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Transmitted Civilization - Buddhism

Prajñā Wisdom of Buddhism

Universal Wisdom

Compassion, Equality, and Human Awakening

The Buddha taught that all living beings are equal.
This view is not based on belief, but on insight into the conditions of life and existence.

At the core of Buddhist thought are three closely related principles:

Causality — all phenomena arise through conditions
Karma — intentional actions bring consequences
Dependent Origination and Emptiness — neither arising by chance, nor governed by a supreme creator

Beyond a Narrow Religious Framework

From the perspective of religious history, Buddhism was founded by Shakyamuni and he is therefore regarded as its teacher.
From a philosophical and scholarly perspective, he is also understood as a thinker, educator, and a figure responding to fundamental human questions.

The Sanskrit term “Buddha” means “the Awakened One.”
This awakening includes self-realization, the awakening of others, and the integration of insight with ethical life.

The Buddha is thus not understood as a creator or ruler, but as a human guide grounded in awakening and teaching.

Power or Wisdom

Throughout history, individuals of exceptional ability have often faced two paths:
the pursuit of power, or the pursuit of wisdom.

Political authority may bring temporary order, yet history shows that power alone cannot resolve the deeper causes of human suffering. Social stability rises and falls, while inner conflict persists.

Living in a time of political fragmentation and unrest, the Buddha could have inherited royal authority. Instead, he recognized that lasting resolution lies not in external control, but in inner transformation and ethical cultivation.

Equality, Buddha-Nature, and Human Fulfillment

By affirming equality among all beings, the Buddha challenged rigid social hierarchies.
At the same time, he emphasized self-awakening rather than authority over others.

Buddhist thought holds that all beings possess Buddha-nature. Ignorance leads to ordinary existence; awakening leads to realization. Such awakening cannot be granted by another, but must be realized through personal practice.

In this sense, Buddhism begins with human life and points toward its full realization through awakening.

Indian Cultural Roots of Buddhist Thought
A Path of Awakening within a Plural Intellectual Tradition

Buddhism did not arise in isolation, but emerged within a rich and diverse intellectual environment in ancient India. Civilizations with long histories tend to accumulate complex and layered systems of thought, and Indian culture is no exception. Due to the absence of prolonged political unification in early India, religious and philosophical traditions developed in multiple, overlapping streams rather than within a single coherent system.

From the early Vedic traditions to disciplined ascetic practices, and from the inward inquiries of the Upaniṣads into consciousness and the source of life, Indian thought gradually shifted from external ritual toward inner cultivation. At the same time, numerous contemporaneous teachers and schools explored questions of suffering, liberation, and the methods of practice. These traditions formed the immediate intellectual background of Buddhism and later continued, in various forms, as Hinduism and regional belief systems, becoming deeply integrated into everyday life and collective cultural consciousness.

Within this context, Buddhism did not simply inherit or reject existing traditions. Instead, the Buddha re-examined prevailing ideas through direct observation of human suffering and the conditions of existence. While affirming ethical conduct and cultivation, he clarified that liberation does not depend on ritual performance, lineage, or divine will, but on insight into the nature of reality.

Without an understanding of India’s indigenous religious and philosophical traditions, attempts to interpret Buddhism through isolated concepts or limited perspectives often lead to confusion, including the conflation of distinct systems of thought. A comprehensive awareness of Buddhism’s Indian cultural roots is therefore essential for any meaningful engagement with its teachings and texts.

From a civilizational perspective, the emergence of Buddhism followed a discernible historical trajectory. Major intellectual movements arise in response to accumulated social, cultural, and existential questions. The Buddha lived in a period marked by a plurality of views and competing values. His reinterpretation and restructuring of inherited ideas reflected a teaching approach that both continued and transformed earlier traditions while directly addressing the human condition.

In this sense, Buddhist thought is deeply grounded in Indian civilization, yet not confined by it. Arising from a specific cultural soil while transcending its limitations, Buddhism developed into a path of awakening capable of transmission across regions, cultures, and civilizations.

Teaching and Transmission

From Awakening to Civilizational Communication

Following his awakening, the Buddha did not remain in personal realization.
He chose to teach, initiating a process of communication that transformed individual insight into a shared civilizational path.

The Buddha’s teaching was not based on revelation or authority, but on dialogue, observation, and practical guidance. His approach was adaptive rather than dogmatic, responding to the capacities, conditions, and questions of different individuals and communities.

Rather than imposing a single doctrine, he emphasized:

understanding through experience
ethical cultivation in daily life
gradual insight suited to each person’s disposition

This method of teaching later came to be known as skillful means (upāya):
a flexible way of communicating wisdom without fixing it into rigid form.

An Open and Transmittable Teaching

Because the Buddha’s teaching did not rely on divine command or exclusive belief, it remained open to interpretation, translation, and cultural integration. This openness made Buddhism particularly suited to transmission across regions, languages, and civilizations.

As Buddhism spread beyond India, its teachings were:

translated into new languages
explained through local philosophical frameworks
adapted to different cultural contexts

Yet its central concern remained consistent:
the transformation of human understanding through insight, ethics, and awareness.

In this way, Buddhism developed not as a closed system, but as a living tradition, sustained through teaching, dialogue, and continuous reinterpretation.

Who Is the Buddha

Shakyamuni Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, did not emerge from social marginalization, nor was his spiritual path shaped by poverty or oppression. He was born into the noble class of ancient India. His father was a regional king, and he himself was a crown prince, raised in an environment of security, privilege, and worldly honor.

This historical fact has been widely known since Buddhism was transmitted to China more than two thousand years ago, and it remains a crucial point of departure for understanding the Buddha’s significance.

From a civilizational perspective, the time into which Shakyamuni was born was one of profound transition. Ancient India, much like China during the Spring and Autumn period, lacked a strong centralized authority. Political power was fragmented among numerous kingdoms and tribal states, and established social structures were beginning to show signs of strain. It was an age in which inherited systems still functioned outwardly, yet no longer provided convincing answers to deeper human questions.

Within this context, Shakyamuni belonged to the Kṣatriya class — the hereditary elite responsible for governance and military authority. By all conventional standards, he stood at the very center of the existing order and could reasonably have expected to inherit power, status, and continuity.

What distinguishes the Buddha, however, is not the nobility of his birth, but his response to it.

He did not turn away from the world because life had failed him. Rather, it was precisely from within a life of comfort, honor, and promise that he undertook a radical inquiry into the nature of existence. His awakening was not driven by personal grievance, but by a clear recognition of the universal condition of suffering and impermanence shared by all beings.

In response, Shakyamuni made a decisive choice: he relinquished royal power, social identity, and inherited privilege, not for personal escape, but out of a vow to seek a path of lasting liberation for all beings. The emergence of Buddhism was therefore not a mere religious event, but a profound civilizational response — an answer to humanity’s enduring questions at a moment of historical uncertainty.

Seen in this light, the Buddha stands not only as a religious founder, but as a figure of awakening at a turning point in human history — one who responded to the limits of political order and inherited values with insight, compassion, and inner transformation. This spirit of conscious renunciation in the midst of privilege remains one of the most remarkable and enduring aspects of his legacy.

Chinese Buddhism
Systematic Integration and Comprehensive Transmission

As Buddhism spread from India into different cultural regions, its teachings and practices developed in diverse forms. Among these, China became a key civilizational space in which Buddhist teachings were systematically preserved, integrated, and comprehensively developed.

From its introduction during the late Han dynasty through the Wei, Jin, and Northern and Southern Dynasties, and into the Sui and Tang periods, centuries of translation, commentary, and intellectual exchange gradually transformed Buddhism from a foreign tradition into an integral part of Chinese civilization. Throughout this process, Buddhism remained focused on teaching and scholarly transmission rather than political authority, and was recognized socially and institutionally through its role as a guiding tradition.

The development of Buddhism in China was accompanied by large-scale translation projects, rigorous doctrinal interpretation, and well-structured paths of practice. Many eminent monks were distinguished scholars with deep understanding of both texts and cultivation. Over time, the Buddhist community formed a knowledge tradition in which textual study, intellectual inquiry, and practice were held in balance, supporting continuity and coherence across generations.

Within the Chinese cultural context, Buddhism did not exist in isolation. It engaged in long-term interaction with Confucian and Daoist thought, giving rise to a plural cultural landscape in which these traditions developed side by side. Through sustained dialogue and reinterpretation, Buddhism became deeply embedded in the intellectual and cultural structures of Chinese civilization.

From a civilizational perspective, it was through this extended and systematic process of transmission that Buddhist teachings, texts, and methods of practice were preserved and developed in a relatively complete and enduring form.

Understanding and Practice

Throughout Buddhist intellectual history, scholars and practitioners have emphasized that understanding cannot rely solely on theory, nor can practice be separated from foundational teachings. Classical texts and doctrinal frameworks provide essential orientation, while lived practice offers the means through which these teachings are genuinely understood.

Buddhism is therefore not merely a system of ideas, but a discipline grounded in personal realization. Meaningful understanding arises through the mutual clarification of study and practice. Only through continuous reflection and verification in lived experience can Buddhist wisdom move beyond conceptual knowledge and become a form of insight into life itself.