Rather than focusing on the fundamental fact of suffering, Mahayana Buddhism offered the hope that through worship of the Buddha, or one of the many bodhisattvas, holy people who could have achieved nirvana but chose to hang out on Earth with us because they're super nice, one could attain a good afterlife. Many merchants on the Silk Road became strong supporters of monasteries, which in turn became convenient way stations for caravans. And by endowing the monasteries, rich merchants were buying a form of supernatural insurance. Monks who lived in the monasteries would pray for the success of trade missions and the health of their patrons. It was win-win, especially when you consider that one of the central materials used in Mahayana Buddhist rituals is silk. And a third reason the Silk Road changed all our lives, worldwide interconnectedness of populations led to the spread of disease. Measles and smallpox traveled along it, as did bubonic plague, which came from the east to the west in 534, 750, and most devastatingly in 1346.