth centuries the Rāmāyana had already gone to Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, etc. From here it would have been convenient for the story of the monkey to come China.

Hanuman's entrance through Fujian is a simple matter, but I think it raises a question which deserves great attention. Scholars researching cultural communication between China and India, both Chinese and foreign, all hold that the western route was the only one in early times before the Song and Tang dynasties. Now the assessment of this question must be revised. After the Song dynasty, the cultural communication between China and India was still very active. The sea routes were active only during the Song dynasty. What is sure is that there were routes linking Sichuan, Yunnan, Burma and India which are usually neglected by scholars.