Dbq: Analyze Different Attitudes Buddhism Faced in China Based on the Documents.
Buddhism, founded in India in the sixth century BCE, was rising in popularity among many peoples and eventually spread to China by the first century BCE. In China, Buddhism was faced with many mixed opinions. Some looked to it as truth and comfort and thought it was a good impact on society, others attacked the religion and accused it of being barbaric and a disturbance, and others tried to blend the new uprising religion with China’s existing philosophies. There were people who supported and followed the new religion of Buddhism as it started to grow and make its place in China. Document 3 is written by an anonymous Chinese scholar and it defends the Buddhist faith from someone that is accusing it from being subordinate to Confucianism and going against the Chinese culture by not having a family. The author defends Buddhism with logic and replies that Buddhism and Confucianism cannot be compared because of how different they are from one another, and that goodness and wisdom would replace the value of having a family. Document 2 is written by Zhi Dun, also a scholar of a high position, and it discusses how one can find enlightenment from devoting to Buddha’s ways and not by worldly pleasures. The point of view on document 2 is affected by the situation that was going on in China, and that was the rise in splurging of earthly pleasures and riches that was the result of trying to escape the pain that was caused by the invasions of nomads. Zhi Dun points out this situation when he says, “…in this era of sensual pleasures.” Zhi Dun condemns this sensual group of people by pointing out that they are going against the teachings of Buddha that includes, “Sorrow…delight and passion, the craving of sensual pleasures,” (Document 1). Document 1 is a first-hand source from Buddha himself that states that sorrow comes from craving and desiring sensual pleasures, which was exactly what the people Zhi Dun was talking about were doing. There were also people in China who