Buddhism Dbq Essay

Buddhism originated in India in the sixth century BCE and spread throughout China starting from about the first century CE. Buddhist ideologies appealed to a majority of the lower-class in china, as it served to embody a much more pleasant life, rather than the lack of opportunities for them in China’s political society. However, the social elites and government authorities saw Buddhism as a threat to their previous decrees and traditions, and may consequently result in a loss of their political power. As a result, they sought to undermine the impact of Buddhism on their societies by discrediting it’s teachings.

The authors of documents #2 and #3 expressed their views on Buddhism positively, contending and supporting the spread of Buddhism throughout China. After the fall of the

Han Dynasty, political disunity and chaos weakened the state as a whole, and Buddhist principles were more readily accepted by many peasants as well as scholars, such as Zhi Dun and the Chinese scholar. Dun supported Buddhism and found it’s teachings to be of certain values which reflect an accurate depiction of how to spend our lives and his views on Buddhism were at a time when northern China was invaded by central Asian steppe nomads.(Document #2) However, Zhi Dun held a respected position as a high official, therefore his views on the subject matter does not reflect the insights of the lower-class people of society who were more vulnerable and affected by the foreign attacks. The Chinese scholar countered the doubting Confucius questions with logic and reason, which is foreseeable with the scholar practices at the time, because many of them used logic to convince and impact the people of the nation. However, since both of the authors were made from a scholars point of view, there is no insight to how Buddhism has affected and inadvertently shaped the lives of the lower class society. So in order to make a more accurate representation of how Buddhism spread and was accepted throughout, China, historians needed to read excerpts from a locals point on view.
Contrary to the previous two author’s views and acceptance to Buddhism, Han Yu and Emperor Wu, undermined the Buddhist values and beliefs by mocking certain practices, using logic, and reference to past working beliefs of their society to dissuade and prevent the spread of Buddhism.

Han Yu is a Confucian scholar and official at the Tang imperial court and so his views on Buddhism can be shared by the other high class members of the society who may have also been devout Confucius believers. Emperor Tang expressed concern for his people and pitted the issue of the concern to the ways of Buddhist people, who, as a result of their resignation from participating members of society, could cause ,”someone to go hungry.”(Document 6) And as a result of his authoritative position as being an emperor, his opinions through this edict could have impacted the societies view against Buddhism greatly, which he used to his advantage. For Emperor Wu’s statement about people dying from the cold and starvation, and additional document representing his claims could have beneficial, with a correlation made between the time from when Buddhism spread throughout the region, and the amount of deaths due to

famine.
In the remaining two documents (#1 and #5) the authors of the selection do not attempt to persuade the nature of the reader’s view on Buddhism, but merely portray more of an understanding towards the ethics concerning their practices. In the sermon, the Buddha stated the Four Noble Truths, which are only a set of beliefs and principles of Buddhism, and not entirely persuading or dissuading the public. (Document #1) . Zong Mi represented his ideas in a manner in which coming to terms with the spread of Buddhism in China as well as other faiths and belief systems such as Confucius and Daoist beliefs contributed to the creation of an “orderly society.” (Document #5) Although Zong Mi created a compromise between the different teachings of these different beliefs, Zong Mi himself was a leading Buddhist scholar, so his essay may have only been written in an attempt to defend Buddhism in a discrete manner. In order to better validate this authors source and claim, the historians could have had more background search for Zong Mi, like a personal account to find how and why he defends these religious practices, without centering on his own, being Buddhism.
Buddhism spread throughout China starting from about the first Century CE, and appealed to the nation because of the disunity amongst the society and the political disunity. Moreover, Buddhism appealed to the lower class society because of it’s beseeching nature, and lack of restrictions that many of them faced in China under different belief systems. However, political authorities saw Buddhism as a threat to their old traditions, and also their political authority, leading to a struggle to accept Buddhism.