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22. Buddhism1
Buddhism is the only important foreign religious influence that has become part and parcel2 of Chinese life. The influence is so deep that we now speak of children’s dolls, and sometimes the children themselves, as“ little Buddha ”, and the Empress Dowager3 herself was addressed as“Old Buddha”. The Goddess of Mercy and the laughing Buddha 4 have become Chinese household words. Buddhism has affected our language , our food, our arts, our sculpture and directly inspired the characteristic pagoda5 . It has stimulated our literature and our whole world of imagination. The little monkish figure, with his bald head and his gray robes, forms an intimate part of any panorama of society, and Buddhist temples, rather than those of Confucius, are the center of the town and village life, where the elders gather to decide on6 village matters and annual celebrations. Its monks and nuns penetrate the privacies of Chinese households, on all occasions of births, deaths and weddings, as no other persons are allowed to do, and hardly a widow or virgin can be seduced , according to the Chinese novels, without the help of these religious figures.
Buddhism has conquered China as a philosophy and as a religion, as a philosophy for the scholars and as a religion for the common people. Whereas Confucianism has only a philosophy of moral conduct, Buddhism possesses a logical method, a metaphysics7 , and a theory of knowledge . Besides, it is fortunate in having a high tradition of scholarship in the translations of Buddhist classics, and the language of these translations, so succinct and often so distinguished by a beautiful lucidity of language and reasoning, cannot but attract scholars with a philosophical bias. Hence Buddhism has always enjoyed a prestige among the Chinese scholars, which so far Christianity has failed to achieve.
阅读自测
Ⅰ. Fill in each blank with the proper form of the words given in the brackets :
1. The injury to their key player could be a________ ( decide ) factor in the basketball game .
2. The president is paying a ________ ( privacy) visit to Europe.
3. She had the good ________ ( fortunate) to be free from the disease.
4. Some ________ ( influence) politicians change the world chaotic situation.
5. The offer of a high salary and a free house is very________ ( seduce) . 6. He is a truly ________ ( religion ) man who goes to church every day.
Ⅱ. Answer the following question in your own words :
Why can Buddhism win the favor of Chinese scholars?
