The challenges Buddhism faced as it arrived in China were mainly linguistic challenges, different philosophical context, diverse conceptions of the ideal perfect being, and the core differences in social values. In order to overcome these challenges, there were translations made, and efforts put into searching for links between Buddhist and Chinese beliefs at that time. Moreover, there were cultural differences between the North and the South, which lead to a different process of Buddhism’s arrival within China. The first challenge Buddhism faced was the language barrier. Buddhism was based on Sanskrit, so it was necessary to translate the teachings and dialogues from Sanskrit to Chinese. In regards to a language barrier, when the language it different, the culture that is expressed through the language is different. Therefore, the attitudes of the individual, or the philosophical context of the two cultures were different.
This is related the differences in social values. For example, time and space conceptions different, also death and rebirth, the theme of family versus the individual, this world versus the other world, the monastic life, and the role of women. To exemplify such philosophical differences, it can be seen that there
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In the North, religion was closely intertwined with political power. Therefore, many powerful monasteries were built, and a bureaucratic, organized clergy developed. There were entrepreneurial monasteries that handled the land and cash, and protected itself from the attacks by the religions with contradicting views, such as the Daoists and Confucians. On the other hand, South China was not as geographically concentrated and skillful clergies won over cynical scholars though open debates. Buddhism was more of a tool to spread Chinese culture southward and compete against southern cults, instead of being more political like