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Buddhism In China

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DBQ Buddhism
Adelaida Urrea

The acceptance and spread of Buddhism in China represented the communal transformation into a more open and diverse world. With Buddhism, many Chinese started to demonstrate a new attitude towards the governing values in China, leading the country towards a completely new pathway. With the collapse of the Han Dynasty and the rise of the Tang dynasty between 220 and 907 CE, Chinese society responded diversely to the spread of Buddhism. For some, the Four Noble Truths illustrated a pathway towards the renovation of China’s future with an organized society (Group 1), traditional Confucian Chinese on the other hand, saw Buddhism as a threat to established peace in respect to political and social order in China, with …show more content…

First, Buddhism destroyed the Five Confucian Relationships which had helped maintain political, economic and social order in China. Additionally, many people in the Chinese community did not feel a connection with the Buddha, originated from India due to the difference in cultural backgrounds which represented their identity. Finally, the relationship of Confucius and Heaven was tarnished by Buddha; Confucius was the only one who knew how to lead his community in the most beneficial way because he had the ability of connecting with them through their culture. In 845, Tang Emperor Wu, declared Buddhism as harmful and destructive by changing Chinese beliefs and values which represented their culture and the governing structure which had led China to be one of the leading, powerful empires (Doc 7.) Tang Emperor Wu, the ruler of the most influential empire, is calling for Confucius followers to strengthen their devotion to their values and beliefs linking Confucianism with their identity; Chinese culture. Because of this, conservative Chinese see Buddhism as a threat to social order in their country by reflecting many ideals that oppose to Confucian values which commanded the political and social life in the country for more than a century which had grown China into one of the most powerful empires worldwide, where people believed in understanding their role in life and following the Five Relationships under all circumstances to satisfy Heaven. Therefore, the spread of Buddhism represented a dishonor to the spirits by encouraging social disobedience. Additionally, Buddhism illustrated defiance to the Gods and ancient traditional spirits, seeing Buddhism as an unfavorable

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Buddhism in China DBQ A little before the Tang dynasty there was the Han dynasty where Confucianism was a staple of daily life and government. When the Han dynasty dissolved and the Tang dynasty took authority. Buddhism began to spread widely all over China. Buddhism was met with all types of responses: some saw buddhism as a threat to Confucian family values, while some saw Buddhism as a way to disregard worldly pleasures and luxuries that would only bring them harm, and lastly some mixed on the concept of Buddhism had an issue with the ascetic lifestyle led by its followers. One of the responses to Buddhism in China was that it was thought that Buddhism was a threat to Confucian family values.

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DBQ Different people in China had different views on the spread of Buddhism. Buddhism was a religion, created in India (6th century B.C.E) and spread to China (1st Century). After Buddhism, China started to experience political problems. Many people believed this was caused by Buddhism. Some people sided with the belief and praised Buddha saying he has much to offer, while others repelled it for the effect of the ideas on China.

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During the period of time before 350 CE, some Chinese people had begun to like Buddhism. They favored it believing it established order. It was brought to China after the collapse of the Han Dynasty in 220 CE. The collapse made China unstable. Some people thought Buddhism was toxic, while others thought it was good for China.

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The religion of Buddhism first appeared in India during the sixth century B.C.E and its teachings migrated to China by the first century C.E., gradually winning over the Chinese people following the collapse of the Han dynasty in 220 C.E. Buddhist influence continued its expansion in China for several centuries. Throughout Chinese history, China reacted to the spread of Buddhism within its empire in several ways: some valued its policies for their implications in Chinese culture, others condemned Buddhist ideals for not being original to the empire, while many remained indifferent towards Buddhism and its spread. Support for the spread of Buddhism became most evident among Chinese scholars. An anonymous scholar believed that the old Confucian philosophies of China were nothing in comparison to the greatness of Buddhism, even going as far as to compare the sages to the Buddha as swallows to a phoenix (document 3). Additionally, he admires the dedication that the Buddhist monks showed; the monks enjoyed the act of living and inaction, freeing themselves from worldly pleasure.

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DBQ 2004: Responses to Buddhism in China In Tang China, Buddhism was seen by some as a peaceful and honorable religion that would improve China, while others met it with scorn, denouncing it as an evil faith that threatened traditional Chinese or Confucianism values. Some Chinese scholars and officials praised Buddhism for its focus on peace, enlightenment and the curbing of the desires in an effort to reduce suffering in the world.

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to 600 C.E. After the collapse of the Han dynasty this religion became more popular among the elite and poor classes. The reason for such a welcoming support of Buddhism was because of the fall of the Han dynasty. This religion offered as comfort and a haven for those who were suffering during this time. Buddhism arrived in China because of missionaries from India and the Silk Road and became a dominant religion. Scholars began to add Beliefs of Buddhism to the philosophies of Confucianism and Daoism.

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The perception of Buddhism varied greatly from the collapse of the Han Dynasty to the formation of the Tang Dynasty in China. At the same time, the perception towards Christianity in the Roman Empire was undergoing similar changes. Emperors saw the religion as a threat, lower classmen saw it as a path to salvation, while scholars, as a whole, were indecisive. Those in power perceived Buddhism as a strain on China’s society and economy as well as a threat to their rule.

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Buddhism is a religion founded in the 5th century, by Buddha the person who then helped spread it into places like India and much of China and continuing to spread into some parts of Asia. The vast amount of trading routes such as the silk road in Asia helped Buddha and his views spread. This new religion clashed with other great religions such as Christianity causing some’s responses to Buddhism to be alarming. However, these were only a small amount of responses, the greater response to Buddhism in China was very positive with many supporting the idea that Buddha brought which was peace and enlighten.

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By calling Buddhist followers Barbarians in an angry tone, it challenges the ideas taught by Buddha, Confucianism protects their culture (Document 5). The emperor of China, Emperor Wu in the year 845 CE would address the people of China showing how the Mandate of Heaven would incorporate Confucian ideas showing these were better for China. Angrily he challenges Buddhism and he orders the people of China to follow the ideologies of the emperor. In China, Buddha was never spoken of before the Han dynasty so because of this no one should follow Buddhist ideals, because it will continue to ruin the Chinese country (Document 7). Buddhism during the Tang Dynasty was seen as a threat to the traditional lifestyle of the Chinese society, and thus receive constant attacks from the emperor and

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Since two-hundred and twenty C.E Buddhism has spread through China tremendously. Although the spread was great, people interpreted Buddhism a different way. Generally poor people would agree with Buddhism due to being able to relate with everything Buddhism was presenting, due to Buddhism not being about wealth. While poor people could relate, wealthy people could not due to the wealth and extravagant lifestyle. As the struggles of lower-class people decreased, the amount of people following Buddhism decreased.

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The introduction of Buddhism to China started off well, most openly accepted the foreign religion and it continued to thrive for centuries. Until the lack of an empire and laws plagued individuals minds. Other religions with a strong imperial structure, such as Confucianism, rose to support the growing number of negative minds. Buddhism was spread by Buddhist missionaries from India into China during the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD). It was, at first, confined to only the higher status individuals, like aristocrats and Chinese royalty.

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Buddhism arrived in China during the Han dynasty, as a Hindu influenced religion from India. Missionaries set out to spread the new religion and taught merchants from Central Asia about Buddhism and they accepted it as their religion. Trade and cultural ties between China and Central Asia also increased causing it to spread through Central Asia along the Silk Road. Many cave monasteries were established along the trade routes across Central Asia due to the support of these merchants. During this time China was divided into many smaller kingdoms, therefore there wasn't much organized resistance to the new religion.

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The authors purpose is to show that Confucius is the a real teaching in China while Buddhism was not and just an idea. Finally, many people did not believe that Buddha had any affiliation with China and the dynasties. Buddha did not speak Chinese nor wear Chinese cultural clothes and he came from India which leads many scholars to believe he did not have an effect. For example, “...to say that Buddha is no more than a cult… did not exist here in ancient time.(Document 4)” The point of view of the author is against Buddhism and does not believe that Buddhism had any correlation with China.

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Conflicts occur frequently in literature and life, but are they necessary? In my opinion, we do need to have conflicts so we could learn from them. We will analyze the short story “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell and how the author uses external conflict or man vs. nature, external by man vs. animal and external conflicts or man vs. man to reveal character motivation or development. This short story is about a guy (Rainsford) who falls off a ship and swims to an island and finds out that Zaroff hunts people for entertainment. As Richard Connell states on page 7 .

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The influence of Buddhism in China arose religious conflicts. One big similarity is the attack of outside invasions. Nomads lead several attacks on Rome and China. These attacks called for big armies, armies that the neither of them had. Therefore, the nomads overtook China and

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