Several factors contributed to the persistence of Hinduism, even while Jainism and Buddhism stagnated or declined. Some of these factors are intrinsic to these religions' more practical differences. Buddhism was a highly centralized Dharmic practice, enacted mainly in monasteries, and was therefore less scalable in India, where it had no ancient Buddhist monasterial basis. Moreover, Buddhism and Jainism relied on administrative orders of monks or otherwise enlightened figures. In contrast, Hinduism is very decentralized and scalable, basing its practice in the home, its "administrators" being any family. Hindu priests and monks were intermingled with families, often living among them in the jungle mathas and ashrams.
Buddhism also bore the brunt of several religiously motivated attacks. The most significant attack was performed by people who called their faith the "Religion of Peace." Along with the Mamluk Dynasty, they invaded and destroyed an important Asian university called Nalanda, along with its library full of Buddhist volumes, and killed many important Mahaviharas. Jainism faced similar persecution during numerous Muslim conquests.
Saturday, January 28, 2017
Why was Hinduism more successful in India than Jainism or Buddhism?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
What is the theme of the chapter Lead?
Primo Levi's complex probing of the Holocaust, including his survival of Auschwitz and pre- and post-war life, is organized around indiv...
-
The statement "Development policy needs to be about poor people, not just poor countries," carries a lot of baggage. Let's dis...
-
"Mistaken Identity" is an amusing anecdote recounted by the famous author Mark Twain about an experience he once had while traveli...
-
Primo Levi's complex probing of the Holocaust, including his survival of Auschwitz and pre- and post-war life, is organized around indiv...
-
De Gouges's Declaration of the Rights of Woman was enormously influential. We can see its influences on early English feminist Mary Woll...
-
As if Hamlet were not obsessed enough with death, his uncovering of the skull of Yorick, the court jester from his youth, really sets him of...
-
In both "Volar" and "A Wall of Fire Rising," the characters are impacted by their environments, and this is indeed refle...
No comments:
Post a Comment