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Spread Of Buddhism Dbq

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Following the fall of the Han dynasty came the decline of practicers of the Confucian philosophy because of the downfall of the elite class and a centralized government. Buddhism, a religion with it’s roots from north India, has found its presence in China during the time when trade, along the silk roads, was crucial in all parts of Eurasia. Although the spread of Buddhism in China was greeted with devotion from new converts who supported the religion by spreading it and combining their cultures with the religion, it also was rejected by the ruling elite who opposed the spread of the religion that impacted China for the next following centuries. A response towards the spread of Buddhism in China was the increase in motivation to spread it. …show more content…

For example, in a picture labeled “Sakyamuni (Buddha) Cutting His Hair” created during the Tang dynasty depicted a man in Chinese clothing with Chinese people around him in an environment full of mountains and trees that is usually favored by Chinese artists (Doc 3). The man represents Buddha if Buddha was a Chinese person, when he is actually an Indian prince who is named Siddhartha Gautama. The purpose of this painting was to show how Chinese artists blended Chinese culture with Buddhism in paintings to show how Buddha would be like if Buddha was a Chinese person. Another example is the Leshan Giant Buddha statue which is a statue that is 233 feet tall which is built during the Tang dynasty (Doc.4). Surrounding the statue of Buddha was statues of Chinese generals that were to “protect” the statue. Because the Chinese during the Tang dynasty liked to create statues, they created a statue of Buddha, which represents the blend of cultures with the religion because of the Chinese’s devotion to the religion. Zong Mi, a leading Buddhist scholar, described that “Confucius, Laozi and the Buddha were perfect sages.” and states that their teachings were similar and that “...they must be observed with respect.” (Doc 6). Confucianism, founded by Confucius, and Daoism (Taoism) founded by Laozi are philosophies that were all founded in China and was very popular to Chinese people. With the spread of Buddhism in China, Zong Mi wanted to compare the three philosophies together to where they blend with one another, so that Buddhism would be a religion that can be accepted into the Chinese

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1819 Words | 8 Pages

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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489 Words | 2 Pages

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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530 Words | 3 Pages

While Chinese initially accepted Buddhism and defended its policies, over the centuries others increasingly scrutinized Buddhism’s absence from past texts and used it as a scapegoat for political and social problems. When there was no empire to enforce laws, Buddhism gained popularity, but after imperial authority reemerged, Buddhism faced mounting opposition. An additional document that shows the actual numbers of converts to Buddhism during this time, preferably in a graph, would be useful in determining whether or not the worries of the authors in documents against Buddhism were grounded. For a few centuries after arriving in China, Chinese defended and supported Buddhism. Zhi Dun praised Buddhism as providing a path to nirvana, though as an upper class scholar who probably did not personally feel threatened by invading nomads, his testimony does not necessarily reflect the danger lower classes likely felt.

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1154 Words | 5 Pages

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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466 Words | 2 Pages

Buddhism influenced the people, majority of them changing their lifestyles of the monks. Although most of the people converted to Buddhism, some resented it. China had gone through a tough struggle in both politics and the people. In Document 6 an emperor talks about how Buddhism is posing the people of China by making them forsake their lords and steal their wealth. The emperor goes farther by saying how monks rob people from food and clothes by not working.

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1143 Words | 5 Pages

From the collapse of Han Dynasty in 220 CE to the Tang Dynasty in 907 CE the spread of Buddhism had varying positive and negative responses. From positive responses like economic and political sponsoring from rulers during different periods to negative responses as social dislike and disregard as Buddhism was considered to go against Confucianism ideals and believes and screw with proper Chinese society. Buddhism first entered China during the Han dynasty, before this Buddhism had not spread far from its country of origin India and was unknown to Chinese this can be seen when Emperor Wu himself says “We have Heard the Buddha was never spoken of before the Han dynasty; from then on the religions of idols gradually came to prominence.”(Doc 7)

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964 Words | 4 Pages

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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1226 Words | 5 Pages

Buddhism, being founded by Buddha, spread through many trade routes religious missionaries sent by Ashoka. Through these Missionaries, Buddhism was able to reach many places, with one of these places being China. When Buddhism first arrived to China, it was met with mixed reactions which soon define Buddhism rough transition and diffusion into Chinese custom. Buddhism's advancement into China was a direct result of Buddhist monks emphasizing the spiritual benefits of Buddhism. In response to this; Buddhism was accepted by some while Confucian scholars and other high officials rejected it because they believed it was detrimental to China.

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346 Words | 2 Pages

Thesis Confucianism is the most dominant school of philosophy of China. In result of the many contradictions in the teachings of Confucius and the Buddha, Buddhism faced many objections when trying to spread its roots in China. Many confucians strongly disagreed with Buddhism because it disagreed with the fundamentals established in the chinese way of thinking. Use of the Documents

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468 Words | 2 Pages

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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1274 Words | 6 Pages

In 500 C.E. china was still in chaos and some scholars saw that the best way to be in favor of the people was to turn into a complete supporter of Buddhism. And to prove to Chinese people that Buddhism is the most superior they started saying that Confucianism was nothing compared to Buddhism making the Chinese Scholars be in favor of the Chinese people. Lastly, in the early ninth century C.E. a Buddhist scholar by the name of Zong Mi wrote an essay in which he was saying that Confucius and Buddha were both perfect sages. At the beginning of the ninth century the Tang dynasty had restored the central government and they Tang dynasty saw Buddhism has an excuse to not do work. So many scholars who used to be in favor Buddhism now saw that the people had no more power and that if they wanted to stay in power they would have to agree with the emperor.

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1365 Words | 6 Pages

Chapter One: Monasteries and Monarchs The Role of Buddhism in Fostering Diplomacy Through the travels of Xuanzang, an interesting side of Buddhism and religion in general was shown by how the different people we met treated him, and how the countries in his story acted. Many of their actions were because they either were Buddhist or supported Buddhist monks in some way. From the beginning, we can see how the religion of Xuanzang and his brothers affected their actions and lives. In the very first paragraph of the chapter, the scene is set with imagery of war torn China and how it directly contradicts the beliefs of Xuanzang and that China is no place for peaceful Buddhist monks (1).

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243 Words | 1 Pages

In China, Christian missionaries downplayed their mission to convert and were at pains to be respectful of Chinese culture, pointing out parallels between Confucianism and Christianity rather than portraying Christianity as something new and foreign. • Chinese conversions occurred primarily among those elite scholars who were interested in Western science and who were attracted by the personal lives of the missionaries and by the moral certainty that Christianity offered. While their primary goal was elite conversions, missionaries also attracted a small following among members of the general population who were attracted by tales of miracles attributed to the Christian God. However, there was only limited acceptance of Christianity in China

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507 Words | 3 Pages

The original Indian foundation was enlarged by the enclosure of Hellenistic, Central Asian, East Asian, and Southeast Asian cultural attributes. Further, the history of Buddhism witnessed the development of various movements and dissections, such as Theravada, Mahayana, etc. Over the years, Buddhism steadily spread out to almost all the countries in the world, which brought about the expansion of the religion. The population of Buddhists is estimated to be around 350 million; nearly half the number follows Mahayana tradition. According to relevant statistics, the largest population of Buddhists is in China, while, Thailand, Cambodia and Myanmar have the highest proportion of Buddhists in their population.

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794 Words | 4 Pages

Expansion and Integration • Classical Civilizations adjusting to expansion. • Confucius, Buddha, and Socrates all between 550 and 400 BCE. • Felt the need to articulate central values and ethics. • China was more centralized.

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