Buddhism Spreading Its Influence

20. (a) What are the “Three Jewels” of Buddhism? (b) How extensive was the Buddha’s preaching campaign?

²⁰ When the five bhikkus accepted the Buddha’s teaching, they became the first sangha, or order of monks. So the “Three Jewels” (Triratna) of Buddhism were completed, namely, the Buddha, the dharma, and the sangha, which were supposed to help people get on the way to enlightenment. Thus prepared, Gautama the Buddha went preaching through the length and breadth of the Ganges Valley. People from every social rank and status came to hear him, and they became his disciples. By the time of his death at age 80, he had become well-known and well respected. It was reported that his last words to his disciples were: “Decay is inherent in all component things. Work out your own salvation with diligence.”

21. (a) Who was instrumental in Buddhism’s expansion? (b) What was the outcome of his efforts?

²¹ In the third century B.C.E., about 200 years after the Buddha’s death, appeared Buddhism’s greatest champion, Emperor Aśoka, who brought most of India under his rule. Saddened by the slaughter and upheaval caused by his conquests, he embraced Buddhism and gave it State support. He erected religious monuments, convened councils, and exhorted the people to live by the precepts of the Buddha. Aśoka also sent Buddhist missionaries to all parts of India and to Sri Lanka, Syria, Egypt, and Greece. Principally by Aśoka’s efforts, Buddhism grew from being an Indian sect to a world religion. Justifiably, he has been regarded by some as the second founder of Buddhism.

22. How did Buddhism come to be established throughout Asia?

²² From Sri Lanka, Buddhism spread eastward into Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, and other parts of Indochina. To the north, Buddhism spread to Kashmir and central Asia. From those areas, and as early as the first century C.E., Buddhist monks traveled across the forbidding mountains and deserts and took their religion into China. From China, it was a short step for Buddhism to spread to Korea and Japan. Buddhism was also introduced into Tibet, India’s northern neighbor. Mixed with local beliefs, it emerged as Lamaism, which dominated both the religious and the political life there. By the sixth or seventh century C.E., Buddhism had become well established in all of Southeast Asia and the Far East. But what was happening in India?

23. What happened to Buddhism in India?

²³ While Buddhism was spreading its influence in other lands, it was gradually declining back in India. Deeply involved in philosophical and metaphysical pursuits, the monks began to lose touch with their lay followers. In addition, the loss of royal patronage and the adoption of Hindu ideas and practices all hastened the demise of Buddhism in India. Even Buddhist holy places, such as Lumbini, where Gautama was born, and Buddh Gaya, where he experienced “enlightenment,” fell into ruin. By the 13th century, Buddhism had virtually disappeared from India, the land of its origin.

24, 25. What further developments in Buddhism were seen in the 20th century?

²⁴ During the 20th century, Buddhism underwent another change of face. Political upheaval in China, Mongolia, Tibet, and countries in Southeast Asia dealt it a devastating blow. Thousands of monasteries and temples were destroyed and hundreds of thousands of monks and nuns were driven away, imprisoned, or even killed. Nonetheless, Buddhism’s influence is still strongly felt in the thinking and habits of the people of these lands.

²⁵ In Europe and North America, Buddhism’s idea of seeking “truth” within the individual self seems to have a wide appeal, and its practice of meditation provides an escape from the hubbub of Western life. Interestingly, in the foreword to the book Living Buddhism, Tenzin Gyatso, the exiled Dalai Lama of Tibet, wrote: “Perhaps today Buddhism may have a part to play in reminding western people of the spiritual dimension of their lives.”

[Map on page 142]

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By the seventh century C.E., Buddhism had spread from India to all of eastern Asia

INDIA

Benares

Buddh Gaya

3RD CENTURY B.C.E. SRI LANKA

4TH CENTURY C.E. KOREA

6TH CENTURY C.E. JAPAN

7TH CENTURY C.E. TIBET