Buddhism Is Only 200 Years Old In India?

kullukid

Hi,Recently finished reading yet another amazing book by one of Indias top historian come storytellers Charles Allen called "The Buddha & the sahibs" where i was amazed to find out that up until around 1800 "the british" were not even aware that Buddha had existed in India or anywhere else for that matter. It was only when british employees of "john company" started digging around & doing surveys that they discovered places like Sarnath, Bodh Gaya, Sanchi & caves of Ajanta etc. It was the mid 1800's before anyone (british) peiced all this info together & concluded that there had been a major religion in India called Buddhism. kk

New-South-Welshman

Hehe. That's imperialists for you.

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Mr. Burns "Non-violence never solved anything!"

milan

The British started translating Buddhist text in the 1800s, so that's when the world first began to sit up and take notice of it... But remember, the Buddha was born in present day India, and lived most of his life in the North East of the country.

thirdreel

A number of books have shed some light on this issue for me. An End to Suffering: The Buddha in the World by Pankaj Mishra tells a lot about how Buddhism flowered in Ancient India, and the odd minor role it plays in India today. There's also an essay in Land of No Buddha by Richard Hayes that speculates that the existence of the Dalit caste came about from Buddhist-Hindu disputes in those times. But you are right--Buddhism as we know it today is relatively a recent development in India.

Sama

Buddha by Karen Armstrong is also an excellent book on the origin and history of Buddhism.

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My India, 2005-2008
BE THE REVOLUTION

gregornot

Namaste,
My teacher SN Goenka (his website:http://www.dhamma.org/) told me in his evening discourses during the 10 day courses that this is what happened, after Gotma the Buddha passed.

Since the time of Buddha, Vipassana has been handed down, to the present day, by an unbroken chain of teachers. Although Indian by descent, the current teacher in this chain, Mr. S.N. Goenka, was born and raised in Burma (Myanmar). While living there he had the good fortune to learn Vipassana from his teacher, Sayagyi U Ba Khin who was at the time a high Government official. After receiving training from his teacher for fourteen years, Mr. Goenka settled in India and began teaching Vipassana in 1969. Since then he has taught tens of thousands of people of all races and all religions in both the East and West. In 1982 he began to appoint assistant teachers to help him meet the growing demand for Vipassana courses.

When SN Goenka was taught by tradition of Sayagyi U Ba Khin, he was told to spread the pratice of Vipassana as the clock after 2500 years had been been stuck and the pure form of Vipassana was to be spread once again. SN Goenks was very lucky to get a passport to India to teach his mother, who was sick. The first class was only eleven students, his parents and eight others. They asked him to teach others, as they had receive benfit from what he had taught them. This was the new spreading of what Gotma the Buddha taught to those around him.

The are not my words just what I believe, and learned throught my daily pratice.Am not saying anyone else is right or wrong. This is what I believe. Please check the Vipassana website and make your own choice. http://www.dhamma.org/

What Gotma the Buddha taught was Vipassana Mediation. Buddhism is a religon that appeared hundreds of years after Gotma passed. I wish no argument these are myviews that I learned from my teacher SN Goenka who was taught by tradition of Sayagyi U Ba Khin, for more information on Vipassana mediation check this site: http://www.dhamma.org/

I tried to post this last night but the server would not let me post.

much metta, gregor

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To conclude with the ever inspiring words of the Buddha:
"If the roots remain untouched and firm in the ground,
a felled tree still puts forth new shoots.

If the underlying habit of craving and aversion is not
uprooted, suffering arises anew over and over again."
~Dhammapada XXIV verse 338

gaurav78

Had been to Kushalnagar in karnataka there is a buddhist monastery called the golden temple it was an awsome experience out there when we entered there were about 200 monks all receiting their chants and the music led us into a totally different aura
A must go for anyone who wants to seeks spiritual solace