Ap World History Buddhism Dbq Essay

During the sixth century, B.C.E. Buddhism commenced to spread into numerous areas around the world, but it was brought into China by the first century C.E. and the responses from the people were highly diverse. Numerous Chinese accepted the new belief that was brought in while others were scornful and thought of it as a belief of the barbarians. After the imperial structure was restored the popularity of Buddhism started to decline and numerous began to criticize the belief. Before the imperial restoration in 570 C.E. Buddhism was an acceptable religion within the borders of China, but after 570 C.E. the reputation of Buddhism began to diminish. However, as the times progressed it was difficult to follow the religion since there was great

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. 4) in this quote from the document, one is able to observe that Han Yu did not accept Buddhism. Furthermore, according to Tang Emperor Wu, he states that the ways of Buddhism have poisoned the customs of the Chinese nation and he also detests the fact that people most leave their family in order to follow a teacher. Additionally, he argues that the belief in injuring humankind and destroying laws. “Having thoroughly examined all earlier reports and consulted public opinion on all sides, there no longer remains the slightest doubt in Our mind that this evil should be eradicated.”(Doc. 6) this section of the document indicates how the Emperor highly disliked the religion and wished for the complete eradication of

When China was being invaded by steppe nomads, Zhi Dun praised the religion but did not feel the need to mention other religions showing that he did support Buddhism, but faced difficulties to follow the religion in given circumstances. “...and who furthermore make a vow to be reborn without ever abandoning his sincere intention, will at the end of his life, when his sould passesaway,be miraculously transported thirhter.”(Doc. 2) show his great belief in the promise of a better afterlife but he does not mention any other religion to compare Buddhism to. Furthermore, the Anonymous Chinese scholar face difficulties in answering questions who greatly were against Buddhist practices and the scholar had to develop a way to positively answer those question while favoring Buddhism as a religion that should be worshipped. “If Buddhism is the greatest and most venerable of ways, why did the great sages of the past and Confucius not practice it?”(Doc. 3) this demonstrates the type of question asked to the scholar and expected to be answered in a manner that would accept the ways of Buddhism. Moreover, Zong Mi, leading Buddhist scholar, called Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism the perfect sages and in a way he defended Buddhism without criticizing Confucianism and Daoism.