6 Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism from the Eastern Han to the Tang Dynasty, II

In general most researchers believe that Buddhism came to China from the Western Regions that is modern Central Asia and Xinjiang. Many scholars have pointed out that in the first one or two centuries of Buddhist transmission into China, it was regarded in the popular mind as a religion similar to the Daoist religion. For Chinese believers Buddhism was, then, both very familiar and very novel and unfamiliar. Buddhism itself also became a vehicle for rectifying the ethical order of Chinese society. Zong Bing, author of the Treatise Clarifying Buddhism , wrote that Buddhism both encompassed and surpassed Confucianism and Daoism. Buddhism gradually became universal as the sixth century began, and the Chinese understanding of it grew much deeper. The narratives and understandings in the Collection of Literature Arranged by Categories begin with the categories of Heaven and Earth, symbols of time and space. Keywords: Buddhism; China; Confucianism; Daoism; Zong Bing