In a time when constant warfare endangered missionary activities among the populace in the countryside, Buddhist monks decided that the most important targets of their missionary activities were rulers, princes and nobles at the courts of the "barbarian" rulers of northern China. Among these, the rulers of Later Zhao, Former Qin, Later Qin and Northern Liang adopted Buddhism as their state religion. Being barbarians themselves, it seemed only natural for them to adopt a non-Chinese religion. Monks like Dao'an 道安 offered their services as political, military and diplomatic advisors. But in general, in times unpredictable to personal fate, people at least had the need for a place where they could rely on stability, peace and hope - and the only refuge for the suffering peasantry was Buddhist religion. Magical skills served as a further tool of attraction for the simple-minded, and priests like Fotudeng 佛圖澄 gathered many believers among the nobility of Later Zhao. At the court of Fu Jian at Chang'an 長安 (modern Xi'an 西安/Shaanxi), ruler of Former Qin and unifier of China's north for a few decades, the translation of Buddhist sutras into Chinese became an important task for Indian and Central Asian monks at the court, among them Kumārajīva ("Jiumoluoshi 鳩摩羅什"). Kumarajiva founded the Chinese branch of the Mādhyamika school "Doctrines of the Middle" (zhonglun 中論 or zhongguan 中觀) with its Three Books (Sanlun 三論) that teach that all things of the phenomenal world are constituted by relations and conditions of each single element, and only the comprehension of these relations can lead to sage wisdom (zhihui 智慧, prajñā; the Indian founder of the school was Nāgārjuna). His disciple Sengzhao 僧肇 developed the Chinese tradition of the Sanlun school. The wisdom of the absolute thruth can only be achieved by passing through the real world and its phenomena, and only then the emptiness of things (śūnyata, kong 空) can be recognized. In the west, the magician and translator of the Mahāparinirvānasūtra, Dharmakshema acted as advisor of the ruler of Northern Liang. Near Dunhuang 敦煌, an old commandery of the Silk Road, monks began to dig out the caves of the thousand Buddhas of Mogao 莫高窟. Although the most famous treasures of the Mogao Caves are the wall paintings, the Buddhist community of Dunhuang was an important source of literary production. Dharmaraksha ("Tanwuchen 曇無讖") translated important sutras into Chinese. In 399, the monk Faxian 法顯 left China to bring back the original vinaya writings ("Rules of Discipline"; chin. jielü 戒律), along with the Lotus Sutra (Miaofa lianhua jing) 妙法蓮花經, the Vimalakīrti-nirdeśa-sūtra (Weimojing) 維摩經, and the Mahāparinirvāna-sūtra (Da banniepan jing) 大般涅盤經.

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