Influence of Buddhism
Influence of Buddhism
Introduction
The Indian region is politically decentralized due to the diversity of religion. However, the organized teachings of Buddhism in the Gupta Empire help the nation in establishing their political and religious unity. Although it was lost after the prosperous reign of the Gupta Empire, it left a significant impact in teaching morality and ethics. Two of the major documents helped in maintaining the significance of Buddhism in India, which were the “Dhammapada” and the “scripts of Faxien”. These two documents depicted the moral teachings of Buddhism during its reign in the Gupta Empire. The objective of this essay is to analyze how the two documents help in maintaining the influence of Buddhism in India and comparing its significance in the teachings of morality and ethics. The essay also opts to analyze the worldviews of the document, the purpose and how the document survived after the decline of Buddhism in India.
The Dhammapada is a collection of teachings, sayings and depictions of the Buddha. It was the most read document about the moral context of Buddhism. It was based on the life, struggles, aphorism of the Buddha to understand the concept of Dharma or to a basic guideline for living a Buddhist life. These were a compilation of aphorism, which the Buddhists were supposed to credit to Buddha . They are used in the metaphysical exploration of understanding Buddhism and its doctrines through a pragmatic guide. The virtues are built within the doctrines of two fundamental verses that are supposed to be understood by the believers.
The Buddha is indicated to be one of the paths of virtue that a believer should understand better in accordance to Dhammapada. It indicates that an individual is supposed to have a conquest that is filled with awakening, trackless and omniscience. The representation given on Buddha is that life is mortal, and yet he is immortal and has the true law. It is the meaning given to the term awakening as it is difficult for the majority of mortal beings.
The Dhammapada was an essential document that could enable readers to understand the impact and influence of Buddhism in the development of moral teachings in India. The major importance of religion is its depiction of how the world originate. However, the focus of the Dhammapada is to show how the world could be reconstructed by teaching moral values and ethics that people could use as a guideline in living as a Buddhist. There are two main reasons why the document was created. First, it was a depiction of the origin of Buddha. It means, the document relates how Buddhism originates as a life teaching into a religion. Secondly, the document could be a basic guideline in living a life of a Buddhist.
Faxien, A Record of Buddhist Countries
Faxien is a Chinese Buddhist Monk who travelled to India to seek and obtain the scriptures of Buddhism. He opts to collect the scriptures to establish and expand the teachings of Buddhism to the other places in East Asia especially to the region of China. He also writes in his journal about the depiction of the Early Buddhism in each place which could be an important document that could relate the history of the Religion. One of his major contributions is the depiction of the early Buddhism in India and how the monks affected the life of people during the 4th and the 5th century AD.
Faxien and the other Chinese monks who travelled in a pilgrimage transmit the teachings of Buddhism in India to China. It has a significant impact to the history of Asia such as cross-cultural exchange and expansion of religious beliefs. The travel records of Faxien are very important in the analysis of Asian history and the origin of Buddhism for three major reasons. First, the document provides the historians about the nature and process of religious rituals doctrines and institutions in India. Secondly, the document provides the historians about the economic and political condition of the early India and China. Lastly, it provides the primary perspective about cross-cultural interactions and perceptions.
Similarities and Differences of The two Documents
One of the major similarities of the two documents is about the worldview which was provided by the authors. In the two documents, the religion was their basis of restructuring the world with moral values and organized society. The Dhammapada provides the Buddhist the guidelines of moral values while the records of Faxien provide the organization of the society with the help of the monks. Faxien’s ‘A Record of Buddhist Kingdom’ provides the readers about how the practices of the religion should be applied. Using the lives of the monks and the early Buddhist, the teachings in the Dhammapada was also depicted.
Faxien’s documents helped in the expansion of Buddhism in other places of East Asia. However, the document of Dhammapada could not help in the expansion of the religion to the other places since it only focused on the way of life which was provided by the early Indian Society. Another major difference about the two documents is about their impact to the social and political development in the early East and South Asian Region. The teachings of Dhammapada provided the believers and followers of Buddha about the basic guidelines in living in a society. On the other hand, the documents presented by Faxien focused on providing the historians about the societal transformations and help the development of the society through interchanges in culture and traditions.
Implication of these Documents
One of the major implications of the Faxien’s document is that society and politics played a role in the development of the early Buddhism in India. The interception and interaction of different cultures are also one of the significant events which were depicted by the records of Faxien. The document is very important to the early Chinese monks since it will be their basis for the traditions and rituals of the religion. The purpose of the document of Faxien changed in the modern times since it is helpful for the historians. The document is also important to the historians for analyzing the social, political and economic structure of the early China and India.
On the other hand, the Dhammapada was a depiction of how the life of a Buddhist should be lived. The document is very important for the followers of Buddha since it provides the moral teachings of the Buddha. The Dhammapada is also important since it could show the basic principles that govern the religion and the society of Buddhists. Until in the present, the purpose of the Dhammapada is still for the concepts and principles of Buddhism.
How the Documents were created
The Dhammapada was created to document the oral teachings of the Buddha. Without these texts, the moral values that are presented by the Buddha could have lost due to the decline of followers and the loss of the religious practices. The document could have survived the modern times since it is very important depiction of the culture and beliefs of the religion. Until in the modern times, the Dhammapada is the most relevant document that could describe the concept and principles that the religion of Buddhism has established and applied.
The documents of Faxien were created to help the Chinese monks to expand the religion in the northern part of East Asian Region. Its main purpose is to help the Chinese monks to understand the rituals and tradition of Buddhism. However, its main purpose changed since the document contains the depiction of social, economic and political structure of various important places in the history. The document could have survived since the documents contain much information that the historians could use to analyze the history of the East Asian Region.
Conclusion
The significance and influence of Buddhism was depicted in the two documents namely the Dhammapada and the Faxien’s ‘A Record of Buddhist Countries’. In these documents, the early history of Buddhism was revealed. The document Dhammapada focused on the principles and concepts from the moral teachings of Buddha. On the other hand, the Faxien’s ‘A Record of Buddhist Countries’ focused on the cultural exchange as a result of the teachings of Buddhism.
References:
Primary Source
Buddha. Excerpts from the Dhammapada. Translated by Max Muller. 1886
Faxien. A record of Buddhist countries: Being an account by the Chinese monk Faxien, of His travels in India and Ceylon. Translated by James Legge. 1886
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