Buddhism in China: Beginnings

The Buddha Shākyamuni lived from about 560 b.c. to 480 b.c. in northern India. ⁷ The way of life that he founded was from the first both a monastic and a missionary religion. Spreading far beyond its homeland, about five hundred years after the death of the Buddha, Buddhism traveled quietly along the Silk Road into China.

The first positive evidence for Buddhism in China dates to a.d. 65 in the Latter Han dynasty (25-220). There is a brief reference in the Hou han shu (History of the Latter Han dynasty) ⁸ to Buddhism together with Taoism in the city of P'eng-ch'eng, a city that may be considered the easternmost terminus of the Silk Road (see map). ⁹ The next positive reference to Buddhism in China dates to the middle of the second century, in the northern city of Lo-yang, where foreign missionary monks and their Chinese followers set up a translation center. ¹⁰

Unfortunately, by the middle of the second century the Latter Han dynasty had begun the decline that ended with its collapse in a.d. 220. Rebellions, contenders for the throne, and nomadic tribes riding down from the north pressed the agrarian Chinese and created great social upheaval: families were separated; many became refugees; famine and disease were widespread; and there was general social and political chaos. The Great Wall had been built as a bulwark against the nomads, but it was only as strong as the defending dynasty.

Undaunted by all the difficulties in China, Buddhist missionaries continued to arrive and continued to translate scriptures. ¹¹ They brought a religion that offered consolation for a very uncertain world. The Buddhist emphasis on the world's illusory quality attracted many more followers than perhaps it would have in a time of peace and tranquility. In a time of social tranquility it could have ended up as a sect of Taoism, with which it was often associated during its early years in China. ¹²

The wars, however, continued. A trio of ill-starred dynasties tried to restore the old Han empire, but none could prevail over another or over the nomads until the Chin dynasty (265-317/317-420) briefly united the country in a.d. 280. ¹³ But that unity was neither long nor peaceful. The nomadic tribes sacked the two major northern capital cities of Lo-yang in 311 and Ch'ang-an in 316. In 317 the court of the Chin dynasty, along with many others, fled to the south. The loss of northern China to the barbarians began the division of the country into the Northern and Southern dynasties. A relatively stable, nonChinese dynasty fringed with many, often ephemeral barbarian kingdoms controlled the north, while a series of short-lived Chinese dynasties controlled the south. This division would last for several centuries until one ruler reunited the country in 589, long after the Lives was completed.

Because the Confucianism that had been the philosophical foundation of the Han dynasty had failed to prevent the disintegration of the empire, it lost the allegiance of many of the educated elite. Men began to look elsewhere for a way to order their lives and their land. The old loyalties were loosened, giving both Buddhism and Taoism a greater scope for development and expansion. Buddhism held its own and gradually became a less exotic sight and in addition became separated more and more from Taoism, with which, in the early days, it had often been confused and mingled.

In both north and south, Buddhism gradually became a part of upper-class life, but, after the shock of losing the heart of the empire to barbarians and the flight to the south in 317, the Chinese embraced Buddhism with a positive passion that continued throughout the time of the Northern and Southern dynasties. The Buddhist institutions that both immigrant and native worked to establish in the lower Yangtze River valley were planted so deeply that, despite the vicissitudes of decline, rebellion, and persecution over the centuries, these institutions always revived to regain their vitality. ¹⁴