1. BUDDHISM IN
CHINA
By Muhamed

2. HOW, WHEN, AND WHY BUDDHISM STARTED
 Started in first century C.E
 Buddhism spread along silk road
 Reached China in late Han Dynasty
 Traveled along the silk road
 Buddhist Monks came to the capital of China (Chang’an) because of The Chinese
Officials and the Monks
 showed the emperor a picture of Buddha
 Practiced Buddhism in China at second century C.E
 Many people including monks translate Buddhist text into Chinese and Buddhism
spreads
 Buddhism popular in China today
 The emperor had a dream about Buddha, sent his officials to find information
 Officials found two monks that had the information and bring them back to the
palace
 The emperor wanted the monks to stay and translate the scriptures
 Build temple for the monks to stay in. called White Horse Temple

3. PICTURE OF THE SILK ROAD

4. MAJOR DIFFERENCES BETWEEN
INDIAN AND CHINESE BUDDHISM.
 Chinese believe everyone has a soul, Indians don’t believe in
souls
 Chinese worship the dead, Indians are disgusted by the dead
 Indian were okay with moderate meditation and fasting to get a
reward at the end of life, Chinese though this was silly
 If Indian Buddhist text did not have enough details, Chinese made
them up and added them in
 Chinese introduced spells and charms to Buddhism

5. CONDITIONS IN CHINESE SOCIETY
THAT MADE BUDDHISM ATTRACTIVE
TO THE PEOPLE
 Buddhism was similar to Taoism so the Taoist were interested to
learn more (borrowed Taoist words)
 When Han dynasty fell the country was in chaos and
Confucianism (main religion) lost power
 South China the wealthy class started to adopted Buddhism
 The rulers in the North became Buddhist because the monks
were there advisors
 Some people in China were suffering and Buddhism promised an
escape
 After Han dynasty fell people turned to Buddhism for peace and
comfort

6. THE CHINESE LEADERSHIP
PROMOTED OR DISCOURAGED THE
PRACTICE OF BUDDHISM.
 (after Han dynasty) The rulers in the North became Buddhist
because the monks were there advisors
 Emperor Taiwu of Wei Dynasty did not support Buddhism
 Temples, text, and art were to be destroyed
 Monks executed
 Next emperor (Wencheng) rebuilt Buddhism
 When North and South China reunited only thing had in common
was Buddhism
 Sui emperor encourage Buddhism to show they were one country

7. BIBLIOGRAPHY
 http://www.monkeytree.org/silkroad/mindbody/buddhism.html
 http://www.hyperhistory.net/apwh/essays/comp/cw07indiabuddhismchin
a.htm
 http://www.thezensite.com/ZenEssays/HistoricalZen/FromIndiatoChina.
htm
 http://buddhism.about.com/od/throughasiaandbeyond/a/chinahistory.htm
 http://my.hrw.com/

8. THANK YOU FOR WATCHING