Buddhism in China

[Sasquatch]

Buddhism isn't a state religion in China.

If we had state religion again we should put our faith in Science and Technology, Religions any religions will never help or save China.

 

[Beidou2020]

The only religion that matters is the religion of money.

God = money.

 

[Steakhouse]

That is because Hinduism absorbed most of Buddhist teachings into it's doctrine thus making Buddhism redundant.Apart from that Buddhism was never a majority religion in India.

You do understand that Hinduism is not an Abhrahmic religion and is open to change.


Original Vedic Hinduism did not had concept of rebirth. In Rig Veda, once you died you got to either Abode of fathers (Heaven) or House of clay (Hell). Concept of rebirth and cycle of life ,though developed by Brahmins, was a fringe belief in Hinduism. Buddha popularized it and it became dominant theology in Hinduism with passage of time.Similary is concept of moksha. Doctrine of non-violence was also borrowed into Hinduism from Buddhism.

Later on Buddha was given a place in Hindu pantheon as a reincarnation of Vishnu.


Another reason of Buddhist decline in India and in Central asia was islamic invasion. Though Muslims were equally brutal on Hinduism and Buddhism, there were some key difference between Hinduism and Buddhism. First was that Priestly class of Buddhists was very thin compared to Hindus. When Islamic invaders invaded and massacred Buddhist monks en-masse, they destroyed Buddhism as there was no one left to propogate Buddhism. They did same to Hindu Priests but the difference here was that in Hinduism, every Brahmin is a potential priest.To wipe out Hinduism, Islam needed to commit a through genocide, something which they were not capable of. Second is philosophy of non-violence of Buddhism. Buddhism completely forbids aggressive war , no ifs or buts. This made Buddhism weak militarily and was not able to put up as much a resistance to Islamic invaders. Compared to this, an Islamic invader had two choice in dealing with Hindus, either spend whole life on battlefield, or make treaties with HIndu kingdoms. This meant that Hinduism was less suppressed than Buddhism (Buddhism from Bihar was wiped out by Islamic Turks).This was primary reason of collapse of Buddhism in central Asia.

I understood Muslim did completely destroy Buddhism in Central Asia but Hindu was the main religion in South Asia and not Buddhism before the Muslim invasion. Buddhism against violent of all kind therefore any aggressive religion can easily use force to wipe out Buddhism in any region.

 

[+4vsgorillas-Apebane]

If we had state religion again we should put our faith in Science and Technology, Religions any religions will never help or save China.

Religion is excellent for civilising people. Science is good and all but if every one simply complies with the hard evolutionary rule of survival of the fittest, the world will be a very brutal place.

Money and wealth are impermanent, eeven the very earth is impermanent and will one day be reduced to dust.

Just be happy as we race towards death.

 

[Water Car Engineer]

Buddha born as a Hindu prince in Lumbini central Ganges plain in Nepal but reject Hindu and follow his own spiritual path, Buddha was not a Hindu reformist.

I said they were in a way reformist movements. Both Siddhartha and Rishabha, founders of what would be Buddhism and Jainism, went against mainstream society of their times.

There were probably many Siddharthas and Rishabhas of their times, but those two were the most famous.

 

[About.to.be.banned]

Buddha born as a Hindu prince in Lumbini central Ganges plain in Nepal but reject Hindu and follow his own spiritual path, Buddha was not a Hindu reformist.

First; There was no Hinduism in a sense as it is today at that time.

Second; Buddha/Siddartha was not only a prince, but also an Aryan Rajanya (Kshatriya), and he remained proud of his heritage. He even took up title of Chakravartin which in Vedas was reserved for Kshatriyas who would able to bring whole of India under their their surzenity. So saying that Buddha was not a Hindu reformist is both true and false at same time. True because there was no Hinduism at that time.False because his aim was to reform Vedic sacrificed cult in which he succeded. His doctrine had a great effect on Hinduism as i have mentioned earlier.

 

[Sasquatch]

Religion is excellent for civilising people. Science is good and all but if every one simply complies with the hard evolutionary rule of survival of the fittest, the world will be a very brutal place.

Money and wealth are impermanent, eeven the very earth is impermanent and will one day be reduced to dust.

Just be happy as we race towards death.

Can a person not be moral without religion , a person doesn't need religion to be civilized ? Not attacking any of my fellow countrymen who follow any religion as I also practice one, Science offers more, the best is what China should follow. The whole Buddhist teachings sound great on paper in reality it's different, peace and love did not save China from any invasion of the foreign invaders, only Science and Technology.

 

[Water Car Engineer]

Norway and Sweden seem to be doing fine without religion.

Matter a fact, the ones causing problems there seem to be few Islamic nut jobs that want to turn it into an Islamic state.

 

[+4vsgorillas-Apebane]

Can a person not be moral without religion , a person doesn't need religion to be civilized ? Not attacking any of my fellow countrymen who follow any religion as I also practice one, Science offers more, the best is what China should follow.

Religion is not required for morality but is the best way for regulating the masses. People regulate themselves better for fear of retribution from an all knowing god they cannot run from. Thus the 10 commandments and the lawof karma and such.

 

[About.to.be.banned]

I understood Muslim did completely destroy Buddhism in Central Asia but Hindu was the main religion in South Asia and not Buddhism before the Muslim invasion. Buddhism against violent of all kind therefore any aggressive religion can easily use force to wipe out Buddhism in any region.

Except there is no evidence of force being used against Buddhism, even in Buddhist literature; except for short reign of Pushyamitra sungs in 300 BCE. He destroyed many stupas, but after his death his son rebuilt them. Buddhism in India declined slowly and major contributer of it being absorption of Buddhist doctrine in Hinduism along with giving a very high position to Buddha in Hindu pantheon.

Another big reason for decline was creeping corruption in Buddhists monastries. Since 500 CE, Buddhism in India slowly stopped missionary work and got dependent on royal patronage for survival.Again here numbers played a role.All three Buddhism,Jainism and Hinduism were provided patronage by all kings, barring few exception.This patronage resulted in making Buddhist monks sedantary as they do not have to go out and propagate their religion. This had same effect on Hindu priests, but as i have said earlier priestly class in Hindus was much large so even if few Brahmins got tied down in court, there were many more who would carry on missionary work.

This indulgence in corruption by monks is very well described in Kalahan's rajatrangini (History of Indian kings).


Third was revival of Hinduism by Sankracharya. Current Hinduism is based on Advaitya philosophy of Vedic religion. This philosophy was propounded close to 900 CE, and describes God as a monoist and omnipresent and every being ,living and dead, being part of god. Buddhist in India were not able to counter this philosophy which lead to them losing followers. A point that should be noted here is that there were very few, if any, exclusive buddhists ever in history of India.

 

[Lux de Veritas]

Xi Jinping hopes traditional faiths can fill moral void in China: sources| Reuters

President Xi Jinping believes China is losing its moral compass and he wants the ruling Communist Party to be more tolerant of traditional faiths in the hope these will help fill a vacuum created by the country's breakneck growth and rush to get rich, sources said.

Xi, who grew up in Mao's puritan China, is troubled by what he sees as the country's moral decline and obsession with money, said three independent sources with ties to the leadership.

He hopes China's "traditional cultures" or faiths - Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism - will help fill a void that has allowed corruption to flourish, the sources said.

 

[KingMamba]

China doesn't need any religion, Buddhism is eroded in China if we should have a state religion it should be SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY. That is what will protect China and give it superiority over our neighbors as it has now.

Science and technology can never take the place of religion, just look at the west and its loss of culture when they decided to become all about science and technology. Governments should at best manage religious structures and priests and at worst leave it alone all together, but it should never either shove religion down its people throats or attempt to eliminate it all together. The former will lead people rebelling against the government sponsored doctrine while the latter will only serve to push organized religion underground therefore failing to eliminate it at all or worse, cause the state to attempt to adopt parts of God's essence to make up for their rejection of God which manifests itself in the states attempts to be "all powerful, ever present, etc" by becoming a police state or encouraging a cult of personality.

 

[Steakhouse]

Except there is no evidence of force being used against Buddhism, even in Buddhist literature; except for short reign of Pushyamitra sungs in 300 BCE. He destroyed many stupas, but after his death his son rebuilt them. Buddhism in India declined slowly and major contributer of it being absorption of Buddhist doctrine in Hinduism along with giving a very high position to Buddha in Hindu pantheon.

Another big reason for decline was creeping corruption in Buddhists monastries. Since 500 CE, Buddhism in India slowly stopped missionary work and got dependent on royal patronage for survival.Again here numbers played a role.All three Buddhism,Jainism and Hinduism were provided patronage by all kings, barring few exception.This patronage resulted in making Buddhist monks sedantary as they do not have to go out and propagate their religion. This had same effect on Hindu priests, but as i have said earlier priestly class in Hindus was much large so even if few Brahmins got tied down in court, there were many more who would carry on missionary work.

This indulgence in corruption by monks is very well described in Kalahan's rajatrangini (History of Indian kings).


Third was revival of Hinduism by Sankracharya. Current Hinduism is based on Advaitya philosophy of Vedic religion. This philosophy was propounded close to 900 CE, and describes God as a monoist and omnipresent and every being ,living and dead, being part of god. Buddhist in India were not able to counter this philosophy which lead to them losing followers. A point that should be noted here is that there were very few, if any, exclusive buddhists ever in history of India.

Buddha never emphasis god will play a vital part of your life, his main teaching to end suffering in this life and cessation of rebirth after death. Buddha empower the individual to seek their own salvation and not speak salvation in god for someone liberation. Indian believe in many god, of course Indian population can't accept god play no major role in someone life and society, Indian rejected Buddhism because god not the main doctrine of what Buddha teaching. Hard for any theist to reject the existence of god.

 

[doppelganger]

For the sake of the Chinese people, and as a practising Hindu, I would personally like to see China coming back and taking its rightful place of millenia in the Dharmic fold.

A people without a faith are like a ship without a rudder. Yes, you are doing well today when the seas are favorable. But when a storm comes, you will need to believe.

 

[Lux de Veritas]

Religion is good but one need to guard against superstitious. Tibetan Buddhism is famous for sex and there are sects of Lama who claim they can screw themselves into nirvana. They exploit women.

Fornication is a way of life for many Tibetan Buddhist institution, except Gelupa (Dalai Sect which is more monastic).

Tibet was a feudal states before the arrival of communist. The landlord and elites deliberately impoverish the people, as a mean of control. When people get miserable, they look up to the lamas, who are the ruling class. The lamas can took any daughters from the people and make them sex slaves. The poor peasants were brained wash with tons of superstitions, extremely deprived in material well being, and perpetually under the threat of violent by their rulers. Not only they did not felt angry and humiliated when lamas took their daughters and conduct mass orgies, they felt extremely honored when lamas made their daughters sex slaves. Tibetan girls were as brainwashed and deprived. They felt extremely luck to be made sex slaves.

The lamas are pedophiles and virginphiles. They typically select young girls of twelve years old. The virgin are given to the most senior lama to be deflowered. The senior lama are likely to be one in their 60s and 70s, and may be even on the verge of dying. The shameless lama believe that he will gain energy and health benefits by absorbing energies female energies during screwing and more so tonic if he screws virgin girl.