Buddhism In Ancient India And China

India and China are two of the oldest civilizations having a relatively good relationship and peaceful coexistence for over two millenniums. The silk route not only maintained trade of China but was also a source of Buddhism in China from India. Ancient India's biggest export to ancient China was Buddhism. Historically in the same period Confucius introduced Confucianism in China and Siddhartha Gautama introduced Buddhism in India. Both peoples respect family and treasure sincerity. Both share a deep love for their land and culture. Both won true independence in the late 1940s and both advocated the principles of peaceful co-existence.

Introduction

India and china are both most populous countries in world. Together the population of both countries

Inspired by Buddhism, dedicated monks of the two countries overcame all conceivable perils and hardships and succeeded in linking the two civilizations for one thousand years since the time of Christ. After its introduction in China, Buddhism was embraced and localized, becoming an integrated part of Chinese civilization. The great value of Buddhism in Chinese civilization can never be overemphasized. Before the introduction of Buddhism, Chinese civilization was isolated by geographical location, with no communication with other major civilizations. The introduction of Buddhism marks the first step of Chinese civilization's interaction with the outside world. Before Buddhism spread in China, there were indigenous Confucianism and Taoism in that land. However, Confucianism could not be regarded as a religion in its true sense, and the influence of Taoism was rather limited. The introduction of Buddhism enabled common people in China with a new religious faith and the ideas of Karma and Reincarnation enriched Chinese people's spiritual life. Buddhism ushered in a profound and pervasive revolution in Chinese culture. A series of new philosophical concepts for understanding of the universe and individual soul were brought into China by Buddhism [6]. Today few Chinese people are aware of the fact that actually many words in our vocabulary originated from the

Whilst Chinese civilization mainly concerns practical life, Indian civilization emphasizes more on the spiritual world. This basic difference has resulted in a series of different features of the two countries' culture and history. We can easily find the difference, for example, in historical monuments in the two countries. In India most of the grandiose ancient structures were temples, in which priests were the masters managing the affairs between God and humanity; while in China most of the magnificent ancient structures were palaces, in which emperors and kings were the masters managing the affairs between states and their