"Hello, Mr. Li, my first meeting, my name is Johnson, from the church!" The man in front of him said with a faint smile.

"Hello……"

If it was not necessary, Li Changguo did not want to find the man in front of him. Although he rarely knew the means of the church, he knew how much blood it would take to introduce a sect in history to China. This sect is naturally the current Buddhism.

China is one of the ancient civilizations in the world, with a long history and profound cultural accumulation. In history, there are three open periods, first of all, the absorption of Buddhist culture during the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, secondly, the acceptance of Western and Central Asian civilizations through the "Silk Road" during the Sui and Tang Dynasties, and again, the churches in the Ming and Qing Dynasties wanted human China. Although there are many less concentrated periods of cultural dissemination, there are various debates and doubts about these dissemination periods, as long as you look at it, the influence of Buddhist culture on China has penetrated the bone marrow and penetrated the hearts of the people. It is so difficult for us to avoid foreign Buddhist culture and extract truly pure "national quintessence".

The East of Buddhism is not just a religious event. The same excellent Indian, Greek, Persian and Central Asian cultures, which are also excellent. Sculpture, painting, music, art, products, treasures, crafts, science and technology, ideas, logic, surnames, styles, all kinds of different places, all with the help of this ship to cross the vast sea and come to Middle Earth. The vision, knowledge of surnames, literary and mentality have all changed.

It must be said that Buddhist culture has changed China to a certain extent.

Buddhism originated in India around the 5th century BC. At that time, India was in a time of great turmoil and great change: some places established slave states, while others were still in the period of tribal alliances. A hierarchy was created within the society - caste system: first, the Brahmins enjoyed the teaching of the "Veda" classics, the right to interpret and the privilege of presiding for sacrifices; second, the Kshatriya, which belonged to the military aristocrat; Vaisya was the third level, engaged in agriculture, pastoral producers and merchants; finally, the exploited Shudra.

The rulers "vulgar greed, rough **, lowly material desires, selfish plunder of public property, tax donations, usury, extortion, etc., have caused unprecedented suffering in people's lives." The wars of annexation between countries have continued to occur, and the military and political power of the Kshatriya caste has increased dramatically; with the development of social productivity, the economic strength of the Vaishya caste has become stronger. The old concepts have been opposed by the majority of people, the ideological community is active, and various philosophical and evil sayings are inconsistent. Faced with the rulers' [***], social chaos and the painful situation of the poor, some people attempt to withdraw from social life and become monks and "sanders". They live in the wild, "wearing tree bark, eating acorns, drinking with their hands, not getting married, not having children, doing asceticism, and sitting withered will never move."

The founder of Buddhism, Sakyamuni, was born in such an era. He was a real historical figure, born in the Suddhodon family in the ancient Indian Kingdom of Kapilava (now in Nepal). His surname was Jodha Ni and his name was Siddhartha. Sakyamuni was the name of his tribe, and Muni was the meaning of a saint. After his birth, his mother died and was raised by his aunt. According to Kshatriya's habit, he studied calligraphy, Vedic, martial arts at the age of 8, and "proficient in all sixty-four kinds of books" and received the best education. At the age of 17, he married his beautiful wife, Yasudra, and was said to have a son.

He has been thinking about social and life problems since he was a child. He felt deeply that the changes in human affairs in the world are "impermanent". He wanted to get rid of the troubles of life. At the age of 1998, he resolutely gave up his rich treasures and superior material life. He escaped from the house one night, shaved his hair and became a "sage". He first went to the Ascetic Practice Forest of the Immortals to practice, and then found the Aladhagalan to live a Brahmacharya life, and then followed another monk to learn to practice meditation.

Although he had been as thin as an old man after six years of hard practice, he still had not escaped from the "impermanence" suffering and reached the state of liberation. So he cheered up again, took a bath in the Nitanlian River, ate again, meditated under a Bodhi tree, and thought carefully for seven days and seven days. He thought about the pain of people's birth, old age, illness, and death, and used the idea of ​​"reincarnation" to explain its roots, and proposed a complete set of basic Buddhist ideas such as the "twelve links of dependent origination", "Eightfold Path" and "Four Truths", and reached the state of great enlightenment. At the age of 35, he finally practiced the saint-ye-"Buddha".

From then on, Sakyamuni preached everywhere, and his footprints spread throughout North India and Central India. He organized monastic groups, contacted the kings, contacted merchants and wealthy people, established many monasteries, and formulated a complete system to organize the hatred of the group; he tried his best to oppose the "Brahman First", advocated "equality of the four surnames", and was kind and gentle to all living beings. He proposed that Sakyamuni did not talk about the height of the caste, but only divided it into order according to the age of old age... Promote his Buddhist thoughts and promote his ideals until he died at the age of 80.

Sakyamuni's thoughts won the support of the rising "third level" and developed rapidly in India. India is an ancient civilization that attaches importance to philosophy and is full of imagination. With the widespread spread of Buddhist thoughts and the increase of monks, the charming experience of Sakyamuni was spread more and more magical among believers. Sakyamuni evolved from a real historical figure into a religious idol and a god. The theory of Buddhism is becoming more complicated and the Buddhist sect that adheres to the standard is difficult to adapt to the needs of society, and has a high color and more mythological contents to make Sakyamuni's thoughts more sectual and educational.

In a society where there are many myths and legends and values ​​witchcraft, this deification is inevitable. The deification of Sakyamuni provided a colorful blueprint for Buddhist art. With the emergence of Buddhism, Buddhist art that promotes Buddhist doctrines by image and metaphorical methods also emerged. Buddhist art developed on the basis of Indian inherent art. At first, during the reign of Ashoka (268-232 BC), the third king of the Mauryan Dynasty, the Imperial Document was engraved on cliffs and stone pillars. It was called Ashoka stone pillars, with gorgeous stigmas carved on top of the stone pillars.

There are also records of the establishment of pagodas in the stone carvings of Ashoka. The pagoda is the tomb of ancient Indians, with soil heights on it. Some are covered with stones outside. The remains of the dead are buried under the tower. The tower is covered with exquisite carvings, which are the objects of sacrifice. At the same time, caves were dug in the mountains, temples were built, statues were carved, and murals were painted. Most of the early statues were reliefs, with a strong sense of three-dimensionality. Most of the figures were upright images on the front, with a bloated shape, stiff and rigid facial expressions, and lack of vitality. Although the decorations, such as headscarves and jewelry worn, they could not conceal the stereotypes. The animals carved were more delicate and realistic. These characteristics were reflected in the simple style of ancient Indian art.

During the following periods of the Sunga Dynasty (187-72 BC) and the Satwahana Dynasty (30 BC-3rd century AD, the Hundred Cycle Dynasty), the Buddhist art that King Ashoka began was further developed. Whether it was the famous Barhut and Shanchi Tower, or the Baya and Ajanta Caves, they were all solemn and magnificent, with vivid and exquisite carvings. In the pagodas and cave carvings of this period, the themes of Buddhist art such as the story of the Bunsheng, the Buddha's biography, the patron god, the decorative patterns and the offerors, have been basically completed. However, the image of the Buddha, the main object of worship, did not appear, but replaced it with Bodhi trees, **, umbrella covers and footprints. The later Kushan Dynasty created the image of the Buddha, and it traveled in the middle of the Ganges, and now southwest of New Delhi, developed into "Matura Art".

The "Gupta Art" that emerged during the Gupta dynasty that emerged in the 4th century AD (319-540 AD) was the peak of the history of the development of Indian Buddhist art. All these arts are still the glory of Indian history and its artistic treasures. Another development of Buddhism during the Ashoka period was spreading around India. It was first spread to Sri Lanka in the south of India. Rows of stone pillars were added around the tower built here, decorated with beautiful stigmas; later, the famous Sikria murals of Lion Rock were produced.

Buddhism spread westward along the Silk Road to the Gandhara region. This is the intersection of ancient inter-European land transportation, and the intersection of Eastern and Western cultures. In the early days, it was occupied by the Macedonian king Alexander and established some Hellenistic cities; later it was unified in the Indian Mauryan Dynasty. When the Buddhist descendants were here, many local Greeks converted to Buddhism, built pagodas, built temples, and offered relics,...

In the middle of the 1st century AD, the Yuezhi people who originally lived in China established the Kushan Kingdom here. The third king, Kanesega, followed King Ashoka, believed in Buddhism and promoted Buddhism in the country and held a collection. At that time, Mahayana Buddhism flourished, pagodas and temples were built, and stone carving Buddhist art was prevalent. People in the Kushan Kingdom created the "Gandhara Art" that was famous in the history of Buddhist art.

Another achievement of Gandhara art was the creation of the image of Buddha. During the Kushan Dynasty, Buddhism was mainly Mahayana; it also inherited the active culture and art of the Mauryan Dynasty and promoted it to make it more colorful.

"Because of the influence of the Greek and Roman thoughts, Greece and Rome had a tradition of making various statues of gods. Here, the Eastern religion and Western sculpture art have been deeply integrated for a long time." Therefore, the image of Buddha first appeared in the Gandhara region. The worship of Buddha idols gradually replaced the pagoda and developed into the main object of worship. The emergence of Buddha image shows that the main themes of Buddhist art have been completed.

At this time and in the following centuries, Buddhism and its art were spread along the Silk Road north, west and east. In addition to the above-mentioned areas in Central Asia, it was south of the Amu River in the west and the Sir River Basin in the north, including the current Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and other ministries who were respected and praised by local rulers. Buddhism flourished in this area, and they used white paste and mud to make Buddha statues and buildings decorations...

The people, scholars and artists in these areas learned, understood, judged the situation and combined them with their traditional culture to create the "Amu River Art" based on their original ideas, religions, cultures, arts, living customs and natural conditions.

Buddhism was introduced to my country around the 1st century BC, and Buddhist art also flourished. It first appeared in frontier areas. People in these areas built pagodas with rammed earth and earth blocks according to local natural conditions; built "Hui"-shaped halls with "wood bone mud walls"; and developed the central pillar caves that appeared in India, forming a "Kucha"-style shape with local characteristics; shaping Buddha and Bodhisattva statues with mud and gypsum, and developed clay sculpture art; organically combining the lines in my country's Central Plains painting with India's ** smudge, resulting in "Yu Min Art", "Kucha Art" and "Gaochang Art" in the "Border Painting School".

The descendant of Buddhist art in China, the Central Plains region, was combined with the inherent Chinese painting art in my country, and the Central Plains style Buddhist art appeared, such as the thick and simple Yungang Grottoes art that attaches importance to the use of lines and the Dunhuang art that covers the color. Similarly, Buddhist art in various parts of the Central Plains also shows the characteristics of the region and emits brilliant colors in unification. Buddhism was then spread to the Far East and Southeast Asia such as Korea and Japan, and has also experienced prosperity and unique situations. There are still many devout believers in these areas.

Buddhist art is a comprehensive art, including buildings - pagodas, temples and other carriers; sculptures, paintings and some decorative patterns that express content, as well as magical instruments, offerings and other shaped artworks. As mentioned earlier, Buddhism and its art originated in India. With the spread of Buddhism, Buddhist art has also flourished in Asia. They combined the natural conditions of the region and based on the inherent culture and art of the nation, absorbed India and its influence during the dissemination process, and then formed Buddhist art with their own development processes and characteristics.

This makes Buddhist art more colorful, becoming a kind of art with colorful, diverse temperaments, and ethnic and local characteristics. Some of these creations have even developed into the tradition of their own nation. At the same time, it also reflects the level of their respective cultures and arts. Therefore, exploring these developments and changes in Buddhist arts are of great significance to Central Asia and our country, especially the study of border history, religion and culture.

In short, these Buddhist architecture and art shine brightly on the ancient Silk Road, showing the style of the ancient Eastern ethnic groups. Their connotation and significance are profound. As early as two thousand years ago, Buddhist monks advocated trekking hard to spread Buddhist thoughts and doctrines all along the Silk Road. As a result, Buddhist art - architecture, sculptures, paintings, etc. also developed in these places. Magnificent pagodas, solemn Buddha statues, colorful murals, these exquisite works of art, like pearls, are connected one by one by the Silk Road, becoming the immortal cultural and artistic heritage of all mankind.

The Silk Road is not only a business road, but also a way to spread Buddhism and its art. It is also a cultural road that communicates the economy, cultural exchanges, integrates and promotes the development of their respective traditional cultures. Through these Buddhist arts, we can understand and understand the relationship between Buddhist architecture, art and its relationship with local society and cultural development along the Silk Road. These immortal cultural and artistic heritages of all mankind are serving us actively exploring, researching, developing, using, and then using them to serve mankind. (To be continued.)
Chapter completed!