social studies
Buddhism was introduced to china during what dynasty?
- Posted:
- 3+ months ago by brayden i...
- Topics:
- buddhism, china, social, social studies
Answers (1)
Buddhism first came into China from India. This religion says the book World Religions—From Ancient History to the Present. What this means is that there is no source material of his time to tell us anything about Siddhārtha Gautama, the founder of this religion, who lived in northern India in the sixth century B.C.E. That, of course, presents a problem. However, more serious is the question of when and how the “canonical texts” were produced.
Buddhist tradition holds that soon after the death of Gautama, a council of 500 monks was convened to decide what was the authentic teaching of the Master. Whether such a council actually did take place is a subject of much debate among Buddhist scholars and historians.
According to Sri Lankan chronicles of the fourth and sixth centuries C.E., the earliest of these Pali “canonical texts” were put in writing during the reign of King Vattagamani Abhaya in the first century B.C.E. Other accounts of the Buddha’s life did not appear in writing until perhaps the first or even the fifth century C.E., nearly a thousand years after his time.
Buddhism has inspired, not faith in God, but reliance on self. If a person’s faith is misplaced, how could he ever find the truth that brings real satisfaction? Down through the ages, the Chinese have followed the tradition of worshipping their ancestors, idols, and the spirits in nature, engrossed in the multitudes of rites and rituals connected with them. As a result, the concept of a personal God, or Creator, is something foreign to most Chinese.The Buddha, who never claimed to be God, has become a god in every sense of the word.
If a person’s faith is misplaced, how could he ever find the truth that brings real satisfaction?
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