Buddhism in India

         After the death of Gautama. Buddhism flourished. Spreading to Central and South- East Asia, Japan,China and the Far East. Within India, the religion split into rwo forms: Theravada and Mahayana. The earliest form, Theravada ('the doctrine of the eldess'), spread southwards to eylon ( now Sri Langka ) in the time of King Asoka. He rule much of India in the middle of the 3rd centuri BCE, and live a devout buddhist life; his son and doughter were also Buddhist, and it is they who are believed to have take the teligion to Sri Langka.

               From Sri Langka, Theravada spread to Burma, Thailand and Most of South-East Asia.

Theravada

             Theravada was established as the royal religion in Sri Langka, and became an enduring form of Buddhism. Despite incorporating some Hindu elemants over the centuries, such as the increasing use of statues and the growth of shrines and priestly rites, Theravada Remained essentially unchanged antil Sri Langka was colonized by the British in the 19th century CE.

             Keeping close to Gautama's original teaching, Theravada frowns on retual and images, and rejects the idea of praying to the Buffha, who has of course been subsumed in nirvana. To Teravadans, the universe is seen as limitless, both in time in space. A person is a temporery mixture of five kind of impermanent state: state of consciousness. All these are dispersed at death and reassembled at rebirth according to karma, which show itself in throught, word and deed. Thuse all actions have there consequences in the next life, for progress on the spiritual part only meditation, study, ascetic living and self-training for the purity of life are effective. The ultimate experience is not expected to involve divine vision or dovine union, but contact with an ineffable, transcendental state nirvana. Therevada is a prime example of mysticism without a god, or any kind of absolute.

Mahayana

              Mahayana Buddhism, 'the greater vehicle', develoved in parallel to Theravada. Its basic was the realization that, in aiming for nirvana, a person was actually considering  only himself and not athers. This tension between the demants of inward-looking self-examination and concideration for fellow humans was ultimately resolved by the idea of the Bothisattva, or 'Buddha-in-waitng'. Thus, as hi works for his own salvation, the Bothisattva becomes a kind of savior, a helper of the needy in any situation. 

              As Mahayana grew, 'warm devation' (bhakti) come to be more highly valued than the original austere self-training and mysticism, at the same time the adea arose than marit could be gained by worship  (puja) and, tothis end, more and more Buddhist statues and shrines were erected and venerated. This led gradually to accepting that grace and salvation could be obtained from outward practices as well as inward meditation.  

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