Han Yu, the leading Confucian scholar and author of document four, argues that Buddhism is the work of barbarians and didn’t exist in China in ancient times. The author states that the Buddha didn’t speak the Chinese language or dress the Chinese way. He refers to Buddhism as an “evil” and wants it eradicated and never to be heard of in future generations. This author treats Buddhism as a delusion to the commoners and wants is to be dismissed. Document six is slightly different from the rest, as for it is written by an emperor, Tang Emperor Wu.
4, 6). An additional document that would further help analyze the reactions to the spread of Buddhism in China would be hearing to what a peasant has to say, because peasants did not have a say in anything, and they were always looked down on. They had to follow the rules and religions, no matter the circumstances. Hearing his reaction of Buddhism can help determine how the religion impacted not only the nobles and common people, but also the peasants who had little faith in anything, especially government and religion. Many converts of China looked upon Buddhism with admiration.
Before the birth of Buddhism, some individuals in the social classes from the Indian Civilization felt they were treated unfairly by the societal constraint of the Class and Caste system. When Siddhartha Gautama brought Buddhism into existence in 500 B.C.E, the religion had played a promoting role to change society by allowing people of all caste to join his equalized society, and allowed women to participate in religious activities. Buddhism may have also impeded society though by throwing off the Chinese value of procreation of children, and schism between believers of Mahayana and Theravada Buddhism. When Buddhism had arrived, it was indeed a serious threat to Vedic religion and the Brahmin’s prerogatives of the class and caste system. In 700 B.C.E, when the two conformities became a rigid hierarchy over the community, invigorate individuals would abandon their town or village to join this belief system in order to have peace and freedom.
AAS 300 Jia Kim The Chosŏn Dynasty and Confucianization 1. State the critical reason for Chosŏn Confucian scholars’ condemnation of Buddhism. In koryo, Buddhism was embraced as the state religion but became an enemy by adherents of Confucianism. Choe Sung-no, a model Confucian argued that frequent Buddhist ceremonies harmed people and that Buddhism thinks about the afterlife rather than the present. Some of the Confucians of the late Koryo period opposed Buddhism as they burned down temples and slashed the throat of monks.
Hindu’s do not feel as sure about being able to break the cycle. - In order to break the chain of desire a Buddhist must give up ass sensuous pleasures, evil, sorrow and joy. ⃰ There is intense meditation that is to be followed and also a list of religious principles. ⃰ The meditation that is done is not a prayer to God but a prayer of self discipline. ⃰ It’s a focus to get the life force in line.
Buddhists Just Go Simply Buddhism is influenced in the lives of Buddhist adherents and communities through the teachings of the Lord Buddha, which is a set of ethics and codes set upon that Buddhists must follow, and the XIVth Dalai Lama. Buddhists just go simply as an enlightented form of life to whom have a spiritual awareness that everything is seen to be impermanent and that all experiences are an illusions. Buddhism is a well known and worshipped religion all over the world; it is a large part of culture and society particularly in south-eastern Asian countries. Firstly their are the three jewels of Buddhism; the three jewels are the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha, all jewels are inter-related. The first jewel ‘the Buddha’ is known by budhhists to be seen an enlightened human being.
OLD SCHOOL VS NEW SCHOOL The two largest forms of Buddhism are the old school way of the elders, Theravada, “The Lesser Vehicle”; and Mahayana, the reformed Buddhist group, “The Greater Vehicle.” Although there are significant differences between Mahayana and Theravada Buddhism, they share much in common, including that both believe in their commitment to the teaching of the Noble Fourfold Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path, emphasis on establishing mindfulness as the heart of their practice, and their acceptance of the Buddha as a model of a fully enlightened person/being. Theravada and Mahayanist Buddhists differ greatly in the emphasis put on Buddha and how they interpret his teachings. Theravada Buddhists are following Pali Cannon, the oral tradition taught by Buddha; the earliest available teachings of “the Awakened One.” In them, he never claimed to be divine. Though Buddha was revered above all else for “The Elders” view him as first and foremost the historical person Siddhartha Gautama, who achieved enlightenment. By following his guide/Pali Cannon/ Dharma we can hope to actuate the same fate of release from the Wheel of Death and Rebirth.
I learned that the Chinese characters that were on the back of the main gate were the four vows of Buddhists and these vows encourage people to accomplish the vows, which I found very interesting. Initially, I thought that the Buddhist people were idolizing the Buddha, but after the audio tour, I learned that bowing in front of the Buddha symbolizes respect for the journey and teachings of the Buddha. This gesture was something very new to me because in the religions that I was more familiar with, the followers idolize and worship God, rather than his philosophical teachings. Additionally, I did not know that other statues aside from the Buddha were active roles in the Buddhist community. I familiarized myself with each of the five statues in the Bodhisattva Hall and what each of them symbolizes.
The spread of Buddhism in China was liked by many people such as scholars, but some people did not like Buddhism such as Emperors and people from other religions. The first document doesn’t relate to the spread of Buddhism in China, but Zhi Dun, a Chinese scholar, author, and confidant of Chinese aristocrats and high officials appreciated the spread of Buddhism. He said that the Buddha correctly observes the commandments. Like Zhi Dun, in “The Disposition of Error” the Chinese scholar says that Confucius’s written works do not have everything in them and that Buddhism is like a wonderful creature because it is compared to both a unicorn and a phoenix. So the Chinese scholar in Document 3 must think Buddhism is good.
Buddhism, another belief practiced by the great Asoka Maurya, did not support the caste system and was, just like the Chinese Daoism, a religion of pure salvation which practiced elimination of desire in order to achieve a higher spiritual status or nirvana. Spread by missionaries it was one of the most practiced religions of that time, both in India and China, but it had little political impact due to its nature. Like in China, Indian social and political structure depended on the belief system, but it was not influenced by the dynastic