Religions Imported from the Silk Road - Essay Example

Question: 7 “Religions imported from the Silk Road have after arriving in China been changed almost beyond recognition.” Do you agree with this ment? Please discuss. The Silk Road is one of the oldest roads since after the development of mankind. It is spread to a long way from Europe to Asia. The Road was the beginning of the concept of turning the word into a global village. Through this road the Europeans and the Asian did not only do materialistic or economic trade, but cultures, religions, languages, technologies and even diseases were transferred from one place to another. Talking specifically about the religions, the Silk Road played a pivotal role in merging all kinds of religions to such an extent that they finally lost their own identity. Resultantly, we can sense that all the religions along the Silk Road have visible components of the other one. The first and the most prevalent religion that first touched the Silk Road was that of Buddhism. Many other religions erupted after Buddhism but it still remained the most dominant and prominent religion throughout the Chinese history. It began to get its roots as early as in the 2nd century BC. The Indian missionaries brought the Buddhist ideas, beliefs and culture in to china through the Silk Road. But this religion actually got full penetration at the time of the emperor Ming-ti, who dreamt of a gold figure covered by a bright halo of light. His disciples told him it was the image of the Buddha. Resultantly, Ming-ti sent his men to India who brought with them all the Buddhist ideas, art, paintings grottos, stupas and missionaries. This was how Buddhism got entry into China through the Silk Road The second prominent religion was Manichaeism. It entered in 3rd and 4th century BC. However, this religion could not gather many followers mainly because Buddhism was the ruling and most dominant religion at that time. The third and second most prominent religion that got fame along the Silk Road was Nestorian Christianity. It was however that sect of Christianity which was being shunned by the Roman Catholic Church all over in Europe. After Buddhism this was the most sought after religion at that time in china. The traders and merchants coming from Europe played a pivotal role in promoting this religion along the Silk Road bank. Soon in 638 a Nestorian church was built. This was the second religion that got its own building after the Buddhist prayer caves and temples. The 7th century saw Buddhism at its apex. This religion was never promoted and followed with such diligence ever before in its history. This was the time of Tang dynasty. After the end of Tang dynasty in the wake of Arab invasion, the religion began to decline. All the monuments, temples and grottos were either being demolished or their construction began to grow less. The art work stopped and Buddhism almost came to fade away if not ended fully. The 8th century was a time when Islam stepped into china through the Silk Road. The Arabs invaded with full force and spread their religion to the utmost. They destroyed all the temples, grottos, pictures and other Buddhist symbols. Art work was being stopped right away as it was all prohibited in Islam. Islam was indeed the first religion that came with such an over whelming power and captured the very soul of Asia. Within a very short span of time Islam had prevailed in a major part of the Asian region mainly the sub continent. The Islamic preachings were those of peace and brotherhood so a large number of people started to convert into Islam. One of the political reasons for the conversion to Islam was that the government supported this religion. So people found it easy to follow the writ of the government than to go against it. The second major factor of the spread of Islam was economic. The Islamic ways of trading were less complicated as well. The Moslem merchants were given more respect and reverence for their honesty. Noticeable changes came at the time of nomadic Mongols. They changed the very soul of the religions prevalent along the Silk Road. Most of the Mongols were Moslems but the group that invaded here was very liberal and gave utmost liberty to all religions to practise their own beliefs and traditions. Mongols were a brave nation, expert in fighting, archery and horsemanship. They had been able to grip a firm hold on a large part of Asia under the leadership of Genghis khan. His successor Kublai’ khan was noticeably tolerant and liberal. He allowed all the religions to practise their own methods of worship, let them promote their culture and did not mind the iconography. Speaking specifically about Buddhism, by that time it had lost its very soul. The inefficient Buddhist monks had neglected their basic duties. Now it had a challenge to combat the Islamic followers and Brahmanism. Finally from 11th century, it revived one more time. The Chinese were one more time interested in this religion. For this purpose, the Buddhist monks were hailed from India. They built preaching schools in China to teach Buddhism. These schools however, ruined the very soul of Buddhism by their inefficiency. Instead of showing sorrow and grief as the principle teaching they showed the world as a fun place and that life’s purpose was enjoyment. One of these examples was Pu-tai that showed the image of laughing Buddha. In the Yuan dynasty in 1280, Tibetan Buddhism took place. In eastern India vajrayana Buddhism also emerged. Some other deviant schools, determined to ruin the soul of religion started kung-fu and martial arts classes. Such acts not only made people to shun this religion but also destroyed it very image. Briefly, today China follows a very changed version of Buddhism. The basic principles are either ignored or changed to such an extent that it is difficult to recognise the religion in its real shape. Going back to past, the way Mongols had helped all religions to flourish, actually confused the religions to such an extent that it became almost impossible to recognise even a single religion in its real shape. References http://languages.arts.unsw.edu.au/media/File/chin2310_gent0420_09s.pdf http://languages.arts.unsw.edu.au/media/File/SilkRoad2010course_091208.pdf http://www.hinduwebsite.com/buddhism/chinese_buddhism.asp http://www.jcu.edu/faculty/nietupski/rl251/projects/n_silk_road/religion/main.htm Read More