The Early Development of Buddhism in the Red River Delta Basin-Jiaozhi

Early Buddhism in Jiaozhi (modern Northern Vietnam) has had an unequivocal influence and provided a solid foundation for the developments of Early Chinese Buddhism due to Kang Senghui’s great contributions. As one of the early Buddhist apologetics and meditation masters in China, Kang Senghui: *Created a new tradition of worshiping Buddha’s relic in China; *Established the first state-sponsored Buddhist temple and Buddhist saṅgha in Southern China; *Created the tradition of writing preface in Early Chinese Buddhism; *Developed the “Wu scriptural idioms”; * Harmonized the three major religions in China: Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism; *Initiated the approach of utilizing the teachings of Hīnayāna and Mahāyāna interchangeably and effectively in China; and *Advocated for Buddhist ethical principles as the ideal political model.