Buddhism's Decline in India

Why did Buddhism decline and eventually disappear in India, the land where it all began? We will look at the reasons and how they are different from the usual stories we are told. In particular we will look at factors internal to Buddhism in India at the time, as well as to competition with Hinduism and Islam. Lastly we will turn to some lessons we can take from all this, and to the eventual resurgence of Buddhism in India at the end.

Thanks to Bernat Font for help locating resources for this video!

✅ Video recommended:

✅ Source materials:
Richard Eaton, “Temple Desecration and Indo-Muslim States” in the Journal of Islamic Studies, Vol. 11, No. 3 (Sept. 2000).

James Mallinson, “Kālavañcana in the Konkan: How a Vajrayāna Haṭhayoga Tradition Cheated Buddhism’s Death in India”, in Religions 2019, 10, 273.

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[acesolta]

In South Asia, Buddhism survived on himalayas and islands where invaders couldn’t reach.

[petagonkyi]

Even the Arabic historian has written about the destruction of Buddhist monasteries in India. The last Abbot of Nalanda escaped and sought refuge in Tibet.

[osumarko]

In their book on Buddhism, Huston Smith & Philip Novak make a similar point to one you make in this vid. They argue that Hinduism made changes to incorporate Buddhist reforms and that with the develop of Mahayana, Buddhism started to sound more like Hinduism. In the end Buddhism was reabsorbed back into Hinduism.

[sharanagato]

Being an Indian, I feel it's resurrection of Hinduism through Advaita Vedanta philosophy is the main reason which is almost similar to Buddhism except they talked about one absolute God theory against dependent origination theory of Buddhism and was led by Adi Shankaracharya.

[knowledgedesk]

Buddhism in Western India declined due to adoption of Hinduism and forgein invasions (Huns and Muslim Invasions). It declined due to adoption of Saivism in Southern India. And due to Turkic invasion in Eastern India.

[byron-ihge]

my man u have said a lot of truth but u have said a lot of wrong too, northwest india was majorly buddhist during the islamic invasions although ruled by hindu kings, in fact the very reason why the first arab invasion into india was successful was because sindh was ruled by a hindu king " RAJA DAHIR SEN" but about 60-70 percent of his kingdom's population was buddhist and they supported the arab invasion, buddhists also formed the majority in eastern afghanistan, eastern balochistan, western pakistan( that entire pashtun areas) and east bengal(modern day bangladesh) . the only regions that had a clear hindu majority when islam invaded and r majority muslim today were punjab and kashmir . Also do u know whats the persian word for idol?? its "Buth" !! do i even need to say anything more, we all know how gracefully islam treats idol worshippers.scholars like audrey truskey have an extreme lvl of islamic bias and that seems to have
incalculated such a false image of islam within you .

[github]

Thanks for this video. I think the violence unleashed by the Muslims on the Buddhists may have been a major factor (for erasure) in the Sindh region. Am I wrong? Please also make a video explaining how Islam nearly completely replaced Buddhism in the area that is now Bangladesh. I have wondered about it for so long.

[kdnguyen]

Reluctant arguments. Buddhism was already at its golden age in China, Korea an Japan from 6th century. They didn’t wait for islam invasion to have Buddhism.
Nalanda had 10 000 monks killed but you said as a small conflict.

[mayankbadola]

There was no such thing called Hinduism or religion in India. People used to follow different belives and collectively called Hindus by outsiders. That is why I believe Buddhism absorbed in one of the beliefs in India and never was separate religion.

[Khemadhammo]

Very well-done video. I once heard a learned scholar-monastic from Thailand say that emperor Aśoka's involvement in sending missionaries to other countries was because he suspected Buddhism might decline in India. In your view, do you think this is supported by the evidence?

[lamcs]

The most important message conveyed in your research is the survival of Buddhism depends very much on the interdependence of the Sangha and the laity, which is the original intent of the Buddha. Once the link is broken or weaken, the metaphysical research of Sangha in an ivory tower even under royal patronage may not be relevant to daily life and eventually will be discarded by the society. Thanks a lot for your reminder to Buddhist around the world.

[Walaoehpaul]

5:20 The Buddha made it clear that bhikkhus should not beg for food and things, except in times of great need, but rather wait for something to be offered. During alms round, the bhikkhu makes no request, does not even look at people, although he may quietly wait to see if an offering is to be made before moving on. And usually dhamma talks are only conducted upon an invitation, also known as pavaaranaa. Otherwise there is no contacts or communications during the alms round as both bhikkhus and lay people are to observe mindfulness. Hence an alms round is not considered begging, for the bhikkhu does not solicit anything but is ready mindfully to receive any alms that lay people may wish to give. 🙂

[jaibhimjaibharatjaisamvidh]

I am a Buddhist from India, and very glad to see people from the other side of the world become interested in our religion.
I am glad to see many Americans making their way to Buddhism.

Here are the main reasons why Buddhism ended in its native country:

1. Islamic invasions. This is probably the biggest blow to Buddhism not only for India but for several Buddhist nations that were invaded by Islam and converted to Islam. Examples include Afghanistan, all of Central Asia, Indonesia, Maldives, Bangladesh, and even some parts of Iran as well.
*DID YOU KNOW* that the Ghurids, the first Islamic empire to have permanently make establishment in India were actually converts to Islam from Buddhism?
They are from Afghanistan. A Rajput King by the name Prithviraj Chauhan defeated Muhammad Ghor of the Ghurid dynasty several times, but finally lost to the Ghurids in the Second Battle of Tarain in 1192. Also, a mamluk of Muhammad Ghor started and established the Delhi Sultanate, and Khilji was a general of the Delhi Sultanate who destroyed Nalanda. The Turks not only in India, but even in Central Asia converted the populations from Buddhism to Islam.

2. Brahmanical ideologies and brainwash. The Brahmins defeated the Buddhists in the debates, and started to integrate the religion of the Buddha with Hinduism. They even made claims such as Buddha being an avatar of Vishnu which many people started to believe. One must not forget Pushyamitra Shunga, a Brahmin king who tried to decimate Buddhism in India.

3. Hun invasions. A Chinese traveller to India Xuanzang saw that Buddhism was vanishing in the Gandhara region, and it was mostly due to the invasions by the Hun invaders from Central Asia.

[monodeep]

Sindh had a Buddhist majority in 712 AD.
Raja Dahirsen was last hindu ruler of Sindh. Come 1947, still Sindh had a sizeable hindu population, however, zero Buddhist population. What you are saying is true, however,   I cannot agree with your assessment that your third point is least important. I have given you the case of Sindh as an example. You are correct that Buddhism had become dependent on royal patronage and donations. As they dried out, Buddhism could not take on the islamic onslaught. Hinduism as you very correctly pointed out was much grounded. If you see the almost 1, 000 years of Islamic rule, some Hindu kings or groups was constantly opposing the western invaders, whether be it east west south or north. Ofcourse there were some Hindu collaborators also. Though, I am not a student of history, I cannot recall a single Buddhist struggle against Islamic invaders.  

 I agree with you that Hinduism was a religion of home and hearth. Hinduism's world view was indeed global, however grounded in its soil. Buddhism thrived out of the monasteries, royal patronage and contribution from merchant class. When these factors collapsed, Bhuddism had no stomach for a good fight. Hindus kept on fighting. You give Hindus less credit for the struggle they waged for hundreds of years. From Alexander to the British, some Hindu was always there for a fight.

[kraut]

During my visit to Mumbai India I saw some Buddhist and Hindu caves and the Buddhist caves were well preserved vs the Hindu caves which were said to be destroyed by the Portuguese. I wondered who was preserving these caves if there were no Buddhist around during Portuguese period in the region. Consider how small the Portuguese colonies were it is hard to believe that they did not discover these caves.

[goo-LamoKaDoctor]

Pakistan, Afghanistan, Baluchistan was Buddhist majority ...Just Like Persia was Parsi Majority..
Islamic Invasion cleansed them all with force, and the multiple genocides and destruction evidence still resides in all these areas.
Only Hinduism fought back and managed to survive somehow .
The oldest living civilisation of the world, even after 1000 yrs of Invasion rule

[yasithperera]

Supreme Buddha did mention that the Dhamma will vanish within 5000 years.
So this is something that is slowly happening even right now.
Islamic invasion made it more worse in India, and made Buddhism vanish there.
And Hinduism was created with vedic aspects and fusion of Buddhist teachings. It lead to that because the Brahmins wanted to
regain their power, therefore the caste system is the cause of the declining of Buddhism. Fortunately, Emperor Ashoka came to power and converted to Buddhism and spread the Dhamma around the world. So he made Buddhism flourish again.
Sri Lanka played the important role of protecting Buddhism and the true Dhamma.

I would say Thailand, Sri Lanka and Cambodia are the most Buddhist practising countries right now

[nikhilkay]

"Islam thinks Buddhism as more You are dead wrong here. So, how did they view Buddhist idol worshipping? Why most of Buddhist monasteries got burned down by Islamic rulers. Nalanda University, people say was the biggest university at that time with more than 10, 000 scholars from around the world which Khilji brought it down and it burnt for months. Why Buddhism hasn't survived in any of the Islamic countries? Why Buddha idols are being destroyed even to this date?

[heathenwizard]

Thank you for this very informative video, my friend. Be well, and stay healthy!

[hotdogflavoureddrink]

Thank you for taking a balanced approach to the topic. I'll be checking out the rest of your videos!