The influence of Buddhism grew to such an extent that vast amounts of financial and human resources were expended on the creation and establishment of impressive works of art and elaborate temples. This growing interest in Buddhism helped to inspire new ways of depicting deities, new types of architectural spaces in which to worship them, and new ritual motions and actions. In this section, we will look at Six Dynasties and Tang Chinese Buddhist images, view some early and late Buddhist temples, then take a glimpse at contemporary Buddhist practice.
In understanding Chinese belief systems, it is important not to take terms at face value; the word "religion" zongjiao , for example, did not exist in the Chinese lexicon until the 19th century. Appreciating the complexity of Chinese belief systesm is crucial to understanding the forces that helped shape China. Buddhism, a cultural system of beliefs and practices based on principles of compassion and non-attachment, originated in the sixth century BCE in what is today Nepal.
It was brought to China by Buddhist monks from India during the latter part of the Han dynasty ca. To help the Chinese comprehend Buddhist concepts, Buddhists borrowed ideas from Daoism via the Chinese language. Both Buddhism and Daoism benefited from this exchange.
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Your current browser may not support copying via this button. Introduction Buddhism is a major religion in China, and its influence extends beyond China to other regions of East Asia, particularly Korea and Japan, and other areas in Asia and throughout the world affected by the Chinese diaspora. General Overviews Currently existing overviews of Chinese Buddhism are few in number, restricted in scope, and dated in terms of scholarship. How to Subscribe Oxford Bibliographies Online is available by subscription and perpetual access to institutions.
Jump to Other Articles:. Oxford University Press. The time from to is often called the period of Northern and Southern Dynasties, although the political reality was more complicated than that.
For purposes of this article, though, we'll compare north and south China. A large part of north China came to be dominated by the Xianbei tribe, predecessors of the Mongols. Buddhist monks who were masters of divination became advisers to rulers of these "barbarian" tribes.
In , the Wei ruler Emperor Taiwu began a brutal suppression of Buddhism. All Buddhist temples, texts, and art were to be destroyed, and the monks were to be executed. At least some part of the northern sangha hid from authorities and escaped execution. Taiwu died in ; his successor, Emperor Xiaowen, ended the suppression and began a restoration of Buddhism that included the sculpting of the magnificent grottoes of Yungang.
The first sculpting of Longmen Grottoes can also be traced to Xiaowen's reign. In south China, a kind of "gentry Buddhism" became popular among educated Chinese that stressed learning and philosophy.
The elite of Chinese society freely associated with the growing number of Buddhist monks and scholars. By the 4th century, there were almost 2, monasteries in the south. Buddhism enjoyed a significant flowering in south China under Emperor Wu of Liang, who ruled from to The Emperor Wu was a devout Buddhist and a generous patron of monasteries and temples.
New schools of Mahayana Buddhism began to emerge in China. This was the beginning of the Pure Land school of Buddhism. Pure Land eventually would become the dominant form of Buddhism in East Asia. About the year , an Indian sage named Bodhidharma ca.
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