It seems Buddhism was the state religion (or approximately) in India and Indonesia at some points (and elsewhere). Why did it die out there? Or at least recede so? Did it have an impact on the religions that came after? In other words, do Muslims in Indonesia (etc.) show strains or remnants of Buddhist thought or practice or belief?
Buddhism did indeed become the state religion under Ashoka and Buddhism flourished for a long time. Bengal, under the Palas, I believe, was a Buddhist kingdom for a long time. I don’t know a lot about how it died out, but I believe that Buddhism in India was never really considered entirely separate from mainstream Hinduism. It was considered a “reform” movement and Buddhist areas in India were later subject to “re-reform.”
I don’t believe Buddhism was a dominant religion in India. However, Hinduism was once a dominant cultural force, before being replaced as the majority religion by Islam. Traders from southern India took Hinduism to Indonesia and spread it. Indonesians still have Hindu mythology, such as the Ramayana. Indonesia’s national airline is Garuda, named after a figure from Hindu mythology (the “bird king”). I assume that Islam also came to Indonesia through commercial contacts.
Indonesia, not India. (dagnabit)
Buddhism was the predominate religion in Korea during the Goryeo dynasty (tenth through fourteenth centuries). It had supplanted (but not eliminated) the indigenous shamanism and the previously imported Taoism. Confucianism was making inroads among the upper classes, but was not yet the state religion (as it was in the following Joseon dynasty).
Modern Korea society has a Confucian core, but the many Buddhist temples are still revered.
Actually, it was dominant in Java for a good few hundred years, as well as parts of Borneo and Sumatra. It coexisted with Hinduism for much of this time (look up the Majapahit empire), and was only driven out by Islam some 500 years ago. Witness the massive temple of Borobudur, near Yogyakarta
Well, we know it once flourished in Afghanistan.
This thread allows me to bring up one of my favourite little bits of history, the Graeco-Buddhist kingdom of Gandhara, based in what is now Afghanistan. A relic of Alexander the Great’s conquest of the region, a unique Greek - Indian - Buddhist culture existed in various political entities for a few centuries. Gandharan art is spectacular - check out the Buddha to the right on the linked page.
Afghanistan was once heavily Buddhist - remember that whole hubbub about those large Buddhist statues the Taliban blew up back in the late '90’s.
The disappearance of Buddhism from India is usually blamed on Muslim incursion.
I never got, though, what was supposed to have been the mechanism that made Islam selectively zap Buddhism, while Hinduism flourished even more under the early Muslim rulers. That’s right, the Hindus who bash Muslims ought to consider that it was Islam credited with rescuing India for Hinduism. By getting rid of the Buddhists, Hinduism had its greatest resurgence ever. Thanks to Muslims. Hmmm… the real world is so complex. Let’s just retreat into simplistic slogans. Our side good, other side bad.