乾县铁佛寺移动版

QUESTION: I find it difficult to read the Buddhist scriptures. They seem long, repetitious and boring.

ANSWER:  When  we   open   a  religious  scripture  we   expect  to   read  words   of exaltations, joy  or  praise  that  will  uplift  and  inspire  us.  Consequently,  someone reading the Buddhist scriptures is likely to be a bit disappointed. While some of the Buddha’s  discourses  contain  considerable  charm  and  beauty,  most  resemble philosophical thesis with definitions of terms, carefully reasoned arguments, detailed advice on conduct or meditation, and  precisely stated truths. They are  meant to appeal  more to the  intellect than to the emotions. When we stop comparing the Buddhist scriptures with those of other religions we will see that they have their own kind of beauty – the beauty of clarity, of depth and of wisdom.

QUESTION: I read that the Buddhist scriptures were originally written on the leaves of palm trees. Why was this done?

ANSWER: At the time the scriptures were written, paper had not been invented in India or Sri Lanka. Ordinary documents like letters, contracts, accounts and deeds were written either on animal skins, thin metal sheets or palm leaves.  Buddhists didn’t like to use animal skins and writing the scriptures on metal sheets would have been both expensive and cumbersome and so palm leaves were used. After the leaves  were  specially  prepared,  they  were  bound  together  with  string  and  put between  two  wooden  covers  making  them  convenient  and  durable,  just  like  a modern book.  When Buddhism came to China the scriptures were written on silk or paper. About 500 years later the need to produce many copies of the scriptures led to the invention of printing. The world’s oldest printed book is a Chinese translation of one of the Buddha’s discourses published in 828 CE.

12. HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT

QUESTION: Buddhism is now the religion of a large number of people in many different countries. How did this happen?

ANSWER: Within  150  years  of the  Buddha’s  passing  his  teachings  had  already spread fairly widely through northern India. Then in about 262 BCE the then emperor of India, Asoka Mauriya, converted to Buddhism and spread the Dhamma throughout his entire realm. Many people were attracted by Buddhism’s high ethical standards and particularly by its opposition to the Hindu caste system. Asoka  also convened a great council and then sent missionary monks to neighboring countries and even  as far as Europe. The most successful of these missions was the one that went to Sri Lanka.  The   Island  became  Buddhist  and  has  remained  so  ever  since.   Other missions brought Buddhism to southern and western India, Kashmir and what is now southern Burma and peninsular Thailand. A century or so after this Afghanistan and the  mountainous  regions  of  northern  India  became  Buddhist  and  monks  and merchants from there  gradually took the  religion  into  Central  Asia  and  finally  to China,  from where it later  penetrated into Korea and Japan.

It is interesting to note that Buddhism is really the only foreign system of thought that has  ever  taken  root  in  China.  In  about  the  12th    century  Buddhism  became  the dominant religion of Burma, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia due mainly to the efforts of monks from Sri Lanka.

QUESTION: How and when did Tibet become Buddhist?

ANSWER: In about the 8th  century the king of Tibet sent an ambassador to India to bring monks and Buddhist scriptures to his country. Buddhism caught on but  did not became the major religion due partly to opposition from the priests of the indigenous Bon  religion.  Finally,  in  the  11th    century  a  large  numbers  of  Indian  monks  and teachers came to Tibet and the religion became firmly established. Since that time Tibet has been one of the most fervently Buddhist countries. (责任编辑：admin)