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Religion and the State in India, 100–1000 C.E.
Religion and the State in India, 100–1000 C.E.
By 100 C.E., India had broken up into many different regional kingdoms.
No one kingdom was as large at the Mauryans.
One of the most powerful was the Kushan Empire.
Ruled by Kanishka, c. 120–140 C.E.
First evidence of transmission of Buddhism out of India during his reign
Buddhism became popular outside of India, in China and central Asia.
No longer as popular in India, where new deities were worshipped
Beginning of Hinduism, the primary religion of India by 1000
The Rise of the Greater Vehicle Teachings in Buddhism
There were many changes in Buddhism from Ashoka (third century B.C.E.) to Kanishka (second century C.E.).
Buddhists no longer had to join the order to achieve enlightenment.
Known as the Greater Vehicle (Mahayana) interpretation of Buddhism
Older form is known as the Lesser Vehicle (Hinayana)
Hinayana is also known as Theravada, or "Tradition of the Elders."
Buddhists worshipped statutes of the Buddha, although he had told his followers not to do so.
Buddhists prayed to Bodhisattvas for help or protection.
Bodhisattvas were beings near enlightenment who wait, to help other beings achieve nirvana.
Buddhists believed in transferring merit from one person to another.
Gifts to a Buddhist monastery or paying someone to recite a text can transfer merit.
Buddhists began to stay in monasteries, rather than wandering as the Buddha had done.
Monks were forbidden from working in the fields.
Buddhists were supported by gifts from kings and wealthy merchants.
Particularly encouraged were the Seven Treasures
Gold, silver, lapis lazuli, crystal, coral, pearls, and agate
These minerals and metals were traded between India and China.
Buddhists met in councils to decide which recited texts were authoritative.
Buddhists texts were not written down in India, just memorized.
The Kushans were defeated by the Sasanians in 260 C.E.
The Rise of Hinduism, 300–900 C.E.
The Gupta dynasty modeled themselves on the Mauryan dynasty.
Ruled much of north India between 320–600 C.E.
The Gupta founder took the name of the Mauryan founder, Chandragupta.
Used the Mauryan capital of Pataliputra
But unlike the Mauryans, they granted land to powerful families, Brahmins, monasteries, and villages.
Land grants gave the holder the right to collect a share of harvests.
In order to record these grants, scribes developed a decimal system.
By 876, Indian scribes also created a zero, to hold empty places.
Guptas gave many grants of land to Brahmins.
In particular, Brahmins worshipped Shiva and Vishnu.
Both gods appeared in the Rig Veda but only briefly.
Both gods took many forms, and followers worshipped them under various names.
Meanwhile, Buddhism was on the decline.
Hindu worship took two forms.
Public ceremonies were done by Brahmin at temples.
Supported by local rulers who used this to show their power
Private ceremonies in the home involving singing songs of love or praise
Developed a personal tie between the devout and the deity known as Bhakti
Bhakti devotion is revealed by poems to the gods, written in regional languages.
The Beginnings of the Chola Kingdom, ca. 900
Chola kingdom was Tamil speaking and located in south India
Kingdom established by 907 C.E., with a capital at Tanjore
Patronized the temple of Shiva, to which they gave large land grants
Wanted their subjects to see how generous they were with the temple
Hindu temples usually had a womb room or innermost chamber.
In that chamber, was held the lingam or stone phallus
The priests brought gifts to the lingam.
The womb room and lingam symbolize the female and male generative powers, which had to be combined.
Symbolized human and cosmic creative forces
Chola kingdom included rich agricultural lands in south India
Rice harvests supported thousands of Brahmin in the temple at Tanjore.
Brahmin performed rituals, memorized texts, and taught local boys in schools.
Chola kings probably only controlled the capital and nearby cities.
Villages were independent of the king, but acknowledged the main temple as central.
Under King Rajaraja I (r. 985–1014), much of south India was conquered and armies sent to Indonesia.
No land was conquered by the reputation of the Cholas was increased.
State, Society, and Religion in Southeast Asia, 300–1000
State, Society, and Religion in Southeast Asia, 300–1000
Southeast Asia includes a large amount of land in subtropical Asia and twenty thousand Pacific islands.
Travel between islands was easier than travel between land communities.
Small populations lived in isolation, separated by forests and mountains.
Monsoon rains brought water in the summer, which had to be stored in tanks for the rest of the year.
Lowland people grew mostly rice in paddies.
Highland people used slash-and-burn agriculture.
In both places, when the soil was exhausted, they moved on.
This resulted in fluid political boundaries.
Until the introduction of Hinduism, the basic social structure was egalitarian.
The Buddhist Kingdoms along the Trade Routes
Two Buddhist kingdoms arose along the sea routes between India and China.
Kingdom of Funan arose on the isthmus between the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand
Kingdom of Srivijaya taxed boats passing through the Strait of Malacca
Port towns arose along the Southeast Asian coastlines to support travelers, sailors, and merchants.
During the spring and summer, monsoon winds blew toward India.
During the fall and winter, winds blew away from India toward China.
Boats had to wait three to five months for the winds to change, to make a return voyage.
Merchants were required to find food and shelter during the layovers.
Funan thrived between the first and sixth centuries C.E., as a port town along the Isthmus of Kra.
Crossing the Isthmus of 35 miles was safer than circling it at 1600 miles.
Scholars are uncertain of the exact location of Funan, and only know the Chinese name for it.
After 350 C.E., Funan was replaced by Srivijaya as the major trade route between India and China.
Merchants and monks began their voyage at Sri Lanka, crossed the Strait of Malacca or the Sundra Strait, waited at Srivijaya for the winds to change, then moved on to China through the South China Sea.
Srivijaya kings donated money to Buddhist temples and to local deities.
Favored Buddhism
Another regional kingdom was Java, where the largest Buddhist monument was built at Borobudur.
The Buddhist Kingdoms of Inland Southeast Asia, 300–1000
Prior to the introduction of Buddhism in the area, c.300–600 C.E., the region was dominated by local "men of prowess."
These men used military skills and intelligence to become leaders of tribes.
In time of war, the men with the most local supporters often won over other men of prowess.
Some leaders were acknowledged as regional overlords.
Southeast Asian descent acknowledged both the father and mother's lineages.
Sons of rulers did not always succeed him; nephews had the same claim.
This led to many divisions within the groups.
People followed individuals, not dynasties.
Burial practices varied in the area, from cremation, burial in ground or sea, to exposure.
The natural world consisted of spirits inhabiting trees, rocks, and natural objects.
Rituals were performed by specialists to communicate with these spirits.
After the fourth century C.E., literate outsiders, many of them Brahmins, came into the area.
They brought with them the ability to read and write in Sanskrit.
Some locals also traveled to India and learned Sanskrit.
Some memorized sacred texts and laws and brought them back orally.
Some literate teachers were Buddhists.
Those learned in Sanskrit were called purohita or "chief priest."
Served as teachers, conducted rituals, and also advised leaders
Jayavarman II, r. 802–850, in the lower Mekong basin in Cambodia
Area is a large lake, which holds waters from the monsoon rains used to irrigate rice fields
Jayavarman II is the beginning of the Angkor Dynasty, who spoke Khmer.
Jayavarman II was a devotee of Shiva.
As Shiva was the overlord of the universe, so Jayavarman II was the overlord of the human universe.
Lesser chieftains did not have to be conquered, as long as they acknowledged the spiritual overlordship of Jayavarman II.
Jayavarman II was recognized as a Bhakti teacher, who brought people closer to Shiva.
New Shiva temples were built at the location of local shrines.
If there was a sacred rock at the local shrine, it could become the linga of a Shiva temple.
Angkor Wat was built in the early twelfth century.
Hinduism used motifs to present the reign of the Angkors as a golden age.
Jayavarman II also presented himself as a chakravartin or ideal Buddhist king.
Subsequently, local rulers often mixed Buddhist and Hindu symbolism.
Buddhism and the Revival of Empire in China, 100–1000 C.E.
Buddhism in China, 100–589 C.E.
Buddhism was introduced to China during the Han dynasty, before 100 C.E.
Came from the Kushan Empire in India
First reached Chang'an and Loyang, the two capitals of Han China.
The Han dynasty collapsed in 220 C.E.
China would not be re-unified until 589 C.E.
Period known as the Six Dynasties
At first, the Chinese converted to Buddhism because they believed he perform miracles.
Some of the first Chinese Buddhists believed he was a Daoist deity.
Fotudeng, d. 349, claimed the Buddha had given him the power to heal, prophesize, and bring rain.
Converted Shi Le, a local ruler on the verge of attacking Loyang
Performed a miracle, converting water into blue lotus flowers
Lotus was a Buddhist symbol of enlightenment out of earthly impediments.
Shi Le granted Buddhists tax-free land for a monastery.
Because he was illiterate, Shi Le could not use Confucianism to support his rule, but could use Buddhism, which did not require literacy.
One obstacle to the spread of Buddhism was its insistence on celibacy.
Chinese parents were reluctant to allow their children to become celibate.
Needed children to perform ancestor worship
Chinese culture emphasized families and having children.
Some allowed one child to convert and transfer merit to other children
Chinese scholars insisted that Buddhist texts needed to be translated.
Miracles more successful at converting illiterate and uneducated
But Sanskrit was difficult to translate into Chinese
First Chinese Buddhist texts only appear in 400.
Written by a monk who knew both Chinese and Sanskrit
Buddhism was also popular in China because it directly addressed the afterlife and offered hope.
Confucian and Daoist texts rarely mention the afterlife.
Many Chinese feared the afterlife as a perpetual prison.
Buddhists taught a doctrine of no-self, that there was no such thing as a fixed self to be reborn (as the Upanishads had argued).
Chinese interpreted this as a series of hells, where the dead waited to be reborn into one of six different types, depending on their moral status
A few people could achieve a paradise or nirvana.
By 600, there were three different types of Buddhist monasteries in China.
Largest 47 monasteries were supported by the emperor.
Monks here were literate and educated.
Next 839 monasteries were supported by royal and noble patrons.
Over 30,000 smaller shrines were supported by local donations.
Often local monks were illiterate and memorized Buddhist texts.
China Reunified, 589–907
China is reunified under the Sui dynasty in 589.
Sui founder modeled himself on Ashoka.
Donated money to build Buddhist monasteries across China
Also had stupas built all over the empire for Buddhist relics
Built a new capital at Chang'an, which included 120 Buddhist monasteries
In 604, the Sui founder died, and his son failed on a campaign on Korea.
Overthrown by one of his generals, who went on to found the Tang dynasty
Tang founder's son, Taizong, overthrew his father in a coup in 626.
Killed, or had killed, his two brothers
By 645, Taizong had extended Tang borders into Central Asia.
Taizong also supported Buddhist monasteries.
Built a pagoda for Xuanzang to translate texts he brought back from India
Taizong wrote a comprehensive law code called the Tang Code.
Designed for local magistrates to govern and settle disputes
Distinguished between types of crimes and specifies punishments
Incorporated both Confucian and Legalist ideas
The Tang also introduced the equal-field system as a new tax system.
Tang adopted the system from a regional dynasty during the Six Dynasties period.
According to the system, the government took a census of all people every three years.
Each household was divided into nine ranks based on wealth.
Each householder was assigned land, some for temporary use, some permanent use.
Fixed tax obligations of each individual
Tang education was also reformed, based on Confucianism.
Most officials were appointed based on personal recommendation.
However, five percent of officials earned their position by passing tests.
Tests were based on knowledge of Confucian classics.
Highest government jobs went to men who had passed tests.
Emperor Wu, r. 685–705, was the only woman to rule China in her own name.
She called herself emperor, not empress, and began her own dynasty, the Zhou.
She had been the wife of an emperor, and regent for a child emperor.
Used Buddhism to defend her right to reign
Used a prophesy from the Great Cloud Sutra, that a kingdom ruled by a woman would become a paradise
Banned the slaughter of animals and eating of fish
Proclaimed herself a chakravartin ruler
Overthrown in a coup in 705
The Long Decline of the Tang Dynasty, 755–907
First half of the Tang Dynasty, 618–755 was prosperous and successful
Second half of the Tang Dynasty, 755–907 was one of slow decline
In the early 700s, tax officials could not collect enough revenue.
In 751, the Tang army was defeated in Central Asia, Kazakstan, by the Abbasid (Islamic) army.
Imperial court was distracted by palace intrigue involving a general and one of the emperor's consorts
In 755, General An Lushan led a failed mutiny against the emperor.
The equal-field system collapsed and tax revenue was reduced.
In 841, Emperor Huichang decided to tax Buddhist monks and nuns.
There were about 300,000 tax-exempt monks and nuns.
Ordered all monasteries closed in 845 except for a few in the cities
Edict not enforced outside of the capital
Ban lifted by the next emperor, in 847
Buddhist monks discovered printing in the eighth century.
Woodblock printing was used first to copy Buddhist sacred texts.
Oldest surviving book is from 868 and is a copy of the Diamond Sutra
In 907, the last Tang emperor was deposed and the dynasty ended.
China broke apart into regional dynasties until 960.
The Tibetan Empire, ca. 617–ca. 842
The Tibetan plateau has much grassland used for growing horses and a small amount of arable land where barley can grow.
Tibet was first unified between 620 and 650 under Songsten Gampo.
Founded the Yarlung dynasty and modeled it on China and India
Adopted the Sanskrit alphabet for writing Tibetan
Demanded a Chinese bride, as the Tang had sent to other leaders
Threatened to invade in 641 until he was given his bride
Her name was Wencheng and she brought Buddhism to Tibet
She was believed to be a bodhissatva.
Songsten Gampo also had Chinese craftsmen teach the Tibetans how to make silk paper and brew wine.
In 763, the Tibetan army invaded Chang'an briefly.
Also conquered territory in western China due to weakness of Tang dynasty
In 842, Tibetan confederation broke up.
State, Society, and Religion in Korea and Japan to 1000
Buddhism and Regional Kingdoms in Korea, to 1000
Korea divided into several chiefdoms, three of which became significant states.
Koguryo, c. 37 B.C.E.–668 C.E.
Paekche, c. 18 B.C.E.–660 C.E.
Silla c. 57 B.C.E.–935 C.E.
From 108 B.C.E.–313 C.E., Koguryo was under Chinese (Han) control.
The Korean people prayed to local deities and nature spirits.
Mostly lived in small villages and grew rice
In northern Korea, such as Koguryo, there was contact with China.
Buddhism was introduced in the fourth century.
Leaders of Koguryo and Paekche converted to bolster their power.
Believed if they converted the people, the people would support them because they were the patrons of Buddhism
Welcomed Buddhist missionaries, statues, and texts from China
Confucianism was also used for education in Koguryo and Paekche.
Although Korean word order differed from Chinese, Chinese characters were used to write.
Confucian academies were established to teach the Koreans how to write and read Confucian classics and philosophical works.
King Pophung of Silla, d. 540, wanted to promote Buddhism, but the powerful families of Korea opposed the religion.
In c. 527, he convinced a courtier to build a Buddhist shrine.
Because such shrines were illegal, the king then had to behead the courtier.
Both king and courtier prayed to Buddha for a miracle
Upon execution, the head spouted milk-white blood rather than red.
By the middle of the sixth century, all three kingdoms had become pro-Buddhist.
Buddhist monasteries were built throughout Korea.
Ordinary people continued to worship local deities.
The Sui attempted and failed several times to invade Koguryo.
Tang also attempted, and failed, to invade.
The Silla used its alliance with the Tang to weaken its rivals.
By 668, the Silla-Tang forces had been defeated by Paekche and Koguryo.
Silla agreed to pay a tribute to the Tang.
By 675, the Silla had forced the Tang to withdraw from Korea.
The Silla state was divided into seven "bone-rank" classifications.
Each classification was rigidly defined.
Only the highest ranking class, the "true-bone" class, could be kings.
This class was not allowed to marry outside the group.
Silla kingdom declined after 780, with much fighting within the family.
The Emergence of Japan
Japan consists of four large islands and many small ones.
Once connected by land to Asia, it has been separate for c. 15,000 years.
Writing was not developed natively, so written sources date from 720 and later.
The Chronicle of Japan claims that the royal Yamato family was descended from the Amaterasu, the sun goddess.
The native religion of Japan was Shinto.
Shinto believes in many spirits of trees, mountains, streams, and rulers.
In the fifth and sixth centuries, many Koreans fled to Japan from Paekche.
The Yamato and Paekche had been allied against Silla.
When the Paekche royal family converted to Buddhism, it was also introduced to the Yamato.
Led to problems between the Yamato family and other noble Japanese families, who distrusted Buddhism
Two miracles helped to convince the Japanese to accept Buddhism.
Soga no Umako, head of Sago clan, believed he had a fragment of body from the Buddha, which he could not destroy.
In 587, the Soga clan, led by Prince Shotoku, vowed to support Buddhism if he won a battle, which he did.
Shotoku was too young to be emperor, so his mother was regent.
During her reign, more Buddhist monks came from Korea to teach.
During the Sui and Tang dynasties Japan sought to learn from China.
All in all, nineteen missions of as many as 500 participants each.
Some missions lasted as many as thirty years.
In 645, the Fujiwara clan overthrew the Soga family but the Yamato clan continued to be emperors.
Fujiwara adopted Chinese institutions including the equal-field system.
Fujiwara built Chinese style temples in their capital city.
There were also branch temples.
Fujiwara built two capitals, Nara and Heian, both modeled on Chang'an.
There were two forms of Japanese writing, one with Chinese characters, one called kana.
In 1000, Murasaki Shikibu wrote the first novel, the Tale of Genji, in kana.
Most of the Japanese aristocracy was literate, but not the common people.