How Did Buddhism Affect The Division Of China

The Division of China Around 600 B.C.E, Buddhism emerged from India due to the teachings of Prince Siddhartha Gautama. Through trade routes, such as the Silk Road that connected India and China, Buddhists ideas were introduced to the region. In addition, Ashoka, an emperor of the Mauryan Dynasty in 268 B.C.E, realized the destruction he caused by his conquests and began to promote Buddhism. Ashoka sent missionaries to spread Buddhism throughout Asia, which planted the roots of Buddhism in China. As Buddhism was introduced to China through trade routes in 600 B.C.E., many traditional Chinese values converged with Buddhism, making it more easily accepted and spread throughout China. After the fall of the Han Dynasty in 220 C.E., Buddhism became

The introduction of Buddhism left the region rife with controversy. The suspicion and lack of understanding around the newly introduced religion left many frustrated and ignorant of the core beliefs of Buddhism. Around 500 C.E., when dominant political figures began to endorse Buddhism, still skeptics remained. This caused for some Buddhists to write informational question and rebuttal essays, such as “The Disposition of Error”, to help clear any misunderstandings that critics may have of Buddhism. The author who wrote this essay chose to remain anonymous, which one can assume is because of the controversy surrounding the topic at the time, and did not try to sway the reader one way nor the other but only informed them of true morals that Buddhists hold (Doc 2). Many, like the Confucian scholar and official of the Tang imperial court, Han Yu, immediately rejected Buddhism because they believed, like the ancient Greeks, that those that did not speak their native language of Chinese were barbarians and disgraced their sacred Chinese cultures (Doc 5). Han Yu’s commentary on Buddhism is a prime example of the “Middle Kingdom” philosophy, since he directly states that anyone who is not from China must be unworthy and lesser that the Chinese. In addition, the emperor of the Tang Dynasty wanted any part of Buddha’s body to be venerated, which is a drastically different Chinese viewpoint of Buddhism. Under Confucianism, one must respect ghosts, but keep them at the distance, yet the emperor of the Tang Dynasty directly promoted a foreign religion that disregards Confucian values; consequently, causing harsh division within the government itself. A mere twenty six years