Buddhism originated in India and once became the mainstream culture of India. But around 1000 AD, with an invasion of the Arab Empire of , Buddhism suddenly disappeared in South Asian subcontinent . What exactly caused the demise of Buddhism in India? This has always been a topic that the academic community and believers pay attention to.
Let’s first look at the most authoritative statements in the academic world. The most authoritative expert and scholar in domestic Indian culture research, Peking University Professor Lin Chengjie summarized the four major reasons for the decline of Buddhism in India in his "History of India":
1. From the perspective of Buddhism itself, after Mahayana Buddhism became popular, Buddhism claimed that donating wealth could be exchanged for merit. The monk gave up his asceticism and was greedy for comfort. The corruption of the monastic community itself has kept the people away.
2. Early Buddhism called for social equality, which was very attractive to merchants and low caste groups. With the rise of Hindu , some cumbersome rituals of Brahminism were dismantled, and at the same time, the appeal of Buddhism disappeared suddenly.
3. In order to attract believers, Mahayana Buddhism absorbed many Hindu teachings and legends, but in the end, because the boundaries between Buddhism and Hinduism became increasingly blurred, it was absorbed by Hinduism.
4. The most important reason is that the prosperity of Buddhism depends entirely on the two great guardians of Ashoka and kanisega king Mingwang using the forced implementation of the royal power. Once the emperor loses the protection of the emperor, the status of Buddhism plummets.
Mr. Lin analyzed the decline of Buddhism in India from the four major reasons for the monastic community, believers, characteristics and helping. This is a big topic, and naturally there are many arguments, so I won’t list them one by one here. The editor briefly talks about this history from the perspective of Buddhist history.
We know that before Shakyamuni Buddha became a monk, many monks who had resisted Brahman appeared. They shave their hair, beg for food, and practice asceticism, but in fact they are opposite to Brahmins. In other words, Buddhism has had a powerful enemy since its birth - Brahmanism (the predecessor of Hinduism).
Shakyamuni Buddha became a monk at the age of 29, practiced asceticism for 6 years, at the age of 35, at the age of 45 years of preaching the Dharma, and at the age of 80, Nirvana. Under his leadership, the monastic community ignited sparks on the Indian continent. What is the size of his monastic community? This is the 1250 "always follow the crowd" in " Diamond Sutra ". This power is not small or large. Why can it be developed and become the mainstream culture in India? This is related to the most powerful royal family of the sixteen Indian countries and the later Kushan Empire .
After the Buddha attained enlightenment, he had always accepted the offerings of King Bimbisara. The first holy place to spread the Dharma in the history of Buddhism, the famous Bamboo Forest Monastery, was sponsored by King Bimbisara, which also became the predecessor of the temple. In addition to the Bamboo Forest Monastery, Buddha also created a holy place for Buddhist practice in , around , the city of harrahkuta , which is the famous Lingjiu Mountain . After King Bimbisara, his son King Ajatatru was also a Buddhist. The first Buddhist assembly after Buddha Nirvana was sponsored by King Ajatatru!
The Ashoka era of the Mauryan Dynasty , Magadha basically completed the unification of India. King Ashoka positioned Buddhism as the state religion, and the status of Buddhism was raised. By around the first century AD, the Kushan Empire, entrenched in northern India, King Kanesega, was enlightened by the Maming Bodhisattva and converted to Buddhism. Buddhism completely completed its counterattack and became the mainstream culture in India.
After Buddhism became the Indian state religion, new temples were built everywhere, and the temple economy grew rapidly. Due to the praise of the royal family for hundreds of years, some disciples were unwilling to beg for food or practice asceticism, and claimed to the people that donating wealth could be exchanged for merit. Mahayana Buddhism emerged and the monastic community became increasingly corrupt.
After hundreds of years of development, Buddhism has not put forward new doctrines and values that attract the people, except for the view of equality, non-killing, and non-violence proposed by the Buddha. On the contrary, it gradually fell into the Brahman state that Buddhism hated early, and after Brahmanism lost its mainstream cultural status, it began to reflect and innovate into the later Hinduism.
After the two guardian kings, Buddhism lost the support of the royal family, plummeted, and was eventually abandoned by the Indian people.In 1203 AD, the invading Arabs destroyed the last stronghold of Buddhism, Chaojie Temple, marking the demise of Buddhism in India.
In fact, Buddhism has long declined in India. Buddhism has developed in India for more than a thousand years and ultimately cannot defeat the orthodox Brahmanism of India.
Next, please ask friends to appreciate a group of Twenty-One Tara Thangkas with the number 138-150070:
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