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Chinese and Indian Perceptions of Each Other between the First and Seventh Centuries

Author(s): Richard B. MatherSource: Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 112, No. 1 (Jan. - Mar., 1992), pp. 1-8Published by: American Oriental SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/604580Accessed: 19/11/2009 01:00

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CHINESE AND INDIAN PERCEPTIONS OF EACH OTHERBETWEEN THE FIRST AND SEVENTH CENTURIES*

RICHARD . MATHER

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA

The earliest recorded perceptions of the Indian subcontinent in China are based on reports of trad-ers, diplomats and generals. Though nothing substantive was reported about India's intellectual orcultural achievements, the accounts generally described a pleasant tropical land with exotic birdsand animals, that produced colorful artifacts, and whose people were gentle and peace-loving. Afterthe introduction f Buddhism nto China during he first century .D., and especially after he devel-opment of an indigenous Taoist church toward the end of the second, tensions arising from the rivalclaims of these two religions introduced some negative perceptions, not only concerning the incom-patibility of Buddhism with China's own values, but also concerning the inferiority of Indian cultureand the savagery of her people. These initially negative perceptions were at least partially modifiedby first-hand contact with Indian missionaries and by reports of Chinese pilgrims, as well as by thecogent arguments of lay Buddhist apologists, whose treatises on the subject between the third andsixth centuries have been preserved. Indian perceptions of China during the same period, as re-corded by Chinese pilgrims, are marked for the most part by a naive ignorance, which their Chineseinformants were only too happy to dispel.

THE MUTUAL ERCEPTIONSf persons living in relativeisolation from each other, as in the case of the Indiansand Chinese during the first half-millennium of our era,can vary from total absence of curiosity to wildly fan-ciful misapprehension. With the beginnings of actualcontact, such as happened through trade, diplomatic

and military expeditions, and finally through mission-aries and pilgrims, the initial misapprehensions gradu-ally evolved along opposite lines: on the one handtoward something approaching understanding, and onthe other toward hardened misunderstanding and evenhostility. The latter is especially likely if there aregroups in either society who may in some way feelthreatened by contact with the other. It is possible toget a first-hand glimpse into some aspects of this fasci-nating subject, at least from the Chinese side, throughdocuments which have been preserved in two antholo-gies which now form part of the Chinese BuddhistCanon, namely, the Collection on Propagating [theWay] and Illuminating [the Teaching] (Hung-ming chiS 0 ), edited by the Buddhist monk Seng-yu ft1(445-518), and its sequel, the Expanded Collection onPropagating (etc.) (Kuang hung-ming chi F [L *),

* This article is a slightly revised version of an addressoriginally presented to a plenary session of the WesternBranch of the Society, meeting in Boulder, October, 1989.

edited by the monk, Tao-hsiian it _ (596-667).' Inthese documents, some polemic in nature, coming fromdefenders of China's traditional values, especially asunderstood by representatives of China's indigenousreligion of Taoism, and some apologetic, usually writ-ten by lay Buddhist converts who shared the same val-

ues as their attackers, but accepted the new religionfrom India as an enrichment rather than a destroyer ofthat tradition, the underlying perceptions come dra-matically to light. How the Indians, for their part, per-ceived the Chinese during the same process would beextremely helpful to know, but we can glean only afaint impression of how they felt, and that almost en-tirely through Chinese sources.

The earliest Chinese account of the Indian subconti-nent that I know of may be found in the History of theHan Dynasty (Han-shu 1*), edited by Pan Ku tBin the first century A.D. The Han ambassador tothe Kushans (Yiieh-chih A F), Chang Ch'ien 5#(d. 114 B.C.), had traveled as far as Bactria (Ta-hsia*CX), where he learned at second hand of the exis-tence of a Kingdom of Shen-tu * (i.e., Sindh) in thevalley of the Indus River.2 In his brief monograph on

1 Taisho shinsha daizokyao C :E ir ;&c A 2102 and 2103(52:1-361).

2 Han-shu ~I[ 61.2689-90.

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Journal of the American Oriental Society 112.1 (1992)

the Western Regions (Hsi-yii 1J A; Chinese Turkestanand lands beyond) Pan Ku describes the Kingdom of

Chi-pin NIlE (Kashmir) in the following very prosaicterms:

The land is level and the climate warm and mild.There are plants like mu-su g ?t (alfalfa), various

grasses and exotic trees: sandalwood, huai IX (a fra-

grant tree similar to the mangrove), catalpa, bamboo,and lacquer. They plant the five cereals, grapes andvarious other fruits, and use night-soil for fertilizationin their gardens and paddies. Where the ground is lowand damp they grow rice, and in winter they eat freshvegetables. The people are skillful at carving and en-

graving, building stately buildings, weaving mats,stitching patterned brocades, and they enjoy cooking.They have gold, silver, bronze and tin utensils. Theirmarkets are lined with shops. They use gold and silvercoins for money, with equestrian figures on one sideand human faces on the other. They raise gnus and wa-ter buffaloes, elephants, large work-dogs, monkeys,and peacocks, and produce pearls, coral, amber andvaidurya (beryl, or colored glass). . . 3

Later, in the History of the Later Han (Hou-Han shut i *), edited by Fan Yeh I * (398-445), we read:

The land of T'ien-chu ^ (the same as Pan Ku'sShen-tu, but inclusive of all of north India) is locatedseveral thousand li southeast of the Kushans, and they

cultivate the Way of the Buddha, neither taking life norcommitting aggression, which has become their cus-

tomary mode of behavior.... The land produceselephants, rhinoceroses, tortoise-shell, gold, silver,bronze, iron, lead, and tin.... Besides these there arefine cotton textiles and excellent woolen rugs, various

perfumes, honey, pepper, ginger, and rock-salt.4

The accounts in the various Six Dynasties historiesare obviously based on the Han accounts and add noth-

ing that is strikingly new.5 In none of them is there anyindication of condescension, but only the sort of infor-mation that might be picked up by traders.

A much more vivid, first-hand record has been left

by Chinese Buddhist pilgrims, who were describingtheir own experiences. The monk Fa-hsien t S (ac-tive, 399-417) relates in his travelogue, Kao-seng Fa-hsien chuan

-i tftfR , that when he reached the

3 Ibid., 96A.3885.4 Hou-Han shu ^ i 88.2921.5 See, e.g., Nan-shih J * 78.1961.

portion of T'ien-chu known as the Central Kingdom(Chung-kuo rp B), he found:

The people are prosperous and happy, with no house-hold registration or official regulations. It is only those

who cultivate the king's land who pay a tax on the profitthey make from it. Those who wish to depart depart, andthose who wish to stay stay. In ruling the king does notuse punishments or imprisonment. If there are any whocommit crimes, they are only fined in money, lightly orheavily, according to what they did. Even when they re-peat the crime, or plot evil or rebellion, they only havetheir right hand cut off, nothing more. The king's coun-sellors, bodyguards, and attendants are all paid wages.The population as a whole refrains from killing livingbeings and drinking liquor, and from eating onions orgarlic. The single exception is the candala caste. Thecan.dalas are considered evil people and live apart fromthe others. Whenever they enter the city or marketplacethey strike wooden clappers to identify themselves.Other people then recognize and avoid them so as not tocome in contact. In the kingdom they do not raise pigsor chickens and do not sell cattle. In the markets thereare no butcher stalls or wine shops. For money they usecowrie shells. It is only the canddlas who fish and huntand sell meat ... 6 (The can.dalas were a mixed caste,whose fathers were giidras, and whose mothers hadcome from a higher caste.)

There is no doubt that Fa-hsien and all the pilgrims

who followed him had no desire to diminish the ideal-ized Utopia they had always dreamed the country thathad given Buddha to the world would be, nor, for thatmatter, did any of their informants in India wish todisillusion them. Some two and a half centuries after

Fa-hsien, the pilgrim Hsiian-tsang ~ t (602-664)traveled and lived in India for fourteen years, master-

ing Sanskrit as well as the local colloquial languages,and studying Yogacara philosophy at Nalanda Univer-

sity in the very area where the Buddha had lived. He,too, was inclined to stress what was favorable, but hisaccount is somewhat more objective. He wrote:

As for their customs, even though temperamentally heyare timid and excitable, their real intentions are pureand genuine. In matters involving material propertythey acquire nothing improperly, and in the matter of

6 Kao-seng Fa-hsien chuan A x ff&ill (Taisho 51:859b;Adachi Kiroku I 3- A/, Hokken den -S%t [Tokyo,19361, 92; H. A. Giles, Travels of Fa-hsien [Cambridge,1923], 20-21).

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MATHER: Chinese and Indian Perceptions of Each Other

justice they are more than generous. Fearing the retribu-tion of sins committed in former lives, they lighten thekarma accumulating in their present life. Treachery ordeceit they will not carry out; their covenants and oathsare always trustworthy. In their government and educa-

tion they exalt honesty, and in their customs and every-day dealings they exalt harmony. Violent and rapaciouselements are relatively few. If from time to time anyoneviolates the state laws or plots to overthrow the ruler,and the affair is exposed, they will always imprison theoffender, but will not administer corporal punishment.From that time on, whether he is dead or alive, he is nolonger regarded as a human being. If anyone violatespropriety or the moral code, whether it is a breach ofloyalty or of filial piety, in such cases they will cut offthe offender's nose, or an ear, a hand, or a foot. Or theymay banish him from the kingdom, or exile him to anuninhabited area. For other offenses one may be fined ormade to pay a ransom.7

Just as modern Chinese are sometimes awed by whatthey deem to be the obsessive cleanliness of their Japa-nese neighbors, Hsiian-tsang was clearly impressed bythe sanitary habits he witnessed among the brahminand ksatriya families. He wrote:

They are for the most part pure and untainted, livingin simplicity and frugality. But the clothing of the kingand his ministers is entirely different. Floral topknotsand jewelled tiaras are worn as head ornaments; rings,

bracelets and necklaces dangle from their bodies. Inthe case of wealthy merchants or big traders a singlebracelet may be the only ornament. Nearly everyonewalks barefoot; very few have anything on their feet.They stain their teeth red or black, cut their hair even,and bore their ears. Their facial features are character-ized by long noses and large eyes.

When it comes to cleanliness in their personal up-keep, they do not do it merely out of affectation or ex-ternal compulsion. Whenever they eat they mustalways first wash their hands. Uneaten fragments, oranything left overnight, they will not eat, nor do theyshare eating utensils. Utensils made from pottery orwood are discarded after use. Those made of gold, sil-ver, bronze, or iron are always refurbished before reus-ing. After a meal is finished they chew on a willowtwig to clean their teeth, and without first completingtheir ablutions they will not touch each other. Everytime they urinate they always take care to wash upafterwards. They annoint their bodies with various fra-

7 Ta-rang hsi-yii chi * 2 (Taisho 51:877b).

grances, such as candana (sandalwood) or yii-chinW (turmeric). Whenever the king is about to take abath, they perform music with drums, stringed instru-ments, and singing, and make offerings and prostra-tions to accompany the bathing and handwashing.8

This generally favorable perception of India, whichcontinued in most quarters of China, was, however, se-verely challenged after the rise of ecclesiastical Tao-ism, an indigenous movement which, though clearlyinfluenced by the rival alien faith, was also threatenedby it. A popular myth, building on accounts of the phi-losopher Lao-tzu's disappearance beyond the westernfrontier, which had found expression in Ssu-maCh'ien's account in the Shih-chi -t as early as thefirst century B.C., went on to claim that Lao-tzu thenproceeded to India and was reborn as Prince Sid-

dhartha,who became the Buddha. The

mythwas

crys-tallized in a pseudo-canonical work, known as theScripture of Lao-tzu Converting the Barbarians (Lao-tzu hua-Hu ching : :t fft i s), now surviving only inquoted fragments, attributed to a certain Wang Fu_I j (active ca. 300). In this pseudo-scripture theclaim is made that for his Chinese incarnation Lao-tzuhad sought to bring out the inherent goodness of hu-man nature by stressing "soft" virtues like "natural-ness" (tzu-jan ? p) and "non-aggressive action" (wu-wei ,4j). In his Indian incarnation, to borrow thewords of a long-discredited nineteenth-century mis-sionary hymn which applied them to neighboring Cey-

lon, he looked out on a beautiful land "where everyprospect pleases, and only man is vile." In India he re-alized that he must take a radically different approach,so he formulated the monastic rules, in order to curbthe rampant poisons of lust, hatred, and ignorance.There is even a hint that his hidden agenda in the callto celibacy was genocide of the entire Indian race. Theugly head of this Hua-Hu myth rears its head in manyof the anti-Buddhist attacks recorded in the two anthol-ogies I have mentioned. Though it had very little rele-vance to the real issues separating the Chinese andIndian world-views, the unfortunate result of suchoverheated rhetoric, where actual contact between thepeoples of the two areas was slight, was a skewed per-ception among some Chinese intellectuals that Indiansmust have been a race of violent and uncouth barbari-ans. I will cite only a few conspicuous examples of thisperception.9

8 Ibid., 876b.9 See E. Zurcher, The Buddhist Conquest of China, 2 vols.

(Leiden, 1959), 1:290-320, for a full account of this controversy.

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In the late fifth century an anonymous writer, hidingunder the name of the poet Chang Jung k , produceda "Discourse on the Triple Destruction" (San-p'o lun5- VM). By "triple destruction" he meant: (1) de-struction of the state through extravagant temple con-

struction and costly religious festivals, (2) destructionof the family through cutting off the family line by cel-ibate monks, and (3) destruction of the bodies of indi-viduals by mutilation (e.g., shaving the head andburning the scalp). The San-p'o lun states:

The Hu-barbarians have no humanity (jen C). Un-yielding and violent, they are without manners and areno different from birds or animals. They do not believein humility or deference (hsii-wu S S). When Lao-tzuentered the Pass [into Central Asia and India] he inten-tionally created a doctrine of images and idols to con-

vert them (perhaps on the assumption they could nothandle abstract concepts?) .... The Hu-barbarians arecrude and unrefined. Desiring to terminate their evilseed, he therefore laid down rules that men should nottake wives or women husbands. If the whole kingdomwere to submit to his teaching, the population woulddisappear of its own accord.10

The same notion is reflected in a letter written by theLiu-Sung minister, Ho Ch'eng-t'ien flJ i* (370-447),to his friend, the Buddhist painter Tsung Ping Vl(375-447). Tsung Ping had expressed outrage over

another anti-Buddhist tract called "A Dialogue Be-tween Mr. White (a Chinese literatus) and Mr. Black (aBuddhist monk)" (Pai-hei lun b X*), also known asthe "Discourse on Equalizing the Good Points [of theBuddha and the Chinese Sages]" (Chun-shan lun

? 1 ).11 The tract had been written by a renegadeBuddhist monk named Hui-lin X J# (active, 424-453), and had been circulating in Chien-k'ang at thetime. Ho Ch'eng-t'ien, responding to Tsung Ping'scomplaint, wrote:

10 Quoted in Liu Hsieh PJ] (d. 518), "Discourse on Extin-guishing Delusions" (Mieh-huo lun i N*i), Hung-ming chi

*L J 8 (Taisho 52:50c). See also Kenneth Ch'en, "Anti-Buddhist Propaganda During the Nan-ch'ao," Harvard Jour-nal of Asiatic Studies 15 (1952): 172-73.

1 Hui-lin's treatise appears in the section on "I and ManBarbarians (I-Man chuan a ll) of the Sung-shu *(97.2388-91); see also K. Ch'en, op. cit., 175-76. The corre-spondence between Tsung Ping and Ho Ch'eng-t'ien is foundin Hung-ming chi 3 (Taisho 52:17c-21c).

The Chinese and the Western Barbarians naturallyhave their differences. What are they? The people ofChina are by natural temperament pure and agreeable.They are endowed with humanity (jen {t) and em-brace morality (i ). It's for this reason that the Duke

of Chou and Confucius illuminated a doctrine of [natu-rally good] human nature and behavior. People of for-eign countries, on the other hand, possess natures thatare unyielding and violent, greedy and lustful, full ofanger and cruelty. For this reason Sakyamuni laiddown the strict code of the Five Commandments(paica-gila).12

The classic expression of this unflattering stereotypewas Ku Huan's (d. after 483) "Discourse on Barbariansand Chinese" (I-Hsia lun a IX), which has beenpreserved through quotations from it by indignant Bud-dhist laymen seeking to refute it. Ku begins his attackwith the disarming and unmistakably Chinese premisethat ultimately all religions and ideologies are thesame. It's only in their outward manifestations thatthey differ from each other, because of different envi-ronments or other circumstances. Ku wrote:

What the scriptures of the two traditions say are likethe two halves of a tally. Tao is the Buddha; the Bud-dha is Tao. In their ideal of sageliness (sheng ?) theyare identical; only in their outward manifestations (chi3) are they at odds. One is the "tempered light" (ho-kuang ;i see Lao-tzu 4) that illuminates what is

near; the other is the "radiant spirit" (yao-ling f 1)[of the sun] revealing what is distant. The Tao sustainsall under heaven; there is no quarter where it does notpenetrate. [Buddha-] wisdom pervades all creation; nobeing is unaffected. But since their entrances have notbeen the same, their effects are also bound to differ. Ineach tradition [the adherents] fulfill their own natures(hsing 1t) and thus do not alter the things they do (shih$). Ceremonial caps and robes and tablets of officetucked in their sashes is the fashion of Chinese[officials]; shaved heads and loose garments is the habitof barbarian [monks]. Kneeling reverently and bowingfrom the waist are expressions of respect within the[Chinese] royal domain; crouching like foxes andsquatting like dogs are deemed to be dignified posturesin the wilderness. To be buried in a double coffin is therule in China; to be incinerated on a funeral pyre orsubmerged under water is the custom among the West-ern Barbarians. To preserve one's body whole and ob-serve the proper rituals is the teaching that aims at

12 Taisho 52:19c.

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perpetuating goodness; to disfigure one's appearanceand alter one's nature is the study that seeks to termi-nate evil. Through endless generations sages havearisen one after another. Some have expounded theFive Classics (wu-tien fA); others have propagated

the Three Vehicles (san-sheng _ a). Among birds[the sages] have chirped like birds, and among beaststhey have roared like beasts. When instructing the Chi-nese they have spoken Chinese; when converting bar-barians they have spoken barbarian, that's all ... Atpresent [some misguided people] are trying to make thenature of the Chinese conform to the doctrines of theWestern Barbarians. These two peoples are, on the onehand, not entirely the same; nor, on the other, are theyentirely different. [The Indians] abandon their wivesand children, and have done away with ancestral sac-rifices. On the other hand, things to which they are at-tached and which they desire are promoted by theirrituals; it is only the canons of filial piety and reverencethat are suppressed by their doctrines.... Buddhism isa formula for destroying evil; Taoism is a technique forencouraging goodness. To encourage goodness, natu-ralness (tzu-jan 1 ,) is paramount; to destroy evil,courageous zeal is valued. The outward manifestationsof Buddhism are brilliant and massive, suitable for con-verting living beings. The outward manifestations ofTaoism, on the other hand, are secret and subtle,beneficial for use in self-development. The superiorityor inferiority of one in relation to the other lies, for themost part, in this distinction.13

Happily, not all the comparisons that were beingmade were generated under such adversarial circum-stances. A more penetrating analysis, I feel, of the per-ceived differences between Chinese and Indian modesof thought may be found in the friendly, and generallyconstructive, discussion which took place aroundA.D. 430 on the estate in Shih-ning M S (Chekiang) ofthe poet Hsieh Ling-yun Vi3g (385-433), amongtwo Chinese laymen and six monks, on the question of"sudden" vs. "gradual" enlightenment (tun-wu/chien-wu 'f f/jtft). This symposium was written up in ele-gant parallel prose by Hsieh himself under the title,"Discussion on Distinguishing What Is Essential"(Pien-tsung lun ~ a 1), and is preserved in theKuang hung-ming chi. Hsieh was the sole protagonistfor the "subitist" viewpoint. But on the question ofdifferences between Indians and Chinese, this is whathe had to say:

13 Nan-Ch'i shu * il 54.931-32; see also K. Ch'en,op. cit., 168-71.

The differences between [Buddhism and Confucian-ism] are essentially the differences that have grown outof the different localities and environments [of Indiaand China]. To make a large overall comparison, theyreflect the people [of these two lands]. Chinese people

find it easy to perceive Truth intuitively (chien-liX ), but difficult to undergo instruction (shou-chiao5 |). Therefore they have closed the door to accu-

mulated bits of learning (lei-hsiieh i *), but haveopened it to grasping Ultimate Truth whole (i-chi- ). The Indians, on the other hand, find it easy toundergo instruction, but difficult to perceive Truth ntu-itively. Therefore they have closed the door to sudden,total comprehension (tun-liao I T), but open it togradual (i.e., incremental) enlightenment (chien-wul ti ). Although gradual enlightenment is attainable, it

obscures the realization of sudden, total comprehen-sion. And although grasping Ultimate Truth whole isknown to be the goal, it cuts short the hope of accumu-lated learning. Precisely because Chinese people gaininsight (wu it) into Truth without gradations, theyfalsely claim that the Tao is perceived without study.The Indians, for their part, who gain insight throughlearning, falsely claim that perceiving the Tao has gra-dations. Thus, even though Provisional Truth (ch'iian

= sarhvrti-satya) and Absolute Truth (shih * =paramartha-satya) are ultimately the same (i.e., Chi-nese and Indians attain the same Truth-the former ab-solutely and whole, and the latter provisionally and byincrements), their methods of attainment (yung m) are

different from each other .14

What Hsieh Ling-yiin seems to be saying is that theIndian pandits, at least, are great scholiasts and logi-cians. They can make hair-splitting distinctions and en-numerate endless categories and gradations, such as thesix sense-organs with their respective faculties and ob-jects (collectively known as the Eighteen Dhatu), theTen Stages (bhumi) of a bodhisattva's progress, etc.But when it comes to perceiving the goal of the wholeprocess, which is, as it were, to "grasp the sorryscheme of things entire," leave it to the Chinese, whohave always been suspicious of nit-picking details.When Hsieh made this generalization, he must havebeen thinking of someone like Yu Ai J&/ (261-311),one of the "Eight Free Spirits" (pa-ta Ait) of theearly fourth century, who once started to read the greatTaoist philosophical text, Chuang-tzu. After rapidly

14 Kuang hung-ming chi .L aJ * 18 (Taisho 52:225ab);Fung Yu-lan, History of Chinese Philosophy, 2 vols., tr.D. Bodde (Princeton, 1953), 2:276-77.

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skimming the first foot or so of the first scroll on "TheFree and Easy Excursion" (Hsiao-yao yu fi ijt), helaid it down and announced triumphantly, "It's not theleast bit different from what I have thought allalong!"15

One might say that Hsieh Ling-ytin's attitude, thougha great improvement over that of the I-Hsia lun, wasreally only a more refined form of xenophobia, offeringgrudging, but still patronizing, recognition of Indiansuperiority in certain mechanical skills, while stillclaiming to hold superiority in what really matters.However that may be, we still have not come to gripswith what the contemporary Indians thought of theChinese.

All I have been able to come up with on this scoreare snatches of statements made by Indians and other"Western Barbarians" as they are found in Chinesesources. Under the circumstances they should probablybe taken with several grains of salt, since they wererelevant to particular situations, and probably temperedby diplomatic considerations as well. One of the great-est of all missionary translators in early medievalChina was Kumarajiva (ca. 350-ca. 413). Perhaps Ishould not call him a "missionary," since he was actu-ally taken to China by force as a booty of war when ageneral of one of the western states subdued the oasistrading center of Kucha on the Silk Road. Kumarajiva'sfather was Indian, but his mother had been a Kucheanprincess. After his capture in 385 he spent nearly thirtyyears in northwest China. What he personally thought

about Chinese culture or the nature of the people heseems to have kept pretty well to himself, but he didhave some pointed words about the language. In a con-versation with the Chinese monk, Seng Jui Mti, he isreported to have said:

It is customary in India to hold literary composition in

very high regard. As for the musical intonation (kung-shang 'i j%) and formal consonance (t'i-yiin ft[") ofa text, we consider musicality, or the possibility of be-ing set to music (ju-hsien A .), of supreme impor-tance. Every time the king holds court there willalways be odes sung in praise of his virtue, and when

people attend a religious ceremony, it is the songs andchants that are held in highest honor. The gathas (chi-sung A ')), or poetic recapitulations, which occur inthe sutras all have their special forms. But in the pro-cess of translating a Sanskrit text into Chinese it loses

15 Shih-shuo hsin-yii tl94ti IV, 15; R. Mather, trans.,Shih-shuo hsin-yu: A New Account of Tales of the World

(Minneapolis, 1976), 99.

all its nuances. Even if the reader may still get the gen-eral meaning, he is definitely prevented from savoringthe literary style. It's something like chewing cookedrice and then feeding it to another person. Not only hasit lost its flavor; it will also make him want to throw

up.16

Though Kumarajiva and other foreign translators un-doubtedly knew a great deal about the Chinese lan-guage before they were through, there were apparentlysome missionaries who made a point of not doing so.One of these was the Central Asian specialist in Bud-dhist chant, Srimitra (fl. 310-340), who is best knownby his posthumous title, "The Monk of the Lofty Seat"(Kao-tso tao-jen -i It A ). Though not himself fromIndia, he may have typified many foreigners who forone reason or another refused to learn Chinese. Such arefusal did not, of course, imply condescension, oreven displeasure at any presumed lack of nuance ormusicality in the inflexible monosyllables that seemedto offend Kumirajiva a century later. Srimitra's self-advertised inability to use Chinese was, if we can be-lieve the Eastern Chin prince of K'uai-chi, Ssu-ma YtiA, - (320-372), who later became emperor (Chien-wen ti, r. 371-372), "simply to save himself the nui-sance of answering questions."17

Whether or not this was true, however, one does getthe distinct impression that in the minds of most Indi-ans of the fourth and fifth centuries, China, if peoplethought about it at all, was the same sort of uncivilized

hinterland that the "Western Regions" (hsi-yu fi ),which included India, were to most Chinese. When thepilgrim Shih Chih-yen OtN1 (active ca. 417), a na-tive of Western Liang (401-421) in Kansu, was study-ing meditation in a monastery in Kashmir under themaster Buddhasena (? % k ), the native monks, ob-serving the special deference shown him by theirteacher, exclaimed with evident wonder, "So! Even inthe land of Ch'in X there are monks seeking theWay!" The narrative goes on to report that "thereafterthey no longer despised the Chinese and their ilk(Ch'in-lei Xi#), but received distant visitors withrespect."18

In the year 520 when the pilgrim Sung Yun 5^-and his companions were passing through the kingdomof Udyana (,. J*) on the Swat River north of Gan-dhfara, he king asked him through an interpreter,

16 Kao-seng chuan A i1 f4 2 (Taisho 50:332b).17 Shih-shuo hsin-yii II, 39; Mather, Shih-shuo, 50.8 Kao-seng chuan 3 (Taisho- 50:339b).

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"Are you from the land where the sun rises?" Sung re-plied, "Yes. On the eastern border of my country thereis a great ocean from whose midst the sun rises, just asyou have described it." The king then asked, "Has thatcountry ever produced any sages?" Sung Yiin took the

occasion to educate him about the virtues of the Duke ofChou and Confucius, [the Taoist philosophers] Lao-tzuand Chuang-tzu, the lore about the silver belvederes andgolden halls [of the transcendent island] Mt. P'eng-laiX3V, the skillful diviner Kuan Lu : 14 (third century),the physician Hua T'o * r1 (third century), the magi-cian Tso Tz'u AE,1 (second century).19 [When he hadfinished] the king remarked, "If things are as you say, itis indeed a Buddha-realm (buddha-ksetra) [i.e., a para-dise like Amitabha's Sukhavati]. When my present lifeends, I would like to be reborn in that country."20

Still later, in 645, as the pilgrim Hsiian-tsang waspreparing to return to China after his long sojourn, hisIndian fellow-students at Nalanda University, whomone might expect to have been more sophisticated thanthe king of Udyana, nevertheless tried to dissuade him.

"India [said they] is the land where Buddha was born.Even though the Great Sage has left the world, his leg-acy and physical traces are still here. Traveling about,participating n various religious ceremonies, should beenough to occupy you for the rest of your life. Wouldyou have come this far only to forsake it again? Fur-thermore, China (2E ) is a land of the mleccha (i.e.,

unbelievers), who ridicule human beings and despisethe Dharma. This is why no Buddhas have ever beenborn there. The ambition of the people is narrow andtheir contamination profound. No sages or worthieshave ever gone there from here. Besides, the climate iscold and the terrain precipitous. How could you eventhink of going back?" 21

19 For the lives of these three technical experts (fang-shihJg?:), whom Sung Yii does not hesitate to place with Con-

fucius and Lao-tzu among China's sages, see Kenneth De-

Woskin, Doctors, Diviners, and Magicians of Ancient China:Biographies of Fang-shih (New York, 1983), 91-134, 140-52, 83-86. For the latter two, see also, in greater detail, NgoVan Xuyet, Divination, magie et politique dans la Chine anci-enne (Paris, 1976), 118-26, 139-39.

20 Lo-yang ch'ieh-lan chi IMRili-i- (written, A.D. 457),Taisho 51:1020a; Y. T. Wang, trans., A Record of BuddhistMonasteries in Lo-yang (Princeton, 1984), 229-30.

21 Ta Tz'u-en-ssu San-tsang fa-shih chuan t ,*-,i& liF 5 (Taisho 50:246a).

Once more, the naivete of the Nalanda students pro-vided another perfect springboard for a lecture on theglories of T'ang civilization. Even here, however, onemay sense a trace of defensiveness in Hsiian-tsang's re-sponse in the presence of India's conspicuous achieve-

ments in the sciences. This is what he said:

"The Dharmaraja i.e., the Buddha) established theTeaching here [in India] and morality prevails in thisland. But how can I have my own heart moistened bythe favor [of this religion], and still neglect those whoare not yet enlightened? Furthermore, in my countrythe officials in their caps and robes are arrayed n state-liness, and the laws and regulations are to be respected.The ruler is a sage, the ministers are loyal and the chil-dren filial. They value humaneness and morality andexalt the aged and worthy. They also understand andhave penetrated the arcane and the subtle. Their wis-dom tallies with Heaven, and they embody Heaven inmaking their laws. As for the Seven Luminaries (sun,moon, and planets), they are not in the dark about theirconfigurations. They have set up instruments to dividetime.... Ever since the Dharma has spread eastward,everyone there has honored the Mahayana (ta-shengIt P). The waters of samadhi-concentration are clearand bright; the perfume of the monastic rules is sweetand fragrant.... It cannot be known when our earswill ever again hear the wondrous preaching [of a Bud-dha], or our eyes behold his golden visage, as togetherwe travel down the long road. But how can anyone

claim that no Buddhas have ever gone [to China], andfor that reason consider the land contemptible?"

[The students responded], " . .. Today we are livinghere with you in Jambudvipa. It was here that the Bud-dha was born; he never went there. That's why we con-sider it a frontier-an evil place. Since the land has nomerit, we are urging you not to go back."

Hsiian-tsang said, "Vimalakirti once asked, 'Whydoes the sun travel across Jambudvipa?' Sariputra] an-swered, 'To drive away its darkness.' Well, the reasonI'm thinking of going back is to honor this principle,that's all."22

When the students perceived that he would not fol-low their advice, they consulted together and went in abody to see their teacher, Silabhadra (J ]), whoasked Hsiian-tsang, "What are your thoughts on thematter?" Hsiian-tsang replied:

22 Ibid., 246ab. For the quotation from the Vimalakirti-nirdesa, see Shuo Wu-kou-ch'eng ching . : ~ 12(Taisho 14:584c).

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"This land is the Buddha's birthplace. It's not that Idon't love or enjoy it. It's only that my ambition hasbeen to seek the great Dharma and to benefit living be-ings as widely as possible. Ever since I've come hereI've listened to my teachers lecturing on the Yogacar-

yabhumi-sdstra (* fNlAF1 * ), resolving its web ofdoubts. I have reverently viewed the sacred traces andlistened to the most profound meaning of the scrip-tures. My own heart has found comfort and I have beenblessed. I definitely have not traveled here in vain. ButI would like to take what I have heard back with meand translate it, so that those disciples who have theright karmic conditions may be able to share what Ihave heard and seen, and thus I may repay my teachers'kindness. These are the reasons I do not wish to lingerhere any longer."

Delighted, Silabhadra exclaimed, "These are thethoughts of a true bodhisattva!"23

The unmistakable conclusion to be drawn from thesefragmentary vignettes is that before the rivalry createdby the rise of ecclesiastical Taoism in the late secondcentury, whatever reports about the subcontinent werein existence in China were relatively objective, and

23 Ta Tz'u-en-ssu San-tsang fa-shih chuan 5 (Taisho50:246b).

certainly not hostile. After the circulation of the mythabout Lao-tzu converting the barbarians, which beganduring the third century, but became virulent after thepublication of the pseudo-scripture bearing that titlearound A.D. 300, anti-Buddhist polemicists began pop-

ularizing a negative perception which depicted Indiansas uncouth and morally depraved barbarians. It is to thecredit of Chinese Buddhist apologists that they workedassiduously to debunk some of the more egregiousclaims of their rivals, and some writers like HsiehLing-yiin in the fifth century seemed actually to havegained an inkling of the real temperamental differencesbetween the two peoples. But the greatest contributiontoward mutual understanding came from the Indianmissionaries in China and from Chinese pilgrims likeFa-hsien, Sung Ytin, and Hstian-tsang who had person-ally lived and studied in India.

As for the Indian perceptions of China, these seemnot to have mattered as much to either the Indians orthe Chinese. It was, after all, China which had receivedthe greater impact. What little we do learn from Chi-nese reports of Indian views on the subject are stronglycolored by the cultural pride of the reporters, who werenot only eager to record any favorable impressions, butwere equally happy to fill any vacuum they perceivedin their Indian inquirers with a glowing account of thesplendor of their own civilization.

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