MR. HUNT AP WORLD HISTORY



Historical BackgroundThe tremendous growth of Buddhism led to a reaction by various Chinesekingdoms of the time. Although rulers of some of these states were devout Buddhists,during the sixth century we see the first of a long series of suppressions and persecutionsof the Buddhist community. There were a number of factors that governed theseepisodes. The most critical was the growing economic importance of Buddhism inChinese society. Early in Buddhism’s career in China, it had become an establishedpractice that Buddhist monks and temples should be tax-exempt, and rulers of theunstable regimes of the era of disunity were generally unwilling to bring their legitimacyas kings into question by the impious act of attempting to assert fiscal authority over thesacred realm. Consequently, as time went on, Buddhist institutions were able toaccumulate vast stores of wealth to which the state had no access. It became common forlay people to donate money and property to temples, both to earn increased access toparadise for their charitable works, and also to gain certain more tangible favors fromBuddhist temples. Among the latter, for instance, might be included free use of lands thathad been donated. This common practice allowed wealthy landowners to give away largetracts of land to monasteries, but to continue collecting rents from tenant peasants whofarmed the land. Because the land was now officially the property of the temple, theyields could no longer be taxed and the landowner greatly increased his profits, of whichthe Buddhist temple received a cut. (Buddhism came to play similarly importanteconomic roles in Korea and Japan.)As the economic influence of Buddhism grew, governments became increasinglyinclined to force reductions in the scale of Buddhist monasteries and nunneries. TheBuddhist “church” came to offer an alternative career to many aspiring young men andwomen, competing in many ways with the rewards of wealth and status promised by agovernment career (which was, in any event, open only to men), and the growingpopulation of tax- exempt monks and nuns were attracted to their “profession” as muchby hope of worldly gain as by devotion to the faith. During the latter period of the Tang,as the dynasty suffered a series of destabilizing blows that undermined its self-confidence,the government began to take drastic action against the Buddhist establishment.The climax came in 845 when the Tang government proclaimed a massivesuppression of Buddhism.Source: The Royal Cave Temple at the Longmen Grottoes, built during the reign of Empress Wu Zetian (624-705), a Buddhist and Emperor Longji (685-762), a patron of the arts, during the Tang dynasty.????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????Getty Images/Moment OpenSource: Han Yu, leading Confucian scholar and official at the Tang imperial court, “Memorial on Buddhism,” 819 C.E.Your servant begs leave to say that Buddhism is no more than a cult of the barbarian peoples spread to China. It did not exist here in ancient times. Now I hear that Your Majesty has ordered the community of monks to go to greet the finger bone of the Buddha [a relic brought to China from India], and that Your Majesty will ascend a tower to watch the procession as this relic is brought into the palace. If these practices are not stopped, and this relic of the Buddha is allowed to be carried from one temple to another, there will be those in the crowd who will cut off their arms and mutilate their flesh in offering to the Buddha.Now the Buddha was a man of the barbarians who did not speak Chinese and who wore clothes of a different fashion. The Buddha’s sayings contain nothing about our ancient kings and the Buddha’s manner of dress did not conform to our laws; he understood neither the duties that bind sovereign and subject, nor the affections of father and son. If the Buddha were still alive today and came to our court, Your Majesty might condescend to receive him, but he would then be escorted to the borders of the nation, dismissed, and not allowed to delude the masses. How then, when he has long been dead, could the Buddha’s rotten bones, the foul and unlucky remains of his body, be rightly admitted to the palace? Confucius said: “Respect ghosts and spirits, but keep them at a distance!” Your servant is deeply ashamed and begs that this bone from the Buddha be given to the proper authorities to be cast into fire and water, that this evil be rooted out, and later generations spared this delusion.Source: Tansen Sen, Buddhism, Diplomacy, and Trade: The Realignment of Sino-Indian Relations, 600-1400, 2003. 1242888PromptUsing the documents provided and your knowledge of world history, evaluate the extent to which the spread of Buddhism transformed Chinese society between 600 C.E. and 997 C.E.ThesisDirections: pick two of the documents to utilize and source. Describe the document. List anything you feel is importantExplain how the document would support an argument (complete sentences) What is the HAPP for this document? (select one)Explain WHY this matters in relation to the prompt (complete sentences)Describe the document. List anything you feel is importantExplain how the document would support an argument (complete sentences) What is the HAPP for this document? (select one)Explain WHY this matters in relation to the prompt (complete sentences) ................
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