Hello kiddo! Today, we're going to learn about the Chinese Buddhist Canon.
Imagine, you have a favorite book that you love to read. It tells you stories that teach you lessons, makes you happy or sad, and shows you how to be a better person. Now, imagine if you had lots and lots of those books, all about Buddhism! That's what the Chinese Buddhist Canon is like.
So, what is Buddhism? It is a religion that started in India that teaches people how to live a happy and peaceful life by following certain teachings and practices. When Buddhism spread to China, many Buddhists translated the original texts into Chinese. Over time, these translated texts were gathered and organized into a huge collection known as the Chinese Buddhist Canon.
This collection has over 81,000 texts! That's a lot of reading! But you don't have to read them all, don't worry. Some of the texts are very small, like a few words or a sentence, and some are very long, like many pages or even whole books.
The Chinese Buddhist Canon is important because it helps people understand Buddhism better. It contains teachings from the Buddha himself, as well as teachings from other wise teachers who explained what Buddha meant. This collection has helped Buddhists around the world to understand more about the religion and how to practice it.
That's it, kiddo! Now you know what the Chinese Buddhist Canon is - a big collection of books that teach people about Buddhism.