Buddhism In China Research Paper

Initially, Chinese accepted the views and practice of Buddhism, but after the restoration of the imperial structure in accordance with documents 4 and 6 the Chinese responded negatively to the Buddhism. Han Yu who was a Confucian scholar and official at the Tang imperial court highly disdained Buddhism he states that Buddha was incapable of speaking the Chinese language and that the man belonged to the barbarians and he should not be worthy of worshiping. “Your servant begs to leave to say that Buddhism is no more than a cult of the barbarian people spread to China. It did not exist here in ancient times. ”(Doc.

China has been the home to various religions. At different times different dynasties endorsed certain religions while repressing others. While Buddhism flourished during the Sui and Tang dynasty, it faced opposition from the government during the Song dynasty. Confucianism lost government endorsement during the Sui and Tang but gained momentum during the Song as Neo-Confucianism. Yuan dynasty promoted Islam and Tibet Buddhism but ignored Confucianism. Different rulers sponsored and protected different religions but Confucianism and some form of Buddhism have always been alive in Chinese society from 600 to 1450.

Buddhism was founded in India and brought over to China by the first century C.E. As Buddhism spread all over China, it had both positive and negative feelings toward it. According to some of the documents, it shows how China accepted Buddhism and tried to defend any hate that it got. While some of the other documents blamed Buddhism for problems that the country was facing. The remaining documents didn’t really show any emotions toward it. An additional document that would show Buddhism's’ appeal in China would be a the amount of people who tried Buddhism and their opinion on it.

The spread of Buddhism in China received positive and negative responses. It was greatly accepted among many Chinese people, and others believed it to be true evil. Document 2 and 3 show some of the positive responses; that Buddhism was what every person needed to follow, that Nirvana was the life goal. While documents 4 and 6 show some negative views on Buddhism, they explain the pure evil that is was. Document 1 does not show any favor for or against Buddhism, and Document 5 is not just for Buddhism, but also Confucius and Laozi.

The responses to the spread of Buddhism in China were positive, negative, and acknowledged the differences between Buddhism and other religions. Buddhism reached China around the first century C.E., but Buddhist influence did not largely spread until the fall of the Han Dynasty. China was deeply Confucian in the first century, and resisted the presence of Buddhism due to the many differences between the basic beliefs of each religion. The Chinese population reacted differently to Buddhism depending on personal beliefs, which led to disagreement and conflict.

China was affected tremendously by the spread of Buddhism from 300 to 900 C.E. Buddhism itself was spread to China around 100 C.E by Indian missionaries, and after taking hold during the Era of Division (300s-500s), it became a household religion (particularly the Mahayana and Chan variations . Buddhism’s popularity rose consistently from the late Han dynasty through it’s peak during Empress Wu’s rule in the late 600s and early 700s. But, the religion’s popularity fell sharply during Emperor Wuzong’s reign as the persecution of Buddhism grew common (CONTEXT). The spread of Buddhism affected all classes and people of China in different ways; Chinese peasants were able to worship this religion regardless of education or social position (though

The main Chinese religions have many key features. The main religions include shamanism/ancestor reverence, Confucianism, Daoism, Mahayana Buddhism, and idol worship. These 5 religions share some features in common. For example, Chinese popular religion focuses on the human being’s pursuit of health, wealth, and happiness in their lives (quote the textbook). Chinese popular religions want the human to be doing well and succeeding in their day-to-day activities of their lives. Another key component of the main Chinese religions is respecting one’s elders. The religions teach the importance of obeying the commands of the elders and honoring the family name. The Chinese allow place a strong emphasis on the temple. The temple is a place where the people could communicate, understand, and learn about their gods (quote the textbook). The next subsections will be describing the key religious practices of each of the 5 Chinese religions.

Whenever I thought of Buddhist I saw bald men or women with orange robes, white socks, and brown sandals. Obviously, not the older woman with gray hair that was now facing me and the other twenty congregants in the meditation room. She was obviously the leader.

Buddhism carries into China a number of thinking which are predestined to become dominant factors in the Chinese attitude in the direction of life and death, society and cosmos, etc. The ideas, such as paradises and hells, karma and rebirth, emptiness and reality, bondage and liberation, impermanence and suffering, are all requisite to the development of Chinese literary thoughts, let's say, the poets as Tao Yuanming, Wang Wei, Bai Juyi, Su Shi are noticeably swayed by the beliefs of Buddhism. New literature styles are carried into the field of Chinese Literature. During Tang dynasty, the interpretation of Buddhism literature was widespread and Chinese poems at that time was subjugated by lines with a fixed number of syllables and rigid rhythms.

The region of China is extensive and profound. “In China lay people did not belong to an institutionalized sect, nor did their religious life have anything to do with signing articles of faint. Religion in China was so woven into the broad fabric of family and social life that there was not even a special word for it until modern times, when one was coined to match the Western term” (Thompson, 1). In China, Taoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism are all blended. In the earliest period, Shang Dynasty (2000 BC), people in China had worshipped a lot of different gods (polytheism) such as weather god, river god. People in the Shang Dynasty believed that their ancestors become like gods after they died, so people worshipped their

China, reluctant to accept it as an officially sanctioned religion as the tenants of the

The main focus of Buddhism is that the faith centers on correct understanding of human nature and ultimate reality, The Buddha was also called the Enlightened One, he taught that the way to eliminate suffering begins with understanding the true nature of the world. He rejected speculation about such matters as God, the nature of the universe, and the afyterlife, urging his folloers to focus instead on the Four Noble Truths by which they can free themselves from suffering. “We do not believe that this world is created and ruled by God.” The disbelief in God does not make Buddhism an atheistic religion. The Buddha rejected the concept of the atman, or soul. In

Buddhism for centuries, has long been influencing the population all over the world, specifically in China . Buddhism first came to China as a result of merchant traders from India. From there it spread within the merchant community. It mainly expanded because it gave people a sense of hope and faith with the chaos they were experiencing from the collapse of the Han Dynasty. It also spread because it covered what Confucianism lacked; a more spiritual and emotional approach that appealed to many people of different classes. It is because of this that Buddhism spread and was able to influence and greatly affect China during the period of 300-900 CE. Buddhism influenced philosophy and moral teachings, kept the Chinese society peaceful and orderly, as well as affecting the overall economy. Buddhism had strong religious teachings that appealed to the lower class with the idea of afterlife and nirvana as well as an emphasis on following your own path that transformed Chinese beliefs causing a large portion of the population to convert (doc’s 1,4). Buddhism kept the Chinese society orderly by reminding all of Buddha’s life and teachings with statues and the influence it had on monks to spread charity and missionary work (doc’s 2,3,6). Buddhism also had an effect on the economy of China. As it spread from other regions, it caused more farmers and silk producers to convert and spread the religion as monks and nuns. (doc 7,5).

Qing ruler burnt the Shaolin temple down, destroying there sacred texts.the Shaolin temple was rebuilt and destroyed over and over in the following centuries. At the brink of extinction, a few surviving monks continued to practice kung-fu behind closed doors. ant the end of the Qing Dynasty a few Shaolin monks went to Shingou Si, where they worked to preserve kung-fu. Among these monks were Zhan Ju, Zhan Mo, and Ji Qing. A few years later there was a renewed interest and acceptance of kung-fu, and it remains to this day(shaolin

“It is often said that, aside from the impact of Marxism on twentieth-century China, the only other time when the Chinese looked beyond their own borders for intellectual sustenance was during the period when Buddhism was absorbed from India” (LaFleur 23). Why did this religion appeal to the Chinese when they disregarded so many other external influences? After all, being tied to the rest of the world by the Silk Road meant they were constantly inundated with novel concepts from far and wide. The answer must lie in how Buddhism interacted with the other faiths already established in the country, namely Confucianism and Daoism (sometimes spelled Taoism). While at first glance it may appear that Confucian China would be the last place