Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s1.t1.3

v1.c7.s1.t1.3

In recent archaeological discovery, statues of Buddha has been found in tombs of the Eastern Han Dynasty at Pengshan, Sichuan and the cliff inscriptions of Buddha has got discovered in Kongwang Mountain at Lianyungang. It is said that the introduction of Buddhist scriptures is started at the oral introduction of Borobudur scriptures (Buddhist scriptures) from Yi Cun who was the envoy of Da Yue Shi Tribe to Jing Lu in the first year of Yuan Shou in Han Dynasty (2 BCE). But it is difficult to ascertain the scripture to which it belonged to since it has been lost for a long time. The *Sutra of 42 sections*, which was taken from the Western Regions by the envoy of Emperor Ming in Yongping years (58～75), is conventionally taken as the evidence of the original introduction of Buddha Dharma into China but in recent years its historical veracity has been doubted making it a controversial evidence. While an exact date for the entry of Buddhism in China is still doubtful, it is, however, certain that by the Common Era Buddhism had to spread to Chinese Han regions, especially intensively in areas like Chang’an and Luoyang as well as Pengcheng (Xuzhou) etc. Buddha was then initially considered as a kind of supernatural being so much so that Emperor Huan of Han sacrificed for the Buddha along with the Yellow Emperor [Huangdi] and the founder of Taoism, Lao Zi and recognised Buddhist monks as necromancer.