Christian & Buddhist Worlds
We learnt about the transformation of Christianity & Buddhism from parochial sects into world religions throughout today's lecture. This occured through discussion about the emergence of Christianity in the Middle East and Buddhism in South Asia and then the expansion of these two religions and the way in which they helped integrate peoples and societies at either end of the Eurasian landmass.
The Origins of Christianity
The origins of Christianity lie in the diverse cosmopolitan centres of the middle-east in the Achaemenid and Parthian Empires, where there were many religions. Christianity draws a lot of its beliefs from Zoroastrianism, which allowed its membership to cross cultural boundaries owing to a great deal of acceptance. It placed importance on the individuals relationship with god and preached a great struggle between the forces of good and evil. Another religion christianity draws a great deal from is Judaism. This was the religion of the nomadic pastoral people that moved in and about the centres of settled agricultural societies. They had a kingship system and their own written language (Hebrew). Religious universalism and ethical individualism were parts that were drawn as well as monotheism.At the time of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the region was dominated by the Romans under the emperor Octavion Augustus. The Romans had Jesus crucified, but it was very appealing to the populace as it offered an explanation as well as a sense of purpose and established high ethical and moral standards. It was the religion of urban people and expanded out through the trade routes.
The Origins of Buddhism
Buddhism was formed by Buddha (c.560-c.480 BCE), meaning "enlightened" or "awakened". He was a wealthy man who became disillusioned and began to experiment in the different religions that were on offer, but rejected them all in favour of what he came up with: The Middle Way. He came up with Dharma or a doctrine which contained what he thought of as the Four Noble Truths:
He emphasised morality, meditation and wisdom. It was not a religion based on divine revelation, nor is it based on one central text like the bible. It became based around the Sangha or the religious community, where there were The Three Jewels: Buddha, dharma, and sangha.
Expansion of Christianity
Expansion of Christianity truly occured after the conversion of Constantine 312 CE. Then followed a period of large scale social conversion as christianity became "legal". Before this time, Christians had been persecuted because of their refusal to acknowledge Roman control. Christianity spread quickly because of very zealous missionary work and the ease at which it absorbed other religions. There was the Edict of Toleration 313 and the networks of empire, especially roads. Beyond the roman empire there was the papacy which was the establishment of the institution behind the religion, the strong centralised church. Gregory I (590-604), "Gregory the Great" was the example mentioned. Also there were alliances formed with the new political rulers that emerged in the wake of the collapse of Roman authority, especially the Franks.
Expansion of Buddhism
The Expansion and Integration of the Buddhist world occured mainly in the Mauryan Empire of the Indus valley during the rule of Asoka (r.269-232 BCE). It expanded into South-East Asia (Borobudur temple, Java, was built in the late 8th century), but more importantly also into China where it had to compete with the confucian world view. It reached Tibet also, where in the Potala palace, Lhasa, dGelugspa (Yellow Hat school of Tibet Buddhism, or Lama Buddhism) is practiced under the leadership of the Dalai Lama. By about 10th to 12th centuries, however, various reactions had begun to set in against this common Buddhist world, especially the resurgence of Confucianism in China and the rise and spread of Islam.