Buddhism In China

During this early period of constant political and military conflict, Buddhism found an accepting audience in China, while the popularity of Confucianism slowly died out. Buddhism came to China in 1st century AD as the religious belief of merchants who came from Central Asia. For the next couple of centuries, the Chinese encountered a great variety of ideas and practices identified as Buddhist. Buddhism differed from other Chinese philosophies and religions. It was universal religion, embraced by all types of people, regardless of their social standing or race. Buddhism also has a founding figure, Siddhartha an Indian prince , who lived during sixth and seventh century BC. To many people in China, Buddhism was in a sense a variant to Taoism,
since most terms used to explain Buddhism came from Taoism and were essentially used to translate Buddhist concepts to people who were already familiar with Taoism. Buddhism was more widely understood after Kumarajiva, a Buddhist monk, settled in Chang’an with many other Buddhist monks at the time to translate many Buddhists text for the use of others.