Buddhism Dbq Essay

As Buddhism spread from India to China beginning in the first century C.E., it was met with mixed results and reviews in the classes. The Chinese people in some dynasties preferred Buddhism’s philosophy and promise of the afterlife while others scrutinized Buddhism’s absence from past texts. Although the Chinese turned to Buddhism for its promises of external enlightenment during times of hardship and invasion, the period that followed the initial spread led to many attempts to reconcile the religion with the traditional religion of Confucianism, increasing the views that Buddhism was a barbaric invasion.

The period that followed the Han dynasty was known as the Warring States Period, during which China suffered frequent invasions by nomads from

The “Disposition of Error” (Doc3) and the “Zang Mi” essay (Doc5) illustrate the attempts to allow both religions to co-exist. The “Disposition of Error,” written by an anonymous, upper class scholar addresses some points of conflict between Buddhism and Confucianism, but Zang Mi places the two religions on the same level. While Document 3 was written toward the end of a period of political disunity in China, Document 5 was produced in the early Tang Dynasty. Both documents show the desire of the Chinese to incorporate Buddhist beliefs without threatening the teachings of Confucius. However, document 3 was written by an upper class scholar, meaning that the uncertainties expressed about the compatibility of Confucianism and Buddhism might not have applied to the lower classes; document 5 was written during the Tang Dynasty, which partly drew legitimacy from these Buddhist beliefs. The persuasive purpose, then, may not actually to represent what the whole of China believes, but rather what the government wants them to