Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical
Two Sides of One Coin? Mapping Buddhist and Christian Decline

Two Sides of One Coin? Mapping Buddhist and Christian Decline

Last updated on: June 28, 2016 at 5:58 pm by Philip Jenkins

Two Sides of One Coin? Mapping Buddhist and Christian Decline 2016-06-28T17:58:58-04:00 Philip Jenkins

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Although it’s a world religion, in a sense it is multiply cut off from its roots. While its key early figures used one language, its scriptures are translations of those early words. And although it was once very strong in the land of its birth, it subsequently became much more numerous in lands far afield, while it virtually died in that first homeland. Later believers might be surprised how much was transformed as the original faith moved from its oldest home.

I am referring of course to Buddhism. Or Christianity. Now, I am not the first person to draw comparisons between the historical experiences between the two faiths, nor even the thousandth. Here, though, I want to focus on a specific aspect of that comparison, namely the decline and near-extinction of the two religions in areas once critical to them. I believe that the experience of each religion sheds a good deal of light on the other. At the same time, it always pays to ask just how far we can take analogies between societies widely separated in time and space.

As this is a substantial story, I will discuss in a couple of posts. Here, I will just introduce the main themes, and lay out the problem.

Let me begin with the Christian side of the story.

I have written a good deal about the decline of the Christian church in the Middle East and Asia, especially in my 2008 book The Lost History of Christianity. Christianity, of course, began in Palestine but in its first millennium, it had some of its greatest spiritual and political centers in the Middle East, in Iraq and Syria. Between the fifth and eighth centuries, say, monasteries were as thick on the ground here as anywhere in the emerging Christian world, and Syriac was a key language of writing and scholarship. There were major intellectual centers and schools. Those Near Eastern communities supplied a springboard for missionary enterprises deep into Central Asia, and ultimately into China. The churches initially coped very well under Islamic rule, from the seventh century onwards.

Eventually, though, matters became much more difficult. At some point, large sections of the population moved to accept Islam, though exactly when that occurred is up to debate. Some say the process was well under way by the late tenth century, while I would stress the continuing strength of the churches well into the thirteenth century. What is not in doubt if that the century or so after 1260 marked a crisis, with the impact of climate-induced catastrophe, famines and plagues, and the Mongol invasions. These horrors inspired regimes to strike against their Christian populations, causing massacres and forced conversions. Although Christian communities survived until modern times, and many monasteries remained active, the religion had been dealt a decisive blow. This was now, definitively, the Islamic Middle East, and Christians were a small and unpopular minority.

With that background in mind, look at the Buddhist experience. Buddhism clearly began as an Indian religion, probably in the sixth or fifth century BC, and it long retained that essentially Indian character even after it had established footholds in China and Central Asia. Gautama Buddha himself was born on the borders of what is now Nepal. If you list the places associated with the Buddha’s life and early Buddhist history – Lumbini, Sarnath, Bodhgaya, Kushinagar – you are looking at a map of modern-day north-east Indian states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, the Plain of the Ganges, and Southern Nepal.

This geography is underlined in an article I read recently by Asoka Bandarage, “Visiting the Four Sacred Sites,” in Tricycle Summer 2016. Among other things, she notes that “The name Bihar is derived from the Pali word vihara, which refers to the Buddhist monasteries that once dotted the region.”

In the first two centuries AD, Buddhism experienced the immensely important movement called Mahayana, the “Great Vehicle,” with its emphasis on mighty spiritual beings called bodhisattvas. That movement was also deeply rooted in India, especially in southern regions like Andhra. In the second and third centuries, southern India produced deeply impressive Mahayana thinkers and philosophers like Nagarjuna and Aryadeva. From the fifth century, a celebrated Buddhist university operated at Nalanda, in what is now Bihar.

Work of Gunawan Kartapranata , under Creative Commons licence

That was very much the same time as great Fathers of the Christian church like Origen, and there are many points of comparison between this Indian Mahayana explosion and the Christian Patristic Age, which was pretty exactly contemporary. Both flourished most spectacularly between around 100 and 450 AD. Nalanda finds its closest Western parallels with Syriac centers like Nisibis. (Now, there is a terrific comparative book waiting to be written).

In those centuries, Mahayana Buddhism not only produced rich spiritual insights, but also fostered enormous creativity in philosophy, metaphysics and psychology, and it left a spectacular legacy in the visual arts.

Greatly helping the spread of Buddhism was the Kushan Empire that was based in northwest India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bactria from the first century AD through the third. The Kushan Empire had close ties both with other empires in the Mediterranean world, and in China. Its great center was Gandhara in present day Pakistan, around Peshawar. This was the home of celebrated Mahayana thinkers like Asanga and Vasubandhu.

Later regimes were also sympathetic. Buddhists had a good relationship with the great Gupta empire that ruled India between about 320 and 550, although the Guptas also patronized traditional Hindu causes. Not well known in the West, the Gupta age was one of the greatest and most innovative in human history, comparable to the Athenian Golden Age. Buddhist prestige in India itself enjoyed a last efflorescence with the northern empire of Harsha in the early seventh century. He tolerated all religions, but particularly favored Buddhism, and built many shrines and stupas.

When the Chinese monk Faxian wandered through Buddhist India at its absolute height, around 400, his accounts suggest an amazing profusion of monasteries, shrines and stupas, with monks and nuns running into the countless thousands.

In terms of material remains, the greatest monument of this lost Buddhist India is the astonishing paintings, sculptures and inscriptions of the Ajanta Caves in the western state of Maharashtra. These range from around 150 BC though 500 or 600 AD.

Buddhism had a great period of missionary expansion, with Gandhara as one of its primary bases. Between the second and fourth centuries AD, Mahayana Buddhism established itself in China, Korea and Vietnam. Japan followed in the sixth century, Tibet in the seventh. Buddhist missionary monks came into contact with Christian monks pursuing the same goals in the same regions. Both exploited the widespread contacts made possible by the Silk Route. In Central Asian cities like Merv, Buddhists and Christians were near neighbors, whose relations were generally friendly. When Christianity arrived in China in the seventh century, the Chinese generally viewed it as a Buddhist sect. (Manicheans also formed part of the Central Asian religious scene, but that is another story).

Even as those new Buddhist “churches” boomed, though, they never forgot that India was the source of the faith. Chinese and other travelers like Faxian visited India in search of manuscripts and learning. One of those ventures, by the Chinese monk Xuanzang in the 630s, remains one of the great epics of religious history. It culminated in his return to China bearing several hundred scriptures, many of which still survive intact. Monks from Buddhism’s new territories – especially China – traveled to India to sit at the feet of Indian sages.

In the opening centuries of the Christian era, then, Buddhism was a great Indian religion. India had by far the greatest profusion of Buddhist religious centers and pilgrim shrines, and magnificent centers of education and scholarship. The key religious and philosophical work was done in Indian languages such as Sanskrit, which other countries translated as best they could, usually borrowing and adapting Indian concepts and phrases. Great scriptures and sutras were composed in Indian languages, but survive best, if at all, in Chinese. The vital Heart Sutra was composed in Sanskrit, probably in the third or fourth century AD, but is best known in Chinese. The Lotus Sutra probably originated in (Indian) Prakrit, before being translated into Chinese in the late third century. The Chinese translation of the Sanskrit Diamond Sutra dates from around 400.

Just by the way, a printed copy of the Chinese language Diamond Sutra was discovered at Dunhuang, on the Silk Route. Dating from 868, it is, by far, the world’s oldest printed book.

After Harsha’s patronage, though, that Indian Golden Age entered a period of decline from around 650, a trend noted by the surviving accounts of several Chinese travelers and pilgrims. I am open to correction here, but the last of the first-rank Indian Buddhist scholars was probably Shantideva, a monk of Nalanda in the eighth century. Buddhism lost ground especially to surging Hinduism, which attracted strong support from various empires and kingdoms. Indian Buddhism was already much weakened by the tenth century, when the country faced the onslaught of Muslim invaders. Invasions, wars and religious conflicts were causing massive destruction by the thirteenth century, a process neatly described by the Wikipedia entry on The Decline of Buddhism in India, which is well worth reading.

Indian Buddhism survived in scattered regions, but the glory days of the early Mahayana centuries were long past. Later pilgrims still noted ancient schools and universities, in India but lamented their ruined state, much as Christians commented on equivalent institutions of their own faith in the Middle East. Buddhism’s position in India was actually far worse than that of Christianity in Iraq. Some writers argue that as a religious system, Indian Buddhism had simply ceased to function by 1250. As I noted briefly in my Lost History of Christianity, this Indian story is one of the classic examples of a vastly under-studied phenomenon, namely the death of a religion.

In matters of chronology alone, the Buddhist-Christian parallels are intriguing, with the sharpest declines occurring between (say) the tenth and thirteenth centuries.

Next time, I will describe some of the reasons that have been advanced for these parallel crises. What happened to Indian Buddhism?

Previous Post

June 24, 2016

This Orient Isle

Next Post

June 28, 2016 What It Means to Say "I'm a Pietist" in 2016

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category abolitionism Abortion Abraham Joshua Heschel Abraham Kuyper Abraham Lincoln Academia Activism Adam Renberg Advent Adventist africa African American Religion Agnes Howard Albert Camus American History American Religious History American Revolution American West Anabaptists Ancient History Andrea Turpin Andrei Tarkovsky Anglicanism Annales Ansley Lillian Quiros anti-Catholicism Antisemitism Anxious Bench apologetics Apparitions Arash Azizi Archaeology archives art Artificial Intelligence Asia Asian Americans Augustine Authors Bad Bunny Baptism Baptists Barack Obama Battle of Hastings Benjamin Franklin Bernard-Henri Levy Beth Allison Barr Beth Moore Bethany Mannon Bible Bill Cunningham Billy Graham Black Music Bob Dylan Body Boenhoffer Books Breastfeeding Bruce Springsteen C.S. Lewis Calvinism Cancel Culture Capitalism Carmelites Catholicism Cedric Robinson Cesar Chavez Charismaticism charity Charles Dickens Charles Lindbergh Che Guevara Chicago Children Chinese Christianity Chris Gehrz Christ Christian death Christian Higher Education Christian life Christian Nation Christian Nationalism Christianity Today Christmas Church life Church Practice cinema Civil Religion Civil Rights Movement Civil War civility Classics Climate Change Cold War Colonial Mexico colonialism Comer Communism community complementarianism Conference on Faith and History Congregationalism Conspiracies Conspiracy Conversion Narratives Coronavirus Costa Rica Council of Nicaea Covid-19 Creation Critical Race Theory Crusades Culture culture wars Daniel K. Williams David Barton David Swartz Death Ways death with dignity DEI democracy Democratic Party Devotion Digital Age Diplomacy discipleship diversity Donald Trump Drama Dua Lipa Early Church early modern Early modern Catholicism Easter Eastern Christianity economic exploitation Education elections Elie Wiesel Elizabeth II Elizabeth Taylor emotions Empire Engineering England enslavement Entertainment Episcopal Church Erica Ramirez eschatology Eurocentrism Evangelicalism Evangelicals Exegesis Family Feminism Film Flannery O'Connor folk music Food Foreign Policy founding fathers Franciscans Franciscus Junius fundamentalism Funerals G.K. Chesterton Gender Genocide genre geography George W. Bush George Washington George Whitefield Global Christianity Global church Grief Guadalupe guest post Guest Post gun control gun violence Gustavo Gutierrez Hamid Dabashi Harold John Ockenga Harvest Hate Hawaiian Christianity Healing health care Heather Cox Richardson Hell Heresy Hermeneutics Higher Education Hinduism Hippocratic oath Historical Fiction Historical Methodology Historical Profession Historical Profession Historical Theology Historical Thinking historiography Holidays Holocaust horror movies Human rights Humanitarian Work humanities Hummingbirds Hungary hymns Imago Dei Immigration Injustice Interviews Iran Islam Islamophobia Israel Ivan's Childhood Jacob Randolph James Bratt Janine Giordano Drake Japanese history Japanese Literature Jean Paul Sartre Jesse Miranda Jesus Jesus Christ Jimmy Carter Joan Baez Joan Didion Joanne Freeman João B. Chaves Joao Chaves Joey Cochran John Calvin John Fea John Tillotson John Turner Johnny Cash Jonathan Edwards Jonathan Tran Joseph Smith Josh Howerton Journalism Jr. Judaism Jürgen Moltmann Just War Justice Justin Brierley Karl Barth Katelyn Beaty koi ponds Kris Kristofferson Kristin Kobes Du Mez Latin American Religious History Latino Americans Lectio Divina Leisure Lent Leonard Cohen liberal arts liberalism Liberation Theology Linda Ronstadt Lisa Clark Diller Literature Lou Reed Lynchings Lynneth Miller Renberg Mainline Protestantism Malcolm Foley Marilyn Monroe Maritime history Mark Noll Marriage Martin Luther Martin Luther King Martyrdom Marxism Mary Masih Alinejad mass shootings material culture medieval Christianity Medieval Ethiopia Melissa Borja memory Mennonites Mental Health Mental Illness Methodism Mexican Americans Mexicans Mike Madrid Miles Mullin Min Jin Lee Miscarriage Missionaries Mister Rogers Mitt Romney modernity Monasticism Mormonism Motherhood Mothers of the Church Moving Music Musicals Nadya Williams Nahua Christianity Native Americans Natsume Sōseki New Contributor New England New Year New York Nico Non-Violent Protest Orthodoxy pacifism Paleo Evangelicals Palestinians Parenting Patti Smith Paul Kingsnorth Pedro Calderón de la Barca Pentecostalism Philip Jenkins Phillis Wheatley physician-assisted suicide pilgrimage Pilgrims pluralism Plutocracy Poetry Politics Pope Francis Pope Leo XIV post-modernism prayer preaching Presbyterians prosperity gospel Protest Public history Publishing Puritans purity culture Quakers race Race Massacres Racial Capitalism racial reconciliation racialization Racism Raha Bahloulipour Re-Enchantment reading Reformation Refugees religion and the university religion and war Religious Freedom Religious Nones Religious Pluralism Religious Symbols religious violence Republican Party Revival Rita Coolidge Ritual Roger Williams Roman Catholic church Royalty Russell Moore same-sex marriage Sarah Irving-Stonebraker Scandinavia Science Science and Technology Scopes trial Scriptural Interpretation secularism Selena Quintanilla seminary Seventh-Day Adventists sexual morality Sexuality Sikhs Silence slaveholders theology Slavery Slavoj Zizek social justice Social Media Southern Baptist Convention Southern Religion Spain Spiritual Autobiography Spiritual but not religious Spiritual Discipline Sports Stanley Hauerwas Suffering Summer Camps Sunday Night Odds and Ends Supernatural Supreme Court Syriac Christianity Tal Howard Taylor Swift Teaching Technology Television Thanksgiving The Beatles The Mission theater TheoBros Theology Thomas Dixon Thomas Jefferson Thomas Kidd Thomas Merton Tim Gloege Tim Walz Tom Holland Tourism tradition Tragedy Translation Transnationalism Travel Trump Ukraine Uncategorized Unitarians United Methodist Church US History Vanessa Chan Velvet Underground Verónica A. Gutiérrez Veronica Gutierrez Vikings Violence Virgin Mary Virtue Virtue ethics Visions Voting War WCTU Wendell Berry Westminster Assembly White Evangelicalism Wildfires Winnie the Pooh Witches women Women in Ministry Women's and Gender Studies Work Worship writing Yasunari Kawabata Zena Hitz

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What did the Israelites eat in the wilderness?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Corn Fish Bread Manna