AP World History
DBQ: The Spread of Buddhism in China
Following the collapse of the Han dynasty in 220 C.E., China had major problems with political instability and disunity. This instability and disunity continued until about 570 C.E., and some would argue that the instability was partially fixed because of Buddhism reaching China—challenging Confucianism’s stronghold on religion. Buddhism focuses on the Four Noble Truths, sorrow, craving, stopping sorrow, and how to stop sorrow (Doc 1). The first document is from Buddha’s first sermon, used to teach people what Buddhism is, and it is a very general overview of the beliefs of Buddha. While some of China, especially higher authorities, thought that Buddhism was cultish and foreign and did not approve of Buddhism reaching China, more regarded Buddhism as acceptable and a good, fresh change, or at least thought it should be treated equally.
A Confucian scholar said in 819 C.E. that Buddhism was “no more than a cult of the barbarian people spread to China” (Doc 4). He expresses concerns about Buddhist people mutilating themselves in some practice of Buddhism and how he’s concerned that if Buddhism is allowed to be spread, all temples will have Buddhist self-mutilators. He also expresses concerns that “Buddha was a man of the barbarians who did not speak Chinese and who wore clothes of a different fashion” (Doc 4). His words show the xenophobia that was heightened in some during this period of instability in China. While his point of view is valid and many others probably shared the same thoughts, it must be considered that as an official at an imperial court and as a leading Confucian scholar, it’s expected for him to follow Confucian teachings and to not rock the boat. To even get a job in a position like he has, he would’ve had to take a civil service exam, which requires a person to know loads about Confucianism. Tang Emperor Wu further criticizes Buddhism and exemplifies the level of xenophobia in some, saying it is no longer allowed to be practiced because it is foreign and evil (Doc 6). The emperor probably says all these things and makes the decision to eradicate it because he’s come up with the conclusion, on his own or through others, that Buddhism will just hurt the economy and Chinese people and that it’s a threat to family, social structure, and other tradition. Emperor Wu probably has the best interests of his people in mind and says that Buddhism will be eradicated because it will be for the better good of his people. Both of these documents represent mainly what people extremely high in power thought of Buddhism, which does not necessarily represent what the majority of other people thought. While some criticized Buddhism’s foreignness, many people were extremely accepting of the newly learned about religion.
In 350 C.E., a Chinese scholar admired aspects of Buddhism, like Nirvana, even in the period of unrest (Doc 2). While the author, Zhi Dun, is a Chinese scholar who sounds like he’s at a fairly high level of respect, he sees the good in Buddhism and probably published his reports in hopes that other people would also be more accepting of Buddhism. He thought Buddhism provided peace and stability in periods of instability. Many people, as aforementioned, disagreed that Buddhism was good, and provided arguments that Buddhism was not Chinese or useful. Those arguments were all addressed in a document by an anonymous Chinese scholar in 500 C.E., who said that Confucianism shouldn’t be the only way of thinking ever taken into consideration (Doc 3). This anonymous scholar knew the arguments against Buddhism, and supported Buddhism even though it was regarded as rebellious. He shows in his defense of Buddhism that he believes it’s a valid point of view and should not be ignored. It’s clear through his article that he believes in some kind of coexistence between Confucianism and Buddhism, and the argument is made stronger because of his Confucian background as a scholar. His arguments may be questioned, however, because he did not state his name, possibly because he was concerned that higher authorities would shun him for not completely agreeing with the traditional Confucianism. A Buddhist scholar, Zang Mi, then takes the idea of coexistence one step further in 9th century C.E., and says that not only Confucianism and Buddhism should be accepted and valid, but so should Daoism (Doc 5). He’s the first of all of these scholars to believe that, effectively, all religions should be given an equal chance. Zang Mi believes that having equality for all beliefs would not only help China socially, but also politically, and says all philosophies are useful. Zang Mi is a Buddhist scholar, which must be considered when reading the document, as it’s made clear that he’s trying to defend Buddhism and put it in a bit of a better light with higher authorities. At the same time, however, Zang Mi is trying to make a case to the emperor, and is trying to be honest. All of these documents come from people, more often than not, trying to be real and honest about Buddhism to put it in a proper light. All these documents come from people not necessarily as highly regarded as the documents that had people with negative views towards Buddhism, which represents the views of regular people a bit more realistically.
Both the evilness and goodness of Buddhism are argued in these documents, but it’s safe to say that Buddhism was generally more accepted than denied. The main people saying Buddhism was evil had some sort of reputation to uphold, while the people accepting Buddhism were just trying to make a valid argument that Buddhism should at least be treated as an equal and not inferior. It’s possible to infer, then, that more regular people were accepting of Buddhism. Arguments against Buddhism were extreme, calling it evil, and all the arguments accepting Buddhism were much more calmly presented, which ironically shows the safety and goodness of Buddhism even more.