Although Buddha's native place was India, why are there less Buddhists now?

Answer 1

Its simply because Indians consider Buddhism as another sect of their ancient beliefs. Another reason for this is due to the lack of education or capability to perceive Buddhist teachings just as it was during the time of the Buddha.

Sadhus, Swamis and other religious figures are abundant in India. Almost all of them are already being absorbed into the Indian society and culture and widely being treated with high regards for their participation in ceremonies and religious rites and rituals whereas the Buddhist lineage are not into such superficial acts of rites and rituals.

Another reason for this is also because Buddhist teachings are not easily understood unlike other faiths since it does not encourage blind faith and following rites and rituals, and this is against certain cultural aspects of the Indian society. You might want to remember that the Buddha was the first Indian guru to reject the caste system, reject Brahmanic practices and reject artificial rites and rituals and reinterpreting the Vedic teachings into a whole new concept for those who had been traditionally studying them in a new light.

The Buddhist concept of Nirvana/Nibbana is also a wholly different experience from the traditional idea of Moksha, and this had raised debates among traditional Hindus and contradicting towards their teachings and mode of practices as the Buddha had taught the doctrine of Anatta or 'No-soul'. Ancient Indian wisdom mentions of Samsara and Dukkha and the Buddha had also introduced the doctrine of Anicca, the law of impermanence.

Many ancient cities such as Vesali has lower converts into Buddhism since these sites were once dominated by other famous religious teachers such as Mahavira of Jainism. For the locals, the Buddha was an outsider and they consider his teachings and followers 'opponents' to their local 'saints'.

It is human nature for mankind to depend upon a certain medium of worship and Buddhism does not have such things and perhaps thats why many Indians continue to practice their traditional religious rites and rituals.

You might also want to consider that Buddhism was once at its zenith when Emperor Asoka had made Buddhism a state religion and it had lasted for years to come and fell to the hands of invaders and oppressors from nearby kingdoms and forced them to convert into their religions. Some had abandoned Buddhist practices and reverted back to the old faiths or simply convert to the 'new' religions introduced there. At those times, many old monuments, universities and monasteries were destroyed. Bikkhus and Bikkhunis were killed.

The monks, who were peaceful by nature, went to the southern region and other countries to continue spreading/practicing Buddhism and bringing along their scriptures as they were destroyed in India during the invasion.

Hope this helps...

Answer 2

We don't know why Buddhism declined in the last half of the first millenium AD. By the time the Muslims began conquering India in the twelfth century, the number of monasteries had severely declined. Buddhism, which once had spread across the face of India, was a vital force only in the areas of its origins. Scholars believe that the monasteries became detached from everyday life in India. After centuries of patronage, the monasteries had amassed a wealth of endowments. Life inside the monasteries was very good. So the monasteries became very selective in admitting monks to the brotherhood.

For the everyday Indian, Buddhism increasingly became indistinguishable from Hinduism, which had undergone a transformation itself. The average Hindu thought of Buddha as a god among their gods; we find numerous indications that Buddha was worshipped by Hindus as any other god. In fact, Hinduism eventually construed Buddha as a manifestation, or avatar , of the god Vishnu (Krishna is another avatar of Vishnu).

Finally, the Buddhists lived in separate communities; Buddhism wasn't an integral part of everyday life in India, such as the rituals associated with Hinduism. When the Muslims began their conquest of India in 1192, they energetically set about trying to convert the regions to Islam. Part of this conversion process involved suppressing indigenous religions. Since Hinduism was so fundamentally a part of Indian life, they didn't succeed in suppressing it. But when they destroyed the Buddhist monasteries and either executed or drove out the Buddhist monks, there was no-one left to take up the religion. From 1192 to the present day, Buddhism

Answer 3

Buddhism blossomed outside of India mainly due to King Ashoka's propagation effort. Historically, Buddhism in India went through three main stages: 1) Sravaka/Hinayana teaching (dominated by Theravada in Sri Lanka today); 2) Mahayana (dominated by Chinese Buddhism today); 3) Vajrayana (dominated by Tibetan Buddhism today). It is said that by the third stage, Hinduism started to revive and attract devotees as the differences between Hinduism and Buddhism blurred. That coupled with the persecution by Islamic invasion in Northern India, rejection by few ruling kings, and probably other factors, saw the rapid drop in Buddhist population. Hi Whipa: You are right to say Buddha was born in today's Nepal. However, his father's kingdom territory should be in today's India. So it is still not wrong to say his nationality is India :)

Answer 4

Cuz Hinduism is a part of life for Indians.
Religion and state are one and the same.
Buddha chose to leave Hinduism to find the middle path which I'm sure didn't sit to well with a lot of Hindus.
Besides, the hindu's are very accustomed to the caste system, ritual rights of passage, and general religious traditions that have been used for thousands and thousands of yeers...

Answer 5

Same thing with Jesus as a native of Israel and there are less Christians in that place. Buddha spread at the other side of the mountain and that is China then spread to Far Eastern Asia.
Christianity started in Jerusalem then became the official religion of Europe and now strong here in the United States of America.
I guess there is a truth to the phrase" The Prophet is never known in his own village"

Answer 6

Why are there less Budhist where? In India?, thats pretty simple to answer, The Bible says, a Profit is not excepted in his own city", what does that mean? It means, the locals are a hard lot to convince to your Ideas, where others do so more easily. Why? because they know you in your local area, so perhaps in India, the people were just not buying it. Another view, is that in India, Hinduism, has long and deep roots, Budism as well as Christianity and Islam, have never much inroads in the long run, they all have had there glory days of converts in India.

Answer 7

Buddhism did became the dominant religion in India with the conversion of King Ashoka the Great, repenting for his part in the Kalinga War (265 BCE or 263 BCE), and he became the first benefactor king to Buddhism in India. Even today, the image of Ashoka the Greats's Chakra (round seal) can be seen in the center of the flag of the Republic of India. Buddhism fluctuated with the rise and death of each successive ruler, but the major cause of it's decline was the result of Buddhism becoming mainly the realm of monks that spent their life in monastic isolation and ".... studying in universities like Nalanda and Vikramashila in Northern India." The religion became so rigid in their rules and traditions that they lost touch with the needs of the local peoples. Buddhism was at it it's lowest point in India during the Muslim invasion of in 1192. The most notable remnant of Islamic domination in India is the Tāj Mahal, built as a mausoleum by an Mughal ruler for his favorite wife. Mughal rulers were all adherents of Islam. Indigenous religions were repressed to the point of extinction, but because the Hindu religion was a fundamental part of daily life for it's native people, it was able to survive and return to flourish. There is now the beginning of a Buddhist resurgency with the moving of H.H. the Dalai Lama into northern India in 1959, and over 100 million "Untouchables" in the lowest cast of Hindu society that are converting in large numbers because they are welcomed as equals in the Indian Buddhist community. There are now about 8 million Buddhists in India today, having grown over 35% in just the last twenty years making it now the fifth largest religious group in India today. Major religions in India ranked highest to lowest are:
Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists, and Jains

Answer 8

The Banana Snake says Cow Worshipers took over. Hindus pretty much finished them.

Answer 9

Perhaps because Buddhism is the ONE religion that wasn't spread by force.

All others were.

good question.

Answer 10

It was in Nepal ......

Buddhists believe in not forcing other people to believe what they believed. Buddhists believed in the ending of buddhism. Cause and effect.