Buddhism In Ancient China

Initially, Chinese accepted the views and practice of Buddhism, but after the restoration of the imperial structure in accordance with documents 4 and 6 the Chinese responded negatively to the Buddhism. Han Yu who was a Confucian scholar and official at the Tang imperial court highly disdained Buddhism he states that Buddha was incapable of speaking the Chinese language and that the man belonged to the barbarians and he should not be worthy of worshiping. “Your servant begs to leave to say that Buddhism is no more than a cult of the barbarian people spread to China. It did not exist here in ancient times. ”(Doc.

While Buddhism spread through China following the fall of the Han dynasty, many defended its emergence and criticised its absence before Han China fell in 220 C.E. When there was no imperial force to enforce the rules, Buddhism spread; however, after the re emergence of a unified imperial structure in 570 C.E., Buddhism faced opposition.

DBQ: Buddhism in China After the fall of the Han dynasty, many Chinese people converted to Buddhism. They seeked a simpler way of life among all of the chaos and political instability going on at the time. This led to a drop in productivity in China, as many Buddhists spent their time meditating. The rise in Buddhism among the lower class led to a hate for the religion by the upper-class. While some people saw Buddhism as a new form of thinking in China’s evolving social landscape, many others saw it as a threat to the traditional Chinese way of life, as they were reluctant to change.

After its creation in India in the sixth century B.C.E., Buddhism gained popularity in China around the first century C.E. Buddhism was accepted and pursued wholeheartedly by a portion of the Chinese population; however, many were largely opposed to the doctrine and believed it should be eradicated. The hostile way in which the Chinese imperialists treated the growing number of Buddhists in their country contradicted with the ideals of Buddhism: to create a better society. They sought out to respect others and do good works; however, they were disrespected and rejected from society. Due to the spread of Buddhism to China, believers of the teachings of the Buddha were hated because they were different; however, they changed the ways of their society for the better.

Buddhism was founded in India and brought over to China by the first century C.E. As Buddhism spread all over China, it had both positive and negative feelings toward it. According to some of the documents, it shows how China accepted Buddhism and tried to defend any hate that it got. While some of the other documents blamed Buddhism for problems that the country was facing. The remaining documents didn’t really show any emotions toward it. An additional document that would show Buddhism's’ appeal in China would be a the amount of people who tried Buddhism and their opinion on it.

The Spread of Buddhism Despite the fact Buddhism was originally accepted by China and influenced numerous people to join, there were many others who opposed to the idea and saw it as a cynical act towards the society. Buddhism made its way into China in the first century gaining popularity over the years. Its belief soon became to be questioned by many people, preferably those studying other philosophical teachings. It is uncertain how appealing Buddhism was in China, and therefore additional documents such as statistics or graphs of the citizens who converted to Buddhism would allow for a better evaluation.

There are multiple reasons why and how Buddhism spread in China. I feel that factors like, religion, politics, and social, played a major part in spreading Buddhism throughout China. The factors mentioned are usually a contributor in global changes and has definitely played its part in China’s adapting a new belief. Of course there were other reasons, like economic, that caused the people of China to gravitate to the Buddhist ways. People reconsidering their faith, due to many of life downfalls or the weight of participants in something that’s new, gained recognition and spread due to popular demand. During the political chaos from 221 to 589 that came with the collapse of the Han Dynasty, Buddhism started to become a strong existence in

Buddhism is one of the major religions around the world. It was introduced to China during the Han dynasty. Although Buddhism was not as popular during that time, it brought great influence during the Period of Disunion. Buddhism was introduced around Asian Lands including Japan and Korea. It included many aspects of Chinese culture, such as art, literature, and architecture. Buddhism was extremely important from about 400 to 845, and is known as the Age of Buddhism. The religion’s golden age came to an end when a Tang emperor launched a campaign against the religion. This included burning many Buddhist texts, taking lands from Buddhist temples, destroying

Page 3 Buddhism Buddhism was a very influential religion in China. It impacted China in a very spiritual, cultural, and social way. In the late Han dynasty, from around 202 BC-220 AD, this religion was introduced by missionaries and traders along the silk road from India. There are two types of buddhism. First there is Theravada Buddhism.

Buddhism is a religion that is based on teachings it does not have a single God or many gods that are typical found in most religions such as Christianity or Hinduism. Buddhism is a different religion because “All Buddhist practices are ways of developing virtues that entails the non-harming of other beings and a generosity of heart; The purpose of all these practices of virtue, kindness, non-harming, generosity, concentration, steadiness of mind, and the understanding and wisdom that arises, is to bring us to freedom.” This shows that Buddhism is not about violence, merit, good deeds or bad deeds rather Buddhism is about yourself and how you can become better by helping others and also making the world a better place as well. Buddha preached more about self-realization because he knew that is why people suffer their thoughts are more of desires rather then looking within them

Founded in the sixth century BCE, Buddhism soon began expanding northwards from the foothills of the Himalayas. In the third century BCE, Buddhism was dispersed by missionaries across Central Asia from within India, where it remained dominant for about a thousand years. When it was brought into China, new Buddhist monks emerged. Some of them went onto become valued as palace advisors. This transmission of Buddhism also occurred with the help of the Silk Road.

Buddhism began in India 2,500 years ago and remains the dominant world religion in the East. There are over 360 million followers of Buddhism worldwide and over a million American Buddhists today. Buddhist concepts have also been influential on western culture in general, particularly in the areas of meditation and nonviolence.

Buddhism was first introduced in China during the Han dynasty. The Silk Road allowed the religion to be introduced to China through different travelers. The Silk Road was a network of different trading paths that traveled from India to some of the northern states. During the period of Disunity, some of Buddhism’s habits, its promise of hope, past the troubles of the earth, and the structure of Buddhist thought that attracted literati, helped Buddhism take root in China.

Can you imagine yourself having to start your daily school routine with a prayer? A couple of years ago, to be exactly in November 1951 there was a high increase in juvenile crime. It was known that it was caused by the Korean War. During that time the New York Board of Regents became the first one to adopt a prayer in public schools (Dierenfield 67). In behalf of the violence, the prayer was established because “...the regents believed that such a program would ensure that school children would acquire ‘respect for lawful authority and obedience to law’ ”(Dierenfield 67). The prayer consisted of the following words, “Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon Thee, and beg Thy blessings upon us, our parents, our teachers, and our country”

“It is often said that, aside from the impact of Marxism on twentieth-century China, the only other time when the Chinese looked beyond their own borders for intellectual sustenance was during the period when Buddhism was absorbed from India” (LaFleur 23). Why did this religion appeal to the Chinese when they disregarded so many other external influences? After all, being tied to the rest of the world by the Silk Road meant they were constantly inundated with novel concepts from far and wide. The answer must lie in how Buddhism interacted with the other faiths already established in the country, namely Confucianism and Daoism (sometimes spelled Taoism). While at first glance it may appear that Confucian China would be the last place