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Buddhism - Buddhism in Chinese History (Arthur F. Wright)
What were the political, social and cultural conditions that permitted the spread of Buddhism in the Chinese World? On page 17-19, the author indicates that there were social and political changes occurring in China that opened the door to the spread of Buddhism. For example (17), in A.D. 27-ca. 97, Imperial Confucianism, "which seemed to serve so well the needs of the monarchy and the elite," carried with it "several weaknesses which ultimately proved fatal." One weakness was the fact that "analogical reasoning" had been pushed so far it attracted the "criticism of skeptics and naturalists and thus brought the whole highly articulated structure into doubt."
Meantime, the author explains that while Imperial Confucianism was under attack (Wang Ch'ung had initiated this "process of erosion" of Imperial Confucianism), so too was Han dynasty Confucianism, which gave citizens of China during that period the idea that perhaps there was a better way of searching for the spiritual life. Han Confucianism (17) fell into a period where haggling over the interpretation of "authoritative texts" severely eroded "its capacity for self-renewal and its ability to deal with new problems," either practical problems or intellectual problems.
The problems that Han Confucianism was failing to come to grips with were problems resulting from "changing social and political conditions," which were not being dealt with very effectively by the Han institutional order. So, since this Confucian thought was "so completely interwoven" with the Han order, when that order began to disintegrate, "Confucianism was utterly discredited."
And then, in the 2nd Century A.D., when new social and political dynamics emerged, they produced "widening fissures" in Han society. One of those emerging political...
Buddhist clergy "not only offered the consolation of a simple faith, but, as favored instruments of government often brought..." grain for relief of starvation, medicine, "and other practical benefits which in an earlier day might have been provided by local officials or rural gentry."
And so, when the great monasteries "became entrepreneurs," they gave to the peasants (at first) "relatively infertile highlands" (59), but later, they gave "holdings in the lowlands...and helped develop…
Reference
Wright, Arthur F. (1959). Buddhism in Chinese History. Stanford, California: Stanford
Thus to some, Chinese acceptance of Buddhism was surprising given that "China was already a very old civilization, with a written language, a well-organized government system and educational system, with two well-established philosophical and religious traditions -- the Confucian and Daoist Traditions -- sophisticated literature, poetry, art & #8230; so we had here a very highly developed highly literate civilization, and Buddhism came from outside via missionaries" (Garfield 2010).
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