Why is Buddism so successful in China?

 

 

About the armed monks. We all know what Shaolin monastery is famous for...

 

Just another few examples:

 

Mongolian Yuan dinasty was overthrown by Buddhist "Lotos" sect, the main fighting force of which consisted of the armed Buddhist monks.

 

Buddhist monks played important role in the guerilla resistance during Imjin war.

 

Oirat mongols before decimating muslim Kazakhs recieved the blessing from Tibetian Buddhist Lamas.

 

And I can go with this list for a long time...

 

 

 

 

 

Buddhism indeed seems very peacful at the first glance. But it's not that easy as it may seem

 

the so call "Buddhist "Lotos" sect" was in fact created after a sculpture of a single eyed man was found in a work site. Han shantong(the leader of the rebellion, and possiblly the one who buried the sculpture) spread the word that this discovery will mark the downfall of Yuan dynasty. "Lotos" sect"got a little bit of everything, such as prophecy from some local religion. The most clever part is that they used Buddism as their cause to justify themself against the Mongols, but nevertheless, they can not represent the mainstream Buddism. 

 

I didn't know Buddism have missionaries, but Charioteer, that was very.......

 

A glance at history, however, reveals that not all the many and widely varying forms of Buddhism have been free of doctrinal fanaticism, nor free of the violent and exploitative pursuits so characteristic of other religions. In Sri Lanka there is a legendary and almost sacred recorded history about the triumphant battles waged by Buddhist kings of yore. During the twentieth century, Buddhists clashed violently with each other and with non-Buddhists in Thailand, Burma, Korea, Japan, India, and elsewhere. In Sri Lanka, armed battles between Buddhist Sinhalese and Hindu Tamils have taken many lives on both sides.

In South Korea, in 1998, thousands of monks of the Chogye Buddhist order fought each other with fists, rocks, fire-bombs, and clubs, in pitched battles that went on for weeks. They were vying for control of the order, the largest in South Korea, with its annual budget of $9.2 million, its millions of dollars worth of property, and the privilege of appointing 1,700 monks to various offices.

As with any religion, squabbles between or within Buddhist sects are often fueled by the material corruption and personal deficiencies of the leadership. For example, in Nagano, Japan, at Zenkoji, the prestigious complex of temples that has hosted Buddhist sects for more than 1,400 years, �a nasty battle� arose between Komatsu the chief priest and the Tacchu, a group of temples nominally under the chief priest�s sway.

But what of Tibetan Buddhism? Is it not an exception to this sort of strife? And what of the society it helped to create? Many Buddhists maintain that, before the Chinese crackdown in 1959, old Tibet was a spiritually oriented kingdom free from the egotistical lifestyles, empty materialism, and corrupting vices that beset modern industrialized society. Western news media, travel books, novels, and Hollywood films have portrayed the Tibetan theocracy as a veritable Shangri-La.

A reading of Tibet�s history suggests a somewhat different picture�In the thirteenth century, Emperor Kublai Khan created the first Grand Lama, who was to preside over all the other lamas as might a pope over his bishops. Several centuries later, the Emperor of China sent an army into Tibet to support the Grand Lama, an ambitious 25-year-old man, who then gave himself the title of Dalai (Ocean) Lama, ruler of all Tibet. Here is a historical irony: the first Dalai Lama was installed by a Chinese army.

Within 170 years, despite their recognized divine status, five Dalai Lamas were killed by their high priests or other courtiers.

In 1660, the 5th Dalai Lama was faced with a rebellion in Tsang province, the stronghold of the rival Kagyu sect with its high lama known as the Karmapa. The 5th Dalai Lama called for harsh retribution against the rebels, directing the Mongol army to obliterate the male and female lines, and the offspring too �like eggs smashed against rocks�. In short, annihilate any traces of them, even their names.�

An eighteenth-century memoir of a Tibetan general depicts sectarian strife among Buddhists that is as brutal and bloody as any religious conflict might be.

 

Just because Buddist monks don't have singlar God to use as excuse for violence does not mean that they are necessarily peaceful compare to other religions. In theory, very few religions literally encourage violence, since religions often are used to maintain order... not to create violence.

 

During Imjin war, the 2 infamous Buddists were famous for terrorizing the Japanese invaders. I am deciding what's right and wrong, but how is this different from Taliban fighters in Afghanistan now?