Berkley Center

While in China, I have visited many Buddhist temples, including the White Horse Temple (the first Buddhist temple in China), the Shaolin Temple (foundation of Zen Buddhism), and the Lama Temple in Beijing. During these inspirational events, I see the temple packed with tourists, pilgrims, and monks alike. People crowd temple entrances, lighting incense and donating money at every donation box. Each time I visit a temple it amazes me how much Chinese people embrace Buddhism.

The People’s Republic of China is an atheist state. The Cultural Revolution moved to eliminate religion completely, destroying temples and religious relics across the country. Although the government has taken a more liberal stance toward religion since the 1970s, a 2007 survey conducted by Shanghai University shows that less than a third of Chinese people identify as religious. Of a total population of 1.357 billion, this equates to 300 million people who identify as religious. While Buddhism is the largest religion in China, it is only a single aspect of the total religious population.

If so few people identify as Buddhist, why are there always lines at temples to prostrate before Buddhist icons? Perhaps Buddhism has a larger cultural role than being strictly religious. Buddhism is an important aspect of China’s long history. Visiting these locations has more cultural meaning than religious. My teacher says China has the saying “上车睡觉，下车看庙” or “Board the train to sleep, get off the train to see temples.” The difference between these Chinese tourists and me is that they find participating in temple activities like praying and bowing before the Buddha to be natural. Because I am not a practicing Buddhist, I would not want to offend anyone with uninformed and insincere displays. This leads me to believe that to some degree there is a widespread understanding of and belief in Buddhism. My classmates and I happened to visit the White Horse Temple in Luoyang the day of a festival. We joined the crowd that surrounded the main temple to chant along with the monks. What struck me was that not only did the pilgrims know the words to chant, but so did the majority of the tourists visiting the temple like we were. This willingness to participate in temple activities differs from American tourist behavior. From my experience, if a nonreligious American visits a Christian church, their purpose is to appreciate the church’s history and architecture, and he or she is unlikely to wholeheartedly join in with the congregation. While Chinese tourists may have this same purpose, their willingness to participate indicates a higher degree of identification with the religion itself.

Additionally, in times of trouble, Chinese people turn to Buddhism for help. In their everyday lives, most Chinese people do not actively consider Buddhist thought or even regularly attend Buddhist services. My program director thinks that this practice reflects Chinese culture’s pragmatism. This phenomenon reminds me of Christianity in America. Christianity has been the dominant faith throughout US history, but recently more and more Americans are identifying as nonreligious or non-practicing. But, like the Chinese, ancestrally Christian Americans call on God and prayer in times of need and loss. It is interesting how people from different cultures share the same basic needs for sources of faith and strength.

Although practicing Buddhists are a small minority in China, Buddhism still has a significant effect on everyday life and culture in China. The colorful and vibrant displays found at Buddhist temples add depth and meaning to my visit and create wonderful visual representations to capture and share.