II. The Han age (from B.C. 206 to A.D. 190) was rich in critical
expositors and commentators of the classics, but "the tone of
speculation was predominantly Taoist."
III. The period of the Six Dynasties (from A.D. 221 to A.D. 618) was the
golden age of Buddhism, when the science and philosophy of India
enriched the Chinese mind, and the wealth of the country was lavished on
Buddhist temples and monasteries. The faith of Shaka became nearly
universal and the Buddhists led in philosophy and literature, founding a
native school of Indian philosophy.
IV. The Tang period (from A.D. 618 to 905) marked by luxury and poetry,
was an age of mental inaction and enervating prosperity.
V. The fifth epoch, beginning with the Sung Dynasty (from A.D. 960 to
1333) and lasting to our own time, was ushered in by a period of intense
mental energy. Strange to say (and most interesting is the fact to
Americans of this generation), the immediate occasion of the recension
and expansion of the old Confucianism was a Populist movement.[4] During
the Tang era of national prosperity, Chinese socialists questioned the
foundations of society and of government, and there grew up a new school
of interpreters as well as of politicians.
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