Blue-eyed Central Asian and East-Asian Buddhist monks, Bezeklik, Eastern Tarim Basin, China, 9th-10th century.

From the 4th century onward, Chinese pilgrims also started to travel to northern India, the origin of Buddhism, by themselves in order to get improved access to the original scriptures, with Faxian's pilgrimage to India (395-414), and later Xuanzang (629-644). The Silk Road transmission of Buddhism began to decline around the 7th century with the rise of Islam in Central Asia.

First contacts

Fresco describing Han Wudi (156-87 BCE) worshipping two statues of the Buddha, Mogao Caves, Dunhuang, c.8th century CE.

Earliest Historical Evidence

Recent research indicates that Buddhism had already been established in China during the reign of the first emperor, Qin Shihuang. The emperor is said to have suppressed Buddhism and Buddhist temples in the same way other philosophical schools were suppressed.http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/life/2009-05/13/content_7772181.htm Han Wei, a noted researcher from the Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology, found evidence for this in Records of the Grand Historian, along with corresponding historical, linguistic, and archaeological evidence. According to this study, Buddhism was already popular in the interior regions of China by the time its suppression began in 213 BCE. Silk Road Archaeologist Wang Jianxin has stated that Han's research sounds "reasonable".http://www.shanghaidaily.com/sp/article/2009/200905/20090516/article_401007.htm

According to some European historians, Mauryan emperor Ashoka the Great sent the royal monk Massim Sthavira to Nepal, Bhutan, and China to spread Buddhism around 265 BCE. However, it has not been widely confirmed that these missionaries arrived in China or that they were responsible for establishing the teachings of Buddhism there.

Traditional Accounts

The 1st century BCE Records of the Great Historian tells of the travels of the Chinese explorer Zhang Qian to Central Asia around 130 BCE, who reports about a country named Shendu (India), whose peaceful Buddhist ways are mentioned in writing in the 1st century CE Han history, the Hanshu. Chinese murals in the Tarim Basin city of Dunhuang describe Han Wudi (156-87 BCE) worshiping Buddhist statues, "golden men brought in 120 BCE by a great Han general in his campaigns against the nomads". However, there is no such mention of Han Wudi worshiping the Buddha in Chinese historical literature. The Hou Hanshu also records the visit of Yuezhi envoys to the Chinese capital in 2 BCE, who gave oral teachings on Buddhist sutras to a student, suggesting that some Yuezhi had already started to disseminate the Buddhist faith in eastern Asia during the 1st century BCE.^[1] The Hou Hanshu then describes the questionable legend about the encouragement of Buddhism around 70 CE by Emperor Ming (58-75 CE):

"There is a current tradition that Emperor Ming dreamed that he saw a tall golden man the top of whose head was glowing. He questioned his group of advisors and one of them said: ?In the West there is a god called Buddha. His body is sixteen chi high (3.7 metres or 12 feet), and is the colour of true gold.? The Emperor, to discover the true doctrine, sent an envoy to Tianzhu (Northwestern India) to inquire about the Buddha?s doctrine, after which paintings and statues [of the Buddha] appeared in the Middle Kingdom." ^[2]

This encounter is further described in a 6th century CE account by Yang Xuanzhi:

"The establishment of the Baima Temple (Temple of the White Horse) by Emperor Ming (58-75 CE) of the Han marked the introduction of Buddhism into China. The temple was located on the south side of the Imperial Drive, three leagues (li) outside the Xiyang Gate. The Emperor dreamt of the golden man sixteen Chinese feet tall, with the aureole of sun and moon radiating from his head and his neck. A "golden god", he was known as Buddha. The emperor dispatched envoys to the Western Regions ("???????") in search of the god, and, as a result, acquired Buddhist scriptures and images. At the time, because the scriptures were carried into China on the backs of white horses, White Horse was adopted as the name of the temple." (Translation: Ulrich Theobald).

Early Translations

The first documented translation of Buddhist scriptures into Chinese occurs in 148 CE with the arrival of the Parthian prince-turned-monk An Shigao (Ch. ???). He worked to establish Buddhist temples in Loyang and organized the translation of Buddhist scriptures into Chinese, testifying to the beginning of a wave of Central Asian Buddhist proselytism that was to last several centuries. An Shigao translated Buddhist texts on basic doctrines, meditation, and abhidharma. An Xuan (Ch. ??), a Parthian layman who worked alongside An Shigao, also translated an early Mah?y?na Buddhist text on the bodhisattva path.

Mah?y?na Buddhism was first widely propagated in China by the Kushan monk Lokak?ema (Ch. ????, active ca. 164?186 CE), who came from the ancient Buddhist kingdom of Gandh?ra. Lokak?ema translated important Mah?y?na s?tras such as the A??as?hasrik? Prajñ?p?ramit? S?tra, as well as rare, early Mah?y?na s?tras on topics such as sam?dhi, and meditation on the buddha Ak?obhya. These translations from Lokak?ema continue to give insight into the early period of Mah?y?na Buddhism.

Central Asian missionaries

Peoples of the Silk Road, Dunhuang, China, 9th century.

• An Shih Kao, a Parthian prince who made the first known translations of Hinayana Buddhist texts into Chinese (148-170).
• Lokaksema, a Kushan and the first to translate Mahayana scriptures into Chinese (167-186).
• An Hsuan, a Parthian merchant who became a monk in China 181
• Zhi Yao (c. 185), a Kushan monk, second generation of translators after Lokaksema.
• Kang Meng-hsiang (194-207), first translator from Kangju.
• Zhi Qian (220-252), a Kushan monk whose grandfather had settled in China during 168-190.
• Zhi Yueh (c.230), a Kushan monk who worked at Nanjing.
• Kang Senghui (247-280), born in Chiao-chih in the extreme south of the Chinese empire, and son of Sogdian merchant.
• Tan-ti (c.254), a Parthian monk.
• Po Yen (c.259), a Kuchean prince
• Dharmaraksa (265-313), a Kushan whose family had lived for generations at Dunhuang.
• An Fachiin (281-306), a monk of Parthian origins.
• Po Srimitra (317-322), a Kuchean prince.
• Kumarajiva (c. 401), a Kuchean monk, and one of the most important translators.
• Fo T'u-teng (4th century), Central Asian monk who became a counselor to the Chinese court.
• Bodhidharma (440-528), was, according to Yang Xuanzhi, a monk of Central Asian origin whom he met around 520 at Loyang. Bodhidharma was the founder of the Chan (Zen) school of Buddhism.

Sogdian donors to the Buddha (fresco, with detail), Bezeklik, eastern Tarim Basin, China, 8th century.

• Five monks from Gandhara traveled in 485 CE to the country of Fusang ("The country of the extreme East" beyond the sea, probably Japan, although some historians suggest the American continent), where they introduced Buddhism:

"In former times, the people of Fusang knew nothing of the Buddhist religion, but in the second year of Da Ming of the Song dynasty (485 CE), five monks from Kipin (Kabul region of Gandhara) traveled by ship to that country. They propagated Buddhist doctrine, circulated scriptures and drawings, and advised the people to relinquish worldly attachments. As a results the customs of Fusang changed" (Ch: "??????,?????,??????????????,????,??,????,? ???.", Liang Shu "History of the Liang Dynasty, 7th century CE).

• Jnanagupta (561-592), a monk and translator from Gandhara.
• Shikshananda (652-710 CE), a monk and translator from Udyana, Gandhara.
• Prajna (c. 810). A monk and translator from Kabul, who educated the Japanese K?kai in Sanskrit texts.

Artistic influences

"Heroic gesture of the Bodhisattva", 6th-7th century terracotta, Tumshuq (Xinjiang).

Serindian art often derives from the art of the Greco-Buddhist art of the Gandhara district of what is now Pakistan, combining Indian, Greek and Roman influences.

Highly sinicized forms of this syncretism can also be found on the eastern portions of the Tarim Basin, such as in Dunhuang.

Silk Road artistic influences can be found as far as Japan to this day, in architectural motifs or representations of Japanese gods (see Greco-Buddhist art).

Chinese pilgrims to India

Xuan Zang, Dunhuang cave, 9th century.

Tens of Chinese monks, possibly hundreds of them, visited India during that period.

The most famous of the Chinese pilgrims is Xuan Zang (629-644), whose large and precise translation work defines a ?new translation period?, in contrast with older Central Asian works. He also left a detailed account of his travels in Central Asia and India.

Decline

Buddhism in Central Asia began to decline in the 7th century following the incursion of the Muslim Caliphate. The vigorous Chinese culture progressively absorbed Buddhist teachings until a strongly Chinese particularism developed.

Central Asian Buddhist monks from the Tarim Basin and East Asian Buddhist monks appear to have maintained strong exchanges until around the 10th century, as shown by frescos from the Tarim Basin.

See also

• Greco-Buddhism
• Kushan Empire

Footnotes

References

• "The Silk Road Journey with Xuanzang", Sally Hovey Wriggins, Westview Press, 2004, ISBN 0-8133-6599-6

---

Source: Wikipedia | The above article is available under the GNU FDL. | Edit this article