The Concept of the Buddhist Religion - Research Paper Example

AcceptabilityThe region of Buddhism unlike its predecessor Confucianism was able to directly address the concept of human suffering. This is what led to its wide appeal to the Chinese populace since they were undergoing a lot of suffering due to disease, displacement and scarcity of food. There was a lot of infighting between the broken state and the people of China at the time were dealing with a lot of chaos and disunity.

This was due to the warring states who were vying for supremacy after the fall of the Han dynasty. The Han dynasty had been so powerful and every subsequent and hopeful successor of the now divided state desired to have its glory and power. The religion of Buddhism is still very strong despite China's official shift to atheism. This is despite Communist attempts at stamping out religion when they took control of China in 1949. Buddhism continues to grow in China most especially after the economic reforms in the late eighties.

(PARKER, 1905)IntegrationThe Buddhism that took hold in China is the Mahayana form of Buddhism. It is variations within Mahayana Buddhism such as Zen Buddhism, Pure Land Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism (Lamaism). The Mahayana believes in broader interpretations of Buddha’s teachings. This is in contrast to the more abstract philosophical nature present in Theravada Buddhism. The Mahayana Buddhists also believe in more contemporary Buddhas like Amitabha. The Theravada Buddhists are against those beliefs so do not believe in the contemporary Buddha.

Buddhism's popularity also led to the quick conversion to Buddhism by later Chinese rulers (JETTY, 1914). These rulers made Buddhism into a state religion. The subsequent Sui and Tang Dynasties also all adopted Buddhism as their religion state religion. The foreign rulers of China were also not to be left out in their pursuit and practice of Buddhism such as the Yuan Dynasty and the Manchu dynasties. They did this to connect with the Chinese populace and to better legitimize their rule through the use of religion.

The Machus went to great lengths to draw parallels between Buddhism and their rule. This served them well as Buddhism was a foreign religion just as much as their own rule over the Chinese as foreign leaders.