Buddhism as a Basis for Cultural Exchange and Trade along the Silk Road - Essay Example

? To what degree did Buddhism provide a basis for cultural exchange and trade along the Silk Road? To what degree did Buddhism provide a basis for cultural exchange and trade along the Silk Road? Buddhism is an indigenous Indian religion encompassing various traditions, practices and beliefs founded largely on the teachings provided by Siddhartha Gautama, who came to be known commonly as the Buddha, denoting the “awakened”. Presently, although the religion is mainly practiced in Asia and predominantly India, its influences are evident in other parts of the world. Buddhism’s greatest appeal, which also gives it a universal outlook, lies in its teachings of the four noble truths that explain suffering, unsatisfactoriness and anxiety. On the other hand, the Silk Road, also known as the Silk Route, is comprised of a progression of cultural and trade conduction routes that extend about 4,000 miles (Whitfield 2004, p. 23). It got its name from the Chinese silk trade that was conducted along it from the 206 BC era of the Han Dynasty and greatly contributed to the civilization and development of China, Arabia, Europe, Persia and the Indian subcontinent. Silk was the main item of trade but, inadvertently, different cultures, philosophies and religions interacted as economic and political exchanges took place between different civilizations. The diversity of the cultures that interacted on the Silk Road is evident in the manner in which it linked China, India, Europe and the Middle East and facilitated Buddhism’s transmission to China from India and, consequently, Japan and Korea. Buddhist missionaries, travelers and merchants carried along their religious convictions, values and beliefs to distant territories, attracting converts along the way. This paper will discuss the degree to which Buddhism provided a basis for cultural exchange and trade along the Silk Road. Human communities have interacted through trade from the early days of history, exchanging both commodities and cultures over long distances. However, trading over long distances was often risky because of pirates and bandits along the routes, since the societies could not police distant regions as effectively as their own territories. This made long distance trading an expensive venture, compelling the rulers to invest heavily in the putting up of bridges and roads. The roads and bridges may have had an underlying administrative and military objective, but they also opened up trade and encouraged exchanges between many diverse communities. The Silk Road was among the roads and routes built to expand the scope of trade and enhance its security, covering most of Eurasia and the northern part of Africa. With the Han Empire maintaining order in China and providing access to western markets and Bactria, merchants from different backgrounds interacted in trade, promoting the spread of their cultures. Traders from different regions exchanged ideas and customs as they traversed the land in search and sale of commodities. Therefore, the Silk Road promoted more than commodity exchange and included culture as well. Buddhism, for example, spread from the Kushan kingdom to other parts of Asia (Hill 2009, p. 69). The degree to which Buddhism provided a basis for cultural exchange and trade along the Silk Road is manifested by the way the faith spread within all cities, towns and centers along the trade route. Among the great missionary faiths, the first that took advantage of the Silk Road’s mobility was Buddhism, extending its reach beyond its indigenous grounds in the north eastern part of India within the first century BC. After Military conquests and trade, Buddhism is the next most notable factor that linked the regions of India, to Central Asia and the present-day Afghanistan and Pakistan as early as 206 BC upto the 8th century AD. The transnational link facilitated the establishment of a political empire by the Hephthalites, which covered the expanse from the northern Indian plains to Afghanistan. Politically, the empire collapsed into chaos but the trade routes that had been established still connected India to the Silk Road’s western reaches and facilitated the ideological trade of Buddhist imagery between distant communities. This is evident in the second century movement of goods, people and ideas. For example, there was the Buddha monument in Afghanistan (although the Taliban destroyed it in 2001), and the northwestern China Caves of the Thousand Buddhas. In China, Buddhism’s earliest evidence has been dated back to 65 AD and the first Buddhist-to-Chinese interpreters arrived in 148 AD. In China, Buddhism’s earliest evidence has been dated back to 65 AD and the first Buddhist-to-Chinese interpreters arrived in 148 AD (Keown & Prebish 2004, p. 31). Merchants and missionaries brought Buddhism into Central Asia’s oases from India in the first century BC, from where it was transmitted via the Silk Road to China. The Buddhist merchants and missionaries built shrines and temples along the length of the Silk Road, facilitating its gradual spread to Southeast Asia, China, central Asia and Iran. At the same time, monks and priests who stayed in the shrines and temples established a permanent presence of Buddhism along the route by preaching to travelers and the local populations. The oases towns along the Silk Road provided markets, lodging, food and resting places for merchants, travelers and their caravans from diverse lands with different languages and religions, making them cosmopolitan centers. Because trade was the key source of prosperity for the oases, the merchants and travelers were allowed to build monasteries and scribes and monks were invited into the local communities. Buddhism was quickly adopted by most residents and also became the most prominent faith among merchants and travelers between 200 BC and 700 AD (Keown & Prebish 2004, p. 24). Eventually, culturally, religiously and ethnically diverse people were brought together by Buddhism, which had found a common ground in the oasis towns. It then spread from the oasis communities to central Asia’s steppe lands and China courtesy of the nomadic populations that traveled to the oases to trade. The nomadic people, whose response to the appeals of Buddhism was steadily growing, sponsored its spread throughout the larger central Asia by the fourth century AD. The significance of the migrations of the nomadic people is that they created the contact between north India and Gandhara, Kashmir and eventually Afghanistan. As a result, the north Indian artistic style of Gupta was fused with the Buddhist art of the Swat Valley and Kashmir, and was ultimately transmitted into Afghanistan. Foreign merchants maintained the flow of Buddhism into China, and the increasing number of missionaries and monasteries in Chinese cities led the natives to respond enthusiastically, making it the most popular faith all over China, Korea, Japan and East Asia. With the continued spread of Buddhism from India towards the north and into China and central Asia, it attracted following from the people of south east Asia facilitated by merchants using the Indian Ocean’s sea lanes. The influences of Indian cultures were shown by the way most rulers in Southeast Asia converted to Buddhism, appointing and promoting Buddhist advisors. Financed by the flourishing trade through the Karakorum and Khyber passes, Buddhism had thrived for more than six hundred years by the fifth century in the Swat Valley, which is the present day northern Pakistan, and Gandhara (Barrett 2005, p. 46). Gandharan monks were forced into western the regions of Central Asia by the invasions of the nomadic tribes, giving rise to corresponding forms of classical Gandharan styles at all Buddhist centers in the region. Buddhist complexes were constructed to serve as stations to traders on transit. The most evident form of contact by different regions and cultures was that between north India, Gandhara and Afghanistan. Trade systems that extended to Iraq and Iran influenced the lives of the nomadic tribes by the presence of Buddhist merchants and missionaries. As Buddhist schools continued evolving along the Silk Road, artwork was developing as well. Buddhist pilgrims from China started travelling to India but were, however, disrupted by the occupation of Central Asia by Islamic armies. However, Buddhism had already been established as a medium for exchanging culture, ideas and knowledge over the broad forum of the Silk Road for more than 3,000 years. The presence of a constant and permanent trade route established the relationship between trade and religion as the ideas and knowledge developed along the Silk Road were propagated to even the most marginalized areas in the East and West. In conclusion, the Silk Road facilitated the exchange of culture in regions that spanned from China, Europe, India, Egypt, Iran, Somalia and the Arabian Peninsula. Although other religions existed on the trade route alongside Buddhism, none spread its belief as fast and far as Buddhism for a period of about 2,000 years (Foltz 1999, p. 14). Apart from impacting on the lives and culture of the diverse societies that inhabited the expanse of the route, Buddhism also initiated a trend of literature and arts. Through the works of art, there was a demonstration of the fusion of western and eastern cultures. Many pilgrims from the West arrive in China and, at the same time, Buddhist pilgrims were sent from China to India, further providing a basis for cultural exchange between the host regions, visiting regions and all those along the Silk Road. This is evident from the enduring and powerful Buddhist monuments, sculptures, murals and paintings along the Silk Road. Before the third century BC arrival of Buddhism in Gandhara, no representation or image of the Buddha existed (Rice 1965, p. 45). Then, the first images of Buddha appeared in the culture of Gandhara, borrowing heavily from Greek culture hence, the resemblance of the initial representations to Apollo, the Greek god. References Barrett, TH 2005, ‘The religious meaning of Buddhist sculpture in its cultural setting: the Buddha images of Qingzhou in the light of recent scholarship’, Buddhist Studies Review vol. 22, pp. 44-69. Foltz, R 1999, Religions of the Silk Road, St. Martins Press, New York. Hill, JE 2009, Through the jade gate to Rome: a study of the Silk Routes during the later Han Dynasty, 1st to 2nd Centuries CE, BookSurge, South Carolina. Keown, D & Prebish, C 2004, Encyclopedia of Buddhism, Routledge, London. Rice, TT 1965, Ancient arts of central Asia, Thames & Hudson, London Whitfield, S 2004, The silk road: trade, travel, war and faith, Serindia Publications, Hong Kong. Read More