The truth is less simple. Elements of Buddhism filtered into China along the Silk Route from around the 1st century. In S.E. Asia, Buddhism had been assimilated into the prevailing cultures with relative ease. China was a different story! It now confronted an unfriendly, ancient and colossal empire, dominated by very clearly defined political and social ideas and customs that had developed over centuries. China felt itself to be superior in every way to neighbouring countries and was not sympathetic to this new barbarian cult with its doctrines of individual liberation.
