Militant Spirit of the Buddhist Clergy in China

Abstract

It is a well-known fact that the first of all the commandments of the Buddhist creed is >>Thou shalt not kill, and that this has stood at the head of the precepts of the Church in China ever since its introduction into the empire. Many of our readers will therefore be surprised to learn that Chinese books contain various passages relating to Buddhist monks who freely indulged in carnage and butchery and took an active part in military expeditions of every description, thus leaving no room for doubt that warfare was an integrate part of their religious profession for centuries. This interesting phenomenon, which seems to have hitherto en. tirely escaped the attention of sinologists, will be made a subject of close examination in the present paper. In the first place, we propose to throw light upon it by giving in chronological order a series of extracts describing such Buddhistic feats of arms, all obtained from the best historical authorities, subsequently to endeavour to accouint for the same by consulting the leading code of the laws of the Church. We do not doubt the matter will