The Roles of Monarchy & Trade in the Propagation of Buddhism
In its own unique ways, Buddhism was peacefully spread throughout much of Asia, carrying its message of using compassion and wisdom to end sufferings and disillusion, while fitting in to the needs and dispositions of different people. Often it developed in these regions organically, because of local interest in foreign merchant’s Buddhist beliefs. Sometimes rulers adopted Buddhism to help bring ethics to their people, but no one was forced to convert. By making Buddha’s message available to the public, people were free to choose what was helpful.
Often, the dissemination was due primarily to the influence of a powerful monarch who had adopted and supported Buddhism himself. In the mid-3rd century BCE, for example, Buddhism spread throughout northern India as a result of the personal endorsement of King Ashoka. This great empire-builder did not force his subjects to adopt the Buddhist faith, but by posting edicts engraved on iron pillars throughout his realm exhorting his people to lead an ethical life, and by following the principles himself, he inspired others to adopt Buddha’s teachings.
King Ashoka also actively proselytized outside his kingdom by sending missions to distant lands, sometimes acting upon the invitation of foreign rulers, such as King Devanampiya Tissa of Sri Lanka. Other times he would send monks as envoys at his own initiative. The visiting monks would not pressure others to convert, but would just simply make the Buddha’s teachings available, allowing people to choose for themselves. This is evidenced by the fact that in such places as South India and southern Burma, Buddhism soon took root, while in places such as the Greek colonies in Central Asia, there is no record of any immediate impact.
Other religious kings, such as the 16th century Mongol potentate Altan Khan, invited Buddhist teachers to their realm and proclaimed Buddhism the official creed of the land, in order to help unify their people and consolidate their rule. In the process, they may have prohibited certain practices of non-Buddhist, indigenous religions, and even persecuted those who follow them, but these rare heavy-handed moves were largely politically motivated. Such ambitious rulers still never forced subjects to adopt Buddhist forms of belief or worship. This is absolutely not part of the religious creed.
Whenever it reached a new culture, the Buddhist methods and styles were freely modified to fit the local mentality, without compromising the essential points of wisdom and compassion. Buddhism never developed an overall hierarchy of religious authority with a supreme head. Instead, each country to which it spread developed its own forms, its own religious structure, and its own spiritual head.
Sometimes, the process evolved organically. For example, when Buddhist merchants visited and settled in different lands, some members of the local populations naturally developed an interest in these foreigners’ beliefs, as happened with the introduction of Islam to Indonesia and Malaysia later on. This process also occurred with Buddhism in the oasis states along the Silk Route in Central Asia, during the two centuries before and after the common era. As local rulers and their people learned more about this Indian religion, they invited monks from the merchants’ native regions as advisors or teachers, and eventually, many adopted the Buddhist faith. Another organic method was through the slow cultural assimilation of a conquering people, such as the Greeks into the Buddhist society of Gandhara in present-day central Pakistan, during the centuries following the 2nd century BCE.
Written by: Glen Valentine
Source: Buddha Story