Spread of Buddhism Dbq

Buddhism was founded in India in the sixth century B.C.E and was brought to China by the first century C.E, Buddhism influences continued to expand for several centuries. After the fall of the Han Dynasty, Buddhism began to receive some citizens who agreed and accepted Buddhism because it allowed a way to escape sorrow, some who disagreed with it because they viewed it as a threat to the Chinese way of life and some who acknowledged all religions or felt in-between about it.
Buddhism had a positive invite; “The Four Noble Truths” basically states that one can escape the sorrows and cravings of life by accepting the Truth. (Doc 1). Zhi Dun stated that if you serve the Buddha at the end of your life you will be enlightened and enter Nirvana (Doc 2). Zhi Dun was a Chinese scholar and confidant of the Chinese aristocrats and high officials he was most likely able to influence them being that they trusted him as one of their confidants. Of course many people would convert to Buddhism if you got guarantee end of sorrow of your hard, uneasy life.
There were some who disagreed with Buddhism because they felt it as a threat to the Chinese way of life. The Tang Emperor, Wu stated that Buddhism poisoned the customs of the nation. He does not like the idea of people leaving their homes to follow the monastic decrees (Doc 6). Wu, being an emperor, is against the vast spread of Buddhism because a lot of people were converting, enough to outshine the imperial itself. He was probably trying to go against Buddhism to protect the imperial from a possible “invasion” or conflict between church and state. Han Yu writes about a servant of the king that calls Buddhism a cult of the barbarian peoples and says it does not conform to their laws (Doc 4). And despites the thought of the community greeting the bone of Buddha and states that Confucius said: “Respect ghosts and spirits, but keep them at a distance!” Han Yu, being a leading Confucian scholar, most likely agrees with the