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Buddhism had supplanted Brahmanical religion from the time when Buddhism first came about. When analyzing the origin of Buddhism, the supplanting of Brahmanical religion began after Buddha’s Enlightenment. As Prince Siddhartha Gautama, later known as Buddha, traveled to find peace and contentment, he sought guidance from those he could, which included hermits that were Brahmin Hindu philosophers.[1] Gautama felt what he learned from the Brahmins as unnecessary, and set forth on finding a way to enlightenment. Many years after leaving the Brahmins, he discovered enlightenment and decided to share with the hermits. After talking for several days, the hermits were impressed and set forth in preaching to others about Gautama’s discovery, simply known as the Four Noble Truths. This later created a following that joined Gautama by living in small hurts in a grove of trees and becoming monks.[2] Gautama’s followers set the example of how effortlessly influenced one may become, especially if they are in a troubled state of mind, and demonstrated that Buddhism supplanted Brahmanical religion from the very beginning.
In spite that Buddhism followers are roughly estimated to 400 million people[3], Buddhism had no intention to supplant Brahmanical religion. In fact, deliberately supplanting Brahmanical religion would be antithetical to Buddhism’s principles. Brahmanical religions are based on the older versions of Hinduism and similar religions, including the historical Vedic religion. Vedic religion, although took several centuries to acquire the forms, is known by their sacred literature called the Veda.[4] The Veda is popularly referred as knowledge or wisdom. This may relate to how Buddhism pursues happiness by using knowledge and sharing wisdom. With knowledge and wisdom of Veda came sacrifice. Many rituals of the Brahmanical religion revolved around the sacrifice, mainly though animals but some evidence proved that there was human sacrifice, otherwise known as purushamedha.[5] Sacrifice is one of the differences that can be found between Brahmanical religions and Buddhism, for Buddhism’s goal is to find freedom from suffering, which can be referred to the Four Noble Truths.
What also made Buddhism different from Brahmanical religion is how Buddhism strays away from the belief of believing in a God, of the denial of revelation, and of prayer and priesthood.[6] While numerous religions, including Brahmanical religion, believed in a higher being or God(s), Buddhism averted from believing in a higher being and worshiped the teachings of one another. Other than monks, the historical Buddha, and other Buddhas, many followed bodhisattvas, otherwise known as people who devote their lives to the way of Buddha.[7] Bodhisattvas are individuals who could reach Nirvana, the goal of the Buddhist path or enlightenment, but chooses to postpone Nirvana to help save others who are suffering. With this knowledge in mind, a reason as to why various were influenced by Buddhism was because of their target audience, the suffering. If an individual was suffering and came across a solution that relieved themselves from suffering, there would be a higher chance that the individual would continue the path of less suffering.
As Siddhartha Gautama and his followers approached Buddhism in finding peace and contentment, a well-known emperor from India not only did the same but successfully brought the Buddhist teachings beyond the borders of his kingdom.[8] King Aśoka was known to have lived a violent lifestyle. During the time of his father, Bindusāra was on the path to death, Aśoka went to the capital and slew all the princes to stay in power.[9] After obtaining the throne, Aśoka went forth in his only known military campaign, the Kalinga war. Aśoka had won the conquest within a year while killing over thousands of men. The bloodshed involved with the victory has caused Aśoka to reevaluate his beliefs and temperament. This monumental moment is noted in Aśoka’s edicts as his “change of heart”, after learning the concept of Buddhism and Dharma by a fellow councilor.[10] With his change of heart, Aśoka had decided to do everything in his power to live the Buddhist life while continuing his reign as King. Aśoka his edicts shown this by discontinuing any military campaigns, appointing officers to proceed on periodical religious missions, and instilling Buddhist principles by cutting them on rocks, pillars, and caves as orders to live a religious life.[11] In addition to discovering how Buddhism had begun expansion, it is seen another example as to how Buddhism supplanted Brahmanical religion. Aśoka was influenced by a concept during a moment where he felt unhappy with his life choices, life Siddhartha Gautama. This later created a passion that helped influenced the many individuals under his reign and those who came across Aśoka’s teachings.
Seeing that Aśoka’s teaching was spread through periodical religious missions, it came to no surprise that the officers arrived in Southeast Asia, notably Burma. During the end of the Kalinga war, Aśoka expanded his empire to the north-west and eastern seaboard to the land of Suvarna-bhûmi (Land of Gold), Arakan, and Pegu. Although there is no reliable evidence of the precise moment Buddhism arrived in the three noted lands, many identify with Aśoka’s tale through many readings from Ceylon (Sri Lanka).[12] However, much architectural evidence has been found in Beikthano. Many of the bricks represented the Aśokan dimensions that were later seen in the first Buddhist monument in Burma, as well as fragments of vase and oil lamps[13], can help connect Buddhism in Burma. This evidence helped many archeologists understand the development of Buddhism and how it developed in early Pyu culture. For the development of the Pyu culture to be substantial, the Buddhist missionaries that were sent out by Aśoka must have come across an uncultured community. As time went on, the communities in Burma assimilated to the Buddhist teachings and culture, and Thaton later became the center for Theravada Buddhism. The development in Thaton helped continued to spread Buddhism by converting new kings in different kingdoms of Burma, which created a political authority with Buddhism.[14] Political authority is an effective way to easily influence the uncultured, undeveloped, and/or suffering communities in converting to the Buddhist lifestyle. If it was not for Aśoka’s passion to influence, many other kings like Aniruddha would not have continued to spread Buddhism and supplanted Brahmanical religion.
Both Buddhism and Islam have many similarities in their stories on how they came about. Unlike Buddhism, Islam did not supplant Brahmanical religion when it first came about. However, because of the history of Islam, one may understand why the religion had easily supplanted Brahmanical religion with the influence of its prophets and messengers. When first hearing of Islam, history conveys a popular name, Muhammad. Muhammad was known as the prophet who received a call from God to be his messenger while seeking solitude inside the nearby cave while he contemplated his life and ills of society and sought greater meaning and insight.[15] The call that Muhammad had received that night was not the creation of Islam, but the beginning of his journey to reform to the true faith, Islam. To understand what the reformation of Islam means, one must first analyze and understand the meaning of Islam. When translating the name Islam, some discovers that “it simply means surrender to the Will of the One God, called Allah in Arabic.”[16] This explains that unlike the surrounding religion(s) of Mecca, the focus is to submit to the will of the one and only God, Allah. To surrender or to submit to something or someone and immediately disregarding your previous beliefs shows how the followers of Islam are easily and willingly influenced based on the simple yet powerful concept. Although it took over ten years of hardships since Muhammad’s call from God, he was able to not only gather faithful followers but was able to protect them from persecution by the creation of the Islamic society in Medina.[17] To be a follower of Muhammad at that given time was very difficult because that individual would be at risk of persecution from the different tribes of Mecca, as well as not having a guaranteed place to leave to for many neighboring villages can turn you away. This instance helps support the concept that the leaders of Islam are still able to influence those in search of a solution to a better life while supplanting other’s religions.
The expansion of Islam in Southeast Asia and around the world until 632/1233 A.D., the year of Muhammad’s death. His successors fought many surrounding tribes and established the text of the Qur’an to begin the process of institutionalization of Islam.[18] The benefit of fighting the surrounding tribes was to ensure the growth of Islam. With the established text of the Qur’an, the successors were able to provide another outlet for scholars to educate others of the series of revelations. By 691/1292 A.D. well-known explorer, Marco Polo, had reported a Muslim community in the northern Sumatra area of Indonesia, with evidence that a Muslim territory had existed in the region since the thirteenth century. By the mid-fifteenth century, it was noted that both Malacca, southern Sumatra, and Java has been converted to the Muslim faith.[19]
[1] Leonard T. Wolcott and Carolyn M. Wolcott, Religions around the world, (London: G. Chapman, 1972), 55-56.
[2] Leonard T. Wolcott and Carolyn M. Wolcott, Religions around the world, (London: G. Chapman, 1972), 60.
[3] Cristian Violatti, “Buddhism,” 2014, Ancient History Encyclopedia, May 20. https://www.ancient.eu/buddhism/.
[4] T.N. Madan, India's religions: perspectives from sociology and history, (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2004), 8.
[5] Peter Occhiogrosso, The Joy of Sects: A Spirited Guide to The World’s Religious Traditions, New York: Doubleday, 1994), 16.
[6] G.T. Bettany, The great Indian religions: being a popular account of Brahmanism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Zoroastrianism. With accounts of the Vedas and other Indian sacred books, the Zendabesta, Sikhism, Jainism, Mithraism, etc., (London: Ward, Lock, Bowden, and co, 2009,) 179.
[7] Kosho Uchiyama, “What is a Bodhisattva?” 2016, https:/tricyle.org/magazine/what-bodhisattva/.
[8] Heinrich Friedrich Hackmann, Buddhism as a religion: its historical development and its present condition, (S.1.: Read Books, 2007), 42.
[9] P. V. Bapat, 2500 years of Buddhism, (New Delhi: Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govt. of India, 2012), 56.
[10] Aśoka, Richard McKeon, and Narayanarao Appurao Nikam, The edicts of Asoka, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1978), 18; Leonard T. Wolcott and Carolyn M. Wolcott, Religions around the world, (London: G. Chapman, 1972), 64.
[11] G.T. Bettany, The great Indian religions: being a popular account of Brahmanism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Zoroastrianism. With accounts of the Vedas and other Indian sacred books, the Zendabesta, Sikhism, Jainism, Mithraism, etc., (London: Ward, Lock, Bowden, and co, 2009,) 177.
[12] Heinrich Friedrich Hackmann, Buddhism as a religion: its historical development and its present condition, (S.1.: Read Books, 2007),68.
[13] Janice Stargardt, The ancient Pyu of Burma, (Cambridge, England: OACSEA, Cambridge in association with the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore, 1990), 191-192.
[14] P. V. Bapat, 2500 years of Buddhism, (New Delhi: Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Govt. of India, 2012), 87-88.
[15] John L. Esposito, Islam: the straight path. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2016), 7-8.
[16] Arvind Sharma, Our Religions, (New York, NY: Harper one, 1995), 428.
[17] Geoffrey Parrinder, Religions of the world, from primitive beliefs to modern faiths, (New York: Madison Square Press, 1971), 393-394.
[18] Mark Juergensmeyer, The Oxford handbook of global religions, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006), 402.
[19] Peter G. Gowing, “Islam in Indonesia with Special Attention to Java,” Syracuse University ANTH 209—Readings and Research in Anthropology Spring Semester (1966):4.