Analyzing What Were the Major Causes of the Decline of Buddhism in India Research Paper

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Bernadette Walsh

World History 111

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Buddhism -- the religion founded by Gautama Buddha -- has witnessed a steady decline in India, despite the country being one of those in which Buddhism was earliest practiced. The accounts of some well-known scholars have proven that the waning of Buddhism in India dates back to the 7th century AD. While its decline commenced in the sixth century AD, Buddhism's internal degeneration became evident starting from the next century. Numerous factors were perceived to have had an impact on Buddhism's collapse in India, with all having contributed together to guarantee its decline. Buddhism declined in India because of these main causes: moral decline of leadership, royal persecution, Islamic persecution, and the rise of Buddhism.

Scholars argue that one significant reason for Buddhism's decline in India was the moral decline of the leadership and the leniency in monastic discipline. Buddhist monks' and nuns' moral conduct declined and this became apparent in many parts of India as they displayed very low moral conduct (Goyal 393-5). Goyal further explained that monks hailing from contemporary Little Tibet (Balti or Bolor) behaved inappropriately and lacked definite learning. When writing about Sind's Sammitiya monks, Goyal (394) asserted that they were worthless and indolent individuals drawn to debauchery. Despite wearing the attire of monks, they "killed animals, reared cattle and maintained wives and children" (Mitra 33).

Another significant reason for Buddhism's decline in India was the moral decline of the religion's followers. Rifts in their Sangha (or Samgha, which is a Buddhist community of nuns, laity, novices and monks) as a result of internal divisions -- owing to differences of opinion/beliefs among Buddhist monks and nuns-- coupled with disputes among individuals following different factious schools, contributed to weakening the Sangha as well as led to its deterioration in India. According to Mitra, this internal division that split the religion in several factious schools was possibly a major cause for Buddhism's gradual weakening and ultimate collapse in the nation (35). The dangers of rifts among Buddhist Sangha members was well-understood by the Buddha, who denounced this as one among the five deadly sins. Schisms would cause an individual to spend an entire kalpa suffering in hell (Hazra 380). Buddhist texts revealed that, even in Buddha's time, schism was seen in the religion. One of the monasteries located in the ancient city of Pataliputra was shut down for a decade, having been overcome in a dispute with heretics. Following the Buddha's Mahaparinibbana, discord arose among Buddhist nuns and monks (381). The Samgha was suddenly bereft of a supreme leader who would guide them all. Consequently, all monks resorted to doing whatever they pleased. Goutama Buddha's words and teachings were interpreted by every monk according to his own personal convenience. These differences in interpretation resulted in his statements/teachings losing purity (Ahir 27).

The third cause that led to the deterioration of Buddhism in India was Mahayanism, and the development of Hinduistic tendencies and tantrism in Buddhist worship and rituals. Some 7th century critics asserted that the Mahayana's followers only worshipped Bodhisattvas and Mahayanasutra readers. This tradition introduced the concepts of prayer, image-worship, rituals, ceremonies, Mantra chanting, etc. to Buddhism (Hazra 383). Gradually, a number of folk-beliefs made their way into it as well. Joshi (47) claimed that the issue of Buddhism's corruptions by Mahayana had been broached by some. He further explained that the religion suffered a huge blow because of the Mahayana's corruptions and not that of the religion's Hmayana sect. But this unpleasant comment does not lack substance. Mahayanism's popularity and growth contributed to a rise in Buddhism's votaries, while also contributing to a parallel qualitative decay (Ahir, 28-9). Goutama Buddha had always been opposed to the idea of introducing rituals into Buddhism, and for this reason, rituals had no place in the earliest form of Buddhism. However, in due course, they permeated the religion and progressively, Buddhism came to become rather close to the religion of Hinduism such that, soon, both religions appeared to lose their own distinctive identities. For this reason, lay people found no difference between worshipping Buddha and Visnu, Parvati and Tara, and Avalokita and Siva (Hazra 383).

With time, there developed fierce campaigns and Brahmanical hostility by a few philosophers belonging to the Brahmanical school of thought, which furthered decline of Buddhism in the region. The hostility of the Brahmanical people towards Buddhism represented one among the reasons for Buddhism's decadence in India. While it is true that the Brahmins later accepted Goutama Buddha as an avatar, they were never friendly with the individuals who followed his religion (Beal 76-8).

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The Buddhists were continually subjected to their hostility and different records prove that, even in the days when Buddha lived, orthodox followers of Hinduism displayed harsh hostility towards Buddha, his religion and his followers. The religion suffered a huge blow from the antagonistic activities of South Indian Brahmanical philosophers and preachers.

The DukMavlida or Doctrine of Suffering was another major cause for the decline of Buddhism in India. According to this doctrine, life was awash with suffering. Further, the doctrine preached that birth, death, old age, and disease were rife with suffering (Hazra 388). The basic lesson incorporated into this doctrine was: "all is sorrow, all is ephemeral, all is void" (Goyal 395). Buddhists were ever the pessimists. This pessimism put off those who desired not to suffer -- i.e., the lay people. According to Mitra (47), the doctrine was poor consolation for a faltering heart's weaknesses and hence, the doctrine failed at attaining its objective.

The Buddhists' royal persecution in India was also a factor contributing to its decay in the nation. Some scholars believe their persecution by a few of the Brahminic rulers perhaps proved to be the most potent reason for the religion's decline in the nation. The Brahmana ruler, Pusyamitra Sunga (c. 187-151 BC) cruelly persecuted the followers of Buddhism with Pusyamitra being labeled by Taranatha (a Lama of the Jonang school of Tibetan Buddhism, 1575-1634) a cruel Buddhist persecutor (Hazra, 389). A number of Japanese and Chinese historians have cited Pusyamitra's name first in their list of Buddhist persecutors.

Yet another factor that led to Buddhism's collapse in the country was persecution by Muslim conquerors, also referred to as Muslim persecution. It is widely believed that the religion of Buddhism suffered intensely, owing to Muslim invaders' conquests. These invaders proved to be the biggest religious persecutors (Hazra 392); they killed people following other religions as well as destroyed their religious establishments, everywhere they went. Historical records show that, somewhere towards the 11th century's end, Ikhtiyar-ud-Din Muhammad (also called Muhammad Bakhtyar) -- the general of Kutub-ud-Din -- took with him a force of two hundred to attack Bihar's Odantapurl monastery, which was a major Buddhist hub (Mitra 43). The monastery was captured without resistance, and its inmates slaughtered. According to Mitra, monasteries marked the nerve centers of Buddhism; thus, when these collapsed, the communal life of Buddhists was disturbed and unexpectedly terminated (44).

The last major cause for Buddhism's decline in India was the decline in nobility for monks and nuns and rulers' patronage. Some contemporary scholars upheld the argument that a religion's prosperity was dependent on the patronage and active support of clans, rulers, and nobles of the era. Furthermore, they believed the most significant reason for Buddhism's disappearance from India was a decline in royal patronage. Indeed, Buddha and his pupils enjoyed great success in their mission through the active patronage and support of different royal families, noblemen, ministers, wealthy citizens, and bankers; consequently, their new religion gradually secured a strong position and spread to different regions of the nation (Hazra 394). Therefore, clearly, Buddhism owed a lot of its growth to Goutama Buddha's ability to secure the patronage and sympathy of kings, clans, and nobles, who, in several cases, were already supporting some other religion.

Numerous factors were perceived to have had an impact on Buddhism's collapse in India, with all having contributed together to guarantee its decline. The first and probably the primary cause was the leniency in monastic discipline and improper conduct by the monks and nuns. With lack of commitment, there developed rifts in their Samgha as a result of internal divisions. As a result, Mahayanism, and Hinduistic tendencies found way into the Buddhist way. Then, there were fierce campaigns and Brahamanical hostility by some of the Brahamanical philosophers, which furthered the decline of Buddhism in India. Some of the teachings within Buddhism also led to the decline of Buddhism, for example, DukMavlida or the Doctrine of Suffering. There was also persecution of monks and nuns by the then royal class as well as Muslims. Faced with all these challenges, there was a decline in nobility for the monks and nuns and patronage by rulers. Based on these causes, it can be argued that the decline of Buddhism in India was as a result of both internal and external factors. While the Buddhist leadership failed to take charge of their course as well as ward off….....

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