REORG - Globalizing Religion - Islam & Buddhism (Lesson)

Globalizing Religion - Islam & Buddhism

Buddhism

Christianity's rejection of the Roman social hierarchy—that some people were better than others—made it very appealing to the masses and helped it to spread. The same can be said for Buddhism. It rejected the Hindu social system of castes (varna) and appealed strongly to those members that lived in the lower rankings of that system (and most people fell into that category) or among the aristocrats that formed oligarchies (and didn't want the Brahmans telling them what to do.) And just like Christianity, Buddhism was adopted by a major power player (the Mauryan Emperor Aśoka) who helped its spread throughout the Indian subcontinent.

Unlike Christianity, however, Buddhism was eventually reabsorbed into Hinduism on the Indian subcontinent. One of Buddhism's strengths (with regards to its becoming a globalizing religion) was that it was easily adaptable into existing local traditions—therefore, when Hinduism experienced a transformation, it absorbed Buddhism and reestablished Hinduism as the major religion on the Indian subcontinent. Here's what happened-

During the Gupta Dynasty (early 4^th Century-mid 6^th Century CE), South Asia underwent a surge of Hindu revivalism. If you will remember, centuries earlier the Brahmans (Hindu priests) fell out of favor among local leaders on the Indian Subcontinent—that is when Jainism and Buddhism emerged as competitor religions. People living in cities and commercial communities opted for Buddhism or Jainism over Hinduism.   So eventually, the Brahmans turned their attention to the rural communities (areas where Buddhism and Jainism had not taken off) and adapted Hinduism to rural living and agriculture. (For example, previously Hindus sacrificed animals during religious rituals. To adjust to the needs of the people, the Brahmans altered Hinduism to end the practice of sacrificing potential food and, instead, focused more on self-sacrifice and encouraged vegetarian practices. Also, the Brahmans opened up the religion more—allowing individuals who were not priests to more actively take a part in the religion through personal devotion to personal gods.) That was one reason for the resurgence of Hinduism.   Another is that Chandra Gupta I was a huge supporter of the arts. During his reign and under his sponsorship, artists and poets promoted the new ideals and past heroics of Hinduism in visual arts, literature, and theater—underscoring the importance and need for Hinduism to the people. Lastly, Hinduism was polytheistic (and still is.) It simply adopted the viewpoint that the Buddha was an avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu—making the two religions extremely compatible from the Hindu perspective. As the Gupta Dynasty spread over the Indian subcontinent, Brahman priests traveled to new areas and competed with Buddhist monks for new believers. These encounters eventually led to a mixing of the two faiths as a common "Indic" way of life. And that is the story of how Hinduism reabsorbed Buddhism in the area known as modern-day India and became the dominant religion there.

What has that to do with Buddhism becoming a "globalizing" religion though?

Well, Buddhism experienced its own transformations. When Siddhartha Gautama- the Buddha and founder of Buddhism- died in 483 BCE, he didn't leave behind a written record of his teachings. That meant that as time passed, the religion transformed and evolved based on the opinions and beliefs of its current practitioners. Over the centuries that followed his death, two large movements of Buddhism emerged:

As you can see, the transformation took Buddhism down two roads—one that clung to the original teachings of the Buddha as a great teacher (the Theravada) and one that worshipped the Buddha and the bodhisattvas as gods (the Mahayana.) Due to the role of gods in Mahayana Buddhism, the Theravada Buddhists scorned the Mahayana Buddhists for making the religion too similar to the Hinduism that the Buddha sought to challenge. But it would be the Mahayana Buddhists who turned Buddhism into a universalizing or globalizing religion.

Schools for both Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism opened on the Indian Subcontinent, especially along the trade routes—including along the most famous silk road. By the 3^rd and 4^th Centuries CE, travelers along these routes were very exposed to these forms of Buddhism and they, along with Buddhist monks, carried these lessons with them as they traveled farther down the roads.

(As you can see from the map, though, Mahayana Buddhism traveled a bit more extensively then did Theravada Buddhism.) If you will remember, one direction on the Silk Road took people to China (hence the name- as people were going to China to get Silk among other things.) China, during the 3^rd and 4^th Centuries CE was in complete disarray. The great Han Dynasty was no more and competing kingdoms replaced it with leaders desperately trying to prove their legitimate claims to reign. Into this turbulence walked Buddhist monks with explanations about the limits of reason and the need to end suffering that rivaled Daoism and Confucianism (two Chinese schools of thought that were in decline due to the lack of a strong state to support them.) Buddhist monks translated Buddhist texts into Chinese and included elements of irony and paradox to further educate the Chinese in Buddhism. The monks established a new class within the Chinese social structure—the clergy—that offered the Chinese with a legitimate vocation that restored prestige to those who had fallen out of power. More and more Chinese converted to Buddhism and practitioners could be found higher and higher up within government, medicine and astronomy (traditional fields of importance and power,) until finally a Chinese Emperor of one of the splintered kingdoms established Buddhism as the state religion for his people.

As you read the above content, did you notice a pattern of events similar to what was experienced in Christianity? Let's look at our globalizing religions checklist again from earlier, but this time let's compare Hinduism and Buddhism.

 

Characteristic	Buddhism	Hinduism
An appeal to diverse populations (men/women, rich/poor, free/slave)
Flexibility and resilience as it is travels from one culture/area to another
Universal rules that guide behavior no matter time/place/existing culture
Use of missionaries to convert new believers
The deep sense of community that unites believers
Support from powerful empires or rulers

You should have mentally checked off all of the characteristics as applying to Buddhism as you read over that list. This is why, even as Buddhism was being absorbed by Hinduism in India, it was still a universalizing or globalizing religion of the time.

 

Islam

This unit has roughly focused on the period of time between 0 and 600 CE. And while this next religion to discuss wasn't a "globalizing" religion during that time period—it will become one shortly and it got its start at the end of the time period we've been discussing. So it is only appropriate to introduce you to that religion now—Islam.

Islam is a monotheistic religion that shares its roots and history with Judaism and Christianity. All three recognize the works of Abraham and Moses as prophets of God. And while Islam does not recognize Jesus as the son of God—as Christians do—it does identify him as an important teacher and prophet within their faith. Islam is based on the teachings and revelations received from God by Muhammad which can be found in the Qur'an. Part of the Islamic faith is to fulfill the Five Pillars of Islam, which are considered the most important teachings of Muhammad. Those who practice the Islamic religion are called Muslims and they currently make up around 1 in every 4 people on our planet. But that wasn't always the case.

In 570 CE, Muhammad was born in the bustling city of Mecca on the Arabian Peninsula. At that time, the Arabian Peninsula was emerging from a state of isolation (due to the forbidding deserts that kept people out.) It was an exciting time to live in Arabia marked by debates on trade, religion and power—this was especially true for the Arabian region, known as the Hijaz, located along the western coast on the Red Sea and home of the city Mecca. Mecca was a simple city, but busy with the increased trade between Arabia and the Mediterranean World. 

When Muhammad was around 40 years old, according to Islamic tradition, he received his first revelation from God while on a spiritual retreat. More revelations followed—God (Allah in Arabic) told Muhammad that he must worship only one God, act righteously and tend to the less fortunate. Following the traditions of Abraham, Moses and Jesus, Muhammad went to work sharing these revelations with the people of Mecca. Within 12 years, the leaders of Mecca chased Muhammad and his followers out of town for being radical and challenging their authority. (Yet another ironic example in this module of a person being accused of heresy for teaching others to be nice to each other. There does seem to be a theme in history when it comes to the development of religions.) Muhammad and his followers settled in Medina where they continued their teachings on God, behavior and government—establishing the religion of Islam (which means "submission") and gathering believers known as Muslims (which means "those who submit.")  

As mentioned earlier, Islam was (and is) based on the "Five Pillars of Islam." They serve as the core practices and beliefs for the religion.

Muslims are expected to adhere to the Five Pillars. While most religions have something similar to these five pillars, you might still be unfamiliar with their meanings as each religion has their own interpretations. So let's quickly go over what each one means within Islam.

Muhammad died when he was sixty-two and by that time the peninsula of Arabia had adopted Islam as its major religion. Basically this means that during a span of 22 years, Muhammad experienced his revelations from God, gathered followers, was accused of being a trouble-maker and exiled, gathered more followers, and ultimately established a religion that was accepted throughout a large expanse of land and diverse people. That's a lot to do in just under a quarter of a century.

Of course, there is more to this story—how Islam survived the death of its founder, how it spread outside of the Arabian Peninsula and how it transformed a region. But we're going to save that part for the next module.  

 

 

Recap Section

 

Watch the video below to review what you have learned.

While the "globalizing" empires of this unit didn't last forever, they did kick off a "globalizing" trend in their areas of the world—with a great deal of "flourishing" going along in the new societies that followed in their wake.

• Trade routes flourished—this continued the trend of cultural diffusion throughout Afro-Eurasia as various cultures (and invaders) were in constant contact with one another.
• Pastoral communities flourished—once the weaker of the people during the period of the ancient river valley civilizations, the pastoral communities located along well-traveled trade routes enjoyed economic prosperity as guardians and shelter-providers to those traveling the routes.
• Disease flourished—plagues swept through communities of Afro-Eurasia as germs hitched rides along the trade routes to infect new people with lower immunity
• Religion flourished—the spread of religious ideas hitched rides along the trade routes as well.
• Migrations flourished—people were really moving around the continents of Europe, Africa and Asia (the Bantu-speaking people throughout Sub-Saharan Africa, the Anglos and Saxons into the British Isles, a group of Huns into the Indian subcontinent.)

Understanding all of this "flourishing" and "movement" sets us up to move into our next unit.

 

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