DISAPPEARANCE OF BUDDHISM FROM INDIA

Many scholars of Indian history and religion are devoted to unraveling the mystery of what led to disappearance of Buddhism from India. Due to the lack of historical and archeological evidence, there is no absolute consensus on this matter till date. However, the whole sequence of events was initiated by the Buddhist monks and clergy when they had ignored the teachings of the Buddha and concentrated on accumulation of abundance of wealth in the monasteries. They had abandoned the community visits and concentrated on their own salvation instead of helping the common people and oppressed classes to end their sufferings. As the lay devotes were ignored, Buddhism started losing the general support from the community. Subsequently, the Brahmins took advantage of this situation and deepened the rift between the common people and the Buddhist practitioners. They also manipulated the contemporary rulers to withdraw their support from Buddhism and help in reviving the existing Brahmanism. This was followed by the revival of Hinduism and further decline of Buddhism. Towards the end stage of this decline, there was the Muslim invasion of India.

Autorentext

Dr. Ankur Barua had done Master of Buddhist Studies from the University of Hong Kong (2009). He also had completed MD in Community Medicine (2003) from Manipal University and is working as Associate Professor of Community Medicine at Melaka-Manipal Medical College in Malaysia. Ms. M.A. Basilio is a nursing professional interested in Buddhism.