The Silk Road was not only a route for goods but also a “cultural corridor” that carried religions, ideas, technologies, and art. Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism, and Jingjiao (Nestorian Christianity) spread to Central Asia and China along this route.
The Eastward Spread of Buddhism
- Buddhism originated in India. From around the 1st century BCE, it reached China through Central Asia (during the Han dynasty)
- Xuanzang (602–664): A monk of Tang China. He traveled to India on pilgrimage along the Silk Road and brought Buddhist scriptures back to China (Record of the Western Regions of the Great Tang Dynasty). He was the model for the “Tripitaka Master,” the protagonist of Journey to the West
- Many Buddhist cave temples were built in Kucha, Khotan, and Dunhuang in Central Asia
- Mogao Caves of Dunhuang: One of the world’s largest groups of Buddhist cave temples and a treasure house of paintings, sculptures, and documents (the Dunhuang manuscripts)
Zoroastrianism and Manichaeism
- Zoroastrianism: An ancient religion originating in Iran. It teaches a dualistic opposition between the good god Ahura Mazda and the evil god Angra Mainyu. It prospered as the state religion of the Persian Empire. It is considered to have influenced the concepts of the Last Judgment, heaven, and hell in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
- Manichaeism: A religion founded in 3rd-century Persia (Iran) by Mani. It combined Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, and Christianity. The Uyghur Empire (8th–9th centuries) adopted it as its state religion, and it spread to China through Central Asia
Key Points
Jingjiao (Nestorian Christianity): A branch of Christianity declared heretical at the Council of Ephesus in 431. It reached Tang China through Persia and Central Asia and is recorded on the Stele of the Propagation of the Jingjiao Religion in China (erected in 781 and still standing in present-day Xi’an). In China, it was called “Jingjiao.” It is a typical example of the spread of religion along the Silk Road.
Jingjiao (Nestorian Christianity): A branch of Christianity declared heretical at the Council of Ephesus in 431. It reached Tang China through Persia and Central Asia and is recorded on the Stele of the Propagation of the Jingjiao Religion in China (erected in 781 and still standing in present-day Xi’an). In China, it was called “Jingjiao.” It is a typical example of the spread of religion along the Silk Road.
The Spread of Technology
Papermaking (invented in China → Arab people learned it from captured technicians after the Battle of the Talas River in 751 → the Islamic world → Europe), as well as gunpowder, the compass, and printing (all invented in China), spread westward and contributed to European development.
Practice
- Give Xuanzang’s purpose in traveling to India and the name of the book he wrote.
- Explain why the Battle of the Talas River in 751 is considered important in cultural history.
- Explain the influence of Manichaeism on the Uyghur Empire.