Chinese Southern Buddhism

Southern Buddhism represents a school of buddhism practiced in Sri Lanka and other Southeast Asia such as Myanmar, Cambodia and Thailand. Southern Buddhism is usually considered to be synonymous with the Theravada. Southern Buddhism embraces the wisdom of life through intelligence and understanding of different aspects of human life, birth and death, going and coming, kindness and evil, commonness and holy, reason and desire. Southern Buddhism divided human life into five difficult passages, and had a

different approach to each. These can be seen through many stories and beliefs handed down in this strand of Buddhism. Southern Buddhism, like most major religions or philosophies, is now practiced worldwide and, like any set of practices and traditions spanning the globe and dating back over 2500 years, it is extremely diverse. Buddhists in different sects and different countries have practices and beliefs which place their emphasis on different aspects of life and may even contradict other sects of Buddhism.

The religion is therefore very diverse, and no single code of conduct or view can be distilled, although general principles are the same. Southern Buddhism is mailnly practised among Dai people in Xishuangbanna, Yunnan Province. Southern Buddhism was introduced to China in the mid seventh century but only lasted for four centuries because the monks fled at battles around eleventh century until Southern Buddhism emerged again in Yunnan. Lots of temples were built in Jinghong thus helped populize Southern Buddhism among the mass. Southern Buddhism is more flexible in doctrines due to its Thai features. Above all, Southern Buddhism is the dominant religion among Dai people in Yuanan, China.