Group Topic 2: Buddhism in Dunhuang

It’s interesting to know how Dunhuang, a small town in present-day Gansu Province, western China, is filled with so many rich histories. Dunhuang was a convenient ‘meeting place’ for many people travelling along the Silk Road, for it had many temples to various faiths and natural resources. The reason that Dunhuang was able to surpass the traditional monarchy and become a ‘modern culture’ was due to having several failing rulers who failed to establish a political system. In other words, there was nothing preventing the people in Dunhuang from learning about other religions and cultures and including them into their own lifestyles. Buddhism certainly has influenced people’s lives in Dunhuang in little ways such as drinking tea and meditating. In addition, people celebrated holidays and festivals, attended ceremonies with the monks. The paintings found in the caves painted by the monks reflect people’s daily lives in Dunhuang. From the remaining paintings, letters, and manuscripts written by Buddhists we can somewhat reconstruct a blurry picture of the actual practice of Buddhism in the Dunhuang region but more information would be needed to fully paint the whole picture.

What is Buddhism?

The topic Buddhism did not particularly interest me this week. I could not possibly engage with the writer and believe that there was such a person named, Buddha who was able to achieve enlightenment and taught people to turn away from evil desires in this world.

What is so special about this man? What has attracted people over the centuries and millennium to continue following this religion? Why is it listed as the world's fourth largest religion, and how?

At the end of the day, Buddhism is a religion we can hold on to and by believing, we can feel better about ourselves for all the ‘bad’ things we have done. Knowing that we can do good deeds to cleanse away all the ‘bad’ things we have committed before. Then, what can be considered good deeds? Feeding the poor? Donating money to charities? Or, doing volunteer work? After all, Buddha himself was a human being, and what is there to prove that those are actually good deeds? In Xuanzang’s story, he mentioned that one of Buddha’s last words presumed to be were, “All that is composed is perishable. Work diligently for your salvation.” I am uncertain about why we need to work for salvation because we will get nothing in return. We can still practice doing good things and not believe in Buddhism at all.

Standing in a scholar’s point of view, I should not be thinking about those questions but understand how does Buddhism impact lives and why. I believe that in order to understand the whole purpose of Buddhism; it would be beneficial to have some sort of prior experience. To understand something not only requires looking at the physical actions but also being aware of people’s mentality behind doing all the rituals, customs, and daily practices. At the end of the day, we can say anything that we want about a particular religion but we will never truly understand it until we become one of them.