How Did Buddhism Influence Japanese Culture

2. Development of Pure Land Buddhism The idea of Pure Land Buddhism was raised in China and then spread to other countries, such as Japan and East Asia. (Wallace 2002, 43)

The founder of the Buddhism religion was Guatama Buddha this religion was founded in 654 BC. There is no founder of the religion Hinduism. According to some resources it is said that Hinduism is not basically a religion but it is a way of living or a substance of life. The spreading of Buddhism religion had started from India and it spread among many countries. There are two types of Buddhism according to some sources, Theravada Buddhism and Mahayana Buddhism, Mahayana Buddhism is quite different than Theravada Buddhism as it refers to the daily practice of meditation by Buddhists.

This best illustrated in document three and five. Document three explains that the Seokguram grotto is one of the most meaningful Buddhist sites in Korea. This Buddhist statue shows just how far Buddhism spread from India, its place of origin, to Korea. This displays the multicultural exchanges in the Indian Ocean Basin. Secondly, Angkor Wat, in Cambodia, was originally a Hindu temple dedicated to the god Vishnu.

Despite this initial massive discontinuity between the two forms of Buddhism, the Chinese patronage of Buddhist monks attracted more Buddhist monks from India who later produced more sophisticated translations of the sutras “closer to the spirit of Buddhism” (Eno 7). Nevertheless, it is understandable why Yinshun and other critical Buddhists felt that reliance on Chinese sutras as primary sources yielded distorted readings of Buddhism. The initial translations were highly tailored to appeal to Chinese cosmological constructions, and it is unlikely that later translations were completely free from similar pressures and

GLOBAL HISTORY OF MARTIAL ARTS – Know Where It Started China and the Martial Arts Dating around 6th century in China, the monks in Shaolin monasteries were trained in Kung Fu. This practice of Kung Fu rapidly spread throughout entire Asia. Other neighboring countries in the continent, integrated these newly acquired techniques of Kung Fu into their systems of fighting. Okinawa, a chain of islands in the middle of China and Japan, was emphatically impacted by this presentation of Kung Fu right on time in the nation's history, thought to have occurred in the late 6th century. This early type of Okinawan art was commonly known as Tode. "

Firstly, the katana was an essential weapon to the samurai of medieval Japan. It is unclear where the katana originated, but it is a form of both Chinese and Japanese craftsmanship. The katana first appeared in the Muromachi Period between 1392-1573 A.D. In the Muromachi Period, Zen Buddhism was very important to military life and everyday life. Under this period there were tea ceremonies, ink painting, and architecture simplicity.

Although the current emperor of Japan does not have anymore political powers, the role of the emperor still remains very important. The current Constitution of Japan states that the Emperor is “the symbol of the State and of the unity of the people.” (Web Japan) This illustrates the influence of Shintoism has on the political system of Japan still remains after centuries. Although the emperor himself is not part of the government, he still has great impacts and is the representative of Japan.

The birth and spread of major religions was through the Silk Road. The main religion that spread was Buddhism. The spread of Islamic religion took place in the Silk Road during the Tang Dynasty. A main religious spread was language, Buddhist translators translated a lot of Buddhist and Sanskrit terms into Chinese which were adopted by China (Erwin).Some more religions were spread on the Silk Road. Zoroastrianism was pushed from Persia to the east (TravelChinaGuide).

And the story of their ancestor and legacy tells of what kind of people they were, and what they honored. “It is ingrained deeply in the Chinese mind that once there was a time when everything worked according to an ideal pattern” (Corduan, 2012). The meaning to this passage is why contemporary Chinese culture holds on to the tradition because it could happen again. This also reveal the union of governmental community with religion. Although there has been countless time that China’s government ruled over the religion, and now there is hope that id does not need to be that same way again because it was different back then.

The garments of the figure clearly provided insight into the Chinese depiction of the Buddha that shows a religious reverence for a higher power. More so, many figures of the Buddha show the typical Chinese garments worn by Chinese scholars during this time: “The Central Asian style of robes is seen on Buddha figures.” This is one reason why the figure is seen reaching for the sky and showing a ritual presence in this figural representation. This is an important aspect of this type of Chinese statuary, which represents a localized version of the Buddha posing as a Chinese

Due to China’s Warring Period after the Han Dynasty, Buddhism gained popularity because no imperial authority was around to enforce laws. Once an empire rose to power, Buddhism was turned against. Initially the Chinese defended Buddhism and its policies, but after centuries, others increasingly analyzed how Buddhism had not presence in older documents. Buddhism began to be blamed for the political and social problems of Chinese society. An additional document, such as a graph, that demonstrates actual numbers of Buddhist converts of this time period would help determine if the given documents’ author’s statements about Buddhism were accurate.

Buddhism had already become a big organized religion with many different manuscripts and sects before even making it to Japan. Despite the fact that Buddhism was much more organized than Shinto, Shinto with all of its deep entanglement with ancient japanese life, was still able to remain an important religion in Japan. In fact the new threat of Buddhism actually helped Shinto to become more organized and gain a better footing as a real religion, and not just a loosely defined collection of traditions and practices. Shinto and Buddhism had a little conflict during their initial contact with each other, but it never ended up getting as dramatic and as bloody as many western religions did as they fought for power over one another throughout history. Thankfully Shinto and Buddhism found ways to be relatively peaceful with one another as each religion grew and developed throughout Japanese history, instead of fighting each other every step of the

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.

Buddhism was one of the most important influences brought from China to Japan by Korean travelers. It affected Japan’s religion, helped Japan unify the clans , and also lead to the creation of many Buddhist temples. Prince Shotoku was the biggest supporter of Buddhism. At first, Buddhism was not very popular and it was known as, "a foreign concept." However, it quickly became popular among the Japanese people because Buddhist ideas fit into many of the Shinto beliefs.

Richard Le East asia and china history The Downfall of the once Great Samurai Samurai’s have a long rich history and what it meant to be a Samurai is honor, valor, loyalty. You were also wealthy and were on of the elites of Japan’s class system. Although samurais were once known as “Great”, the samurai’s downfall was inevitable because they want to keep same traditions not trying modernize. During eighth century, the Heian Period, around the year 800 to 1200, Samurai originally was referred to household servants.