why buddhism is least popular than hindusm although...?

Question

...buddhism came from india and it's where hindusm came from too?

please show source.

i ask it to enhance my knowledges only

i mean in india context,not outside india.

what the speciality of hinduism that make hinduism popular than buddhism in india?

Answer 1

When Buddhism came about out of Hinduism it started as a reform movement within Hinduism and then branched and became a seperate religion itself. It spread across Eastern Asian through monks and nuns who acted like missionaries. In fact before SE Asia was Buddhist it was Hindu while China was Taoist and Confucianist and Japan was Shinto. Anyways, Buddhism mainly grew in northern India while in southern India another reform movement called Jainism began around the same time teaching somewhat similar teachings. Both Jainism and Buddhism did, for a time, have a large impact on Hinduism, but like all reform movements they had their impact. The Hindu guru-shishya relationship began to grow and Hindu monasteries suddenly became of more importance and their teachings did, too. And Hindu reformers made an effort to bring these to light (up until this time the main focus was on rituals, especially at the temples). This helped balance things out in India so that Hinduism itself didn't fade out of existence altogether. And because of Jainism and Buddhism, Hinduism began looking at vegetarianism and putting more of an emphasis on the teachings of nonviolence. However the damage was pretty much for Hinduism in SE Asia and Buddhism was the prominent religion (it didn't help that some of kings who were Hindu and went about uniting other lands then after their conquests found and learned about Buddhism and then converted and often made it the religion of the kingdom). Anyways, Buddhism was still very dominate though in India and in fact Buddhism had many large universities and monasteries in northern India and these were the centers of Buddhist learning (so renowned were the universities that many Hindus also studied Vedic studies at them). Unfortunately when the Muslims came in they not only burned down many Hindu temples, but also burned down the Buddhist monasteries and universities. Muslims only conquered northern India so that is why there are still Buddhists in southern India, but Buddhism had to compete against Jainism and Hinduism there whereas in the north it was just competing against Hinduism. With the monasteries and universities destroyed the remaining Buddhists either fled or were killed. The reason Hinduism didn't disappear and Buddhism did in northern India is 1) Buddhists often gathered largely together in one spot....at the universities and monasteries in certain cities...whereas Hindus spread out their temples, monasteries, etc and 2) destroying a Hindu temple or monastery doesn't destroy Hinduism because Hindus keep altars in their homes...and even if they lose that altar, the most sacred altar is kept in the heart.

You will be happy to know that Buddhism is growing again in northern India and it's numbers aren't so small in southern India either. While Hinduism still remains the dominant religion in India, it is by no means the only one. Islam is the second largest and Christianity is the third largest.....but Buddhism is catching up to both of them in terms of numbers. And let's not forget that India is also home to Jews, Zoroastrians, Baha'i, Ayyavazhi, Ahmaddiya, and Sikhs, too.

Excellent question!!!

Peace be with you.

Answer 2

your question is unclear and hard to understand. Using the superlative "least" only makes sense if there are more than 2 choices. By popular do you mean having more members?

Hinduism is one of the oldest religions in the world, existing predominately in one of the most populated countries in the world.

While the Shakamuni Buddha was a Hindu Prince and set out on his mission from India (to Japan), little of his teaching was done in India.

Hinduism has had 1000's of years to establish itself. Buddhism has only been around for less than 3000 years, across a vast terrain of people who did not move around much and had to compete with other religions. Different Sutras were expounded in different places so each place on the path of Shakamuni has a very different form of Buddhism, some were easy to follow and attainable and some were not. ie) much of Tibetan Buddhism is only attainable by monks who must be men. So some sects of Buddhism do not attract many to convert to that sect.

Also, not only did these people not move around much, but they are isolated and small in many places again, take Tibet for example. These are pockets of people where the population hardly compares to India.

In other countries Buddhism was made illegal at different times by the government, like in Japan in WW2. It takes a long time to regain members after such events.

There are some reasons for difference in number of members.

Now if you take popularity as the number of people world wide who know a minimum about the beliefs and customs; then I think that Buddhism is much more popular. This is largely due to the exile, celebrity and renown of the Dali Lama. Also, many people have become attracted to Zen Buddhism as meditation has become more popular. Whereas although MANY people now do Yoga, few look at the Hindu history and beliefs to go along with it.

And yes Buddhism is much older than Christianity and was taught by its founder in a broader range - but Buddhism has no mandate to go out and "spread the word". Also one can practice Buddhism and accept other faiths without contradiction...

Answer 3

At one time Buddhism was widespread in India and more popular than Hinduism but if I had to hazard a guess as to why that changed I would say secular leaders found Hinduism to be more useful to them in controlling and exploiting their subjects hence they devoted resources into promoting Hinduism rather than Buddhism.

Answer 4

Is Buddhism really least popular? Buddhism has been accepted and refined all over the world and Hinduism is still pretty much only accepted in India and with Indians. Just because one learns Yoga meditation does not make them Hindu.

Answer 5

Buddhism is a branch of Hinduism stemmed from the Sankhya philosophy of hinduism

Buddhism does not believe in a personal god, hence not many people are attracted towards it, as mostly common people need a Personal Saviour to take burden of their problems

The new age intellectuals are more attracted towards Buddhism, due to its philosophy, lack of fairy tales stories, and wonderful meditation techniques

However Hinduism is far deeper than buddhist philosophy, and it has more flexibility for its followers

Answer 6

Most of it was due to that Hinduism came before Buddism and many people sought out to spread the religion. One way of doing that was by relating many things in other religions to Hinduism such as gods and aspects.

Answer 7

It is just a culture of individual community that has got nothing to do with others of different community when it was just a kitchen's ghostly stories on kitchen's way of life of different community in planet of apes.
The ghostly stories was all created by past dirty old men like you and me who made blunders and slip-ups with human errors was not even the creator of heaven and earth in planet of apes.
Ever wonder why living human kind were idol worshiping the dead and not our creator in planet of apes?
Ever wonder what can the dead do for living human kind when they were dead and buried and was long gone with time from planet of apes?
Ever wonder how the mess was created in planet of apes?
That ended up with everyone throwing pots and pans of ancestor's custom in bashing up one another in planet of apes.

Answer 8

you think popularity is important in religious beliefs?
that the majority are right? like in hitlers germany?

Answer 9

'Hindu' covers a broader range of faiths.