ABSTRACT
The characteristic vitality and appeal of the religious traditions derived in part from the work of such pivotal individuals as Huiyuan and Aurelius Augustinus, later known as Saint Augustine. Huiyuan took basic Buddhist ideas on human suffering and introduced innovations in both practice and doctrine, defining in the process a specifically Chinese variety of Buddhism. The adaptations of Buddhism that Huiyuan effected and those of Christianity to which Augustine drew attention had their origins in the conceptual foundations of their respective spiritual heritages. The metaphors of the Pure Land in Chinese Buddhism and the Resurrection in European Christianity integrated a number of core ideas and practices within each body of belief. The monastic tradition that Augustine inspired maintained separate religious communities for men and women, regarding the status of both monks and nuns as superior to married status.
