Buddhism’s arrival and development in China should be understood as a process of transmission and interpretation.
Reference context#
The Stanford historical account places Buddhism’s entry in the later Han period in the context of Eurasian exchange. It distinguishes later Chan developments from the initial transmission.
Checking a claim#
Identify the text, community and historical period under discussion. Do not assume that a later school’s story describes every earlier Buddhist tradition. A religious narrative and a dated translation or archaeological object provide different kinds of evidence.
Scope#
These questions are editorial suggestions. This introduction does not reproduce a speech or literary passage and is not a complete historical survey.