Arrival along the Silk Road
Main article: Silk Road transmission of Buddhism
Fresco describing Emperor Han Wudi (156-87 BCE) worshiping two statues of the Golden Man as described, Mogao Caves, Dunhuang, ca. 8th century CE.
An 8th century Chinese mural in Dunhuang describes an Emperor Wu of Han (156—87 BCE) worshiping the Golden Man statues; "golden men brought in 120 BC by a great Han general in his campaigns against the nomads". However, there is no such mention of Emperor Wu of Han worshiping the Buddha in Chinese historical literature.[3]
The Hou Hanshu then records the visit of Yuezhi envoys to the Chinese capital in 2 BCE, who gave oral teachings on Buddhist sutras to a student, suggesting that some Yuezhi had already started to disseminate the Buddhist faith in eastern Asia during the 1st century BCE (Baldev Kumar (1973), exact source needed).
The Hou Hanshu describes the enquiry about Buddhism made around 70 CE by the Han Emperor Ming (58—75 CE):
There is a current tradition that Emperor Ming dreamed that he saw a tall golden man the top of whose head was glowing. He questioned his group of advisors and one of them said: "In the West there is a god called Buddha. His body is sixteen chi high (3.7 metres or 12 feet), and is the colour of true gold." The Emperor, to discover the true doctrine, sent an envoy to Tianzhu (Northwestern India) to inquire about the Buddha’s doctrine, after which paintings and statues [of the Buddha] appeared in the Middle Kingdom.
–Hou Hanshu, trans. John Hill
This encounter is further described in a 6th-century account by Yang Xuanzhi:
The establishment of the Báimǎ-Sì (White Horse Temple) 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 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. (trans. Ulrich Theobald)
Luohan Laundering, a painting of five Buddhist arhats and their attendant, by Lin Tinggui, 1178 AD, Song Dynasty
These Chinese emissaries are said to have visited the country of the Yuezhi and to have brought back with them two missionaries, named Dharmaraksa and Kasyapa Matanga, together with sutras containing 600,000 Sanskrit words. The two missionaries wrote "The Sutra of forty-two sections spoken by the Buddha" to provide guidance on the ideas of Buddhism and the conduct of monks. It is the first Buddhist text in the Chinese language, although its authenticity is a matter of debate.
Their arrival in 67 CE marks Buddhism's official introduction in China. Historians generally agree that by the middle of the 1st century, the religion had penetrated to areas north of the Huai River. Emperor Ming's brother Liu Ying the Prince of Chu was the first high-profile believer of Buddhism, although there is some evidence that Emperor Ming himself might have been as well.
The first documented translation of Buddhist scriptures into Chinese occurs in 148 CE with the arrival of the Parthian missionary An Shih Kao in China, probably on the heels of the Kushan expansion into the Tarim Basin. An Shi Kao established Buddhist temples in Loyang and organized the translation of Buddhist scriptures into Chinese, testifying to the beginning of a wave of Central Asian Buddhist proselytism that was to last several centuries. Traces of Buddhist iconography can also be seen in works of art from this period.
Mahayana Buddhism was first propagated into China by Kushan Lokaksema (Ch: 支谶, Zhi Chen, full name 支楼迦谶 var. 支娄迦谶 Zhi Loujiachen, active ca. 164—186 CE), the first translator of Mahayana sutras into Chinese.
By the end of the second century, a prosperous community had been settled at Pengcheng (modern Xuzhou, Jiangsu).
