Chapter 12 Buddhism: Decline and Revival

Jean-François - It is undeniable that the spread of Buddhism in the West has been aided by numerous Rinpoches, lamas, monks and lay people who have conducted dialogues with various other cultures in and out of Asia and on all continents. Get in touch with this fact.This is not enough to explain the current interest in Buddhism, but it constitutes a favorable factor for the curiosity about Buddhism that exists in Europe.Furthermore, Buddhism has always shown great adaptability, since it had to survive in diaspora from the end of the seventh century onwards.It must be reminded that in the third century BC, during the time of Ashoka, a century and a half after the death of the Buddha (Ashoka himself converted to Buddhism), Buddhist teachings had spread throughout India and some neighboring countries.From the sixth century BC to the seventh to eighth centuries AD, Buddhism has been one of the two major Indian religions along with Hinduism. After this era, Buddhism was persecuted by the Islamic invasion in India.The invasion of Islam into India was a huge blow to the whole world. From the twelfth century to the eighteenth century, part of India was under Muslim rule.Nevertheless, Hinduism has been the dominant religion.On the contrary, Buddhism was purged.Why is that?

Mathieu – Broadly speaking, Buddhism has not traveled less in its history.Buddhist monks were originally itinerant monks.The Buddha himself was constantly traveling, never settling down except for the three months of summer when he went on a "monsoon retreat".During this retreat, the monks hide in makeshift huts made of bamboo and leaves before they resume their trek.As the years passed, some of Buddha's benefactors hoped to provide him with a place where he and his monks could return each year for a summer retreat.These alms-giving people then began to build some strong houses, the shape of which still reminds people of bamboo huts.Gradually some monks lived all year round in these houses called viharas, and then groups settled down as well, and this is how the first monasteries were established.In the beginning, Buddhism was for a long time confined to the province of Maghada, which is now the state of Bihar in India.It then dispersed and prospered throughout India until Afghanistan.Buddhism had some communication with Greece, as evidenced by a famous collection of philosophical essays in the form of a dialogue between a Buddhist philosopher and the Greek king Menandros, who ruled Bacteria in the second century BC. Yana.

① Among the five ancient Indias, the big country is located in the south of the Henghe River. Fa Xian's "Buddhist Kingdom Records" is Magadhi, and Xuanzang's "Da Tang Western Regions" is Magadha. ②Menandre, called Milinda in the Buddhist scriptures, was a Greek king who ruled the northwest of ancient India in the third century BC. He was enlightened by Nagasena and converted to Buddhism.The Chinese translation of Yonashin's questions and answers about Buddhism is called "Nashin Bhikkhu Sutra", and the Southern Pali text is called "King Milinda's Questions".

Jean-François - For those readers who are not ancient history by profession, we want to point out precisely that the Hellenistic age, the age of King Menandros, began with the age of the Greek city-states in the true sense of the word - This era ended in the fourth century BC - between the full power of the Roman Empire, that is, in the middle of the first century AD, Mathieu - The coming and going of caravans must have made possible a meeting between Buddhism and Greek civilization, which was very open to foreign currents of thought. Jean-François—these contacts were intensified by the later conquests of Alexander, which led, inter alia, to the birth of Greco-Buddhist art.

Mathieu - Around the eighth century, especially in the ninth century, Buddhism was introduced to Tibet by Padmasambhava at the invitation of King Trisong Detsen.The king already had a Buddhist teacher and wanted to build Tibet's first great monastery.On the advice of his mentor, the king invited Padmasambhava, the most respected philosopher of the time.Padmasambhava is now regarded by Tibetans as the "second Buddha" because it was through him that Buddhism spread in Tibet.So the master came and supervised the construction of the first monastery in Tibet, Samye.He was also the first to translate Buddhist scriptures from Sanskrit into Tibetan.He invited about a hundred Indian Buddhist scholars to Tibet, and also sent some young Tibetans to India to study Sanskrit.Subsequently, a group of Tibetan translators and Indian scholars existed at Samye for fifty years to translate the 103 volumes of the Words of the Buddha and the 213 volumes of the Indian interpretations of these discourses.In the ensuing two or three centuries, other Tibetan masters went to India, where they sometimes stayed for ten or twenty years, and brought to Tibet some scriptures that had not been translated in the first wave of translation.Many spiritual schools have been inspired by some particularly distinguished masters, of which there are four main ones.The prosperity of Buddhism in Tibet continued to develop continuously.

Jean-François - what happened in India? Mathieu – In India, in the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, the persecution of Buddhism by Muslims reached its apogee.Buddhism, already in decline, now offered an easy target because of the apparent visibility of the great Buddhist colleges.Nalanda and Vikramashila, for example, gathered thousands of students under some of the greatest masters of the time.They had some enormous libraries, comparable in abundance to the famous library of Alexandria.The buildings were destroyed, books were burned, and monks were killed. Jean-François - Buddhism, with its many academies, libraries and monasteries, has a peculiar conspicuousness, yet this conspicuousness explains why it is more easily driven out than Hinduism, which has fought so hard ?

Mathieu - not only that.For reasons that are not very clear, Buddhism was already in decline in India at that time.Beginning in the sixth century, the revival of the Brahmanic tradition and the assimilation of some concepts of Buddhism in Vedya, one of the main schools of Hindu metaphysics, eroded the influence of Buddhism little by little, and Buddhism spread to all India. , refocused on the Magadha region—now Bihar—and present-day Bangladesh. c Emphasizes non-duality in Vedanta advaita, while criticizing Buddhist philosophy , but incorporates some important points of Buddhist philosophy.This influence somewhat filled the doctrinal gap that separated Buddhism from Hinduism.Furthermore, India has come under intense attack for its caste system, which Buddhism deliberately ignores.Also, the significant influence of some academic centers and monasteries did make them easy targets for Muslim nomadic tribes, who sometimes mistook them for fortresses without careful distinction!

Jean-François - Did some ideas of Buddhism survive through Hinduism? Mathieu—It should be said that they were gradually adopted, although at the same time Hindu philosophers continued to attack Buddhism in terms of doctrine. Jean-François - Buddhism is thus one of the rare instances of a religion which we call a religion for the convenience of the word by the geographical arena from which it was born and propagated for more than a thousand years I rushed out.We could take another example: this is the religion of pre-Columbian America, smothered, extinguished, partially eradicated by the Spanish—and generally European—conquest of Latin America.

Mathieu – Buddhism also dispersed south, to Sri Lanka, and then east, in a form known as Theravada, into Thailand, Burma, Laos... It also migrated north, beginning in the sixth century The form of what people call Mahayana entered China and then Japan, where it developed primarily as Zen Buddhism, emphasizing the observation of spiritual nature. Jean-François – Zen Buddhism was the best known and most popular form of Buddhism in the West between the end of World War II and the 1970s.During the skepticism of Western civilization in the 1960s, Berkeley college students were enamored with Zen Buddhism.Some people even tried to mix political and Buddhist teachings here too, and invented what they called "Shan Marxism," which didn't survive very long, I should admit the fact, but it didn't. It should not be regretted.

Mathieu – Zen Buddhism has always been prosperous in the West.Interestingly, in Tibet all these appearances and levels of Buddhism, known as the "Three Vehicles", have been preserved and maintained with great fidelity, enabling an individual to incorporate these different levels of teaching into his on the spiritual path.Theravada, or in a more reverent term, Theravada, means "the Ministry of the Words of the Elders," whose practice is based on secular ethics and monastic precepts, on the various imperfections and actions of the ordinary world. On the pointless contemplation of the worries on which most of our activities are based.These considerations lead practitioners to hope for liberation from suffering and from the vicious circle of innumerable existences known as "samsara".

There is no lack of love for neighbor and compassion for the suffering in Theravada, but the Mahayana that one sees in Tibet, China and Japan places a special emphasis on love and compassion.According to its teaching, it is futile to free oneself from suffering if all beings around you continue to suffer.The goal of the path, in essence, is inner transformation for the happiness of others.In India, especially in Tibet, a third vehicle, the Vajrayana, or Vajrayana, was developed.It supplements the first two vehicles with some spiritual techniques, which help people more quickly realize the Buddha nature already in our hearts, and realize the "most primitive purity" of phenomena.This perception, far from stifling sympathy, deepens and intensifies it.Therefore, the confluence of geographical and political circumstances led Tibet to incorporate the three vehicles of Buddhism into a single path. Jean-François - Buddhism seems to have acquired a kind of transnational mission as a result of its ordeal, which may help its current advance in the West.It is not associated with a definite culture, although it has historically been closely associated with a number of different cultures.Although Tibet, as a geographical and spiritual bastion, helped to preserve all elements of Buddhism for more than a thousand years, Buddhist education was scattered among several different civilizations like Sri Lanka and Japan.Has Buddhism become "colored" in those countries where it prevails? Mathieu—for example, in Tibet, there used to be a local religion—Bon Religion, which was similar to animism in some appearances, but it also had a complex metaphysics, which has survived to this day.During the ninth century, some metaphysical debates took place between Bon and Buddhism.Certain practices of the Bon religion were adopted into Buddhism and "Buddhdized".Something similar is happening in Thailand, Japan, etc., and no doubt in the West as well.But the essence of Buddhism has not changed. Jean-François - In this way, Buddhist teaching and practice undoubtedly have a worldwide mission.But many religions claim to have a universal quality.This is evident in Christianity, especially Catholicism, since the word catholicisme comes from the Greek word catholicus, meaning "worldwide".Hence the right of conversion by force which it so often steals.Islam also has a tendency to spread throughout the world, with the aid of the knife and gun when necessary.For, in these religions, to be a member of their faithful followers one must from the outset agree to believe in certain dogmas.Not so with Buddhism.Its worldwide mission, we may say, is to allow cultures different from those of its birthplace to extend to it. compel people to submit. Mathieu - The Buddha said: "Do not accept my teaching out of respect for me, but examine it and rediscover its truth." He also said: "I have shown you the way, and it is up to you to go.' Buddha's teachings are like a handbook describing and explaining the path to knowledge which he himself has walked. To be a "Buddhist" in the true sense, one seeks refuge in the Buddha, not as a as a god, but as a guide, as a symbol of awakening. People also seek refuge in his teachings, Dharma, which is not a dogma but a path. People end up in groups That is, all seek refuge among fellow travelers on this path. But Buddhism does not try to force open doors or convert people. These mean nothing to it. ①The three shelters here are the "three treasures" called by Buddhism: Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha.No, these factions are totally deceitful and sometimes even criminal.Therefore, the truth and authenticity of Buddhism as a spiritual science is in question. Jean-François - Precisely because it does not resort to forced conversions, which in its view is really inconceivable, the embedding of Buddhism in a civilization quite different from that of its birth is worth studying ; and, if this embedding persists, it is worth explaining. Mathieu—Buddhism does not have an attitude of conquest, but rather a spiritual influence.Those who would know it must take the first step themselves, discovering it through their own experience.Also, it is interesting to see how Buddhism prevailed in Tibet and in China: some great sages traveled there, and their influence drew disciples to them as naturally as nectar attracts bees. Jean-François – In all these conversations, I noticed the extraordinary richness of metaphors in Buddhist language! ...but that didn't make me unhappy.Plato also has constant recourse to images, myths and similes.I'm all for introducing poetry in philosophy, but I'm not entirely sure that poetry is enough to answer all the questions people ask. Mathieu - Well, I will answer you with another image, saying that the metaphor is "a finger pointing to the moon".It is the moon, not the fingers, that should be watched.An image often says more than a long description. Jean-François——For Western civilization, the essential problem is to understand that certain needs that are felt in Western civilization and cannot be satisfied with their own spiritual resources, and Buddhism may give these needs. What connections and convergences exist between the answers brought about by the questions.However, the idea that a theory can be applied to answer certain questions can also be a trap.In the West, there are many people attached to some factions Mathieu - oh... The first object of Buddhist study is the nature of the spirit, and it has only two thousand and five hundred years of experience in this field!That's how authentic it is.As for its truth, how to say it... perhaps it can be said that its truth makes its power.I believe that this truth is manifested in events and persons, and has withstood the test of time and circumstances, as opposed to sects that are mere imitations of genuine spiritual traditions whose appearance crumbles at the first test.The deceitful nature of sects that attract a large number of adherents often manifests itself in various internal conflicts, scandals, and sometimes feuds, as reality often reveals.In the West, by contrast, the growth of interest in Buddhism has been more cautious. "Buddhist centers" are places where one often sees friends who share the same hope of uniting their efforts to study, practice, and translate scriptures and interpretations into Western languages.Their purpose is to make people aware of a real, living tradition.They are generally positively understood by the local populace. Jean-François - I am by no means comparing a two-thousand-year-old wisdom like Buddhism with those often grotesque and almost always evil-minded sects that are now rampant and overwhelmingly Most are scams.I don't think so at all!However, since I have always been vigilant against the various impulses of human nature, I just wanted to draw attention to the fascination of certain individuals with a theory, and to the prestige of some masters in their eyes, but who may be liars. Fascination does not prove that the doctrine involved is necessarily good.There must be a supplementary proof! Mathieu - Such a proof can only be brought about as a result of long-term spiritual practice.People say, "The result of learning is self mastery, and the result of practice is the decline of negativity." A bout of temporary infatuation is of little value. Jean-François - that's exactly what I was about to say!Clearly, if we confine ourselves to pure and simple observations of facts, there is no possible analogy between Buddhism and sects.It should not be forgotten, however, that sometimes even eminent minds allow themselves to be deceived by idle words.I have known great doctors who participated in some outright hoaxes and believed in them for years, succumbing to all the rigors of their sect!As a proof of truth, it should not be satisfied with the sincere longing that some human beings feel for a spirituality that may be a counterfeit, because human beings have, unfortunately, a odious tendency to love anything and everything. Feel yearning!That is why the burden of proof always falls on the person doing the education. Mathieu - A true spiritual path consists of being strict with oneself and being tolerant of others, as opposed to those sects in which one is often exacting of others while oneself is openly violating the ideals he proclaims.But the basic difference is that the various sects are not founded on any real metaphysical principles: they usually arise from a mixture of disparate elements and fragments of pseudo-traditions that are related to the No connection to any true spiritual transmission.Therefore, they cannot lead to a lasting spiritual progress, but only confusion and disillusionment.