Silk Road transmission of Buddhism

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Mahayana Buddhism first entered the Chinese Empire (Han dynasty) through Silk Road during the Kushan Era. The overland and maritime "Silk Roads" were interlinked and complementary, forming what scholars have called the "great circle of Buddhism".[1]
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Uyghur rule (9th–13th century).[4]

Buddhism entered Han China via the Silk Road, beginning in the 1st or 2nd century CE.[5][6] The first documented translation efforts by Buddhist monks in China were in the 2nd century CE via the Kushan Empire into the Chinese territory bordering the Tarim Basin under Kanishka.[7][8] These contacts transmitted strands of Sarvastivadan and Tamrashatiya Buddhism throughout the Eastern world.[9]

Hephthalite Empire, the Göktürks, and the Tang dynasty. The Indian form of Buddhist tantra (Vajrayana) reached China in the 7th century. Tibetan Buddhism was likewise established as a branch of Vajrayana, in the 8th century.[10]

But from about this time, the Silk road trade of Buddhism began to decline with the

Islamization of Central Asia. They embraced Tibetan Buddhism starting with the Yuan dynasty (Buddhism in Mongolia). The other khanates, the Ilkhanate, Chagatai Khanate, and Golden Horde eventually converted to Islam (Religion in the Mongol Empire#Islam
).

Southeast Asian traditions of Buddhism continued. As of 2019, China by far had the largest population of Buddhists in the world at nearly 250 million; Thailand comes second at around 70 million (see Buddhism by country
).

Northern transmission (from North India and Central Asia)

The Buddhism transmitted to China is based on the

Turfan
.

First contacts

Main articles: Zhang Qian, Western Regions, and Protectorate of the Western Regions

Buddhism entered[12] China via the Silk Road. Buddhist monks travelled with merchant caravans on the Silk Road to preach their new religion. The lucrative Chinese silk trade along this trade route began during the Han dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE), with voyages by people like Zhang Qian establishing ties between China and the west.

Han-Dayuan war. The Han victory in the Han–Xiongnu War further secured the route from northern nomads of the Eurasian Steppe
.

The transmission of Buddhism to China via the Silk Road started in the 1st century CE with a semi-legendary account of an embassy sent to the West by the Chinese Emperor Ming (58–75 CE):

It may be assumed that travelers or pilgrims brought Buddhism along the Silk Roads, but whether this first occurred from the earliest period when those roads were open, ca. 100 BC, must remain open to question. The earliest direct references to Buddhism concern the 1st century AD, but they include hagiographical elements and are not necessarily reliable or accurate.[13]

Extensive contacts however started in the 2nd century CE, probably as a consequence of the expansion of the

Kuchean.[14]

Missionaries

Peoples of the Silk Road. Mogao Caves, Dunhuang, China, 9th century
Bodhisattva mural. Chinese work showing Central Asian influence. Mogao Caves, China.
Bezeklik, eastern Tarim Basin
, China, 8th century

In the middle of the 2nd century, the

Loyang and sometimes Nanjing
, where they particularly distinguished themselves by their translation work. They promoted both Nikāya and Mahāyāna scriptures. Thirty-seven of these early translators of Buddhist texts are known.

  • An Shigao, a Parthian prince who made the first known translations of Nikāya Buddhist texts into Chinese (148–170)
  • Lokakṣema, a Kushan and the first to translate Mahāyāna scriptures into Chinese (167–186)
  • An Xuan, a Parthian merchant who became a monk in China in 181
  • Zhi Yao (c. 185), a Kushan monk in the second generation of translators after Lokakṣema.
  • Zhi Qian (220–252), a Kushan monk whose grandfather had settled in China during 168–190
  • Kang Senghui (247–280), born in Jiaozhi (or Chiao-chih) close to modern Hanoi in what was then the extreme south of the Chinese empire, and a son of a Sogdian merchant[15]
  • Dharmarakṣa (265–313), a Kushan whose family had lived for generations at Dunhuang
  • Kuchean
    monk and one of the most important translators
  • Fotudeng
    (4th century), a Central Asian monk who became a counselor to the Chinese court
  • Central Asian origin whom Yang Xuanshi met around 520 at Loyang.[16] Throughout Buddhist art, Bodhidharma is depicted as a rather ill-tempered, profusely bearded and wide-eyed barbarian. He is referred to as "The Blue-Eyed Barbarian" (碧眼胡:Bìyǎn hú) in Chinese Chan texts.[17]
  • Five monks from Gandhāra who traveled in 485 CE to the country of Fusang ("the country of the extreme east" beyond the sea, probably Japan), where they introduced Buddhism.[a]
  • Jñānagupta
    (561–592), a monk and translator from Gandhāra
  • Prajñā (c. 810), a monk and translator from Kabul who educated the Japanese Kūkai
    in Sanskrit texts

Additionally, Indian monks from central regions of India were also involved in the translation and spread of Buddhists texts into central and east Asia.[18][19] Among these Indian translators and monks include:

Early translations into Chinese

Kushans, excavated in Shaanxi, China, 1st–2nd century CE.[20]

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. 安世高). He worked to establish Buddhist temples in Luoyang 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. 安玄), a Parthian layman who worked alongside An Shigao, also translated an early Mahāyāna Buddhist text on the bodhisattva path.

samādhi and meditation on the buddha Akṣobhya
. These translations from Lokakṣema continue to give insight into the early period of Mahāyāna Buddhism.

By the 8th century CE, the School of Esoteric Buddhism became prominent in China due to the careers of two South Asian monks, Vajrabodhi and Amoghavajra. Vajrabodhi or Vajrabuddhi was the son of a South Indian aristocrat and is credited for bringing the theological developments from Bengal to East China. Buddhist scholar Lü Xiang, and lay disciple of Vajrabodhi writes about Vajrabodhi's accomplishments, including translating Buddhist texts such as ‘The Ritual for Practicing the Samadhi of Vairocana in the Yoga of the Adamantine Pinnacle Sutra’ etc.[1]

Though Vajrabodhi is credited for bringing Esoteric Buddhism into China, it was his successor, Amoghavajra, who saw the firm establishment of Esoteric Buddhism as a school of thought in China. Amoghavajra was the son of a South Asian father and Sodigan mother and brought his learnings from Sri Lanka to practice in China. He too translated several texts but is mostly known for this prominent position in the Royal Tang Court. Ge performed several Esoteric rituals for the royals and also established a separate doctrine of Buddhism for the deity Manjusri.[21]

Chinese pilgrims to India

From the 4th century onward, Chinese pilgrims also started to travel on the Silk Road to India, the origin of Buddhism, by themselves in order to get improved access to the original scriptures. According to Chinese sources, the first Chinese to be ordained was Zhu Zixing, after he went to Central Asia in 260 to seek out Buddhism.[22]

It is only from the 4th century CE that Chinese Buddhist monks started to travel to India to discover Buddhism first-hand. Faxian's pilgrimage to India (395–414) is said to have been the first significant one. He left along the Silk Road, stayed six years in India, and then returned by the sea route. Xuanzang (629–644) and Hyecho traveled from Korea to India.[23]

The most famous of the Chinese pilgrims is Xuanzang (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. The legendary accounts of the holy priest Xuanzang were described in the famous novel Journey to the West, which envisaged trials of the journey with demons but with the help of various disciples.

Role of merchants

During the fifth and sixth centuries C.E., merchants played a large role in the spread of religion, in particular Buddhism. Merchants found the moral and ethical teachings of Buddhism to be an appealing alternative to previous religions. As a result, merchants supported Buddhist monasteries along the Silk Roads. In return, the Buddhists gave the merchants somewhere to sojourn. Merchants then spread Buddhism to foreign encounters as they travelled.[24] Merchants also helped to establish diaspora within the communities they encountered and over time, their cultures were based on Buddhism. Because of this, these communities became centers of literacy and culture with well-organized marketplaces, lodging, and storage.[25] The Silk Road transmission of Buddhism essentially ended around the 7th century with the invasion of Islam in Central Asia.

By the 8th century, Buddhism began to be spread across Asia, largely by the influence of healers and wonder-workers. These groups of people practised a form of Buddhism that was to be called "Vajrayana". This cult was influenced by the practice of Tantra in parts of India and would later go on to influence the East Asian society into adopting forms of Buddhism stemming from this core school of belief. This time, the transmission was happening via the sea routes.[26]

Decline of Buddhism in Central Asia and Xinjiang