Hinduism and Buddhism, An Historical Sketch, Vol. 3Eliot, Charles
Religion
Hinduism and Buddhism, An Historical Sketch, Vol. 3
Eliot, Charles
Asia -- Religion; Buddhism; Hinduism
But though the prestige of Buddhism increased in the thirteenth
century, no rupture with Brahmanism took place and Pali Buddhism does
not appear to have entered Java. The unity of the two religions is
proclaimed: Buddha and Siva are one. But the Kamahâyânikan while
admitting the Trimûrti makes it a derivative, and not even a primary
derivative, of the original Buddha spirit. It has been stated that the
religion of Java in the Madjapahit epoch was Sivaism with a little
Buddhism thrown in, on the understanding that it was merely another
method of formulating the same doctrine. It is very likely that the
bulk of the population worshipped Hindu deities, for they are the gods
of this world and dispense its good things. Yet the natives still
speak of the old religion as Buddhâgama; the old times are "Buddha
times" and even the flights of stairs leading up to the Dieng plateau
are called Buddha steps. This would hardly be so if in the Madjapahit
epoch Buddha had not seemed to be the most striking figure in the
non-Mohammedan religion. Also, the majority of _religious_ works which
have survived from this period are Buddhist. It is true that we have
the Ramayana, the Bhârata Yuddha and many other specimens of Brahmanic
literature. But these, especially in their Javanese dress, are _belles
lettres_ rather than theology, whereas Kamahâyânikan and Kuñjarakarna
are dogmatic treatises. Hence it would appear that the religious life
of Madjapahit was rooted in Buddhism, but a most tolerant Buddhism
which had no desire to repudiate Brahmanism.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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