Geographic planting environment
About 500,000 species of plants live on earth, and their distribution is affected by environmental conditions such as temperature and humidity. Ancient India, the origin of Buddhism is in a tropical monsoon climate. Although the climate is sweltering, the species of trees in the mainland are mostly tropical and subtropical plants. In particular,
F. religiosa or
Shorea robusta grow wild broadly in Hindustan. Meanwhile, China has a large territory, showing significant differences in temperature between north and south. As shown in
Fig. 1, however, the distance between Guandong and Gungxi Province is close, and thus a variety of tropical tree species can grow (
Gao and Zhang, 2015).
Although most of the plants related to Buddhism that grow wild in the mainland India cannot be easily planted and grow in most regions in China (
Fig. 2), the framework of cultural symbolism was established in China through traditional plants taking advantage of the diversity of plants in China. As a result, plants for temples were selected based on the functionality of spaces in temples and climatic characteristics in their location converged with the plant culture and aesthetic preference of the mainland.
The species epithet of
F. religiosa shown in
Fig. 3 in India, religiosa, means ‘religious.’ As Buddha attained enlightenment under the tree after 6 years of meditation and thus became the symbol of Buddhist culture as a holy tree. As defined earlier, the tree is original Bolisu, and is called as Bo tree in the East India, as Pippal tree in Ceylon and Malaysia and as Po tree in Thailand. As
F. religiosa as an evergreen broad-leaved tall tree of the
Moraceae family is sensitive to cold, it is difficult to grow it outdoor in China, but it appeared in the Zen Poems (禅诗) in the Sixth Patriarch of Huineng (六祖慧能).
Boli is not a tree, and a bright mirror is not a stand. As there is nothing from the first, where does the dust come from?
The poem expands the implication of planting Bolisu and indicates that it is not necessary to insist on planting F. religiosa only but that it can be substituted by other plants according to the flora of the mainland China. Since the growth environment of F. religiosa is complicated, it was planted only in tropical subtropical regions in China. In regions where F. religiosa cannot grow well, F. virens Ait. var. sublanceolata in the same genus (Ficus) of F. religiosa, or Celtis bungeana in the genus of Celtis or Syringa reticulata in the genus of Syringa were planted as a substitute for Bolisu.
The Three Holy Trees of Buddhism Five Trees and Six Flowers
Along with the plants related to the life of Buddha in the Buddhist scriptures, plants appear in various ways such as representing the doctrines of Buddhism and using in comparison and symbolization (
Min, 2015). Among them,
Saraca indica that appeared in Lumbini about the birth of Buddha was viewed as the ‘birth tree’ and
F. religiosa as the ‘enlightenment tree.’ Along with
S. robusta as the ‘Nirvana tree,’ they are called as the three holy trees (
Table 1).
4)
Temples have the three holy trees as well as the five trees and six flowers as shown in
Table 2.
F. religiosa is at the center of them, and is recognized as an important symbolic Buddhist plant as a holy tree under which Buddha attained enlightenment. It had to be planted in every temple, but mostly substitutes were planted due to its complex growth conditions.
Alternative planting of Bodhi tree Symbolic implications of Bodhi
‘Boli’ means in Sanskrit in China determination, wisdom, knowledge and road and in a broad sense symbolizes the meaning of blocking all the worries in the world and giving great wisdom. In other words, when Buddha attained enlightenment under the Bolisu tree, the symbol was ‘Boli,’ that is, ‘determination’ and thus ‘Bodhi seeds’ connoted ‘achieving Inner Buddha.’
The Buddhist scriptures state that infinite charity can be achieved by chanting a Buddhist prayer with Buddhist prayer beads made of Bodhi seeds. In
Buddhist Dictionary written by
Ding (2011), Buddhist prayer beads can be made of Bodhi seeds (Bodi—ci in Tibetan). Until now, however, Bodhi seeds was used as an accessory for general people not as an Buddhist item as Buddhism was developed in China. Since Bodhi seeds have a significant meaning to Buddhism, all the Buddhist prayer beads are called as Bodhi in China. In China, Bodhi seeds are not just the fruit of Bolisu, but a Buddhist item used in temples when chanting a Buddhist prayer, and only three types of Bodhi beads are frequently used in Buddhism in China.
Borija tree and Scrape tree
The shape of the leaves of
T. amurensis is similar to that of
F. religiosa and its fruit also looks like Bodhi seeds. For this reason,
T. amurensis was planted as a substitute to Bolisu broadly in China as well as in Korea, and in some places it was called as Bolisu. For example, the species of trees planted in Guoqing Temple (国清寺) on Mount Tiantai in Zhejiang Province is
T. amurensis, but they are naturally called as Bolisu.
T. amurensis trees planted within Yinghuadian (英华殿) in Zijincheng in Beijing during the Ming and Qing dynasties also were conventionally called as Bolisu. The climate in the Southwestern region in China is dry and cold, which is not suitable to plant
T. miqueliana, G. biloba,
T. amurensis, etc. outdoor.
Syringa reticulata var.
amurensis, however, has tenacious vitality and strong adaptability and thus is broadly distributed in the Northern region in China. For this reason, it had been used as a source of food for a long time in the Northwestern region. The origin of
Syringa reticulata var.
amurensis is the temperate region in China, and was called as Seahae Bolisu in temple garden forests in Tibet where the annual precipitation and annual average temperature are low due to strong tolerance to cold and dryness. For this reason, it was also planted as a substitute instead of Bolisu (
Gao and Zhang, 2015).
The fruit of Bolisu also commonly planted in temples in Korea as a holy tree is called ‘Borija’ in Korean and is used to make Buddhist prayer beads. The plant is generally known as Bolisu, but the scientific name is
T. miqueliana. Most temples planted
T. miqueliana with the seeds from China. When it was difficult to find
T. miqueliana,
T. mandshurica or
T. amurensis were planted as a substitute and were recognized as Bolisu
5).
The length of leaves of
T. miqueliana compared to
T. mandshurica is longer than the width of leaves, and its leaves have a long leafstalk, but only little hair (
Lee, 2007). In addition, as shown in
Fig. 4, the fruit of
T. mandshurica is a globular shape, but that of
T. miqueliana is more like an oval shape.
In addition, what is called as Bolisu tree in Korean is Elaeagnus umbellata, another deciduous broadleaf tree species in the family of Elaeagnaceae.
Acculturation of Bodhi trees
As such,
F. religiosa is difficult to grow in a cold climate like the Northern region in China, and thus
T. miqueliana, a similar
Tilla tree, was planted as an substitute for Bolisu, a symbolic tree of Buddhism in China. The reason was that
T. amurensis as a northern plan, can grow also in cold regions, and combined with the power of rulers back then people believed the word of rulers, “
T. amurensis is that is to say Bolisu,” which also seemed to play a significant part. As shown in
Fig. 5,
T. amurensis was transplanted within Yinghuadian in Zijincheng, the palace of the Ming Dynasty. As a tree in emperors’ garden forest, they have been maintained very well until today. Qianlong Emperor in the Qing dynasty also wrote a poem about
T. amurensis titled
Yinghuadian Bolisu Poem. This also indicates that the ideology of rulers profoundly affected the plant culture of Buddhism.
In cold regions like the Northeastern region in China,
T. mandshurica was used as a substitute for
F. religiosa. In particular,
F. virens Ait. var.
sublanceolata, mentioned earlier, is also a native plant in the Southwestern region in China and one of the species in the Ficus genus of the
Moraceae family like
F. religiosa. It has also a similar shape, and thus was used as a substitute for Bolisu in temples in Sichuan Province and Chongqing (
Shi and Shen, 2012).
Fig. 6 shows the Bolisu tree, that is
T. miqueliana, opposite-planted within Geumsan Temple in Gimje, Jeonbuk, Korea.
In the culture of Buddhist plants in China,
T. amurensis among substitutes for Bolisu was used as a substitute in China simply for its similar shape, but the one that was broadly planted and recognized as Bolisu in China is
G. biloba. As the period of Buddhist culture was extended, more plants that had a symbolic meaning in Buddhism appeared accordingly. In Buddhism,
G. biloba is called as ‘holy fruit’ and ‘holy tree’ and its holy and mystic color was used to expand the influence of Buddhism. There is even an old saying in China, “
G. biloba must be planted in any temple.” Meanwhile, Buddha attained enlightenment under the tree of Pippala (प◌ीपल in Sanskrit) which was called as Bolisu and was widely planted in temples, being recognized as a Buddhist holy tree. As mentioned above,
F. religiosa as a tropical or subtropical evergreen plant is difficult to grow in temperate and cold climates in northern regions, and for this reason,
G. biloba was used as a substitute for Bolisu in many cases following the wisdom of high priests in China in an ancient time. Ecologically, as
G. biloba is distributed broadly, adapts well, and has the outstanding shape and autumn colors of leaves, it was widely planted in temple garden forests. Since the physiological shape of
G. biloba as well as its similar shape can be used to express humans’ wisdom,
G. biloba at least in China showed the status similar to Bolisu and was commonly and widely planted (
Fig. 8), which should be noted.
In addition, the softness and hardness of G. biloba and its wood grain are suitable for making Sahasrabhuja-aryaavalokiresvara (千手觀音) statues and Buddhists thought the statues made of G. biloba was lifelike. In particular, as the nails of the statues were slightly thin, G. biloba is also known as the ‘nail of Buddha.’ However, this symbolism was not embraced in Korea as it was.
There were other temple plants with symbolic significance than Bolisu. Although Buddhism in China is a foreign religion, it has its own symbolic plants based on the traditional culture of China as Buddhism in India did.
Fig. 7 shows the summary of the acculuration phenomenon of Bolisu with those planted in temple garden forests as a substitute for
F. religiosa in China including
T. miqueliana,
T. mandshurica,
T. amurensis,
F. virens Ait. var.
sublanceolata,
M. alba and
G. biloba. The only difference in Korea was that
G. biloba was excluded from substitutes for Bolisu.
As a foreign religion, Buddhism gradually assimilated into Chinese culture in the process of distribution, and this is a type of acculturation. The symbolism of Bolisu introduced from India used those in the family of
Tilla or other trees as a substitute (
Fig. 9), and as more than two heterogeneous cultures were directly encountered, the original shape of culture was substituted with other trees in China.