Conclusion
As mentioned above, the Japanese case provides the best example of how Buddhism influenced printing. In China the religion was a populist one, which actively sought out those that were marginalized by Confucian society. Korea had a voracious appetite for Buddhist texts and the combination of the scarcity of resources for woodblock printing as well as the Mongol invasions stimulated the use of new printing technologies. As Mair writes, “There is little doubt that printing in East Asia, from its inception, was primarily a Buddhist phenomenon.”(736) Buddhism, being a universalistic and populist religion, as well as its zealous conversion of the common person to its faith, was able to utilize print technology like no other religion at the time was able to. The ostensibly oral origins of the religion allowed Buddhism to utilize vernacular language in the printed form to reach a much wider audience than Confucianism, Taoism, or other religions. So in this way Buddhism was able to wield an influence on print technology that was unknown before its introduction to East Asia.
Read more about this topic: Buddhist Influences On Print Technology
Famous quotes containing the word conclusion:
“I have come to the conclusion that the closer people are to what may be called the front lines of government ... the easier it is to see the immediate underbrush, the individual tree trunks of the moment, and to forget the nobility the usefulness and the wide extent of the forest itself.... They forget that politics after all is only an instrument through which to achieve Government.”
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)
“I have come to the conclusion that the major part of the work of a President is to increase the gate receipts of expositions and fairs and by tourists into town.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)
“The source of our actions resides in an unconscious propensity to regard ourselves as the center, the cause, and the conclusion of time. Our reflexes and our pride transform into a planet the parcel of flesh and consciousness we are.”
—E.M. Cioran (b. 1911)