Althought the exact date in which Buddhism reached China is unclear, it was obviously a factor as early as first century BCE. Buddism reached China through the silk road and other larege trading routes by late Han Dynasty. One account of Buddhism's entry into China describes the Han Emperor Ming's dream during the first century CE. It is said that Buddha appeared to the emperor in a dream and that the very next day he ordered some his officials to travel west in an attempt to find what had caused his vision. The officials west traveled along the Silk Road and eventually came upon two Buddhist monks with two white horses. The monks carried with them a picture of Buddha and their horses were loaded with holy Buddhist scriptures. The Chinese officials invited the monks to return with them to China's capital, Chang'an, to introduce Buddhism to the emperor.Upon there return to Chang'an, the emperor identified the picture of Buddha as the figure he had seen in his dream. The emperor asked the two monks to translate their texts into Chinese. The emperor built a temple for the two monks to stay in while they translated their texts. The temple that became known as the White Horse Temple in honor of the two white horses that had carried Buddhist scriptures all the way from China. No one knows forsure if this is true or a myth, but it would make sense as to how Buddism reached China.
No comments:
Post a Comment