摘要
Buddhism of the Later Han dynasty represents the earliest period of the spread of this religion in China.The exact date of the introduction of Buddhism into this land is now difficult to ascertain.Apart from the generally prevalent tradition that ascribes the first coming of Buddhism to the Dharmaseeking mission sent by Emperor Ming(明帝)there were concurrently a number of theories which put the appearance of Buddhism in China at some earlier dates.Of these theories the comparatively reliable one is the tradition about the transmission of the Buddhist text by I-ts’un(伊存)during the reign of Emperor Ai(哀帝).
