John Fredrick Parker
Donor
With a PoD in the Third Century CE, how can the rise of Chinese Buddhism that OTL saw in the Fourth through Sixth Centuries be as reduced as possible?
Well the Third Century is pretty late to try and "abort" Taoism; that said, Taoism was going through a fairly important evolution in the south, which itself might have been curbed, had China been reunited under the north before the Han could really split. (I hypothesized such a possibility here, on Cao Cao winning Red Cliffs.)So abort Taoism and you might also see Buddhism fail to make major headway.
Ah missed the third century pod part. That does sound like a cool TL thoughWell the Third Century is pretty late to try and "abort" Taoism; that said, Taoism was going through a fairly important evolution in the south, which itself might have been curbed, had China been reunited under the north before the Han could really split. (I hypothesized such a possibility here, on Cao Cao winning Red Cliffs.)
Everywhere Buddhism spread and flourished, it did so because there was a degree by which cultural norms could intuit its teachings. Taoism for instance really helped Buddhism's spread due to the mere fact that emptiness was a part of Taoist philosophy, meaning a super complex idea that is essential to Mahayana doctrine was already well in place.
So abort Taoism and you might also see Buddhism fail to make major headway.
IIRC,it was the chaos during the fourth to sixth century that helped it's rise.With a PoD in the Third Century CE, how can the rise of Chinese Buddhism that OTL saw in the Fourth through Sixth Centuries be as reduced as possible?
Yes.I also rather doubt that the Simas could coup a fully unified dynasty.In the history of China,a fully unified dynasty was only couped twice(Wang Mang and Wuzetian)--they were both conducted by relatives of the emperor,and resulted in strong backlash.Both attempts resulted in a quick restoration of the ruling dynasty.So would Cao Cao winning the Battle of Red Cliffs and preventing the Three Kingdoms period be a workable PoD?