Dbq Spread Of Buddhism

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Jairo Burgos AP World History DBQ: Spread of Buddhism in China Buddhism started out in India, but it quickly spread to China due to the construction of the Silk Road. When it reached China in the first century C.E. many people accepted Buddhism and admired Buddhist monks (As stated in documents 1,2 and 5). Disregarding the people that embraced Buddhism, there were others that rejected it because they believed that Buddha and the way of Buddhist monks were a potential threat to Chinese culture (As stated in documents 3,4 and 6). After 570 C.E. when the imperial structure was restored, Buddhism quickly gave way to criticism which ended in the eradication of Buddhism (As stated in documents 4 and 6). It is meaningful to stand out that the previous 6 documents were all written by scholars or the Emperor, so we don’t really know what the peasants and the majority of the Chinese population believed and thought about Buddhism. If there was an additional document written by a regular peasant which would probably state that they (peasants) accepted Buddhism due to their poor living conditions in their agricultural work, then it would be proven that the majority of China accepted Buddhism; while the rich (scholars and Emperor) rejected Buddhism because they thought it was a threat to their regime. When Buddhism reached China thanks to the construction of the Silk road during the first century C.E., the initial feeling among Chinese, or at least their scholars, was that of acceptance and admiration towards Buddhist monks. In document 1, "The Four Noble Truths", Buddha talks about the four truths that would lead a person, if they know how to manage them, to a better future or personal life. In document 2, Zhi Dun (Chinese Scholar) talks about how following the teachings of the Buddha and reading Buddhist scriptures people may reach Nirvana. By reading both of these
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