Spread Of Buddhism Dbq

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.

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