Ap World 2204
DBQ 2004 AP World History Response
As Buddhism spread from India to China beginning in the first century C. E., it was met with mixed results. Many Chinese accepted Buddhism and defended its policies while others scrutinized Buddhism’s absence from past texts and used it as a scapegoat for political and social problems. Still others remained indifferent, wishing to meld the aspects of belief systems in China to create a unique Chinese culture. Documents 2 and 3 defend and support Buddhism in China, while documents 4 and 6 scrutinize it and discourage its spread. Documents 1 and 5 neither encourage nor discourage the religion’s spread, but provide a third perspective on how it should be dealt with. An additional document that shows the actual numbers of converts to Buddhism during this time, preferably in a graph, would be useful in determining whether or not the worries of the authors in documents against Buddhism were grounded. Documents 2 and 3 defend and support the spread of Buddhism in China during first century C.E Document 2 speaks of the many joys of joining the Buddhist religion. However, the author, Zho Dan, is of the upper class of China and as such, his testimony do not tell how lower classes felt. Yet, in a time when Asian steppe nomads were invading northern China, Zhi Dun could have easily targeted Buddhism as a means of foreign corruption, but he does not. Document 3 counters the scrutiny of anti-Buddhism with logic. However, since the author is anonymous, his bias in this document is difficult to pinpoint, yet his role as a scholar certainly dictates a slight upper class bias, as in document 2. Documents 4 and 6 all discourage the spread of Buddhism in first century C. E. China. Document 4 ridicules Buddhism as “a cult of barbarian peoples,” citing Confucian sayings as the truth amongst Buddhist lies. Han Yu’s position in the imperial court certainly makes his ideas a standard in the state, yet the Emperor acts otherwise and the
As Buddhism spread from India to China beginning in the first century C. E., it was met with mixed results. Many Chinese accepted Buddhism and defended its policies while others scrutinized Buddhism’s absence from past texts and used it as a scapegoat for political and social problems. Still others remained indifferent, wishing to meld the aspects of belief systems in China to create a unique Chinese culture. Documents 2 and 3 defend and support Buddhism in China, while documents 4 and 6 scrutinize it and discourage its spread. Documents 1 and 5 neither encourage nor discourage the religion’s spread, but provide a third perspective on how it should be dealt with. An additional document that shows the actual numbers of converts to Buddhism during this time, preferably in a graph, would be useful in determining whether or not the worries of the authors in documents against Buddhism were grounded. Documents 2 and 3 defend and support the spread of Buddhism in China during first century C.E Document 2 speaks of the many joys of joining the Buddhist religion. However, the author, Zho Dan, is of the upper class of China and as such, his testimony do not tell how lower classes felt. Yet, in a time when Asian steppe nomads were invading northern China, Zhi Dun could have easily targeted Buddhism as a means of foreign corruption, but he does not. Document 3 counters the scrutiny of anti-Buddhism with logic. However, since the author is anonymous, his bias in this document is difficult to pinpoint, yet his role as a scholar certainly dictates a slight upper class bias, as in document 2. Documents 4 and 6 all discourage the spread of Buddhism in first century C. E. China. Document 4 ridicules Buddhism as “a cult of barbarian peoples,” citing Confucian sayings as the truth amongst Buddhist lies. Han Yu’s position in the imperial court certainly makes his ideas a standard in the state, yet the Emperor acts otherwise and the