Transcript Imperial China and the spread of Buddhism Tang Dynasty

Imperial China and the spread of
Buddhism
Tang Dynasty and Sung (AKA
Song) Dynasty
Both political leaders
Used state money to help
Spread the Buddhist religion.
.
Emperor Taizong
Empress Wu Zetian
Tang
Sung
Dynasty Dynasty
THE GOLDEN AGE
500 400 300 200 100 * 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100 1200 1300 1400
Buddhism
Spreads Quickly
Buddha
In India
Confucius
in China
The Tang were around during the
same time that Islam was conquering
the Mediterranean World.
This was a peaceful and prosperous
time for China.
They had extra $$ so they could
spend time :
•
•
•
•
•
•
Inventing
Painting
Writing
Studying
Sculpting
This will be the beginning of their Golden
Age.
During this period, they invented 2
significant items:
Block Printing
•
Gun Powder
• Before printing was invented, knowledge
could only be passed on my word of mouth,
or by extremely expensive handwritten
manuscripts.
• Not only was it expensive, but it was slow,
and there was no guarantee each copy would
be the same.
1. Block printing is like working with
a page-size stamp.
Stamps
Images and print were carved into a
page size, block of wood. This was an
easier (and cheaper) to way to copies
of books.
During this time when print was
available to many more people
Emperor Taizong
sent representatives to India to collect
Buddhist texts (writings).
• These Sutras (Buddhist
Scriptures) were
Translated into Chinese
And printed so that
Greater numbers of
People learned about
Buddhism.
A Medieval Buddhist Sutra:
As a side note, Emperor Taizong also
paid for Buddhist paintings and
sculptures to be spread around the
empire .
A Buddha from the Tang Empire
He also gave money to Buddhist
Temples and Monasteries.
• Definition of a Monastary:
• A building occupied by people who have
dedicated their lives to a religion. They live,
work and worship together and have no
personal possessions. They take vows and
follow strict rules of conduct.
These Monasteries provided many
services for the common people.
•
•
•
•
They housed people who were traveling.
They ran schools.
They provided medical care.
They provided seed for poor farmers.
• Basically, they helped those who needed help.
• Social actions like these helped
Buddhism to spread.
Practice for the Constructive
Response (Pages 37-41):
• Read the intro on page 37 and review the map
on page 38.
• Answer the questions on page 39.
Focus on 2 of the essay prompts on Pages 40 and
41 (Political Reasons and Economic Reasons).
Use the information given you in the workbook
AND the info from the notes we just took to
write a 1 paragraph response for each question.
2. Gunpowder was also invented
during the Tang Dynasty.
• In Chinese, gunpowder is called huo yao,
meaning flaming medicine.
• Unlike the inventions of paper and printing,
the birth of gunpowder was accidental. It
was first invented by chemists that were
attempting to make a flaming “elixir of
immorality”.
Fire had always been used as a weapon
that was delivered into enemy camps in
China.
Oxen with flaming straw on their tails.
A fire wagon.
But gun powder was more efficient.
A flame thrower
An hand cannon
This is what their earliest bombs
looked like.
These bombs could help to break
through a fortified wall .
• A flower bomb
A ball Bomb
They will be using gun powder a full
200 years before it reaches The
Mediterranean area.
The Tang Dynasty perfected
something we hate.
State Assessments!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The justification for the Chinese Imperial
Exams was that appointees to leadership
positions were not to be chosen through
special or inherited privilege, but through
an individual's own abilities.
• If you studied hard enough, you could make it to the
top.
• There is a word for this. It is called meritocracy.
Rising to the top through your own hard work (Merit).
Theoretically, any male adult in China,
regardless of his wealth or social status,
could become a high-ranking government
scholar-official by passing the imperial
examination.
•
These exams lasted for days.
Only 2 out of 100 passed.
Those who passed these exams were selected
for administrative positions. This meant that
their clans or families also rose in social class
and wealth.
A Scholar-Official
A peasant
Of course, peasants usually didn’t
have the money to educate their
children but in theory, it was possible.
It was a dynasty of prosperity and
education.
• Literature, science, technology, art, and poetry
flourished.
The Sung (Song) Dynasty
• Technology continued to
advance.
• They created manufactured
goods to export to other areas
of the world.
• The Arts flourished.
• A combination of Buddhism and
Confucianism were added to the
civil service exams. (This was
called Neo – Confucianism .)
A scholar-official
This was a period of great
prosperity for China.
(The Sung family led China about the same
time that the Crusades were taking place
around the Mediterranean.)
Sung Achievements
They began to make money
through trade.
A market during the Sung Period.
They began to manufacture many
things and export them to willing
buyers.
3. Cast Iron Steel (What they make cannons
out of.)
Manufacture:
• The organized action of making of goods for
sale
• To create or produce something in a
mechanical way.
Silk
Paper
Gunpowder
“Fire Arrows”
During the Sung Dynasty they
improved upon their printing
techniques.
• They invented “Movable Type” (4).
• They had a cast iron base where they could
slide in individual characters.
This was much faster than carving
each page into a piece of wood.
All these inventions:
• Paper
• Wood-block printing
• Movable type printing
Contributed to the spread of Learning In China.
With printing becoming more
efficient they began to print paper
money (5) .
• Before:
After:
• Paper money made trading much easier.
A very important navigational tool
was designed during The Sung
Dynasty.
• The Compass (6)
Before the invention of the compass, ships were
frequently lost in the big oceans and the
consequences would be deadly.
The magnet inside the compass automatically
remains parallel to the Prime Meridian.
The needle automatically points to the North and
South Pole.
• They called it the south-pointing Fish!
By finding the north and south poles,
they would know which way to steer
their ships.
• Europeans didn’t use a compass until 150
years later!
• All of these things that were important in
China spread across the Yellow Sea and the
Sea of Japan to influence the people of
Japan.
Japan
•
China
The last thing we have to talk about is
the morphing of Confucianism and
Buddhism into something called
Neo-Confucianism.
Draw a line down the Middle of a
clean sheet of paper.
• Confucius Says:
Buddha Says:
Confucius says:
Peace and social order come by acting
“right” in all of our relationships.
• “Those above should be kind to those below.”
Ruler
Subject
Father
Son
Older Sibling
Younger Sibling
Husband
Wife
Friend
Friend
• “Those below should Respect and Obey
those above.”
Buddha Says:
We should speak in a manner
that does not hurt others.
We should get rid
of greed and
overcome
ignorance.
We should strive
to get rid of any
hurtful thought or
attitude.
We should act in a
way that does not
harm others.
We should
make a living in
a way that does
not harm
others.
Look at your paper and tell me what a
society would be like if they followed
all these teachings.
This is a simplified version of how
Confucian thought changed during the
Sung Dynasty.
• That meant the leaders and
scholars all studied this “new”
belief-system to pass the
civil-service exams.
I know we have covered a lot but does
this timeline make any sense now?
The Sung Dynasty came to an end
when invading foreigners came from
the North.
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mongol_Em
pire_map.gif
Click on Interactive map of Mongol invasions.
Go back through your notes and tell me:
1. What 6 life-changing items were invented
during the Tang and Sung Dynasties?
2. What did the political leader named Emperor
Taizong do to introduce China to Buddhism?
3. How did scholar-officials get their chance to
work for the government?
4. How did Confucian thought change during the
Sung Dynasty?