Rise Of Buddhism Essay

Buddhism: (1 - 1750) Buddhism originated in N. India, and is traced back to Siddhartha Guatama’s search for an antidote to end suffering in the 5th century BCE. Early Buddhism was spread slowly along the trade routes by Buddhist merchants and monks. In the 3rd century CE, Ashoka, a ruler of the Mauryan Empire, converted to Buddhism. He did not forcefully convert his people, but he sent missionaries to East Asia and left edicts throughout the empire. Buddhism eventually made it’s way into places like Nepal, Japan, and Tibet before the first millenium was finished. Buddhism was so successful in the Tang Dynasty that Confucians began suppressing the Buddhists, who they saw as a threat to the Confucian state model. Even so, Buddhism spread widely in the Tang, Song, Yuan and Ming empires.
Islam: (610 - 1750) After the death of Muhammad the Prophet, …show more content…
However, some of his ideas caught on in the Mesopotamian and Sassanid Persian areas, where Islamic rulers tolerated the Nestorian minority. In the 7th century, Nestorian ideas were introduced to the Tang emperor and a small monastery was put up in Chang’an. The Nestorian church, called the ‘Church of the East”, expanded their ideas along the Central Asian trade routes, but was never widely popular in Rome. Nestorians found success under the tolerant Mongol Empire, but diminished alongside the fall of the Mongols.
Hinduism: (1 - 1750) Hinduism emerged as a revision of old Vedic religion with Dravidian and Buddhist elements, and gained popularity in India, becoming the prominent religion in the Gupta Empire. Early Hinduism may have spread when Brahmins entered Southeast Asia with trade. The adaptability of Hinduism encouraged a rapid spread throughout India. Under the Vijayanagara Empire, Hinduism was dispersed throughout Malaysia, the Philippines, and