Search cities, sights, food
Visa-free checkFind it in ChineseHelp cardsRule changes

Language

EnglishDeutschFrançaisEspañolItalianoРусский한국어日本語简体中文
Encyclopedia · Ideas and beliefs

Buddhism in China

中国佛教Zhōngguó FójiàoFrom the 1st century AD

The faith that came from India around the 1st century AD and shaped China’s temples, cave art, festivals and everyday language.

Buddhism reached China from India by way of Central Asia, probably in the 1st century AD. According to tradition, a Han emperor dreamed of a golden figure, sent envoys west, and they returned with two Indian monks and scriptures carried on a white horse; Luoyang’s White Horse Temple is honoured as the first Buddhist temple in China. Over the following centuries monks translated thousands of texts, pilgrims such as Xuanzang walked to India for more, and rulers sponsored vast cave temples at Mogao, Yungang and Longmen. Chinese schools grew from these roots, above all Chan, which tradition traces to the Indian monk Bodhidharma at Shaolin and which became Zen in Japan. Alongside Confucianism and Taoism it shaped Chinese culture, and when you visit a temple today you will see the same pattern almost everywhere: Heavenly Kings guarding the gate, a laughing Maitreya, a main hall of Buddhas, and the merciful Guanyin.

Also known as: Chinese Buddhism · Han Buddhism

Stone archway at the entrance to White Horse Temple
Stone archway at the entrance to White Horse TemplePhoto: Randy Rambo · CC BY 3.0

Where to see it in China

LuoyangWhite Horse Temple 白马寺Traditionally China’s first Buddhist temple, from the 1st century, with Indian, Thai and Burmese-style halls beside it.DatongYungang Grottoes 云冈石窟Fifth-century Northern Wei caves with giant seated Buddhas, some open to the sky.LuoyangLongmen Grottoes 龙门石窟Over 100,000 Buddha images carved into the cliffs of the Yi River, crowned by the great Vairocana Buddha.DunhuangMogao Caves 莫高窟Hundreds of Buddhist cave temples painted over a thousand years at a Silk Road oasis.LuoyangShaolin Temple (day trip) 少林寺The temple on Mount Song linked by tradition to Bodhidharma and Chan (Zen), with a forest of monks’ stone pagodas.

Where we mention it

Related entries

PeopleXuanzang 玄奘The 7th-century Chinese monk who walked to India for Buddhist scriptures; the real traveller behind the novel Journey to the West.Ideas and beliefsSilk Road 丝绸之路The network of trade routes that linked China with Central Asia, India, Persia and the Mediterranean for over 1,500 years.Ideas and beliefsTibetan Buddhism 藏传佛教The form of Buddhism that grew in Tibet from the 7th century, known for its monasteries, prayer wheels, thangka paintings and pilgrim circuits.Ideas and beliefsTaoism 道教China’s home-grown philosophy and religion of the Dao, “the Way”, traditionally traced to the sage Laozi; its temples and holy mountains are all over China.PeopleWu Zetian 武则天The only woman to rule China as emperor in her own name, proclaiming her own Zhou dynasty (690–705) in the middle of the Tang era.DynastiesHan dynasty 汉朝China’s second imperial dynasty (206 BC–AD 220), which gave the Han Chinese their name and opened the routes of the Silk Road.

Sources

Checked against these sources on 2026-10-05

Found a mistake? Tell us ([email protected])