Origin
Changes in chinese history
Changes in History
Introduction
Buddhas
The followers of Buddha
 
 

 

Changes in chinese history

According to the historical records, after the death of Siddhartha, Buddhism fragmented into different sects. One of them is Mahayana which means the Great Vehicle which spreads to Sri Lanka and other southeast Asian countries. During the Christian era, Buddhism spreads to Yunnan Province , China . It becomes the Buddhism with Chinese characteristics. Due to different times, ways, regions and social backgrounds, the Buddhism in China has three major systems.

In Northern and Southern Dynasties, Buddhism began to develop throughout China . The number of believers and disciples rose quickly, for example, there were more than ten thousand monks and nuns in Chang'an and hundreds of monasteries in Jianye.

The golden age of Buddhism in China occurred during the Sui and Tang Dynasty. The emporors in Sui Dynasty believed in Buddhism. Although the emporors in Tang Dynasty believed in Taoism, they adopted tolerant policies towards other religions. Buddhism gradually developed.
During the later years of feudal society, Buddhism declined and various kinds of superstitious ideas were popular. In the contemporary times, Buddhism developed under the guidance of some learned people in Buddhism.

During the period of the Sino-Japanese War, a lot of patriotic buddhist monks such as Master Taixu supported our military forces ethically and materially and they made great contribution to the freedom and independence of our country by organizing rescue team.

 

After the founding of PRC, the budddists and all the people in our country took part in the land reform movement which abolished various exploiting system. The buddhist cause gradually developed. In 1953, the Buddhist Association of China was established in Beijing of which Master Yuanying was the head. Since the reform and opening up, the policy of freedom to believe in different religions has been formulated which makes Buddhism flourish. The tibetan Buddhism is popular in Tibet , Yunnan , Sichuan , Qinghai , Xinjiang , Gansu and inner Mongolia, in which there are more than seven million believers.