Buddhism
The religion Buddhism founded by Siddhartha Gautama known as "Buddha"
entered China, almost 500 years after his death. Buddhism had already spread
north and west into Central Asia and it was inevitable that Buddhist
missionaries would travel the great trade routes east into the Han State. There
are no references to an early Buddhist presence in the official Confucian
literature, but other sources do speak of an oral transmission of the scriptures
in 2 BCE, and of a Buddhist community in 65 CE. Around 150 CE Buddhist
missionary monks established a translation center at the Han Dynasty capital
Lo-yang, and from the work done there two movements arose, the Dhyana and the
Prajna. The first was based on Theravada Buddhist texts on meditation (Skt.
dhyana) and breathing techniques. Although customarily called the Dhyana School,
it is more properly thought of as a sustained engagement on the part of the
Chinese, indulged by the translators, with the theoretical and practical details
of Buddhist meditation.
History
Great Mind
Doctrine
Classics