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BUDDHI SM AFTER BUDDHA

Soon after Buddha's parinirvana, five hundred monks met at the first council at Rajagrha, under the leadership of Kashyapa. Upali recited the monastic code (Vinaya) as he remembered it. Ananda, Buddha's cousin, friend, and favorite disciple -- and a man of prodigious memory! -- recited Buddha's lessons (the Sutras). The monks debated details and voted on final versions. These were then committed to memory by other monks, to be translated into the many languages of the Indian plains. It should be noted that Buddhism remained an oral tradition for over 200 years.

In the next few centuries, the original unity of Buddhism began to fragment. The most significant split occurred after the second council, held at Vaishali 100 years after the first. After debates between a more liberal group and traditionalists, the liberal group left and labeled themselves the Mahasangha -- "the great sangha." They would eventually evolve into the Mahayana tradition of northern Asia.

The traditionalists, now referred to as Sthaviravada or "way of the elders" (or, in Pali, Theravada), developed a complex set of philosophical ideas beyond those elucidated by Buddha. These were collected into the Abhidharma or "higher teachings." But they, too, encouraged disagreements, so that one splinter group after another left the fold. Ultimately, 18 schools developed, each with their own interpretations of various issues, and spread all over India and Southeast Asia. Today, only the school stemming from the Sri Lankan Theravadan survives.

Ashoka

One of the most significant events in the history of Buddhism is the chance encounter of the monk Nigrodha and the emperor Ashoka Maurya. Ashoka, succeeding his father after a bloody power struggle in 268 bc, found himself deeply disturbed by the carnage he caused while suppressing a revolt in the land of the Kalingas. Meeting Nigrodha convinced Emperor Ashoka to devote himself to peace. On his orders, thousands of rock pillars were erected, bearing the words of the Buddha, in the brahmi script -- the first written evidence of Buddhism. The third council of monks was held at Pataliputra, the capital of Ashoka's empire.

There is a story that tells about a poor young boy who, having nothing to give the Buddha as a gift, collected a handful of dust and innocently presented it. The Buddha smiled and accepted it with the same graciousness he accepted the gifts of wealthy admirers. That boy, it is said, was reborn as the Emperor Ashoka.

Ashoka sent missionaries all over India and beyond. Some went as far as Egypt, Palestine, and Greece. St. Origen even mentions them as having reached Britain. The Greeks of one of the Alexandrian kingdoms of northern India adopted Buddhism, after their King Menandros (Pali: Milinda) was convinced by a monk named Nagasena -- the conversation immortalized in the Milinda Pañha. A Kushan king of north India named Kanishka was also converted, and a council was held in Kashmir in about 100 ad. Greek Buddhists there recorded the Sutras on copper sheets which, unfortunately, were never recovered.

It is interesting to note that there is a saint in Orthodox Christianity named Josaphat, an Indian king whose story is essentially that of the Buddha. Josaphat is thought to be a distortion of the word bodhisattva.

Sri Lanka and Theravada

Emperor Ashoka sent one of his sons, Mahinda, and one of his daughters, Sanghamitta, a monk and a nun, to Sri Lanka (Ceylon) around the year 240 bc. The king of Sri Lanka, King Devanampiyatissa, welcomed them and was converted. One of the gifts they brought with them was a branch of the bodhi tree, which was successfully transplanted. The descendants of this branch can still be found on the island.

The fourth council was held in Sri Lanka, in the Aloka Cave, in the first century bc. During this time as well, and for the first time, the entire set of Sutras were recorded in the Pali language on palm leaves. This became Theravada's Pali Canon, from which so much of our knowledge of Buddhism stems. It is also called the Tripitaka (Pali: Tipitaka), or three baskets: The three sections of the canon are the Vinaya Pitaka (the monastic law), the Sutta Pitaka (words of the Buddha), and the Abhidamma Pitaka (the philosophical commentaries).

In a very real sense, Sri Lanka's monks may be credited with saving the Theravada tradition: Although it had spread once from India all over southeast Asia, it had nearly died out due to competition from Hinduism and Islam, as well as war and colonialism. Theravada monks spread their tradition from Sri Lanka to Burma, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, and Laos, and from these lands to Europe and the west generally.

Mahayana

Mahayana began in the first century bc, as a development of the Mahasangha rebellion. Their more liberal attitudes toward monastic tradition allowed the lay community to have a greater voice in the nature of Buddhism. For better or worse, the simpler needs of the common folk were easier for the Mahayanists to meet. For example, the people were used to gods and heroes. So, the Trikaya (three bodies) doctrine came into being: Not only was Buddha a man who became enlightened, he was also represented by various god-like Buddhas in various appealing heavens, as well as by the Dharma itself, or Shunyata (emptiness), or Buddha-Mind, depending on which interpretation we look at -- sort of a Buddhist Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!

More important, however, was the increased importance of the Bodhisattva. A Bodhisattva is someone who has attained enlightenment, but who chooses to remain in this world of Samsara in order to bring others to enlightenment. He is a lot like a saint, a spiritual hero, for the people to admire and appeal to.

Along with new ideas came new scriptures. Also called Sutras, they are often attributed to Buddha himself, sometimes as special transmissions that Buddha supposedly felt were too difficult for his original listeners and therefore were hidden until the times were ripe. The most significant of these new Sutras are these:

Prajñaparamita or Perfection of Wisdom, an enormous collection of often esoteric texts, including the famous Heart Sutra and Diamond Sutra. The earliest known piece of printing in the world is, in fact, a copy of the Diamond Sutra, printed in China in 868 ad.

Suddharma-pundarika or White Lotus of the True Dharma, also often esoteric, includes the Avalokiteshwara Sutra, a prayer to that Bodhisattva.

Vimalakirti-nirdesha or Vimalakirti's Exposition, is the teachings of and stories about the enlightened householder Vimalakirti.

Shurangama-samadhi or Hero's Sutra, provides a guide to meditation, shunyata, and the bodhisattva. It is most popular among Zen Buddhists

Sukhavati-vyuha or Pure Land Sutra, is the most important Sutra for the Pure Land Schools of Buddhism. The Buddha tells Ananda about Amitabha and his Pure Land or heaven, and how one can be reborn there.

There are many, many others. Finally, Mahayana is founded on two new philosophical interpretations of Buddhism: Madhyamaka and Yogachara.

Madhyamaka

Madhyamaka means "the middle way." You may recall that Buddha himself called his way the middle way in his very first sermon. He meant, at that time, the middle way between the extremes of hedonistic pleasure and extreme asceticism. But he may also have referred to the middle way between the competing philosophies of

eternalism and annihilationism -- the belief that the soul exists forever and that the soul is annihilated at death. Or between materialism and nihilism.... An Indian monk by the name of Nagarjuna took this idea and expanded on it to create the philosophy that would be known as Madhyamaka, in a book called the Mulamadhyamaka-karika, written about 150 ad.

Basically a treatise on logical argument, it concludes that nothing is absolute, everything is relative, nothing exists on its own, everything is interdependent. All systems, beginning with the idea that each thing is what it is and not something else (Aristotle's law of the excluded middle), wind up contradicting themselves. Rigorous logic, in other words, leads one away from all systems, and to the concept of shunyata.

Shunyata means emptiness. This doesn't mean that nothing exists. It means that nothing exists in and of itself, but only as a part of a universal web of being. This would become a central concept in all branches of Mahayana. Of course, it is actually a restatement of the central Buddhist concepts of anatman, anitya, and dukkha!

Yogachara

The second philosophical innovation, Yogachara, is credited to two brothers, Asanga and Vasubandhu, who lived in India in the 300's ad. They elaborated earlier movements in the direction of the philosophy of idealism or chitta-matra. Chitta-matra means literally mind only. Asanga and Vasubandhu believed that everything that exists is mind or consciousness. What we think of as physical things are just projections of our minds, delusions or hallucinations, if you like. To get rid of these delusions, we must meditate, which for the Yogachara school means the creation of pure consciousness, devoid of all content. In that way, we leave our deluded individual minds and join with the universal mind, or Buddha-mind.

Tantra

The last innovation was less philosophical and far more practical: Tantra. Tantra refers to certain writings which are concerned, not with philosophical niceties, but with the basic how-to of enlightenment, and not just with enlightenment in several rebirths, but enlightenment here-and-now!

In order to accomplish this feat, dramatic methods are needed, ones which, to the uninitiated, may seem rather bizarre. Tantra was the domain of the siddhu, the adept -- someone who knows the secrets, a magician in the ways of enlightenment. Tantra involves the use of various techniques, including the well-known mandalas, mantras, and mudras. mandalas are paintings or other representations of higher awareness, usually in the form of a circular pattern of images, which may provide the focus of one-pointed meditation. Mantras are words or phrases that serve the same purpose, such as the famous "Om mani padme hum." Mudras are hand positions that symbolize certain qualities of enlightenment.

Less well known are the yidams. A yidam is the image of a god or goddess or other spiritual being, either physically represented or, more commonly, imagined clearly in the mind's eye. Again, these represent archetypal qualities of enlightenment, and one-pointed meditation on these complex images lead the adept to his or her goal.

These ideas would have enormous impact on Mahayana. They are not without critics, however: Madhyamaka is sometimes criticized as word-play, and Yogachara is criticized as reintroducing atman, eternal soul or essence, to Buddhism. Tantra has been most often criticized, especially for its emphasis on secret methods and strong devotion to a guru. Nevertheless, these innovations led to a renewed flurry of activity in the first half of the first millenium, and provided the foundation for the kinds of Buddhism we find in China, Tibet, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, and elsewhere in east Asia.

China

Legend has it that the Chinese Emperor Ming Ti had a dream which led him to send his agents down the Silk Road -- the ancient trade route between China and the west -- to discover its meaning. The agents returned with a picture of the Buddha and a copy of the Sutra in 42 Sections. This Sutra would, in 67 ad, be the first of many to be translated into Chinese.

The first Buddhist community in China is thought to be one in Loyang, established by "foreigners" around 150 ad, in the Han dynasty. Only 100 years later, there emerges a native Chinese Sangha. And during the Period of Disunity (or Era of the Warring States, 220 to 589 ad), the number of Buddhist monks and nuns increase to as many as two million! Apparently, the uncertain times and the misery of the lower classes were fertile ground for the monastic traditions of Buddhism.

Buddhism did not come to a land innocent of religion and philosophy, of course. China, in fact, had three main competing streams of thought: Confucianism, Taoism, and folk religion. Confucianisim is essentially a moral-political philosophy, involving a complex guide to human relationships. Taoism is a life-philosophy involving a return to simpler and more "natural" ways of being. And the folk religion -- or, should we say, religions -- consisted of rich mythologies, superstitions, astrology, reading of entrails, magic, folk medicine, and so on. (Please understand that I am simplifying here: Certainly Confucianism and Taoism are as sophisticated as Buddhism!)

Although these various streams sometimes competed with each other and with Buddhism, they also fed each other, enriched each other, and intertwined with each other. Over time, the Mahayana of India became the Mahayana of China and, later, of Korea, Japan, and Vietnam.

Pure Land

The first example historically is Pure Land Buddhism (Ching-T'u, J: Jodo). The peasants and working people of China were used to gods and goddesses, praying for rain and health, worrying about heaven and hell, and so on. It wasn't a great leap to find in Buddhism's cosmology and theology the bases for a religious tradition that catered to these needs and habits, while still providing a sophisticated philosophical foundation.

The idea of this period of time as a fallen or inferior time -- traditional in China -- led to the idea that we are no longer able to reach enlightenment on our own power, but must rely on the intercession of higher beings. The transcendent Buddha Amitabha, and his western paradise ("pure land"), introduced in the Sukhavati-vyuha Sutra, was a perfect fit.

Ch'an

Another school that was to be particularly strongly influenced by Chinese thought was the Meditation School -- Dhyana, Ch'an, Son, or Zen. Tradition has the Indian monk Bodhidharma coming from the west to China around 520 ad. It was Bodhidharma, it is said, who carried the Silent Transmission to become the First Patriarch of the Ch'an School in China:

From the very beginning, Buddha had had reservations about his ability to communicate his message to the people. Words simply could not carry such a sublime message. So, on one occasion, while the monks around him waited for a sermon, he said absolutely nothing. He simply held up a flower. the monks, of course, were confused, except for Kashyapa, who understood and smiled. The Buddha smiled back, and thus the Silent Transmission began.

Zen Buddhism focuses on developing the immediate awareness of Buddha-mind through meditation on emptiness. It is notorious for its dismissal of the written and spoken word and occasionally for his rough-house antics. It should be understood, however, that there is great reverence for the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha, even when they are ostensibly ignoring, poking fun, or even turning them upside-down.

Zen has contributed its own literature to the Buddhist melting-pot, including The Platform Sutra, written by Hui Neng, the Sixth Patriarch, around 700 ad., The Blue Cliff Record, written about 1000 ad., and The Gateless Gate, written about 1200 ad. And we shouldn't forget the famous Ten Ox-Herding Pictures that many see as containing the very essence of Zen's message.

The Blossoming of Schools

During the Sui dynasty (581-618) and T'ang dynasty (618-907), Chinese Buddhism experienced what is referred to as the "blossoming of schools." The philosophical inspirations of the Madhyamaka and Yogachara, as well as the Pure Land and Ch'an Sutras, interacting with the already sophisticated philosophies of Confucianism and Taoism, led to a regular renaissance in religious and philosophical thought.

We find the Realistic School, based on the "all things exist" Hinayana School; the Three-Treatises School, based on Madhyamaka; the Idealist School, based on Yogachara; the Tantric School; the Flower Adornment School (Hua-Yen, J: Kegon), which attempted to consolidate the various forms; and the White Lotus School (T'ien-T'ai, J: Tendai), which focused on the Lotus Sutra.

All the Chinese Schools had their representatives in neighboring countries. Korea was to develop its own powerful form of Ch'an called Son. Vietnam developed a form of Ch'an that incorporated aspects of Pure Land and Hinayana. But it was Japan that would have a field day with Chinese Buddhism, and pass the Mahayana traditions on to the US and the west generally.

Japan

Again, we begin with the legendary: A delegation arrived from Korea with gifts for the Emperor of Japan in 538 ad., including a bronze Buddha and various Sutras. Unfortunately a plague led the Emperor to believe that the traditional gods of Japan were annoyed, so he had the gifts thrown into a canal! But the imperial court on the 600's, in their constant effort to be as sophisticated as the courts of their distinguished neighbors, the Chinese, continued to be drawn to Buddhism.

Although starting as a religion of the upper classes, in the 900's, Pure Land entered the picture as the favorite of the peasant and working classes. And in the 1200's, Ch'an, relabeled Zen, came into Japan, where it was enthusiastically adopted by, among others, the warrior class or Samurai.

Zen was introduced into Japan by two particularly talented monks who had gone to China for their educations: Eisai (1141-1215) brought Lin-chi (J: Rinzai) Ch'an, with its koans and occasionally outrageous antics; Dogen (1200-1253) brought the more sedate Ts'ao-tung (J: Soto) Ch'an. In addition, Dogen is particularly admired for his massive treatise, the Shobogenzo.

Ch'an has always had an artistic side to it. In China and elsewhere, a certain simple, elegant style of writing and drawing developed among the monks. In Japan, this became an even more influential aspect of Zen. We have, for example, the poetry, calligraphy, and paintings of various monks -- Bankei (1622-1698), Basho (1644-1694), Hakuin (1685-1768), and Ryokan (1758-1831) -- which have become internationally beloved.

One last Japanese innovation is usually attributed to a somewhat unorthodox monk named Nichiren (1222-1282). Having been trained in the Tendai or White Lotus tradition, he came to believe that the Lotus Sutra carried all that was necessary for Buddhist life. More than that, he believed that even the name of the Sutra was enough! So he encouraged his students to chant this mantra: Namu-myoho-renge-kyo, which means "homage to the Lotus Sutra." This practice alone would ensure enlightenment in this life. In fact, he insisted, all other forms of Buddhism were of little worth. Needless to say, this was not appreciated by the Buddhist powers of the day. He spent the rest of his life in relative isolation. The Nichiren School nevertheless proved to be one of the most successful forms of Buddhism on the planet!

Tibet

Finally, let's turn out attention to the most mysterious site of Buddhism's history, Tibet. Its first encounter with Buddhism occurred in the 700's ad, when a Tantric master, Guru Rinpoché, came from India to battle the demons of Tibet for control. The demons submitted, but they remained forever a part of Tibetan Buddhism -- as its protectors!

During the 800's and 900's, Tibet went through a "dark age," during which Buddhism suffered something of a setback. But, in the 1000's, it returned in force. And in 1578, the Mongol overlords named the head of the Gelug School the Dalai Lama, meaning "guru as great as the ocean." The title was made retroactive to two earlier heads of the school. The fifth Dalai Lama is noted for bringing all of Tibet under his religious and political control.

The lineage continues down to the present 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, born 1935. In 1989, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts on behalf of his people and nation, which had been taken over by the Communist Chinese in 1951.

The West

It was in the latter half of the 1800's that Buddhism first came to be known in the west. The great European colonial empires brought the ancient cultures of India and China back to the attention of the intellectuals of Europe. Scholars began to learn Asian languages and translate Asian texts. Adventurers explored previously shut-off places and recorded the cultures. Religious enthusiasts enjoyed the exotic and mystical tone of the Asian traditions.

In England, for example, societies sprang up for devotees of "orientalia," such as T. W. Rhys Davids' Pali Text Society and T. Christmas Humphreys' Buddhist Society. Books were published, such as Sir Edwin Arnold's epic poem The Light of Asia (1879). And the first western monks began to make themselves know, such as Allan Bennett, perhaps the very first, who took the name Ananda Metteya. In Germany and France as well, Buddhism was the rage.

In the United States, there was a similar flurry of interest. First of all, thousands of Chinese immigrants were coming to the west coast in the late 1800's, many to provide cheap labor for the railroads and other expanding industries. Also, on the east coast, intellectuals were reading about Buddhism in books by Europeans. One example was Henry Thoreau, who, among other things, translated a French translation of a Buddhist Sutra into English.

A renewal of interest came during World War II, during which many Asian Buddhists -- such as the Zen author D. T. Suzuki -- came to England and the U.S., and many European Buddhists -- such as the Zen author Alan Watts -- came to the U.S. As these examples suggest, Zen Buddhism was particularly popular, especially in the U.S., where it became enmeshed in the Beatnik artistic and literary movement as "beat Zen."

One by one, European and Americans who studied in Asia returned with their knowledge and founded monasteries and societies, Asian masters came to Europe and America to found monasteries, and the Asian immigrant populations from China, Japan, Vietnam and elsewhere, quietly continued their Buddhist practices.

Today, it is believed that there are more than 300 million Buddhists in the world, including at least a quarter million in Europe, and a half million each in North and South America. I say "at least" because other estimates go as high as three million in the U.S. alone! Whatever the numbers may be, Buddhism is the fourth largest religion in the world, after Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism. And, although it has suffered considerable setbacks over the centuries, it seems to be attracting more and more people, as a religion or a philosophy of life. to have happened around 486 BCE, forty five years after his enlightenment. Though historians agree that the Buddha died at the age of eighty, they are yet to have a consensus on the exact timeline of the life and death of the Buddha. Though the Buddha’s conventional timeline is considered to be 566-486 BCE, recent studies have revised the dates as 490-410 BCE.

It is said that after the Buddha’s death, his disciples had some confusion over some questions which was left unanswered. Some of these were on the question of the eternity of the world, infinity of the world, oneness of the soul, and existence of the Buddha after death.

The Buddhist council

Three months after the Buddha’s death, his disciples convened a council in order to resolve these matters and to preserve and protect the Buddha’s percepts. The first Buddhist council was thus held at Rajagaha under the patronage of King Ajatasattu at Rajagaha. This council saw the compilation of two of the three Buddhist Pitakas – Vinaya Pitaka (monastic rules) and Sutta Pitaka (sermons of the Buddha).

After Buddhism’s initial proliferation, the first schism within the Buddhist sect occurred, one hundred years after the first council. Convened at Vaisali under the patronage of King Kalasoka, the Second Buddhist council which gathered to resolve some controversies on the Vinaya ended up being divided into two groups, Sthaviravada (school of elders/traditionalists), Mahasanghika (greater sangha).

From sect to religion

Buddism’s major breakthrough from a sect to a religion happened after King Ashoka’s conversion to Buddhism. The third Buddhist council held in 3rd century BCE under his patronage not only saw the compilations of the third Pitaka, the Abhidhamma Pitaka (commentaries on the teachings of the Buddha) and Tissa’s Kathavatthu (refutations of false views and theories on Buddhism), but also witnessed Buddhism’s propagation into Sri Lanka, Kanara, Karnataka, Kashmir, Himalaya region, and Burma by missionaries sent by Ashoka.

It is said that the Fourth Buddhist Council held under the patronage of King Kaniska in Kashmir around 100 CE witnessed the formal edition of the three pitakas and the rise of Mahayana Buddhism especially by its exponents like Nagarjuna, Asanga, Shantideva, Ashvagosha, and Vasubandhu.

The growth of Buddhism

Buddhism continued to have a strong influence in the Indian subcontinent till the twelfth century; the coming of the Muslim invasions and the revival of Hindu movements especially “Advaita” and “Bhakti” undermined its popularity.

Moreover, as Buddhism came into contact with different religions, it adopted certain syncretic elements. For instance, it adopted some aspects of Confucianism, Taoism and Shinto in China and Japan, and some Tantric elements in Tibet. Subsequent reinterpretation of the Buddhist Dhamma in accordance with the beliefs of the different syncretic Buddhist sects was followed by further fragmentation of the Sangha.

However, today, regardless of the numerous sects, Buddhism remains a major World religion with over 500 million followers belonging to three major sects Theravada also called Hinayana(Lesser Vehicle), Mahayana Buddhism (Larger Vehicle), and Vajrayana Buddhism (Diamond Vehicle).

Any history must begin with the life of the historical Buddha, who lived and taught in Nepal and India 25 centuries ago. This article is the next part of the history -- what happened to Buddhism after the Buddha's death, about 483 BCE.

This next chapter of Buddhist history begins with the Buddha's disciples. The Buddha had many lay followers, but most of his disciples were ordained monks and nuns. These monks and nuns did not live in monasteries. Instead, they were homeless, wandering through forests and villages, begging for food, sleeping under the trees. The only possessions monks were allowed to keep were three robes, one alms bowl, one razor, one needle, and one water strainer.

The robes had to be made from discarded cloth. It was a common practice to use spices such as turmeric and saffron to dye the cloth to make it more presentable -- and possibly smell better. To this day, Buddhist monks' robes are called "saffron robes" and are often (although not always) orange, the color of saffron.

Preserving the Teachings: The First Buddhist Council

When the Buddha died, the monk who became leader of the sangha was named Mahakashyapa. The early Pali texts tell us that, shortly after the Buddha's death, Mahakashyapa called a meeting of 500 monks to discuss what to do next. This meeting came to be called the First Buddhist Council.

The questions at hand were: How would the Buddha's teachings be preserved? And by what rules would the monks live? Monks recited and reviewed the Buddha's sermons and his rules for monks and nuns, and agreed which were authentic. (See "The Pali Canon: The First Buddhist Scriptures.")

According to historian Karen Armstrong (Buddha, 2001), about 50 years after the Buddha's death, monks in the eastern part of North India began to collect and order the texts in a more systematic way. The sermons and rules were not written down, but had been preserved by memorizing and reciting them. The Buddha's words were set in verse, and in lists, to make them easier to memorize. Then the texts were grouped into sections, and monks were assigned what part of the canon they would memorize for the future.

Sectarian Divisions: The Second Buddhist Council

By about a century after the Buddha's death, sectarian divisions were forming in the sangha. Some early texts refer to "eighteen schools," which did not appear to be markedly different from one another. Monks of different schools often lived and studied together.

The biggest rifts formed around questions of monastic discipline and authority. Among the distinctive factions were these two schools:

• Sthaviravada. "Sthaviravada" is Sanskrit for "the Way of the Elders." The Sthaviavada school was conservative, adhering closely to the teachings and rules of the Pali Canon. The school lives today in parts of Asia by its Pali name, Theravada.
• Mahasanghika. This school probably is a forerunner of Mahayana Buddhism. Mahasanghika developed the idea of the transcendent nature of a Buddha, the ideal of the bodhisattva, and the doctrine of shunyata, or "emptiness." This school advocated a somewhat more liberal approach to the monastic rules.

A Second Buddhist Council was called about 386 BCE in an attempt to unify the sangha, but sectarian fissures continued to form.

The Emperor Ashoka

Ashoka (ca. 304–232 BCE; sometimes spelled Asoka) was a warrior-prince of India known for his ruthlessness. According to legend he was first exposed to Buddhist teaching when some monks cared for him after he was wounded in battle. One of his wives, Devi, was a Buddhist. However, he was still a cruel and brutal conqueror until the day he walked into a city he had just conquered and saw the devastation. "What have I done?" he cried, and vowed to observe the Buddhist path for himself and for his kingdom.

Ashoka came to be the ruler of most of the Indian subcontinent. He erected pillars throughout his empire inscribed with the Buddha's teachings. According to legend, he opened seven of the original eight stupas of the Buddha, further divided the Buddha's relics, and erected 84,000 stupas in which to enshrine them. He was a tireless supporter of the monastic sangha and supported missions to spread the teachings beyond India, in particular into present-day Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Sri Lanka. Ashoka's patronage made Buddhism one of the major religions of Asia.

The Two Third Councils

By the time of Ashoka's reign the rift between Sthaviravada and Mahasanghika had grown large enough that the history of Buddhism splits into two very different versions of the Third Buddhist Council.

The Mahasanghika version of the Third Council was called to determine the nature of an Arhat. An arhat (Sanskrit) or arahant (Pali) is a person who has realized enlightenment and may enter Nirvana. In the Sthaviravada school, an arhat is the ideal of Buddhist practice.

A monk named Mahadeva proposed that an arhat is still subject to temptation, ignorance and doubt, and still benefits from teaching and practice. These propositions were adopted by the Mahasanghika school but rejected by Sthaviravada.

In the Sthaviravada version of history, the Third Buddhist Council was called by the Emperor Ashoka about 244 BCE to stop the spread of heresies. After this Council completed its work the monk Mahinda, thought to be a son of Ashoka, took the body of doctrine agreed upon by the Council into Sri Lanka, where it flourished. The Theravada school that exists today grew from this Sri Lankan lineage

BUDDHISM IN MALAYSIA

Buddhism is the second largest religion in Malaysia, after Islam, with 19.2% of Malaysia's population being Buddhist although some estimates put that figure up to 21.6% when combined with Chinese religions.Buddhism in Malaysia is mainly practised by the ethnic Malaysian Chinese.Buddhism was introduced to the Malays and also to the people of the Malay Archipelago as early as 200 BCE. Chinese written sources indicated that some 30 small Indianised states rose and fell in the Malay Peninsula. Malay-Buddhism began when Indian traders and priests traveling the maritime routes and brought with them Indian concepts of religion, government, and the arts. For many centuries the peoples of the region, especially the royal courts, synthesised Indian and indigenous ideas including Hinduism and Mahayana Buddhism and that shaped their political and cultural patterns. However, the Malay Kedah Kingdom denounced Indian religion after the king of Chola from Tamil attack them in the early 11th century, the king of Kedah, Phra Ong Mahawangsa was the first Malay ruler to denounce the traditional Indian religion, he converted to Islam, and in the 15th century, during the golden age of Malacca Sultanate, majority of the Malays converted to Islam. The last of the pre-Islamic-Malay king moved to Bali.

According the Malaysian constitution, the majority ethnic group, the Malays, are legally defined as Muslim. They constitute 60% of the population, with the remainder consisting mostly of Chinese, who are generally Buddhists or Christians, and to the lesser extent Indians, who are generally Hindus. There are also smaller numbers of other indigenous and immigrants; among the latter are Malaysians of Sinhalese, Thai, and Eurasian origin. Many of these immigrant peoples also profess the Christian faith, but there are also Buddhists among the Sinhalese and Thai. Nearly all of the Buddhists in Malaysia live in urban areas, since they are mostly engaged in business or employed in various professions.

The general climate of religious freedom in Malaysia indicates that Buddhism may have the opportunity to expand in the future.

Recently, a number of Malaysian Buddhist leaders have responded to the decline in religious participation by the children of Buddhist families, have attempted to reformulate their message to address modern life more directly. Groups involved in these education efforts include the Buddhist Missionary Society. Missionary Society leaders have argued that, while many educated youths seek an intellectual approach to Buddhism, an equally large number of people prefer to approach the religion through the tradition of ceremony and symbolism. In response to these needs, religious practices are carried out, but in a way that is simple and dignified, removing what can be seen as superstition. Efforts are made to explain why sutras are chanted, lamps lit, flowers offered, and so on.

As a religion without a supreme head to direct its development, Buddhism is practised in various forms, which, although rarely in open conflict, can sometimes lead to confusion among Buddhists. In Malaysia, some ecumenical moves have been made to coordinate the activities of different types of Buddhists. One example is the formation of the Joint Wesak Celebrations Committee of the temples in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor, which coordinates the celebration of Wesak, a holiday commemorating the birth of the Buddha. An initiative has also begun to form a Malaysian Buddhist Council, representing the various sects of Buddhism in the country to extend the work of the development of Buddhism, especially in giving contemporary relevance to the practise of the religion, as well as to promote solidarity among Buddhists in general.

Specific Buddhist traditions

• Malaysian Mahayana
• Malaysian Theravada
• Malaysian Vajrayana
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• The Bujang Valley or Lembah Bujang is a sprawling historical complex and has an area of approximately 224 square km. Situated near Merbok, Kedah, between Gunung Jerai in the north and Muda River in the south, it is the richest archaeological area in Malaysia.

  These archaeological remains indicate that there may have been a Hindu-Buddhist polity here. The name itself is roughly translated into "Dragon Valley". The area consists of ruins that may date more than 1,500 years old. More than fifty ancient tomb temples, called candi (pronounce "chandi"), have also been unearthed. The most impressive and well-preserved of these is located in Pengkalan Bujang, Merbok. The Bujang Valley Archaeological Museum is also located here. In the area of Bujang Valley known as Sungai Batu, excavation have revealed jetty remains, iron smelting sites, and a clay brick monument dating back to 110AD, making it the oldest man-made structure to be recorded in Southeast Asia.

  Research also indicates that there may have been a Hindu-Buddhist kingdom here possibly as early as 110 CE. If that were true, this would mean that local rulers may have adopted Indian cultural and political models earlier than those of Kutai in eastern Borneo, in southern Celebes orTarumanegara in western Java, were remains showing Indian influence have been found dating from the early 5th century. Relics found in the Bujang Valley are now on display at the archaeological museum. Items include inscribed stone caskets and tablets, metal tools and ornaments, ceramics, pottery, and Hindu icons.

  For the past two decades, students from universities around Malaysia have been invited for research and have done their graduate works at the Valley. Much of the historical links is still vague considering not many of the scriptures and writings survive. Even the temples did not survive the onslaught of age because their wooden roofing has rotted and withered over the past 1200 years. The museum itself is inadequate and not organized, much of the findings are elsewhere scattered from Museum Negara to Singapore. There are also accounts by the students that many of the religious findings are either hidden or destroyed by the authorities.^[4] Folk stories and oral history also provide place for a magnificent kingdom of jewels and gold. Outside peninsular and insular Southeast Asia, there are some oral history in India that suggests the presence of golden chariots and jewels in hidden caves at what may be the Bujang Valley and Mount Jerai. Some visitors to the antiquity department at Muzium Negara has eye witness recollection of magnificent objects such as a 10 feet tall Raja Bersiung Throne and various idols and items from the Valley.

  • Austronesians were remarkable sailors. The forests of Indonesia were rich in products sought after such as resins, wood and spices. Clove for instance was known to ancient Egyptians while the only place where it would grow at that time were the Moluccas in the eastern part of the Indonesia archipelago. Benzoin (laban jawi in Arabic) and camphor (kapur Barus) came from northern Sumatra. Possibly as early as the 4th century BC, merchants from the Western part of the Indonesia archipelago sailed west in search of new markets for their products. They eventually developed trade with the coastal area of southeast India.

  As early as the 1st century AD, Southeast Asia was the place of a network of coastal city-states, the centre of which was the ancient KhmerFunan kingdom in the south of what is now Vietnam. This network encompassed the southern part of the Indochinese peninsula and the western part of the Indonesian archipelago. These coastal cities traded with each other, and with China and India. They seem to have shared a common indigenous culture.

  Gradually, the rulers of the western part of Indonesia adopted Indian cultural and political models. However, there are no proof of such Indian influence on Indonesian art until the 5th century, i. e. an Amaravati Buddha statue found in southern Sulawesi and a Sanskrit inscription found east of Jakarta.

  Three inscriptions found in Palembang (South Sumatra) and on Bangka island, written in a form of Malay and in an alphabet derived from the Pallava script, are proof that "Indonesians" had definitely adopted Indian models. These inscriptions reveal the existence of a Dapunta Hyang(lord) of Sriwijaya who led an expedition against his enemies and who curses those who will not obey his law.

  Being on the maritime route between western Indonesia and southern India, the Malay peninsula was involved in this trade. Contact between the peninsula and the Tamil kingdoms had been very close during the regimes of the Pallava Kings (from the 4th to the 9th Century C.E.) andChola kings (from the 9th to the 13th Century C.E.). This trade relations also led the rulers of the Malay peninsula to adopt Indian cultural and political models. Tamil sources mention the name of "Kadaram" i. e. Kedah and "Langkasugam" i. e. Langkasuka.

  

  
  

  In the ancient city of Tanjore in Tamil Nadu in southern India are inscriptions dating from 1030 A.D. which mention the victory of Chola king Rajendra Chola I over what has been interpreted as designating Southeast Asian places. The name of "Kadaram" is amongst the places that Rajendra claims to have conquered. The Cholas had a powerful merchant and naval fleet in the Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal. Three kinds of craft are distinguished by the author of the Periplus – light coasting boats for local traffic, larger vessels of a more complicated structure and greater carrying capacity, and lastly the big ocean-going vessels that made the voyages to Malaya,Sumatra, and the Ganges.

  

  
  
  
  

  

  
  
  
  

  

  
  

  In Kedah there are remains showing Buddhist and Hindu influences which has been known for about a century now from the discoveries reported by Col. Low and has recently been subjected to a fairly exhaustive investigation by Dr. Quaritch Wales. Dr. Wales investigated no fewer than thirty sites round about Kedah. The results attained show that this site was the location of a Hindu-Buddhist polity similar to those found in western Indonesia.

  An inscribed stone bar, rectangular in shape, bears the ye-dharmma formula in Pallava script of the fourth century A.D., thus proclaiming the Buddhist character of the shrine near the find-spot (site I) of which only the basement survives. It is inscribed on three faces in Pallava script of the sixth century CE, possibly earlier.

  In Kedah an inscription in Sanskrit dated 1086 CE has been found. This was left by Kulothunga Chola I (of the Chola empire, Tamil country). This too shows the commercial contacts the Malay peninsula had with the Chola Empire

The True Aspect of All Phenomena, which was written by Nichiren Daishonin in 1273 when he was in exile on Sado Island. The recipient, Sairen-bo Nichijo was a former Tendai priest. This Gosho passage teaches us an important aspect of our Buddhist practice, that is we must make every effort to share the Daishonin's teach­ing with others. To do so, we have to persevere through all kinds of difficul­ties in the course of our practice. The Daishonin instructs his disciples to fulfil their mission to spread his teaching of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo of the Three Great Secret Laws in the Latter Day of the Law.

The practice of Buddhism is to achieve the state of life whereby we can manifest our inherent potential of enlightenment and creative value. Therefore, it is imperative that we maintain our faith throughout our life and practise the Buddhist fundamen­tals of faith, practice and study. We must strive for the attainment of kosen-rufu and build a life of total victory and eternal happiness.

It is only natural that we encoun­ter difficulties along the way of spreading the Mystic Law. In order to achieve anything important in life, we are bound to face some obstacles. At times, we tend to blame the causes of these obstacles on other or the unfa­vourable circumstances. But from the standpoint of faith, the causes of these obstacles are due to our karma and we ourselves must change, both internally and spiritually. We must manifest the profound Buddha wis­dom overcome those obstacles. We must make even greater effort so as to accumulate good fortune to change the circumstances for the better. We need to persevere in our practice till we see positive changes in our life. As the Gosho says, "winter never fails to turn into spring," so we must some­times endure the 'cold winter' of our life. Having perseverance in our prac­tice will definitely enable us to see the wonderful springtime of our life.

As the Daishonin's disciples, we must also teach Buddhism to others. Doing this is our greatest responsibility as propagation is the life­blood of faith. Since the ultimate purpose of the Daishonin's Buddhism is to enable all humankind to attain eternal happi­ness, it is only natural that as disciples we should not forget this very impor­tant responsibility.

This spirit of compas­sion to 'teach others' has been the core of all Buddhist teachings. Propaga­tion or shakubuku is no easy task. There is no aspect of Buddhist prac­tice that is easy. But our sincerity in propagating Buddhism will allows us to change our karma and elevate our life-state.

It is important to constantly re­mind ourselves of our mission and responsibility in the arena of our kosen-rufu activities. We have to be careful not to fall into an inward di­rected type of practice, that is prac­ticing only for oneself. This is not the true intent of the practice of Bud­dhism.

Our propagation of Buddhism enables us to fully develop our hu­manism and compassionate spirit. We cannot practice faith alone lest we become entrapped in our own egoistic 'lesser self and ultimately leads us to misery. By expanding our practice to others, we are ex­panding the boundary of our lives and happiness. We begin to develop our greater self — one that has the capacity to include and embrace others.

"To forge ahead fearlessly with the heart of a lion king in the face of any storm or gigantic wave of persecution is the spirit of the disciples of Nichiren Daishonin. It is also the traditional spirit of the Soka Gakkai."

"..if you see someone twisting or negating the Daishonin’s teaching or trying to sabotage our movement to spread the Mystic Law, you cannot simply ignore it.

"Someone who sees such destructive activities but fails to do anything is an enemy of Buddhism. The Daishonin teaches us to strenuously oppose and defeat negative forces.

"For example, if we vociferously repudiate malicious lies as soon as they circulate, we can crush the designs of evil-intended people. If we remain silent, we play right into their hands. Our timidity only makes them bolder.

"Unless we speak out to set the record straight and ensure that truth prevails, we will not achieve kosen rufu. The Soka Gakkai spirit lies in fearlessly stating the truth. This was the Soka Gakkai’s strength in the early days; this is the reason we have succeeded in developing the kosen rufu movement to the extent that we have. This spirit is needed now more than ever before."

-- From "Stand Up" by Daisaku Ikeda.

The Gosho and the history of Buddhism all support SGI’s movement for the widespread propagation of the Mystic Law. Study the Gosho, learn the facts and join us in your own capacity to "speak out and set the record straight" in all the arenas of your life. Though some scholars locate the Suvarnabhumi (Land of Gold), to which Ashokan missionaries were supposedly sent, somewhere on the Malay Peninsula or in Indonesia, this is probably not accurate. It is, however, quite certain that Buddhism reached these areas by the beginning centuries of the 1st millennium AD.

With the help of Indian missionaries such as the monk Gunavarman, Buddhism had gained a firm foothold on Java well before the 5th century AD. Buddhism was also introduced at about this time in Sumatra, and, by the 7th century, the king of Shrivijaya on the island of Sumatra was a Buddhist, whose kingdom included much of the Malay Peninsular. When the Chinese traveler I-ching visited this kingdom in the 7th century, he noted that Hinayana was dominant in the area but that there were also a few Mahayanists. It was also in the 7th century that the great scholar Dharmapala from Srilanka visited Indonesia.

The Shailendra dynasty, which ruled over the Malay Peninsula and a large section of Indonesia from the 7th to the 9th century, promoted the Mahayana and Tantric forms of Buddhism. During this period major Buddhist monuments were erected in Java, among them the marvelous Borobudur, which is perhaps the most magnificent of all Buddhist stupas. From the 7th century onward, Vajrayana Buddhism spread rapidly throughout the area. King Kertanagara of Java (reigned 1268-92) was especially devoted to Tantric practice.

In the Malay Peninsula, as in India, Buddhism gradually lost its hold during the first half of the 2nd millennium AD. In many areas Buddhism was assimilated to Hinduism, forming a Hindu-oriented amalgam that in some places (for example in Bali) has persisted to the present. In most of Malaysia (and Indonesia), however, both Hinduism and Buddhism were replaced by Islam, which remains the dominant religion in the area.

Today, about 19% of the Malaysian population claim themselves to be Buddhists. A large denomination of the local Buddhists are however, of Chinese descent, followed by the Sinhalese, Thais and Burmese. There is not one tradition which can be said to be dominant, although the Mahayana school claims to have the largest following. This is followed by the Theravada and Vajrayana. Buddhists tend to be located in the main urban centres, with the main concentration largely in Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Malacca and Johor Bahru. In the states of the northern regions bordering Thailand, Siamese influenced Wats dot the landscape.

An unique feature about Buddhism in Malaysia is that the various schools tend to be aligned to a spoken language. Mahayana adherents tend to be chinese speaking, while those in the Theravada and Vajrayana tradition are mainly English educated.

Another interesting endemic development is that much of the Buddhist activities are organized and carried out by lay people. As there are only about 1,000 officially recognised monks and nuns in the whole country, the lay followers - many of whom are from the younger generation - have taken the initiative to administer programs such as sutra studies, Dharma talks, Sunday schools for children, fellowship networking units, youth clubs and other socially engaged actitivities such as non-profit businesses, web based initiatives, social welfare homes and humanitarian charities.

The "democratization" of Buddhist propagation is an interesting phenomena which even youth organization from established Buddhist countries like Thailand and Sri Lanka are trying to emulate. Since Buddhism in Malaysia is multi-faceted, a Malaysian Buddhist Council was formed to represent the various sects in the country to extend the work of the development of the Buddha Dharma, especially in giving contemporary relevance to the practise of the religion, as well as to promote solidarity among Buddhists in general.