Due to China’s Warring Period after the Han Dynasty, Buddhism gained popularity because no imperial authority was around to enforce laws. Once an empire rose to power, Buddhism was turned against. Initially the Chinese defended Buddhism and its policies, but after centuries, others increasingly analyzed how Buddhism had not presence in older documents. Buddhism began to be blamed for the political and social problems of Chinese society. An additional document, such as a graph, that demonstrates actual numbers of Buddhist converts of this time period would help determine if the given documents’ author’s statements about Buddhism were accurate. After Buddhism’s arrival in China, the Chinese defended the policies and beliefs of Buddhism. Zhi Dun described Buddhism as providing a way to reach nirvana, or total enlightenment. Due to Zhi Dun’s position as an upper class scholar, his writing doesn’t reflect the lower classes’ feeling of danger due to invading nomads. As an upper class scholar, Zhi Dun was not directly threatened by such nomads. (Doc #2) As …show more content…
Han Yu ridiculed Buddhism as “a cult of barbarian peoples.” (Doc #4) Han Yu’s statement on Buddhism reflects his position in the imperial court as well as his status as a Confucian scholar, though additional evidence from the imperial court is necessary to know how influential Han Yu actually was over the official policy. Empress Wu wanted Buddhism to be eradicated because of the belief that Buddhism was the cause for poisoning customs. As the Empress, this Edict was highly influential, but it is also possible that Wu believed that the Buddhist monasteries outshined the imperial palace and based the Edict off of jealousy more than true concern for her subjects. An additional document showing the cause of deaths of citizens could help evaluate if Buddhism actually caused citizens to go hungry as Empress Wu claimed. (Doc