The Fatal Decline Of Buddhism In India

[camerata]

I came across this summary in Charles Allen's book, The Search for the Buddha:

"Vincent Smith wrote in his Oxford History of India in 1920 that the Muslim invasions 'were fatal to the existence of Buddhism as an organised religion in northern India'. But further researches had now established that Buddhism was already a spent force in India even before the first Muslim raids. As Tibetan and Sinhalese sources had alleged, persecution by Brahmin-dominated rulers played a significant part, but the root causes of Buddhism's fatal decline on the subcontinent were more complex. The widespread adoption of Hindu tantric practices from Bengal had fatally weakened the Sangha from within, but the real hammer-blow was the transformation of Brahminism in the eighth and ninth centuries into the Hinduism we see in India today. The rise of populist devotional cults made Hinduism immediately accessible to ordinary people, while at the same time reformers such as the South Indian revivalist Sankaracharya and his disciple Bhatacharya had been able to capture the moral high ground Buddhism had hitherto held by adopting its doctrines - a process that also saw Gautama Buddha brought into the Hindu fold by the simple expedient of making him one of the many avatars of Vishnu, by then the most powerful deity in the Hindu pantheon."

[sleepyjohn]

Are you aware of Dr Ambedkar the first law minister of India who drafted the first constitution under Mahatma Gandhi?

Although perhaps the best educated man in India he was an untouchable. He liked Buddhism and converted to it. He then, before a to-be-fatal illness took it's toll, organized a mass conversion of I believe about 7 million untouchable people, or Dalits, partially as a way out of their disgraceful lot. I seem to recall hearing of a similar "protest" conversion more recently.

I actually visited some related social projects there and was impressed.

[RedQualia]

Are you aware of Dr Ambedkar the first law minister of India who drafted the first constitution under Mahatma Gandhi?

Although perhaps the best educated man in India he was an untouchable. He liked Buddhism and converted to it. He then, before a to-be-fatal illness took it's toll, organized a mass conversion of I believe about 7 million untouchable people, or Dalits, partially as a way out of their disgraceful lot. I seem to recall hearing of a similar "protest" conversion more recently.

I actually visited some related social projects there and was impressed.

Yup. See "The Decline and Fall of Buddhism," http://www.dr-ambedkar.com/thoughts/19B.Re...ART%20II.htm#a5.

Top of page, more or less. Pretty much lays it at the feet of the invading Muslims, citing historical Muslim references as well.

(and use IE; the page isn't formatted so well with Firefox, et all).

Edited June 28, 2007 by RedQualia

[rychrde]

yes, for many a sad tale - luckily buddhism found its own refuge in Tibet.

One thing that strikes me from living here is how we westerners can see syncretism in action. Unless someone can give me an example, we really do not see this in action in europe anymore. Yes, in the past we had Plato and Aristotle almost elevated to sainthood within the christian church, but we really do not see the kind of assimilation of divinities from external religions as we do here.

and yes, the above article looks crap in firefox - dunno why but comes out as a 300px column.

rych