The Yuan dynasty that came to power in 1280 adopted Lamaism as their state religion. It was the Tibetan version of Buddhism which gained ascendance in the mountainous country following the emergence of Vajrayana Buddhism in eastern India. During this period some secret schools of Buddhism also emerged in China. They believed in the future advent of Maitreya and the emergence of new world order. These schools practiced martial arts like Kungfu and sometimes indulged in the petty politics of the local warlords.

Although Buddhism lost most of its dynamism and vibrancy by the 20th century, it continued to flourish in China till the advent of the Communism. As is well known, the emergence of  communism sounded the death knell of Buddhism. The Communist government of China did succeed officially in putting an end to the practice of religion by abolishing all forms of public worship and closing down all the monasteries.

The excesses of cultural revolution put an end to whatever hopes the followers of Buddhism had about its revival. Today Buddhism in China is a relic of the past, an ancient monument that has been ravaged and vandalized by the clash of classes and ideological notions. It is really difficult to say how long it would take for the cycle of Dhamma to regain its supremacy and whether it would ever happen at all.

Chinese Schools of Buddhism

The principal schools of Buddhism which flourished in China were:

1. The Vinaya School (Lu-tsung)

2. The Realistic School (Chu-she)

3. The Three Treatises School (San-lun)

4.The Idealist School (Fa-hsiang)

5. The Mantra or Tantric School (Mi-tsung or Chen-yen)

6. The Avatamsaka or Flower Adornment School (Hua-yen)

7. The T'ien-t'ai or White Lotus School (Fa-hua)

8. The Pure Land School (Ching t'u)

9. The Dhyana School (Ch'an)

1. The Vinaya School (Lu-tsung): As the name suggests, this school concentrated upon the monastic discipline (Vinaya) of the Buddhist monks and adhered strictly to do's and don'ts prescribed for them in the Vinaya Pitaka. This school was said to have been founded by Tao-hsuan  in the 7th Century AD. 

2. The Realistic School (Chu-she): This school derived its inspiration from the Abhidhamma Kosha of Vasubhandu (316-396), a Peshawar based Indian monk who was originally a Sarvasthivadin and was faithful to the original teachings of the Buddha. In course of time it became a part of the latter day Idealist school.

3. The Three Treatises School (San-lun): This school followed the teachings of  the Madhyamika sutras of the famous south Indian Buddhist monk, Nagarjuna who is remembered by history for his Sunyavada or the theory of Absolute emptiness. His approach to the notions of reality was akin to the Upanishadic idea of  non-self and the doctrines of the Advaita or non dualistic schools of Hinduism. His ideas were brought to China by Kumarajiva  (549-623)  through the translation of the Sutras, which were later expounded in the form of commentaries by Chih-Tsang (549-623). Chih-Tsnag argued in one of his works that  it would be possible to understand metaphysical truths only through negation of things in view of the limitations of the mind to understand transcendental reality. This school also derived its inspiration from  the Shata Shastra (The treaties of Hundred Scriptures) of Aryadeva. With the emergence of the Idealistic school, this school suffered a decline. It was later revived in the 7th Century AD by an Indian monk called Suryaprbhasa.

4.The Idealist School (Fa-hsiang): This school was founded on the ideals of Yogachara school of Vasubhandu as expounded in his Vimsatika- Karika or the Book of Twenty Verses. The school became popular because of Hsuan-Tsang (596-664) who traveled to India in the 7th Century AD to collect original Buddhist texts and bring them back to China. Hsuan Tsang was an adventurous monk who combined in himself the traits of a monk as well as inveterate traveler. Undaunted by the task ahead of him and driven by his goal to see the land of the Buddha, Hsuan-Tsang travelled to India by a circuitous route via the Silk Road through the perilious terrain of the north western frontires, and reached the University of Nalanda in eastern India after a great hardship. He spent considerable time there in the study of the Yogachara philosophy under the guidance of a teacher called Silabhadra. From there he went to the court of the famous Indian king by name Harshavardhana, who was a powerful but generous ruler of his times and ruled parts of northern and eastern India. He developed a great liking for the Chinese monk and insisted him to stay in his court for several years. Hsuan-Tsang complied with the king's request and stayed in his court for a few years before resuming his journey. He returned to to China after many hardships, and managed to carry with him a huge collection of about 650 Buddhist texts and some Buddha relics. He spent the rest of his life in the translation of the texts and in spreading the teachings of Vasubhandu. Despite of the fact that the translations he arranged were not superior in quality, Hsuan-Tsang earned a place for himself in the history of China by his unique contribution to the development of Chinese Buddhism. Through his familiarity with the teachings of Vasubhandu, he made the Idealist School one of the most popular schools of Buddhism in ancient China.