http://www.atributetohinduism.com/India_and_China.htm

Bhaarat: Teacher of China

Hinduism and Buddhism, both have had profound effect on religious and cultural life of China. Chinese early religion was based on nature and had many things in common with Vedic Hinduism, with a pantheon of deities.


"Never before had China seen a religion so rich in imagery, so beautiful and captivating in ritualism and so bold in cosmological and metaphysical speculations. Like a poor beggar suddenly halting before a magnificent storehouse of precious stones of dazzling brilliancy and splendor, China was overwhelmed, baffled and overjoyed. She begged and borrowed freely from this munificent giver. The first borrowings were chiefly from the religious life of India, in which China's indebtedness to India can never be fully told."

(source: India and World Civilization - By D. P. Singhal p. 338).

The story of Sun Hou Tzu, the Monkey King, and Hsuan Tsang. It is a vicarious and humorous tale, an adventure story akin to the Hindu epic of Ramayana, and like Ramayana, a moral tale of the finer aspects of human endeavor which come to prevail over those of a less worthy nature. The book ends with a dedication to India: I dedicate this work to Buddha's pure land. May it repay the kindness of patron and preceptor, may it mitigate the sufferings of the lost and damned....'

(source: Eastern Wisdom - By Michael Jordan p -134-151).

Arnold Hermann Ludwig Heeren (1760-1842) an Egyptologist and author of Historical researches into the politics, intercourse, and trade of the Carthaginians, Ethiopians, and Egyptians observes that:

"the name China is of Hindu origin and came to us from India."

"M. de Guigues says that Magadha was known to the Chinese by the name Mo-kiato, and its capital was recognized by both its Hindu name Kusumpura, for which the Chinese wrote Kia-so-mo-pon-lo and Pataliputra, out of which they made Patoli-tse by translating putra, which means son in Sanskrit, into their own corresponding word, tse. Such translation of names has thrown a Veil of obscurity over many a name of Hindu origin. Hindu geography has suffered a great loss."

(source: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Volume. V).

Lin Yutang (1895-1976) author of The Wisdom of China and India:

"The contact with poets, forest saints and the best wits of the land, the glimpse into the first awakening of Ancient India's mind as it searched, at times childishly and naively, at times with a deep intuition, but at all times earnestly and passionately, for the spiritual truths and the meaning of existence - this experience must be highly stimulating to anyone, particularly because the Hindu culture is so different and therefore so much to offer." Not until we see the richness of the Hindu mind and its essential spirituality can we understand India...."

"India was China's teacher in religion and imaginative literature, and the world's teacher in trignometry, quandratic equations, grammar, phonetics, Arabian Nights, animal fables, chess, as well as in philosophy, and that she inspired Boccaccio, Goethe, Herder, Schopenhauer, Emerson, and probably also old Aesop."

(source: The Wisdom of China and India - By Lin Yutang p. 3-4).

Sir William Jones (1746-1794) came to India as a judge of the Supreme Court at Calcutta. He pioneered Sanskrit studies. His admiration for Indian thought and culture was almost limitless. He says that the Chinese assert their Hindu origin."

(source: Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan; or the Central and Western Rajput States - By James Tod Volume I, p. 35-57).

Amaury de Reincourt (1918 - ) was born in Orleans, France. He received his B.A. from the Sorbonne and his M.A. from the University of Algiers. He is author of several books including The American empire and The Soul of India, he wrote: " The Chinese travelers' description of life in India... reveals great admiration from all concerned for the remarkable civilization displayed under their eyes."

"India sent missionaries, China sending back pilgrims. It is a striking fact that in all relations between the two civilizations, the Chinese were always the recipient and the Indian the donor." "Indian influence prevailed over the Chinese, and for evident reasons: an undoubted cultural superiority owing to much greater philosophic and religious insight, and also to a far more flexible script."

(source: The Soul of India – by Amaury de Riencourt p 141 and 161).



China (Cinaratha) in the Epic of Mahabharata

It is well known that in the Mahabharata the Cinas appear with the Kiratas among the armies of king Bhagadatta of Pragjyotisa or Assam. In the Sabhaparvan this king is described as surrounded by the Kiratas and the Cinas. In the Bhismaparvan, the corps of Bhagadatta, consisting of the Kirtas and the Cinas of yellow color, appeared like a forest of Karnikaras. It is significant that the Kiratas represented all the people living to the east of India in the estimation of the geographers of the Puranas. Even the dwellers of the islands of the Eastern Archipelago were treated as Kiratas in the Epics. The reference to their wealth of gold, silver, gems, sandal, aloewood, textiles and fabrics clearly demonstrates their association with the regions included in Suvarnadvipa. Thus, the connection of the Kiratas and Cinas is a sure indication of the fact that the Indians came to know of the Chinese through the eastern routes and considered them as an eastern people, having affinities to the Kiras, who were the Indo-Mongoloids, inhabiting the Tibeto-Burman regions and the Himalayan and East Indian territories, the word Kirata being a derivation from kiranti or kirati, the name of a group of people in eastern Nepal.




In early Indian literature China is invariably shown to be connected with India by a land-route across the country of the Kiratas in the mountainous regions of the north. In the Vanaparvan of the Mahabharata the Pandava brothers are said to have crossed the country of the Cinas in course of their trek through the Himalayan territory north of Badri and reached the realm of the Kirata king Subahu. The Cinas are brought into intimate relationship with the Himalayan people (Haimavatas) in the Sabhaparvan also. The land of the Haimavatas is undoubtedly the Himavantappadesa of the Pali texts, which has been identified with Tibet or Nepal. In the Sasanavamsa this region is stated to be Cinarattha. Thus, it is clear that China was known to the Indians as lying across the Himalayas and was accordingly included in the Himalayan territories. In the Nagarjunikonda inscription of Virapurusdatta, China (Cina) is said to be lying in the Himalayas beyond Cilata or Kirata. These references to the proximity of China to the Himalayan regions, inhabited by the Kiratas, show that there were regular routes through the Tibeto-Burman territories, along which the Indians could reach China.

Some such land-route is implied in the remark of the Harsacarita of Banabhatta that Arjuna conquered the Hemakuta region after passing through Cina. Of course, the route across Central Asia is perhaps alluded to in the itinerary of Carudatta from the Indus Delta to China across the country of the Hunas and the Khasas, described in the Vasudevakindi, and there is probably a reference to the sea-route, passing through Vanga, Takkola and Suvarnadvipa, in the Milindapanho. But there is no doubt that in a large number of ancient Indian texts China is mentioned near the eastern Himalayan regions, through which regular routes, connecting this country with India, passed from fairly early times. It was along these routes that India came into contact with China for the first time and developed commercial relations with her, that are referred to by Chan K’ien in the second century B.C.

In Yunnan there is a large number of old pagodas. Some of them are the oldest and most beautiful in China. Their cornices and corner decoration, showing rows of pitchers (mangala ghata), betray unmistakable Indian influence. Many bricks of these pagodas bear Sanskrit inscriptions, containing Buddhist mantras and formulae in a script, which is identical with that current in Nalanda and Kamarupa in the 9th century. The beautiful bronze statue of Avalokitesvara from the pagoda of Ch’ung Sheng Ssu near Ta-li is an index to the high standard of culture and craftsmanship attained by the Buddhists of Yunan.

In earlier times, the people of the east, Magadha and Videha, were in contact with Yunan, as the traditions of Purvavideha show. The two names, Purvavideha and Gandhara, seem to represent these two successive eastern and western streams of Indian colonial and cultural expansion in this region.

Henry Rudolph Davies (1865 - ) says that Besides Buddhism, Shaivism was also popular in Yunan as is manifest from the prevalence of the cult of Mahakala there. This ancient Indian colony in the south of China was the cradle of Sino-Indian cultural relationship for a long time.

It was an important outpost of Indian cultural expansion along the eastern land-routes, which Colonel Gerolamo Emilio Gerini (1860 -1913) author of Researches on Ptolemy's geography of eastern Asia (further India and Indo-Malay archipelago p. 122 -124 has described as follows:

“During the three or four centuries, preceding the Christian era, we find Indu (Hindu) dynasties established by adventurers, claiming descent from the Kshatriya potentates of northern India, ruling in upper Burma, in Siam and Laos, in Yunnan and Tonkin, and even in most parts of southeastern China. From the Brahmaputra and Manipur to the Tonkin Gulf we can trace a continuous string of petty states, ruled by those scion of the Kshatriya race, using the Sanskrit or Pali language in official documents or inscriptions; building temples and other monuments after the Indu (Hindu) style and employing Brahmana priests for the propitiatory ceremonies, connected with the court and state. Among such Indu (Hindu) monarchies (Theinni) in Burma, of Muang Hang, C’hieng Rung, Muang Khwan and Dasarna (Luang P’hrah Bang) in the Lau country; and of Agranagara (Hanoi) and Campa in Tonkin and Annan.”

“The names of peoples and cities, recorded by Ptolemy in that region, however few and imperfectly preserved, are sufficiently significant to prove the presence of the Indu (Hindu) ruling and civilizing element in these countries, undoubtedly not so barbarous as the Chinese would make them appear.”

“It is evident through the medium of those barbarians that China received part of her civilization through India.”

Among these colonies Tagong and upper Pugan were called Mayura; Prome was Sriksetra; Sen-wi (Theinni) was Sivirastra; Muang Hang, Chieng Rung and Muang Khwan were the three divisions of Ching Rung kingdom, which the prince of Yong, named Sunandakumara, united under Mahiyagananagara; Luang P’hrah Bang was Dasarna; Hanoi was Agranagara; Tagaung was Brahmadesa (P’o-;o-men), where a Sanskrit inscription, dated in Gupta era 108 – 426 A.D. refers to Hastinapura, situated in that country; and, of course, Yunana was Purvavideha or Gandhara. Thus, from Arakan, where the Mrohaung inscriptions attest the efflorescence of Indian culture, language and literature, to Yunnan, whose history we have traced above, Indian culture made a triumphant advance in ancient times.

(source: Yün-nan; the link between India and the Yangtze – by Henry Rudolph Davies Cambridge University press 1909 an India and The World - By Buddha Prakash p. 141-150).







India was known as T'ien-chu to the Chinese.

China, like Southeast Asia too, was colonized to some extent by the ancient Hindus. The religion and culture of China are undoubtedly of Hindu origin. According to the Hindu theory of emigration, Kshatriyas from India went and established colonies in China. India was known as T'ien-chu to the Chinese.

Colonel James Tod (1782-1835) author of Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan: or the Central and Western Rajput States of India has written:

"The genealogies of China and Tartary declare themselves to be the descendents of "Awar," son of the Hindu King "Pururawa."

According to the traditions noted in the Schuking, the ancestors of the Chinese, conducted by Fohe, come to the plains of China 2,900 years before Christ, from the high mountains Land which lies to the west of that country. This shows that the settlers into China were originally inhabitants of Kashmir, Ladakh, Little Tibet and the Punjab, which were parts of Ancient India.

Kakuzo Okakura, speaking of the missionary activity of Indian Buddhists in China, says that at one time in the single province of Lo-yang there were more than 3,000 Indian monks and 10,000 Indian families to impress their national religion and art on Chinese soil.

(source: The Ideals of the East With Special Reference to the Art of Japan - By Kakuzo Okakura p. 113).

Hu Shih, (1891-1962), Chinese philosopher in Republican China. He was ambassador to the U.S. (1938-42) and chancellor of Peking University (1946-48). He said:

"India conquered and dominated China culturally for two thousand years without ever having to send a single soldier across her border."

Court Bjornstjerna (1779-1847) author of The Theogony of the Hindoos with their systems of Philosophy and Cosmogony says: " what may be said with certainty is that the religion of China came from India."

Chinese authors, too, according to Mountstuart Elphinstone (1779-1859) noted, Indian ambassadors to the court of China.

The Mahabharata refers to China several times, including a reference to presents brought by the Chinese at the Rajasuya Yajna of the Pandavas; also, the Arthasastra and the Manusmriti mention China.

According to Rene Grousset (1885-1952) French art historian in his book Rise and Splendour of Chinese Empire ASIN 0520005252 p. 79:

"the name China comes from "an ancient" Sanskrit name for the regions to the east, and not, as often supposed, from the name of the state of Ch'in," the first dynasty established by Shih Huang Ti in 221 B.C.





Brahma - Chinese version
(source: Our Heritage and Its Significance - By S. R. Sharma)


The Sanskrit name Cina for China could have been derived from the small state of that name in Chan-si in the northwest of China, which flourished in the fourth century B.C. Scholars have pointed out that the Chinese word for lion, shih, used long before the Chin dynasty, was derived from the Sanskrit word, simha, and that the Greek word for China, Tzinista, used by some later writers, appears to be derivative of the Sanskrit Chinasthana. The Chinese literature of the third century is full of geographic and mythological elements derived from India.

" I see no reason to doubt," comments Arthur Waley in his book, The Way and its Power, "that the 'holy mountain-men' (sheng-hsien) described by Lieh Tzu are Indian rishi; and when we read in Chuang Tzu of certain Taoists who practiced movements very similar to the asanas of Hindu yoga, it is at least a possibility that some knowledge of the yoga technique which these rishi used had also drifted into China."

Both Sir L. Wooley and British historian Arnold Toynbee speak of an earlier ready-made culture coming to China. They were right. That was the Vedic Hindu culture from India with its Sanskrit language and sacred scripts. The contemporary astronomical expertise of the Chinese, as evidenced by their records of eclipses; the philosophy of the Chinese their statecraft, all point to a Vedic origin. That is why from the earliest times we find Chinese travelers visiting India very often to renew their educational and spiritual links.

Author Kenneth Ch'en has said:

"Neo-Confucianism was stimulated in its development by a number of Buddhist ideas. Certain features of Taoism, such as its canon and pantheon, was taken over from Buddhism. Works and phrases in the Chinese language owe their origin to terms introduced by Buddhism. Chinese language owe their origin to terms introduced by Buddhism, while in astronomical, calendrical, and medical studies the Chinese benefited from information introduced by Indian Buddhist monks. Finally, and most important of all, the religious life of the Chinese was affected profoundly by the doctrines and practices, pantheon and ceremonies brought in by the Indian religion."

(source: Buddhism in China - By Kenneth Ch'en ISBN 0691000158 p. 3).

How China was part of the Indian Vedic empire is explained by Professor G. Phillips on page 585 in the 1965 edition of the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. He remarks,

"The maritime intercourse of India and China dates from a much earlier period, from about 680 B.C. when the sea traders of the Indian Ocean whose chiefs were Hindus founded a colony called Lang-ga, after the Indian named Lanka of Ceylon, about the present gulf of Kias-Tehoa, where they arrived in vessels having prows shaped like the heads of birds or animals after the pattern specified in the Yukti Kalpataru (an ancient Sanskrit technological text) and exemplified in the ships and boats of old Indian arts."

Chinese historian Dr. Li-Chi also discovered an astonishing resemblance between the Chinese clay pottery and the pottery discovered at Mohenja daro on the Indian continent. Yuag Xianji, member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, speaking at the C. P. Ramaswamy Aiyar Foundation, Madras, March 27 1984 said,

" Recent discoveries of ruins of Hindu temples in Southeast China provided further evidence of Hinduism in China. Both Buddhism and Hinduism were patronized by the rulers. In the 6th century A.D. the royal family was Hindu for two generations. The following Tang dynasty (7th to the 9th century A.D.) also patronized both Hinduism and Buddhism because the latter was but a branch of Hinduism. Religious wars were unknown in ancient China. There was extensive maritime trade and religious exchanges between India and China at this period (Ad 1-600) and the massive expansion of Indian influence into southern China through Jih-nan and Chiao-chih, in what is now northern Vietnam.

Albert Etienne Terrien de Lacouperie, author of Western Origins of Chinese Civilization states that the maritime intercourse of India with China dates from about 680 B.C. when the sea traders of the Indian ocean" whose "Chiefs were Hindus" founded a colony, called Lang-ga, after the Indian name Lanka, about the present gulf of Kiaotchoa....And throughout this period the monopoly of the sea borne trade of China was in their hands."

In the second century A.D., Indians from the Sindhu during the time of Rudradaman, the Khshatrapa Satrap of Kattiawad, took presents by sea to China.

(source: Milinda Panha - Vide p. 127-327).

Who is Bhaarat? And what does he/she do?

Bharat = India

Well not really Bharat or Hindustan was actually the name of India,Pakistan and Bangladesh before the partition, some people still like to call India Bharat.

Yeah I was reading in the book Maximum City (it's about Mumbai city) that some Indians want to rename India to Hindustan.

Fascinating summary of Bharat's influence on ancient China. But it's all bit simplistic and overlooks the fact that Confucius legalism ran side-by-side with the development of Taoism and Buddhism in China. And Confucius and Laotze developed their philosophies independently of the Indian monks/rishis.

Buddhism may have extinguished itself in the Bharat, and China of today. But it's still flourishing in the West and Far East in the temples and yoga shalas.

Without a doubt, the yogic texts in the Vedic philosophy are very much alive in our modern societies.

BTW, the subtext of the topic title stated Hinduism and Buddhism.

‘Hinduism’ is a term that started to be used in the late 16th Century to categorize the diverse spiritual beliefs and practices encountered in India. There is no mention of ‘Hinduism’ in the earliest yogic scriptures, which date back, at least, to 1500BC.

LOL exactly the term "Hindu" was used by the Persians who came to India, it's a persian word and has geographical significance, it was used for the people who lived in the region of the Indus Valley. The word "Hindu" was never mentioned in Indian literature before the advent of Islam in India. "Hinduism" was a name given by the brits, to the multiplicity of the beliefs of the people living in Bharat.

btw it was in 1830 when a british writer used the word Hinduism for the 1st time, not in the 16th century.He used it for all the beliefs of the people of India, except muslims and christians.The real name for Hinduism is " sanatana dharma" or "vedic dharma".

Wow first indian history centric post.. Interesting

I agree with you and tang on that. That is pretty much what I read from a British author (not sure if he was ethniclly Indian or not) on a 'short history' of India. He supposedly is an "expert" or authority on "Hinduism" and India and a professor at one of the universities in Britan.

But I refrained from mentioning that for two reasons. One, I have trouble really grasping India and its complex culture (or so it seems complex to me), and the fact that there are numerous languages in India, none of which I understand nor can pronounce the words, just intensifies my confusion and loss of grounding in India and Hinduism. Two, I learned sometime back to be cautious on relying soley on one author/historians point of view as the sole and last word of God on a subject.

But that same author also pointed out that ancient India was like most places of the past, a region of various kingdoms, not a single nation state. I was surprised though to find out how far the various kingdoms and culture of "India" stretched into. The author I believed stated present day Afganistan was an Indian kingdom. Anyways I was impressed at how diverse ancient India was. You had Zorastrians (sp?), all the various religions that make up Hindu, and all the "5 Great Religions." Which is something to that level you did not find in post ancient Europe - where you basicly just had Jews, Christians, and Muslims.

But modern language I find can often times betray the truth or accuracy of the past. But what can you do? We speak of "ancient India" as we speak of "Spain" in the 1400's. In both cases the modern mind comprehends it in the modern sense of nation states, which is less than accurate. But to communicate with people you must use terminology they understand, even at the risk of lossing accuracy. It's just one of the natural limitations in human language.

Nonetheless, there is heavy ethno-nationalistic sense many Indian apply onto both "Hinduism" and "Hindustan." At least that's what I get from the limited amount of literature I have read.

Currently as we converse, thousands of Hindus in the nation of Nepal are lobbying and protesting to reclassify Nepal as an official Hindu state. (It just recently became secular)

What is the meaning of 'sanatama dharma'?

sanatana means eternal and dharma means religion, so the meaning of sanatana dharma is "the eternal religion"

This is interesting. Because I thought dharma, the way or context in which I have seen it used in sentences in the book Maximum City, meant or infered one's destiny's or obligation they were suppose to fulfill.

But it just means religion?

So how is the best way to interpret this, "It is enough just to fulfill one's dharma," in reference that one does need to become a saint or even a "good person" so to speak? Is it best to interpret it to say, "It is enough just to fulfill one's religious devotions and obligations"?

^^Unfortunately there is no equivalent term for dharma in english,it has too many meanings like compassion,truth,teaching,wisdom,tradition,duty ect. So the best translation for this word in my opinion is religion.

Thanks. I have just now paradoxically become that much more knowledgable about dharma yet that much more perplexed about it.

I'm not sure I was not smarter when I knew less. (funny how that works out)

LOL whos bharat? that was good...

i think someone should summarize the points...its so long : /

k, i read some of it. rofl this is funny.

like this guy, D. P. Singhal. because apparently, he knows what China has seen :O crystal ball perhaps?

"a moral tale of the finer aspects of human endeavor which come to prevail over those of a less worthy nature."
thats like...every book in ever... :S

""the name China comes from "an ancient" Sanskrit name for the regions to the east, and not, as often supposed, from the name of the state of Ch'in," the first dynasty established by Shih Huang Ti in 221 B.C." (Rene Grousset (1885-1952) French art historian)
lol thats rich. honestly, i dont know who this french guy thinks he is going to fool :S i mean, does he think he is going to tell us Chinese where the name "China" came from? LOL...

" His admiration for Indian thought and culture was almost limitless. He says that the Chinese assert their Hindu origin."
lol, theres a reliable source

"Amaury de Reincourt (1918 - ) was born in Orleans, France"
lol, truly, he must be an expert on how Chinese felt. i mean, look at his credentials!

"he religion and culture of China are undoubtedly of Hindu origin."
LMAO! k, dont need to say anything here.

I disagree with you that the best word for dharma is religion. I like this one Dharma is like The Way of the Tao. Eternal Natural Law.





That's precisely the WAY of the TAO. Paradoxical yet wondrous!!!

Tao must like a woman then if it is both perplex and wondrous.

Deleted.

that could be offensive :S

One big difference between India and China was how the process of Islamicization swept the Indian subcontinent and held sway for several centuries. Whereas in China, Islam never really took root.

Can anyone pinpoint the reasons why this is so?

China was too far away : /

im kidding, i dont know any indian history, but im guessing way back then there were many kingdoms, races, culures and stuff all seperate. india wasnt "india" until the dahli lama went to africa in...k i forgot

for China, it WAS the same, but because of qin shi huangdi, China was united under 1 rule. so im guessing divide and conquer wasnt an issue.

my last theory is religion. India was very religious back then, so islam might have not seemed hilarious to the indians. Chinese however, especially during qins rule, had the mentality (and alot still do today) that Chinas greater good is most important.

so any religion that would put a god or anything else before China itself was probably ignored by alot of the people. i also know qin destroyed alot of the past documents and everything so that people will ONLY be loyal to him. if islam did try to get a foothold during that time, you can be sure qin got rid of it.

I'm no authority on either Indian or Chinese history, though I would point out that while Germanic lands were being scorched, villages left decimated and burning, field and live stock eaten clear by camping armies, in the Thirty Years War - Islam towards the ending of that war of Christian against Christian, Swede against Imperial patrimony, was building military and religious conquest against a certain region of India. Islam ultimately had great success in much of India and developed some great Islamic schools of learning there.

Hey hey, i think you got mixed up big time.. Qin dynasty was around 200BC in China. Islam was only invented in 600AD, when Tang Dynasty was in mode.