RLG100Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Chinese Buddhism, Nianfo, Yogachara
Document Summary
Entered china around 1st century ce via the silk road (ancient trade route) It spread through the north (1st to 3rd century) Then it spread through the south (3rd to 6th century) 6th to 10th century, the unification of china allowed buddhism to thrive. The reason it did t immediately thrive is the differences between the precepts of. Confucianism and buddhism: change and suffering vs. love and goodness in the world, leaving family and society (sramana) vs responsibility to society, family and ancestors, cutting off hair, vs the body being holy, no mutations. Buddhism received royal patronage and evolved on its own, a hybrid between historical. Taking ideas from opposite traditions and putting them together. Asian traditions are more open to syncretism than abrahamic traditions, their borders are more porous. The issue was that all the buddhist scripts were in pali or sanskrit, not easily accessible to the. Chinese, some famous monks translated sutras (buddhist teachings contained in texts)
