Spread Of Buddhism Dbq

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 in China received positive and negative responses. It was greatly accepted among many Chinese people, and others believed it to be true evil. Document 2 and 3 show some of the positive responses; that Buddhism was what every person needed to follow, that Nirvana was the life goal. While documents 4 and 6 show some negative views on Buddhism, they explain the pure evil that is was. Document 1 does not show any favor for or against Buddhism, and Document 5 is not just for Buddhism, but also Confucius and Laozi.

The responses to the spread of Buddhism in China were positive, negative, and acknowledged the differences between Buddhism and other religions. Buddhism reached China around the first century C.E., but Buddhist influence did not largely spread until the fall of the Han Dynasty. China was deeply Confucian in the first century, and resisted the presence of Buddhism due to the many differences between the basic beliefs of each religion. The Chinese population reacted differently to Buddhism depending on personal beliefs, which led to disagreement and conflict.

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

The Diffusion of Buddhism and Christianity in the Sixth Century During the sixth century, both Buddhism and Christianity were rapidly gaining in popularity throughout the world. However, they both diffused in different ways, and to different places. The similarities and the differences between the two religions’ diffusions are extremely important learning about the two religions. I believe the differences concerning where the two places diffused to greatly affected the number of converts for the two religions. Both Buddhism and Christianity relied heavily on missionaries to spread their respective teachings throughout the world.

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.

3. Meaning/Purpose - In the biblical/Christian Worldview our purpose in life is to build a relationship with God through his son Jesus Christ. We are also to spread the message of Jesus to others so that they may be saved as well. As Buddhists do not believe in God, they believe our purpose in life is to eliminate our suffering and stop the cycle of reincarnation.

Throughout history many universal religions have spread throughout the world. From cities to cities, countries to countries and so on. Christianity and Buddhism are two of the top universal religions that were practiced and spread throughout the early world. A series of events lead to the early and quick spread of Christianity and Buddhism throughout the early world. As turmoil engulfed the Jews in Judea, Christianity arose. The teaching of Christianity began with a Jew named Jesus. At the age of 30, Jesus began preaching the word of God to villagers near the Sea of Galilee. As Jesus preached, significant amounts of groups crowded around him to learn about his teachings, especially when word spread that he had performed acts of healing. Soon Jesus later formed a group of disciples or close followers to help spread his teachings.

Although the spread of Buddhism and Christianity are similar because both used missionaries to spread and were adopted by emperors, they are different because Buddhism spread on the Silk Road while Christianity was spread primarily through letters. The religions of Buddhism and Christianity are similar because they both were adopted by emperors, which made them prominent, and they were spread by emperors through missionaries. Around 260 B.C.E, Ashoka, the third emperor of the Mauryan Dynasty, converted to Buddhism. Publicly, Ashoka began to practice Buddhist traditions and spread it around his empire.

Based on my reading of early Chinese texts, I think the strategies which the early Chinese Buddhists adopted to spread their religion is adapted to Confucianism and Taoism. Because during that time period, China was influenced by those two main teachings, so as for Buddhism to spread their religion, they have to find some commons between these different teachings so people can accepted Buddhism at the beginning. For example, there are many similar ideas between Taoism and Buddhism: Nothingness and Emptiness, Non-action and Nirvana, Immortals and Arhant, Bodhisattvas. And early Chinese Buddhists used three adaptation strategies: (1).Present Buddhism as an ally of native Daoism: philosophy, meditation, no blood sacrifices, seek salvation from

“In whom there is no sympathy for living beings: know him as an outcast.” -Gautama Buddha. In 2010 the Pew research center found that the Buddhism religion was being practice by four hundred eighty eight million people around the world. Buddhism’s history date back to the first century, but Buddhism’s popularity then was not as popular that it is today to the millions of devotee’s practicing. This research paper will argue how Buddhism from India spread to China by using the Silk Road as a critical bridge and also for change and continuity for the religion that came from India and traveled to China.

“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