The Spread of Buddhism to East Asia, Part I

Interest in Buddhism as a form of philosophy was also sparked in some aristocratic circles and interested nobles engaged in scholarly discussion with monks, especially those who were able to relate the ideas to the context of Chinese culture. The Chinese monk Chih Tun (CE 314-66) was an important figure in this discussion, which mixed the philosophy of Buddhism with Chinese ideas concerning Gnostic mysteries and ontological speculation - that is, with the limits of human knowledge and existence and what it is possible to know. At the same time, Buddhist ideas were also being spread by the trade routes by sea and were there becoming adapted to new traditions and cultures.

In subsequent centuries, the desire for new knowledge inspired a series of Chinese monks to make the long and perilous journey to India to learn directly from masters there, as well as to acquire the texts which would be brought back to China where, already, organised squadrons of translators and scribes were waiting to add to the existing canon of knowledge - the story of the pilgrim monks will be the subject of the next article.

References and Further Reading

Ebrey, Patricia Buckley, China: Cambridge Illustrated History (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996).

Gernet, Jacques, A History of Chinese Civilisation, second edition (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), translated by J.R. Foster and Charles Hartman.

Sioris, George A., A History of Buddhism: from Extinction to Expansion, an Outline (Chiang Mai: The Knowledge Center, 2004).

John Walsh, Shinawatra International University, January 2005. Blog: http://jcwalsh.bravejournal.com

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