The British Missionaries In China And The Chinese Buddhism In The Qing Dynasty

As one of the three pillars of Chinese culture,Buddhism has began to take root and flourish after it was introduced into China since the Eastern Han Dynasty.Buddhism has completely completed its localization till the late Qing Dynasty,and it has become a widely-religious belief.The victory of Britain in the Opium War led to the influx of large numbers of British missionaries pouring into China.They attempted to upload the gospel on this ancient and vast land,but they have suffered setbacks a lot.As the most successful foreign religion in localization,Buddhism has received much higher acceptance from the people than Christianity.Therefore,these missionaries,especially the British missionaries who came to China,turned their attention to Buddhism.Through observation,study and research of Buddhism,they hope to excavate the reasons for the wide spread of Buddhism in China.This happens to be a unique visual angle to look upon the development of Buddhism in the late Qing Dynasty.According to the contents of their memoirs,we can find their attitude towards Chinese Buddhism is changing,from the rejection to reception.This paper analyzes the Chinese Buddhism in the view of the British in China during the late Qing Dynasty from the visual angle of cultural exchanges,and observes the development of Chinese Buddhism in the late Qing Dynasty from the view of missionaries.This paper selects Robert Morrison,Timothy Richard,and William Edward Soothill,these three most prominent figures of the British missionaries in the late Qing Dynasty,as the view angle.Robert Morrison was the first Protestant missionary who came to preach in China.His rejection of Chinese Buddhism to a certain extent also represented the British's initial impression of Chinese Buddhism.Timothy Richard is the most successful missionary in China,and has a deep understanding of Chinese Buddhism.He was the first missionary who proposed the origin of Buddhism and Christian is same,and he was close to Buddhism and greatly appreciated Mahayana Buddhism.William Edward Soothill has deeper understands about the Chinese Buddhism.He has his own unique insights on Buddhism,which also represents the development and expansion of English sinology and the deeper study of Buddhism.First,this paper uses the memoirs of the three missionaries as basic historical data,through the analysis of the Buddhist content in these memoirs,and supplemented with other documents,we can have a more comprehensive understanding of the image of Chinese Buddhism in the eyes of the missionaries and their views and attitudes towards Chinese Buddhism.Second,through the analysis of the development of Chinese Buddhism in the late Qing Dynasty,we can further explore the reasons for the decline and revival of Buddhism in the late Qing Dynasty.Finally,through the studies on Chinese Buddhism of the British in China during the late Qing Dynasty,particularly,the British's translation of Chinese Buddhist classics and their academic research on Chinese Buddhism,we can find out their changing attitudes to Chinese Buddhism,and the profound meaning of English translation of Chinese Buddhism classics to go to the world.