You'd be surprised. Warrior monks are still around. They're not much of a phenomenon, but they still exist.
From Newsweek, on Thailand:
AHC: Buddhist Crusade?
- Thread starter zeppelinair
- Start date
From Newsweek, on Thailand:
scholar
Banned
At different times: The Indian subcontinent, the Steppe of Asia, the Tibetan Empires, the Tibetan petty Kingdoms, the Mongols, China, Southeast Asia, and especially Japan.
I know what you mean that the Turks in that region were falling apart, but the people that took advantage of that in OTL were Persia and the Mughals. Both had gunpowder and really good generals. I don't see Tibet or the Oirat Mongols doing anything about that. Not to mention I think the Mongols and Tibetans were involved in bit of a doctrinal dispute which led to war between them.
1. Pre-Mongol Empire:
Tibetian-Liao Dynasty can do it. Tibetians were full Buddhist state, while majority Liao population was Buddhist.
2. Post-Mongol Empire:
i agree with katchen and Tobit.
Most likely would be Oirats and East Mongolians (during Altan Khan) conducting Buddhist Crusade. However this might have significant butterfly effect on Mughal Empire.
Tibetian-Liao Dynasty can do it. Tibetians were full Buddhist state, while majority Liao population was Buddhist.
2. Post-Mongol Empire:
i agree with katchen and Tobit.
Most likely would be Oirats and East Mongolians (during Altan Khan) conducting Buddhist Crusade. However this might have significant butterfly effect on Mughal Empire.
Mongolian Empire weren't Buddhist state. They were barbarians that worshiped Tengrism.
So I doubt they would do Buddhist Crusade.
on another note, I'd like to emphasize that it just be like the fourth crusade- where the combined fleets of China, Korea and Japan conquer the Malacca Strait and put it under their control, making trade even more easy.
You confuse states that may have been (in whole or part) Buddhist with states that made war in the name of their religion. Sometimes yes, more often, not, but there certainly hasn't been a consistent history in Buddhism as a crusading faith.
The Tibetan Empires were almost entirely pre-Buddhist (Bon). I don't see Buddhism as being the faith militant in China, in any period of history that I recall. Steppes of Asia? Referring to the late Mongol period? The days of their power and expansion were over but in any case, they were doing the same things they had as Tengriists, on a smaller scale. In Southeast Asia, Sri Lanka and Japan you might have your only real relevant cases. Even then, did the adoption of Buddhism breed expansionist aims and xenophobia or was that "business as usual" in those states?
If you are simply making a case that people practicing Buddhism have and do commit violent acts up to and including war, then yes, guilty. (Largely) Pacific religions are no guarantee of pacific behavior.
Last edited:
scholar
Banned
I'm not sure you understand my meaning.
Tibet became Buddhist between conflicts and wars between pro-Buddhist and anti-Buddhist factions.
Age of Fragmentation period for militant buddhism inside of China, especially in regards to interfaith conflicts where Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism killed each other for control quite frequently and engaged in botched attempts at genocide. Otherwise known as one of the bloodiest periods in Chinese history and the only time when the future of China was every really in question after the Han. It eventually settled into the three ways, but getting there involved uncountable numbers of corpses.
Says who? The Mongolic peoples were continuously at war with both their neighbors and each other until the conquests by the Russian Empire and the Qing Dynasty, and then it was more about managing the conflicts than preventing them.
Besides, the Mongols in the East were becoming Buddhist around the same time the Mongols in the West were becoming muslims, and there was a whole host of interfaith conflict there. Buddhism largely lost, but fighting continued into modern times.
Tibet became Buddhist between conflicts and wars between pro-Buddhist and anti-Buddhist factions.
Age of Fragmentation period for militant buddhism inside of China, especially in regards to interfaith conflicts where Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism killed each other for control quite frequently and engaged in botched attempts at genocide. Otherwise known as one of the bloodiest periods in Chinese history and the only time when the future of China was every really in question after the Han. It eventually settled into the three ways, but getting there involved uncountable numbers of corpses.
Says who? The Mongolic peoples were continuously at war with both their neighbors and each other until the conquests by the Russian Empire and the Qing Dynasty, and then it was more about managing the conflicts than preventing them.
Besides, the Mongols in the East were becoming Buddhist around the same time the Mongols in the West were becoming muslims, and there was a whole host of interfaith conflict there. Buddhism largely lost, but fighting continued into modern times.
Last edited:
This. While you could easily get militant Buddhists fighting X, where X is whoever you like, the idea of a crusadelike mentality needs the idea that the Holy Land should be in their hands as part of some specific understanding of the cosmos that would take some doing to invent for Buddhism.
Among other elements such as the idea that liberating it would bring "salvation" - which really doesn't translate at all.
Like the dude said, a vague 'jyhad' analogy.
That said, an 'unorthodox' 'heretical' buddhism or mix like Nichiren... where a Nationalist bent is...
still not going to result in a crusade-like thing.
"crusade" is not a synonym for "any 'holy' war".
If it's salvation you're looking for, how about this: the idea develops that fighting in the holy cities of Buddhism builds meritorious karma, and thus will lead to a pleasant afterlife/better fate in the next life. It ties into Buddhism more than the Christian idea of salvation and heaven.
I'd rather look for a reason why it would be thought of in the first place.
Trying to force things so that they happen whether or not they have any basis to evolve is one of the more annoying things about AHCs.
We already had that in Sri Lanka. Buddhist clergy made the most anti-Tamil speeches during the civil war.
I think the OP was looking for an empire using Buddhism to conquer the lower Ganges Valley.