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The Silk Road transmission of Buddhism to China started in the 1st century CE with a semi-legendary account of an embassy sent to the West by the Chinese Emperor Ming (58-75 CE).
Extensive contacts however started in the 2nd century CE, probably as a consequence of the expansion of the Kushan empire into the Chinese territory of the Tarim Basin, with the missionnary efforts of a great number of Central Asian Buddhist monks to Chinese lands. The first missionaries and translators of Buddhists scriptures into Chinese were either Parthian, Kushan, Sogdian or Kuchean.
From the 3rd century onward, Chinese pilgrims also started to travel to India by themselves in order to get improved access to the original scriptures, with Fa-hsien's pilgrimage to India (395-414), and later Xuan Zang (629-644).
The Silk Road transmission of Buddhism essentially ended around the 7th century with the rise of Islam in Central Asia.
First contacts
The first contacts between China and Central Asia occurred with the opening of the Silk Road in the 2nd century BCE. The Records of the Great Historian (Ch:史記) describe a country named Shendu (India) and their Buddhist ways.
The first direct encounter of China with Buddhism is described by Yang Xuanzhi as occurring around 70 CE:
- "The establishment of the Baima Temple (Temple of the White Horse) by Emperor Ming (58-75 CE) of the Han marked the introduction of Buddhism into China. The temple was located on the south side of the Imperial Drive, three leagues (li) outside the Xiyang Gate. The Emperor dreamt of the golden man sixteen Chinese feet tall, with the aureole of sun and moon radiating from his head and his neck. A "golden god", he was known as Buddha. The emperor dispatched envoys to the Western Regions ("遣使向西域求之") in search of the god, and, as a result, acquired Buddhist scriptures and images. At the time, because the scriptures were carried into China on the backs of white horses, White Horse was adopted as the name of the temple." (Translation: Ulrich Theobald).
The first documented transmission of Buddhist scripture occurs in 148 CE, with the arrival of the Parthian missionary An Shih Kao in China. He established Buddhist temples in Loyang and organized the translation of Buddhist scriptures into Chinese, initiating a wave of Central Asian Buddhist prozelitism that was to last several centuries.
Central-Asian missionaries
In the middle of the 2nd century CE, the Kushan empire under king Kanishka expanded into Central Asia and went as far as taking control of Kashgar, Khotan and Yarkand, which were Chinese dependencies in the Tarim Basin, modern Xinjiang.
As a consequence, cultural exhanges greatly increased, and Central-Asian Buddhist missionaries became active shortly after in the Chinese capital cities of Loyang and sometimes Nanjing, where they particularly distinguished themselves by their translation work. They promoted both Hinayana and Mahayana scriptures. Thirty-seven of these early translators of Buddhist texts are known.
Peoples of the Silk Road, Dunhuang, 9th century. - An Shih Kao, a Parthian prince who made the first known translations of Hinayana Buddhist texts into Chinese (148-170).
- Lokaksema, a Kushan and the first to translate Mahayana scriptures into Chinese (167-186).
- An Hsuan, a Parthian merchant who became a monk in China 181
- Zhi Yao (c. 185), a Kushan monk, second generation of translators after Lokaksema.
- Kang Meng-hsiang (194-207), first translator from Sogdiana (Kangju).
- Zhi Qian (220-252), a Kushan monk whose grandfather had settled in China during 168-190.
- Zhi Yueh (c.230), a Kushan monk who worked at Nanjing.
- Kang Sengkai (247-280), born in Chiao-chih in the extreme south of the Chinese empire, and son of Sogdian merchant.
- Tan-ti (c.254), a Parthian monk.
- Po Yen (c.259), a Kuchean prince
- Dharmaraksa (265-313), a Kushan whose family had lived for generations at Dunhuang.
- An Fachiin (281-306), a monk of Parthian origins.
- Po Srimitra (317-322), a Kuchean prince.
- Kumarajiva (c. 401), a Kuchean monk, and one of the most important translators.
- Fo T'u-teng (4th century), Central Asian monk who became a counselor to the Chinese court.
- Bodhidharma (440-528), was, according to Yang Xuanzhi, a monk of Central Asian origin whom he met around 520 at Loyang. Bodhidharma was the founder of the Chan (Zen) school of Buddhism.
- Jnanagupta (561-592), a monk and tranlator from Gandhara.
- Shikshananda (652-710 CE), a monk and translator from Udyana, Gandhara.
- Prajna (c. 810). A monk and translator from Kabul, who educated the Japanese Kukai in Sanskrit texts.
Artistic influences
Central Asian missionnary efforts along the Silk Road were accompanied by a flux of artistic influences, visible in the development of Serindian art from the 2nd through the 11th century CE in the Tarim Basin, modern Xinjiang.
Serindian art often derives from the art of the Greco-Buddhist art of the Gandhara district of what is now Pakistan, combining Indian, Greek and Roman influences.
Highly sinicized forms of this syncretism can also be found on the eastern portions of the Tarim Basin, such as in Dunhuang.
Silk Road artistic influences can be found as far as Japan to this day, in architectural motifs or representations of Japanese gods (see Greco-Buddhist art).
Chinese pilgrims to India
According to Chinese sources, Chinese Buddhist monks started to travel to India from around 260 CE. Fa-hsien's pilgrimage to India (395-414) is said to have been the first significant one. He left along the Silk Road, stayed 6 years in India, and then returned by the sea route.
Tens of Chinese monks, possibly hundreds of them, visited India during that period.
The most famous of the Chinese pilgrims is Xuan Zang (629-644), whose large and precise translation work defines a new translation period, in contrast with older Central Asian works.
Decline
Buddhism in Central Asia started to decline in the 7th century with the expansion of Islam there. The vigorous Chinese culture progressively absorbed Buddhist teachings until a strongly Chinese particularism developed.
Central Asian Buddhist monks from the Tarim Basin and East Asian Buddhist monks appear to have maintained strong exchanges until around the 10th century, as shown by frescos from the Tarim Basin.
See also
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