Buddhism in East Asian society had a profound effect on not only shaping each individual culture, but unifying the overwhelming population. Along with broadening their current perspectives on life, Buddhism brought completely new cultural innovations to these emerging societies. Buddhism was believed to be first introduced to China in the first century by traders from the west who traveled via the silk road. Over time China adapted this belief into their own culture by blending it with their native beliefs, producing a distinct version of Chinese Buddhism. As Buddhism began to spread from China, it caused a domino effect of cultural diffusion throughout East Asia passing along other significant ideas such as other religions, writing, and calendric. The successful dissemination of Buddhism throughout East Asia can be contributed to impeccable timing and geographic relativity. Whether the culture was at a time of turmoil and separation as China and Korea, or simply a young evolving society like Japan, Buddhism gave these rulers an advantage to amalgamate his country in many different ways.
At first, when China was presented with this unknown idea of Buddhism it was commonly denied by the government. The belief was seen as harmful to the state since it went against the beliefs of the beloved Confucianism. One of the main problems with Buddhism was that monks preached on celibacy. This was a huge concern to Confucius followers since this practice would discontinue family lineages and would not produce heirs to the aristocracy. It was also seen as unproductive to the state's economy since spending time worshipping and meditating would take time away from work. Along with these reasons China was at a time of great prosperity and Confucianism was seemingly working so they did not seek any new ideas. .
Soon enough many Buddhist monks began to settle into China causing the word to spread among the intellectual leaders.