CHAPTER VI.

SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF BUDDHISM IN CHINA.

The emperor Ming-ti sends an embassy to India for images, A.D. 61--Kashiapmadanga arrives in China--Spread of Buddhism in A.D. 335--Buddojanga--A pagoda at Nanking, A.D. 381--The translator Kumarajiva, A.D. 405--The Chinese traveller, Fa-hien visits India--His book--Persecution, A.D. 426--Buddhism prosperous, 451--Indian embassies to China in the Sung dynasty--Opposition of the Confucianists to Buddhism--Discussions on doctrine--Buddhist prosperity in the Northern Wei kingdom and the Liang kingdom--Bodhidharma--Sung-yun sent to India--Bodhidharma leaves Liang Wu-ti and goes to Northern China--His latter years and death--Embassies from Buddhist countries m the south--Relics--The Liang emperor Wu-ti becomes a monk--Embassies from India and Ceylon--Influence of Sanscrit writing in giving the Chinese the knowledge of an alphabet--Syllabic spelling--Confucian opposition to Buddhism in the T'ang dynasty--The five successors of Bodhidharma--Hiuen-tsang's travels in India--Work as a translator--Persecution, A.D. 714--Hindoo calendar in China--Amogha introduces the festival for hungry ghosts--Opposition of Han Yu to Buddhism--Persecution of 845--Teaching of Matsu--Triumph of the Mahayana--Budhiruchi--Persecution by the Cheu dynasty--Extensive erection of pagodas in the Sung dynasty--Encouragement of Sanscrit studies--Places of pilgrimage--P'uto--Regulations for receiving the vows--Hindoo Buddhists in China in the Sung dynasty--The Mongol dynasty favoured Buddhism--The last Chinese Buddhist who visited India--The Ming dynasty limits the right of accumulating land--Roman Catholic controversy with Buddhists--Kang-hi of the Manchu dynasty opposes Buddhism--The literati still condemn Buddhism.

IT was in the year A.D. 61, that the Chinese emperor Ming-ti, in consequence of a dream, in which he saw the image of a foreign god, sent messengers to India, a country