Why Does the Silk Road Divide and Then Meet Again

Part of the history of Buddhism in Asia

Buddhism entered Han Prc via the Silk Road, beginning in the 1st or 2d century CE.^{[v] [6]} The first documented translation efforts by Buddhist monks in People's republic of china were in the 2nd century CE via the Kushan Empire into the Chinese territory bordering the Tarim Basin under Kanishka.^{[seven] [8]} These contacts transmitted strands of Sarvastivadan and Tamrashatiya Buddhism throughout the Eastern world.^[9]

Theravada Buddhism adult from the Pāli Canon in Sri Lanka Tamrashatiya school and spread throughout Southeast Asia. Meanwhile, Sarvastivada Buddhism was transmitted from North India through Central Asia to China.^[9]

Straight contact between Central Asian and Chinese Buddhism connected throughout the 3rd to 7th centuries, much into the Tang period. From the 4th century onward, Chinese pilgrims like Faxian (395–414) and later Xuanzang (629–644) started to travel to northern India in guild to go improved admission to original scriptures. Between the 3rd and 7th centuries, parts of the land route connecting northern India with Communist china was ruled past the Xiongnu, Han dynasty, Kushan Empire, the Hephthalite Empire, the Göktürks, and the Tang dynasty. The Indian form of Buddhist tantra (Vajrayana) reached China in the 7th century. Tibetan Buddhism was likewise established as a branch of Vajrayana, in the eighth century.^[ten]

But from nigh this time, the Silk road trade of Buddhism began to decline with the Muslim conquest of Transoxiana (eastward.g. Boxing of Talas), resulting in the Uyghur Khaganate past the 740s.^[10] Indian Buddhism declined due to the resurgence of Hinduism and the Muslim conquest of India. Tang-era Chinese Buddhism was briefly repressed in the ninth century (but made a comeback in later dynasties). The Western Liao was a Buddhist Sinitic dynasty based in Central Asia, before Mongol invasion of Central Asia. The Mongol Empire resulted in the further Islamization of Central Asia. They embraced Tibetan Buddhism starting with the Yuan dynasty (Buddhism in Mongolia). The other khanates, the Ilkhanate, Chagatai Khanate, and Golden Horde somewhen converted to Islam (Religion in the Mongol Empire#Islam).

Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, Taiwanese and Southeast Asian traditions of Buddhism continued. As of 2019, Communist china by far had the largest population of Buddhists in the world at nearly 250 meg; Thailand comes second at around 70 1000000 (see Buddhism by country).

Northern transmission (from North Republic of india and Cardinal Asia) [edit]

The Buddhism transmitted to China is based on the Sarvastivada schoolhouse, with translations from Sanskrit to the Chinese languages and Tibetic languages.^[9] These after formed the ground of Mahayana Buddhism. Japan and Korea then borrowed from China.^[11] Few remnants of the original Sanskrit remain. These constituted the 'Northern transmission'.^[ix]

First contacts [edit]

Buddhism entered^[12] Cathay via the Silk Route. Buddhist monks travelled with merchant caravans on the Silk Road to preach their new religion. The lucrative Chinese silk trade along this trade route began during the Han Dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE), with voyages by people like Zhang Qian establishing ties between Prc and the west.

Alexander the Slap-up established Hellenistic kingdoms (323 BC – 63 BC) and trade networks extending from the Mediterranean to Central Asia (furthest eastern point being Alexandria Eschate). The Greco-Bactrian Kingdoms (250 BC-125 BC) in Afghanistan and the later Indo-Greek Kingdoms (180 BC-10 CE) formed 1 of the starting time Silk Route stops after Cathay for nearly 300 years.^{[ citation needed ]} Ane of the descendant Greek kingdoms, the Dayuan (Ta-yuan; Chinese: 大宛; "Great Ionians"), were defeated by the Chinese in the Han-Dayuan war. The Han victory in the Han–Xiongnu War further secured the route from northern nomads of the Eurasian Steppe.

The transmission of Buddhism to China via the Silk Road started in the 1st century CE with a semi-legendary account of an diplomatic mission sent to the West by the Chinese Emperor Ming (58–75 CE):

It may exist causeless that travelers or pilgrims brought Buddhism along the Silk Roads, but whether this first occurred from the earliest period when those roads were open, ca. 100 BC, must remain open to question. The earliest direct references to Buddhism concern the 1st century AD, but they include hagiographical elements and are non necessarily reliable or accurate.^[13]

Extensive contacts however started in the 2nd century CE, probably as a outcome of the expansion of the Greco-Buddhist Kushan Empire into the Chinese territory of the Tarim Basin, with the missionary efforts of a nifty number of Central Asian Buddhist monks to Chinese lands. The starting time missionaries and translators of Buddhists scriptures into Chinese were either Parthian, Kushan, Sogdian or Kuchean.^[14]

Missionaries [edit]

Bodhisattva mural. Chinese piece of work showing Central Asian influence. Mogao Caves, Red china.

In the eye of the second century, the Kushan Empire nether king Kaniṣka from its capital at Purushapura (modern Peshawar), India expanded into Cardinal Asia. Every bit a event, cultural exchanges profoundly increased with the regions of Kashgar, Khotan and Yarkand (all in the Tarim Basin, modern Xinjiang). Central Asian Buddhist missionaries became active before long after in the Chinese capital cities of Loyang and sometimes Nanjing, where they particularly distinguished themselves by their translation piece of work. They promoted both Hīnayāna and Mahāyāna scriptures. Thirty-seven of these early on translators of Buddhist texts are known.

• An Shigao, a Parthian prince who made the first known translations of Hīnayāna Buddhist texts into Chinese (148–170)
• Lokakṣema, a Kushan and the showtime to interpret Mahāyāna scriptures into Chinese (167–186)
• An Xuan, a Parthian merchant who became a monk in China in 181
• Zhi Yao (c. 185), a Kushan monk in the 2nd generation of translators after Lokakṣema.
• Zhi Qian (220–252), a Kushan monk whose grandfather had settled in China during 168–190
• Kang Senghui (247–280), born in Jiaozhi (or Chiao-chih) close to modern Hanoi in what was then the extreme due south of the Chinese empire, and a son of a Sogdian merchant^[xv]
• Dharmarakṣa (265–313), a Kushan whose family had lived for generations at Dunhuang
• Kumārajīva (c. 401), a Kuchean monk and ane of the virtually important translators
• Fotudeng (4th century), a Central Asian monk who became a counselor to the Chinese court
• Bodhidharma (440–528), the founder of the Chan (Zen) school of Buddhism, and the legendary originator of the concrete training of the Shaolin monks that led to the cosmos of Shaolin kung fu. According to the primeval reference to him, by Yang Xuanzhi, he was a monk of Fundamental Asian origin whom Yang Xuanshi met effectually 520 at Loyang.^[16] Throughout Buddhist art, Bodhidharma is depicted as a rather sick-tempered, profusely bearded and wide-eyed barbarian. He is referred to as "The Blue-Eyed Barbarian" (碧眼胡:Bìyǎn hú) in Chinese Chan texts.^[17]
• Five monks from Gandhāra who traveled in 485 CE to the country of Fusang ("the country of the extreme east" beyond the sea, probably Japan), where they introduced Buddhism.^[a]
• Jñānagupta (561–592), a monk and translator from Gandhāra
• Prajñā (c. 810), a monk and translator from Kabul who educated the Japanese Kūkai in Sanskrit texts

Additionally, Indian monks from primal regions of India were also involved in the translation and spread of Buddhists texts into central and eastern asia.^{[18] [nineteen]} Among these Indian translators and monks include:

• Dharmakṣema - 4th and 5th-century Buddhist monk from Magadha responsible for the translation of many Sanskrit texts in Chinese including the Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra.
• Dhyānabhadra - 14th-century monk from Nalanda monastery who travelled to China and Korea during the flow of the Yuan dynasty. Founded the Hoemsa temple in Korea.
• Guṇabhadra - fifth-century Mahayana Buddhist translator from Cardinal Bharat who was agile in Red china
• Paramartha - sixth-century Indian monk and translator from Ujjain and patronised by Emperor Wu of Liang

Early translations into Chinese [edit]

The starting time documented translation of Buddhist scriptures into Chinese occurs in 148 CE with the arrival of the Parthian prince-turned-monk, An Shigao (Ch. 安世高). He worked to establish Buddhist temples in Luoyang and organized the translation of Buddhist scriptures into Chinese, testifying to the kickoff of a wave of Central Asian Buddhist proselytism that was to last several centuries. An Shigao translated Buddhist texts on bones doctrines, meditation and abhidharma. An Xuan (Ch. 安玄), a Parthian layman who worked alongside An Shigao, likewise translated an early Mahāyāna Buddhist text on the bodhisattva path.

Mahāyāna Buddhism was offset widely propagated in China past the Kushan monk Lokakṣema (Ch. 支婁迦讖, active ca. 164–186 CE), who came from the ancient Buddhist kingdom of Gandhāra. Lokakṣema translated important Mahāyāna sūtras such equally the Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra, as well every bit rare, early on Mahāyāna sūtras on topics such every bit samādhi and meditation on the buddha Akṣobhya. These translations from Lokakṣema go on to requite insight into the early on period of Mahāyāna Buddhism.

Chinese pilgrims to India [edit]

From the 4th century onward, Chinese pilgrims as well started to travel on the Silk Road to India, the origin of Buddhism, by themselves in social club to go improved access to the original scriptures. According to Chinese sources, the first Chinese to be ordained was Zhu Zixing, after he went to Primal Asia in 260 to seek out Buddhism.^{[ citation needed ]}

It is only from the 4th century CE that Chinese Buddhist monks started to travel to Bharat to notice Buddhism first-hand. Faxian'due south pilgrimage to India (395–414) is said to have been the offset significant 1. He left forth the Silk Road, stayed six years in Bharat, and and then returned by the sea route. Xuanzang (629–644) and Hyecho traveled from Korea to Bharat.^[21]

The well-nigh famous of the Chinese pilgrims is Xuanzang (629–644), whose large and precise translation work defines a "new translation period", in dissimilarity with older Central Asian works. He also left a detailed account of his travels in Central Asia and Republic of india. The legendary accounts of the holy priest Xuanzang were described in the famous novel Journey to the West, which envisaged trials of the journey with demons just with the assistance of diverse disciples.

Role of merchants [edit]

During the fifth and sixth centuries C.Due east., merchants played a large role in the spread of religion, in particular Buddhism. Merchants found the moral and ethical teachings of Buddhism to be an highly-seasoned alternative to previous religions. As a outcome, merchants supported Buddhist monasteries along the Silk Roads. In return the Buddhists gave the merchants somewhere to sojourn. Merchants then spread Buddhism to strange encounters as they traveled.^[22] Merchants besides helped to establish diaspora within the communities they encountered and over time, their cultures based on Buddhism. Because of this, these communities became centers of literacy and civilization with well-organized marketplaces, lodging, and storage.^[23] The Silk Road transmission of Buddhism essentially concluded around the 7th century with the invasion of Islam in Central Asia.

Reject of Buddhism in Central Asia and Xinjiang [edit]

Buddhism in Central Asia began to reject in the 7th century in the course of the Muslim conquest of Transoxiana. Afterwards the Battle of Talas of 751, Key Asian Buddhism went into serious decline^[24] and somewhen resulted in the extinction of the local Tocharian Buddhist culture in the Tarim Basin during the 8th century.

The increasing Muslim dominance of these Silk Roads made it more hard for Buddhist monks and pilgrims to travel betwixt India and Prc.^[25] The Silk Route transmission between Eastern Buddhism and Indian Buddhism eventually came to an end in the eighth century.

From the 9th century onward, therefore, the various schools of Buddhism which survived began to evolve independently of one another. Chinese Buddhism adult into an independent religion with distinct spiritual elements. Indigenous Buddhist traditions like Pure Land Buddhism and Zen emerged in China. Mainland china became the heart of E Asian Buddhism, following the Chinese Buddhist catechism, equally Buddhism spread to Japan and Korea from Cathay.^[26] In the eastern Tarim Basin, Central Asian Buddhism survived into the later medieval period as the religion of the Uyghur Qocho Kingdom (see besides Bezeklik G Buddha Caves), and Buddhism became one of the religions in the Mongol Empire and the Chagatai Khanate, and via the Oirats eventually the organized religion of the Kalmyks, who settled at the Caspian in the 17th century. Otherwise, Cardinal Asian Buddhism survived mostly in Tibet and in Mongolia.

Artistic influences [edit]

"Heroic gesture of the Bodhisattva", 6th–7th century terracotta, Tumshuq (Xinjiang)

Cardinal Asian missionary efforts forth the Silk Road were accompanied by a flux of artistic influences, visible in the evolution of Serindian art from the second to the 11th century CE in the Tarim Bowl, modern Xinjiang. Serindian art often derives from the fine art of the Gandhāra commune of what is at present Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Highly sinicized forms of syncretism tin can too be found on the eastern portions of the Tarim Basin, such as in Dunhuang. Silk Road creative influences tin be found as far as Japan to this day, in architectural motifs or representations of Japanese gods.

Southern manual (from Sri Lanka) [edit]

The Buddhism transmitted to Southeast Asia is based on the Tamrashatiya school based in Sri Lanka, with translations from Pali into languages like Thai, Burmese, etc. via the Pāli Catechism.^[9] These later formed the basis of Theravada Buddhism.^[11] It is known every bit the Southern Transmission.^[9]

Chinese historiography of Buddhism [edit]

The Book of the Later Han (5th century), compiled by Fan Ye (398–446 CE), documented early Chinese Buddhism. This history records that effectually 65 CE, Buddhism was practiced in the courts of both Emperor Ming of Han (r. 58–75 CE) at Luoyang (modern Henan); and his half-brother King Ying (r. 41–70 CE) of Chu at Pengcheng (modernistic Jiangsu). The Book of Han has led to discussions on whether Buddhism first arrived to China via maritime or overland transmission; as well as the origins of Buddhism in India or China.

Despite secular Chinese histories like the Book of Han dating the introduction of Buddhism in the 1st century, some Buddhist texts and traditions claim before dates in the Qin dynasty (221–206 BCE) or Erstwhile Han dynasty (208 BCE-9 CE).

Qin Dynasty (221–206 BCE) [edit]

Ane story, beginning appearing in the (597 CE) Lidai sanbao ji 歷代三寶紀, concerns a group of Buddhist priests who arrived in 217 BCE at the capital of Qin Shi Huang in Xianyang (nearly Xi'an). The monks, led by the shramana Shilifang 室李防, presented sutras to the First Emperor, who had them put in jail:

But at nighttime the prison was broken open by a Aureate Man, sixteen feet high, who released them. Moved past this miracle, the emperor bowed his head to the basis and excused himself.^[27]

The (668 CE) Fayuan Zhulin Buddhist encyclopedia elaborates this legend with Mauryan emperor Ashoka the Cracking sending Shilifang to China.^[28] Like Liang Qichao, some western historians believe Emperor Ashoka sent Buddhist missionaries to People's republic of china, citing the (ca. 265) 13th Rock Edict that records missions to Hellenic republic, Sri Lanka, and Nepal.^[29] Others disagree, "Equally far as we can assemble from the inscriptions [Ashoka] was ignorant of the very being of Cathay."^[xxx]

The Book of Han [edit]

The Volume of the Afterward Han biography of Liu Ying, the King of Chu, gives the oldest reference to Buddhism in Chinese historical literature. It says Ying was both deeply interested in Huang-Lao 黄老 (from Yellow Emperor and Laozi) Daoism and "observed fasting and performed sacrifices to the Buddha."^[31] Huang-Lao or Huanglaozi 黄老子 is the deification of Laozi, and was associated with fangshi (方士) "technician; magician; alchemist" methods and xian (仙) "transcendent; immortal" techniques.

"To Liu Ying and the Chinese devotees at his courtroom the "Buddhist" ceremonies of fasting and sacrifices were probably no more than than a variation of existing Daoist practices; this peculiar mixture of Buddhist and Daoist elements remains characteristic of Han Buddhism as a whole."^[32]

In 65 CE, Emperor Ming decreed that anyone suspected of capital crimes would be given an opportunity for redemption, and Rex Ying sent thirty rolls of silk. The biography quotes Ming's edict praising his younger brother:

The king of Chu recites the subtle words of Huanglao, and respectfully performs the gentle sacrifices to the Buddha. After three months of purification and fasting, he has made a solemn covenant (or: a vow 誓) with the spirits. What dislike or suspicion (from Our part) could in that location be, that he must apologize (of his sins)? Let (the silk which he sent for) redemption be sent dorsum, in order thereby to contribute to the lavish entertainment of the upāsakas (yipusai 伊蒲塞) and śramaṇa (sangmen 桑門).^{[33] [b]}

In 70 CE, King Ying was implicated in rebellion and sentenced to death, merely Ming instead exiled him and his courtiers south to Danyang (Anhui), where Ying committed suicide in 71 CE. The Buddhist customs at Pencheng survived, and around 193 CE, the warlord Zhai Rong congenital a huge Buddhist temple, "which could comprise more than than 3 1000 people, who all studied and read Buddhist scriptures."^[35]

Second, Fan Ye's Book of Later Han quotes a "current" (5th-century) tradition that Emperor Ming prophetically dreamed almost a "golden human" Buddha. While "The Kingdom of Tianzhu" section (above) recorded his famous dream, the "Annals of Emperor Ming" history did not. Apocryphal texts requite divergent accounts about the regal envoys sent to India, their return with two Buddhist monks, Sanskrit sutras (including Sutra of Forty-2 Chapters) carried by white horses, and establishing the White Equus caballus Temple.

Maritime or overland transmission [edit]

Since the Book of Later Han nowadays ii accounts of how Buddhism entered Han Communist china, generations of scholars accept debated whether monks first arrived via the maritime or overland routes of the Silk Route.

The maritime route hypothesis, favored by Liang Qichao and Paul Pelliot, proposed that Buddhism was originally introduced in southern Prc, the Yangtze River and Huai River region, where King Ying of Chu was worshipping Laozi and Buddha c. 65 CE. The overland route hypothesis, favored by Tang Yongtong, proposed that Buddhism disseminated eastward through Yuezhi and was originally good in western China, at the Han uppercase Luoyang where Emperor Ming established the White Horse Temple c. 68 CE.

The historian Rong Xinjiang reexamined the overland and maritime hypotheses through a multi-disciplinary review of recent discoveries and enquiry, including the Gandhāran Buddhist Texts, and ended:

The view that Buddhism was transmitted to China by the sea route insufficiently lacks convincing and supporting materials, and some arguments are not sufficiently rigorous [...] the well-nigh plausible theory is that Buddhism started from the Greater Yuezhi of northwest Republic of india and took the state roads to reach Han China. After entering into China, Buddhism composite with early Daoism and Chinese traditional esoteric arts and its iconography received blind worship.^[36]

Origins of Buddhism [edit]

Fan Ye'south Commentary noted that neither of the Former Han histories–the (109–91 BCE) Records or the 1000 Historian (which records Zhang Qian visiting Central Asia) and (111 CE) Book of Han (compiled by Ban Yong)–described Buddhism originating in Bharat:^[31]

Zhang Qian noted only that: 'this country is hot and boiling. The people ride elephants into boxing.' Although Ban Yong explained that they revere the Buddha, and neither kill nor fight, he has recording zilch about the splendid texts, virtuous Law, and meritorious teachings and guidance. As for myself, hither is what I take heard: This kingdom is fifty-fifty more flourishing than Mainland china. The seasons are in harmony. Saintly beings descend and besiege in that location. Dandy Worthies arise in that location. Strange and boggling marvels occur such that human being reason is suspended. Past examining and exposing the emotions, 1 can attain across the highest heavens.^[37]

In the Book of Afterwards Han, "The Kingdom of Tianzhu" (天竺, Northwest Bharat) section of "The Relate of the Western Regions" summarizes the origins of Buddhism in China. After noting Tianzhu envoys coming by sea through Rinan (日南, Central Vietnam) and presenting tribute to Emperor He of Han (r. 89–105 CE) and Emperor Huan of Han (r. 147–167 CE), it summarizes the first "hard evidence" about Prince Ying and the "official" story about Emperor Ming:^[38]

There is a electric current tradition that Emperor Ming dreamed that he saw a alpine golden man the top of whose caput was glowing. He questioned his group of advisors and one of them said: "In the W there is a god called Buddha. His trunk is sixteen chi loftier (3.7 metres or 12 feet), and is the color of true gold." The Emperor, to discover the true doctrine, sent an envoy to Tianzhu (Northwestern India) to inquire virtually the Buddha's doctrine, after which paintings and statues [of the Buddha] appeared in the Middle Kingdom.

Then Ying, the king of Chu [a dependent kingdom which he ruled 41–71 CE], began to believe in this Practice, following which quite a few people in the Centre Kingdom began following this Path. Afterward, Emperor Huan [147–167 CE] devoted himself to sacred things and often made sacrifices to the Buddha and Laozi. People gradually began to accept [Buddhism] and, afterward, they became numerous.^[39]

Contacts with Yuezhi [edit]

There is a Chinese tradition that in 2 BCE, a Yuezhi envoy to the court of Emperor Ai of Han transmitted 1 or more Buddhist sutras to a Chinese scholar. The earliest version derives from the lost (mid-third century) Weilüe, quoted in Pei Songzhi'south commentary to the (429 CE) Records of Three Kingdoms: "the student at the imperial academy Jing Lu 景盧 received from Yicun 伊存, the envoy of the king of the Great Yuezhi oral instruction in (a) Buddhist sutra(s)."^[40]

Since Han histories do not mention Emperor Ai having contacts with the Yuezhi, scholars disagree whether this tradition "deserves serious consideration",^[41] or can exist "reliable cloth for historical enquiry".^[42]

The dream of Emperor Ming [edit]

Many sources recount the "pious legend" of Emperor Ming dreaming near Buddha, sending envoys to Yuezhi (on a date variously given as sixty, 61, 64 or 68 CE), and their render (3 or 11 years later) with sacred texts and the beginning Buddhist missionaries, Kāśyapa Mātanga (Shemoteng 攝摩騰 or Jiashemoteng 迦葉摩騰) and Dharmaratna (Zhu Falan 竺法蘭). They translated the "Sutra in Forty-2 Sections" into Chinese, traditionally dated 67 CE simply probably later than 100.^[43] The emperor built the White Horse Temple (Baimasi 白馬寺) in their honor, the first Buddhist temple in Prc, and Chinese Buddhism began. All accounts of Emperor Ming's dream and Yuezhi embassy derive from the anonymous (center 3rd-century) introduction to the Sutra of Forty-ii Chapters.^[44] For example, the (late tertiary to early fifth-century) Mouzi Lihuolun says,^[45]

In olden days emperor Ming saw in a dream a god whose torso had the brilliance of the dominicus and who flew before his palace; and he rejoiced exceedingly at this. The side by side 24-hour interval he asked his officials: "What god is this?" the scholar Fu Yi said: "Your subject area has heard it said that in India there is somebody who has attained the Tao and who is called Buddha; he flies in the air, his trunk had the brilliance of the sun; this must be that god.^[46]

Academics disagree over the historicity of Emperor Ming'due south dream but Tang Yongtong sees a possible nucleus of fact behind the tradition.^{[ commendation needed ]}

Emperor Wu and the Gold Human [edit]

The Volume of Han records that in 121 BCE, Emperor Wu of Han sent full general Huo Qubing to assault the Xiongnu. Huo defeated the people of prince Xiutu 休屠 (in mod-day Gansu) and "captured a golden (or gilded) man used by the Male monarch of Hsiu-t'u to worship Heaven."^[47] Xiutu's son was taken prisoner, but eventually became a favorite servant of Emperor Wu and was granted the name Jin Midi, with his surname Jin 金 "gold" supposedly referring to the "golden man."^[48] The golden statue was subsequently moved to the Yunyang 雲陽 Temple, near the imperial summer palace Ganquan 甘泉 (modern Xianyang, Shaanxi).^[49]

The (c. 6th century) A New Account of the Tales of the World claims this golden man was more than ten anxiety loftier, and Emperor Wu of Han (r. 141–87 BCE) sacrificed to it in the Ganquan 甘泉 palace, which "is how Buddhism gradually spread into (China)."^{[50] [c]}

Transmission to Korea [edit]

Centuries after Buddhism originated in India, the Mahayana Buddhism arrived in China through the Silk Route in 1st century CE via Tibet, so to Korean peninsula in 3rd century during the Three Kingdoms Period from where it transmitted to Japan.^[52] The Samguk yusa and Samguk sagi record the following iii monks who were among the get-go to bring Buddhist teaching, or Dharma, to Korea in the 4th century during the Three Kingdoms period: Malananta – an Indian Buddhist monk who came from either Serindian surface area of southern China's Eastern Jin Dynasty or Gandhara region of northern Indian subcontinent and brought Buddhism to the Male monarch Chimnyu of Baekje in the southern Korean peninsula in 384 CE, Sundo – a monk from northern Chinese state Onetime Qin brought Buddhism to Goguryeo in northern Korea in 372 CE, and Ado – a monk who brought Buddhism to Silla in central Korea.^{[53] [54]} In Korea, it was adopted as the state religion of 3 constituent polities of the Iii Kingdoms Period, outset by the Goguryeo (Gaya) in 372 CE, past the Silla in 528 CE, and by the Baekje in 552 CE.^[52] As Buddhism was not seen to conflict with the rites of nature worship, it was immune by adherents of Shamanism to be composite into their religion. Thus, the mountains that were believed past shamanists to be the residence of spirits in pre-Buddhist times subsequently became the sites of Buddhist temples.

Though it initially enjoyed wide acceptance, even being supported as the land credo during the Goryeo (918–1392 CE) period, Buddhism in Korea suffered farthermost repression during the Joseon (1392–1897 CE) era, which lasted over five hundred years. During this period, Neo-Confucianism overcame the prior say-so of Buddhism. Simply after Buddhist monks helped repel the Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–98) did the persecution of Buddhists finish. Buddhism in Korea remained subdued until the end of the Joseon menstruation, when its position was strengthened somewhat by the colonial menstruum, which lasted from 1910 to 1945. Nonetheless, these Buddhist monks did not only put an end to Japanese rule in 1945, but they also asserted their specific and separate religious identity by reforming their traditions and practices. They laid the foundation for many Buddhist societies, and the younger generation of monks came up with the ideology of Mingung Pulgyo, or "Buddhism for the people." The importance of this ideology is that information technology was coined by the monks who focused on common men's daily issues.^[55] Later on World War II, the Seon school of Korean Buddhism once again gained acceptance.

A 2005 government survey indicated that about a quarter of Southward Koreans identified equally Buddhist.^[56] However, the actual number of Buddhists in South Korea is ambiguous every bit there is no exact or sectional criterion by which Buddhists tin can be identified, dissimilar the Christian population. With Buddhism'due south incorporation into traditional Korean civilisation, it is now considered a philosophy and cultural groundwork rather than a formal religion. As a upshot, many people exterior of the practicing population are deeply influenced by these traditions. Thus, when counting secular believers or those influenced by the faith while not following other religions, the number of Buddhists in Southward Korea is considered to be much larger.^[57] Similarly, in officially atheist North korea, while Buddhists officially account for 4.v% of the population, a much larger number (over 70%) of the population are influenced by Buddhist philosophies and customs.^{[58] [59]}

Run into also [edit]

• Pāli Canon & Early Buddhist texts
• Gandhāran Buddhist Texts
• Southern, Eastern and Northern Buddhism
• Sarvastivada
• Tamrashatiya
• Buddhism in Southeast Asia
• Buddhism in East Asia
• Chinese Buddhism
• Mahayana
• Index of Buddhism-related manufactures

Notes [edit]

1. ^ "In onetime times, the people of Fusang knew nothing of the Buddhist faith, but in the 2d year of Da Ming of the Song dynasty (485 CE), five monks from Kipin (Kabul region of Gandhara) traveled by transport to that country. They propagated Buddhist doctrine, circulated scriptures and drawings, and brash the people to relinquish worldly attachments. Every bit a results the customs of Fusang changed." Ch: "其俗舊無佛法,宋大明二年,罽賓國嘗有比丘五人游行至其國,流通佛法,經像,教令出家,風 俗遂改.", Liang Shu "History of the Liang Dynasty, 7th century CE)
2. ^ "These two Sanskrit terms, given in the Chinese text in phonetic transcription, refer to lay adepts and to Buddhist monks, respectively";^[34] and bear witness detailed knowledge of Buddhist terminology.
3. ^ The (8th century) fresco discovered in the Mogao caves (near Dunhuang in the Tarim Basin) that depicts Emperor Wu worshipping 2 Buddhist statues, "identified as 'aureate men' obtained in 120 BCE by a slap-up Han general during his campaigns confronting the nomads". Although Emperor Wu did found the Dunhuang commandery, "he never worshipped the Buddha."^[51]

References [edit]

1. ^ Acri, Andrea (20 December 2018). "Maritime Buddhism". Oxford Inquiry Encyclopedia of Religion. Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.013.638. ISBN9780199340378. Archived from the original on nineteen February 2019. Retrieved thirty May 2021.
2. ^ von Le Coq, Albert. (1913). Chotscho: Facsimile-Wiedergaben der Wichtigeren Funde der Ersten Königlich Preussischen Expedition nach Turfan in Ost-Turkistan. Berlin: Dietrich Reimer (Ernst Vohsen), im Auftrage der Gernalverwaltung der Königlichen Museen aus Mitteln des Baessler-Institutes, Tafel 19. (Accessed three September 2016).
3. ^ Gasparini, Mariachiara. "A Mathematic Expression of Fine art: Sino-Iranian and Uighur Cloth Interactions and the Turfan Material Collection in Berlin," in Rudolf Grand. Wagner and Monica Juneja (eds), Transcultural Studies, Ruprecht-Karls Universität Heidelberg, No 1 (2014), pp 134–163. ISSN 2191-6411. Encounter also endnote #32. (Accessed iii September 2016.)
4. ^ Hansen, Valerie (2012), The Silk Route: A New History, Oxford Academy Press, p. 98, ISBN 978-0-nineteen-993921-iii.
5. ^ Zürcher (1972), pp. 22–27.
6. ^ Hill (2009), p. thirty, for the Chinese text from the Hou Hanshu, and p. 31 for a translation of information technology.
7. ^ Zürcher (1972), p. 23.
8. ^ Samad, Rafi-us, The Grandeur of Gandhara. The Ancient Buddhist Civilisation of the Swat, Peshawar, Kabul and Indus Valleys, p. 234
9. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Hahn, Thich Nhat (2015). The Heart of Buddha'due south Teachings. Harmony. pp. 13–16.
10. ^ ^{a b} Oscar R. Gómez (2015). Antonio de Montserrat – Biography of the commencement Jesuit initiated in Tibetan Tantric Buddhism. Editorial MenteClara. p. 32. ISBN978-987-24510-four-2.
11. ^ ^{a b} "History of Buddhism – Xuanfa Plant". Retrieved 2019-06-23 .
12. ^ Jacques, Martin. (2014). When communist china rules the globe : the end of the western world and the birth of a new global lodge. Penguin Books. ISBN9781101151457. OCLC 883334381.
13. ^ Loewe (1986), pp. 669–670.
14. ^ Foltz, "Religions of the Silk Road", pp. 37–58
15. ^ Tai Thu Nguyen (2008). The History of Buddhism in Vietnam. CRVP. pp. 36–. ISBN978-1-56518-098-7. Archived from the original on 2015-01-31.
16. ^ Broughton, Jeffrey L. (1999), The Bodhidharma Album: The Earliest Records of Zen, Berkeley: University of California Press, ISBN 0-520-21972-4. pp. 54–55.
17. ^ Soothill, William Edward; Hodous, Lewis (1995), A Dictionary of Chinese Buddhist Terms, London: RoutledgeCurzon https://web.archive.org/spider web/20140303182232/http://buddhistinformatics.ddbc.edu.tw/glossaries/files/soothill-hodous.ddbc.pdf
18. ^ Chen, Jinhua (2004). "The Indian Buddhist Missionary Dharmakṣema (385-433): A New Dating of His Arrival in Guzang and of His Translations". T'oung Pao. 90 (4/5): 215–263. doi:x.1163/1568532043628340. JSTOR 4528970.
19. ^ Glass, Andrew (2008). "Guṇabhadra, Bǎoyún, and the Saṃyuktāgama". Journal of the International Clan of Buddhist Studies: 185–203.
20. ^ Joe Cribb, 1974, "Chinese lead ingots with barbarous Greek inscriptions in Coin Hoards" pp.76–eight [1]
21. ^ Aboriginal Silk Road Travellers
22. ^ Jerry H. Bentley, Old Globe Encounters: Cross-Cultural Contacts and Exchanges in Pre-Modern Times (New York: Oxford Academy Press, 1993), 43–44.
23. ^ Jerry H. Bentley, Old World Encounters: Cross-Cultural Contacts and Exchanges in Pre-Modern Times (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), 48.
24. ^ Foltz, Richard (2010). Religions of the Silk Road: Premodern Patterns of Globalization. Springer. p. 55. ISBN9780230109100.
25. ^ Foltz, Richard (2010). Religions of the Silk Road: Premodern Patterns of Globalization. Springer. p. 56. ISBN9780230109100.
26. ^ Lewis, Mark Edward (2009). China's Cosmopolitan Empire: The Tang Dynasty. Harvard University Printing. p. 159. ISBN978-0-674-05419-6.
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28. ^ Saunders (1923), p. 158.
29. ^ Draper (1995).
30. ^ Williams (2005), p. 57.
31. ^ ^{a b} Zürcher (1972), p. 26.
32. ^ Zürcher (1972), p. 27. Compare Maspero (1981), p. 405.
33. ^ Tr. by Zürcher (1972), p. 27.
34. ^ Demiéville (1986), p. 821.
35. ^ Zürcher (1972), p. 28.
36. ^ Rong Xinjiang, 2004, Land Route or Sea Route? Commentary on the Written report of the Paths of Transmission and Areas in which Buddhism Was Disseminated during the Han Period, tr. by Xiuqin Zhou, Sino-Platonic Papers 144, pp. 26–27.
37. ^ Tr. by Hill (2009), pp. 56–57.
38. ^ Zürcher (1990), p. 159.
39. ^ Loma (2009), p. 31. Compare the account in Yang Xuanzhi's (6th-century) Luoyang qielan ji 洛陽伽藍記, tr. past Ulrich Theobald.
40. ^ Tr. by Zürcher (2007), p. 24.
41. ^ Draft translation of the Weilüe past John E. Hill (2004) The Peoples of the W.
42. ^ Zürcher (2007), p. 25.
43. ^ Demieville (1986), p. 824.
44. ^ Zürcher (2007), p. 22.
45. ^ Zürcher (2007), p. xiv.
46. ^ Tr. past Henri Maspero, 1981, Taoism and Chinese Religion, tr. past Frank A. Kierman Jr., University of Massachusetts Printing, p. 402.
47. ^ Tr. Dubs (1937), four–five.
48. ^ Dubs (1937), 4–5.
49. ^ Dubs (1937), v–6.
50. ^ Zürcher (2007), p. 21.
51. ^ Whitfield et al (2000), p. 19.
52. ^ ^{a b} Lee Injae, Owen Miller, Park Jinhoon, Yi Hyun-Hae, 2014, Korean History in Maps, Cambridge Academy Press, pp. 44–49, 52–60.
53. ^ "Malananta bring Buddhism to Baekje" in Samguk Yusa Iii, Ha & Mintz translation, pp. 178–179.
54. ^ Kim, Won-yong (1960), "An Early Golden-statuary Seated Buddha from Seoul", Artibus Asiae, 23 (1): 67–71, doi:x.2307/3248029, JSTOR 3248029 , pg. 71
55. ^ Woodhead, Linda; Partridge, Christopher; Kawanami, Hiroko; Cantwell, Cathy (2016). Faith in the Mod World- Traditions and Transformations (3rd ed.). London and New York: Routledge. pp. 96–97. ISBN978-0-415-85881-vi.
56. ^ Co-ordinate to figures compiled past the South Korean National Statistical Function."인구,가구/시도별 종교인구/시도별 종교인구 (2005년 인구총조사)". NSO online KOSIS database. Archived from the original on September 8, 2006. Retrieved August 23, 2006.
57. ^ Kedar, Nath Tiwari (1997). Comparative Religion. Motilal Banarsidass. ISBN81-208-0293-4.
58. ^ Religious Intelligence UK Study
59. ^ [2] North Korea, about.com

Sources [edit]

• Demieville, Paul (1986). "Philosophy and Religion from Han to Sui", in The Cambridge History of China: Book I: the Ch'in and Han Empires, 221 BC. – AD. 220. Edited by Denis Twitchett and Michael Loewe. Cambridge University Press. Pp. 808–873.
• Draper, Gerald (1995). The contribution of the Emperor Asoka Maurya to the evolution of the humanitarian ideal in warfare. International Review of the Red Cross, No. 305.
• Dubs, Homer H. (1937). The "Gilt Man" of Former Han Times. T'oung Pao 33.1: 1–14.
• Colina, John E. (2009) Through the Jade Gate to Rome: A Study of the Silk Routes during the Afterward Han Dynasty, 1st to 2nd Centuries CE. BookSurge, Charleston, South Carolina. ISBN 978-1-4392-2134-1.
• Michael C. Howard (23 February 2012). Transnationalism in Aboriginal and Medieval Societies: The Function of Cross-Edge Merchandise and Travel. McFarland. ISBN978-0-7864-9033-two.
• Loewe, Michael (1986). "The Religious and Intellectual Groundwork", in The Cambridge History of Red china: Volume I: the Ch'in and Han Empires, 221 BC. – Advert. 220, 649–725. Edited by Denis Twitchett and Michael Loewe. Cambridge University Printing.
• Richard H. Robinson; Sandra Ann Wawrytko; Ṭhānissaro (Bhikkhu.) (1996). The Buddhist Organized religion: A Historical Introduction . Wadsworth Publishing Company. ISBN978-0-534-20718-two. 774 787 srivijaya.
• Saunders, Kenneth J. (1923). "Buddhism in Red china: A Historical Sketch", The Periodical of Organized religion, Vol. 3.2, pp. 157–169; Vol. three.iii, pp. 256–275.
• Tansen Sen (January 2003). Buddhism, Affairs, and Merchandise: The Realignment of Sino-Indian Relations, 600–1400. Academy of Hawaii Press. ISBN978-0-8248-2593-five.
• Whitfield, Roderick, Whitfield, Susan, and Agnew, Neville (2000). Cave temples of Mogao: art and history on the silk road. Getty Publications.
• Williams, Paul (2005). Buddhism: Buddhist origins and the early history of Buddhism in South and Southeast Asia. Taylor & Francis.
• Zürcher, Erik (2007). The Buddhist Conquest of Prc, 3rd ed. Leiden. Eastward. J. Brill. 1st ed. 1959, 2nd ed. 1972.
• Zürcher, E. (1990). "Han Buddhism and the Western Region", in Idea and Law in Qin and Han Red china: Studies Defended to Anthony Hulsewe on the Occasion of His Eightieth Altogether, ed past Westward.L. Idema and Due east. Zurcher, Brill, pp. 158–182.

Farther reading [edit]

• Christoph Baumer, China'due south Holy Mountain: An Illustrated Journeying into the Centre of Buddhism. I.B.Tauris, London 2011. ISBN 978-1-84885-700-1
• Richard Foltz, Religions of the Silk Road, Palgrave Macmillan, 2nd edition, 2010, ISBN 978-0-230-62125-1
• Sally Hovey Wriggins, The Silk Road Journey with Xuanzang, Westview Press, 2004, ISBN 0-8133-6599-six
• JIBIN, JI BIN Road AND CHINA

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Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silk_Road_transmission_of_Buddhism

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