170 CHAPTER EIGHTthe Silk Road fell into disuse as newly opened sea routes offered a passage that
was both quicker and less hazardous.
This, however, was not the end of central Asian Buddhist history. In
1907-1908, the sealed cave at Tun-huang was discovered and reopened, yield-
ing an invaluable treasure of twenty thousand drawings and manuscripts dating
from the fifth through the eleventh centuries. Among them was the world's
oldest printed book, a Chinese translation of the Diamond Sutra dated to 868
C.E. The collection contained manuscripts in a variety oflanguages, both liv-
ing and dead, ranging from translations, historical documents, contracts, and
financial statements to songs, poems, and Siitras. These texts have been ex-
tremely helpful for filling in gaps in Buddhist history, especially concerning
the development of the early Ch'an school in China (see Section 8.5.5), and
the first centuries of Tibetan Buddhism (see Section 11.2.1). More than any
other archaeological find thus far, the Tun-huang manuscripts have demon-
strated the significance of the now-extinct Buddhist culture of central Asia in
shaping the living Buddhist cultures of east Asia and Tibet.
China
8.2 A Grand Assimilation
Buddhism's encounter with Chinese civilization is one of the most momen-
tous stories of intercultural assimilation in human history. The two traditions
blended so thoroughly that it is easy to forget that Buddhism was a very for-
eign import when it was first brought to China, and that five centuries passed
before the Chinese felt that they had a full picture of what it had to offer. Of
all the Asian civilizations that Buddhism encountered outside of India, China's
was by far the most sophisticated, complex, and ethnocentric, with its own
thoroughly developed system of social organization, religious ideology, and
speculative thought. Nevertheless, Buddhism had a great deal to offer that the
Chinese lacked, and this offering came at a troubled point in Chinese history,
when many Chinese were ready to learn from people whom they otherwise
considered barbarians.
Buddhism's contribution comprised four levels, dealing with institutions,
devotion, doctrine, and meditation techniques. On the institutional level, the
monastic Sangha offered something totally new to China: a chance for men
and women from all levels of society to devote their lives fully to a religious
vocation. This was particularly important during the wars of the late third and
early fourth centuries, when the basic units of the Chinese social and religious
framework-the family and the state-were falling apart. On the devotional
level, Buddhism provided a pantheon of bodhisattvas and cosmic Buddhas
who were more approachable than the Taoist gods, and more powerful and
compassionate than the local spirits of Chinese folk religion. As for doctrine,
the Buddhist teachings on karma, rebirth, and dependent co-arising provided