Buddhism in India

[salmanov]

Buddhism lost the battle because of predominantly two things.

1.Destruction of state sponsored buddhism (started with Pusyamitra sunga killing brahdrata)
2.Work done by Adi Shankara who is also called as Prachanna Buddha( Buddha in disguise)

Did anyone know how to become Buddhist in India??

 

[Sigmamale101]

Buddhism lost the battle because of predominantly two things.

1.Destruction of state sponsored buddhism (started with Pusyamitra sunga killing brahdrata)
2.Work done by Adi Shankara who is also called as Prachanna Buddha( Buddha in disguise)

Pushyamitra sunga never killed any Buddhist, it's a myth. You must be talking about Pushyamitra Maurya.

 

[warriorextreme]

Did anyone know how to become Buddhist in India??

I wrote that post 8 years ago

I do not get your question BTW. Do you mean during ancient times or in contemporary times?

 

[Tshering22]

Did anyone know how to become Buddhist in India??

Depends on which path and where you are getting ordained.

There is no formal method except being ordained at any of the major monasteries. Once you go there, you will first be explained and asked why you want to become a Buddhist (Tantra or otherwise, that's up to you). Then the monks will explain to you about our philosophy. If you are lucky (and have time), you might get to spend the day with the monks; usually about 2-3 days.

After that, the head Abbott will ordain you with the prayers early in the morning. You then may choose to keep a Sanskrit name (it is usually not applicable to Hindus, Sikhs, etc., since they pretty much have the same names anyway) and get your name changed on the legal documents.

If it is what you want, I would advise you to get ordained in a monastery in either Dharmsala (Himachal Pradesh), my home state Sikkim, or in Tawang (Arunachal Pradesh).

You will find a breed of so-called Buddhists who are Hindu-haters. These people are called Ambedkarites and are a political movement of fanatics (like BLM extremists), who have nothing to do with real Buddhism.

Tip: Avoid them like the plague. They aren't real Buddhists by any means.

 

[warriorextreme]

Pushyamitra sunga never killed any Buddhist, it's a myth. You must be talking about Pushyamitra Maurya.

I wrote that post 8 years ago :O

Read it again I have not written that he killed Buddhists. I have written that he killed Brahdrata (Brihadratha Maurya). It is believed that he put a stop to the state patronage of Buddhism. However Buddhists (without much proof) believe that he persecuted Buddhist of that time.

 

[LurkerBaba]

It is what you want, I would advise you to get ordained in a monastery in either Dharmsala (Himachal Pradesh), my home state Sikkim, or in Tawang (Arunachal Pradesh).

I feel Mahayana (Tibet, Japan etc) sect of Buddhism is more platable to Indian tastes. Beautiful and quite similar in flavour to mainstream Hinduism

Theravada sect (Sri Lanka etc) is very dry.

 

[LurkerBaba]

I wrote that post 8 years ago :O

Read it again I have not written that he killed Buddhists. I have written that he killed Brahdrata (Brihadratha Maurya). It is believed that he put a stop to the state patronage of Buddhism. However Buddhists (without much proof) believe that he persecuted Buddhist of that time.

That's what I thought too since it's apparently "common knowledge"

But if you actually read Buddhist texts, some of the most sophisticated and refined stuff like Avatamsaka Sutra was composed much later after the 3rd century AD - i.e Gupta Empire time which was considered "Hindu"

Buddhism enjoyed elite patronage until their centres of learning were destroyed. I mean there aren't even copies of these sutras left in India. All burnt down. Only Tibetan and Chinese copies exist.

 

[Tshering22]

I feel Mahayana (Tibet, Japan etc) sect of Buddhism is more platable to Indian tastes. Beautiful and quite similar in flavour to mainstream Hinduism

Theravada sect (Sri Lanka etc) is very dry.

It is not about Theravada but about the way it is practised. For example, Theravada is also the official faith in Vietnam (their communism is only a political structure). Sri Lankan style is a bit rigid, somewhat like a hybrid between, say, Hindu Dharma & Christianity. The festival style is very Indic, but the way their society is structured is pretty hard.

 

[Lonewolf]

Buddhism was always an elite religion and more of the state sponsored kind. It ebbed and flowed with the rise and fall of sponsoring States

Actually pure form of Buddhism is too good to be practical but they did helped in spread of dharma , so we can't disregard them completely

 

[LurkerBaba]

Actually pure form of Buddhism is too good to be practical but they did helped in spread of dharma , so we can't disregard them completely

Buddhism is great for the modern, urban world. Buddha had a similar upbringing (prince, luxury etc). It attempts to solve a very hard problem - how do you uphold Dharma in the face of materialism and loss of bhakti

 

[Love Charger]

Buddhism is great for the modern, urban world. Buddha had a similar upbringing (prince, luxury etc). It attempts to solve a very hard problem - how do you uphold Dharma in the face of materialism and loss of bhakti

Sir please elaborate more on this point of view

 

[LurkerBaba]

Sir please elaborate more on this point of view

Basically, as wealth and comforts increase people become materialists and lean towards atheism and even nihilism. How do you encourage ethical behaviour in such situations? How do you calm your mind with infinite distractions and without belief in "god" ?

Buddhism has answers to these. Either due to ignorance or/and annoying Ambedkarites, Indians are largely unaware of Buddhist philosophy.

 

[gajapati]

Charvaka materialist vs buddhist philosophy -

Charvaka says there is different source of pleasure and pain .. One should attempt to maximize the pleasure .

Buddhist - Composite things decay . World is in flux . Nothing lasts . Even pleasure is temporary . Pleasure is enjoyable but when its gone you feel pain .. You also feel the pain of anxiety of loosing pleasure when it is there .. Buddhist philosophy begins with pessimism and move towards a new paradigm towards life where there is freedom from reward based mechanism we all are dictated by ..

Will write some interesting philosphical views of buddhism in my free time .. Specially pratityasamutpada .

 

[asaffronladoftherisingsun]

Basically, as wealth and comforts increase people become materialists and lean towards atheism and even nihilism. How do you encourage ethical behaviour in such situations? How do you calm your mind with infinite distractions and without belief in "god" ?

Buddhism has answers to these. Either due to ignorance or/and annoying Ambedkarites, Indians are largely unaware of Buddhist philosophy.

Big Bhrata don't you think those parallels are already there in Dharma. There is nothing new which Buddha taught only but rejection of an unchanging eternal self viz Ishvara and Atma. Despite all internal diversities within the schools of Dharma the Buddha Sikh and Jain have acknowledged the laws of Karma.

This is actually very celestial tier discussion.



I think you already know what led to the decline of Buddhistic thoughts simply answer is in their total failures to produce any Maharana Pratap or Shivaji Maharaj or Chandragupta Mauryas .