Han Dynasty- Religion, Beliefs, Values
- Chinese people exchanged ideas and traded goods with other civilizations. Among these ideas was a new religion, it was called Buddhism.
- Buddhism spread from India to China along the silk road and other trade routes during the first century.
- Over time the Han government became less stable. People started to rebel, violence was common, millions of peasants went hungry and people were just simply ignoring the laws. Life was uncertain.
- Buddhism seemed to have provided them more hope than the traditional Chinese beliefs beforehand.The Chinese people began to embrace Buddhism because it offered rebirth and relief from suffering.
- At first Indian Buddhists had trouble explaining their religion to the Chinese. They eventually came up with using ideas found in Daoism to help describe Buddhist beliefs.
- Not long after that Buddhism had caught on in the upper AND lower classes. By AD 200,Buddhist alters stood in the emperor's palace. Some artists even carved towering statues of Buddha into mountain walls.