Buddhism in China

1006 Words5 Pages
Buddhism in China Buddhism was founded in India during the sixth century B.C.E. By the first century C.E., Buddhism was brought into China, through diffusion. The spread of Buddhism into China had a mix of reactions. Documents 1, 2, and 3 had a more positive reaction towards Buddhism, which shows an acceptance towards the religion. Documents 4 and 6 had a negative reaction towards Buddhism in China as government officials believed it threatened their power and way of life. Document 5 displays neither positive nor negative reaction towards the spread, but provide a third, neutral viewpoint. All the documents provides a wide range of viewpoints towards the spread of Buddhism into China, however, the documents are from the higher class or intellectual elite, scholars and government officials. China is broken into different socials classes, the intellectual elite, the wealthy, peasants, and merchants. Majority of the documents were written by scholars or government officials, who were apart of the intellectual elite class. An additional source that provides a point of view from the majority of the population, the peasant class, would explain more on their reason to stay with the traditional Confucianism or convert to Buddhism and reflect the views within their class at the time. As Buddhism began to diffuse into China in the first century C.E., some had a positive reaction, thus accepting the religion and its beliefs, others had a negative reaction because Buddhist influence threaten government official’s power, while other had a neutral reaction that believed all aspects of religion should be respected. Some reacted positively towards the spread of Buddhism, thus, accepted the practices and beliefs of the religion. Document 1 is the first sermon that was preached by Buddha in the fifth century B.C.E. Buddha discusses in document 1 “The Four Noble
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