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I must stress that this was not a formal or universal change in religion but a slow integration of a system that permitted adaptation of its own form to promote acceptance as long as the fundamental theories and practices remained the same, unlike most religions. Buddhism worked its way into the court and decision makers of the Chinese state and that was the major sticking point for the religion in China. For Buddhism to be accepted the Emperor would have to condone it and at least offer his acceptance of it. Without imperial approval the religion was doomed to failure in such a regimented and centrally controlled state, of course some would practice it under threat of legal action because of faith but as a whole it would not prosper. To understand the level of acceptance of Buddhism within China, one must look at each class individually and see how widely practised it was by each class. This is due to the emphasis there was on class and how any single act, religion included, could be restricted to a single class as its base of power. This was the case with Buddhism to start as it came into China by way of the merchant traffic that continued to increase in the first half of the first millennium C.E. These merchants being of a middle class on average were well situated by class and occupation to promote the spread of Buddhism rapidly to a large and diverse collection of individuals. As such, after its initial entrance into China Buddhism was not a single class phenomenon, it was widespread and hierarchically diverse. It makes sense then, to defend the claim that China was a Buddhist country, we must prove that the religion had the support or at least acceptance of the emperor, a significant number of the court and government officials, the wealthy landholders and the peasantry. The emperor of China was, throughout the course of Buddhism’s introduction to China, reluctant to accept it as an officially sanctioned religion as the tenants of the religion have the ability to be taken as believing in the reducing of the power of the head of state to a subservient position to the religion. This was a major problem as the pre-existing religion, Confucism, had as one of its tenants strict loyalty to the emperor. This loyalty aspect of Confucism granted the emperor a divine claim of authorization for his power and use of it. The main sticking point that Buddhism had to get past to be openly accepted in China was the emperor. He controlled the flow of information from outside sources into the areas where people would be willing to accept new thoughts and The court officials were similar in position towards Buddhism as the emperor was due to the close relationship between his power and theirs. However, as the people whom implement the policies of the emperor they are also very important to the spread of the religion. In their capacity they have the ability to hinder the spread and to wrongfully use their power to arrest and cripple the religion. This hindering may be against the emperors wishes but with such a vast political structure the culprits could remain hidden and still act against Buddhism. As such their acceptance of the religion is crucial. However for the most part the acceptance of Buddhism came at the same instant as the emperor accepted the religion as to oppose him meant death and few would challenge him, even from the protection of anonymity through “red tape” of the bureaucracy. The wealthy citizens of China, landholders and powerful merchants, are also important to the spread of Buddhism due to the influence they have over the numerous peasants. This influence lends itself to imitation by the peasants of the ways of the powerful so as to seem more powerful themselves. For the wealthy citizens Buddhism offered great prospects as it offered to a small extent the ability of capital to ease the path to the afterlife. This is through alms, or charity to the poor, an area where the wealthy were far more capable of being active. This is not to say that wealth alone offers any aid but proper Buddhist use of it does. The Transformation Text on Mahamaudgalyayana Rescuing his Mother from the Underworld has a good example of the ability of an wealthy individual to enter Nirvana easily and at the same time show how the failure to use wealth appropriately can cause one to enter the seven hells. The example is of Mahamaudgalyayana, who is wealthy and gives alms frequently and subsequently is offered a position in Nirvana while his mother fails to obey his desire for he to continue to give alms and upon he death was delivered into the seven hells where Mahamaudgalyayana had to work very diligently to save her and grant her a second chance at entering Nirvana(Custom Courseware 63-80). The peasants are not crucial to the spread of Buddhism, but are crucial in that it is they who in the end are the most populous group that follow the religion. Because of the amount of peasants who practice Buddhism they are able to influence the course of the religion’s development over time. The story of Mahamaudgalyayana is also important to the acceptance of Buddhism to the peasantry as the story offered the hope to save other people who would not save themselves and at the same time was interesting enough to make people listen to the story and thereby increase the spread of belief structure subversively. The main argument for peasant acceptance of Buddhism over Confucism is that Buddhism was a self directed and introspective religion that required enlightenment through a process of self guided and mentor based spiritual adventures or training activities. Confucism however, was focused upon the development of the state through the betterment of each individual through learning and education. It is this education that causes a problem for most peasants as the funds to pay for it are not present in their style Collectively these groups of people make up China. So if we have shown that the individual groups were Buddhist or were accepting of Buddhism then the claim that China was a Buddhist country can be defended. Bibliography: none Word Count: 1041
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