Skylar Hendriks

Buddhism in China

As Buddhism spread to China through trade there were various responses among the
people. Confucianists wanted to keep a strict hierarchy and the others in China wanted to get rid
of the strict social hierarchy that was in place in China. During the 3rd-6th century CE, China
was very unstable because of this spread of Buddhism and the different responses throughout the
country.

As shown in documents 2 and 5, Buddhism was strongly supported by the people of

China who wanted a change in social hierarchies. Document 2 was written by Zhi Dun, a
Chinese scholar who believed that those who follow Buddhism will join Buddha in Nirvana at
the end of life, which is a benefit and good part of being Buddhist. Being a scholar, it shows that
his level in society can make him more appreciative of this whereas someone from a lower class
may view it differently. The same thing applies to document 5 which was written by a Buddhist
scholar who wrote that Buddhism leads to a greater and better society. He also argued that Laozi
and the Buddha were perfect and encourage the perfection of good deeds. Both documents
argue that Buddha and Buddhism save people are for a more beneficial purpose than relying
solely on government and politics.

Buddhism was strongly opposed by Confucians in China because it went against their
hierarchical beliefs. Document 4 was written by Confucian scholar who believed that Buddhism
is no more than a cult which shows that being a Confucian scholar, Han Yu is very biased and
thinks Confucianism is the only way of life. Also, document 6 states that Buddhism wears out
the people's strength, polders their wealth. This being written by the Tang Emperor Wu shows
him besting threatened by the growing number of his people supporting Buddhism. The result of
having previous beliefs and perceptions causes this new idea to be unaccepted.

The spread of Buddhism to China is similar to the spread of Islam into India because in India,
Islam was accepted by some and not at all by others because of their caste system. This is similar
to Buddhism in China because Islam wasn't accepted by Hindu people similar to Buddhism not
being accepted by Confucianists. Also, when Islam spread to India, it was slowly accepted by
each caste at a time. Overall, Buddhism and Islam were both very controversial and had mixed
opinions in India and China.