Reasons for early decline of Buddhism
Buddhism’s
decline was as fast as its rise. My view is that Buddhism’s decline cannot be
attributed to any failings in the teachings but because of wrong interpretation
of the teachings. We have seen how materialism pervaded the society at the time
of Buddha. In the initial years of his life, Siddharth Gautama (or Buddha)
fought all the materialistic forces while living within the society itself. So
much so that he was made to live in a harem where all the female inhabitants
had been instructed to seduce him with their charm. This was a clear example of
material beckoning at its extreme. Likewise, he was the son of a king and had
all the chances to exploit the wealth of his father. Yet he was fighting these
evils while living in the society itself.
Later,
when the Sakya Sangh ruled a war against Koliyas, he was seen to be against the
decision of the majority. This angered the Sangh and the consequences of this
led to Siddharth Gautama opting for Parivraja but only as a way out when
compelled, as he wanted to adhere to his ideals and also save his family from
confiscation of property or expulsion. Siddharth Gautama was a man of great
principles and could not have comprised on truth.
Unfortunately,
Siddharth Gautama’s compulsion to take Parivraja or sanyas was accepted as part
of the Buddhist teachings. This was perhaps because renunciation by going to
the forests or high altitude caves had remained a part of the believes of the
people for a long time, even though Krishna had criticized such renunciation in
Gita and said that true renunciation was to keep firm control over organs of
action and senses and perform all acts for God, seeking nothing in return. Gita
is replete with such teachings.
The
followers of Buddha didn’t understand this at least initially. This led to
hoards and hoards of new recruits to Buddhism starting to live in caves and
hermitages, resulting in situation where all good teachings and knowledge got
confined to these secluded hermitages and the common man continued to live in
ignorance. Slowly, when these hermitages collapsed, the only link of the common
men to the true teachings collapsed and Buddhism declined as quickly as it had
emerged.
Why did
the system of hermitages collapse? This happened because the way of life that
these hermits had adapted was not the desired way of life as per Buddhism.
Universality of religion lies in the ability of the entire society to accept
and live that religion. Clearly, it was not possible for the entire society to
start living in caves and hermitages. The initial zeal and enthusiasm made the
adherents live a harsh life in such places. But when this died slowly or
materialism started brewing inside those very monasteries, the entire structure
started to crumble like a pack of cards.
They were
doing all this in remembrance of Buddha whom people had seen passing from
amongst themselves, with a shaven head, and clothes of a hermit and begging for
food in a bowl. They didn’t realize that this was a life that Buddha was forced
to live due to certain compulsions which were the consequence of his promise
made to the Sangh.
One may
ask at this juncture the reason for materialism making inroads into the
Buddhist hermitages. The reason is simple. Buddha’s overzealous followers had
tried to see his teachings as a new religion when in truth there were not. All
Buddha had done was to remove the evils that had permeated in the society that
believed in the Vedas. Several of those who accepted his teachings were
Brahmins. But portraying Buddha’s teachings as a religion had a negative effect
as several ardent believers of Vedas rejected the teachings. Therefore, a lot
many serious people who would have otherwise contributed to development of
Buddha’s teachings did not came under its fold. After Asoka’s conversion, the
new recruits were mainly those who converted due to compulsion. A lot many of
these entered the caves and hermitages and thereafter corrupted the entire
system. Infighting, fight for supremacy, ego tussles and all other evils of a
materialistic society entered these hermitages. This led to the entire system
collapsing once Hindu kings replaced Asoka.
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