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 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