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Buddhism

Ron Duncan Hart

The Life of Buddha
Dharma
Sangha
The Branches of Buddhism
The Belief in Life after Death
Buddhism in Japan
Buddhism in Southeast Asia
Wealth and Well-Being in Buddhist South Asia
Appendices
About the Author

Introduction

The Monographs on Religion and Culture include Buddhism, Confucianism and Daoism, Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism, and Islam. The purpose of this series is to provide education and understanding of the religious traditions in our increasingly linked world.
These volumes are written as an anthropology of religion, and I have attempted to state the beliefs, practices, and histories in words that are consistent with each religious tradition. I have provided historical, social, and cultural information to define the context within which each religion has come into being and developed as a living society today. To the extent possible, I have discussed and reviewed these materials with religious scholars and believers from each tradition although I recognize that there are internal differences in belief and practice within religions, and I have tried to reflect those in a correct manner.
Belief and behavior are at the heart of our self-definition as human individuals and the emotional core of our identity. Our religious and/or ideological identity is so important that
it shapes major life decisions. This series is published recognizing the powerful importance of religious belief and practice among us as humans, respecting and honoring the uniqueness
of the spiritual nature that defines us.

Buddhism

Although Buddhism is the smallest of the great world religions with fewer than 400 million adherents, it has had great influence on the peoples of Asia. In many countries the Buddhist majorities are so large that the national culture is Buddhist. The majorities are: Bhutan (75 percent), Myanmar (Burma) (89 percent), Thailand (95 percent), Cambodia (95 percent), Laos (60 percent), and Vietnam (no statistics but predominantly Buddhist). Buddhism’s influence on the rest of Asia is equally important with the majorities in the respective countries being: China (no statistics but dominant practice of three parallel traditions, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Daoism), Japan (84 percent parallel practice of Buddhism and Shintoism), North Korea (no statistics but predominantly Buddhist), South Korea (Buddhist 47 percent), and Mongolia (96 percent). Buddhism was the earliest religious influence coming out of India into Asia, but there would be later waves of Hindu and Muslim influences coming from India that would also leave their marks on this region.

Buddhism introduced a life based on other worldly concerns of meditation, spiritual condition, and the ultimate freeing of the self from the attachments to this world. Buddhism taught its followers to free themselves from the constraints of this world so that their spiritual selves could emerge and develop. The non-engaged nature of Buddhism may be one of the reasons that it has the fewest adherents of the great world religions. Buddhism is not an active proselytizing religion like Christianity and Islam. The individual nature of the quest for nirvana, or spiritual balance, can lead to monastic life-styles, which interrupt family life and community development. Buddhism is not a congregational religious practice and tends to result in weak institutions in the society. Buddhist culture has not produced empires of the sword but worlds of the spirit. There is considerable cultural diversity within the Asian world of Buddhism, and Buddhist life varies from Thailand to Tibet, China, and Japan. In each Buddhist country the local history, culture, and physical environment shape behavior and the expression of the religion.
The beginnings of Buddhism center around the Three Jewels: the life of the first Buddha, Dharma, and the Sangha. The life of Gautama, the first Buddha, embodies the practice of Buddhism and guides people in their search for spiritual enlightenment. The body of his teachings is called Dharma, and they are the first source of knowledge to describe how to reach enlightenment. Sangha is the community of Buddhist monks and nuns who are responsible for maintaining Buddha’s teachings and communicating them to other people.

The Life of the Buddha

Siddhartha Gautama (560 to 480 B.C.E.) was the founder of Buddhism, and the story of his life and search for enlightenment explains the basic precepts of the religion. There are disagreements on the dates of both his birth and death. It is known that he was born into the family of a regional chieftain to the north of Benares, India. As a child and young man, he was surrounded by luxury, dressed in silks, and attended by servants. When he was nineteen (or sixteen by some accounts), he married a princess who was a devoted wife and had both dignity and grace. His father had built three palaces for him and had arranged that he should never see people who were old, diseased, or dead. All such people were removed from the places he walked or traveled, but Gautama did eventually discover the real world and that profoundly changed his life.

Gautama’s search for spiritual peace began as a young man, and he studied the Vedas in detail, but he was not satisfied with his understanding of Hinduism. Gautama was a Kshatriya (governing/warrior caste), and like Mahavira, the founder of Jainism, began to question the Brahman religious teachings and their control of Hinduism. As he grew older, he became restless with his comfortable palace existence, thinking that there was more to life. Then, two important events occurred. One was the birth of a son, which he felt completed his obligation to his family to produce an heir. The second event was his discovery of the ravages of life that had been hidden from him. When he began traveling outside of the palace for the first time, he discovered people who were old and decrepit, sick people, and death. With that he realized the nature of life, and he was distraught. His father tried to entertain him with dancing girls, music, and other entertainments, but all was to no avail. Finally, one day, Gautama saw a yellow robed ascetic who had peace of soul, and he immediately recognized that was what he lacked. He decided to explore the way of the ascetic hoping that would lead him to an understanding of human suffering he had seen and to peace of soul.
At the age of thirty, Gautama left home and became a yellow robed mendicant himself in search of spiritual peace. He went to the Ganges River and studied meditation for one year as a disciple of Brahman teachers, but that did not lead to his understanding. Then he joined a group of ascetics and practiced asceticism for a number of years. During this time he had nothing but his robe and begging bowl. He fasted until he was emaciated, refused all comforts in life, and inflicted pain and discomfort on his body to suppress the desires of the flesh. After fainting into a death-like state, he revived and realized that bodily mortification had not brought him to salvation. Then, enlightenment came to him unexpectedly sitting under a Bodhi tree thinking about life.
In that emaciated state with no desire left in him, he came to realize that the stumbling block to salvation was desire, either desire for physical pleasures or desire for spiritual gain. When he was without desire, he was empty and open to true spirituality. His epiphany came when he had given up hope, and an ecstasy entered him that was the earthly equivalent of Nirvana. At that point he became a Buddha, an Enlightened One. Gautama was 35 at the time and had spent six years as an ascetic. The Bodhi tree is now called the tree of knowledge or enlightenment in memory of Gautama’s experience there.

Gautama wanted to share his spiritual discovery with others, and he began a forty-five year career of teaching. He traveled to Sarnath near the Hindu holy city of Benares, and in Deer Park he met five ascetics that he had known before and told them of his experience. In this Sermon in the Deer Park he gave the first structure to the new belief system talking about the Four Noble Truths and the Middle Way to enlightenment. The Middle Path between hedonism and asceticism is the true path that leads to Enlightenment and Nirvana. An arahat is one who is enlightened and who becomes a Buddha, and Nirvana is the perfect spiritual balance in, which the things of the body and of this world become insignificant and disappear. He taught people to manage the suffering in their lives and not allow it to interfere with their spirituality, which is the true center of life.
Those five ascetics believed Gautama, and became his followers, establishing the first Buddhist monastic order. Gautama became known as the Buddha, and he continued teaching others, especially people of his own caste, the Kshatryas. Soon men and women of all castes were accepting the new teachings, and caste distinctions were eliminated within Buddhism. Gautama continued teaching throughout his life until he was eighty years old. He did not appoint a successor to continue his teachings, rather he urged his followers to rely on his teachings or dharma after he was gone and to maintain discipline among themselves.

Dharma

The teachings of Gautama, the Buddha, were recorded by his followers and memorized. At the center of Buddhist thought are the Four Noble Truths enunciated in the first sermon in Deer Park. They are:
1. The first Noble Truth is about suffering, and it teaches us that suffering is an integral part of life on this earth.
2. The second truth is that the primary cause of suffering is desire, especially the desires for pleasure, life itself, and prosperity. Our desires cause us to suffer because they cannot always be fulfilled, so if we control desire, we will control frustration and suffering.
3. The third great truth is that the cessation of suffering comes from the absence of passion or desire, which frees one for salvation or deliverance.
4. The fourth Noble Truth is the Eightfold Path, which leads to the cessation of suffering.
Gautama taught that the proper way of life was the middle path between yielding to physical desire and the physical denial of asceticism. This path freed one to spiritual enlightenment and to correct ethical behavior toward others.
Guatama formulated this middle path in eight steps, known as the Noble Eightfold Path. These are eight steps of correct behavior and thought that will facilitate the person reaching enlightenment, and they are:
1. Correct belief. This means belief in the Four Noble Truths and the world view implicit in them.
2. Correct aspiration or purpose. Our purpose in life is correct if we overcome sensuality, love others, do not harm living beings, and suppress desires.
3. Correct speech. A Buddhist should not talk negatively about others nor say things that will be hurtful to them in any way.
4. Correct conduct. We should care for all living beings, showing it in our words and actions.
5. Correct use of one’s time and abilities. This means to work, obtain livelihood, in a way that is consistent with Buddhist teachings.
6. Correct effort or choice. As a Buddhist, a person should be alert to choose between wise and unwise desires and attachments in this life.
7. Correct mental life. To achieve enlightenment a person should think about subjects that do not encourage desire.
8. Correct meditation. A proper state of meditation along with the seven behaviors listed above can lead the person to the ecstatic state of enlightenment, the essential step on the path to Nirvana.

Within the eight-fold path there are three areas of human behavior that need to be correct to facilitate the goal of enlightenment, and they are ideology, morals and ethics, and the discipline of our thoughts. Steps one and two refer to wisdom, the issues of belief and purpose in life. The candidate for enlightenment must believe in the precepts of Buddhism and have the intentions consistent with following them. Steps three through five refer to morality or correct behavior in society, and this is the ethical heart of Buddhism. Steps six and eight refer to meditation or the mental discipline and correctness of one’s thoughts, showing that ultimately enlightenment occurs in the mind. Each branch of Buddhism has developed additional guidelines for spiritual fulfillment, but this is the core shared by all the groups.
The Middle Path is the central tenet of the Dharma, and it says that to gain true spirituality a person must avoid the extremes of physical pleasure and the extremes of ascetic mortifications. Spiritual enlightenment comes from harmony with ourselves, neither mortifying the body through asceticism nor giving completely into bodily desires. A related teaching is the idea of annica or on-going change. It says that we and the world around us are constantly changing, so we have to be in a continual process of spiritual attentiveness. Life and the world itself are impermanent, but as humans we have the tendency to reify existence into something that we think of as fixed and permanent. However, Gautama said reality is not a thing or a fixed state of being, it is an on-going process. When we try to think of things as fixed realities, we are making an illusion.

Sangha, the Buddhist Community
The people who dedicate themselves to the Dharma, or teachings of Buddha, are the Sangha, and Buddhism lives through them. The original version of Buddhism (Theraveda or Southern), which is still practiced in Tibet and Southeastern Asia, has monks and nuns who organize themselves into communities, and they are the Sangha. In the later Mahayana or Northern version of Buddhism, which has no monks or nuns, the Sangha is less important. A few months after the death of the Buddha, the First Council was convened to reach a consensus about the canon of Buddha’s teachings. They were written down on palm leaves and put into a series of baskets (pitaka), and today the writings are referred to according to the basket in, which they were placed. The first basket contained teachings that had to do with discipline, the second with discourse, and the third with special teaching. Theraveda Buddhism continues to organize the scriptures according to the three baskets, but the Mahayana branch does not make that tripartite division between the writings.
The first basket on discipline (Vinaya Pitaka) establishes terms for the communal life of monks and nuns. It lists and discusses 227 rules, mostly forbidden activities. The second basket of discourses (Sutta Pitaka) contains the teachings of the Buddha, and this was the largest basket. His discourses are divided into five categories according to length and other factors. This is the most studied literature in Buddhism because it gives the core of the Buddha’s thought. The third basket on special teachings (Abhidhamma Pitaka) has seven scholarly writings interpreting the teachings of the Buddha, defining some of the more philosophical aspects of the religion that were not clear in the original teachings. The literature organized according to the three baskets is known as the Pali (or Indian) canon, and it is used by Theraveda or Southern Buddhists. Pali was the language in, which Gautama, the Buddha, spoke. When Mahayana or Northern Buddhism developed later in China, a new set of writings developed to interpret the new version of the religion. This led to the Mahayana (or Chinese) canon, which describes how to live a Buddhist life without being a monk or nun.
Although Buddhist texts are written down, memory and oral tradition have historically been the preferred means of learning them. It is thought that the act of memorizing the texts is spiritually good (karma), that it increases the understanding of the texts, that it incorporates the intellect into the spiritual experience, and that it improves community. Memorizing and repeating long sections of the teaching is like a mantra guiding one to a higher level of spirituality.

The Branches of Buddhism

Buddhism is a non-theistic religion. Although Gautama referred to supernatural beings, they were subject to the same spiritual rules of the Middle Path as were humans and did not represent a distinct level of existence. So, becoming a Buddha was a spiritual condition to be achieved, but a Buddha was not a being to be worshiped. Over the centuries some branches of Buddhism have begun to give worshipful respect to Buddhas and Bodhisattvas (those who postpone their own spiritual enlightenment in order to help others), but other branches have kept closer to Gautama’s original focus on the spiritual condition. Buddhism’s basic message was that desire had to be controlled in order for spiritual fulfillment to be reached, and people could understand that quickly. Differences in interpretations of the meanings of the Buddha’s teachings later led to the various branches of Buddhism that developed in Asia.

Theraveda Buddhism. The countries of Southeast Asia (Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam) were among the first countries outside of India to accept Buddhism. They received the original teachings of Buddha known as Theraveda Buddhism (the teachings of the elders), which emphasizes personal diligence as the path to salvation. This is also called the Lesser Vehicle (Hinayana) because it assumes that only a few people, a spiritual elite, can reach Nirvana. It is a difficult path, and a person must have a special capacity and dedication to reach enlightenment. Since few people have this dedication, most are condemned to the cycle of rebirths on this earth. Monastic orders are important in Theraveda Buddhism because of the belief that one must have a special devotion to achieve Nirvana.

Mahayana Buddhism. The second main branch of the religion is called Mahayana Buddhism (the Greater Vehicle), which became more popular in China, Korea, and Japan where Buddhism has been more integrated into the everyday life of working people. In China there was considerable opposition to the idea of monasteries of Theraveda Buddhism because people who lived there were nonproductive and put the religion before family or the state. Mahayana Buddhism developed as a more populist branch of the religion, which emphasized that enlightenment is available to all people and that everyone can gain release from the life-death cycle. It also sees a world with many Buddhas some of, which have come to earth and to share their enlightenment with people, and others (Bodhisattvas, spiritual helpers known for compassion) that are still in heaven waiting to make their manifestations in the future. This branch of Buddhism teaches that Bodhisattvas can lead a person to enlightenment and Nirvana, so people pray to a Bodhisattva to aid them in their search.
There are several schools of thought within the Mahayana branch, and Vajrayana Buddhism (known as the “diamond vehicle”) is one of them. It suggests that all living beings innately have Buddha qualities. It accepts the use of magical rituals as the path to Nirvana and represents a synthesis with local pre-Buddhist practices. Mandalas are used as aids to meditation, and they are perceived as visual guides to the spiritual order of enlightenment.

The Belief in Life after Death
Since Buddhism developed originally in India, Guatama (the first Buddha) borrowed key religious concepts from the older religion of Hinduism, especially the Law of Karma, the transmigration of souls, and the atman or soul. These beliefs describe what happens to a person’s soul after death. In contrast to the Judeo-Christian-Muslim view that life and existence are focused on God and humans in a linear path from creation to the ultimate destruction of life, Buddhism sees earth and humans as one set of actors in a larger whole. The earth is not the focal point of creation, nor is existence linear headed for one grand denouement. Humans are actors on this stage, but it is not entirely focused on them. Life is repeated and repeated, so that the wheel of rebirth defines existence.
Wheel of Rebirth. Those who were dominated by desires were destined to be re-born into life on this earth, but those who reached enlightenment and freed themselves from desire, the arahats, also freed themselves of bad karma, and at death, they would end their worldly cycle. The stages of rebirth are frequently shown in Buddhist art as the wheel of life, being a circle divided into the six major stages. Below the stages of rebirth are shown in a table format consisting of thirty-one levels.
Life is divided into three spheres, shown in the right-hand column. The lowest, the sphere of sense-desires, in, which we as humans are located, and we struggle to overcome our desires, which lead us to suffering. The three lowest levels in this sphere (hell, animals, and ghosts) are the worst levels for re-birth, and the next three (titans, humans, and the lower gods) are better levels. The sphere of pure form is a special spiritual state in, which beings “perceive and communicate by a kind of telepathy”. The highest state of existence is the sphere of formlessness, which is a non-physical state in, which beings exist as mental energy. The levels of this sphere lead us from the awareness of infinite space and infinite consciousness to the level of complete nothingness that is the contrast with this world of things and people in, which we live. The ultimate level “neither perception nor non-perception” is the highest state into, which a person can be born, and it is a spiritual state by what we can imagine.

Karma. The Law of Karma says that each deed (or moral action) is weighed against other deeds to determine the person’s destiny in the continuing saga of re-birth in life. Good deeds lead a person to a higher level and bad deeds to a lower level. Karma is concerned with the moral decisions in life, and the process of building karma occurs throughout one’s life. We shape our character little by little in each decision we make, and our ultimate destiny is determined by the strength or flaws in our character. An action may be good or bad based on our intentions or based on its effect on another person. If we intent to kill, harm another person, or steal or if we actually carry out those acts, it is bad because we have negatively affected our character and the other person. Actions carried out for greed, hatred, or delusion are bad, but the actions of non-attachment, benevolence, and understanding are good. Good intentions are not enough to achieve good deeds, because good intentions can actually have bad results. So, good intentions have to be linked with good actions to have an ethically correct behavior. However, Guatama said that a person could change his or her accumulated karma or destiny if he or she had a life changing experience of reaching enlightenment. So, according to the modified Law of Karma in Buddhism, spiritual enlightenment could wipe out the negative record of a life of misdeeds and open the door to a new destiny.

The Soul or Self. The soul or self is an on-going construction and not a fixed reality. In contrast to the Hindu belief that there is an eternal soul, or atman, most Buddhists believe that the idea of a soul is a mirage. It teaches that we should not focus on the soul but rather on our attaining spiritual enlightenment. In Hinduism attaining enlightenment means recognizing the unity of the atman with the essence of spirituality, the Brahma, or abstract god principle. In Buddhism, attaining enlightenment means gaining Nirvana, which is the extinction of the desire that locks us into this earth and the cycle of rebirth. In contrast to the continuing cycle of rebirth in Hinduism, Buddhism believes there is rebirth only when we do not have enlightenment in this life, and we are given another chance. Since there is no self and no soul in Buddhist belief, it is the stream of consciousness and the accumulated karma of the person that are reborn into the next life.

Buddhism in Japan
As Buddhism has spread throughout Asia over the last 2,000 years, new thinkers contributed to the development of beliefs and practices. In China, the Pure Land branch suggests that faith in Buddhist principles is sufficient for enlightenment. In Japan, the Intuitive sect, Zen Buddhism, teaches that meditation is sufficient for enlightenment, and that insight or enlightenment comes by itself if one meditates properly. In other parts of Asia, Rationalist sects teach that enlightenment is a matter of study, performance of rituals, and monastic discipline. So, from the simple message of Gautama, Buddhism developed into many different branches as it became an important Asian and world religion. The culture that results from the religious tenets of Buddhism ideally emphasizes a meditative non-violent life style. Buddhism encourages the philosophical contemplation of life, and one is expected to live in community, behaving in a disciplined way toward others. The reality of Buddhist life is that it synthesizes with the local cultures in each nation and takes on some of the local cultural character, but it adds philosophical and spiritual depth to its followers. To the Japanese, Buddhism is an essential quality of civilization.
A major step in making Japan what it is today occurred in 552 C.E. when Buddhism was introduced from Korea. It was Asian Buddhism that arrived to Japan, the Mahayana or greater vehicle version. It taught that one has to be open and sincere to receive enlightenment and gain release from the life-death cycle on this earth. Although the original Buddhism had an other worldly focus, the Japanese used it in a completely worldly way. Buddhism was introduced into Japan as a reform movement to challenge the power of the traditional elite, which thought Shintoism was sufficient for their religious needs. However, the progressives were in favor of Buddhism and the art and literature that it represented. Along with Buddhism other reforms based on Chinese models were introduced, including the centralization of power, organization of the court and the imperial bureaucracy. The Todaiji Buddhist Temple in Nara, Japan represents this influence of Chinese Buddhism as it was adopted in Japan. This temple houses the Birushana (Vairocana) Buddha, which was cast in bronze in the eighth century C.E. It is a seated Buddha over two stories tall, and it is the largest cast bronze sculpture in the world today.
Zen Buddhist philosophy developed in Japan, and it emphasizes simplicity, spirituality, and negation of the power of the material. The major logical sequence of Zen thought says that:
1. True self-perception has no form.
2. The self has no form.
3. The void is the self without form.
4. The void is the only true reality.
The ultimate truth that existence is a void (4) links back and completes the circle with truth is that self has no form (1). Zen teaches that beauty and completeness in our lives comes from our accepting ourselves without imposing a particular form or shape that we should be. Zen teaches tranquility and acceptance of life as it is. It emphasizes the beauty and formality of nature, which is celebrated in the tea ceremony. The quiet meditation of cherry blossoms on a Spring afternoon or the contemplation of the unmoveable solidity of rocks are exercises to explore greater spirituality in one’s life.

Buddhist South Asia

Southeast Asia is the predominantly Buddhist corner of Asia. It has experienced various waves of cultural influence from India through traders and sometimes missionaries. The Buddhist, Hindu, and Muslim influences in this region came originally from India. Under these common experiences, each country of Southeast Asia developed its own particular national culture. Myanmar (Burma), Thailand (Siam), Malaysia, and the city-state of Singapore are the countries of the Malay Peninsula. Although each is unique with different languages and ethnic identities, they share cultural histories. With the exception of Thailand, each had a colonial experience with a European power in nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Sri Lanka is the other Buddhist country in South Asia, and it is more closely tied to India culturally.
Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka is the island off the southeastern tip of India with twenty million inhabitants of whom 75 percent are Sinhalese. They speak Sinhala, an Indo-European language that is related to Hindi. Eighteen percent of the population is Tamil, and they are recent immigrants from southern India. Their language is also called Tamil, and it is a Dravidian language that dates prior to the Indo-European invasion of the subcontinent. The Sinhalese are divided between highland and lowland peoples with the highlanders from the area of Kandy being the most conservative. The highlanders are more traditional Buddhists and follow the “old-fashioned” customs of their culture while the lowlanders have been more influenced by European contacts under colonialism.
Ninety-three percent of the Sinhalese are Buddhists, and the religion is closely intertwined with their cultural values, folk traditions, and literature. Buddhism arrived to Sri Lanka in the fourth century B.C.E. shortly after the Sinhalese had migrated there. The Buddhist shrine or monastery is the cultural center for most villages, and Buddhism forms part of the rituals for major life events (birth, marriage, and death). Buddhist monks have high status in the community, and becoming a monk is considered to be a good career. Most of the converts to Christianity are in the lowland areas along the coast where there was more European contact.
The Sinhalese are divided into occupational castes that tend to be concentrated in certain regions of the country. Buddhism does not provide the religious or ideological support for the castes, and as occupations have changed quickly during the last few centuries, people have changed to new kinds of work. Although people still know their caste affiliation, the disjuncture between caste and occupation has meant that castes are of less significance today. People do not necessarily marry within their caste, and they associate socially less and less within the caste.
The Tamils are divided between those who are considered native and the Indian Tamils who migrated during the British colonial period to work on plantations in the highlands. The Indian Tamils lived primarily in segregated plantation settlements with little or no interaction with Sinhalese or Sri Lankan native Tamils, and they did not integrate with either group. Almost 85 percent of the Tamils are Hindus, and their folk traditions, literature, and values are Hindu, including a Hindu style caste system. The Indian Tamils are from the lower farmer and working castes while many of the native Tamils are from the middle and upper castes. As a result, the native Tamils do not respect the lower caste Indian Tamils, and they have little interaction. A small group of Tamils have converted to Christianity as a way of escaping the caste limits of their society, and they too have developed separate cultural lives, introducing yet another division within Tamil society. As in India, lower caste Tamils have organized themselves politically to claim rights denied them by the caste system, such as occupational mobility, education, and entrance to Hindu temples.
For the last decades of the twentieth century an insurgent guerrilla group, the Tamil Tigers, fought a civil war with the Sinhalese dominated government of Sri Lanka for Tamil independence. A period of ethnic violence had occurred before the civil war broke out, and Tamil cultural centers and libraries had been attacked and burned by the Sinhalese. The Tamils from Sri Lanka received moral and economic support from the Tamils on the mainland of India. Although they fought the Sri Lankan army to a stand still, they were not able to create their independent state.

Capitalism and the Buddhist Countries: Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. With the exception of Thailand the economies of the Buddhist countries of Southeast Asia are primarily based on subsistence agriculture. After a century or more of European colonialism, a decade under Japanese occupation, and three more decades of civil war after independence, the economies of these countries have not had opportunities to develop.
In many ways Vietnam represents the hopes and frustrations of these countries of this southeast corner of Asia. It was ruled by the French from 1884 to 1954 when they were finally defeated and driven out. Another twenty years of war followed between the Communist northern half of the country, and the southern half sponsored by the United States. In 1975, the south fell to the north, and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam was established. It has the largest population of Southeast Asia with eighty-two million people, 90 percent of whom are Vietnamese, and most practice Buddhism. As is true with most Communist countries, the literacy rate is high at 94 percent, and the rate for women is close to that of the men. In the decades following World War II, the energy of the country was consumed in the wars of independence and following that basic nation building. Recently, it has been interested in participating more actively in the global economy. Because of the size of its population, it is a leader among this group of countries.

Thailand was founded in 1258 as a monarchy, and it has been a kingdom continually to the present, and it is one of the few countries in the world not subjugated to European colonial control. Perhaps never having been a colony is one of the factors contributing to the fact that Thailand is far wealthier than its Buddhist neighbors. It has a population of almost sixty-five million people of whom 95 percent are Buddhist. Seventy-five percent of the people are Thai, and 14 percent are Chinese. Thai is the primary language, but English is also used by the business and educated class. Ninety-four percent of the population is literate with women being nearly as literate as the men. However, HIV/AIDS is a problem in Thailand, and it has one of the highest rates for Asia.
The historic Burma, also known as Myanmar, is a medium sized country with forty-five million people. Lodged between India and Thailand, Myanmar shares cultural influences from both. Its history since independence from the United Kingdom in 1948 has been dominated by military governments. Elections in 1990 were won by the opposition power, but the government refused to yield power. Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi led the opposition to the government and spend much of the following decade under house arrest. Most of the population (89 percent) is Buddhist, and most are Burmese (68 percent) with the remainder being divided among ten or more small groups. The language is Burmese, and officially almost 85 percent of the population is literate, but functional literacy may be much lower.
The Kingdom of Cambodia is a slightly smaller country with a population of less than 15 million people. The AIDS epidemic has affected the country, and the life expectancy is only 57 years. Most of the people are of Khmer ethnicity (90 percent) with the remainder being mostly Vietnamese and Chinese. Ninety-five percent of the people speak Khmer and practice Buddhism. It is a poor, mostly illiterate country with 48 percent of the men and only 22 percent of the women being literate. It is a democratic republic with a constitutional monarchy. During 1975, the Khmer Rouge forces took over the country and ordered large numbers of people out of the cities and into the countryside. During this radical attempt to remake the country over one million people died. In 1978 the forces of Vietnam invaded Cambodia to end the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge, and that led to thirteen years of fighting, which ended in the early 1990’s with the intervention of the United Nations.
Laos is a small landlocked country (six million people) located in the hilly terrain between Vietnam and Thailand. Ninety percent of the people are either lowland or highland Lao, and the official language is Lao. The majority of the people (60 percent) is Buddhist, but a large minority (40 percent) is animist, following traditional religions. There is a significant split in the literacy rate with 70 percent for men but only 44 percent for women. For six hundred years the government was a monarchy until 1975 when the Pathet Lao with support from Vietnam took over the country and set up a socialist economy.

Wealth and Well-Being in Buddhist South Asia
In contrast to the West, the Theraveda Buddhism of South Asia does not emphasize material success in this life, rather it emphasizes the spiritual condition. Although this might suggest a disengagement from contemporary capitalism, Thailand is one of the Buddhist countries that has been quite successful in economic growth. All of the countries of South Asia, except Sri Lanka, are predominantly agricultural, and their low per capita GDP is probably explained more by this fact than by Buddhist teachings.

Vietnam, Thailand, and Myanmar are the largest and most important countries in Southeast Asia, and Thailand is most developed one in the region. All of the countries are predominantly agricultural with only Thailand and Sri Lanka showing any notable development of the industrial sector. The Gini Index suggests that income is moderately well distributed in the various countries.
The economic situation of a country is important because of the well-being that it produces for the citizens, and the indicators of well-being tend to coincide with the level of wealth. Vietnam, Thailand, and Sri Lanka have the better indicators of well-being with higher life expectancy, literacy rates, and median ages. Well-being in Cambodia and Laos is more severely compromised as seen in the lower rates for the three indicators mentioned above. The higher fertility rates for women in Cambodia and Laos also suggests poorer living conditions. The negative migration rates also indicate problems. The highest out-migration is Myanmar, and it reflects poverty on one hand and the political strife in the country on the other. Vietnam and Sri Lanka have developing urban middle classes with aspirations, which they can only see being fulfilled by migration. Thailand has the best economy in the region, so no one is leaving, and Cambodia and Laos are basically poor farming countries where people do not have the opportunities to migrate to improve their lot.

Conclusion
The culture that has evolved historically around Buddhism in Southeast Asia, and that has led to a region that has been generally at peace. In keeping with its roots in Hinduism, Buddhism has not been an expansionist or militant religion. It has emphasized the internal spiritual pursuit on the part of its devotees and a disengagement from the things of this world. This has not hindered some Buddhist countries from becoming competitive participants in the global markets of today, especially Thailand. Buddhism, as well as Hinduism, offer models of peace and co-existence with other religious/cultural systems that are important during times of inter-civilizational conflict.

Appendices

The Axis Age and Systematic Philosophical and Religious Literature
Two millennia after the emergence of urban civilization and kingship, systematic philosophical and religious literature appeared gradually across the civilized world. This was the Axis Age, a time when this world-wide movement of new religious ideologies gave foundation to the next stage of civilization building. This was a period in the sixth century B.C.E. when a wave of great religious and ethical thinkers lived who have shaped the world of the last 2,500 years. They included Gautama (Buddhism), Confucius, Lao Tzu (Daoism), Socrates and Plato, and the Jewish prophets. The world had reached a cultural impasse after the initial growth of civilizations, and a new moral and ethical order was required for civilization to continue. Civilization had existed for 2,000 years, and in most places an ideology of power and punishment had been the norm. Brutal force was becoming increasingly destructive.
The great religious thinkers emerged first in the Middle East with the Hebrew prophets (800-700 B.C.E.), then the Brahmanas in India (700-600 B.C.E.), Buddhism in India and Confucianism and Daoism in China (500 B.C.E.), and the social philosophers in Greece (450-300 B.C.E.). The specialization of labor in civilization allowed some to become authorities in knowledge and thought, leading to codified thought systems. Thinkers conceptualized correct behavior as secular morality in China (Confucius) and Greece (especially Aristotle) and as religious behavior in the Middle East (Hebrew prophets) and India (Hinduism and Buddhism). The prophets in Israel (from Jeremiah and Ezekiel to Nehemiah and Ezra) transformed the tribal covenant with Yahweh into a revised set of teachings that recognized invasion and diaspora as the “realpolitik” of life, and they called for religious commitment as the way to solve life’s ills. In India, Siddhartha Gautama saw the evil and injustice in the world and visualized a spiritual way to escape that evil and let ones’ spirit flower through meditation and spiritual balance that would lead to Buddhahood. In China, Confucius saw the disorder and hardship unleashed by civilization on the people, and he visualized a rational world ordered by ritual, filial piety, and virtues that people could learn. Lao Tzu was less convinced by the rationalism of Confucius and taught people to establish a spiritual contact with the cosmic forces in nature and to draw from nature the knowledge of the correct path (dao) for their behavior. Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle defined a largely secular ideology of self and soul that has provided structure for much of European thought and culture. In each case, these leaders formulated models of ideology, faith, or belief that guided their people for centuries and even millennia.
These systematic thinkers also attempted to explain why we behave the way we do, rather than relying solely on the mythological explanations of the origins narratives. The history of civilization was well known by this time, and people were aware of the abuses made possible by power and national conflicts. The Israelites suffered invasion and exile, and the Chinese had suffered devastating civil wars. In view of this cruelty of humans to other humans, these early thinkers attempted explanations of the social system, the nature of humans, and the role of God. In each world area, the thinkers proposed systems of morality and ethics, telling humans how to life correctly. It was apparent that when humans congregated in large groups their suffering increased enormously. The writers and thinkers who sought explanations to this situation found them in secular morality in China and in religion in the Middle East and India. The differences between these thinkers created religious/ideological differences from one part of the world to another, which still characterize us today. The literature of a civilization records the voices of the people, their joys, values, beliefs, concerns, and angst. It gives us direct insight into people and their traditions, which can help us understand the world in, which we live.

A Visit to the Todaiji Temple in Nara
I was visiting Kyoto after attending a conference on the role of crafts in development when I had the opportunity to visit the ancient city of Nara and the Todaiji Temple. From the central bus station in Kyoto I took a bus to Nara driving through the countryside of southern Japan. Every inch of land was cultivated right up to the front doors of houses and the right of ways along the highway. Hundreds of small vegetable plots were everywhere taking advantage of available land. Then I understood the shortage of land for the size of the Japanese population.

Arriving to Nara and the Todaiji Temple I was impressed with the size of the main building, which is the largest wooden building in the world. It towered above me as I stood looking up at it, and I was struck by the roof ornaments. At each end of the building a large curved ornament in gold the size of a person rose above the roof, emphasizing its uniqueness. The Temple was built originally in the eighth century C.E. and then rebuilt after it was burned in clan warfare in the thirteenth century. It is set in Deer Park in a forested environment. In front of the temple is a large entrance plaza, and incense burns in a waist-high bronze brazier before the main door. Pilgrims stop before the brazier and wave the smoke over themselves to receive the cleansing blessing that it offers.
Inside the Temple itself it was dark, but through the gloom the bronze black Buddha began to appear with its head towering up toward the roof. The Buddha had an expression of pleasant contentment on its face, and one hand lifted in front of its chest. One finger was the size of a man. In sharp contrast to the contentment of the Buddha, were the fierce guardians that stood guard on either side in front of the two-story figure. The guardians stood fifteen feet tall dwarfing us mortals as we looked at them. Their faces were contorted in threatening expressions of rage that they would obviously employ to protect the tranquility of the Buddha. The ire of these guardians seemed out of context in the peacefulness of a Buddhist temple, but they must reflect traditional Japanese guardian spirits drafted into the service of Buddhism. Near the door of the temple a master calligrapher was working creating beautifully crafted scrolls with appropriate statements from Buddhist thought. The scrolls of calligraphy were on sale to remember the Temple and one’s visit to it.

Tibet and the Dalai Lama
Tibet is the most traditionally Buddhist area within the boundaries of China. Tibet functioned as an autonomous entity with loyalty to the Chinese emperor during the Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties. The relationship with the Mongols was close, and during the time they built their Euro-Asian empire, they accepted Tibetan Buddhism as their religion. During the reigns of the Qing emperors, Kangxi and Qianlong, Chinese troops were sent into Tibet on various occasions to protect it from invaders from other areas. In 1950, the Chinese forcefully occupied Tibet. During the early years of the occupation, the Dalai Lama advocated collaboration with the Chinese, but when the In

1959 he Chinese killed 87,000 Tibetans to put down an uprising in 1959, and the Dalai Lama fled Tibet and moved to India. Over time, 80,000 of his followers joined him there.
The Dalai Lama set up a government in exile in the mountains of northern India and has maintained the community there since. He is an articulate religious leader, and he has appealed to the larger world to gain attention for the cause of Tibet. He has suggested negotiations with the central government in Beijing on a number of occasions, only to be ignored. This plea for universal values that he made as a part of his acceptance speech for the Noble Peace Prize in 1989 reflects his religious orientation:
Introduction
The Monographs on Religion and Culture include Buddhism, Confucianism and Daoism, Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism, and Islam. The purpose of this series is to provide education and understanding of the religious traditions in our increasingly linked world. These volumes are written as an anthropology of religion, and I have attempted to state the beliefs, practices, and histories in words that are consistent with each religious tradition. I have provided historical, social, and cultural information to define the context within which each religion has come into being and developed as a living society today. To the extent possible, I have discussed and reviewed these materials with religious scholars and believers from each tradition although I recognize that there are internal differences in belief and practice within religions, and I have tried to reflect those in a correct manner. Belief and behavior are at the heart of our self-definition as human individuals and the emotional core of our identity. Our religious and/or ideological identity is so important that it shapes major life decisions. This series is published recognizing the powerful importance of religious belief and practice among us as humans, respecting and honoring the uniqueness of the spiritual nature that defines us.

Buddhism
Ron Duncan Hart

Although Buddhism is the smallest of the great world religions with fewer than 400 million adherents, it has had great influence on the peoples of Asia. In many countries the Buddhist majorities are so large that the national culture is Buddhist. The majorities are: Bhutan (75 percent), Myanmar (Burma) (89 percent), Thailand (95 percent), Cambodia (95 percent), Laos (60 percent), and Vietnam (no statistics but predominantly Buddhist). Buddhism’s influence on the rest of Asia is equally important with the majorities in the respective countries being: China (no statistics but dominant practice of three parallel traditions, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Daoism), Japan (84 percent parallel practice of Buddhism and Shintoism), North Korea (no statistics but predominantly Buddhist), South Korea (Buddhist 47 percent), and Mongolia (96 percent).

Buddhism was the earliest religious influence coming out of India into Asia, but there would be later waves of Hindu and Muslim influences coming from India that would also leave their marks on this region. Buddhism introduced a life based on other worldly concerns of meditation, spiritual condition, and the ultimate freeing of the self from the attachments to this world. Buddhism taught its followers to free themselves from the constraints of this world so that their spiritual selves could emerge and develop. The non-engaged nature of Buddhism may be one of the reasons that it has the fewest adherents of the great world religions. Buddhism is not an active proselytizing religion like Christianity and Islam.

The individual nature of the quest for nirvana, or spiritual balance, can lead to monastic life-styles, which interrupt family life and community development. Buddhism is not a congregational religious practice and tends to result in weak institutions in the society. Buddhist culture has not produced empires of the sword but worlds of the spirit. There is considerable cultural diversity within the Asian world of Buddhism, and Buddhist life varies from Thailand to Tibet, China, and Japan. In each Buddhist country the local history, culture, and physical environment shape behavior and the expression of the religion.

The beginnings of Buddhism center around the Three Jewels: the life of the first Buddha, Dharma, and the Sangha. The life of Gautama, the first Buddha, embodies the practice of Buddhism and guides people in their search for spiritual enlightenment. The body of his teachings is called Dharma, and they are the first source of knowledge to describe how to reach enlightenment. Sangha is the community of Buddhist monks and nuns who are responsible for maintaining Buddha’s teachings and communicating them to other people.

The Life of the Buddha
Siddhartha Gautama (560 to 480 B.C.E.) was the founder of Buddhism, and the story of his life and search for enlightenment explains the basic precepts of the religion. There are disagreements on the dates of both his birth and death. It is known that he was born into the family of a regional chieftain to the north of Benares, India. As a child and young man, he was surrounded by luxury, dressed in silks, and attended by servants. When he was nineteen (or sixteen by some accounts), he married a princess who was a devoted wife and had both dignity and grace. His father had built three palaces for him and had arranged that he should never see people who were old, diseased, or dead. All such people were removed from the places he walked or traveled, but Gautama did eventually discover the real world and that profoundly changed his life. Gautama’s search for spiritual peace began as a young man, and he studied the Vedas in detail, but he was not satisfied with his understanding of Hinduism. Gautama was a Kshatriya (governing/warrior caste), and like Mahavira, the founder of Jainism, began to question the Brahman religious teachings and their control of Hinduism.
As he grew older, he became restless with his comfortable palace existence, thinking that there was more to life. Then, two important events occurred. One was the birth of a son, which he felt completed his obligation to his family to produce an heir. The second event was his discovery of the ravages of life that had been hidden from him. When he began traveling outside of the palace for the first time, he discovered people who were old and decrepit, sick people, and death. With that he realized the nature of life, and he was distraught. His father tried to entertain him with dancing girls, music, and other entertainments, but all was to no avail.
Finally, one day, Gautama saw a yellow robed ascetic who had peace of soul, and he immediately recognized that was what he lacked. He decided to explore the way of the ascetic hoping that would lead him to an understanding of human suffering he had seen and to peace of soul. At the age of thirty, Gautama left home and became a yellow robed mendicant himself in search of spiritual peace. He went to the Ganges River and studied meditation for one year as a disciple of Brahman teachers, but that did not lead to his understanding. Then he joined a group of ascetics and practiced asceticism for a number of years. During this time he had nothing but his robe and begging bowl. He fasted until he was emaciated, refused all comforts in life, and inflicted pain and discomfort on his body to suppress the desires of the flesh. After fainting into a death-like state, he revived and realized that bodily mortification had not brought him to salvation.
Then, enlightenment came to him unexpectedly sitting under a Bodhi tree thinking about life. In that emaciated state with no desire left in him, he came to realize that the stumbling block to salvation was desire, either desire for physical pleasures or desire for spiritual gain. When he was without desire, he was empty and open to true spirituality. His epiphany came when he had given up hope, and an ecstasy entered him that was the earthly equivalent of Nirvana. At that point he became a Buddha, an Enlightened One. Gautama was 35 at the time and had spent six years as an ascetic.
The Bodhi tree is now called the tree of knowledge or enlightenment in memory of Gautama’s experience there. Gautama wanted to share his spiritual discovery with others, and he began a forty-five year career of teaching. He traveled to Sarnath near the Hindu holy city of Benares, and in Deer Park he met five ascetics that he had known before and told them of his experience. In this Sermon in the Deer Park he gave the first structure to the new belief system talking about the Four Noble Truths and the Middle Way to enlightenment. The Middle Path between hedonism and asceticism is the true path that leads to Enlightenment and Nirvana. An arahat is one who is enlightened and who becomes a Buddha, and Nirvana is the perfect spiritual balance in, which the things of the body and of this world become insignificant and disappear. He taught people to manage the suffering in their lives and not allow it to interfere with their spirituality, which is the true center of life. Those five ascetics believed Gautama, and became his followers, establishing the first Buddhist monastic order.
Gautama became known as the Buddha, and he continued teaching others, especially people of his own caste, the Kshatryas. Soon men and women of all castes were accepting the new teachings, and caste distinctions were eliminated within Buddhism. Gautama continued teaching throughout his life until he was eighty years old. He did not appoint a successor to continue his teachings, rather he urged his followers to rely on his teachings or dharma after he was gone and to maintain discipline among themselves.

Dharma
The teachings of Gautama, the Buddha, were recorded by his followers and memorized. At the center of Buddhist thought are the Four Noble Truths enunciated in the first sermon in Deer Park. They are: 1. The first Noble Truth is about suffering, and it teaches us that suffering is an integral part of life on this earth. 2. The second truth is that the primary cause of suffering is desire, especially the desires for pleasure, life itself, and prosperity. Our desires cause us to suffer because they cannot always be fulfilled, so if we control desire, we will control frustration and suffering. 3. The third great truth is that the cessation of suffering comes from the absence of passion or desire, which frees one for salvation or deliverance. 4. The fourth Noble Truth is the Eightfold Path, which leads to the cessation of suffering.
Gautama taught that the proper way of life was the middle path between yielding to physical desire and the physical denial of asceticism. This path freed one to spiritual enlightenment and to correct ethical behavior toward others. Guatama formulated this middle path in eight steps, known as the Noble Eightfold Path. These are eight steps of correct behavior and thought that will facilitate the person reaching enlightenment, and they are: 1. Correct belief. This means belief in the Four Noble Truths and the world view implicit in them. 2. Correct aspiration or purpose. Our purpose in life is correct if we overcome sensuality, love others, do not harm living beings, and suppress desires. 3. Correct speech. A Buddhist should not talk negatively about others nor say things that will be hurtful to them in any way. 4. Correct conduct. We should care for all living beings, showing it in our words and actions. 5. Correct use of one’s time and abilities. This means to work, obtain livelihood, in a way that is consistent with Buddhist teachings. 6. Correct effort or choice. As a Buddhist, a person should be alert to choose between wise and unwise desires and attachments in this life. 7. Correct mental life. To achieve enlightenment a person should think about subjects that do not encourage desire. 8. Correct meditation. A proper state of meditation along with the seven behaviors listed above can lead the person to the ecstatic state of enlightenment, the essential step on the path to Nirvana.
Within the eight-fold path there are three areas of human behavior that need to be correct to facilitate the goal of enlightenment, and they are ideology, morals and ethics, and the discipline of our thoughts. Steps one and two refer to wisdom, the issues of belief and purpose in life. The candidate for enlightenment must believe in the precepts of Buddhism and have the intentions consistent with following them. Steps three through five refer to morality or correct behavior in society, and this is the ethical heart of Buddhism. Steps six and eight refer to meditation or the mental discipline and correctness of one’s thoughts, showing that ultimately enlightenment occurs in the mind. Each branch of Buddhism has developed additional guidelines for spiritual fulfillment, but this is the core shared by all the groups.
The Middle Path is the central tenet of the Dharma, and it says that to gain true spirituality a person must avoid the extremes of physical pleasure and the extremes of ascetic mortifications. Spiritual enlightenment comes from harmony with ourselves, neither mortifying the body through asceticism nor giving completely into bodily desires. A related teaching is the idea of annica or on-going change. It says that we and the world around us are constantly changing, so we have to be in a continual process of spiritual attentiveness. Life and the world itself are impermanent, but as humans we have the tendency to reify existence into something that we think of as fixed and permanent. However, Gautama said reality is not a thing or a fixed state of being, it is an on-going process. When we try to think of things as fixed realities, we are making an illusion.

Sangha, the Buddhist Community
The people who dedicate themselves to the Dharma, or teachings of Buddha, are the Sangha, and Buddhism lives through them. The original version of Buddhism (Theraveda or Southern), which is still practiced in Tibet and Southeastern Asia, has monks and nuns who organize themselves into communities, and they are the Sangha. In the later Mahayana or Northern version of Buddhism, which has no monks or nuns, the Sangha is less important. A few months after the death of the Buddha, the First Council was convened to reach a consensus about the canon of Buddha’s teachings. They were written down on palm leaves and put into a series of baskets (pitaka), and today the writings are referred to according to the basket in, which they were placed.
The first basket contained teachings that had to do with discipline, the second with discourse, and the third with special teaching. Theraveda Buddhism continues to organize the scriptures according to the three baskets, but the Mahayana branch does not make that tripartite division between the writings. The first basket on discipline (Vinaya Pitaka) establishes terms for the communal life of monks and nuns. It lists and discusses 227 rules, mostly forbidden activities.
The second basket of discourses (Sutta Pitaka) contains the teachings of the Buddha, and this was the largest basket. His discourses are divided into five categories according to length and other factors. This is the most studied literature in Buddhism because it gives the core of the Buddha’s thought.
The third basket on special teachings (Abhidhamma Pitaka) has seven scholarly writings interpreting the teachings of the Buddha, defining some of the more philosophical aspects of the religion that were not clear in the original teachings. The literature organized according to the three baskets is known as the Pali (or Indian) canon, and it is used by Theraveda or Southern Buddhists. Pali was the language in, which Gautama, the Buddha, spoke. When Mahayana or Northern Buddhism developed later in China, a new set of writings developed to interpret the new version of the religion. This led to the Mahayana (or Chinese) canon, which describes how to live a Buddhist life without being a monk or nun.
Although Buddhist texts are written down, memory and oral tradition have historically been the preferred means of learning them. It is thought that the act of memorizing the texts is spiritually good (karma), that it increases the understanding of the texts, that it incorporates the intellect into the spiritual experience, and that it improves community. Memorizing and repeating long sections of the teaching is like a mantra guiding one to a higher level of spirituality.

The Branches of Buddhism
Buddhism is a non-theistic religion. Although Gautama referred to supernatural beings, they were subject to the same spiritual rules of the Middle Path as were humans and did not represent a distinct level of existence. So, becoming a Buddha was a spiritual condition to be achieved, but a Buddha was not a being to be worshiped. Over the centuries some branches of Buddhism have begun to give worshipful respect to Buddhas and Bodhisattvas (those who postpone their own spiritual enlightenment in order to help others), but other branches have kept closer to Gautama’s original focus on the spiritual condition. Buddhism’s basic message was that desire had to be controlled in order for spiritual fulfillment to be reached, and people could understand that quickly. Differences in interpretations of the meanings of the Buddha’s teachings later led to the various branches of Buddhism that developed in Asia.

Theraveda Buddhism.
The countries of Southeast Asia (Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam) were among the first countries outside of India to accept Buddhism. They received the original teachings of Buddha known as Theraveda Buddhism (the teachings of the elders), which emphasizes personal diligence as the path to salvation. This is also called the Lesser Vehicle (Hinayana) because it assumes that only a few people, a spiritual elite, can reach Nirvana. It is a difficult path, and a person must have a special capacity and dedication to reach enlightenment. Since few people have this dedication, most are condemned to the cycle of rebirths on this earth. Monastic orders are important in Theraveda Buddhism because of the belief that one must have a special devotion to achieve Nirvana.

Mahayana Buddhism.
The second main branch of the religion is called Mahayana Buddhism (the Greater Vehicle), which became more popular in China, Korea, and Japan where Buddhism has been more integrated into the everyday life of working people. In China there was considerable opposition to the idea of monasteries of Theraveda Buddhism because people who lived there were nonproductive and put the religion before family or the state. Mahayana Buddhism developed as a more populist branch of the religion, which emphasized that enlightenment is available to all people and that everyone can gain release from the life-death cycle. It also sees a world with many Buddhas some of, which have come to earth and to share their enlightenment with people, and others (Bodhisattvas, spiritual helpers known for compassion) that are still in heaven waiting to make their manifestations in the future. This branch of Buddhism teaches that Bodhisattvas can lead a person to enlightenment and Nirvana, so people pray to a Bodhisattva to aid them in their search.
There are several schools of thought within the Mahayana branch, and Vajrayana Buddhism (known as the “diamond vehicle”) is one of them. It suggests that all living beings innately have Buddha qualities. It accepts the use of magical rituals as the path to Nirvana and represents a synthesis with local pre-Buddhist practices. Mandalas are used as aids to meditation, and they are perceived as visual guides to the spiritual order of enlightenment.

The Belief in Life after Death
Since Buddhism developed originally in India, Guatama (the first Buddha) borrowed key religious concepts from the older religion of Hinduism, especially the Law of Karma, the transmigration of souls, and the atman or soul. These beliefs describe what happens to a person’s soul after death. In contrast to the Judeo-Christian-Muslim view that life and existence are focused on God and humans in a linear path from creation to the ultimate destruction of life, Buddhism sees earth and humans as one set of actors in a larger whole. The earth is not the focal point of creation, nor is existence linear headed for one grand denouement. Humans are actors on this stage, but it is not entirely focused on them. Life is repeated and repeated, so that the wheel of rebirth defines existence.

Wheel of Rebirth.
Those who were dominated by desires were destined to be re-born into life on this earth, but those who reached enlightenment and freed themselves from desire, the arahats, also freed themselves of bad karma, and at death, they would end their worldly cycle. The stages of rebirth are frequently shown in Buddhist art as the wheel of life, being a circle divided into the six major stages. Below the stages of rebirth are shown in a table format consisting of thirty-one levels. Life is divided into three spheres, shown in the right-hand column. The lowest, the sphere of sense-desires, in, which we as humans are located, and we struggle to overcome our desires, which lead us to suffering. The three lowest levels in this sphere (hell, animals, and ghosts) are the worst levels for re-birth, and the next three (titans, humans, and the lower gods) are better levels. The sphere of pure form is a special spiritual state in, which beings “perceive and communicate by a kind of telepathy”. The highest state of existence is the sphere of formlessness, which is a non-physical state in, which beings exist as mental energy. The levels of this sphere lead us from the awareness of infinite space and infinite consciousness to the level of complete nothingness that is the contrast with this world of things and people in, which we live. The ultimate level “neither perception nor non-perception” is the highest state into, which a person can be born, and it is a spiritual state by what we can imagine.

The Law of Karma says that each deed (or moral action) is weighed against other deeds to determine the person’s destiny in the continuing saga of re-birth in life. Good deeds lead a person to a higher level and bad deeds to a lower level. Karma is concerned with the moral decisions in life, and the process of building karma occurs throughout one’s life. We shape our character little by little in each decision we make, and our ultimate destiny is determined by the strength or flaws in our character. An action may be good or bad based on our intentions or based on its effect on another person. If we intent to kill, harm another person, or steal or if we actually carry out those acts, it is bad because we have negatively affected our character and the other person. Actions carried out for greed, hatred, or delusion are bad, but the actions of non-attachment, benevolence, and understanding are good. Good intentions are not enough to achieve good deeds, because good intentions can actually have bad results. So, good intentions have to be linked with good actions to have an ethically correct behavior. However, Guatama said that a person could change his or her accumulated karma or destiny if he or she had a life changing experience of reaching enlightenment.
So, according to the modified Law of Karma in Buddhism, spiritual enlightenment could wipe out the negative record of a life of misdeeds and open the door to a new destiny. The Soul or Self. The soul or self is an on-going construction and not a fixed reality. In contrast to the Hindu belief that there is an eternal soul, or atman, most Buddhists believe that the idea of a soul is a mirage. It teaches that we should not focus on the soul but rather on our attaining spiritual enlightenment. In Hinduism attaining enlightenment means recognizing the unity of the atman with the essence of spirituality, the Brahma, or abstract god principle. In Buddhism, attaining enlightenment means gaining Nirvana, which is the extinction of the desire that locks us into this earth and the cycle of rebirth. In contrast to the continuing cycle of rebirth in Hinduism, Buddhism believes there is rebirth only when we do not have enlightenment in this life, and we are given another chance. Since there is no self and no soul in Buddhist belief, it is the stream of consciousness and the accumulated karma of the person that are reborn into the next life.

Buddhism in Japan
As Buddhism has spread throughout Asia over the last 2,000 years, new thinkers contributed to the development of beliefs and practices. In China, the Pure Land branch suggests that faith in Buddhist principles is sufficient for enlightenment. In Japan, the Intuitive sect, Zen Buddhism, teaches that meditation is sufficient for enlightenment, and that insight or enlightenment comes by itself if one meditates properly. In other parts of Asia, Rationalist sects teach that enlightenment is a matter of study, performance of rituals, and monastic discipline. So, from the simple message of Gautama, Buddhism developed into many different branches as it became an important Asian and world religion. The culture that results from the religious tenets of Buddhism ideally emphasizes a meditative non-violent life style. Buddhism encourages the philosophical contemplation of life, and one is expected to live in community, behaving in a disciplined way toward others. The reality of Buddhist life is that it synthesizes with the local cultures in each nation and takes on some of the local cultural character, but it adds philosophical and spiritual depth to its followers.
To the Japanese, Buddhism is an essential quality of civilization. A major step in making Japan what it is today occurred in 552 C.E. when Buddhism was introduced from Korea. It was Asian Buddhism that arrived to Japan, the Mahayana or greater vehicle version. It taught that one has to be open and sincere to receive enlightenment and gain release from the life-death cycle on this earth. Although the original Buddhism had an other worldly focus, the Japanese used it in a completely worldly way. Buddhism was introduced into Japan as a reform movement to challenge the power of the traditional elite, which thought Shintoism was sufficient for their religious needs. However, the progressives were in favor of Buddhism and the art and literature that it represented. Along with Buddhism other reforms based on Chinese models were introduced, including the centralization of power, organization of the court and the imperial bureaucracy.
The Todaiji Buddhist Temple in Nara, Japan represents this influence of Chinese Buddhism as it was adopted in Japan. This temple houses the Birushana (Vairocana) Buddha, which was cast in bronze in the eighth century C.E. It is a seated Buddha over two stories tall, and it is the largest cast bronze sculpture in the world today. Zen Buddhist philosophy developed in Japan, and it emphasizes simplicity, spirituality, and negation of the power of the material.
The major logical sequence of Zen thought says that: 1. True self-perception has no form. 2. The self has no form. 3. The void is the self without form. 4. The void is the only true reality. The ultimate truth that existence is a void (4) links back and completes the circle with truth is that self has no form (1). Zen teaches that beauty and completeness in our lives comes from our accepting ourselves without imposing a particular form or shape that we should be. Zen teaches tranquility and acceptance of life as it is. It emphasizes the beauty and formality of nature, which is celebrated in the tea ceremony. The quiet meditation of cherry blossoms on a Spring afternoon or the contemplation of the unmoveable solidity of rocks are exercises to explore greater spirituality in one’s life.

Buddhist South Asia
Southeast Asia is the predominantly Buddhist corner of Asia. It has experienced various waves of cultural influence from India through traders and sometimes missionaries. The Buddhist, Hindu, and Muslim influences in this region came originally from India. Under these common experiences, each country of Southeast Asia developed its own particular national culture. Myanmar (Burma), Thailand (Siam), Malaysia, and the city-state of Singapore are the countries of the Malay Peninsula. Although each is unique with different languages and ethnic identities, they share cultural histories. With the exception of Thailand, each had a colonial experience with a European power in nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Sri Lanka is the other Buddhist country in South Asia, and it is more closely tied to India culturally.

Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka is the island off the southeastern tip of India with twenty million inhabitants of whom 75 percent are Sinhalese. They speak Sinhala, an Indo-European language that is related to Hindi. Eighteen percent of the population is Tamil, and they are recent immigrants from southern India. Their language is also called Tamil, and it is a Dravidian language that dates prior to the Indo-European invasion of the subcontinent. The Sinhalese are divided between highland and lowland peoples with the highlanders from the area of Kandy being the most conservative. The highlanders are more traditional Buddhists and follow the “old-fashioned” customs of their culture while the lowlanders have been more influenced by European contacts under colonialism. Ninety-three percent of the Sinhalese are Buddhists, and the religion is closely intertwined with their cultural values, folk traditions, and literature.
Buddhism arrived to Sri Lanka in the fourth century B.C.E. shortly after the Sinhalese had migrated there. The Buddhist shrine or monastery is the cultural center for most villages, and Buddhism forms part of the rituals for major life events (birth, marriage, and death). Buddhist monks have high status in the community, and becoming a monk is considered to be a good career. Most of the converts to Christianity are in the lowland areas along the coast where there was more European contact. The Sinhalese are divided into occupational castes that tend to be concentrated in certain regions of the country. Buddhism does not provide the religious or ideological support for the castes, and as occupations have changed quickly during the last few centuries, people have changed to new kinds of work. Although people still know their caste affiliation, the disjuncture between caste and occupation has meant that castes are of less significance today. People do not necessarily marry within their caste, and they associate socially less and less within the caste.
The Tamils are divided between those who are considered native and the Indian Tamils who migrated during the British colonial period to work on plantations in the highlands. The Indian Tamils lived primarily in segregated plantation settlements with little or no interaction with Sinhalese or Sri Lankan native Tamils, and they did not integrate with either group. Almost 85 percent of the Tamils are Hindus, and their folk traditions, literature, and values are Hindu, including a Hindu style caste system. The Indian Tamils are from the lower farmer and working castes while many of the native Tamils are from the middle and upper castes. As a result, the native Tamils do not respect the lower caste Indian Tamils, and they have little interaction. A small group of Tamils have converted to Christianity as a way of escaping the caste limits of their society, and they too have developed separate cultural lives, introducing yet another division within Tamil society. As in India, lower caste Tamils have organized themselves politically to claim rights denied them by the caste system, such as occupational mobility, education, and entrance to Hindu temples.
For the last decades of the twentieth century an insurgent guerrilla group, the Tamil Tigers, fought a civil war with the Sinhalese dominated government of Sri Lanka for Tamil independence. A period of ethnic violence had occurred before the civil war broke out, and Tamil cultural centers and libraries had been attacked and burned by the Sinhalese. The Tamils from Sri Lanka received moral and economic support from the Tamils on the mainland of India. Although they fought the Sri Lankan army to a stand still, they were not able to create their independent state.

Capitalism and the Buddhist Countries: Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam.
With the exception of Thailand the economies of the Buddhist countries of Southeast Asia are primarily based on subsistence agriculture. After a century or more of European colonialism, a decade under Japanese occupation, and three more decades of civil war after independence, the economies of these countries have not had opportunities to develop. In many ways Vietnam represents the hopes and frustrations of these countries of this southeast corner of Asia. It was ruled by the French from 1884 to 1954 when they were finally defeated and driven out. Another twenty years of war followed between the Communist northern half of the country, and the southern half sponsored by the United States. In 1975, the south fell to the north, and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam was established. It has the largest population of Southeast Asia with eighty-two million people, 90 percent of whom are Vietnamese, and most practice Buddhism. As is true with most Communist countries, the literacy rate is high at 94 percent, and the rate for women is close to that of the men. In the decades following World War II, the energy of the country was consumed in the wars of independence and following that basic nation building. Recently, it has been interested in participating more actively in the global economy. Because of the size of its population, it is a leader among this group of countries.
Thailand was founded in 1258 as a monarchy, and it has been a kingdom continually to the present, and it is one of the few countries in the world not subjugated to European colonial control. Perhaps never having been a colony is one of the factors contributing to the fact that Thailand is far wealthier than its Buddhist neighbors. It has a population of almost sixty-five million people of whom 95 percent are Buddhist. Seventy-five percent of the people are Thai, and 14 percent are Chinese. Thai is the primary language, but English is also used by the business and educated class. Ninety-four percent of the population is literate with women being nearly as literate as the men. However, HIV/AIDS is a problem in Thailand, and it has one of the highest rates for Asia.
The historic Burma, also known as Myanmar, is a medium sized country with forty-five million people. Lodged between India and Thailand, Myanmar shares cultural influences from both. Its history since independence from the United Kingdom in 1948 has been dominated by military governments. Elections in 1990 were won by the opposition power, but the government refused to yield power. Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi led the opposition to the government and spend much of the following decade under house arrest. Most of the population (89 percent) is Buddhist, and most are Burmese (68 percent) with the remainder being divided among ten or more small groups. The language is Burmese, and officially almost 85 percent of the population is literate, but functional literacy may be much lower.
The Kingdom of Cambodia is a slightly smaller country with a population of less than 15 million people. The AIDS epidemic has affected the country, and the life expectancy is only 57 years. Most of the people are of Khmer ethnicity (90 percent) with the remainder being mostly Vietnamese and Chinese. Ninety-five percent of the people speak Khmer and practice Buddhism. It is a poor, mostly illiterate country with 48 percent of the men and only 22 percent of the women being literate. It is a democratic republic with a constitutional monarchy.
During 1975, the Khmer Rouge forces took over the country and ordered large numbers of people out of the cities and into the countryside. During this radical attempt to remake the country over one million people died. In 1978 the forces of Vietnam invaded Cambodia to end the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge, and that led to thirteen years of fighting, which ended in the early 1990’s with the intervention of the United Nations. Laos is a small landlocked country (six million people) located in the hilly terrain between Vietnam and Thailand. Ninety percent of the people are either lowland or highland Lao, and the official language is Lao. The majority of the people (60 percent) is Buddhist, but a large minority (40 percent) is animist, following traditional religions. There is a significant split in the literacy rate with 70 percent for men but only 44 percent for women. For six hundred years the government was a monarchy until 1975 when the Pathet Lao with support from Vietnam took over the country and set up a socialist economy.

Wealth and Well-Being in Buddhist South Asia
In contrast to the West, the Theraveda Buddhism of South Asia does not emphasize material success in this life, rather it emphasizes the spiritual condition. Although this might suggest a disengagement from contemporary capitalism, Thailand is one of the Buddhist countries that has been quite successful in economic growth. All of the countries of South Asia, except Sri Lanka, are predominantly agricultural, and their low per capita GDP is probably explained more by this fact than by Buddhist teachings.
Vietnam, Thailand, and Myanmar are the largest and most important countries in Southeast Asia, and Thailand is most developed one in the region. All of the countries are predominantly agricultural with only Thailand and Sri Lanka showing any notable development of the industrial sector. The Gini Index suggests that income is moderately well distributed in the various countries. The economic situation of a country is important because of the well-being that it produces for the citizens, and the indicators of well-being tend to coincide with the level of wealth. Vietnam, Thailand, and Sri Lanka have the better indicators of well-being with higher life expectancy, literacy rates, and median ages.
Well-being in Cambodia and Laos is more severely compromised as seen in the lower rates for the three indicators mentioned above. The higher fertility rates for women in Cambodia and Laos also suggests poorer living conditions. The negative migration rates also indicate problems. The highest out-migration is Myanmar, and it reflects poverty on one hand and the political strife in the country on the other. Vietnam and Sri Lanka have developing urban middle classes with aspirations, which they can only see being fulfilled by migration. Thailand has the best economy in the region, so no one is leaving, and Cambodia and Laos are basically poor farming countries where people do not have the opportunities to migrate to improve their lot.

Conclusion
The culture that has evolved historically around Buddhism in Southeast Asia, and that has led to a region that has been generally at peace. In keeping with its roots in Hinduism, Buddhism has not been an expansionist or militant religion. It has emphasized the internal spiritual pursuit on the part of its devotees and a disengagement from the things of this world. This has not hindered some Buddhist countries from becoming competitive participants in the global markets of today, especially Thailand. Buddhism, as well as Hinduism, offer models of peace and co-existence with other religious/cultural systems that are important during times of inter-civilizational conflict.

Appendices
The Axis Age and Systematic Philosophical and Religious Literature
Two millennia after the emergence of urban civilization and kingship, systematic philosophical and religious literature appeared gradually across the civilized world. This was the Axis Age, a time when this world-wide movement of new religious ideologies gave foundation to the next stage of civilization building. This was a period in the sixth century B.C.E. when a wave of great religious and ethical thinkers lived who have shaped the world of the last 2,500 years. They included Gautama (Buddhism), Confucius, Lao Tzu (Daoism), Socrates and Plato, and the Jewish prophets. The world had reached a cultural impasse after the initial growth of civilizations, and a new moral and ethical order was required for civilization to continue. Civilization had existed for 2,000 years, and in most places an ideology of power and punishment had been the norm. Brutal force was becoming increasingly destructive.
The great religious thinkers emerged first in the Middle East with the Hebrew prophets (800-700 B.C.E.), then the Brahmanas in India (700-600 B.C.E.), Buddhism in India and Confucianism and Daoism in China (500 B.C.E.), and the social philosophers in Greece (450-300 B.C.E.). The specialization of labor in civilization allowed some to become authorities in knowledge and thought, leading to codified thought systems. Thinkers conceptualized correct behavior as secular morality in China (Confucius) and Greece (especially Aristotle) and as religious behavior in the Middle East (Hebrew prophets) and India (Hinduism and Buddhism). The prophets in Israel (from Jeremiah and Ezekiel to Nehemiah and Ezra) transformed the tribal covenant with Yahweh into a revised set of teachings that recognized invasion and diaspora as the “realpolitik” of life, and they called for religious commitment as the way to solve life’s ills. In India, Siddhartha Gautama saw the evil and injustice in the world and visualized a spiritual way to escape that evil and let ones’ spirit flower through meditation and spiritual balance that would lead to Buddhahood.
In China, Confucius saw the disorder and hardship unleashed by civilization on the people, and he visualized a rational world ordered by ritual, filial piety, and virtues that people could learn. Lao Tzu was less convinced by the rationalism of Confucius and taught people to establish a spiritual contact with the cosmic forces in nature and to draw from nature the knowledge of the correct path (dao) for their behavior. Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle defined a largely secular ideology of self and soul that has provided structure for much of European thought and culture. In each case, these leaders formulated models of ideology, faith, or belief that guided their people for centuries and even millennia. These systematic thinkers also attempted to explain why we behave the way we do, rather than relying solely on the mythological explanations of the origins narratives.
The history of civilization was well known by this time, and people were aware of the abuses made possible by power and national conflicts. The Israelites suffered invasion and exile, and the Chinese had suffered devastating civil wars. In view of this cruelty of humans to other humans, these early thinkers attempted explanations of the social system, the nature of humans, and the role of God. In each world area, the thinkers proposed systems of morality and ethics, telling humans how to life correctly. It was apparent that when humans congregated in large groups their suffering increased enormously. The writers and thinkers who sought explanations to this situation found them in secular morality in China and in religion in the Middle East and India. The differences between these thinkers created religious/ideological differences from one part of the world to another, which still characterize us today. The literature of a civilization records the voices of the people, their joys, values, beliefs, concerns, and angst. It gives us direct insight into people and their traditions, which can help us understand the world in, which we live.

A Visit to the Todaiji Temple in Nara
I was visiting Kyoto after attending a conference on the role of crafts in development when I had the opportunity to visit the ancient city of Nara and the Todaiji Temple. From the central bus station in Kyoto I took a bus to Nara driving through the countryside of southern Japan. Every inch of land was cultivated right up to the front doors of houses and the right of ways along the highway. Hundreds of small vegetable plots were everywhere taking advantage of available land. Then I understood the shortage of land for the size of the Japanese population. Arriving to Nara and the Todaiji Temple I was impressed with the size of the main building, which is the largest wooden building in the world. It towered above me as I stood looking up at it, and I was struck by the roof ornaments. At each end of the building a large curved ornament in gold the size of a person rose above the roof, emphasizing its uniqueness.
The Temple was built originally in the eighth century C.E. and then rebuilt after it was burned in clan warfare in the thirteenth century. It is set in Deer Park in a forested environment. In front of the temple is a large entrance plaza, and incense burns in a waist-high bronze brazier before the main door. Pilgrims stop before the brazier and wave the smoke over themselves to receive the cleansing blessing that it offers. Inside the Temple itself it was dark, but through the gloom the bronze black Buddha began to appear with its head towering up toward the roof. The Buddha had an expression of pleasant contentment on its face, and one hand lifted in front of its chest. One finger was the size of a man. In sharp contrast to the contentment of the Buddha, were the fierce guardians that stood guard on either side in front of the two-story figure. The guardians stood fifteen feet tall dwarfing us mortals as we looked at them. Their faces were contorted in threatening expressions of rage that they would obviously employ to protect the tranquility of the Buddha. The ire of these guardians seemed out of context in the peacefulness of a Buddhist temple, but they must reflect traditional Japanese guardian spirits drafted into the service of Buddhism. Near the door of the temple a master calligrapher was working creating beautifully crafted scrolls with appropriate statements from Buddhist thought. The scrolls of calligraphy were on sale to remember the Temple and one’s visit to it.

Tibet and the Dalai Lama
Tibet is the most traditionally Buddhist area within the boundaries of China. Tibet functioned as an autonomous entity with loyalty to the Chinese emperor during the Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties. The relationship with the Mongols was close, and during the time they built their Euro-Asian empire, they accepted Tibetan Buddhism as their religion. During the reigns of the Qing emperors, Kangxi and Qianlong, Chinese troops were sent into Tibet on various occasions to protect it from invaders from other areas. In 1950, the Chinese forcefully occupied Tibet. During the early years of the occupation, the Dalai Lama advocated collaboration with the Chinese, but when the Chinese killed 87,000 Tibetans to put down an uprising in 1959, he fled Tibet and moved to India. Over time, 80,000 of his followers joined him there.
The Dalai Lama set up a government in exile in the mountains of northern India and has maintained the community there since. He is an articulate religious leader, and he has appealed to the larger world to gain attention for the cause of Tibet. He has suggested negotiations with the central government in Beijing on a number of occasions, only to be ignored.
This plea for universal values that he made as a part of his acceptance speech for the Noble Peace Prize in 1989 reflects his religious orientation:
"As a Buddhist monk, my concern extends to all members of the human family and, indeed, to all sentient beings who suffer. I believe all suffering is caused by ignorance. People inflict pain on others in the selfish pursuit of their happiness or satisfaction. Yet true happiness comes from a sense of brotherhood and sisterhood. We need to cultivate a universal responsibility for one another and the planet we share."
The estimates of the population of Tibet range from four to six million people. The central government has encouraged the migration of Kham and Amdo Chinese into the province, and it estimates that now there are 7.5 million Chinese, making them the majority. The culture of Tibet is being gradually assimilated into the larger Chinese culture through gradual population replacement and education.

About the Author Ron Duncan Hart, Ph.D., is a cultural anthropologist from Indiana University with postdoctoral work at the University of Oxford. He is the Director of the Institute for Tolerance Studies and a former University Vice-President. Hart has written books on Crypto-Jews, Jews and the Arab World, and Sephardic Jews. He has spoken widely as an invited lecturer on Jewish life and culture at universities and other venues. He is a former President of the Jewish Federation of New Mexico. Copyright 2022. Institute for Tolerance Studies The Institute for Tolerance Studies is a 501-c-3 non-profit organization, and your donations to support these educational programs are tax-free as established by law.

As a Buddhist monk, my concern extends to all members of the human family and, indeed, to all sentient beings who suffer. I believe all suffering is caused by ignorance. People inflict pain on others in the selfish pursuit of their happiness or satisfaction. Yet true happiness comes from a sense of brotherhood and sisterhood. We need to cultivate a universal responsibility for one another and the planet we share.
The estimates of the population of Tibet range from four to six million people. The central government has encouraged the migration of Kham and Amdo Chinese into the province, and it estimates that now there are 7.5 million Chinese, making them the majority. The culture of Tibet is being gradually assimilated into the larger

Chinese culture through gradual population replacement and education.

About the Author
Ron Duncan Hart, Ph.D., is a cultural anthropologist from Indiana University with postdoctoral work at the Hart has Hart is the Executive Director of the Institute for Tolerance Studies and a former University Vice-President. Hart has written books on Crypto-Jews, Jews and the Arab World, and Sephardic Jews. He has spoken widely as an invited lecturer on Jewish life and culture at universities and other venues. He is a former President of the Jewish Federation of New Mexico.

The Institute for Tolerance Studies is a 501-c-3 non-profit organization, and your donations to support these educational programs are tax-free as established by law.